"Rumours persist that Madoff has
billions of dollars deposited with overseas banks, but if
this is true they are likely to prove almost impossible to
track down."
"Fear of litigation alone cannot
justify an employer's reliance on race to the detriment of
individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for
promotions."
"Comics writer Mark Sable was detained
and intensively questioned by the TSA for carrying a script
for an upcoming comic book about a writer who is detained
and intensively questioned by the TSA for writing a comic
about terrorism."
"The Marines have also been vexed by a
lack of Afghan security forces and a near-total absence of
additional U.S. civilian reconstruction personnel. Nicholson
had hoped that his brigade, which has about 11,000 Marines
and sailors, would be able to conduct operations with a
similar number of Afghan soldiers. But thus far, the Marines
have been allotted only about 500 Afghan soldiers, which he
deems 'a critical vulnerability.'"
"Mexico is not only lopping the head
off the snake (to borrow a famous DEA formulation), but
attacking the groups’ governmental support networks at an
organic level."
"The agents found two men constructing
the exit for a sophisticated but unfinished tunnel from
Mexico. The discovery was no great surprise because
authorities have been finding tunnels every two or three
weeks all year."
[A note to our readers
-- Press TV [Iran] is an official agency of the
Iranian government.]
"It's absolutely chilling. The level of
fear that has permeated society now, in terms of this issue,
is palpable. It's striking. There's an absolute hunkering
down by the people."
"This is a movement that has swept
across all dividing lines in Iranian society -- both rich
and poor, the merchants and the intellectuals, the young and
old."
"There is now a clear consensus
developing in society at large not only against extremism,
but also against whoever attempts to still explain it as a
noble cause in the service of Islam and Pakistan."
"Ours is the only institution that can
stand up to the militants, but public support is crucial.
When we do move in, it must be only against Baitullah and
his group. We cannot afford to provoke a tribal uprising.”
"The army's task in Waziristan has
become more complicated. Rather than the forces of Baitullah
Mehsud alone, they must now also tackle those they had
regarded as 'friends'."
“The tribal areas have been neglected
for 50 years. We will do our part, but there has to be
follow-up by the civilian administration, better governance,
more development. This is going to be a long haul.”
"Political unrest in both parts of
Balochistan will continue to hamper the development of this
gas pipeline. Until there is a positive breakthrough in the
Balochistan conflict, this ambitious gas pipeline venture
will remain a pipe dream for both parties."
The new issue of
The Nevada Observer is now up and ready for your
reading pleasure (check the middle column for our current articles,
features and columns).
Federal law enforcement agencies recently released
what they considered a list of potential home grown terrorist groups,
most of which were right wing organizations, some radical, others rather
plain Jane. One of those groups is known collectively as the sovereign
citizen movement. The name is rarely capitalized and appears to be
loosely organized.
The sovereign citizen movement is believed to be an
off shoot or continuation of the Posse Comitatus of the 1960s. Timothy
McVeigh, the Oklahoma City federal court building bomber is believed to
be associated with sovereign citizen as is his partner, Terry Nichols.
The organization is solidly against the concept of representative
democracy, doesn’t believe in a central government in any form, and many
of its members are known for their extreme conservatism, to the point of
anarchism.
In Nevada, there are several groups that claim to
be of the sovereign citizen movement including what was once a
“sovereign peoples court” in the back room of a sign shop in Las Vegas.
Their web site still exists,
http://www.sovereignpeoplescourt.com/, but it isn’t known whether
court hearings are still held. National law enforcement agencies say
they monitor the organization as does Clark County law enforcement.Read full story
At the national level, there are those that believe
the economic crisis facing the world may be turning around, but it isn’t
apparent in Nevada at this time, specifically in the number of Nevadans
out of work, the number of homes being foreclosed on, and the lack of
tourists beating the doors down. Even when the rest of the world is
feeling an economic upsurge, Nevada will still be flailing around in an
economic muck pile. According to William Anderson, chief economist for
the Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation, it
will be some time before people will feel comfortable enough to get out
and visit such attractions as Nevada offers.
The May unemployment rate for Nevada, an all time
record by the way, was a staggering 11.3 percent. Nevada began keeping
records in 1976, and prior to this May, the record unemployment figure
in the Silver State was 10.7 percent set in December of 1982 during the
last major recession.
“There is some sentiment that the U.S.
economy may be near the bottom of the recession,” Anderson said.
“Unfortunately, May brought with it news suggesting that economic
conditions in Nevada remain extremely weak. Historically, employment
is a ‘lagging’ indicator of the economy’s health. Hence, when a recovery
does take hold in Nevada, labor market conditions will likely not
respond immediately. This recession has hit the State extremely hard.Read full story
The Nevada Public Utilities Commission (PUC)
has granted NV Energy a rate increase of about 6.9 percent as part of
the mandatory General Rate Case. The increase will come in two parts,
three percent increase beginning July 1, and 3.9 percent increase on
January 1, 2010. The rate increase request was made in December of last
year. As part of the mandatory rate case, the PUC also established a
rate of return for the company.
The PUC established an overall rate of return
for the company of 8.53 percent and a return on equity of 10.5 percent.
The overall revenue increase to the company is approximately $221
million. The rate increase only affects those living in southern
Nevada, previously served by Nevada Power. The PUC demands state
utilities file a general rate case every three years.Read full story
Questions of just how
much election campaign contributions affect the Nevada judiciary have
surfaced often over the years, in some cases actually leading to peer
review of some sitting on the bench, but more often, discussed in hushed
tones behind closed doors. A commission was formed at the request of
the Nevada Supreme Court recently to look into whether or not rules
concerning when or if a judge should recuse himself from a case due to
campaign influence.
The U.S. Supreme Court
ruled recently on a case from West Virginia in which a West Virginia
Supreme Court justice ruled in favor of a company that had donated
heavily to his campaigns, saying justices must step aside when huge
campaign contributions may create an appearance of bias. In Nevada,
reports of such bias being apparent in some courts has been reported
often, which has led to the state’s high court’s call for action. The
Commission’s report is due on July 20.
The election of judges
has been in the news often, and the legislature passed a resolution
during the 2009 session that will appear on the November 2010 ballot
dealing with the question. The amendment to the constitution would
allow for appointed judges rather than elected. An appointed judge, at
the end of his or her term would then stand for reelection on the
judicial record, and if the electorate turns him or her out, a new judge
would be appointed. Read
full story
Senate Ethics
Panel Takes Look At Finances Involved
Some stand out as
potential Lotharios, others, such as Nevada Senator John Ensign simply
don’t fit the part. One simply can’t tell the quality of the egg by its
shell, and when Mr. Ensign came out of nowhere to admit that he had been
having an affair with a woman who worked as a member of his campaign
staff, it was a surprise to just about everyone. A public fling such as
this will no doubt end his political career, but there is far more at
stake than originally met the eye.
The group Citizens for
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint against
Mr. Ensign on June 24 with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and a
complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against his
campaign committee and the leadership of his political action
committee. The complaints are based on his affair with campaign staffer
Cynthia Hampton. There are many unanswered questions dealing with
finances, some of which may have come out of Mr. Ensign’s campaign
funds.
Ms Hampton and her
husband Doug Hampton worked for the senator’s campaign and were
terminated just prior to Mr. Ensign’s announcement of his dalliance with
Ms Hampton. Questions about how the severance pay was offered, where
the money for the severance pay came from, and questions of whether Mr.
Ensign violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by terminating Ms Hampton
are part of the CREW complaints.Read
full story
Nevada’s new energy
commissioner hasn’t even been named yet, and already there’s trouble
afoot. The Interim Finance Committee of the state Legislature created
the post of energy commissioner, to be named by the governor with
legislative consent, to head the Renewable Energy and Efficiency
Authority. An Energy Industry Task Force was also created at the same
time. It’s expected that the energy commissioner, when appointed, will
work with Nevada’s Energy Director, Hatice Gecol, also appointed by the
governor.
Some of the money to
run these operations will come from the current stimulus packages
created by the president and some will come from funds within the
state’s Public Utilities Commission. The new commissioner is expected
to be offered a salary of about $117,000.
As the Interim Finance
Committee was deliberating it became known that the U.S. Air Force at
Nellis Air Base is working to have the federal government deny
permitting for a new thermal solar power plant to be built on public
land near the base’s bombing range. The Air Force already forced
SolarReserve of Los Angeles to move their plans once, and is now working
to scuttle the program. The Air Force is saying the thermal solar plant
may interfere with radar and other technical development programs on the
bombing range.Read full story
One Big Fish
Closed Down, But The Fish Is At Large
The Nevada Secretary of State’s Securities
Enforcement Division has executed a search warrant on the offices of a
Las Vegas man charged with multiple felonies related to a real estate
investment scheme that targeted multiple victims, including local
seniors. Police have a warrant for the arrest of Jamal Eljwaidi, also
known as Jean Marc, who is facing six counts of elder exploitation. It
is believed that Eljwaidi may have fled the country, however, Las Vegas
police are continuing their search for the man.
The scheme may involve millions of dollars.
Investigators have confirmed the scheme has netted at least $600,000,
including more than $400,000 from one Las Vegas senior who has been
diagnosed with multiple conditions affecting his mental capacity.
Investigators say Eljwaidi told his victim that the two of them would be
equal partners in a commercial real estate investment, and then
proceeded to collect more than $400,000 in multiple payments from the
victim.
According to information made available to
The Nevada Observer, victims were called and offered high interest
payments if they would invest in short term loans in a shopping center
complex. While the complex land does exist, it doesn’t appear that any
work has been done, and none of the investment money has been
recovered. Federal securities charges may also be forthcoming according
to SOS officials. Mr. Eljwaidi operates under at least two companies,
Babuski LLC and JKG Development.
Several alleged victims have come forward
since the SOS released information on the fraud charges and related
warranted search of the company’s offices. Secretary of State Ross
Miller believes there may be many more fraud victims and asks that if
you believe you have been a victim to contact the SOS offices at
http://www.nvsos.gov.
Some employees in the Eljwaidi offices have
been cooperating with investigators and have provided information on
some potential victims. At least five known victims are being
questioned.Read full story
Some beef products supplied by Greeley, Colorado beef company JBS Swift
Beef Company and sold by Smith’s Food and Drug Stores is being recalled
because the contaminant E Coli has been found in some samples.
According to a company spokesperson, no illnesses have been confirmed in
connection with these beef products. Smith’s
Food and Drug Stores in the following states are included in this
recall: Arizona (4 stores), Idaho (4 stores), Montana (4 stores), Nevada
(40 stores), New Mexico (26 stores), Utah (48 stores) and Wyoming (7
stores).
According to a
statement released by Smith’s, customers should check their freezers for
the following store brand and store packaged beef products with a
sell-by date from May 5 to May 24, 2009:Read
full story
From 1776 to 2009 --- What a ride. The
civilization has outlasted many that were considered historically
significant, and it’s continuing. Some say we are in our declining
years as a society, and from some perspectives they may be right, but
from others, they are wrong. The social fabric of what makes us U.S.
Citizens is not as strong as it has been in years past, but it is still
strong, elastic, and still filled with promise.
During the last 50 years, the strong threads of our
constitution have been frayed by many sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania
Avenue, challenged by some in congress, and whacked at by some serious
whackos, and is still a shining example of what the human mind can
create in times of stress. The first ten amendments, our Bill of
Rights, still carries serious obligations, such as protection of what
the document stands for, and various articles of the constitution itself
are challenged by those that only seek change for their benefit, not for
the country’s good.
They have called our representative democracy the
“Great Experiment”, a government actually run by the people through free
elections. Our economic problems have been beset with those that have a
lack of personal ethics and responsibility, but that has been the
primary problem with so called free markets since the beginning. Our
elections have had some of the same problems with money being far more
important than honesty.Read full column
UNICEF, on May 12, 2009, called on the
world’s governments to invest more in life-saving vitamins and minerals
to prevent illness, blindness and mental disorders that result from
vitamin deficiencies. “Among an estimated 2 billion people worldwide
who suffer from vitamin and mineral deficiencies are large numbers of
children whose future is being compromised, often with life-long
consequences,” said UNICEF Director of Programmes Dr. Nicholas Alipui.
“It is imperative that governments and development partners prioritize
these highly cost-effective interventions to protect children from
preventable deaths, ill health, disability and impaired learning.”
It is unknown how many people who have been
diagnosed with a mental illness could eliminate or reduce symptoms,
allowing them to lead a fuller, more productive life, if vitamin and
mineral deficiencies were eliminated. Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA)
allows for this determination to be made.
HTMA is a biopsy type of test, which is an
analysis of a body tissue. HTMA can detect the levels of 20 or more
minerals in the hair. Hair is extremely useful for testing many things
besides minerals. These include drugs, toxic chemicals and even DNA.
Mineral levels in the hair are about ten times that of blood, making
them easy to detect and measure accurately in the hair. Mineral levels
are kept relatively constant in the blood even when pathology is
present. Hair mineral values often vary by a factor of ten or much
more, making measurement easier and giving tremendous amount of accurate
knowledge about the cells and the soft tissues of our bodies.
Toxic metals are also much easier to detect in the
hair. They are not found in high concentrations in the blood except
right after an acute exposure. However, some of them tend to accumulate
in the soft tissues, where they are far easier to detect and measure
accurately.
HTMA provides a reading of the deposition of the mineral in the hair
during the 3-4 months during which the hair grew. It does not measure
the total body load of any mineral. Twenty or more elements are
measured, depending on the laboratory.
Read full column
After 75 regular legislative sessions, the
record for governors' vetoes and legislative veto overrides set in
Nevada's first legislature was not only broken, it was smashed.
Governor Jim Gibbons' legacy includes 48 bills vetoed in 2009.
Lawmakers overrode 25 of the vetoes and may increase the number at the
2011 legislature. The record number of vetoes by Governor Henry G.
Blasdel, 38, and the record number of legislative veto overrides, 11,
had never been seriously challenged until Governor Gibbons battled with
the 2009 legislature. Historically most governors' vetoes were
sustained. What happened in the first legislative session in 1864-65 to
account for so many vetoes and veto overrides?
Republican Governor Blasdel in his 1864
inaugural address said he intended to cooperate with the first Nevada
Legislature. After all, only two Democrats sat in the body, one in the
Senate and one in the Assembly. The nation's 36th state was very much
dominated by the Union Party. (This was the wartime name given to the
Republican Party, to make it more palatable for Democrats to vote for
Lincoln's reelection.) Just the same, the new governor soon had major
issues with a legislature controlled by his own party.
Photograph of the portrait of Governor Henry Goode Blasdel at the
State Capitol (Nevada
State Archives).
In his 1935 history of Nevada, U.S.
Representative James G. Scrugham, a former governor, wrote that "The
[1864-65] legislature showed a tendency to disregard the provisions of
the constitution in more than one particular. The revenue bills
exceeded the constitutional taxing powers, and some one devised an
ingenious method of getting around the constitutional prohibition
against special franchises. There were also several ‘relief acts' which
the governor vetoed on the ground that they were special bills."
Read full
column
Vern and Smitty, two of Shorty's old Navy
buddies, are settin’ at the buttermilk bar, and the three of ‘em are
reminiscin’ about some of the fireworks they used to enjoy when they
were kids.
Smitty says his paw used t’get ‘im those
little mothball sized ‘torpedoes’ as he calls ‘em. You’d throw the
things at a rock or against a concrete wall, and they’d make a pretty
satisfactory ‘ka-pow!’ when they went off.
Vern says the biggest noise makers he got
t’play with were the ‘cannon crackers.’ When they went off they sounded
like the report of a 44 caliber black powder pistol. The smoke that
filled the air afterward smelled like black powder, too.
Shorty says, “Well, my favorite was the Roman
candles. They don’t make much noise,” he says, “but they shoot up a
dozen or so balls of different colored fire from the paper tube they
come in. Me and my buddies used to try t’shoot down lightnin’ bugs with
‘em.”
Charley says he never had anythin’ like
that. He says, “Me and my buddies had capguns, and we’d play like
cowboys havin’ ourselves a shoot-em-up.” He says, “What all of us looks
forward to back then, is when my Uncle Lon fires off an anvil to get the
day officially under way. He was the village blacksmith, kind of like
Sergei, here. But not nearly so big.”
At seven-and-a-half feet tall, Sergei,
Drytown’s blacksmith, spends several years after comin’ to America, as
the giant in a travelin’ circus. Big Jim Miller, the owner of the
Drytown Mercantile Store, was the official strongman in the same
circus. That’s how come the both of ‘em wind up in the same town.
Sergei says his father used t’do the same
thing as Charley’s Uncle Lon, in the Russian town where he grew up.
‘Course, in Russia, it wasn’t for the 4th of
July, but some kind of day that had t’do with a revolution of some
sort.
Come t’think of it, so’s the 4th of July.
Charley says, “Before daylight every Fourth
of July, my Uncle Lon takes a hundred pound anvil out of ‘is shop, and
sets it on top of a big ol’ oak stump. Far as I can recollect, that’s
all that ol’ stump ever was used for. Read
full column
"Debt is growing faster than gross
domestic product. Under the CBO's most realistic scenario,
the publicly held debt of the U.S. government will reach 82
percent of GDP by 2019 -- roughly double what it was in
2008. By 2026, spiraling interest payments would push the
debt above its all-time peak (set just after World War II)
of 113 percent of GDP. It would reach 200 percent of GDP in
2038."
"Senate Democrats outlined plans
yesterday to overhaul the nation's immigration laws,
including a requirement that all U.S. workers verify their
identity through fingerprints or an eye scan."
"The Attorney General's Guidelines are
troubling, allowing for open investigative 'assessments' of
any American without factual basis or reasonable suspicion."
"Perry said he and his passengers were
ordered at gunpoint to first put their hands on their heads
and then get out of the airplane one by one. They were
individually questioned and they and the contents of the
plane were searched."
"The challenge for the new
administration is how to solve these legal questions of
preventive detention in a way that is consistent with the
Constitution, legitimate in the eyes of the world and
doesn't create security loopholes that cause Congress to
worry."
"After five years coping with the most
dangerous province in Iraq, the U.S. Marines have been given
their next assignment: the most dangerous province in
Afghanistan."
"A thirst for online freedom in Iran,
as well as in China, Myanmar and other authoritarian
hotspots, has led to a sudden proliferation of all
technologies designed to overcome curbs on news and social
networking Internet sites."
"Countries with repressive governments
aren't the only ones interested in such technology. Britain
has a list of blocked sites, and the German government is
considering similar measures. In the U.S., the National
Security Agency has such capability, which was employed as
part of the Bush administration's 'Terrorist Surveillance
Program.' A White House official wouldn't comment on if or
how this is being used under the Obama administration."
"Out of fear that history might repeat
itself, the authoritarian governments of China, Cuba and
Burma have been selectively censoring the news this month of
Iranian crowds braving government militias on the streets of
Tehran to demand democratic reforms."
"This law limits freedom of the
internet and media freedom in general. Its adoption would be
a step backwards in the democratisation of Kazakhstan's
media governance."
"The president of Honduras said Friday
that the situation in his country was relatively calm,
despite signs that he has lost the support of his armed
forces, the supreme court and other government
institutions."
"Lists found at the lab contain the
names of Monterrey municipal police officers and Nuevo Leon
state police, including members of special operations units,
allegedly working for the Gulf cartel."
"Sources say they are also going house
to house, through email accounts and web postings, through
cell phone calls and SMS text messages (when the system is
allowed to stay up) and even to taxi agencies whose drivers
hoisted Mir Hossein Moussavi posters during the election
campaign."
"There is no
headstone on grave number 32, in section 257, column 41,
in the dry, dusty new section of Behesht-e Zahra
cemetery. Only the photograph of Neda Soltan reveals who
lies beneath the mound."
"The police did not hand the body back
to her family, her funeral was cancelled, she was buried
without letting her family know and the government banned
mourning ceremonies at mosques, the neighbours said."
"A crowd of demonstrators had caught
the basij — an Islamic volunteer militaman — who shot her
from his motorbike. He was a big, strong man in his forties,
clean-shaven except for a moustache. 'I heard him shouting,
‘I didn’t want to kill her. I didn’t want to kill her. I
meant to shoot her in the leg’.”
"Tehran's Friday prayers leader blamed
saboteurs and foreign media for the death of Neda Aqa-Soltan
- the young woman killed last week in street protests. He
said Neda's death had been 'planned' by saboteurs, adding
that the 'evil' media of the US and Europe had used her
death for propaganda purposes."
"To an outside world accustomed to
viewing Iranian politics as a conclave of like-minded
mullahs, the current turmoil within Iran's political and
religious establishment defies explanation."
"Whether a popular movement succeeds in
a peaceful transfer of power, or is brutally repressed,
depends entirely on the nerve of the ruling powers'
leadership and the loyalty of its enforcers, the security
forces or army."
"Opposition members failed to enlist
the support of two social groups that played a crucial role
in past revolutions: Bazaar merchants, who always excelled
in their highly developed organizational ability and
willingness to fundraise, and labor organizations, whose
strikes prompted the collapse of the Shah’s regime."
"According to a senior White House
official, Emanuel has argued that if the Israelis insist on
expanding settlements, 'You're doing it on your own dime. We
don't want our credibility to be compromised as you work out
your domestic politics. We're not going to pay for that
one.'"
"The problem with the Obama
administration's characterization of a ban on Jewish
building in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria as an Israeli legal
obligation is that Israel has never taken upon itself a
legal obligation to prohibit such building activities.
Israel has never signed an agreement that has characterized
any Jewish communities as 'illegal.'"
"As professional ethics take a
nosedive, journalists with integrity find themselves losing
heart, while at the other end, the common man is deprived of
truthful information which is his right."
"If the present fight against the
Taliban leads to a new Pakistan, it is worth fighting and
winning. But if our ways don't change, if our ruling elites
remain as corrupt and self-centred as they have always been,
then doubts will arise whether the blood being shed was
worth anything."
"Eight would-be suicide bombers were
recently arrested, including two this week who were
targeting parliament in Islamabad and the offices of a
law-enforcement agency."
"By focusing attacks on civilians and
terrorising them, militants try convincing the populace that
not acquiescing to their demands will cost too much – in the
form of a body count, lost investment or living in fear –
and thereby compel people to pressure governments to
capitulate to their demands."
"Militants have destroyed at least 191
schools in the valley, including 122 girls’ schools, leaving
62,000 pupils without classrooms, local officials said."
"The Grim Reaper, a cloaked skeletal
figure holding an hour-glass and a scythe is one of the more
familiar manifestations; and it finds a corporeal form in
the name of the drones that regularly harvest souls in the
ongoing battle against extremism."
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===================================
Laws like to cobwebs,
catch small flies, Great ones break
through before your eyes.
– Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack
(1734)
2009 DATES TO REMEMBER
July
4 July - Independence Day
7 July - Full Moon
22 July - New Moon
For details on Nevada festivals and events see the Nevada Commission
on Tourism's
Events
website.
In the long run, the most unpleasant truth is a safer companion than a
pleasant falsehood.
Looking for something in particular? Search
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____________________
In every government on
earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption
and degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and wickedness
insensibly open, cultivate and improve. Every government
degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The
people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories.
- Thomas Jefferson,
Notes on Virginia (1782)
The
time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they
shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out
of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after
he shall have entered.
-
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia (1782)
____________________
If there is anything which it is the duty of the
whole people to never intrust to any hands but their own, that thing
is the preservation and perpetuity of their own liberties and
institutions.
- Abraham Lincoln, speech at Peoria,
Illinois, October 16, 1854
____________________
A Reminder To Our
Readers: Have You Looked At Our
Links Page
Recently?
____________________
The Old Corner Bar
Lyman Frisbie has just received
an invoice of the best potables that ever were concocted for
the stimulation and preservation of the human economy. The
whisky is of the most humanizing and exalting character; the
brandy is of the choicest flavor and most amiable
propensities; the gin possesses those truly alternative
principles which gin of the correct kind of motives is known
to contain; the rum is of the quality which none but the
most reckless of families are willing to be without; and as
to the wines and ales, they are simply vinous and malted
nectar, fit for the gods, the goddesses and the general
public. All this at Frisbie's famous and classic Old Corner.
[From the Carson City
Appeal, July 21, 1875]
____________________
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.
of the United States, in Order to form a
more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility,
provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure
the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The Bill Of
Rights Of The American Republic
AMENDMENT I.
Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances.
AMENDMENT II.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the
security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,
shall not be infringed.
AMENDMENT III.
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered
in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but
in a manner to be prescribed by law.
AMENDMENT IV.
The right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon
probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly
describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be
seized.
AMENDMENT V.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital,
or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a
Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in
the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor
shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in
jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to
be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be
taken for public use, without just compensation.
AMENDMENT VI.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall
enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of
the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed,
which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be
informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted
with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining
witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his
defence.
AMENDMENT VII.
In Suits at common law, where the value in
controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury
shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise
re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the
rules of the common law.
AMENDMENT VIII.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor
excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
AMENDMENT IX.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain
rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by
the people.
AMENDMENT X.
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.
______________________________________
Two Poems By Robinson
Jeffers
Shine, Republic
The quality of these trees,
green height; of the sky, shining; of water, a clear flow; of
the rock, hardness
And reticence: each is noble
in its quality. The love of freedom has been the quality of
western man.
There is a stubborn torch
that flames from Marathon to Concord, its dangerous beauty
binding three ages
Into one time; the waves of
barbarism and civilization have eclipsed but have never quenched
it.
For the Greeks the love of
beauty, for Rome of ruling; for the present age the passionate
love of discovery;
But in one noble passion we
are one; and Washington, Luther, Tacitus, Eschylus, one kind of
man.
And you, America, that
passion made you. You were not born to prosperity, you were born
to love freedom.
You did not say “en masse,”
you said “independence.” But we cannot have all the luxuries and
freedom also.
Freedom is poor and
laborious; that torch is not
safe but hungry, and often requires blood for its fuel.
You will tame it against it
burn too clearly, you will hood it like a kept hawk, you will
perch it on the wrist of Caesar.
But keep the tradition,
conserve the forms, the observances, keep the spot sore. Be
great, carve deep your heel-marks.
The states of the next age
will no doubt remember you, and edge their love of freedom with
contempt of luxury.
__________
Shine, Perishing Republic
While this America settles in the mould of
its vulgarity, heavily thickening to empire
And protest, only a bubble in the molten
mass, pops and sighs out, and the mass hardens,
I sadly smiling remember that the flower
fades to make fruit, the fruit rots to make earth.
Out of the mother; and through the spring
exultances, ripeness and decadence; and home to the mother.
You making haste haste on decay: not
blameworthy; life is good, be it stubbornly long or suddenly
A mortal splendor: meteors are not needed
less than mountains: shine, perishing republic.
But for my children, I would have them keep
their distance from the thickening center; corruption
Never has been compulsory, when the cities
lie at the monster's feet there are left the mountains.
And boys, be in nothing so moderate as in
love of man, a clever servant, insufferable master.
There is the trap that catches noblest
spirits, that caught--they say-- God, when he walked on earth.
______________________________________
If you do what you should not, you must hear
what you would not.
– Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack
(1738)
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July 1, 2009
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