Monday, July 11, 2005
Letter from the Founding Fathers
A letter from the founding fathers (reprinted from GunNews, published by The Washington Arms Collectors)
From: George, Ben, John, Thomas, Patrick and the rest of the founding fathersTo: The current generation of Americans
On this the 229th anniversary of our independence, those of us you call the Founding Fathers have assembled in Continental heaven to assess the condition of the republic we bequeathed to you.It’s true America has become the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth.But so was the British Empire in 1776. Before we get specific, we must confess that we are annoyed by your habit of misinterpreting our words.Take the First Amendment, where we said Congress shall make no law “respecting an establishment of religion.” You usually neglect the other half of the injunction, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” As anyone in the first Congress, which passed the amendment, could have told you, “establishment of religion” means an established church, which all are forced to support. We never intended to create a virtueless republic, by prohibiting public expressions of faith.In the Declaration of Independence we acknowledged that rights are endowed by our Creator. Absent a Creator there are no inalienable rights.In the Second Amendment, we said the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. In our day, if private citizens hadn’t owned guns there would have been no Lexington and Concord. Why would we bother guaranteeing a collective right to arm state militias? The rights enumerated in the first 10 amendments are restraints on government, not grants of power to it. If you ever wake up to what’s going on, your leaders will have cause to fear an armed citizenry.We viewed elective office as a sacrifice. For your politicians, it’s an opportunity. We rid America of a monarchy. You’ve established an elected aristocracy. We were farmers, merchants and professionals who resumed our careers after a brief term of service and never lost touch with our constituents. You are governed by an elite so different from you as to almost constitute a separate species. Your elected rulers hold office for 20 or 30 years, becoming increasingly detached from their roots, while rewarding themselves lavish emoluments and pensions.We revolted over a modest tax on tea. Your tax burden is staggering. Despite the enormous expenditures of your prodigal politicians, even they can’t spend it all. And still, many resist returning the federal surplus to its rightful owners. We rejected taxation without representation. You condone your own serfdom.In the Declaration, we complained that King George III had “sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.” You complacently tolerate a bureaucracy that resembles all Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Eat out their substance? Today, almost one in 13 Americans works for a branch of government. Harass our people? There are bureaucrats to tell you how to run your business build on your property and raise your children. Government makes decisions for you regarding your health, safety and welfare.We envisioned the judiciary as a coequal branch of government that interprets laws based on the clear meaning of language. Your courts have become a law unto themselves ─ raising taxes, deciding elections, ordering private relationships and substituting their will for that of legislators.We warned you against entangling alliances. You are eager to form defensive pacts with postage-stamp countries whose security couldn’t conceivably be related to your own. This will only serve to drag you into their petty quarrels, sapping your strength.We recognized that government and society must rest on divine wisdom. George Washington observed, “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” You cultivate national immorality, in the apparent belief that abortion, adolescent access to pornography, cohabitation, public distribution of prophylactics and compulsory acceptance of perversion will somehow lead to a society whose citizens have the self-discipline to sacrifice for the common good.Benjamin Franklin said we gave you a republic “if you can keep it.”From our vantage point, it does not look promising. Were we alive today, we’d raise another rebellion. [Author unknown]
From: George, Ben, John, Thomas, Patrick and the rest of the founding fathersTo: The current generation of Americans
On this the 229th anniversary of our independence, those of us you call the Founding Fathers have assembled in Continental heaven to assess the condition of the republic we bequeathed to you.It’s true America has become the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth.But so was the British Empire in 1776. Before we get specific, we must confess that we are annoyed by your habit of misinterpreting our words.Take the First Amendment, where we said Congress shall make no law “respecting an establishment of religion.” You usually neglect the other half of the injunction, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” As anyone in the first Congress, which passed the amendment, could have told you, “establishment of religion” means an established church, which all are forced to support. We never intended to create a virtueless republic, by prohibiting public expressions of faith.In the Declaration of Independence we acknowledged that rights are endowed by our Creator. Absent a Creator there are no inalienable rights.In the Second Amendment, we said the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. In our day, if private citizens hadn’t owned guns there would have been no Lexington and Concord. Why would we bother guaranteeing a collective right to arm state militias? The rights enumerated in the first 10 amendments are restraints on government, not grants of power to it. If you ever wake up to what’s going on, your leaders will have cause to fear an armed citizenry.We viewed elective office as a sacrifice. For your politicians, it’s an opportunity. We rid America of a monarchy. You’ve established an elected aristocracy. We were farmers, merchants and professionals who resumed our careers after a brief term of service and never lost touch with our constituents. You are governed by an elite so different from you as to almost constitute a separate species. Your elected rulers hold office for 20 or 30 years, becoming increasingly detached from their roots, while rewarding themselves lavish emoluments and pensions.We revolted over a modest tax on tea. Your tax burden is staggering. Despite the enormous expenditures of your prodigal politicians, even they can’t spend it all. And still, many resist returning the federal surplus to its rightful owners. We rejected taxation without representation. You condone your own serfdom.In the Declaration, we complained that King George III had “sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.” You complacently tolerate a bureaucracy that resembles all Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Eat out their substance? Today, almost one in 13 Americans works for a branch of government. Harass our people? There are bureaucrats to tell you how to run your business build on your property and raise your children. Government makes decisions for you regarding your health, safety and welfare.We envisioned the judiciary as a coequal branch of government that interprets laws based on the clear meaning of language. Your courts have become a law unto themselves ─ raising taxes, deciding elections, ordering private relationships and substituting their will for that of legislators.We warned you against entangling alliances. You are eager to form defensive pacts with postage-stamp countries whose security couldn’t conceivably be related to your own. This will only serve to drag you into their petty quarrels, sapping your strength.We recognized that government and society must rest on divine wisdom. George Washington observed, “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” You cultivate national immorality, in the apparent belief that abortion, adolescent access to pornography, cohabitation, public distribution of prophylactics and compulsory acceptance of perversion will somehow lead to a society whose citizens have the self-discipline to sacrifice for the common good.Benjamin Franklin said we gave you a republic “if you can keep it.”From our vantage point, it does not look promising. Were we alive today, we’d raise another rebellion. [Author unknown]
Janeane Garafolo, liar or idiot?
What in the world is Janeane Garafolo doing posing as a political expert, or as a political commentator, or for that matter as an expert on anything. In my opinion, Ms. Garafolo is an idiot! Ms. Garafolo did not graduate from college, she did not study political science, economics, history or any of the other disciplines that would have made her qualified in any way to discuss geopolitical issues with anyone on any public airwave. Ms. Garafolo, does have a first amendment right to spout off any of the stupid comments that she is famous for, but why anyone would give her a microphone to discuss politics is beyond me. Following are a couple of quotes that Ms. Garafolo has been credited with.
"The world would be better off with multiple superpowers. When Communist USSR was a superpower, the world was better off."
"Our country is founded on a sham: our forefathers were slave-owning rich white guys who wanted it their way. So when I see the American flag, I go, 'Oh my God, you're insulting me.' That you can have a gay parade on Christopher Street in New York, with naked men and women on a float cheering, 'We're here, we're queer!' -- that's what makes my heart swell. Not the flag, but a gay naked man or woman burning the flag. I get choked up with pride."
Since Ms. Garafolo hates this country so much and what America stands for, she should move to Canada or Afghanistan! I didn’t care much about anything she said until I heard her ranting and raving on her Air America radio program. During the few minutes that I happened to hear, she was providing commentary on a recent Supreme Court decision (Small v. United states - http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/03-750.pdf). Ms. Garafolo stated that “thanks to the Bush administration” felons could now buy guns. Apparently Ms. Garafolo missed the day in high school where the children learned about the 3 branches of America government. You see, neither President Bush nor anyone in his administration had anything to do with allowing felons to purchase or own firearms.
The Supreme Court ruled that someone convicted of a felony in a foreign court was not prohibited from purchasing or owning a firearm. And the funniest thing about Ms. Garafolo’s comments wasn't her apparent lack of knowledge about how our government works, it was that the court’s decision was 5 to 3, the liberals voted to allow foreign convicted felons to buy/own firearm and the conservatives wrote the dissenting opinion. Breyer, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Stevens, O’Connor, Souter, and Ginsburg, JJ., joined. Thomas, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Scalia and Kennedy, JJ., joined. Rehnquist, C. J., took no part in the decision of the case.
Later in the same Air America program, Ms. Garafolo stated that Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing media folks, should not be allowed to speak on the public airwaves because they were liars! Well, I say that Ms. Garafolo should give up her seat at the microphone because she is either a liar or an idiot! When I emailed Air America to ask for an explanation or correction, I received no reply and no correction was made either. Ms. Garafolo should stick to something she’s good at like acting or comedy. Oops, maybe not acting or comedy since she’s neither a talented actress nor a funny comedienne (did anybody see “Nadine in Date Land”?). Maybe she should get a job at a sideshow as the “tattooed lady”.
"The world would be better off with multiple superpowers. When Communist USSR was a superpower, the world was better off."
"Our country is founded on a sham: our forefathers were slave-owning rich white guys who wanted it their way. So when I see the American flag, I go, 'Oh my God, you're insulting me.' That you can have a gay parade on Christopher Street in New York, with naked men and women on a float cheering, 'We're here, we're queer!' -- that's what makes my heart swell. Not the flag, but a gay naked man or woman burning the flag. I get choked up with pride."
Since Ms. Garafolo hates this country so much and what America stands for, she should move to Canada or Afghanistan! I didn’t care much about anything she said until I heard her ranting and raving on her Air America radio program. During the few minutes that I happened to hear, she was providing commentary on a recent Supreme Court decision (Small v. United states - http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/03-750.pdf). Ms. Garafolo stated that “thanks to the Bush administration” felons could now buy guns. Apparently Ms. Garafolo missed the day in high school where the children learned about the 3 branches of America government. You see, neither President Bush nor anyone in his administration had anything to do with allowing felons to purchase or own firearms.
The Supreme Court ruled that someone convicted of a felony in a foreign court was not prohibited from purchasing or owning a firearm. And the funniest thing about Ms. Garafolo’s comments wasn't her apparent lack of knowledge about how our government works, it was that the court’s decision was 5 to 3, the liberals voted to allow foreign convicted felons to buy/own firearm and the conservatives wrote the dissenting opinion. Breyer, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Stevens, O’Connor, Souter, and Ginsburg, JJ., joined. Thomas, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Scalia and Kennedy, JJ., joined. Rehnquist, C. J., took no part in the decision of the case.
Later in the same Air America program, Ms. Garafolo stated that Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing media folks, should not be allowed to speak on the public airwaves because they were liars! Well, I say that Ms. Garafolo should give up her seat at the microphone because she is either a liar or an idiot! When I emailed Air America to ask for an explanation or correction, I received no reply and no correction was made either. Ms. Garafolo should stick to something she’s good at like acting or comedy. Oops, maybe not acting or comedy since she’s neither a talented actress nor a funny comedienne (did anybody see “Nadine in Date Land”?). Maybe she should get a job at a sideshow as the “tattooed lady”.
Today as I was working I had CSPAN on the tube and I was listening to the CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) funding hearings. Most of what I heard wasn’t too annoying, but when Senator DICK Durbin began his "questioning" of the CPB Chairman, Kenneth Tomlinson, I was astonished.
DICK questioned Mr. Tomlinson as to how he came to the conclusion that Bill Moyers’ program "NOW with Bill Moyers" was liberally biased. DICK tried to argue that Bill Moyers is not a liberal, and that his programming is actually "fair and balanced". DICK tried to embarrass Mr. Tomlinson, he badgered him and generally made an ass out of himself (something that he has gotten very good at lately). Does DICK Durbin really believe that Bill Moyers is anything other than a liberal?
Moyers was Deputy Director of the Peace Corps in the Kennedy Administration and special Assistant to President Johnson from 1963-1967. He was a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation for 12 years, and has served as president of The Florence and John Schumann Foundation. Moyers was the recipient of the 2004 Global Environmental Citizen Award from The Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. Even Bill Moyers will tell you that he is a liberal.
Moyers retired from television in December, 2004 at age 70. Upon his retirement the AP News Service quoted Moyers as saying, "I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee. We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people."
Does Bill Moyers really believe that there is a right wing slant in the media? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8067-2005Apr21.html Does he really believe that at a time when Islamic scum extremists are out to destroy America , when our very way of life is under attack, that the "right-wing media" is the biggest story of our time? What in the world is DICK smoking? What planet does DICK live on?
Thank goodness Mr. Tomlinson has been appointed as Chairman of the Board at CPB. It’s time that the liberals lost some of their stranglehold on public television. It’s time to make PBS and NPR more reflective of the nation as a whole and not just a tool of the ultra left. It’s time for DICK to get a real job and for the people of Illinois to get a Senator who is more attached to reality. I’ll be contributing money to anyone who runs against the traitorous DICK Durbin in 2008.
DICK questioned Mr. Tomlinson as to how he came to the conclusion that Bill Moyers’ program "NOW with Bill Moyers" was liberally biased. DICK tried to argue that Bill Moyers is not a liberal, and that his programming is actually "fair and balanced". DICK tried to embarrass Mr. Tomlinson, he badgered him and generally made an ass out of himself (something that he has gotten very good at lately). Does DICK Durbin really believe that Bill Moyers is anything other than a liberal?
Moyers was Deputy Director of the Peace Corps in the Kennedy Administration and special Assistant to President Johnson from 1963-1967. He was a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation for 12 years, and has served as president of The Florence and John Schumann Foundation. Moyers was the recipient of the 2004 Global Environmental Citizen Award from The Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. Even Bill Moyers will tell you that he is a liberal.
Moyers retired from television in December, 2004 at age 70. Upon his retirement the AP News Service quoted Moyers as saying, "I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee. We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people."
Does Bill Moyers really believe that there is a right wing slant in the media? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8067-2005Apr21.html Does he really believe that at a time when Islamic scum extremists are out to destroy America , when our very way of life is under attack, that the "right-wing media" is the biggest story of our time? What in the world is DICK smoking? What planet does DICK live on?
Thank goodness Mr. Tomlinson has been appointed as Chairman of the Board at CPB. It’s time that the liberals lost some of their stranglehold on public television. It’s time to make PBS and NPR more reflective of the nation as a whole and not just a tool of the ultra left. It’s time for DICK to get a real job and for the people of Illinois to get a Senator who is more attached to reality. I’ll be contributing money to anyone who runs against the traitorous DICK Durbin in 2008.
Who am I and Why am I here?
Who am I and Why am I here? These are some words from a speech given by a great American, the late Admiral James Stockdale. I thought that they would be appropriate to start my blog.
Who am I?
I am an American Taxpayer, a registered independent voter that tends to vote conservatively. I am a Christian, a husband and father of two lovely children. I am a homeowner, a gun owner, a hunter, and an owner of a Harley Davidson and a believer in the constitution of the United States of America. I also work for a living!
Why am I here?
I'm here because I find myself more and more caught up in the politics of the day. And with each passing day I find myself more and more needing to express myself. Each day I hear liberal democrats and liberal talking heads on CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, NPR, PBS and CSPAN. The more that I hear Christiane Amanpour, Janeane Garofolo, Al Franken, Randi Rhones, Teddy Kennedy, Hillary, DICK Durbin, His Exalted Cyclops, Robert Byrd and others of their ilk, the angrier I get! I have been writing emails to these folks and to others to get them to tell the truth and to show them that they do not represent the views of the American people any more than I do. I have never heard a reply from any of them. I finally got so fed up with their crap, that I thought I would add my voice to the mix!I don't know if anyone will read my blog, or if anyone will care what I write.
The blogosphere does however give me a chance to vent and to counter some of their lies. I hope that you enjoy reading my thoughts and that at least some of what I say strikes a chord in some people.
Who am I?
I am an American Taxpayer, a registered independent voter that tends to vote conservatively. I am a Christian, a husband and father of two lovely children. I am a homeowner, a gun owner, a hunter, and an owner of a Harley Davidson and a believer in the constitution of the United States of America. I also work for a living!
Why am I here?
I'm here because I find myself more and more caught up in the politics of the day. And with each passing day I find myself more and more needing to express myself. Each day I hear liberal democrats and liberal talking heads on CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, NPR, PBS and CSPAN. The more that I hear Christiane Amanpour, Janeane Garofolo, Al Franken, Randi Rhones, Teddy Kennedy, Hillary, DICK Durbin, His Exalted Cyclops, Robert Byrd and others of their ilk, the angrier I get! I have been writing emails to these folks and to others to get them to tell the truth and to show them that they do not represent the views of the American people any more than I do. I have never heard a reply from any of them. I finally got so fed up with their crap, that I thought I would add my voice to the mix!I don't know if anyone will read my blog, or if anyone will care what I write.
The blogosphere does however give me a chance to vent and to counter some of their lies. I hope that you enjoy reading my thoughts and that at least some of what I say strikes a chord in some people.
