Robert Ariail for September 11, 2016

You are free, that is a self imposed prison.

The Prince of PompadoodleLived behind a castle wall,Behind a moat, behind a guardOf twenty soldiers tall.The Prince of PompadoodleWas the safest man alive.Each day he wrote how long he’d livedAnd multiplied by five.…The Prince of PompadoodleSent his every friend awayAnd sat alone, safe, locked alive,To count another day.The Prince of PompadoodleMay hoard each empty hour,But none can know; no word comes fromThe silent stony tower.—Walt Kelly, 1957

So when are we going to do something about it?

Instead of locking yourself in your house and never going outside. How about you stop insulting your neighbors and live in the neighborhood? We have given up our freedoms for securities and then made sure every lone wolf can buy an assault riffle within our borders.

And we’re still at war in Afghanistan, which did nothing to us, instead of Saudi Arabia. Hmm, 1967 USS Liberty, another of our only “friends” in the Middle East attacks and kills our sailors, unprovoked, and we did nothing, and still wage our wars to “protect” the most powerful military in the Middle East.

Security is in evaluating real threats and taking RATIONAL actions, not creating straw dogs to create a world-wide “Burning Man” event.

This cartoon illustrates the perfect reason why I say the terrorists have already won. We are no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave. We have become the land of the sort of free and the forever fearful. And as far as trusting our government, I have not trusted them since I was a child. You could say I grew up fast.

@ZuhlamonI would’a been more clear with the wording on your post- – - – - – - – - -" Oh yeah, And build a (Expletive) wall "- – - – - – - – - – My version;- – - – - – - – - -Oh yeah, and build a Forking wall !- – - – - – - – - -See that ? Not one cuss word there !

We have locked ourselves in. True enough.

Kelly saw it happening even then. He touched on book burning, McCarthy, totalitarianism (much of it Russian, at the time), isolationism, and later on he took on the Klan, the John Birch Society (aka The Jack Acid Society), polluters, and the Nixon administration. A poet of the comics page, and one who couldn’t just let things slide.

Kip WThe giants of the past still live. Thanks for reminding us.

Brilliant.

Brian, Thank you for your reply.