Popping Skulls

"Crushing dissent" is one of the nonsensical catch-phrases the angry left slings around rather freely these days when discussing the Bush administration. Attempting rational conversation with anyone who says such things is a rather futile pursuit and so I generally ignore them. Occasionally, though, it's good to highlight just how foolish and ignorant of the world such folks really are. The New York Sun runs a terribly sad story today which accomplishes precisely that. In 1996 North Korean soldiers building another empty highway for Kim Il Sung discovered a Bible and a list of 25 names while demolishing an empty house. Those on the list were identified as the members and leaders of a secret Christian church, which perhaps met in the house. Everyone on the list was immediately arrested at their workplaces and imprisoned. Several weeks later the parishoners were brought to the road construction site where their church had been discovered. An audience of spectators "arranged in neat rows" awaited them. Five of the Christians were identified as church leaders: one pastor, two assistant pastors, and two elders. These five were bound hand and foot and made to lie in front of an asphalt roller. As the 20 church members and other spectators watched, the five leaders were accused of being Christian spies, and ordered to deny their faith and pledge to serve only Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. The five said nothing. "Some of the fellow parishioners assembled to watch the execution cried, screamed out, or fainted when the skulls made a popping sound as they were crushed beneath the steamroller."

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