Well, our approval of our government is at an all time low, fuel prices are creeping up, and an election is coming soon that will showcase nearly 500 lame duck candidates. So that must mean that it’s time to trot out the old saw “the terrorists are coming.”

Heck, it’s worked like a charm since 9/11, you should stay with it until it doesn’t work anymore. After all, there’s always Iran, North Korea, etc… to take the place of “the terrorists” when that stops working. Here’s the story that started this train of thought.

Now, might what the story reports be true? Maybe. But, you know what? Who cares? Right now we’ve got our government (supposedly of the people by the people) acting in the interests of those who pay them (or those they can pay in the case of Senator Vitters…) Last fall I sincerely hoped that people would (and many did) vote against incumbents to get some new blood, some debate, some change in the system. It didn’t work.

People are noticing, so it must be time to scare them again. If you have an ounce of logical capability, I implore you not to worry about “the terrorist” threat, but rather worry about the break down of our government and society. If you must be worried about some danger you expose yourself to, then worry about automobile travel (by far the most dangerous thing you’ll do every day) and/or eating, obesity is a close second. Let’s not fall for “the terrorists” this time, wouldn’t that be novel?

Freedom does not necessarily include safety. Being free means taking responsibility and risk. That’s historically what we’re good at doing as a nation. Let’s get back to our roots.

Click the image to visit MontaraFog video link



The Coastsider has a nice article and link to a video from a recent trip out to the island chain.

When the air is reasonably free of mist and fog we can see them out there, marking the horizon. The Farallon Islands [Wikipedia] rise up enigmatic on the edge of the continental shelf, familiar and yet mysterious. The islands themselves are protected and off-limits. Few Coastsiders, though they often see them in the distance, have ventured the twenty-six miles out to visit with them.

Read more…

I’m not talking Ohio State Football (yet…) – rather the statue of jesus in southern Ohio which I blogged about last year. During this visit to the state that’s round on the ends and HI in the middle, my brother’s girlfriend pointed me to the video below. This song is about the statue that is 20 meters tall (60 feet) and plays off the practice of butter sculpture at the state fair (normally a cow…)

Enjoy!

This blog entry has a sequence to it. First, read the Declaration of Independence embedded below. Then take 10 minutes to watch the video clip. Finally, WWTJD?

Step 1 – Read the Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Step 2 – Watch this video

Video hosted by Crooks & Liars.com – click the play button (triangle) to start playback.



Step 3 – WWTJD?

You’re now armed, you have read the Founder’s own words and have seen and heard a comprehensive list of grievances against the current monarchy headed by King George. What would Thomas Jefferson do? It’s in our hands and let’s hope that it’s not a partisan issue. Republicans should be even more outraged than Democrats after being duped. Now is the time to take action.

Kevin Chu passed this along, I think it’s brilliant. It’s clever and funny and makes you think.