The Widening Gyre: Liberty Edition

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
– Verse 1, The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats

What a useful poem Yeats concocted – so many applications. Today let’s look at some stories that flesh out the idea of the “widening gyre” – think of the falcon, tossed off the leathered glove, ascending ’round and ’round in ever-broader circles. Think of a cyclone. Think how hard it is for us falcons – as we mover further away, caught in all the noise of wind and air – to hear the voice of the Falconer who set us free.

There’s lots of noise today. I’ll write about Obama and Hillary later – I’ve got something specific in mind, but let’s see what else is swirling about us and lost in the cacophony.

The falcon cannot hear the falconer: The pro-censorship Human Rights Commission er, Tribunal, er Kangaroo Court, er Bastion of Liberal Fascism in Canada prosecutes thought crimes and suppresses free speech for the sake of hurt feelings. Writes David Warren:

…in a case designed to challenge freedom of the press. It is a show trial, under the arbitrary powers given to Canada’s obscene “human rights” commissions, by Section 13 of our Human Rights Act.

I wrote “obscene” advisedly. A respondent who comes before Canada’s “human rights” tribunals has none of the defences formerly guaranteed in common law. The truth is no defence, reasonable intention is no defence, nor material harmlessness, there are no rules of evidence, no precedents, nor case law of any kind. The commissars running the tribunals need have no legal training, exhibit none, and owe their appointments to networking among leftwing activists. –

Emphasis mine. Warren – one of my all-time favorite writers – makes one deplorable error there: he writes about “freedom of the press,” without noticing that the press has voluntarily surrendered its own freedom in order to advance the stifling cause of political correctness and the endless restrictions on liberty to which PC is dedicated. When Al Gore can tell the press not to report dissenting scientific opinion on global warming, and the press dutifully obeys, that press is no longer free. When the press silences itself rather than report good news, that press is no longer free.

I know this story is about Canada,, but Americans had better pay attention, this is not about a nation; it’s about a mindset. This story and the next one are about what you might call the United Far-Left States, which is multinational, borderless and faithful to no ideal but its own need to control. You can’t see if or hear it if you’re circling too far above it, in the noise and the wind.

Another Canadian writer – also one of my faves – Kathy Shaidle, shows us where the HRC is heading (and I predicted years ago that PC would be used against the churches and was called an alarmist): suppression of freedom of religion.:

a message posted to a popular Catholic internet forum has reportedly made its way before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal. The alleged poster, who is an American writing from America, was commenting on an article written by Mark Steyn — a Canadian author who now lives in New Hampshire. The tribunal accepted this posting as evidence that Steyn promoted “hatred”
[…]
Canada’s human rights tribunals are now attempting to prosecute a case against an American resident, based upon what an American citizen allegedly posted to a mainstream American Catholic website. What passes for mainstream Catholic discussion in America is now the basis for a hate complaint in Canada.

As I said, this movement has no borders.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold: Are you really ready for a planet tax based on a theory that is unprovable? The inconvenient truth is that we cannot predict what the weather will do next week, and we have no way of knowing whether in ten years the colder or warmer whether prevailing will be part of a cycle or an aberration, because the world is a lot wiser and older than our conceited generation and does not move by our schedules. Global Warming (aka “Climate Change”) is the scam that will keep on giving because no matter what happens it lets the alarmist claim “see, we were right!” If weather goes bad, “see, we were right!” If weather goes good, “see, we were right! We took away your liberties and wrecked your economy, but the planet lives, so we were right!” I’m losing patience with people who are ready to give up their freedom to drive, buy the lightbulbs they choose, and to allow the destruction of their economy and a culture for this suppressive, liberty-stealing flim-flam – a hoax which Obama paid homage to in last night’s speech.

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world:. Voters? what voters?, Political Intimidation? What political intimidation? Genocidal movements? What genocidal movements?

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned; Letting people die rather than accept aid (Condoms, they’ll accept!) Voting out a Kindergartener, Government over grief, Letting more people starve!, Hey, we’re atheists! you have to tolerate our sex in your confessional but we don’t have to be sensitive to your sensibilities! Assassination as Art-theme (well, at least that’s finally thought objectionable; it wasn’t for Bush.) I’m not starving my people! You are starving my people!

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Soros: Screwing with economies is not my ethical conundrum. I’m just saying!

Obama: Israel? Why I’m Israel’s great Champion!, forget what I said about Palestinian suffering! Pull out of Iraq? yes, I’m calling it victory even if it sets chaos in motion in that region! Iran? C’mon, they’re not really dangerous but they’re pretty suddenly worrisome! Jesus? Yeah, Jesus is cool, but sin is when I distance myself from my own values! Earmarks? Don’t talk about my ears, I’m sensitive! Experience? Who needs experience when you’ve got oratory?

Press: Bill and Hillary? we never liked them!

The Right: In 2006 they sat out the election, lost the congress and weakened their president in a tantrum over illegal immigration, “the most important issue in America,” which (without the prompting of A.N.S.W.E.R-organized Mexi-marches) they’re barely discussing now, and on which issue nothing has changed. But some of them are still talking about sitting things out to teach the nation a lesson.

The Left: We don’t have to be right, our concerns and our feelings make us noble!

The Electorate: Experience and Character Schmaracter!

Who ya gonna trust?

A few glimmers of light:
South Dakota votes to drill!

The Global Movement to Jihad is Fractured

Yes, That is Why We Went to Iraq. Be proud, America!

Sarah Palin for GOP VEEP! Seriously. If McCain has any brains at all.

Young Men in Search of Civil Debate! I like this idea and will keep an eye on it!.

Maureen Dowd is hitting homers, although she should not be surprised that “Hillary is still here.” If her memory of January 2001 were not clouded by hate, she’d recall that on Bush’s Inaugural Day, Bill would not get off the stage, and at one point cooed into the microphone, “ah’m still here…” Still, after being lost in her wilderness of Bush Derangement Syndrome, which overwhelmed her writing and muddied it up, it’s good to see her back in control of her pen.

To close:

We must repeat, over and over, that Liberty is the means by which we created creatures are meant to live and to grow and be. That Liberty lives in the Truth. That Liberty lives where people can speak freely, without fear of injury or reprisals. That Liberty lives only when the press is free and unencumbered – when it is detached from events instead of entwined in them. That Liberty lives when people refuse to be intimidated into silence or acquiescence, whether in the workplace or within the community. That Liberty is the fragile thing that diminishes whenever one refuses to acclaim it for oneself. — Your Humble Blogress