Thursday, January 6, 2011

Not Again!

They came from all around the world
Where "rights" wasn't even a word
From countries where evil ruled all
And freedom could not take hold

With hopes they came for a better life
And worked to make hopes true
Except for where they were first born
People like me and you

But old-time fears give keener sense
To those who joined us here
Before the natives the trouble they smelled
And hard-won freedom held dear

Like Greek soothsayers or Roman geese
They sounded an alarm
For the foes of liberty are in the wings
Ready to do us harm

These people smelled what they knew so well
The rot of bondage and pawn
In which the government gets to tell
And command every man they own

It would behoove native-born to hear
What the refugees have to tell
Lest our land like their old world
Becomes just another hell

And fear we might having to engage
The forces of those who rule
We'll do better while passions rage
Than later when spirit cools

Than later on when are arms are tied
Our hosts disbanded, disarmed
Then we cannot put up much of a fight
And even retreat will be barred

So listen to those who know first-hand
How tyranny gets its start
And while you can, with ballots and lead
Vote and, if need be, fight

Oleg Volk

Man Attacked By Kids At Metro -- Bystanders Watch And Film It

Caution: Language
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Story and additional video.

Via Vox Popoli

20 Abandoned Cities From Around The World

Deserted Towns And Other Derelict Places

Via albigensian2007, Belle Grove

82 Year Old Held Alleged Thieves At Gunpoint

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"An 82-year-old retired high school math teacher and business owner with diabetes and leukemia shot out a tire on a pickup truck loaded with stuff allegedly stolen from his house near here and held two men at gunpoint until police arrived."

Japan's Depression

"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech."
-- Benjamin Franklin
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Restore The Preeminence Of The Constitution In Lawmaking

File:Constitution-usa-thomas-paine.png
Three Garrett Amendments to House Resolution #5

Q & A

Question #1: Why are neither the “general welfare,” nor the “necessary and proper” clauses sufficient Constitutional citations?

Answer #1: The Founding Fathers made it clear that each of these clauses was connected to the powers defined in Article I. Sec. 8, Paragraphs 2-18:

1. General Welfare Clause

· “With respect to the 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, in a letter from 1831

· “It may be affirmed with perfect confidence that the constitutional operation of the intended government would be precisely the same, if these clauses were entirely obliterated.” – Alexander Hamilton in The Federalist No. 33

2. Necessary and Proper Clause

· The words “necessary and proper” [are] “for carrying into execution the foregoing powers.” –James Wilson, the Pennsylvanian who proposed this clause at the Constitutional Convention

Question #2: What if a Member wanted to introduce legislation that would cut federal spending for an unconstitutional government program?

Answer #2: If a Member wishes to introduce a bill that limits federal power, he or she could cite either the 9th or 10th Amendment.

1. The 9th Amendment: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

2. The 10th Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

1951 Siata 208CS Stablimenti Farina Spyder


( Full + 8 more photos )

Wilmingtonians Begin Their Defense Of The Cape Fear

The War Between the States Sesquicentennial

Wilmingtonians Begin their Defense of the Cape Fear:

“Just to the south of Wilmington, the citizens of Smithville (now Southport) “irrespective of party” affiliation held a “large and enthusiastic meeting” on December 29th, just 9 days after the secession of South Carolina. A strong speech in favor of self-determination was presented by Col. George Wortham of Granville County, and records of the proceedings were sent “to each of our representatives in the General Assembly and…to the Wilmington Journal and the Raleigh State Journal with a request to publish – and…to be copied by all papers friendly to Southern independence.” The meeting adjourned “with three cheers for Secession, and three cheers, long and loud, for the Old North State.”

Early in January 1861, Wilmington’s Vigilance Committee led programs of speakers, cheering and cannon-firing as they sensed a final separation with the North---raising a “lone-star flag” [white star on field of red] as well. The model for this “North Carolina Secession flag” quite likely was the red flag hoisted the previous month by Charlestonians, and emblazoned with the palmetto tree and crescent. Wilmingtonians wanted their own symbol of political independence.

NC Secessionflag.gif

Already concerned about the presence of the US military in local forts, a committee including Honorable W.S. Ashe, Captain Edward D. Hall and Captain John J. Hedrick took a special train to Raleigh on January 1st to consult with the Governor “on the propriety of taking Fort Johnson on the Cape Fear River about two miles from its mouth.”

Early January, 1861---The Cape Fear Forts:

Star of the West.jpg

The “Star of the West” relief expedition sent by President Buchanan in defiance of South Carolina reasserting its independence, greatly alarmed patriots in the Cape Fear. The ship entered Charleston Harbor on January 9, 1861 and was fired upon by Citadel cadets manning batteries on Morris Island, driving the ship back to the north.

A meeting of prominent citizens in Wilmington met at the Courthouse after the Star of the West incident with merchant Robert G. Rankin, Jr. as the speaker. This group formed a Wilmington Committee of Safety patterned on the one formed to resist British invasion 86 years earlier, and they called for volunteers to join a defensive force called the “Cape Fear Minutemen” commanded by Major John J. Hedrick. Their primary concern was the two fortifications guarding the Cape Fear, Forts Johnston and Caswell. Named for Royal Governor Gabriel Johnston, the former was ceded by North Carolina to the federal government in 1794 on the condition that a fort was to be erected there within three years. This never occurred and only a barracks was to exist there. The latter fort was named for Richard Caswell, North Carolina’s first governor under the US Constitution.

HedrickJJMajor.jpg

Major John J. Hedrick

Major Hedrick and his small force departed from the Market Street dock early on January 10th on a schooner bound for Smithville, where they arrived at 3PM. They marched to the US military barracks at Fort Johnston then in the charge of Ordnance Sergeant James O’Reilly, and took charge of the supplies.

Fort Caswell on Oak Island near Smithville (now Southport) was a bastioned, masonry fortress commanding the main entry into the Cape Fear River, and it only mounted two decrepit 24-pounder cannon. After the ill-advised Star of the West incident by Buchanan, this fort being reinforced with a strong Northern garrison and guns, controlling maritime traffic in and out of Wilmington was not to be allowed. It had to be taken. With twenty men from the Minutemen and Captain S.D. Thurston’s “Smithville Guards,” Major Hedrick sailed to Fort Caswell about three miles distant and took charge of the fort from the sergeant posted there.”

(from “Wilmington in the Secession Crisis,” www.cfhi.net Historical Essays)

Citizens Of Each State, Not the States United

The error in believing that there is such a thing as a “citizen of the United States” springs from the vindictive and illegally-enacted 14th Amendment. Never constitutionally-ratified, its revolutionary provisions disenfranchised citizens of many States and created a special federally-protected class referred to as “citizens of the United States.” There is no question that the federal government is the mere agent and creature of the States, not a master who dictates who will be a citizen of a State.

Bernhard Thuersam, Director
Cape Fear Historical Institute
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“It is strange what errors have crept into vogue and pass without scrutiny or question; especially on naturalization and its sequence, citizenship of the United States. The subject is treated as if Congress were empowered by the Constitution to confer upon aliens citizenship of the United States distinct from citizenship of particular States and Territories.

The truth is, Congress has no power to naturalize or to confer citizenship of the United States. Its only power is to establish a uniform rule to be pursued by the respective States and Territories on admitting aliens to their own citizenship. Before the Constitution was adopted, each State possessed the right as an Independent Sovereign Power to admit to citizenship whom she pleased, and on such terms as she pleased.

All that the States did on this point in accepting the Constitution, was to delegate to Congress the power to establish a uniform rule so that an alien might not be permitted to become a citizen of one State on different terms from what might be required in another; especially, as in one part of the Constitution it is stipulated that the citizens of each State shall be entitled in all the rest to the rights and privileges of their citizens.

But no clause of the Constitution provides for or contemplates citizenship of the United States as distinctly from citizenship of some particular State or Territory. When any person is a citizen of any one of the States united, he thereby, and thereby only, becomes and can be considered a citizen of the United States. Errors in the public mind on this question are radical and fundamental, and have the same source as many others equally striking.”

(Recollections of Alexander H. Stephens, Myra L. Avary, LSU Press, 1998, pp. 312-313)
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Citizens Of Each State, Not the States United

When We Were Negroes

Ron Paul Warns Of 'Cataclysmic' Economic Crisis

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"Former presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul warned Wednesday that even if Republicans fulfill their pledge to slash $100 billion in federal spending, the United States still only has a one in 10 chance to avert an economic catastrophe."


New DADT Drill Team

"If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions."
--James Madison, letter to Edmund Pendleton, 1792
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Roundabout via T

How A Glock Fires



"With only 34 parts, the glock pistol is one of the simplest guns in the world. Disassembly can be accomplished in 15 seconds, detail strip in one minute simply by pushing out 3 pins. Parts changing is easy and availability of inexpensive parts is excellent. Glock makes many variants and many calibers but parts interchangeability is still outstanding between models. Almost every glock magazine will fit and function in any other glock ever made."