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Of the People
By Monica Benderman
“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past….. They tell us…that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs… hugging the delusive phantom of hope? ….we are not weak, if we make a proper use of the means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.”
(Patrick Henry, March 1775.)
“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….”
(Declaration of Independence, July, 1776)
Since pilgrim leaders first penned the Mayflower Compact in 1620, immigrants to this land have tried to commit to written word their interpretation of Laws of Humanity which should be inherent in the conscience of all men and women, intending for the written word to have power over the actions of those who refuse to allow their conscience to lead them in a true respect for the rights of all who have been given life equally in this world.
The laws of man formulated into constitutions since the beginning of foreign colonization of this land have failed to hold men and women accountable to the Laws of Humanity and judging our future by our past, our descendants are in danger of inheriting this history unless we stand strong in our commitment to a new direction.
We must re-educate ourselves to a foundation far older than our Constitution as the basis for a new direction and new governance. The Laws of Humanity are simple and clear, and regardless of the path each person takes to understand their responsibility to these laws, the laws remain the same for all, far different from the laws of a constitution which may be derived from those of humanity, but will always retain a biased influence based on the motives of those who have written them. It is not our constitution whose values we must return to – it is the laws of Conscience we must learn to abide by, and in so doing, remember their influence on the laws written into our constitution.
“….we are not weak, if we make a proper use of the means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.”
Our Constitution is only effective if we remember the laws on which it was based; laws of nature, the rights of all humanity, and if, through our conscious consideration of these laws, we hold ourselves accountable to rights of others. Our Constitution ins only effective if we remember that the power of our administration is derived from the “consent of the governed,” and “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it….”
“They tell us…that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger?”
When will we look within ourselves and see how easily we have blamed our failures on the actions of others and know that we will remain weak until we find the strength within ourselves to be the change we must be to “cope with so formidable an adversary?”
“Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs… hugging the delusive phantom of hope? “
When will we stop believing that by attacking those who run our government, we are actually attacking the problem, ineffectual resistance in the form of blaming those who have taken advantage of the climate of apathy we all have been guilty of by “lying supinely on our backs” rejoicing in the attainment of material wealth and the outward trappings of success, rather than rising up to accept our responsibility for the hard work necessary to retain the freedoms we all so willingly took for granted?
The laws which our founding fathers attempted to define by the laws within our constitution are laws which rely on our adherence to the sanctity of life. Respect for all life, above all else, is a necessary commitment we all must have if the laws of our constitution are to be justly interpreted. Respect for the differences in others, and acceptance of the fact that all differences are necessary to complete the weaving of the fabric of life which our constitutional laws are meant to preserve, is a necessary commitment as well.
We must realize that the values defined by the Laws of Humanity are greater than interpretations limited by the words of man in trying to define these inherent values. Regardless of inadequate interpretations, each individual is responsible for holding themselves accountable to the simple truth of these higher laws, bearing in mind the sanctity of life in all actions.
“I have but one lamp which guides me, and that is the lamp of experience.”
Experience dictates a change in direction. History shows that we continue to repeat mistakes, forcing ourselves to return to the same lessons over and over, never daring to move away from the limited thinking that has kept us in a cycle of progress and regression for two hundred years. Our government has failed to respect the sanctity of life inherent in the meaning of our laws. It is time for change.
What has been tried has not worked. If it had we would not be where we are today.
It is time for a revolution. It is time for a revolution of ideas, but even more it is time for a revolution of action. The adversary may be formidable, but we can be strong enough to overcome, once we realize it is not by attacking our government that this adversary will be beaten.
Wouldn’t victory be had in a restoration of our foundations and a strengthening of our communities to promote the change we envision for our country?
Wouldn’t defeat of this adversary be hastened if, rather than using our resources to attack those who only take advantage of our efforts to further promote themselves, we “make proper use of the means which the God of nature hath placed in our power” to restore the values for which our founding fathers sought to establish a governing system of laws, by starting with our homes, our families and the communities we live in?
We are not weak when we work together, using the strength of our differences in the context of our commonality to redefine our purpose and move forward in achieving our goals. .
It is time for a revolution.
Would the United States government allow its citizens to be attacked and killed by a foreign power and then cover up the facts?
It would - it has - and it does. This is NOT opinion, this is FACT.
Furthermore, no one in America would like to think that we as a nation lie and spread propaganda about the world, but we do. America is doing it right now via the "secret" planning and propaganda of War elsewhere in the Middle East. And don't use the damn line for "national security" reasons anymore. That line of crap is hereby officially FUBAR.
On June 8th, 1967, the Israeli military attacked and attempted to sink our USS Liberty as she sailed under our US flag in full view in international waters. Thirty-four of our US servicemen were killed and 171 injured by a well-coordinated, multi-wave assault which included the use of napalm.
The Israeli military after the fact called the attack a "tragic mistake" and then-President Lyndon Johnson agreed it was nothing more. Sailors who were aboard the ship were threatened not to disclose the facts of what happened that day under penalty of court martial - or worse.
To put it bluntly,..we were lied to by our own government and the Israeli government. Partners in Crime. The two most aggressive and violent nations on earth to date. This must stop and we as Americans must reform our America, restore our Constitution and forever end the worldly lies, hatred and deceit that has become too well associated with the Police of the Planet - which America has become and need not be via the neocons Project for the New American Century.
The Guilty fear the Truth. Only Neocons would attempt to destroy our Constitution from within and they are hard at work doing just that.
Before we can move forward as a proud and secure nation, we must eliminate this deadly cancer that has spread throughout our government for over 45 years, if not longer. Their "Secrets" and their small "Societies", like "cells" have now been exposed. We know who they are. We know what we must do.
The Bush/Cheney Neocons attempted to silence the American people last year with the same "order to silence", as the crew of the USS Liberty was ordered.
Loss of Liberty is not an option. Those we employ as our "elected" servants have hereby been put on notice.
REFORM and RESTORE. Republican or Democrat. The lies shall stop.
The American people are alive, awake and United.
The Criminals that were allowed to take office by the Supreme Court in 2000, and not by the people, are now under heavy surveillance as they should be. A desperate administration such as Bush/Cheney will resort to anything against our America. They are indeed stupid enough to launch another attack by their band of terrorists on American soil - as well as any other country in this world - their list of crimes are many - and serial killers, if not caught the sooner, will always attempt to use the same method and motive again.
However, this time, Americans are watching every single move they make.
Again, Americans live by the Constitution and Loss of Liberty is NOT an option.
Fighting Back
By Monica Benderman
“These are the times that try men’s souls: the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly…”
(Thomas Paine, The American Crisis. Dec. 19, 1776.)
In the 1700’s a group of angry patriots dared to sparked a revolution. They did all they could by diplomatic standards – going so far as to leave the “civilized” country they were born and raised in, simply wanting to live in peace unencumbered by the insecurities of a ruling class who sought to restrain their dreams. Willing to migrate across treacherous seas, to trade the “comforts of home” for a wilderness setting filled with unknowns, these rebels had a cause; a desire for freedom from tyranny, taxation and the oppressive rule of a king who cared little for his subjects and all for his capital gains.
Freedom doesn’t come easily, nor can it be given. The early American revolutionaries did not rely on the efforts of others; they did not wait for a savior to rescue them from their plight. They saw the futility of holding out for the empty promises of the ruling parties in their fatherland and took matters in their own hands knowing the standards and principles on which they based their actions were worthy of the sacrifice.
Fear struck the hearts of the sophisticated gentry who had been left behind as they came to realize they might have to learn to fend for themselves; to make their beds, clean their yards, tend their children – give up the “good life” for the reality of Life.
As red coated aristocrats stepped across open fields with arrogance befitting the ignorance of those highly pampered elitists who believed their money left them invincible and able to conquer and manipulate a world which must have been created for their pleasure, the carefully laid rebellion began in earnest; lessons of survival adding to the strength of will of those who had tasted freedom for themselves and understood what was needed to remain free.
What the leaders of the lords of London failed to recognize were the character and strength of the rebels whose disrespect to the “king” they had hoped to quell. They could not understand the drive and commitment these rebels held for preserving their individual freedoms. They had little respect for the meaning of those freedoms; their sense of freedom having been bought, not earned. Yet the fear they held for the strength of men they did not understand caused them to raise their weapons to destroy what they feared, and freedom loving revolutionaries were left with no other option but to defend themselves in kind, even as they continued to hope for peace.
“It is easy to perceive that individuals by agreeing to erect forms of government, (for the better security of themselves) must give up some part of their liberty for that purpose; and it is the particular business of a Constitution to mark out how much they shall give up. “
(Pain, Letter IV, Four Letters of Interesting Subjects, 1776.)
It was not an ill-conceived love of country or nationalist pride that gave these revolutionaries the right to be called patriots. They were patriots for having laid a foundation for the way of life they envisioned, and believed in it enough to be willing to defend it with a commitment only others like them could understand. They worked tirelessly to create a set of laws which would serve as a guideline for their vision, Laws of Humanity incorporated into a Constitution which they believed to be just and fair to all even as the authors admitted to flaws which would only be tempered by time. Each was willing to give up something so that all could live in the greatest freedom possible. They were patriots because they stood their ground for the right to live with their own high standards and principles, and their individual sacrifices were deserving of their expectation that those standards be maintained in the actions of all who chose to live in the new nation founded on their blood.
Where have all the patriots gone?
We have hired defenders for every action under the sun; lobbyists in Congress, advocates in business, in school, in healthcare, and soldiers at war. What was once a new country formed by the vision of independent thinkers is now a nation of followers passing the buck to anyone who craves publicity – although today’s “buck” barely scratches the surface of the price followers pay for someone else to be their voice of “truth.”
The patriots of 1776 were willing to fight with all they had for the freedoms defined in their newly penned Constitution simply because it had been their hands which had done the work to establish the nation whose laws were represented by that constitution; they were their own voice of Truth.
They did the work and earned the right to declare their freedom.
Now, with every day that passes United States citizens lose a little more of their freedom, at least on paper. But did they have that freedom to begin with? Certainly not the freedom they demanded, nor had they earned; not as a nation and not in recent history. United States citizens have been living with the illusion of freedom for generations now. With nothing much more than a slap on the wrist, they allow the administration’s actions of corruption and deception to continue; “sunshine patriots” and “summer soldiers” giving lip-service to the words of the Constitution but little attention to their meaning, willingly conceding more of their freedom to avoid the hard work required to deserve what freedom really means.
Freedom is not free – and United States citizens are losing more of their freedom every day as they freely choose to allow others to make their decisions for them; justifying their actions from the safety of their living rooms saying “it’s not that we don’t care, it’s that we don’t know what else to do.”
What else to do?
STAND UP AND FIGHT!!!!!!
Fight back with a willingness to sacrifice comfort for the principles of law which give us all our freedom.
Fight for what you have earned. Wait. What has been earned? This freedom you speak of has no meaning, no value; it remains illusion – words spoken from the podiums of a thousand different protests and a hundred different congressional caucuses as if giving a dramatic soliloquy from the center of a spotlight on an otherwise dimly lit stage – freedom earned by the sweat of those on the frontlines is only real to those willing to sweat. Oh, how Americans seem to be so afraid to sweat.
Our soldiers are dying, our veterans have suffered the lasting effects of fighting for an unjust, undefined cause. Our country is fading from a once proud new nation of rebels with revolutionary ideas, willing to sacrifice their luxuries for the right to live in freedom, to a land of elitists willing to sacrifice their freedoms for the right to live in luxury.
Where are the revolutionaries? We do not need more self-proclaimed “patriots” re-enacting pages from a history book---we need revolutionaries.
Revolutionaries are determined to maintain high standards, strength of character and demonstrate their respect for others as our Constitution demands, even as they stand for change in a corrupt, increasingly immoral shadow of a country once founded on standards, strength of character and respect for others.
Revolutionaries know they must be, within themselves, all the changes they want to see.
Revolutionaries are willing to fight for their freedom with everything they have, giving up nothing of themselves in the process, earning the right for that freedom by living the cost.
Where are these rebels who understand the depth of the cause?
“Every man who acts beyond the line of private life must expect to pass through two severe examinations. First, as to his motives, secondly, as to his conduct.”
(Paine, Letter I, Four Letters of Interesting Subjects, 1776.)
The conduct of United States citizens clearly defines their commitment to the cause – it is past time for a revolution – the final exam is scheduled to begin. Will our conduct reflect the high standards true freedom demands? Or are our motives simply a cover to hide the fact that we have not learned what freedom really means?
A soldier in Iraq asks in despair:
Why are we here?
By Donald C. Hudson Jr
06/07 "Clarksville TN" -- --- After watching his roommate fatally wounded in a roadside bombing, an Army private wonders why the lives of good men are being lost when the Iraqis pose no threat to us and don’t want us there.
BAGHDAD, May 07 — My name is Donald Hudson Jr. I have been serving our country’s military actively for the last three years. I am currently deployed to Baghdad on Forward Operating Base Loyalty, where I have been for the last four and a half months.
I came here as part of the first wave of this so called “troop surge”, but so far it has effectively done nothing to quell insurgent violence. I have seen the rise in violence between the Sunni and Shiite. This country is in the middle of a civil war that has been on going since the seventh century.
Why are we here when this country still to date does not want us here? Why does our president’s personal agenda consume him so much, that he can not pay attention to what is really going on here?
Let me tell you a story. On May 10, I was out on a convoy mission to move barriers from a market to a joint security station. It was no different from any other night, except the improvised explosive device that hit our convoy this time, actually pierced through the armor of one of our trucks. The truck was immediately engulfed in flames, the driver lost control and wrecked the truck into one of the buildings lining the street. I was the driver of the lead truck in our convoy; the fifth out of six was the one that got hit. All I could hear over the radio was a friend from the sixth truck screaming that the fifth truck was burning up real bad, and that they needed fire extinguishers real bad. So I turned my truck around and drove through concrete barriers to get to the burning truck as quickly as I could. I stopped 30 meters short of the burning truck, got out and ripped my fire extinguisher out of its holder, and ran to the truck. I ran past another friend of mine on the way to the burning truck, he was screaming something but I could not make it out. I opened the driver’s door to the truck and was immediately overcome by the flames. I sprayed the extinguisher into the door, and then I saw my roommate’s leg. He was the gunner of that truck. His leg was across the driver’s seat that was on fire and the rest of his body was further in the truck. My fire extinguisher died and I climbed into the truck to attempt to save him. I got to where his head was, in the back passenger-side seat. I grabbed his shoulders and attempted to pull him from the truck out the driver’s door. I finally got him out of the truck head first. His face had been badly burned. His leg was horribly wounded. We placed him on a spine board and did our best to attempt “Buddy Aid”. We heard him trying to gasp for air. He had a pulse and was breathing, but was not responsive. He was placed into a truck and rushed to the “Green Zone”, where he died within the hour. His name was Michael K. Frank. He was 36 years old. He was a great friend of mine and a mentor to most of us younger soldiers here.
Now I am still here in this country wondering why, and having to pick up the pieces of what is left of my friend in our room. I would just like to know what is the true reason we are here? This country poses no threat to our own. So why must we waste the lives of good men on a country that does not give a damn about itself? Most of my friends here share my views, but do not have the courage to say anything.
About Donald C. Hudson Jr.
Donald C. Hudson Jr. is a private assigned to the 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.
My thanks to Allen Roland’s weblog: http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/ for bringing this item to my attention.
Even the Twinkie
Is made in China
By Steve Ettlinger
When I began researching the ingredients for Twinkies, I naively thought that their raw materials were extracted from nuts, beans, fruit, seeds or leaves, and that they came from the United States. I was looking to link places with foods - along the lines of California wine or Maine lobster, but for thiamine mononitrate. It turned out that I was way off.
Although eight of the ingredients in the beloved little snack cake come from domestic corn and three from soybeans, there are others - including thiamine mononitrate - that come from petroleum. Chinese petroleum. Chinese refineries and Chinese factories. And there are other unexpected ingredients that are much harder to trace.
So much for the great "All-American" snack food.
When you bite into a Twinkie, you are chewing on an international nexus of suppliers. Most of our processed foods - salad dressing, ice cream, meal-replacement drinks - are processed with foreign additives: essential ones, like B vitamins for fortifying flour and the preservative sorbic acid, as well as Malaysian or Indonesian palm oil products, European wheat gluten, Peruvian colorants, Chadian gums and Swiss niacin, made from Swiss water, Swiss air (nitrogen) and North Atlantic or Middle Eastern oil. It's a nice contrast to recall that Champagne comes only from Champagne, France.
Like many other industries, food additives have been off-shored. No major domestic vitamin or sorbic acid manufacturers remain in the U.S. Our last vitamin C plant closed in 2005 - in fact, it closed as I was speaking to an employee about a tour - and most of our artificial colors and flavors come from abroad as well.
Our chemical industry is rapidly dismantling its expensive domestic plants and either forming joint ventures with Chinese companies or simply buying chemicals from them. This leads to lower food and pharmaceutical prices, but perhaps at the cost of quality control. How can you have quality control when you don't even know where the ingredient is coming from?
During my Twinkie research, I was particularly surprised that many American food additive "manufacturers" buy chemicals, especially vitamins, from distributors and do not know, or don't ask, where they come from. The distributors usually sing the same song, as they often buy from importers, and the importers buy from exporters who - no surprise - are often not able or willing to identify all of their sources.
Now that the tainted pet food scandal has made us more aware that many additives come from overseas, and China in particular - and that some unscrupulous or, at the very least, unprofessional Chinese manufacturers mix cheaper and poisonous adulterants into some food or pharmaceutical products - most of us would like to see some action.
What can be done?
First, Chinese and any other foreign manufacturers should fall under both their home country's and the U.S. government's regulations and controls. This would take a concerted education effort in China, which has the challenge of teaching small, uneducated and very independent entrepreneurs the market value of meeting American standards.
Second, we need to increase U.S. inspection of imported foods and additives. This means increased personnel and budgets and a serious commitment from the government to a tight, professional program.
The Food and Drug Administration should classify additive adulteration the same way the Agriculture Department classifies meat contamination: totally unacceptable. Congress would have to reverse the trend of underfunding the FDA.
Finally, as consumers, we can swallow hard and decide to pay just a little more for well-inspected processed food - or eat more local fruits, vegetables and whole grains and buy minimally processed and sustainably farmed foods.
Smart processed-food and pharmaceutical companies are scrambling to find guaranteed safe alternatives. But consumers must be prepared to pay a higher price for safe food - and to make informed choices about what ingredients go into our food and where they come from.
If you want to have your snack cake and eat it too, you have to remember: You are what you eat.
Steve Ettlinger is the author of, most recently, "Twinkie, Deconstructed."
Conservatives shouldn't accept Fraudulent Fred
The race for the Republican presidential nomination has just begun, yet the so-called "top tier" candidates have all been shown to have deep flaws.
John McCain is a nice guy, but he's clearly off his rocker. Mitt Romney needs to change all of his positions 180 degrees. Oh, wait. He's already done that. And as for Rudy Giuliani, he's already bored the public to tears with his self-appointed Sept. 11 sainthood. The next time he mentions "911," it had better be because he's getting mugged.
This creates a great opportunity for a good, old-fashioned conservative to enter the race. And right on cue, advisers to actor Fred Thompson are saying that he will enter the race over the July 4 weekend.
There's just one problem: Fred Thompson is not a conservative. He just plays one on TV.
Thompson, a tall, bulky sort with a deep, Tennessee-tinged voice, certainly sounds like a conservative. But in reality he's a sort of Manchurian candidate, if I may invoke a movie far superior to the pot-boilers in which he has acted.
Manchuria, in his case, is located at 1150 17th St. N.W. in Washington, D.C. That building houses both the American Enterprise Institute and its journalistic arm, the Weekly Standard. Until the 9/11 attacks, both were known for a rational and reposed approach to politics. Back then, I used to spend hours on the phone with AEI scholars discussing the minutia of market regulation.
But then 9/11 happened. All of a sudden the AEI became the font of the most ludicrous of conspiracy theories. The most prominent was the notion that Saddam Hussein was behind the 1993 World Trade Center attack and also had a hand in the 2001 attacks through his scheming with Osama bin Laden. It therefore followed, said the geniuses at the AEI, that we needed to invade and bring democracy to the dictatorships of the Mideast, starting with Iraq.
This was the sort of nonsense you'd expect to hear from some deranged Marxist mind obsessed with world domination. And that's exactly what it was. The intellectual guru of the AEI was none other than Irving Kristol, who got his training in Trotskyist thought back in the 1930s at City College of New York. The story of how he transmuted that thought into what he labeled "neo" conservatism is too long and too loony for this column. Suffice it to say that he and his son Bill, who runs the Weekly Standard, believe it is the duty of the illuminati to create a mythic vision by which the masses can be stirred into action.
Great theory. Except the AEI crowd got everything exactly backward. Instead of disempowering Islamic fundamentalists, the Iraq invasion brought such madmen to power, both on the government side and in the insurgency.
The Manchurian candidate is a fellow at the AEI, where he cranks out essays touting the party line. Note this passage in an essay on the media:
"I doubt, for example, that our television networks have spent as much time exposing the horrors of life for millions of women in pre-liberation Iraq and Afghanistan as they've spent covering Abu Ghraib. For some reason, everyday atrocities such as the endemic beatings, honor killings and forced marriages of women just don't seem to be newsworthy."
Huh? The imposition of Islamic law in Iraq and the persecution of women for religious reasons did not precede the "liberation." It was a direct result of it.
Thompson cannot be dumb enough to believe the words that appear under his byline. Or perhaps he is. In a second essay on the decline of military-history teaching at American universities, he asks why students are no longer learning about the battle of Valley Forge. Perhaps it's because there wasn't one.
And then there is the case of Irving "Scooter" Libby. Thompson serves on his defense fund and has made it clear that he believes there was absolutely nothing wrong with Libby's outing of a CIA agent. Again, this is the sort of behavior normally associated with crazed left-wingers, not solid conservatives.
What Thompson represents is not conservatism but a sort of conservative kitsch. Kitsch is, as the anti-communist Czech writer Milan Kundera put it, "the translation of the stupidity of received ideas into the language of beauty and feeling."
Thompson, to give the devil his due, has some talent in that area. But the received ideas he espouses have been proven to be so monumentally stupid that it's hard to imagine even the Beltway crowd still endorses them. Do leading Republicans really think they are going to win the presidency behind a candidate who argues that the Iraq war is going so well that it's time to liberate Iran and Syria?
Apparently so. But the 2008 election will be held in America, not Manchuria.
Paul Mulshine may be reached at pmulshine@starledger.com.
© 2007 The Star Ledger
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