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About Sarah Palin, Heres What I Get

post from Ratbang Diary on 04 July 2009 09:55:00 AM. © Ratbang Diary

I get that watching her on TV is irresistible, because one can no more turn away from Palin on TV than one can turn away from a train wreck.

I get that guys like her perky, ditsy persona.

I get that people think she?s attractive.

I get that at first she seemed to be a refreshing presence on the political scene.

But here?s what I don?t get:

I don?t get that a whole clot of people who have been presented with incontrovertible truths about her--both by what she has said herself and by the duly-reported observations of others?have not understood that she is a self-absorbed, lying narcissist who is dangerously deluded and probably insane.

I don?t get that a whole clot of people choose to ignore the plain, bald, irrefutable, indisputable facts about Sarah Palin.

Like, she is vindictive and malicious and when in a position of even the tiniest amount of power, she exacts revenge on anyone who crosses her or anyone she favors, and she cannot abide even the slightest criticism.

Like, she blatently lies and then assumes that her personality will make people forget the truth.

Like, she does what she wants to do no matter what her handlers advise, even when it has the worst possible consequences for the people she works for.

Like, she cannot stay on-message for her constituents and her party to save her soul. She says and does whatever comes to her mind at any moment, not unlike a four-year-old child that wants what it wants when it wants it.

Like, she sees herself as the point, the main point and the only point. She serves no cause, no ideology, no policy, no administration, no party except to promote herself.

I don?t get that even though the above traits spell DISASTER for a politician, there is a whole clot of people who would like to see her run for president.

I don?t get that even though Sarah Palin is a female George W. Bush, and George W. Bush should be convicted of treason for what he and his administration did to the United States of America, still, there is a faction here in the United States who would willingly vote for Sarah Palin to be our president.

I don?t get that.

It is simply beyond my ken.

Read The Full Article:
http://ratbangdiary.blogspot.com/2009/07/about-sarah-palin-heres-what-i-get.html

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Sarah Palin's Media Stalker Greta Van Susteren is
Stunned that Palin Quit

post from Crooks and Liars on 04 July 2009 09:45:30 AM. © Crooks and Liars

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player! DOWNLOADS: (3)
PLAYS: (32)

Greta Van Susteren, FOX News' serial stalker of Sarah Palin, was in shock over the announcement that Palin quit her job. When asked about what this means, she said...

Greta:...It's hard to tell if she's giving up or gearing up and that I don't know...

Greta whined about all the ethics complaints that were filed against Sarah Palin and said that she could get disheartened. Really? She QUIT her job and quit on the people of Alaska. She's proved that she's unfit for duty. And it's not only me saying it.

Some Republican strategists expressed skepticism about Palin's decision. "I'm not smart enough to see the strategy in this," said John Weaver, a senior party strategist. "Good point guards don't quit and walk off the court."

If she can't handle criticism from bloggers, then how could she handle al-Qaeda? And conservatives like Greta should stop complaining about attacks on her and her family because they started the trend by holding her family out as public political props, and have never stopped. I'm not condoning the personal attacks in any way -- we avoided them at C&L and kept our criticism focused on her abilities (or lack thereof) and her public behavior as a candidate and a public official. It's up to you to decide how she's been treated.

But conservatives are total hypocrites on this issue and the media allows them to get away with it. They've made their living out of smearing anyone on the left. The Clintons have been subjected to the lowest attacks possible. I haven't seen anyone write widely published books that calls her a lesbian, or have I missed that one? Or that she murdered someone like, oh...Vince Foster.

On the September 19 and 20 broadcasts of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh resurrected his scurrilous suggestion that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) had then-deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster murdered while she was first lady.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. And then we can talk about the scurrilous and wingnutty "birther" attacks on President Obama, but you get my point.

Even Villagers are wondering what she's doing.

In a rambling press conference, the Alaska governor never really explained why this day was better than all other days. If she'd waited three days, she would have owned the news cycle. Perhaps she was declaring early independence?
The larger reason for Palin's early departure was that she was having no fun. Ever since she returned to Alaska from the national stage, being governor has been a chore. Her political opponents have launched 15 ethics charges against her. The state economy has turned sour, and she got into an ugly squabble over federal stimulus funds. It's much more enjoyable to travel the country waving to adoring crowds of GOP activists...read on

Her presser was eerily similar to that of disgraced Gov. Mark Sanford. She was rambling on about sports analogies and Abe Lincoln.

Max Blumenthal writes: Did a Scandal Sink the U.S.S. Palin?

Many political observers in Alaska are fixated on rumors that federal investigators have been seizing paperwork from SBS in recent months, searching for evidence that Palin and her husband Todd steered lucrative contracts to the well-connected company in exchange for gifts like the construction of their home on pristine Lake Lucille in 2002. The home was built just two months before Palin began campaigning for governor, a job which would have provided her enhanced power to grant building contracts in the wide-open state.
SBS has close ties to the Palins. The company has not only sponsored Todd Palin's snowmobile team, according to the Village Voice's Wayne Barrett, it hired Sarah Palin to do a statewide television commercial in 2004...read on

If there's not a scandal brewing, then there's no way she'll stay out of politics. Will she end up hosting FOX & Friends, maybe do a little dancing on ABC?

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/sarah-palins-media-stalker-greta-van-su

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David Van Os on July 4th

post from jobsanger on 04 July 2009 09:36:00 AM. © jobsanger

Today is July 4, 2009. It is the 233rd marking of one of the most remarkable events in the history of humanity. It is our national birthday. It is our Independence Day. It is a day for celebrating both the past and the future.
It is the anniversary of the day when the people's representatives of 13 ex-British colonies on the North American continent proclaimed their freedom and independence. On that hot summer day, July 4, 1776, the subjects of an empire became the self-governing citizens of a republic. The owned became the owners. Monarchy dissolved and democracy arose.
In the hearts of royal despots everywhere a tremble of fear arose. In the hearts of their millions of victims a beacon of hope was lit. For not only did our national forebears announce a new nation, they altered the very definition of nationhood. The people's representatives assembled in Philadelphia who took this bold step on behalf of their fellow citizens were normal flesh and blood human beings. Just like all of us, they were full of the countless flaws and infirmities of the human condition. But also just like each of us, they were also vessels for the most remarkable potentials of the human race. They were petty and political. They were also brilliant, enlightened, visionary, and courageous. Just like each of us, they had the innate human capacity to rise to their best when their time on earth required it. These representatives of the people of the 13 ex-British colonies decided to do something that proved extremely important. It turned out to be one of the most important things ever done in the history of humanity. They decided to write down their reasons for declaring revolt against the British Empire.
Their reasons for risking their lives as traitors to the British Crown are why our national Independence Day is so valued by us and why it is honored around the world today. For they took such a dangerous step not only to be separated politically from Great Britain, but also to establish an entirely new vision of how human society should be ordered and governed. They put it down in writing for the posterity of their nation and the world. In one remarkable passage they gave to their fellow citizens, to their descendants, and to all of future world history their new blueprint for human society:

"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 there 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, --"

If you have not lately paused to read these words slowly and to contemplate their meaning, there is no better time than today, the anniversary of their first public utterance. Read the words slowly. Absorb their meaning.
You will then understand that the incredibly courageous and visionary founders of America redefined the very meaning of government and nationhood. In their vision, government existed not as the tool of a ruler or ruling class, but only as the extension of the self-governing people themselves, and only for the purpose of securing the human rights of the people. They created a country for the purpose of carrying out this vision. This is why America exists. This is why we have a national identity as Americans. This is what our country is here for. It is the new definition of nationhood that our national forebears birthed.

It is not only for the past that we pause to honor the birth of the vision 233 years ago. Equally, or perhaps even more importantly, we honor it for the future. The words of the Declaration of Independence are not just a history lesson. The vision of which they speak is not just a quaint artifact of the past

The Declaration of Independence announces a mission. It is our responsibility as legatees of the American Revolution to understand that the vision is not a static object that lies frozen in time behind us, but a vibrant goal for us to commit ourselves to reaching.

It is a mission that has never been fully realized. Most of the authors of the Declaration were male supremacists and many were slaveholders. Many were moneyed elite who preferred to preserve voting rights solely for their social class. They were far from perfect examples of the vision they articulated.

But they nevertheless envisioned what was possible for humanity, and they sacrificed everything they had to make sure their great experiment had a chance to take root. We honor them for that, but at the same time we look forward in the recognition that each generation of Americans is responsible for advancing further toward realization of the Declaration's vision as our goal. We accept that responsibility for our time, and we look to the future in the determination to deliver the vision to our descendants closer to fulfillment than it was left to us.

So on this day, July 4, 2009, for the sake of those who came before us and for the sake of those who will come after us, we rededicate ourselves to the task of fulfilling the magnificent vision of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. For the 233^rd time, we declare it anew.

David Van Os July 4, 2009

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/lhav/~3/3UoAhS6g2ZY/david-van-os-on-july-
4th.html

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July 4, 2009. Happy Birthday, America. Happy
Second Anniversary, Quiet Rockland.

post from HIT THE BOBBY STURGELL "EJECT" BUTTON on 04 July 2009 09:31:00 AM. © HIT THE BOBBY STURGELL "EJECT" BUTTON

This blog and others relating to it, were started by me, John J. Tormey III, Esq., and my citizen group Quiet Rockland which I co-founded with Pearl River, NY's Thomas Sullivan. The work is done pro bono and out of our own pockets and time. As an attorney I do this work, not for a client, but for the good of doing it, and to protect my own home.

Quiet Rockland first materialized in 2007 when the 300,000 residents of Rockland County, New York learned that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was seeking a harmful and dangerous ?NY/NJ/PHL Airspace Redesign? (?Redesign?) ? suddenly threatening to make our nice residential community a de facto part of the approach to Newark (NJ) Airport Runway #22. Up to 200-600 new jumbo-jets a day. Less than 5,000 feet altitude. 45 to 80 decibels. Every 2.5 minutes over our heads and homes. Blue ice. Aerosolized jet fuel. Falling metal. Wrong-way departures. Low-fuel landings. Tired pilots and crews. Short-staffed air traffic control centers populated with newbies. Obsolete traffic-control equipment. Aged and defective uninspected and underinspected planes. A corrupt FAA threatening whistle-blowers and refusing to regulate. An already overscheduled, oversaturated, and overcrowded airspace.

A recipe for disaster.

When FAA last effected a major airspace change in this NY/NJ/CT area, three large planes crashed around Elizabeth, New Jersey within about 18 months time. It?s not just about noise. It?s actually life-and-death.

FAA sucker-punched us in Rockland County, and afforded us no due process in their ghoulish unlawful quest to implement the ill-conceived and hazardous Airspace Redesign. FAA cheated to implement the proposed air-route changes. FAA picked Rockland County as the perceived disenfranchised path of least resistance in the Tri-State NY/NJ/CT area.

Rockland County is currently litigating the matter against FAA along with approximately a dozen other Petitioners, in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case will likely reach the U.S. Supreme Court due to the principles and amount of money involved. The Redesign is a huge money-grab for the airlines and their FAA enablers, all of whom stand to greatly economically profit from Redesign at our expense ? the expense of the communities which will be in effect destroyed by the FAA?s Redesign if it is implemented. If FAA is successful in raping our land, they have already indicated that they will then hit at least 7 more major metropolitan cities with the same changes, and undoubtedly more to follow after that. This is not just a New Yorker problem. This is the whole country?s problem to fix.

What started as a quest for preservation of a residential community of families, soon became an exploration of the illegal rogue conduct of FAA, once decried by former USDOT Inspector General Schiavo as the ?Tombstone Agency?, and for good reason. FAA continues to fail to regulate, in favor of squelching and threatening those that blow the whistle about things like Southwest?s cracked airplanes during the failed Bobby Sturgell FAA regime. FAA is but a revolving door for aviation-industry money and jobs. Its federal ?officials? pad the pockets of the airline industry when they are in office, and are then rewarded with salaries and other comp once they leave the federal agency, time and time again. It's a give-back Ponzi scheme wherein the crooks actually do pay each other. With OUR money. Government money. The American people's money.

This misconduct does not only cause quiet communities to become noisy, but it continues to kill approximately 500-600 unanswered aviation fatalities per year. NTSB statistics prove that and are public-record. FAA malfeasance also threatens to make communities like Rockland County, New York the next Clarence Center, New York ? where, a few months ago, 50 innocent people were killed in a plane crash. That plane which departed from none other than Newark Airport.

The crooked FAA?s incompetence kills. FAA management simply does not care. CNN just rightfully tabbed FAA as ?a very sick agency? this past week, in a story regarding the vindication of aviation safety whistleblowers.

Quiet Rockland?s 2-year exploration of FAA malfeasance thusfar, has been successful. The whistle-blowers have been acknowledged, legitimized, and honored. We have been able to lobby the ouster of one Robert Allan ?Bobby? Sturgell as Acting FAA Administrator - Sturgell being among the worst offenders and betrayers of the public trust. The cracked Southwest Airlines planes have been addressed ? for now. Yet planes will crack again, airlines will cheat for money again, and then the FAA will have a choice again: either (A) protect the public, or else (B) protect their airline cronies and their own pocketbooks while betraying the public. The dissemination of this blog, and other blogs like it, will help remind FAA and airlines that in this country, government is of the people, by the people, and for the people. ONLY. And that, if FAA betrays the public trust again, Quiet Rockland will prove it with public-record facts and inside information, and then take it, once again, to every level of government until the wrong is redressed and all the remaining perps are thrown out of the agency.

FAA management are not aviation experts. The experts are the Air Traffic Controllers abused by FAA management. FAA management is comprised of a bunch of third-rate publicists. Our blogs beat these publicists at their own game.

Let me please thank you for reading this blog post. By doing so, you assist Rockland County, Quiet Rockland, and the American public in this cause. The fact is, we really could use some further cyber-help - and perhaps your contact base and cyber know-how could provide it. In all likelihood, you and your family and friends fly, and therefore, like us, you too have a vested interest in aviation safety in America and beyond. Perhaps you are also one of the unfortunate overflown, like us.

Traditional media outlets are of some help, but do not go far enough. After all, I am sure you see the full-page advertisements that airlines place in newspapers, all the time. But the newspapers are dying-off now. The dissemination of truth is gradually being left to us ? you and me. That?s a sacred public trust I take seriously, and I trust that you do too.

What Quiet Rockland has learned over the past two years, is that there is only one way to regulate the ersatz regulators, FAA management, into actually doing their jobs. Our only option is to pound FAA with public opinion. Force them to correct their corrupt aeromercantile behavior. Case by case. Item by item. Sometimes, with some levity, on what can otherwise be a very heavy life-and-death subject.

Approximately 13,000 Air Traffic Controllers agree with us. It is those Air Traffic Controllers and other whistle-blowers and insiders, that feed us our very best information. Perhaps now you can help us spread the word further, and feed the same valuable information to a broader American audience and world audience. And if you have documents or other information that incriminates FAA management or any of them - I want it. You can keep your identity confidential when supplying it to me, and I have always honored and will always honor all requests for confidentiality. That is in fact the most important principle when lawfully dismantling a soul-less federal agency.

I would be happy to answer any further questions you may have, and sincerely appreciate your review of this note. Happy July 4th.

Respectfully,

John J. Tormey III, Esq.
Co-Founder, Quiet Rockland

JTormey3@QuietRockland.org
jtormey@optonline.net
brightline@att.net

http://www.randybabbitt.com/
http://www.randybabbitt.org/
http://www.randybabbitt.net/
http://southwestairlinesalmostkilledyou.blogspot.com/

The map of the FAA's proposed "NY/NJ/PHL Airspace Redesign", is depitced below:

Read The Full Article:
http://ejectsturgell.blogspot.com/2009/07/july-4-2009-happy-birthday-america.html

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Rich Lowrys Starbursts Burst Into Flames

post from Firedoglake on 04 July 2009 09:30:42 AM. © Firedoglake

I need some other Germanic language to describe this, because 'Schadenfreude' isn't quite cutting it.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/04/rich-lowrys-starbursts-burst-into-flames/

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When will they ever learn

post from Antemedius - Liberally Critical Thinking on 04 July 2009 09:19:54 AM. © Antemedius - Liberally Critical Thinking

Cross posted at Blazing Indiscretions and The Peace Tree.

As Americans pursue Happiness today - on this most sacred of holidays - reveling in American exceptionalism, eating hot dogs, potato salad and ice cream, they also rage war to foster "democracy" in an occupied Iraq and Afghanistan:

When will they ever learn?

I first heard Where have all the flowers gone? in 1964 (remember Vietnam?) in my high school German class. Yeah, PP&M, Baez, Kingston Trio, they've all sung it, but Dietrich's extraordinary rendition is the best IMNSHO! Ausgezeignet! Pete Seeger preferred the German version rather than his English version; especially the lyrics. Seeger said often that the German version sings better.

Wann wird man je verstehn?

video details and more

Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind,
wo sind sie geblieben?
Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind,
was ist geschehn?
Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind,
Mädchen pflückten sie geschwind.
Wann wird man je verstehn,
wann wird man je verstehn?
Sag mir, wo die Mädchen sind ?
Männer nahmen sie geschwind.
Sag mir, wo die Männer sind ?
Zogen fort, der Krieg beginnt.
Sag, wo die Soldaten sind ?
Über Gräbern weht der Wind.
Sag mir, wo die Gräber sind ?
Blumen wehn im Sommerwind.
Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind ?
Mädchen pflückten sie geschwind.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.antemedius.com/content/when-will-they-ever-learn

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Meet Senator Jim DeMint, Honduran Coup Supporter
and Apologist: Oh, He's Republican Too

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 04 July 2009 09:16:47 AM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
By Nikolas Kozloff

Read The Full Article:
http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/8900

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Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up (Special Sarah
Palin Edition)

post from Daily Kos on 04 July 2009 09:00:12 AM. © Daily Kos

Saturday punditry, with a twist of Sarah Palin.

Howard Fineman:

I have covered politics for a long time. I can tell when someone is running for president. Sarah Palin is running for president.

Howard, you might be right, but you're wrong about this: she may be running but she's no longer a player.

But you never say "never" in politics, and there are reasons why it’s worth paying attention to what she is up to these days.

Bullshit. That is, unless All My Children and The Young and the Restless are pre-empted.

WaPo:

"We've seen a lot of nutty behavior from governors and Republican leaders in the last three months, but this one is at the top of that," said John Weaver, a longtime friend and confidant of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)

Arena/Politico response, all sides of spectrum, none of it supportive:

Sherrilyn Ifill, Professor of Law, U. Md.: Watching this news conference felt like watching a public figure unravel before our very eyes. And it wasn't pretty. This lady was spooked, scared, angry, I thought, and incoherent.

Andrew Rotherham, Co-founder and publisher, Education Sector: I can see political trouble from my house.

Patrick J. Egan, Professor of Politics and Public Policy, NYU: Governing was never her strong suit.

Patrick Dorinson, Political communications strategist and commentator: I am quite sure the media snobs and elitists are ecstatic that they have successfully destroyed her and her family in the process.

Bradley A. Blakeman, Republican strategist, consultant, entrepreneur: The people of Alsaka elected Palin Governor expecting that she would serve an her entire term absent a compelling reason to step aside. She has NOT given a good enough reason in my opinion to step down. This is just another bizarre event in what has become a series of uncomfortable political misteps that raises more questions about her judgment and ability.

David Boaz, Executive VP, Cato Institute: Will we one day say that her presidency was "born on the Fourth of July"? I doubt it.

William Jelani Cobb, Professor of History, Spelman College: This is obviously part of a vast left-wing conspiracy designed to assure Barack Obama a second term and, if Rush Limbaugh is to be believed, several more after that.

Larry J. Sabato, Professor of Politics, University of Virginia: Welcome to Bizarro World. We’ll see what the real, full story is behind this seemingly nonsensical move. But one result is clear: Sarah Palin is no longer a credible candidate for President in 2012.

Dan Balz:

But are Palin's rules those of someone with the capacity to seek and win her party's presidential nomination in 2012, as many believe is her ultimate goal, or of someone who has flashed like a meteor across the political skies but ultimately with limited impact? That question was at the center of the discussion among Republican strategists who were baffled by what they had just heard from Alaska.

CBS:

With the stunning news of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s sudden resignation, it is easy to jump to the conclusion that there is "something else out there" that has forced her to make this decision. There might well be, but ever since her return to Alaska after her electoral defeat in November, it has been very clear that she has loathed the new dynamic that has greeted her there.

It isn't that she was fed up with Alaska. Alaska was fed up with her.

William Kristol:

If Palin wants to run in 2012, why not do exactly what she announced today? It's an enormous gamble - but it could be a shrewd one.

Yeah, and I could be considered a shrewd commentator, and a brilliant strategist, too. And pigs could fly. So, put wings on this porker and call it Alaska Airlines. As Sarah goes, so go I.

Jonah Goldberg: Sarah, you're the laughingstock of the Democratic party. I am, too. but still, even I think you're blowing it.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/n9cBEjKyNXk/-Your-Abbreviated-Pund
it-Round-up-(Special-Sarah-Palin-Edition)

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Fourth of July Open Thread

post from DemConWatch on 04 July 2009 09:00:00 AM. © DemConWatch

Happy Independence Day!

On this date in 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, which announced that the 13 American states were no longer colonies of Great Britain. Codification, as it were, of the on-going battle for freedom that had begun in earnest a year earlier. (Some people date back to the Boston Tea Party in 1773.)

The Declaration was written by Thomas Jefferson and the first signatory was John Hancock.

The Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, and the graphic is a copy of the famous John Trumbull oil of the signing. the original now hangs in the Capitol Rotunda.

They met at Independence Hall, which is now a museum/historic site, and open to the public. It is part of a larger area in Philadelphia which includes the Liberty Bell, a Visitor Center, and, at the other end, the US Constitution Center.

I've posted a copy of the document after the jump. If you've never read it, it really is worth reading. And I am not going to say you should be able to name the 13 colonies.

Today is a day of celebration here in the USA, so please use the comments to post photos of your picnics, parties, fireworks, etc. or any other comments you may have on this auspicious holiday.

Two last things:

To our British readers: no hard feelings.
From your doctor: if you're setting off fireworks at home, please make sure you have a water source (like a hose) because fireworks are dangerous!

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

hen 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 harass 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 benefit 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 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 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.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

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

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

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

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

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

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

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

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

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

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

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

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Read The Full Article:
http://www.Demconwatchblog.com/diary/1909/fourth-of-july-open-thread

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233 years ago today

Our nation was founded when a mere 56 men affixed their signatures to a document declaring our independence from the British crown, and enumerating the reasons why British rule was no longer tolerable. Had the colonies failed to break free, their signatures on the Declaration of Independence would have effectively amounted to signing their own death warrants.

But they were no timid lot. One by one, they stepped forward, and sign they did. With bold strokes.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

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.