The Declaration of Independence Annotated

Volokh Conspiracy  "When reading the Declaration, it is worth keeping in mind two very important facts. The Declaration constituted high treason against the Crown and every person who signed it would be executed as traitors should they be caught by the British. Second, the Declaration was considered to be a legal document by which the revolutionaries justified their actions, and explained why they were not truly traitors. It represented, as it were, a literal indictment of the Crown and Parliament, in the very same way that criminals are now publicly indicted for their alleged crimes by grand juries representing “the People.”
....
"Later, the Declaration also assumes increasing importance in the struggle to abolish slavery.  It is a foundational document of the Nineteenth Century abolitionists and was much relied upon by Abraham Lincoln.  It had to be explained away by the Supreme Court in Dred Scott. Eventually, it was repudiated by some defenders of slavery in the South because of its inconsistency with that institution. This repudiates the claims of many who say the Constitution allowed slavery.

"To appreciate all that is packed into these two paragraphs, it is useful to break down the Declaration into some of its key claims."

Left Coast Rebel  posts this about the above article.  "Like everyone here, last week's developments find me deeply disturbed. Like many points in the past several years I fear for not only my safety, liberty and economic freedom, I also fear for the same thing for my family and my loved ones that will live in this land generations from now.  

"On this point -  just what should we celebrate Independence Day for today, this July 4? Independence from what? From England? Or is it a lot bigger than that (of course it is)...

"Randy Barnett, writing at the Volokh Conspiracy points us to an annotated version of the Declaration of Independence, what it means, and what it should mean in an America under the creeping shadow of an opressive(sic), all-powerful Leviathan government:"

The Annotated Constitution

Lies, damn lies, and TV documentaries

American Thinker   "First the History Channel aired a "documentary" version of Howard Zinn's fake history of the United States (the one that begins with the claim that 12 million native Americans were killed in the Indian wars). Now Oliver Stone and a marxist(sic) professor from American University have created a ten part "history" of America and the world since World War 2. Showtime, owned by CBS, thought this was worth airing. At a press conference to promote the series, Stone revealed that Hitler and Stalin were misunderstood." 

The People's Cube

Ron Radosh: More Revelations about the Oliver Stone-Peter Kuznick “Documentary” on How America is an Evil Nation    "Based on what Kuznick and Stone said about their concepts, I presented a tough and cogent argument about how it promises to be one of the most ill-advised and dangerous treatments of our history by the media. I also addressed what I thought Kuznick was bringing to the documentary. I called him “yet another of the politically correct tenured radicals; a man of far left sympathies who considers Oliver Stone a man of great insight and profound truths.” And I called him a “left-wing activist whose concept of education verges on indoctrination, not scholarly inquiry.” "

Alan Caruba: Saving the Republic

Warning Signs

"In May 1787 fifty-five men, ranging in age from twenty-six to eighty-one gathered in Philadelphia and spent 116 days putting together a Constitution that deliberately slowed the process by which legislation could be passed, knowing how the passions and enthusiasms of men, often ill-conceived, could result in a bad outcome. Was there ever a nation so blessed to have men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Benjamin Franklin in the same room?"

...."The answer is that the Constitution does protect Americans. We still have the vote. Now we must ensure that everyone understands what is at stake because America has been falling prey to stealth socialism for a very long time. 
"We must restore the fundamental principles of limited government, fiscal prudence, and individual rights. And we shall."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/

The Obama Foreign Policy; There is much to criticize, but Romney must choose his points carefully.

Victor Davis Hanson  "Words ultimately have consequences. The constant naïveté from the administration — the characterization of the Muslim Brotherhood as largely “secular,” the mythography of the Cairo speech, the taboo against using the phrase “radical Islam” — may have been designed to offer a politically correct mask for Obama’s continuance of the Bush-Cheney protocols, but it may also have had the effect of suggesting to our enemies that the U.S. is ambiguous about radical Islam and does not necessarily connect it with anti-American terrorism.

"In general, given American exhaustion over Afghanistan and Iraq, combined with the economic crisis, the Obama administration correctly gauged the public desire for no more interventions, but it finessed that isolationist impulse into its own sense of a multipolar world where America was merely one among many nations."

"Aside from the war on terror, then, what are the ten legitimate areas of criticism?" Read on...

Happy Independence Day

http://terrellaftermath.com/

 Heritage; Does the Declaration of Independence Still Matter?   "The Declaration of Independence was partly intended as a list of grievances against a distant monarch. And both George III and the colonists who disagreed with his rule are long dead. But so are many of those who’ve argued that the Declaration is obsolete. In fact, this is exactly what those who called themselves “progressives” were saying a century ago."


Here's one I wish I had seen sooner:
Hillsdale College; "Read the Declaration” campaign
"This 4th of July, Hillsdale College wants you to join with your friends, family, and neighbors - and actually read the Declaration of Independence. This can be the largest-ever public reading of the Declaration in American history! We want hundreds of thousands, even millions, of Americans setting aside a few minutes to remember the legacy of liberty our Founders entrusted to us."

Remember this is Independence Day

Ineptocracy

Zazzle

The Online Slang Dictionary  "A system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers."


More at Sodahead

Liberals disagree

Merriam Webster says…thugocracy and ineptocracy go hand in hand

US military strength beefed up at Hormuz as nuclear talks with Iran fade

DEBKAfile   "Shortly after the announcement, senior US administration officials said the fourth round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers taking place in Istanbul Tuesday were most probably the last: Tehran has refused to give way on the key issues of the 20-percent grade enrichment of uranium and the closure of its underground nuclear facility at Fordo.

The new war drums sent oil past $100 for the first time in three weeks.

As for the Gulf buildup, US sources said counter-measures were in place in case the extra forces were targeted for Iranian aggression."

Do you somehow visualize Obama launching an attack, oh, say about the first week of November?

Jerusalem Post cartoon

The Jerusalem Post seems to lack confidence in Obama's military leadership: Obama ‘chickened out’ of confronting mullahs  "  "The White House, however, has “a systemic failure in understanding the lay of the land” when it comes to Iran. The current president is no exception, according to Reza Pahlavi.

" “Barack Obama is hell-bent on engaging the Iranian regime just to prove that he’s not George Bush. That doesn’t help the problem. That’s not what people expected in Iran,” the Iranian prince said.
" “The people of Iran are asking for help, and Obama cares about showing Khamenei that he can reason with him. That was Jimmy Carter’s mentality in 1979 and that’s still the mentality in 2012.”
Reza Pahlavi called on “Israeli friends to stand up in support of those trying to bring democracy to Iran.”
"He added: “Of course Iranians don’t hate Israel. The regime wants you to think so."

New Zimmerman Evidence Removes Any Doubt; George Zimmerman: victim of a liberal racist lynch mob.

PJ Media  "There is no doubt in my mind that Zimmerman is the main victim here and that President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Al Sharpton, special prosecutor Angela Corey, Sanford detective Chris Serino, and a host of others are prominent members of this shameful multiracial lynch mob.

"In my previous article, I pointed out that I have investigated many cases of racial violence and police brutality, and have documented, in official federal reports, that many such awful events have indeed taken place in this country. Yet Zimmerman’s case did not have any of the features of those other incidents of racial brutality."

Independence Day

Wikipedia  "During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia declaring the United States independent from Great Britain. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the wording of the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

"The 4th of July is America's birthday. That's a big deal. This brief ceremony will help you bring meaning back into this holiday. It's easy and fun. Join the party!"

The soon-to-be-gone Neal Boortz has posted these:

Phonies celebrating Independence Day "This is a day we celebrate the Declaration of Independence … proclaiming our independence from Great Britain and the heavy-handed governance King George was inflicting on the colonies".
How about an Independence Day quiz?  "I then posted the quiz on line and teachers across the country printed it out and gave it to their students as an open-book take-home test.  It also became hugely popular with home schoolers. So .. here it is, somewhat revised ….."
I'm going to miss Mr. Boortz terribly.


Americans aren't the only ones left historically, um, "challenged" by our education system

OUTRAGED Midwest Farmers Protest EPA Spy Planes Over Iowa Ranches

Gateway Pundit  " Midwest farmers were outraged to hear that the Obama EPA was spying on ranches in surveilance planes. Rep. Tom Latham sent a letter to the EPA demanding answers,

“No federal agency has the right to treat the American farmer like the Taliban.”

"To the Obama EPA – Iowa farmers are the enemy."  Original article.

Stop The Sovietization Of American Medicine

Forbes  "For me, the expanded reach of an already bloated central government brings back bad memories of being a physician in the Soviet Union, which collapsed under the weight of its own bureaucratic inefficiencies two decades ago. I was among the many Soviets cheering for its demise. Now I worry that some of the most ruinous traits of the Soviet system are taking hold of American medicine."

...."Washington has unleashed an avalanche of regulations that devour physicians’ time while disjoining us from patients. Without hard evidence of their effectiveness, these regulations are useless and, worse, harmful. "Hospitals, which now own many physician practices, are subject to multiple layers of oversight. Many establish more bureaucracy than required, at substantial cost, to ensure they appear compliant, or risk losing accreditation and funding."  Leonid Poretsky (right) is a Professor of Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Our own family physician bears all this out . TD   Also here.

"Soviet" definition: " ....any similar council or assembly connected with a socialistic governmental system elsewhere."


Rick Moran: House guerrilla tactics attempt to stymie Obamacare implementation   "There's more than one way to skin a cat and the GOP in the House are looking at ways to defund, or refuse to fund implementation of Obamacare in government.

"Next week, the House will take up a bill to prevent HHS money from going to the IRS."