Skip to main content

Liberté, Sûreté, Propriété

I wish all my republican brothers in France a happy Independence Day. Here in America we remember with solemn reverence the support and contribution France provided to our revolutionaries and founders during the birth of our nation. Vive la France!

Bastille Day commemorates one of the great moments in modern European history and reading accounts of the events will send a tingle up the spine of every Liberty loving human who's dreamt of tearing down a prison - weather it be physical, mental or spiritual. May France forever cling to the passion and excitement of those early days of their Nation and remember them with humble thanks to God and a commitment to live up to the dreams and aspirations of their forefathers who endeavored to establish a Republic of Humanity. We all know that this glorious effort degenerated into a Republic of Virtue which inflicted a decade of horror on the noble French citizen only to be replaced by the Empire of a stubby-fingered Corsican, but for two or three years the Free Man had a home in France. It is in this time that the Declaration of the Rights of Man was written and it's ideals live on - may it always be so. Articles 1-3 lay the foundation:
1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good. 
2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression
3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.
This was too good for filthy French Jacobins like Danton and Robespierre who plunged France in to the virtuous darkness of enlightened reason. Sadly, the true virtues and ideals of every established republic fade with time (just look at the USA), it just happened more quickly in France. But the patriot holds on to the ideal and continually strives to grasp that brief sparking light stretching across time and space born of that moment when Liberty triumphed.


Listing the contributions of France would take hours and many of them are ephemeral, conceptual and immaterial so it's hard to link to them or find photos - but if I could list just 3 that have brought joy to my life they would be:

1. Citroën cars - especially the old ones. This is what driving was meant to be. Hard to get them here in the USA, but do a little globe trotting and you're sure to find them. The hydraulic pump gives the Goddess a unique quality and presence on the road and for a time filled the Parisian streets with beauty.

2. Arche Shoes - I know these are primarily marketed to the ladies but I'm telling you, they are super duper comfortable and you can walk for hours in them. Sleek, modern, durable and as French as a fresh baguette these shoes are magnificent. Do they seem a little to metro-sexual for the KOTCB? Piss off, they're great and my feet love 'em.
3. Juliette Binoche - They don't make this anywhere but in France. Siren of the silver screen, freedom fighter, a woman with true integrity and deep emotional tones - this is a soul sprung from L'Hexagone. Prolific and versatile in her film and stage career as an actress she represents, for me, the true beauty of France in all it's contradictory and inscrutable glory.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Psycho Killer, qu'est-ce?

I came into this wicked world in the early 1960's and as a result I have born witness to America's 50 Years of Failure which includes the modern age of mass shootings by psychotic men who "go off" on a given day, for no reason at all (except "guns"), and kill scads of innocent bystanders. Back in August of 2019 a KOTCB blog post titled " Reciprocity City " explored a young  gunman  named Patrick Crusius  who drove 9 hours through the west Texas flatlands to shoot up El Paso, TX The KOTCB has commented on many of these shootings, bombings and knifings over the years -  The roots of the Boston Marathon Bombing ,  the Emanuel AME Church shooting ,  Syed Rizvan Farook and his bride Tashfeen Malik ,  Ft. Lauderdale Airport shooting ,  Nick Cruz lovesick Parkland shooting ,  the Iranian, PETA activist, Vegan Bodybuilder, YouTuber's attack on Google  and now this very oddly timed and placed "lone wolf" attack on Walmart shoppers. This list

The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson

She was "sexy", but "too much hard work." I'm a regular Fox & Friends viewer (mostly in protest of the other insipid morning programs like Today and Good Morning America) so over the years I've gotten to know Gretchen Carlson pretty well. Stuck between Steve and Brian she always seemed a prudish scold with an irritating, self-righteous demeanor that I simply put up with because I figured some people in the Fox audience actually liked her persona. It was obvious that Steve and Brian did not, but they were stuck with her like so many talking heads and had to make the best of it - which they did. Besides, she was no worse than any of the other women on morning show TV - I mean, you're only going to find a certain kind of person to do this kind of work and that kind of person is the Gretchen Carlson kind. Then, one day, she was gone and replaced by Elisabeth Hasselbeck and the F&F ratings began to climb, and climb and climb - in two months view

Who voted for this guy?

Who voted for this guy? It's been ten days since the results of the Maricopa County, Arizona ballot audit were released to the public and presented at a hearing held by the state senate. This exercise in democratic accountability had been going on for months and, if reports are to be believed, was completed well over a  month before the September 24th hearing where   overwhelming proof of an illegitimate election was presented to lawmakers . The audit showed multiple irregularities, fake ballots, duplicate counts, errors, omissions and egregious acts of sabotage and obstinance by the Maricopa County board of supervisors who did everything they could to withhold and destroy evidence of wrongdoing from the citizen sleuths. The misfeasance of Arizona's political leaders was clearly defined, shocking and (for some) beyond belief but somehow these facts were discovered, organized, packaged and suppressed for MONTHS by the Cyber Ninjas who were attempting to "get to the bottom&q