Re: Keepers of the keys

[Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>]

On Sun, Jul 20, 1997 at 02:48:20PM -0400, Declan McCullagh wrote:
> "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." --Samuel Johnson
> 
> Often those who speak of patriotism wield the term as a thunderbolt to
> head off criticism of their plans. "It is unpatriotic to oppose the
> CDA, mandatory key escrow." It is indeed the last refuge of a scoundrel
> when used as an excuse to violate civil liberties.
> 
> I suspect that's not what Tim was doing below.

That is *exactly* what Tim is doing.  He is wrapping himself in the
flag and shouting about how he has the one true vision of what the 
hallowed founding fathers thought:

>>> Kill the key grabbers and all those who support them. Isn't it exactly what
>>> Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and the others would have argued?

Pardon my patriotic tears...

Can there be any doubt at all? It's obviously old cheap rhetoric
through and through, not even Bill Clinton at his worst could match
it.  Of course, the true believers chorus "Yea, verily", and are
impressed by the fire and brimstone; and the anon crowd always chimes
in after a respectful delay... 

-- 
Kent Crispin				"No reason to get excited",
kent@songbird.com			the thief he kindly spoke...
PGP fingerprint:   B1 8B 72 ED 55 21 5E 44  61 F4 58 0F 72 10 65 55
http://songbird.com/kent/pgp_key.html