Spin Dry

You really should read it if you haven't. But here, for your edification, a selection of some of the enumerated wrongs of King George III, which compelled the Colonies to rebel in the first place, with commentary on how they relate to certain events of our time.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

Or, in a certain monarch's place, he has passed every law to come across his desk -- after they have been rubber-stamped by a Republican Congress; many of which said laws have been unwholesome and unnecessary for the public good.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

Or has appointed truly bad nominees to be justices...

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

Or, via his surrogates in Congress, has threatened judges who have not agreed with his positions

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their substance.

Homeland Security, anyone?

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

Or started a war without Congressional authorization, based on a lie, and has turned our National Guard into an army with a post facto draft called "stop loss."

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

Homeland Security, ibid.

For protecting [troops], by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

Abu Ghraib

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

Or effectively doing so by alienating most of the rest of the world

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

AKA Gitmo

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences:

Yes, they've done exactly this.

For abolishing the free system of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

Not a neighbor, but a pretty good description of Iraq -- and to think the original was Canada.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

Deregulation, deregulation, deregulation.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

Hm. Large Armies of foreign Mercenaries. Ring any bells?

In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

You try to get into an appearance by the President wearing an anti-Bush T-shirt...

Not excact parallels, but some of the particulars are striking, and many of the crimes are far worse.

Who and where are our Washington, Jefferson and Franklin now?