Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Public Debt Enslaves US ---- We Were Warned!!!
We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debt, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our calling and our creeds...[we will] have no time to think, no means of calling our miss-managers to account but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers... And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for[ another]... till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery... And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression. ----Thomas Jefferson
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The Declaration of Independence
WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights , that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness---That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive 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 shown, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms of 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 whole-some and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their Operation til 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 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 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 harass our People, an 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 protection them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any murders which they should cimmit 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 neighboring province, establishing theirin 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 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 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 Frontier, 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 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 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 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.
John Hancock. Fran. Lewis.
Samuel Chase. Lewis Morris.
W. Paca. Rich. Stockton.
Tho. Stone. Jn. Witherspoon.
Charles Carrol of Carrollton. Fra. Hopkinson.
George Wythe. John Hart.
Richard Henry Lee. Abra Clark.
Th Jefferson. Josiah Bartlett.
Benj. Harrison W. Whipple
Tho.Nelson Jr. Sam Adams.
Francis Lightfoot Lee. John Adams.
Carter Braxton. Rob Treat Paine.
Rob Morris. Elbridge Gerry.
Benjamin Rush. Step Hopkins.
Benj. Franklin. William Ellery.
John Morton. Roger Sherman.
Geo Clyner Sam Huntington.
Ja Smith. W Williams.
Geo. Taylor. Oliver Wolcott.
James Wilson. Matthew Thornton.
Geo Ross. W Hooper
Caesar Rodney Joseph Hewes.
Geo Read. John Penn.
Tho M: Kean Edward Rutledge.
W Floyd. Tho Heyward Jun.
Phil Livingston. Thomas Lynch Jun.
Arthur Middleton. Lyman Hall.
Button Gwinnett. Geo Walton.
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 shown, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms of 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 whole-some and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their Operation til 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 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 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 harass our People, an 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 protection them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any murders which they should cimmit 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 neighboring province, establishing theirin 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 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 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 Frontier, 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 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 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 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.
John Hancock. Fran. Lewis.
Samuel Chase. Lewis Morris.
W. Paca. Rich. Stockton.
Tho. Stone. Jn. Witherspoon.
Charles Carrol of Carrollton. Fra. Hopkinson.
George Wythe. John Hart.
Richard Henry Lee. Abra Clark.
Th Jefferson. Josiah Bartlett.
Benj. Harrison W. Whipple
Tho.Nelson Jr. Sam Adams.
Francis Lightfoot Lee. John Adams.
Carter Braxton. Rob Treat Paine.
Rob Morris. Elbridge Gerry.
Benjamin Rush. Step Hopkins.
Benj. Franklin. William Ellery.
John Morton. Roger Sherman.
Geo Clyner Sam Huntington.
Ja Smith. W Williams.
Geo. Taylor. Oliver Wolcott.
James Wilson. Matthew Thornton.
Geo Ross. W Hooper
Caesar Rodney Joseph Hewes.
Geo Read. John Penn.
Tho M: Kean Edward Rutledge.
W Floyd. Tho Heyward Jun.
Phil Livingston. Thomas Lynch Jun.
Arthur Middleton. Lyman Hall.
Button Gwinnett. Geo Walton.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Plato's Republic
For let me tell you, Socrates, that when a man thinks himself near death, fears and cares enter into his mind which he never had before; the tales of a world below and the punishment which is exacted there of deeds done here were once a laughing matter to him, but how is tormented with the thought that they may be true: either from the weakness of age, or because he is now drawing nearer to that other place, he has a clearer view of these things; suspicions and alarms crowd thickly upon him, and he begins to reflect and consider what wrongs he has done to others. And when he finds that the sum of his transgressions is great he will many a time like a child start up in his sleep for fear, and he is filled with dark forebodings. But to him who is conscious of no sin, sweet hope, as Pindar charmingly says , is the kind nurse of his age:
'hope,' he says 'cherishes the soul of him who lives in justice and holiness and is the nurse of his age and the companion of his journey; -hope which is mightiest to sway his restless soul of man.'
How admirable are his words! And the great blessing of 'riches, I do not say to every man, but to a good man, is, that he has had no occasion to deceive or to defraud others, either intentionally or unintentionally and when he departs to the world below he is not in apprehensions about offerings due to the gods or debts which he owes to men.
'hope,' he says 'cherishes the soul of him who lives in justice and holiness and is the nurse of his age and the companion of his journey; -hope which is mightiest to sway his restless soul of man.'
How admirable are his words! And the great blessing of 'riches, I do not say to every man, but to a good man, is, that he has had no occasion to deceive or to defraud others, either intentionally or unintentionally and when he departs to the world below he is not in apprehensions about offerings due to the gods or debts which he owes to men.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Humility - The second you think you have it - you've lost it.
Humility means to let go of all ego; pride, fear and desire. It is therefore one of the most difficult, yet essential attitudes for spiritual growth because only then are we able to tune in to the Inner Being (intuition) within us. Humility is both a prerequisite for, as well as the end result of, spiritual growth. To be humiliated is a great gift indeed because it gives us a great opportunity to be truly humble.
Today, the programming we receive from tv, music, the internet and other media tends to show us the exactly opposite idea – that pride and being praised is a good and desirable thing. But filled with pride there is hardly any room for any real Love to exist. By letting go of that pride, either through being humiliated or having the attitude of letting go (being humble), our attention is directed to what’s going on around us and we will have the opportunity to really Love Unselfishly and thus really care for others, which in our experience is the essence of true spirituality.
http://justhelga.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/humility/
Today, the programming we receive from tv, music, the internet and other media tends to show us the exactly opposite idea – that pride and being praised is a good and desirable thing. But filled with pride there is hardly any room for any real Love to exist. By letting go of that pride, either through being humiliated or having the attitude of letting go (being humble), our attention is directed to what’s going on around us and we will have the opportunity to really Love Unselfishly and thus really care for others, which in our experience is the essence of true spirituality.
http://justhelga.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/humility/
Monday, June 27, 2011
Seriously People Relax!
An old man once said, "There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad, and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living."~
Don't Worry, Be Happy!
Don't Worry, Be Happy!
Sunday, June 26, 2011
God Bless America!!
"God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938, as sung by Kate Smith (becoming her signature song).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Bless_America
While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.
God bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home
God bless America, My home sweet home.
Originally, the final two lines of the song were, God bless America my own sweet home, my home sweet home.
Many renditions of the song omit the first stanza, beginning with "God bless America..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Bless_America
While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.
God bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home
God bless America, My home sweet home.
Originally, the final two lines of the song were, God bless America my own sweet home, my home sweet home.
Many renditions of the song omit the first stanza, beginning with "God bless America..."
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
John 3:16 day
I heard someone talking about this on Klove this morning.
Today should be official John 3:16 day! I love that song BannerMan by Steve Taylor.
You got my vote.
John 3:16 (New International Version, ©2011)
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Today should be official John 3:16 day! I love that song BannerMan by Steve Taylor.
You got my vote.
John 3:16 (New International Version, ©2011)
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
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