A simple declaration

Really, there wasn't much too it. Only one page of paper. But it was the foundation, the reason for everything that has come since. When was the last time you read the Declaration of Independence? Please, enjoy the holiday, but even more, please remember.

Everyone's probably going to remember this song today

But it's too good not to re-post for the 4th of July.

A long train of abuses and usurpations

The internet was invented so people like [EVERY TSA AGENT EVER] could look for specialized porn from the comfort of their own home.

SO WHY THE HELL DO THEY KEEP HAVING TO LIVE THEIR PERVERTED FANTASIES IN REAL LIFE?

Ok, I can get where people were coming from when the TS-Prodding Passengers in the-A was invented.  Terrorists are scary, etc.

95 year old cancer patients wearing adult diapers ARE. NOT. SCARY.  6 year old girls ARE. NOT. SCARY.   Hellfire and Damnation, even attractive and well-endowed women ARE. NOT. SCARY.

And yet.  And yet.

We get a statement from the TSA leadership defending these actions.

We get advertisements in the newspaper for more TSA job openings.

And if there is a single honorable TSA agent, they have forsaken any and all respect by way of their silence, and deserve nothing.

...

It occurs to me that we are approaching July 4th.  Are you going to re-read (or even write out) the Declaration of Independence, the reason for all the pretty shiny lights and burnt hot dogs?  It's frightening how you almost wouldn't have to re-write anything if you wanted to send it to the King George of our time.

Or are you going to be like most Americans, and just complain about your sunburn and the mustard stain you put on your red-white-and-blue t-shirt?

The United States are dead.  Long live The State.

Not a good sign, is it?

Please, watch this video.

When would be a good time for political dissent?

1) Joe Lieberman wants to give the .gov an internet kill switch.

2) Egypt uses internet kill switch to eliminate outside communication.

3) These guys wouldn't recognize a slippery slope if it punched them in the face.

"I am," he said.

I'm in Montana, soon to be moving back to Colorado, and I don't have to put up with too much in the way of idiotic, wannabe police states. Even so, with something that arguably affects me only very indirectly, I can recognize a slippery slope with the best of the libertarian crazies. And so, I link to Borepatch, and say here (figuratively) loudly:

Dear TSA

Dear TSA: you need to go.  You need to go now.  Your previously annoying antics have grown to be truly disturbing, a representation of everything wrong with bureaucratic creep.  You are a personification of Benjamin Franklin's saying, "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Dear TSA: I know you are out there, and I know that you watch the blogs (even my humble little one).  Which frankly, is also somewhat disturbing. But I know that you have people working for you, normal people, who aren't "bad guys," people who are just doing their job.  Unfortunately, these people have come to rely on an institution that stands against everything that makes my country great.  These people have become accomplices to your agenda by way of their complacency.  They should not stand for your policies any more than I should.  As long as they do, I can not feel sorry for them if my words cut.

Dear TSA:  I know this may sound harsh, but I truly believe that we should burn you to the ground, and keep you in the history books only as a horrible warning.  You are nothing that should be kept, and I am ashamed that you are a part of my country.  It is telling that your Wikipedia entry has only a "criticism and scandal" section, with nothing detailing your non-existent triumphs.  It is telling that at this point if you had a success story, most would dismiss it as a staged publicity stunt. You are useless, and you should never have gotten beyond that brainstorming session in the U.S. Capital Building back in 2001. 

Dear TSA:  you are nothing to me, you are nothing to America, and you have no hope of gaining our love or respect.  You have jumped the shark, and I hope to see my tax dollars spent on something else, anything else, very soon.

Regards,

bluesun

A Scripture for Sunday

Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,
but those who keep the law resist them.

Proverbs 28:4

Do I need to explain?

The Rifleman's Song, or the Riflemen of Bennington

A way back when I went to PA for spring break, I got a CD called "Homespun Songs of the Patriots in the American Revolution." It has quite a few little songs performed on traditional instruments, and is somewhat enjoyable, though the sound quality can be a little bit crackly.  One of the songs I quite like; not only are the lyrics good, but I can actually play it on my penny whistle.

Why come ye hither, Redcoats,
Your minds what madness fills?
In our valleys there is danger,
And there's danger in our hills.
Oh hear ye not the ringing
Of the bugle wild and free?
Full soon you'll hear the singing
Of the rifle from the tree.

cho: For the rifle, for the rifle.
     In our hands will prove no trifle.

Ye ride a goodly steed,
Ye may serve a foreign master;
Ye forward come with speed,
But ye'll learn to back much faster,
When ye meet our mountain boys
And their leader,  Johnny Stark,
Lads who make but little noise,
Lads who always hit the  mark!

Have ye no graves at home
Across the briny water,
That hither ye must come
Like bullocks to the slaughter?
If we the work must do,
Why the sooner 'tis begun,
If flint and trigger hold but true,
The quicker 'twill be done!

Over at NancyR's place she is asking for some good patriotic songs, and this was one that I like.  I've been meaning to put the lyrics down here ever since I got the CD, and she finally made me do it.

You Take My Bacon, I Take Your Thumbs. It's an Even Trade

Let me start off by showing you a picture.  This picture is the background of my phone, so I see it everyday.  I see it and I love it.

Can you see it?  The luscious, hot, dripping fat, clinging to a crispy, tasty, and salty bacon?  What you see here was two pounds of premium bacon before I fried it into its metamorphosed state.  That's right.  What was once two pounds of gooey caterpillar was transformed into it's beautiful butterfly form.  I could go on, but I probably shouldn't.  We'd be here all day.

So when I say that this issue cuts me deep, please believe me.

From Alan at Snarkybytes comes something most interesting.  Something evil is in the air.  Something so despicable that I had to put down my thoughts in comic form.  The nanny state has been moving into total control territory at a rapid pace lately, and I'm sure many of you have heard stories about the government trying to regulate foods with "high" amounts of sugar, fat, and salt.  Fat and salt, the two things that make bacon what it is.  Here it is, my next political comic:

This will be the straw that breaks this camel's back.

Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me
There's no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can't take the sky from me... 

Is now

Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the BACON from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the BACON from me
There's no place I can be
Since I found BACONITY
But you can't take the BACON from me...

(Apologies to Joss Whedon, but I'm sure he'll understand)



...

In a Pitaful Attempt to Make SOMEONE SOMEWHERE Think, I Link to Borepatch

Because really, he's much better at it than I. My forte is random videos on youtube.

But I digress...

If by some strange twist of fortune you are on my blog and don't read Borepatch, you had better get over there and read this. That's some good stuff.

Books of 2010: Give Me Liberty

While I was in Philadelphia over spring break, I bought a book at the Constitution Center called "Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries," by Naomi Wolf.  It was an interesting read.

To start off, Naomi Wolf is much more liberal (or "progessive") than I am.  She is actually kind of on the near opposite end of the spectrum from me.  That said, she is very concerned about the deterioration of American politics.  While I disagree with most of her politics, I do not disagree with most of her convictions.  What I like is how she can look past her politics and just say: "It's ok if we disagree.  But if we don't even present our arguments, nothing will improve."

A couple of interesting things from the book.  First is a story of her going to a protest in NYC at the Chinese Consulate.  There were two groups protesting two different things, but they had to share a permit and a bullhorn, and were walled off behind partitions a block away from the consulate.  So much for free speech.

Then there were a couple of quotes that stand out to me, that I would like to present without comment:

The media marked has no incentive to listen to you or reflect your real concerns.  So stop paying attention to the puppet show that now passes for debate.  You need to be the pundit.

and she quotes from Natan Shansky, who was in a Soviet Gulag for many years:

Stability is perhaps the most important word in the diplomat's dictionary.  In its name, autocrats are embraced, dictators are coddled, and tyrants are courted.

 The last part of the book is a "User's Guide" for organizing groups, writing letters to newspapers and politicians, protesting, petitioning, and other grassroots things people can do. 

There was a little bit of lefty mindlessness whenever it talked about the 2nd Amendment; they said it "protects the right to own guns, at least in certain circumstances."  Ummm... SHALL NOT be infringed?  That sounds like it applies to all circumstances to me.  Also, Naomi is a big supporter of direct democracy, and I can see where she is coming from, but I am not sold.  Seems like it would be too easy for a majority to run amok, and historically they seem to be awfully good at getting dictators into power.  I think if the constitutional republic was good enough for the founders, it is good enough for me, and I would welcome anyone else's view on this... but I digress.

It was a fairly interesting read, and it was nice to hear  from "the other side of the aisle" with a respectful tone, with much to agree with.  I give it 7 1/2 cannonballs out of 10.  Now I am on to "Atlas Shrugged."

Takin' Back Our Country

From another email from the same old crotchety guy (he's really not that bad):



Let's help them pack, alright.

Filmed in good 'ol Mesa County, CO, my home! I'll have to ask him if he knows this lady or not.

Update: He writes me back: "Very first time I've heard or seen her. Nice voice, probably too old for you."

Ha Ha.

Firearms Freedom Act Update

It's up to 6 states now: MT, SD, WY, UT, TN, and now AZ! Watch as the green states spread! I know that this really doesn't have much in the way of power, but the more states realize that they don't need to be controlled under all circumstances by D.C., the better off we will be, I think.

Tea party protests are one good thing, but having an entire state government protest sends an even bigger message.

Now, as Emperor Gregor and I like to say: We'll see what happens...

Where We Were and Where We Are

The world premier of my cartooning ability!  Something said in the latest Vicious Circle (yes, I listen to them) piqued my imagination, and I made a simple drawing to explain our situation.  Alan and Jay G pointed out that this health care monstrosity is only the latest in a long train of abuses and usurpations--this wall of bull has been built so slowly that people got used to the smell.

It remains to be seen if we are content to be safely behind the wall, no matter how cramped and disgusting it is, or if we the people are tired of being walled in and will do the distasteful act of climbing over--even if bears and wolves might live in the mountains on the other side.

Let's see what happens.

YES!

http://www.papadeltabravo.com/blog/?p=1111

Read it!  It's time to get up!

Healthcare, and the Long Slow Death of the Citizen

So here is my struggle. As a Christian, I can say that none of this stuff on Earth matters--I've got a get out of jail free card. I can sit back and watch as the government slowly turns the citizens into subjects... and it doesn't matter in the long run, because in the end I will die, and I will dance.

But does it mean that I should just sit back and watch?

What we have in theory is the form of government that best respects humanity, and which I believe was set up with divine providence. All of the founding fathers, whether or not they were "Christians," all believed that there was something greater than themselves guiding them. They went against the established government (which was disconnected from them), fought, and set up something better.

So at what point does a person decide to stop being apathetic? Apathy, even when justified by salvation, is a sin of selfishness. Shouldn't we want the best, not only for ourselves, but for all future generations?

What was voted on yesterday is a step in the wrong direction. It is moving toward a state where everything is supposedly "taken care of" by some bureaucratic tower. It is moving toward 1984, and the Soviet Union, and V for Vendetta, and every other dystopia, fiction and non-, where the people are treaded upon and told that things are all OK, and the only reason they go along with it is that they just... don't... know any better.

Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever, ’twixt that darkness and that light.

What choice to make? Do we, whatever our backgrounds and religions, go along with something like this? I may be saved from hell, but that does not excuse me with sitting back and letting evil take over the world. As a Christian, as a human, I should be in the front lines of the fight against evil. This is my conclusion. Apathy kills.

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength but irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.
...
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

--Patrick Henry

"Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels."
--Revelation 12:7

War always will rage between the two great sovereignties until one or other be crushed. Peace between good and evil is an impossibility; the very pretence of it would, in fact, be the triumph of the powers of darkness. Michael will always fight; his holy soul is vexed with sin, and will not endure it. Jesus will always be the dragon's foe, and that not in a quiet sense, but actively, vigorously, with full determination to exterminate evil. All His servants, whether angels in heaven or messengers on earth, will and must fight; they are born to be warriors--at the cross they enter into covenant never to make truce with evil; they are a warlike company, firm in defence and fierce in attack. The duty of every soldier in the army of the Lord is daily, with all his heart, and soul, and strength, to fight against the dragon.

The dragon and his angels will not decline the affray; they are incessant in their onslaughts, sparing no weapon, fair or foul. We are foolish to expect to serve God without opposition: the more zealous we are, the more sure are we to be assailed by the myrmidons of hell. The church may become slothful, but not so her great antagonist; his restless spirit never suffers the war to pause; he hates the woman's seed, and would fain devour the church if he could. The servants of Satan partake much of the old dragon's energy, and are usually an active race. War rages all around, and to dream of peace is dangerous and futile.

Glory be to God, we know the end of the war. The great dragon shall be cast out and for ever destroyed, while Jesus and they who are with Him shall receive the crown. Let us sharpen our swords to-night, and pray the Holy Spirit to nerve our arms for the conflict. Never battle so important, never crown so glorious. Every man to his post, ye warriors of the cross, and may the Lord tread Satan under your feet shortly!

--C. H. Spurgeon, from "Morning and Evening," November 30 pm

The "Why" of the United States of America

I took this challenge. I did not use a fountain pen; the words are more important. I did not use parchment paper; the words are more important. Will you take the challenge, and pass it on?

I have decided to take this seriously.  Read it again.  Decide what it means, how it applies to today.  What is in danger?  Write it out.

This is the founding document, the one that started it all.  Have we forgotten the "Why?" of the United States of America?  I pray that it is not so.

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds 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.

Here's an interesting one

I know you've probably read all those polls going around: "99 % of voters think that the govenment is outta control!" and the like. But here's one that I missed.

According to Rasmussen Reports, 87% of voters think that Washington is "broken," but 73% of the political class disagree.

Can you say: "Come back to Earth?"

A Declaration

And on lead guitar... BEN FRANKLIN!

This is the best thing I've seen on the internet all day long!

Found it at Big Hollywood.