Just as it was once necessary for our Forefathers to make a statement to assert their desires for freedom from a tyrannical ruler, it has came time for us to do the same and reassert our rights as free and independent men and women from a government that has become antithetical to that freedom and independence.

The following might be termed a REdeclaration of Independence. I am proud to say that it was written by a friend of mine who belongs to the same blog group I do.

I hereby publicly support this statement with no reservations and no disagreements as to content or tenor.

I split the text and put the bulk of the post under the fold merely for the sake of blog efficiency. I urge you to read it all,and please, if you agree with us, add your signature in the comments.

WHEN IN THE GENERATIONS SUCCEEDING the
one that pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to
usher in the birth of the worldÂ’s only truly free nation, LibertyÂ’s
Progeny incrementally ceded their birthright to the government
conceived and designed to serve a free people, and not be its servant,
this generation is awakening to the terrible mistake that we, and our
ancestors allowed to happen. Charged with the terrible knowledge that
comes with opened eyes, we now take up the long abdicated duty to rouse
our fellow citizens and actively wrest the power and the liberties that
have been progressively talked, cajoled, threatened, wheedled, and
extorted from us, not only by those who ostensibly served us, but by
their supporters and enablers who, by accident or design, saw fit to
usurp and disdain such freedoms, that they might be withheld, and where
impossible to withhold, might be condemned, until a corrosive contempt
for these liberties, wrapped in velvet gloves, might so suffocate the
circulation of them that this nation, conceived in liberty and the
providence of a wise and benevolent creator, might indeed perish from
the earth, plunging the rightful heirs of a proud and noble heritage in
the the darkened waters of chaos, despair, and evil that surround them,
a dank deluge that even today, other human beings actively seek to
escape from in the inspiring embrace of this blessed and free country.
more...

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1 There is obviously a lot to know about this. There are some good points here.

Posted by: RobD at October 06, 2009 02:52 PM (aeF4W)

2 Hey, I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say GREAT blog!.....I"ll be checking in on a regularly now....Keep up the good work!

Posted by: RobD at October 06, 2009 03:56 PM (6gJXY)

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And I thought my local Municiple course had tough rules!!

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While perusing the local paper today, I came upon this interesting tidbit (August 29, 2009 in the archives)..seems that the oh-so-brilliant "professional educators" in the Brownsburg school district have decided that they will drastically cut back on the teaching of cursive writing in their grade schools. It isn't enough that the curriculum in the public schools systems has been "dumbed down" to the point where they are graduating functional illiterates so that little Johnny can't read, but they don't think Johnny really needs to be able to write, either. They will teach him to be able to write his name with a pen, but for the most part, they decided to concentrate on his being able to type instead.

I remember how much difficulty I had in learning cursive when I was in the second and third grade (sorry for being such a trial, Mrs. Biddle!), and I still have handwriting more worthy of a doctor's prescription pad than any sort of calligraphy in anyone's estimation; it was still a project worthy of the attempt, for the discipline it imposed if nothing else. This is just the latest example of the declining quality of a public school education ever since the Federal government became involved with public education with the founding of the Department of Education in 1980.

The DoE currently has 4,200 full time employees and an annual budget of $68.6 billion. I believe we as taxpayers have been totally remiss in demanding a decent return on our investment. Turning over our children's educations to the tender mercies of the NEA and other professional Teachers Unions has been an unmitigated disaster by any reasonable measure you could propose.

The NEA would have you believe it's because we aren't spending enough, yet expenditures have risen every year since the DoE was founded, and the end results have grown more dismal with every passing year. Those districts that spend the most, on the whole, tend to have the worst results by every accepted standard.

WE the PEOPLE need to get more involved with the process and DEMAND that REAL reforms be made, beginning with the abolishment of the National Department of Education. Control needs to be remanded back to the local level, where parents AND teachers can have more control over what is taught and how it is taught.

If the Brownsburg parents allow their school district to get away with not doing what they are paid to do, they are being remiss in their responsibilities to their children. IMHO They should fire the person(s) responsible for this idiotic decision and get people in those positions of power to actually effect real school reforms. They shouldn't have to fear the threat of a loss of federal funds because they refuse to follow the dictates of the latest fad in educational theory.

The old truism is that "them that pay get to make the rules" and the Federal government should never have gained the power to dictate to the local districts.
It's up to us to strip that power away and put it back in our own hands, where it belongs.

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With all the hype honoring Ted Kennedy in the course of his death and funeral; it might behoove you to read A Sober Look at Ted Kennedy.

It's an investigative reporter's look into Sen. Kennedy's past that isn't tarnished by bias either pro or con; a "just the facts ma'am" treatise on a man. It was written by Michael Kelly after three months of reporting, thousands of pages of research, and over seventy interviews with everyone in Washington, from congressmen to waiters on Capitol Hill. It was written in 1990..just imagine the shenanigans that Teddy engaged in, SINCE that time, up to his death.

As a side note, Michael Kelly the first reporter killed in Iraq when his Humvee turned over in the course of a terrorist Dissatisfied Islamist attack man-made disastrous event in 2003.

And please, pass it along to your Liberal friends, it'll be fun to watch their heads explode with feigned fury/anguish.

to GuyK

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Well, Beth's older brother, Bret, and three of his children just left from their little visit here at the Citadel. Beth hadn't seen her brother in ten years, so it was a great re-union and a chance to meet de nieces and da Nephew as real people and not the babies they were. They were returning from taking the oldest progeny, Courtney, to Dance College in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Jason had had his twelfth(?) birthday yesterday, so, we got some ice cream cake/muffins to have something to put some B-day candles in. And we had an set of Nerf guns that had been hidden in the closet to give him as a present.

I got to show off my Goldwing (something I don't have to be pushed to hard to do under any circumstances ! LOL ). I gave them all a short ride ( I think the youngest, Brittney, is a natural motorcyclist, she took to it like a duck to water...I thought she would be scared, but she actually stood up on the footplates to get more wind!). Jennifer, her older sis, was a natural passenger. I think she enjoyed the wind blowing through her hair almost as much as I do.
If you ever get the bug, Bret, let me know and I'll see what kind of a deal I can find for you.

The kittens we have residing in our garage were a big hit with the kids (too bad they are too young; I'd have loved to pawn a couple of them off to go back to Texas---(I'm SURE Melissa would have loved THAT!! LMAO).

I think a good time was had by all, and I would look forward to a visit from them any time they could get here; I hope they would feel the same way about returning.

If Jennifer sends me the pictures she took of the kittens and the bike, I'll try to post them. (hint, hint, nudge, nudge) J/k, Jen.

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There's an old sea story in the Navy about a ship's Captain who inspected
his sailors, and afterward told the Chief Bosun that his men smelled bad.

The Captain suggested perhaps it would help if the sailors would change
their underwear occasionally. The Chief responded, "Aye, aye sir, I'll see to
it immediately!"

The Chief went straight to the sailors berth deck and announced, "The
Captain thinks you guys smell bad and wants you to change your underwear.
"Pittman, you change with Jones, McCarthy, you change with Witkowski, and
Brown, you change with Schultz. Now get to it!!!"

THE MORAL:
Someone may be promising "change" in Washington, but don't count on
things smelling any better!

H/T Nancy

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“We are God’s partners in matters of life and death.” --Barrack Hussein Obama

The Poseur in Chief made the above statement in a conference call with the Religion Action Center of Reform Judaism, which is comprised of roughly 1,000 Rabbis of varying sects of Judaism, saying that he would need their assistance in getting "significant" health-care reform passed.

Tell me, thou high and mighty pundits from Lunaville Left, what was that you said about President Bush when he tried to start some faith-based poverty programs?
Separation of Church and State, I believe, was the theme of the ranting?
So just what would you call this?!?! Not to mention the fact that, unlike President Bush, he had the unmitigated gall to essentially, place himself on an equal partnership footing with God? I'm not religious by hardly any normal definition of the term, but even I observed this as a demonstration of hubris unequaled by any other politician in my lifetime. It was also reported by one of the participants that the hold music prior to the call being opened was the music used for the Third Reich's anthem, Deutchland uber Alles !!
Yes, I'm aware the music itself is really Op 76 No 3 "Emperor" string quartet in C. by Hayden; it's a lovely piece of music and was only appropriated by the Nazi regime for it's anthem with words attached to it entirely unrelated to the music...as was the "twisted cross" symbol of the Regime; but to play music with such connotations attached to it by that foul Regime to a group of JEWS ?!?)

Is this man just TRYING to find rock bottom in his demonstrations of naivete, hubris, or plain pathological stupidity?

BTW...if those "death panels" in the ObamaCare proposals that were decried by many, such as Sarah Palin, were truly non-existent, (at least as a possibility) just what did Teh WON mean about "WE (the government and religious leaders) being the ones to make life and death decisions" in regard to health care?

I just hope he remembers, THIS time, the Jews WILL be armed, and the general population will be standing shoulder to shoulder with them.

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Ethel was a bit of a demon in her wheelchair, and loved to charge around the nursing home, taking corners on one wheel and getting up to maximum speed on the long corridors.

Because the poor woman was one sandwich short of a picnic ' the other residents tolerated her and some of them actually joined in.

One day Ethel was speeding up one corridor when a door opened and Kooky Clarence stepped out with his arm outstretched. 'STOP!' he shouted in a firm voice. 'Have you got a license for that thing?'

Ethel fished around in her handbag and pulled out a Kit Kat wrapper and held it up to him. 'OK' he said, and away Ethel sped down the hall.

As she took the corner near the TV lounge on one wheel, weird Harold popped out in front of her and shouted 'STOP! Have you got proof of insurance?'

Ethel dug into her handbag, pulled out a drink coaster and held it up to him. Harold nodded and said 'On your way, Ma'am.'

As Ethel neared the final corridor, Crazy Craig stepped out in front of her, Butt- Naked, and holding his 'You-Know-What' in his hand.

Oh, good grief,' yelled Ethel, 'Not that Damn Breathalyzer Test again!

H/T Catfish

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A music legend died yesterday. Inventor and musician Lester William Polsfuss, died at White Plains Hospital of complications from Pneumonia. He was 94 years young.

So what you say? Are you a fan of Rock and Roll music? Heavy Metal? Country? Blues?, Jazz? If you enjoy any of these forms of entertainment, you owe a great debt to Mr. Polsfuss.

Better known as Les Paul, Mr. Polsfuss was the inventor of the solid body electric guitar, and was the leading developer of multitrack recording techniques
used by almost every recording musician in the world today. He is also credited with inventing or discovering many recording innovations including overdubbing (also known as sound on sound), delay effects such as tape delay, phasing effects, and multitrack recording.

His innovative talents extended into his own playing style, including licks, trills, chording sequences, fretting techniques and timing, which set him apart from his contemporaries and inspired many of the guitarists down to the present day.

In 1941,Les Paul introduced the first solid body electric guitar in the world...the first prototype was a 4'x4" piece of wood with steel strings strung on it. He played the instrument in a local nightclub and was deemed "a nut" for doing it...He added wooden "wings" to what he termed "The Log" to make it look like a more conventional guitar shape and the rest is music history.
Gibson Guitars started marketing the Les Paul Guitar in 1952, and it quickly became THE standard in guitars for a new form of music in it's infancy, a little fad called "Rock and Roll".

Les Paul, along with his wife, Mary Ford, garnered 36 gold records playing with his new invention. They had two number one hits; "VayaCon Dios", and "How High the Moon". His active music career spanned almost 80 years, from 1928 to 2009.

Mr. Paul continued to be an active musician up until the end of his life, playing in various New York night spots. Stars such as Jimmy Page (Led Zepplin), Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), Bruse Springsteen, and Eddie Van Halen would often sit in with him, paying due homage to the Maestro.

He truly left a great legacy that few can come close to matching.

Here he is, playing the entire band in 2006:

One of my favorite Les Paul songs:

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Why is it that when protests are held by every Left wing America hating fringe group, the MSM media portrays them as being "freedom loving activists" but whenever a protest is held by those that merely want the Constitution to be held to that they are "out of touch" Rightwing wacko's ?

This pResident is proposing to nationalize one sixth of our GDP without so much as a question raised, and those questioning that trend are portrayed as "haters", "Racists", or worse.

Question the pResident? Unpatriotic! Dangerous! Un-American!

Yet look back over the last eight years and I challenge you to find a day where President Bush wasn't vilified by protesters, or worse, members of the MSM itself.

Remember this?

This is one of the signs that President Bush was greeted with by hostile protesters on a fund raising trip to Portland, Oregon, in August 2002. Patriotic? Mild?, Americanism at it's finest? I dun't theenk so, Lucy!

Those afflicted with a bad case of BDS are STILL blaming President Bush for everything under the sun from the economy to the heartbreak of psoriasis, six months after he's been out of power.

Accuse me of ODS if you will, at least I can point to FACTS WHY I detest the actions of the current occupant of the Oval Office, not some amorphous accusations that he's evil incarnate.

At least the anti-ObamaCare crowd isn't being paid to appear!

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"Education is useless without the Bible." "In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed.... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people." -- Noah Webster (In the forward of the 1828 Webster's American Dictionary)

"It is the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the SUPREME BEING, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe."-- John Adams

"The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities impressed with it."--James Madison

Really sounds like the Founders were really seriously concerned with a separation of Church and State, doesn't it?

For all the vigor that Secularists expound on this so-called "bedrock" principle in our Nation's public ethos, I defy them to show ONE example of that being demonstrated in ANY of our Founding documents, or by any public statement of ANY of the Founders. It simply doesn't exist. Religion was more a part of everyday life in that era, and the Founders had every expectation that that condition would remain to our modern day; they had no conception of separating their religious convictions from their public ones; indeed, their religious convictions formed the BASE for their public convictions and their subsequent actions.

They rebelled against England not because of some amorphous feeling of dissatisfaction, but because they felt that the Crown was infringing upon and denying them the rights that they considered to be their birthright gift from GOD.

In that one way, our Constitution is unique in all the world, as it enumerates certain basic rights that are bestowed on every Citizen by virtue of being a child of God, and that the State may not infringe upon. In other words; those rights are inherent, and are not bestowed to the People by the State, but by a Higher Authority. It also recognizes that Higher Authority to be greater than the power of the State itself.

I believe that this is the greatest cause of the divisions we are experiencing in our political arguments today; a large segment of our political class have forgotten that they are NOT the be-all and end-all final Authority in the lives of our citizenry. Even those of our Citizens that do not profess any certain sect of religion still share in the common Ethos provided, in the most part, by the Judeo-Christian traditions and beliefs. Without that common ethos, the system begins to break down, and in the end, that lack of a common Ethos WILL lead to tyranny as surely as the sun rises in the East..

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Take the time to watch this speech from the 1964 GOP Convention. Ronald Reagan had it right then, and if you really LISTEN, you'll see just how far astray Teh WON is trying to take us. In 2010 we will face a vital decision; whether to continue down the path of Socialism, or try to return to the strong roots our Founders laid down for us. A Time of Choosing, indeed.

You might want to notice that there is no teleprompter present either...for all that the Left lauds the oratory skills of the Obamatron, ask yourself; when was the last time he spoke in public without that (to him) vital aid. He even uses them in press conferences, the first First Executive to ever do so.

"Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that
freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our
innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot
endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to
that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail
hereditary bondage on them." --Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking up Arms, 6 July 1775

"What this country needs are more unemployed politicians."
-Edward Langley, (1928 - 1995)

Either we unemploy the current crop of Congresscritters, or we shall surely have to take up arms to regain our freedom.

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The Senate confirmed Sonia Sotomayor Thursday as the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court. The vote was 68-31 for Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's first high court nominee. She becomes the 111th justice and just the third woman to serve.

Congratulations to Ms. Sotomayor and the Fiddy Two'rs that led to her selection as one of the most powerful people in the U.S.

Since she replaces Justice David Souter, her liberal activist views won't make too much difference initially in the general decisions of the Court, but since there are at least two other Justices that will most likely need to be replaced before the end of pResident Obama's first term; she is the beachhead placement that will swing the Court to be the most radically Liberal it has ever been.

My personal grudge, and I fully admit it's MY bias, is Ms. Sotomayor's cavalier attitude towards the Second Amendment, and her unswerving defense of PC affirmative action (not the TRUE AA of equal opportunity, but the mere plugging in of racial/sexual quota numbers to achieve "fairness").

We can only truly judge her performance once she's been on the Court for a few years and she's had the opportunity to show her true colors; I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for the time being; she may surprise everyone - it has happened before. BUT I would exhort all my fellow believers in the 2Nd A. to batten down the hatches and dig in for the long difficult fight I believe is just beginning. Keep the ammo locker well stocked.

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OK, so this poster has started appearing all over the Los Angles area...

So what, You say, just political satire/commentary? Right? The normal snarkyness associated with our freewheeling libertarian type of political system.

Well according to the local Dimicrat powers that be: “Depicting the president as demonic and a socialist goes beyond political spoofery;it is mean-spirited and dangerous.”

You know, I never heard ONE word of protest over the last eight years when President Bush was depicted as Hitler, or a big eared monkey, or any of the other 20 variations of satiric depictions that were displayed in the public media on a daily basis; it was just "blowing off some steam" when progressive pundits publicly advocated the assassination of President Bush in (according to them, unserious) tones. Yet let anyone depict their Icon in any manner other than in the most reverent, and it's suddenly a case of being beyond the pale for political discourse.

It's almost as if Hopey-Changetude were a religion with pResident OBamba as its god, and any that questioned Teh WON were committing blasphemy of the highest order...and you know what happened to blasphemers in the past.

Personally, I need to go see a guy at my local print shop and see what it would cost to print a thousand posters .... and maybe see about getting a Nomex firesuit?

Update: This picture was published in Vanity Fair on July 29, 2008....

"Great stuff from the talented Friedman (as always). As "agents of chaos" go, W's right up there with the best of 'em."

"So true. Only his puppet strings are missing. :-)"

"Very good!!!"

"Poor Joker, he doesn't deserve this. Bush isn't good enough to wear his face."

"Brilliant and profound."

And those are just the first five of over 75 comments and they got more malicious as the thread grew...

Goose, don't complain when it's YOU instead of the gander being cooked.

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On this day in 1790 the U.S. Coast Guard was created by Congress, which authorized Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton to build a small fleet of 10 cutters to protect the coast. It now constitutes an active-duty force of just under 42,000 individuals, with 11 different types of aircraft and 34 different types of ships and boats, ranging in size from a 21' navigation assistance boat all the way to a 420' Ice Breaker. Both naval and air operations are conducted 24/7, no matter what the weather conditions. The Coast Guard's responsibilities run the gamut from interdiction of smuggling and law enforcement within our territorial waters, all the way to search and rescue operations within our territorial waters.

The Coast Guard serves a critical role under the Department of Homeland Security in the vital job of protecting our nation from all who would do her harm, and I for one would like to offer thanks and gratitude for a tough job well done.

Happy Birthday and Semper Paratus!

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"With respect to the two words 'general welfare,' I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators." --James Madison

There you have it, right from the horses mouth. The Progressives would have you believe that the Federal government is,and of a right, SHOULD be, the final "safety net" for those on the low side of the spectrum. As you can see from the quote above, that was as far from the Founders original intent as it's possible to get.

The Founders believed in the equality of OPPORTUNITY, not the equality of outcome. The Federal government has usurped powers unto itself that are far beyond what the Constitution granted it, and it's up to US to rein that out of control animal back in line.

The Founders knew that a strong Federal Government would ALWAYS lead to tyranny, and took great pains to limit that central government to prevent said tyranny; WE have been lax in guarding against the pernicious gathering of Federal authority since the days of Woodrow Wilson and all but ceded control to the Government under Franklin Roosevelt, with the natural result of ever increasing intrusions upon our personal liberties ever since.

The Federal government is like a locomotive barreling down a steep slope, gaining speed and momentum at a geometric rate, I pray that we can get the brakes to hold to bring the train to a stop, but I fear it has reached the point where only a bloody derailment will accomplish that goal.

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