Hot Air » Schoolhouse Rock: No more kings

Just go.  Look at how we viewed the country a short few decades ago.  I remember the Preamble because of School House Rock.

We have fallen so far.

Hot Air » Schoolhouse Rock: No more kings

Happy Independence Day

Ignore the fireworks, ignore the BBQs, ignore the BS that has built up over time.  This day should be remembered for why it exists.

A nascent America decided that they had enough of tyranny, enough of oppression, enough of hidden dealings and loss of legal rights by rote of a king.

They declared “NO MORE”.  They rose up and declared that we will not accept this situation any longer.

Today, we have the “Tea Party”, named after its spiritual ancestor, the “Boston Tea Party”.  In Dec 16, 1773, a load of tea from England was dumped into the sea because they were being forced to accept a product they did not want and pay a tax the people did not approve. 

On July 4th, 1776, some of the greatest minds in our country’s history wrote the Declaration Of Independence.  We declared the birth of a new nation, one founded in rights, in representation, in fairness and word of law.

When I woke this morning, I thought it only right to read this hallowed document.  Please, read it all.  It’s an amazing document and very enlightening.  It is posted below:

 

The Unanimous Declaration
of the Thirteen United States of America

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.

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.

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

More Obama Administration First Amendment Goodness: TSA to block “controversial opinion” websites to employees

So who decides what “controversial opinion” means?

The Transportation Security Administration has taken a bold step forward in securing commercial air, sea, and ground transportation, thanks to a renewed focus on technology.  Are they using state-of-the-art scanners?  Perhaps, but that’s not their focus these days.  Instead, they’re busy protecting their employees from, er, controversial opinions:

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is blocking certain websites from the federal agency’s computers, including halting access by staffers to any Internet pages that contain a “controversial opinion,” according to an internal email obtained by CBS News.

The email was sent to all TSA employees from the Office of Information Technology on Friday afternoon.

It states that as of July 1, TSA employees will no longer be allowed to access five categories of websites that have been deemed “inappropriate for government access.”

What will TSA block?  A few of these make sense, but as for others, well …

• Chat/Messaging
• Controversial opinion
• Criminal activity
• Extreme violence (including cartoon violence) and gruesome content
• Gaming

Hot Air » Great news: TSA to block “controversial opinion” websites to employees

Obama Administration Hates Freedom Of Speech and The Press. Clamps Down On Reporters And Military.

The Obama Administration despises the idea that anyone can disagree with it or show the truth, because the truth is rarely what they want people to see.

First, they close off access to the oil "cleanups” to reporters, photographers, etc.

The White House Thursday enacted stronger rules to prevent the media from showing what’s happening with the oil spill in the Gulf Coast.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper reported that evening, "The Coast Guard today announced new rules keeping photographers and reporters and anyone else from coming within 65 feet of any response vessel or booms out on the water or on beaches — 65 feet."

He elaborated, "Now, in order to get closer, you have to get direct permission from the Coast Guard captain of the Port of New Orleans. You have to call up the guy. What this means is that oil-soaked birds on islands surrounded by boom, you can’t get close enough to take that picture." – link h/t NewsBusters

And now then military can’t speak without permission:

WASHINGTON – Military officials will need Pentagon clearance for interviews and other dealings with reporters, according to an order from Defense Secretary Robert Gates not long after the top general in Afghanistan was fired for his comments in a magazine article.

The order, issued by Gates on Friday in a brief memo to military and civilian personnel worldwide and effective immediately, tells officials to make sure they are not going out of bounds or unintentionally releasing information that the Pentagon wants to hold back.

Military officials will need OK before interviews – Yahoo! News

Palin Was Right. Obama Administration Admits They Might Need To Decide Who Is Worth Treating. Death Panels Anyone?

What a shock… to no one other than those fools who believed Obama.

The Obama administration has not ruled out turning sick people away from an insurance program created by the new healthcare law to provide coverage for the uninsured.

Critics of the $5 billion high-risk pool program insist it will run out of money before Jan. 1, 2014. That’s when the program sunsets and health plans can no longer discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions.

Administration officials insist they can make changes to the program to ensure it lasts until 2014, and that it may not have to turn away sick people. Officials said the administration could also consider reducing benefits under the program, or redistributing funds between state pools. But they acknowledged turning some people away was also a possibility.

“There’s a certain amount of money authorized in the statute, and we will do our best to make sure that that amount of money insures as many people as possible and does as much good as possible,” said Jay Angoff, director of the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). “I think it’s premature to say [what happens] when it’s gone.”

Health law risks turning away sick – TheHill.com

House Democrats ‘Deem’ Faux $1.1 Trillion Budget ‘as Passed’ So They Can Continue To Spend Without A Pesky Budget

Every single one of the traitors involved in this should be arrested for trying to destroy the nation.  I am so sick of these lunatics.

Last night, as part of a procedural vote on the emergency war supplemental bill, House Democrats attached a document that “deemed as passed” a non-existent $1.12 trillion budget. The execution of the “deeming” document allows Democrats to start spending money for Fiscal Year 2011 without the pesky constraints of a budget.
The procedural vote passed 215-210 with no Republicans voting in favor and 38 Democrats crossing the aisle to vote against deeming the faux budget resolution passed.
Never before — since the creation of the Congressional budget process — has the House failed to pass a budget, failed to propose a budget then deemed the non-existent budget as passed as a means to avoid a direct, recorded vote on a budget, but still allow Congress to spend taxpayer money.

House Democrats ‘Deem’ Faux $1.1 Trillion Budget ‘as Passed’ – HUMAN EVENTS

The IPCC consensus on climate change was phoney, says IPCC insider

I posted on the early statements this guy made about this fraud.  Of course, some idiots in the press came up with all sorts of “you took him out of context” excuses.  Well, this pretty much lays it all out.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change misled the press and public into believing that thousands of scientists backed its claims on manmade global warming, according to Mike Hulme, a prominent climate scientist and IPCC insider.  The actual number of scientists who backed that claim was “only a few dozen experts,” he states in a paper for Progress in Physical Geography, co-authored with student Martin Mahony.

“Claims such as ‘2,500 of the world’s leading scientists have reached a consensus that human activities are having a significant influence on the climate’ are disingenuous,” the paper states unambiguously, adding that they rendered “the IPCC vulnerable to outside criticism.

The IPCC consensus on climate change was phoney, says IPCC insider | Full Comment | National Post

Dems: Let’s Extend Unemployment Benefits By Adding To The Huge Deficit. GOP: How About We Pay For It. Dems: Screw That. Party Time.

Boy, it sure is a good thing that Obama signed that “Pay-Go” bill.  The one that requires you to PAY for something before you GO spend…  Yeah, the one the Dems have ignored EVERY SINGLE TIME.

It’s the evil GOP that is stopping the benefits, not the Dems who refuse to pay for it.  Of course it’s the GOP’s fault.  Not the Dems who won’t cut spending.  How could you even think that.

Congress adjourns this week for the July Fourth recess without having passed a bill to extend unemployment insurance benefits to 1.3 million people who started losing them this month.

Democrats have been painting Republicans as unsympathetic to the long-term unemployed who will be unable to collect benefits, but Democratic leaders have rejected several offers by the GOP to vote for the bill if at least some of it is paid for.

"My concern is that the Democrats are more interested in having this issue to demagogue for political gamesmanship than they are in simply passing the benefits extension," said Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, who offered a deal that was rejected by Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Democratic leaders were quick to attack Republicans for opposing the benefits, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., calling their opposition "just cruel" and "contrary to what our country is about."

Republicans, meanwhile, stood firm in their argument that extending benefits should not add to the deficit.

Dems refuse compromise to extend unemployment benefits | Washington Examiner

Patterico’s Pontifications » Fabricating the Oil Cleanup

Oh, what a shock.  Obama’s cleanup efforts are as fake as he is?  Who would have thought.

From David Freddoso at the Washington Examiner:

“Phantom Assets

“The number of assets claimed [by the White House], however, does not appear to match what is actually in the field. This is corroborated by Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, who shared a similar story with investigators. BP and Coast Guard provided Mr. Nungesser with a map of the Gulf allegedly pinpointing the exact locations of 140 skimmers cleaning up oil. Sensing that the chart may have been somewhat inaccurate, Mr. Nungesser requested a flyover of the assets for verification. After three cancelled trips, officials admitted to Mr. Nungesser that only 31 of the 140 skimmers were ever deployed. The rest were sitting at the docks. According to Mr. Nungesser, the chart appeared to have been fabricated.”

Freddoso also addresses the “illusion” that President Obama and his Administration are in charge, saying instead that BP (or no one) is overseeing the cleanup. He alleges resources have been distributed based on PR and not cleanup value, and the federal government has tied the hands of local officials eager to help.

Patterico’s Pontifications » Fabricating the Oil Cleanup

Obama: Fences and Border Patrols “Won’t Work”. How Do You Know? You Never Tried.

Every single illegal immigrant needs to go home.  Want a solution that works?

• Keep them out.  Bring the military in to defend the border from the invasion.  Give them the ability to do WHATEVER IT TAKES. 
• Keep them from making money.  Make sure that any company who hires someone has a way to check citizenship and ANY company who knowingly hires an illegal is fined so hard that they would never even consider it.
• Make English the national language.  It will save tons of money where everything does not have to be in multiple languages.

They come here because its profitable and easy.  Make the money go away, make it a challenge to get here.

10% of our population is out of work, so stop with the “they only do jobs US people won’t”.  It’s BS and you all know it.

(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama said today that U.S. borders cannot be secured with fences and border patrols. “It won’t work,” he said.
Obama made the statement in a speech at American University in Washington, D.C. in which he called on Congress to enact a “comprehensive immigration reform” law that would include a “pathway for legal status” for illegal immigrants—or what critics call amnesty.
“Even as we are committed to doing what’s necessary to secure our borders, even without passage of the new law, there are those who argue that we should not move forward with any other elements of reform until we have fully sealed our borders,” said Obama. “But our borders are just too vast for us to be able to solve the problem only with fences and border patrols. It won’t work. Our borders will not be secure as long as our limited resources are devoted to not only stopping gangs and potential terrorists, but also the hundreds of thousands who attempt to cross each year simply to find work.”

CNSNews.com – Obama: U.S. Borders Cannot Be Secured With Fences and Border Patrols