"The wealthy, not only by private fraud but also by common laws, do every day pluck and snatch away from the people some part of their daily living. Therefore, when I consider and weigh in my mind these commonwealths which nowadays do flourish, I perceive nothing but a certain conspiracy of rich men in procuring their own commodities under the name and authority of the commonwealth.

They invent and devise all means and crafts, first how to keep safely without fear of losing that which they have unjustly gathered together, and next how to hire and abuse the work and labor of the people for as little money and effort as possible."

Thomas More, Utopia

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Open Letter to Rue St Michel

Every now and then I need an amusing distraction to pass the time. Today I happened upon just the thing I had in mind. This particular nugget was generously provided by the Rue St Michel blog. In a post under the title "Nobel, No More" (18 Sep 06), the Ruester implies that Nobel laureates such as Bishop Desmond Tutu are hypocrites because they don't speak out enough about how things "really are" in South Africa today. This sort of thing is generally outside the scope of what I like to pay attention to, but it's in many ways instructive. It takes impressive discipline and dedication to discover such heretofore unknown suffering.

Notice how the Ruester completely ignores THIS during his hysterical rant.

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