Saturday Required Reading. (UPDATED)

A Second American Revolution? Yes, one is coming. The showdown - between those who believe in constitutional limited government and individual liberty, and those who favor the egalitarian, all-encompassing state - run by a self-electing elite with unlimited power to do "good" (which they alone determine) - is upon us.

I will pray - and will work toward - this as a bloodless revolution, carried out with the ballot. But if the political class refuses to stand aside and constrain themselves to only those Powers given them by The People, I am afraid that violence will ensue as The Left / Mainstream Media begin to lose their power and privilege.

UPDATE: On a related note, Powerline points to this National Review article from May, about modern political class ignoring our Founding Document:

What’s different today is that, although it still matters, the Constitution is no longer at the heart of our political debates. Today’s partisans compete to lead the country into a better, more hopeful future, to get the economy moving again, to solve our social problems, even to fundamentally transform the nation. But to live and govern in accordance with the Constitution is not the first item on anybody’s platform, though few would deny, after a moment’s surprise at the question, that of course keeping faith with the Constitution is on the program somewhere — maybe on page two or three.

UPDATE 01AUG2010: Powerline has more on the growing difference between our rulers and those of us they want to rule.

Yes, I Want One.

Your garden variety zombie. Really.

There's lots of other geeky goodness for sale at ThinkGeek, so check 'em out. Um, my birthday is in January...

Hattip: Instapundit.

Because You Can, Doesn't Mean You Should.

Proof. Yes, it's addictive; click on the dance options. And for added office creep-out factor, try leaving it on your screen during lunch....

From: Visual Consumer.

The Boss Visits.

Obama dropped in on GM and Chrysler to talk up the auto industry and Team Hopenchange's new volksgrünenwagen. Funny, he didn't stop by (profitable) Ford; but then again, Obama doesn't own Ford...

No Such Thing As A Sure Thing.

Even with the Democrats shooting themselves in the foot - and reloading - we in the Tea Party Movement could still blow it in November. Heed the warning.

Obama: We Must Extend Unemployment Benefits...

...To Criminals. Oops.

And these are the folks who are going to ferret out all that waste in Medicare / Medicaid??

French Woman 'Blesses' Herself.

Eight times. Well, The Episcopal Church (tm) thinks such a 'choice' is a blessing.

Dissolving The Paranoid.

WARNING: the following is a rant. If you do not want to be ranted upon, scroll down to the ObamaCare post below.

I noticed this headline on DRUDGE REPORT: "2017: 'The Year America Dissolved'..." It links to this "analysis" (and we use the term loosely - ed.) of America's future brought to you by the ever-paranoid, conspiracy-theorist hawking Alex Jones and Infowars.com.

I'll leave it to Matt Drudge to explain why he would link to such garbage; my point in mentioning it is simple - America descending into tribalism won't happen, because it can't happen. And the why is simple: We are not Europeans. Nor are we Africans or Indians or Asians.

We, are Americans.

As much as The Left / Mainstream Media has tried to Balkanize us, divide us into tribes based on some kind of "identity" and play us one group against the other, they never really succeeded. And they haven't because most Americans do not tend to see themselves in that way. It is not in our national DNA. It is in the French DNA. And the Zulu. And the Japanese. But not ours. When we look for identity bigger than ourselves, we don't tend to look to some separate ethnic or cultural tribe - we look to Old Glory.

Yes, we like our own heritage and our unique condition, and yes, we often wear it on our sleeve (or on our kilt, or turban, or ao dai... -ed.), but surface appearances can be deceiving. When things fall apart is when we Americans are at our most united. Look at what happened after 9/11. I learned many things from my experiences in Katrina, but the one lesson that has stuck with me most - outside of never trusting government or the media - is the strength of our people. In the face of real dissolution, people came together to help utter strangers - color, income, accent - it didn't matter. Yes, we had the looters and the free-for-all folks, but they were the numerical minority (and/or the NOPD - ed.). In the end, we didn't recoil into tribes when the chips were down - America is our tribe.

That is not to say that things are looking rosy. The Euro-socialist policies imposed by The Left / Mainstream Media in the last 40 years are failing, and Obama and pals are trying to fix things with even more of the same - hastening the inevitable reckoning of these fantasy policies with fiscal reality, and angering even more of the American people. Obama/Reid/Pelosi will take a drubbing at the polls in November, and likely another in 2012. As the conservative / independent majority in this country gains power and begins to push for repeal such Lefitst sacred cows as ObamaCare, redistributionist tax policies, and the other components of the Nanny State, there could well be violence. But expect it to come from a vocal minority of The Left as they lose their power and their gravy train - not from the Right.

But even if events do turn bad, it will be temporary. We will recover. We will prosper. We will not become a 21st century Yugoslavia. We, are Americans.

What Health Care Reform Looks Like On Paper, Or, You Will Be Assimilated.

This is Obama's idea of simplifying things:


Not surprisingly, it looks an awful lot like this:



And just like the fight against the Borg in Star Trek, resistance to ObamaCare is not futile - it is essential for our survival.

Hattip: Maggie's Farm.

Volt Is A Shock.

Government Motors new Chevy Volt, that "green" car that's supposed to lower the levels of the oceans and help the earth begin to heal - or something - will set you back $41,000 just to plug one into your local wind farm.

If you want to look at that in "green" terms the rest of us deal understand, for 41,000 greenbacks you could get:

Mercedes-Benz C350
Acura TL
BMW 335i
Lexus ISC Convertible (or for two grand more than the Volt, Lexus RX Hybrid)

Or, looking at it another way: Assuming $20,000 for a 26 mile-per-gallon Honda Civic and $2.75/gallon for gas, for $41,000 a person could buy a Civic and drive it 198,545 miles.

UPDATE 28JULY2010: A reader over at Instapundit isn't too impressed: "The Volt will be an expensive, predictable failure." I'm afraid I must agree. Government Motors is, for political reasons - not marketing ones - betting the store (and oodles of your tax dollars) on a boutique product that will only interest a niche market. There are just so many Ed Begley's in this world...

Not Taking That Turn At Albuquerque...

...Has made all the difference: Bugs Bunny is 70 today.

Which is a perfect excuse to watch the greatest Bugs Bunny / Chuck Jones collaboration, evah:

Free Speech Survives Team Hopenchange Assault.

Well, for now: Senate fails to advance campaign finance bill.

The Politics Of 'Clinicially Meaningful'.

Remember back during the run-up to ObamaCare, when The Left / Mainstream Media said all the talk of rationing and bureaucrats deciding if you live or die was just Republican "fear mongering"?

Well, if get sick now, you better hope the government decides keeping you alive is "clinically meaningful" enough for you to get treatment. Especially if you are a woman with breast cancer.

Hattip: Midwest Conservative Journal.

I'll Have Something To Say About This....

...Um, maybe later.

Pride And A Left Hook.

One way to make Jane Austen bearable:



Hattip: Theo Spark.

The Sherrod Family: They Can See Russia From Their Living Room!

Shirly Sherrod has, of late, been tossed under the Team Hopenchange bus as a black racist for things she said to the NAACP, and then quickly recast as a victim by The Left / Mainstream Media because the things she said were "taken out of context", and therefore not AS racist as everyone first thought. Well, Ms. Sherrod has a husband. And two kids. You should get to know them. For some context.

Whatever Floats His Boat. (UPDATED)

Multi-millionaire Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, who is always carping about the rich paying their "fare share"... doesn't. And to make matters worse, Kerry, up there in boat building New England, shipped the job to build his $7 million yacht overseas.

Back in the 80's when we were living outside of Boston, my wife and I were in line at Legal Seafoods when a tall US Senator walked up to the hostess station with his entourage. And yes, the words "You know how I am...?" were actually uttered; after which me and the Missus had to cool our heels on the waiting list some more while places were found first for John and the gang.

UPDATE: Kerry channels Queen Victoria (or maybe "Ging-gis Kahn" - ed.), and answers his 'Yacht-gate' critics with the imperial: "There's nothing more to say about it." Well that settles that, doesn't it?

UPDATE: I'm sorry, but this just screams for limerick:

There once was a pol on Nantucket,
Who’s Newport yacht cost him a bucket;
As “Ging-gis” Kahn used to say,
No tax do I pay,
As I am entitled to duck it.

(An RSR original)


UPDATE 27JULY2010: Kerry says he will pay the Massachusetts Tax anyway. If you're a patrician Democrat, half a mil is chump change. Probably finds that much under the seats in Theresa's Escalade.

Oliver Stone Gets His Brown Shirt On.

I come back from three days of sun and sand (and NO OIL!), and see... this. "Never forget!" is being turned into "Never Happened!"

UPDATE 26JULY2010: Via Instapundit, the folks at The Volokh Conspiracy notice a glaring double standard in Hollywood. Surprised?

New Blood.

The Episcopal Church (tm) is about to get a free-agency option on a whole bunch of new priests. Italian ones, at that.

Stand Up!.... Hook Up!...

I've told myself that I will remain an Episcopalian as long as my parish and my Diocese eschewed the trendy innovations of the ruling Left in The Episcopal Chirch (tm), and remained true to Scripture and the Anglo-Catholic tradition. They mostly have. But we elected a "moderate" Bishop this year, and we all know what a "moderate" is in The Episcopal Church (tm) - a bleeding-heart Lefty most anywhere else. And ever so slightly, things are starting to change. Case-in-point: For the first time I can recall, a webcast of Katherine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church (tm) is being hawked by the diocese newsletter, using standard-issue TEC newspeak:

"A Conversation with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will allow for closer connections and open conversations on the issues that are on people’s minds.”

Which means what, exactly? Anyone...? Anyone...? Bueller...?

I'll give you a prediction on what the talking points of the "conversation" will be:
America is bad; Obama is good.
Oil is bad; "green" things are good.
Individual liberty is really bad; collectivism is good. (Exception: Abortion. That is a "blessing".)
The Gay Agenda is good; not thinking the Gay Agenda is good is really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really,really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, bad.
The shrinking Episcopal Church (tm) is good - every church we like out there is doing it; the homophobic thieves leaving are bad - and there are only three or four of them anyway.
Liberation theology (what Lefty Episcopalians call "doing a new thing") is good; "outdated" notions of Faith are bad.
Pushing ObamaCare and Cap and Tax is doing God's work.
Add some boilerplate about "tables", "diversity", "where we are now", our "Wider Communion" and The Millennium Development Goals (remember those...?), and justify everything with a sprinkling of the words "Christ" "Jesus" and "God", and that should be a wrap.

Even money the words "Jonathan" and "David" will also make an appearance. I'm thinking a drinking game might be in order. I'll let you know.

Do check back on the 29th and see how I did. Oh, and I think my drop zone is coming into view. Equipment check!

Gold Rush Of '10.

I guess Nancy Pelosi was right - we had to pass ObamaCare to see what's in it. And the more folks see what's in it, the more nuggets of onerous tax and regulatory burden they see that hits them directly. Now it's precious metals dealers. (Since they sell the stuff on Rush and Beck, not NPR, maybe they thought this would only hurt right-wingers. -ed.)

Actually, this provision affects all business transactions, but will hit small businesses hardest - which is mainly who we deal with for our office goods. This means every time we buy plotter paper, or a new plotter, or... anything over $600, someone has to prepare and send a 1099. Most of our business relations do not have dedicated, in-house, accounting or legal departments to deal with such things (we sure don't). So we will all have to hire someone, and the cost of that will be seen as 1) higher prices, or 2) reduced operations.

I really don't know how all this can be, since the President and the rest of Team Hopenchange assured us ObamaCare would help small business. My bad.

Have A Coke And A Slick.

After 80-plus days down here of this:


This doesn't exactly evoke thoughts of summer fun:


I'm just sayin'.

(Top image from USA Today. Bottom image from a carton containing 'Summer Collector Series Cans', found in my office. It's a Limited Edition!)

UPDATE: Be glad it didn't accidentally spell out "Allah" in Arabic. Then the Coca-Cola Company would REALLY be in marketing trouble!

ObamaCare: Taxing The Limits Of The Constitution.

Despite a cacophony of denials at the time, plus Obama's repeated 'no new taxes' promises, it seems Team Hopenchenge is now arguing that the ObamaCare individual mandate - that we have to buy government-approved health insurance or pay a fine - is really a tax, and therefore constitutional under Article I, Section 8 "To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises". Okay...

While Section 8 gave Congress a power to tax, Section 9 is also quite clear about what Congress does not have the power to tax: "No capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken." The Sixteenth Amendment, amended this, and gave Congress the power to lay direct taxes on income.

Since paying a fine for not purchasing health insurance is not a tax on one's income (but punishing one for not using the same in a way the government directs) it hardly falls under the powers granted Congress under Sixteenth Amendment. And they can't claim it's an excise tax, since that is a tax on an event - the purchase of a car or beer, for example. If one doesn't buy a Chevy or a Heineken, one doesn't pay the tax. The health care mandate is, in essence, an anti-excise tax - it makes you pay for not making a purchase. And since it is not a direct tax apportioned equally by population (some will pay, some will not, and the amount will vary from state to state and by income), then what kind of "tax" is the mandate to purchase health insurance?

I've felt all along that the individual mandate is unconstitutional. I think once this gets into the courts in earnest it will be tossed out. And when that happens, this new "right" to health care will bankrupt us even faster than Obama is bankrupting us now.

UPDATE: Should have known - David Kopel at Volokh Conspiracy points to an article arguing that the individual mandate is really an unapportioned capitation tax.

The New Class Warfare.

In America, it isn't really about class anymore:

So bottom line, this isn’t about class warfare. It’s about two different approaches to living life. The ruling class see the country class as ignorant, petulant slobs whose lives need to be fixed for them. The country class see the ruling class as the a**holes who won’t let them live their lives freely. Neither class has much interest in meeting with and understanding the other. For over a century, progressives have been motivated by what they believe is a humanitarian desire to improve life for the ignorant classes. Naturally, this enrages the objects of the progressives’ affection, because at root they see it as a desire to enslave them.

To quote John Denver, "thank God I'm a country boy!"

Hattip: Instapundit.

Expect More Of This As We Get Closer To November.

From Libertarian Republican: Beware of weasly Democrats pretending to be like Republicans in this down-Dem year.

Apply 'The Who Rule': Don't get fooled again.

UPDATE: And expect more of this , too, as The Left / Mainstream Media try to recast our First Amendment Rights to "petition the Government for a redress of grievances" and "peaceably to assemble" as grave threats to the Republic. No, they are only threats to The Left / Mainstream Media, which is why they are not such big fans of the First Amendment anymore.

I Am America.

I am. So are you. Don't forget it come November.

From here.

Racism At A Tea Party Protest.

Quick! Call Media Matters! Oh, wait.

The Big 'Reform' In ObamaCare Starts To Set In.

And that 'reform' is: The government now owns you, bitch. The Obama Administration is forcing doctors to treat patients, and forcing them to accept government pricing schemes to do it. When a union engages in the very same collective action as these doctors, its not "price fixing" - its somehow a "right".

Hattip: Maggie's Farm.

UPDATE 21JULY2010: And that's just the beginning - the IRS will be a major ObamaCare enforcer.

Note To Frustrated Episcopalians.

We're not the only denomination with Lefty "social justice = Christian theology" problems, and what to do about it.

Media Bias? There Is No Media Bias. (UPDATED)

Because open conspiracy and collusion to manipulate the news, and purposely interfering with the people's right to know, is waaaaay more than bias. Remember this next time you hear some smug journalist-type prattle on about how important their avocation is to a free society.

UPDATE: Ironic, isn't it, that those who are so vocal about a supposed Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy are themselves apparently involved in a very real Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. The end justifies the means, eh, Comrades?

UPDATE: Will the Southern Poverty Law Center declare Journolist a 'hate group'? They seem to fit the definition...

UPDATE: Valiant protecters of a Free Press: Journalist participants allegedly discussed having the government shut down Foxnews. Original Daily Caller story is here.

UPDATE 21JULY2010: Ed Driscoll has much, much more. And Stephen Green, the Vodkapundit, suggests a bit of rebranding.

Bull's Eye Of The Beholder.

Matthew over at Billy Ockham wonders if this is indeed art:



As a prefessional member of the artsy-fartsy community - I got a license and everything - I can assure you that it is, indeed, art. When you have elephants making saleable art by waving round paintbrushes, and humans getting art prizes for painting with elephant dung, why wouldn't this be art? If you like what you see, (with the paintings... down, boys. -ed.) our lovely paint-by-300-Winchester-Magnum Georgia O'Keefe is putting some of them up on eBay from time to time.

Doing The Lord's Work.

Riiiiight. The Arcus Foundation, a secular - and apparently well-funded - lobbying group for the radical gay agenda, has given an Episcopal seminary $400,000 to help pay for drafting formal liturgies for gay marriage in The Episcopal Church (tm). Ya think The Arcus Foundation was motivated by The Great Commission when they made the grant? Ya think The Episcopal Church (tm) was similarly motivated when they accepted it? Nah, me either.

Hattip: Stand Firm.

An Effective Leader Organizes His Community.

And not a Telepromter in sight.

Hattip: Instapundit.

I Love The Smell Of Stupid In The Morning.

Remember this little distraction back in the 1960's? Remember how it ended? Of course you do, if you lived through it or made at least a D in history. Well...



This wasn't some confused moment, or accidental gaffe. This was her education (Yale?? Are you 'effing kidding!?! -ed.) and intellect at work. What? Does she think Rep. Joseph Cao is over here on some kind of South Vietnamese work/study exchange program?

Hattip: The MCJ.

Duck Tape - Is There No End To It's Usefulness?

Use No. 2302: When Lomotil just isn't enough:


Image swiped from - where else? - Visual Consumer.

Separation Of Church and State...

...Apparently doesn't matter to Team Hopenchange when it comes to tilting an election in another country where abortion and Islamic separatism are to be enshrined in law. But hey, there's no discrimination - they seem to be giving to fundamentalist Islamic groups and liberal Christian groups alike.

Here is the draft Kenyan Constitution that Team Hopenchange is apparently spending your tax dollars to get enacted. See Part 2, Section 26 "Right to life", Paragraph 4, which says abortion is forbidden - except for all of those times when it isn't. Some Right. And see also Part 1, Section 24 "Limitation of rights and fundamental freedoms", Paragraph 4, which says that basic human rights should not apply to Muslims with respect to "...personal status, marriage, divorce and inheritance". According to a word search, the draft Constitution mentions "Muslim" or Muslims" eight times. "Christian" or "Christians" exactly zero times.

Needless to say, the Anglican Church of Kenya is opposed to ratification in its current form. So is the Roman Catholic Church in Kenya.

Take The A-Train To Alderaan.

Hattip: Wizbang , who points out that things like this would increase subway ridership far more than appeals to "going green". Indeed.

Kathy Griffin Is A (Publicity) Whore.

Hey, if she can dish it out, I'm sure she can take it.

(But just in case she can't, a brief message from the RSR Legal Team: Kathy Griffin IS NOT a whore, publicity or otherwise. The above is a comedic response to Ms. Griffin's equally groundless accusations concerning Scott Brown's daughters. As far as we know, Ms. Griffin has never directly accepted money in exchange for providing sex. We now return you to our regularly scheduled negativity...)

As for what the two CNN drones are - the ones who thought Ms. Griffin's comments were funny - make up your own mind.

Educating Rowan.

Christopher Johnson explains a very foreign concept to Our Gracious Lord of Canterbury.

Yes, But Its Affordable And You Can't Be Denied Coverage.

Government-run, "free" health care taken to its zenith: North Korea's version of ObamaCare. If you live north of Seoul, being denied coverage might well be preferable.

I Think The One On The Left Is A Young John Spong.

From Sacred Sandwich, of course.

Would She Wear A Black Shirt To Visit Auschwitz?

The Hayride notes the... um... sensitive appropriateness of Michelle Obama's outfit while visiting gulf coast beaches Monday. Geez. More here.

War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Hot Is Cool.

Orwellian "green" logic and one of the greatest human achievements of the modern age:

Saying goodbye to A.C. means saying hello to the world. With more people spending more time outdoors -- particularly in the late afternoon and evening, when temperatures fall more quickly outside than they do inside -- neighborhoods see a boom in spontaneous summertime socializing.

Rather than cowering alone in chilly home-entertainment rooms, neighbors get to know one another. Because there are more people outside, streets in high-crime areas become safer. As a result of all this, a strange thing happens: Deaths from heat decline. Elderly people no longer die alone inside sweltering apartments, too afraid to venture outside for help and too isolated to be noticed. Instead, people look out for one another during heat waves, checking in on their most vulnerable neighbors.

In other words, without air conditioning old people will be found faster once they have succumbed to the effects of heatstroke.

I live in the South. They will take my air conditioning when they pry my cold, dead hands from the thermostat.

Stupak Is As Stupak Does.

Apparently, Obama lied about banning Federal funding for abortions to get ObamaCare passed. What? Like you're surprised?

Wednesday Wicked Cool.

A Sears 'Die Hard' battery video, complete with 80's nostalgia music:



I know, I know; the electron-heads out there will point out that it proves nothing really about the battery - the amperage draw never gets close to the battery's rated capacity, and once the first car starts it's alternator helps start the next, meaning the load drawn from the battery decreases accordingly. This is true.

This is also the reason engineers are no fun at parties.

Hattip: Gizmodo via Instapundit.

Break Out The Tinfoil.

Paranoid conspiracy theorist, 9/11 Truther, and radio talk show host Alex Jones (no, I will not dignify him with a link - ed.), thinks the way to world peace is to... befriend the 12th century boys in Iran. It should come as no surprise that Jones is a big Ron Paul cheerleader, and is seen as a font of "truth" among Paul's drones.

Bucket, The, Drop In.

The GOP wants to cut $20 billion from Obama's $1.13 trillion request (yes, trillion) for Federal agencies operations next year. Get 'effing real. If Republicans are really serious about fiscal responsibility, make the number $200 billion. Or $500 billion. Outside of national defense, disaster relief, and justice, there is nothing that can't be eliminated.

Bye, George.

Red Sox fan I may be, but my condolences go out to the family of New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who died today.

I'm Back.

For a bit, anyway. Sorry for the non-existent blogging, but work and family concerns - in other words, life - has been taking priority of late. And, I had my annual vacation this past weekend. Drove to pick up my son at camp in north Alabama (Hi, Zana!), went to M-1 Garand nirvana in Anniston, and then and The Boy (tm) and me headed to (mostly oil-free) Pensacola, Florida, to see the Blue Angels annual air show. It was an adventure. And for me, adventures are vacations.

Anyway, there are things happening out there that require comment, so lot's get started...

Today's Required Viewing.

Combine Obama, the Talking Heads, and the never-ending BP oil spill, and you get...
A new PolitiZoid video.

Same as it ever was, indeed.

Rise Of The 'Retrosexual'.

The bleeding-heart 'Metrosexual' is so Obama. This is 2010 - get a fedora and haircut:

To Bolden Go Where No Man Has Gone Before.

Obama's "transformative change" comes to NASA:

In a far-reaching restatement of goals for the nation’s space agency, NASA administrator Charles Bolden says President Obama has ordered him to pursue three new objectives: to “re-inspire children” to study science and math, to “expand our international relationships,” and to “reach out to the Muslim world.” Of those three goals, Bolden said in a recent interview with al-Jazeera, the mission to reach out to Muslims is “perhaps foremost,” because it will help Islamic nations “feel good” about their scientific accomplishments.

In the same interview, Bolden also said the United States, which first sent men to the moon in 1969, is no longer capable of reaching beyond low earth orbit without help from other nations. (emphasis mine)

Here is the original video. Indeed, the wrong stuff.

Today's Required Reading.

Happy...

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

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 of 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 shewn, 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 mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations 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 harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the 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 a 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 offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring 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 into 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, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & 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 endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an 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 attentions to our Brittish 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 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.

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn

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

Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry

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

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

New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris

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

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Matthew Thornton

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott

...Day

The Team Hopenchange Idea of Post-Racial, Transformative Justice.

If you're asking, "What is this about", I'm not surprised. Since it tarnishes Democrats, not Republicans, The Left / Mainstream Media is ignoring this story like the plague. Details here, and here. Maybe someone should interest the National Enquirer in this story since, after breaking the John Edwards story and the recent Al Gore (ManBearPoodle) story into the mainstream press, they are more credible than The New York Times.

The ManBearPoodle Story Goes Mainstream.

I'm totally serial!

Corbu? Who?

Leon Krier vs Corbu. This argument has been raging in architectural circles since Robert Venturi first published Learning from Las Vegas and Tom Wolfe From the Bauhaus to Our House. While I love the traditional, we live in the present - therefore, I am also drawn to the modern. Modernism is making a comeback, but as an abstract aesthetic in itself, without much of the 20th century Socialist political baggage and the brutalist, soul-less "Soviet dreary" that Corbu inflicted upon the world. (The new Lefty architectural political baggage is all about "green" and "sustainable" - two things Corbu, Mister-Machine-for-Living, most certainly was not.)

Hattip: Maggie's Farm.

He's Back!

Matthew at Billy Ochham is back (he had cut down to a few posts a week) and blogging regularly. As always, he seems to post those videos that make you say, "wherever did he find that...?" Two examples:

Governor of California: The Musical.

The FBI is thankful Russian spies haven't discovered Vimeo.

So head on over - there's more.

UPDATE: Here's one for you, Matthew: The Amazing Color Changing Card Trick.

A Study In Ignorance.

Radley Balko notes that ignorance of the law is no excuse - unless you work in law enforcement. Watch the video.

Three questions come to mind here:

1) Who's the hell is grading the IQ tests for admission to Miami-Dade law enforcement?

2) Since when does a police officer get to declare a person, on the spot, banned-for-life from a public facility? Um, isn't there a teensy thing called due process?

3) Miami-Dade has a money losing, do-good project that almost no one uses metro-rail system? Who knew?

Hattip: Tamara at View From The Porch.

David Duke Should Become A Democrat.

He'd do very well over there:

When we observe that no Republican could hope to have his biography re-written to transmute bitter racism into championship service in the cause of civil rights, we aren’t merely clucking our tongues at the unfairness of partisan dirty pool. We’re watching one of the supreme moral judgments of our society become another sharp fang in the jaws of the leviathan State. Few indictments in our culture are more devastating than the charge of racism… and this charge is applied, or neutralized, almost entirely on the basis of the target’s usefulness to the State.

The Democrat Party represents the State (and is increasingly disinterested in representing anyone else.) The life and death of Robert Byrd demonstrate that loyalty to the Party and its agenda provide total inoculation against offenses which are completely inexcusable for the rest of us. As we saw in the aftermath of Ted Kennedy’s death, faith in the State leads to miracles of moral transformation. It is beneath the dignity of free people to accept such privileges for an aristocracy which judges them morally unfit to control their own lives.

That last sentence is the reason the Tea Party Movement exists. And will prevail.