Wednesday, July 3, 2013

The Declaration of Independence

Political Cartoons by Nate Beeler
Here is the complete text of the Declaration of Independence.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.  
 
He has forbidden his governors to pass
laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

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

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
 Political Cartoons by Chip Bok
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

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:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring 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 in these colonies:
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
 
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete 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.
He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
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.
Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
The names of the signers here.
Political Cartoons by Steve Breen
Declaration of Independence for Kids

Ominous outlook for the Zimmermann trial.

The US population seems more third-world than ever.
 
More Americans View Blacks As Racist Than Whites, Hispanics  "Americans consider blacks more likely to be racist than whites and Hispanics in this country.
"Thirty-seven percent (37%) of American Adults think most black Americans are racist, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just 15% consider most white Americans racist, while 18% say the same of most Hispanic Americans. (To see survey question wording, click here.)"

Sanford Police Chief Fears “Violence” in Response to Zimmerman Verdict   "City Manager Norton Bonaparte is similarly on edge, fearing a Rodney King-style riot if Zimmerman is found not guilty."
Can Zimmermann get a fair trial with pressure like this?
From Drudge:

Tea Party Members Fit Profile of Domestic Terrorists, Obama Claims

Liberal cartoonists join with Obama in demonizing the TEA Party:
National Report   "A short time ago while addressing a CEO roundtable and Business Forum in Tanzania, President Barack H. Obama, told reporters and attendees that today’s Tea Party members in the United States very closely fit the U.S. government’s profile for domestic terrorists. The President’s response came after a Tanzania businessman asked if civil unrest in the U.S. is likely to affect doing business with American companies."
....
..."Obama responded by saying, “Typically domestic terrorists in the U.S. are people who cling to obsolete beliefs from the time of the American Revolution. They are conservative Christians, reactionary Republicans and conspiracy theorists many of whom belong to racist hate groups.” "
(Emphasis added.)
Hat tip to Julie Grace Foster at Conservative Bloggers on Facebook

Pro-Abortion Protester Has Young Girl Hold Sign: “If I Wanted The Government In My Womb, I Would F*** A Senator!”…

Weasel Zippers  "Really not all that surprising people who support killing babies in the womb have no class."

Breaking: Morsi under house arrest; 15 Photos From the Tahrir Square Protests You'll Never See In Legacy Media.

Report: Morsi Under House Arrest  "Al Hayat TV is reporting that Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi is under house arrest.  However, Morsi's spokesman denied the report to ABC News."

Doug Ross   "Curiously, a massive wave of anti-Obama sentiment in Egypt has been utterly ignored by vintage media, even though the protests may be the largest in all of human history."

'The Lone Ranger' Follows P.C. Narrative, Smites Greedy Capitalist

Big Hollywood   "The Lone Ranger opens with a sly storytelling device that acknowledges Hollywood's checkered past regarding the depiction of Native Americans. That apparently wasn't enough for the new Hollywood reboot, which mocks the "white man," targets a capitalist and casts aspersions at the U.S. military in true modern fashion."
 

Good to repost this: Hollywood, then and now

Millenium Ark  "What a difference 60 years makes! Compare the Brave Entertainers of 1943 with today's Hollywood motley bunch."
"The Entertainers of 2003 have been in all of the news media lately. It seems Newspapers, Television and Radio has been more than ready to put them and their message before the public.

"Look what the entertainers of 1943 were doing, 60 years ago. Most of these brave men have since passed on."


"These are the real award winners!"....

'Star Trek' Actor/Activist Removes 'Under God' from Pledge " "Star Trek" actor George Takei omitted the phrase "under God" while reciting a key part of the Pledge of Allegiance during a media appearance."

Lady Gaga Changes National Anthem to Say, 'Home of the Gay'   "Singer Lady Gaga used this week's Supreme Court decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act as an excuse to tweak The Star-Spangled Banner to say, “land of the free, and the home for the gay.” "

Barry of Arabia 2

Kerry Reclining
 
Obama scrambles to save Morsi after Muslim Brotherhood Pres defies Ultimatum to Bend to Protest   "Morsi can afford to brush off isolation if Obama continues to support this Islamic supremacist thug with billions, F16s, arms and aid."
 
Walid Phares: Egyptian Demonstrations Signal 'Civilizational War'  "And the United States must take a stand, Phares said. The administration of President Barack Obama is getting a second chance to support democracy after its failure to take sides during the Iranian youth revolution in 2009, he said.

Political Cartoons by Lisa Benson
 
Overthrow Morsi/ And end the Muslim Brotherhood's dictatorial rule in Egypt  President Obama "pushed for hasty elections before more moderate parties had time to organize, and gave them no assistance. Even now, he lends the Morsi regime legitimacy by calling it democratically elected when its aims and means are clearly undemocratic and deeply illiberal. It’s no wonder that President Obama and our ambassador to Egypt, Anne Patterson, are objects of the protesters’ fury."

Can Christians Live Freely in Obama's America?

CNS News  "Two hundred and thirty-seven years ago, a group of Americans representing what were then English colonies gathered in Philadelphia and agreed to risk all they had on a certain proposition.

" "We hold these truths to be self-evident," they said, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

 "Having won their independence, Americans would eventually write and ratify a Constitution authorizing a limited central government — and would immediately add to that constitution a Bill of Rights.

"The first words in that Bill of Rights say: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." "....

Classy: Pro-abortion protesters drown out “Amazing Grace” with chants of “Hail Satan”  "Even at the beginning of this short clip, it’s nearly impossible to make out what the pro-abortion protesters are yelling — at least until the camera swings around, and a young woman helpfully boosts the message."

 Student ordered to remove cross necklace   "A Sonoma State University student was ordered to remove a cross necklace by a supervisor who thought other students might find it offensive, in a case that prompted even one campus official to speculate that “political correctness got out of hand.” "
 
The tyranny of political correctness.

Surprise! Israeli “Racism” Is Waning

Commentary Magazine   "Thus the best way to moderate Israeli Jewish “racism” would be to moderate Israeli Arab extremism. But unfortunately, many well-meaning American Jews are doing the opposite: Via organizations like the New Israel Fund, they finance Israeli Arab groups that actively promote extremist views–like Adalah, which demands that Israel replace the Law of Return with a Palestinian “right of return” to Israel. And they are thereby distancing rather than promoting the more tolerant Israel they claim to want."

Obama facing crisis over incompetence

Political Cartoons by Ken Catalino
Hot Air    ...."The Obama administration has been damaged by the scandals of the past two months, but it’s still too early to see if they will cause the kind of long-term damage Bush suffered from those two chapters in his presidency.  It may well be that incompetence is the better option in terms of perception for Obama and his White House, depending on what the investigations find."
The administration is facing a crisis of competence. At a time when trust in government is already at an all-time low, the events of this past week illustrate the limits of this president’s power. The White House seems more comfortable stage-managing the news than dealing with the uncomfortable crises that inevitably crop up. (If there’s anything to learn from the Benghazi crisis, it was the administration’s attentiveness to detail in how to avoid blame in the aftermath of the crisis, but a lack of focus in how to react as the crisis was occurring.)
In the above National Journal article, Obama's Crisis of Competence,
"For months, as the Morsi government has taken steps to consolidate power, quash critics and marginalize independent civil society groups, President Obama and his top aides have been largely silent in public. No effort was made to use the leverage of U.S. aid to compel a change of policy."

Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez
Quoting Bloomberg News: John Kerry’s Bid for Mideast Peace Is Doomed"It’s a testament to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s grit, determination and self-assurance that he refuses to give up in his quest to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. But I wish that he would, during the long slog toward renewed talks, ask himself one question: Why didn’t his predecessor, Hillary Clinton, apply herself to the problem in the same manner?"

Related: Which is in worse shape, Obama’s domestic agenda or his foreign policy?    "Encouraged by the president, the notion is rampant that America can take a holiday from history. In the real world, we and our allies face an upsurge in instability, violence, Islamic extremism and contempt for human rights — which is what one gets when the United States takes the left’s advice and stops being the “world’s policeman.” " 

July 4, 1976--> Remembering Entebbe- When Leaders Stood Up To Terrorists

Yid With Lid  "On America's two hundredth birthday it was Israel who showed the world the "Spirit of 1776."
....
"Thirty-seven years ago it was a different world.  Israel stood up to terrorists and their daring raid was celebrated across the world. Today it is the terrorists who are celebrated, that is if they are mentioned at all.

"Much of the intervening years was filled with Western appeasement of terrorism.  We negotiate, we give in to their demands, we refuse to call them terrorists, we celebrate terrorists like Arafat and Abbas, we even blame terrorist acts on the victims. 

"Entebbe was the almost a final act of Western defiance, with every act of appeasement, with each acquiescence to terrorist demands, terrorism is suckling at the teat of Western lack of resolve. In the end, the west is feeding the monster that will cause its destruction."

Yonatan Netanyahu,  the Prime Minister's older brother
 and team leader was the only Israeli commando killed
 during the operation.