Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Crude Solution: BP's Corexit on 60 Minutes - YouTube

Crude Solution: BP's Corexit on 60 Minutes - YouTube




When petroleum giant BP spilled millions of litres of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico three years ago, it was the worst ever offshore oil disaster.
To try and break up that massive slick, vast quantities of chemical dispersant was sprayed on the spill. It seemed to work: the oil disappeared. But people started getting sick and then people started dying.
Now, this environmental disaster has become a health catastrophe. The dispersant, when mixed with the oil, increases in toxicity by 52 times. This sickly, invisible toxin, still lurks in the water and absorbs straight into peoples’ skin.
In this special 60 Minutes investigation, we reveal the same chemical dispersants have been sprayed on the Great Barrier Reef and off the north west coast of Australia.
They’re still approved for use and our authorities are clueless as to how deadly they are.

Related-
CoRexit (the manufacturer of NALCO) Seven Facts about CoRexit 9500, visit www.nalcoesllc.com/nes/1601.htm
BP’s Fact Sheet on Dispersant http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/img/2013/180813_Dispersant.pdf
NOPSEMA’S Guidance note on Oil Spill Contingency Planning, visit www.nopsema.gov.au/assets/document
BP Accuses Deepwater Horizon Settlement Victims Of Taking ‘Money They Don’t Deserve’

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Who was Jesus?

Who was Jesus?
 
There were 3 good arguments that Jesus was Black:
 
1. He called everyone brother
2. He liked Gospel
3. He didn't get a fair trial
 
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Jewish:
 
1. He went into His Father's business
2. He lived at home until he was 33
3. He was sure his Mother was a virgin and his Mother was sure He was God
 
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Italian:
 
1. He talked with His hands
2. He had wine with His meals
3. He used olive oil
 
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was a Californian:
 
1. He never cut His hair
2. He walked around barefoot all the time
3. He started a new religion
 
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was an American Indian:
 
1. He was at peace with nature
2. He ate a lot of fish
3. He talked about the Great Spirit
 
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Irish:
 
1. He never got married..
2. He was always telling stories.
3. He loved green pastures.
 
But the most persuasive evidence that God was a woman: 
 
1. He fed a crowd at a moment's notice when there was virtually no food.
2. He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just didn't get it.
3. And even when He was dead, He had to get up because there was still work to do.
 
 
 
"This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in."
-Teddy Roosevelt- Chicago, IL, June 17, 1912

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Corruption in the Pipeline: A Timeline of Keystone XL Misinformation

Corruption in the Pipeline: A Timeline of Keystone XL Misinformation!
By: Caroline Selle Caroline Selle's picture  | DESMOGBLOG.COM |
Fri, 2013-08-09 07:00

 Though plagued by corruption, the Keystone XL (KXL) “zombie pipeline” refuses to die.

While firsthand accounts from front line communities in Alberta, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas have galvanized activists, the interconnected web of corporate lobbyists, oil executives, and Obama administration officials continue to push the project forward.

Thankfully, the State Department has launched an inquiry into conflicts of interest in the Keystone XL pipeline (KXL) review, specifically looking at the troubling revelations about TransCanada contractor, Environmental Resources Management (ERM Group).

Listed below is a series of selected controversies as well as the key dates around which the pipeline permitting process revolves.

2007: Documentation of health effects of tar sands extraction begins.

2008: TransCanada proposes the Keystone XL Pipeline extension.

2009: TransCanada files an application to build the KXL pipeline. Elevated occurrences of cancer are found in residents of the Fort Chipewyan community, which is located downstream from tar sands extraction sites. The Alberta government asserts there is no cause for concern. Contrary to industry reports, the proposed KXL is revealed as an export pipeline.

2010: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) criticizes the first draft of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), calling the report “unduly narrow.” The agency recommends the U.S. State Department look further into oil spill response plans, safety issues, and greenhouse gas concerns.

August 2011: Over a thousand peaceful protesters are arrested in front of the White House. The final EIS is released by the State Department. It does little to address EPA's concerns.

 September 2011: The Cornell University Global Labor Institute releases a report raising questions about TransCanada’s job creation estimates for the KXL project. The Cornell study finds - contrary to industry claims - that the KXL pipeline will not be a major source of U.S. jobs, could increase the cost of gas in the Midwest, and is unlikely to help the U.S. on a path towards energy independence. Additionally, the report points out flaws in an industry-based study (The Perryman Group study) claiming the pipeline will create 119,000 total jobs. The “flawed and poorly documented study” reached the 119,000 jobs estimate by including the southern section of the Keystone XL project which has already been built.

October 2011: TransCanada lobbyist Paul Elliot's close ties to Hillary Clinton are documented by DeSmog, as well as those of several other lobbyists with ties to President Obama and then-secretary-of-state Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, TransCanada is accused of using eminent domain to secure land before the KXL is officially approved.

November 2011: The State Department loses thousands of comments from public hearings about the pipeline. The department quickly announces it will seek “additional information” and delays the decision until 2013.

Article image
December 2011: Congressional Republicans try to speed up the review process and push the project through. Pro-Keystone bills, riders, and amendments continue to be introduced.

January 2012: President Obama rejects the Keystone XL pipeline, pointing to, “the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans,” which, “prevented a full assessment of the pipeline’s impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment.”

March 2012: President Obama approves the southern half of KXL. The Tar Sands Blockade begins planning a series of non-violent civil disobedience actions in response.

May 2012: TransCanada submits a new application for the project.
November 2012: Peaceful Tar Sands Blockade protesters are pepper sprayed by police.

February 2013: The Canadian government admits the toxins leaking into groundwater from tar sands tailings ponds are not naturally occurring.

March 2013: Despite the concerns of scientists, landowners, and local officials, the State Department releases a new draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) claiming the proposed KXL project is environmentally sound. Soon, it emerges that “the study was contracted out to firms with tar sands extraction clientele.” TransCanada hires the ERM Group, a public relations firm with ties to Big Tobacco.

April 2013: The EPA finds the State Department’s latest environmental review of the Keystone XL insufficient. Reports confirm the EIS contractor greenlighted another faulty “explosive” project.

May 2013: The State Department’s inspector general launches an investigation into the conflicts of interest in the pipeline review process.

June 2013: Dents are found in sections of the Southern half of the pipeline, raising safety concerns. Activists crawl inside the pipeline and find light seeping through. Later, a State Department contractor is revealed as an American Petroleum Institute (API) member. Friends of the Earth and the Checks & Balances project uncover the fact that Environmental Resources Management, Inc. (ERM), contracted to write the EIS, lied on its June 2012 contract of interest filing. ERM claimed to have no current business ties to TransCanada, contrary to evidence.

July 2013: The State Department admits it doesn’t know the KXL’s exact route. Former Obama attorney Robert Bauer is revealed as a member of law firm Perkins Coie LLP, which does legal work for TransCanada. His wife, Anita Dunn, works for a TransCanada lobbying group. In light of the numerous scandals, public interest groups call for Secretary Kerry to throw out the State Department’s KXL review.

August 2013: The State Department initiates an inquiry into the flawed KXL review process. Days later, hydraulic fracturing - “fracking” - is linked to the KXL. Top players in the fracking industry and groups pushing for approval of the KXL are both linked to the ERM group.

Monday, August 12, 2013

"Pro Libertate: Committing War Crimes is a Duty; Reporting Them is a Felony"

By: William N. Grigg | Wednesday, July 31, 2013

 

Bradley Manning is the only combat veteran of the Iraq war whose service is worth honoring. Like hundreds of thousands of servicemen, Manning carried out unlawful orders to participate in an illegal war. Unlike any of the rest, he took necessary action to expose discrete criminal acts committed in the larger context of that illegal enterprise.
While serving as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, Manning sometimes felt as if he were “watching nonstop snuff films,” according to a New York magazine profile.  His job consisted of sitting at a work station and evaluating Iraqis as targets. This meant “reducing a human being to a few salient points. Then he made a quick decision based on imperfect information: kill, capture, exploit, source.”
Unlike countless other U.S servicemen who took refuge in the idea that obedience to superiors immunizes criminal behavior, Manning tried to discriminate between “insurgents” and innocent bystanders, only to find that such distinctions do not exist when one is fighting a war of aggression. When he expressed concerns about this to his superiors, Manning was told to choke down such questions and get back to the task of killing people who resented being occupied by a prohibitively stronger foreign power...

ARRESTED FOR PHOTOGRAPHING LAPD FROM A PUBLIC SIDEWALK - YouTube

ARRESTED FOR PHOTOGRAPHING LAPD FROM A PUBLIC SIDEWALK - YouTube
By Techdirt | Monday, August 12, 2013 8:02 EDT

Words like "interference" or "obstruction" seem to be thrown around quite frequently when law enforcement officers decide they'd rather not be filmed while on duty. How the passive act of filming can interfere with investigations or obstruct officials is left to the imagination. Fortunately (I guess...), law enforcement officials have very vivid imaginations. This allows them to arrest, detain, hassle or confiscate devices as needed, in order preserve the peace by chilling speech.
Shawn Nee is an award winning street and documentary photographer living in Hollywood, California. He says that on June 2, 2013, his right to take photos under the First Amendment was violated when the Los Angeles Police Department officers detained him while working in Hollywood.
Nee was standing on a residential sidewalk taking pictures of a man he had been photographing for years when LAPD officers showed up about 90 feet away to investigate a domestic dispute.
The whole incident, caught on "tape" thanks to the three body cameras Nee wears, shows officers covering a lot of ground to reach the "interfering" photographer. As is almost always the case, the officers' first move is intimidation, with one demanding Nee identify himself and his employer.




When this fails, the officers demand he stop filming and put his camera down. Nee asks why he's being detained.
OFFICER: For interviewing ... interfering with a police investigation.
Hmm. Passively operating a camera from 90 feet away seems like the least efficient way to "interfere" with a police investigation. Maybe the sound of the shutter was distracting.
Nee was then taken to the station and detained while officers attempted to question him. Unfortunately for the interfered, Nee asserted his right to remain silent and refused to speak until his lawyer was present. After 90 minutes he was released -- without being charged.
After being released, Nee spoke to a police supervisor who offered this "insight" on the interference claims.
NEE: My understanding is that I was detained for taking photos in a public space.
VIDAL: When it interferes with the job of police then it becomes a problem. At that point, you no longer have that freedom to go ahead and take your pictures.
Possibly. Possibly not. Vidal makes it seem cut-and-dried, but it really isn't. This all depends on the laws governing the police department. California's penal code gives law enforcement officers a lot of leeway when deciding what does or doesn't "interfere" with an officer performing his duties, but it's still hard to see how this fits a person standing 90 feet away taking pictures.
148. (a) (1) Every person who willfully resists, delays, or obstructs any public officer, peace officer, or an emergency medical technician, as defined in Division 2.5 (commencing with Section 1797) of the Health and Safety Code, in the discharge or attempt to discharge any duty of his or her office or employment, when no other punishment is prescribed, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
In fact, it would seem that any "delay" was caused by the officers' decision to hassle a photographer, rather than continue in their "discharge of duty." Another way to look at this is that the officers felt that questioning and detaining Nee was actually the "duty" they were "discharging," and his refusal to state his name "obstructed" or "delayed" them. Of course, that assumes the photography itself was a criminal activity, which it certainly wasn't.
Either way, the line of reasoning being pushed by Vidal is suspect, if for no other reason than Vidal himself isn't the most trustworthy of cops.
Sergent Vidal was named as a "problem officer" by the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department (Christopher Commission) in the early 1990s, as reported by the Los Angeles Times in 1995. The Commission named 44 officers with "six or more complaints of excessive force or improper tactics between 1986 and 1990."
More disappointing, this specious line of reasoning was upheld yet again by another member of the LAPD.
Reason TV showed the video to Andy Neiman, the officer-in-charge at the Media Relations Section at the LAPD. He said he could not comment on the video specifically but said of individuals taking pictures, "If their physical proximity to the investigating officers becomes interfering where an officer has to stop what they're doing to admonish that individual that they're too close or could you stand back because they are distracting from the officer's business, then that's where it becomes an issue."
90 feet away can't be remotely considered "physical proximity" unless we're talking building locations. It's pretty tough to sell the better part of 100 feet as being close enough to interfere with police business. Neiman probably knows better than to comment on a video showing officers confusing 90 feet of separation for "standing between the officer and the door," as the LAPD is currently being sued by Nee and two other photographers for past abuses.
At some point, the perceived benefits of shutting down citizens with cameras are going to be outweighed by the millions of dollars in lawsuit settlements. Until then, it appears the LAPD is going to continue allowing officers to use the term "interference" to violate the public's First Amendment rights. 

From here: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130808/12410424112/lapd-detains-photographer-interfering-with-police-investigation-90-feet-away.shtml

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Stop Ken Cuccinelli


Crisis pregnancy centers lie to women about abortion and contraception,1 and in Virginia, candidate for governor Ken Cuccinelli is working hard to get them the money to do it.
Watch and share our video now to see the lies CPCs tell women and learn about their connection to Ken Cuccinelli.



Cuccinelli and his allies at CPCs are hell-bent on stopping women from choosing abortion, and as governor, Cuccinelli will do anything to take away our reproductive rights.
When Cuccinelli was a state lawmaker in Virginia, he went to great lengths to pass laws that undercut women who need access to abortion.2 When he became attorney general, he used his power to close the majority of the state’s abortion providers.3
Now, Ken Cuccinelli wants to be governor. This year, we’ve seen governors attack women’s reproductive rights, breaking their promises and bending the rules to do so: Pat McCrory in North Carolina. Rick Perry in Texas. John Kasich in Ohio.
Cuccinelli is guaranteed to do the same. What else can we think about someone who said he is proud to fund CPCs that lie to women looking for honest medical advice?4
We’re tackling Cuccinelli head on as part of Stand Up, an aggressive accountability campaign to go after every politician and candidate who tries to get between a woman and her doctor.
We can only beat this guy if enough of us have the facts. Watch the lies Ken Cuccinelli is so proud of funding. After you watch, share it with friends – especially friends who live in Virginia.
Thanks for helping to make choice real for all women,

Ilyse Hogue
Ilyse G. Hogue
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America

1 - NARAL Pro-Choice America affiliate investigations
2 - "Is Virginia for Haters?" The New York Times, June 2, 2013
3 - "Another Abortion Showdown in Virginia," Slate, July 17, 2012
4 - "Judge rules ‘Choose Life’ license plates violate the First Amendment," LifeSiteNews.com, December 10, 2012

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

High-Profile Black Actors Pay Tribute to Trayvon Martin: "Little Black B...



I have been searching high and low for the poem I hoped someone would write about Trayvon Martin, and I finally found it. Nothing quite brings a heavy topic home like when someone gives it beautiful language to lean on. Listen closely to the poem below. It's full of keepers.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

35 FOUNDING FATHER Quotes Conservative Christians Will Hate!

I recently read this and thought I would share it with everyone!
The separation of church and state is one of the cornerstones of America's foundation. Conservative Christian fundamentalists have sought to crush this cornerstone in the hopes of establishing Christianity as the state religion, an action that would threaten the rest of the foundation that makes up the Constitution. These conservatives contend that the Founding Fathers dreamed of making America a Christian state at the expense of those who practice other religions or none at all.
 
three of our founding fathers: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson

 

So here are 35 quotes from the Founding Fathers. Perhaps your first thoughts are the first four Presidents and maybe Benjamin Franklin, but there were many other Founding Fathers. Many were signers of the Constitution and The Declaration of Independence. They were lawyers, judges, soldiers, merchants, farmers, and some were even clergy. And the great majority of them signed the Constitution knowing that matters of government and matters of religion would be separate.

1. "If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution."
~George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789

2. "Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society."
~George Washington, letter to Edward Newenham, October 20, 1792

3. "We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition… In this enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States."
~George Washington, letter to the members of the New Church in Baltimore, January 27, 1793

4. "The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses."
~John Adams, "A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America" 1787-1788

5. "The Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion."
~1797 Treaty of Tripoli signed by John Adams

6. "Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind."
~John Adams, "A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America" (1787-88)

7. "We should begin by setting conscience free. When all men of all religions shall enjoy equal liberty, property, and an equal chance for
honors and power we may expect that improvements will be made in the human character and the state of society."
~John Adams, letter to Dr. Price, April 8, 1785

8. "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state."
~Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut, 1802

9. "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own. It is error alone that needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself."
~Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Horatio Spofford, 1814

10. "Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, then that of blindfolded fear."
~Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787

11. "I am for freedom of religion and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another."
~Thomas Jefferson, letter to Elbridge Gerry, January 26, 1799

12. "History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes."
-Thomas Jefferson: in letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813

13. "Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual.
State churches that use government power to support themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of the church tends to make the clergy unresponsive to the people and leads to corruption within religion. Erecting the "wall of separation between church and state," therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society. We have solved … the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are the inductions of his own reason and the serious convictions of his own inquiries."
~Thomas Jefferson: in a speech to the Virginia Baptists, 1808

14. "Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law."
~Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814,

15. "The civil government functions with complete success by the total separation of the Church from the State."
~James Madison, 1819, Writings, 8:432, quoted from Gene Garman, "Essays In Addition to America's Real Religion"

16. "And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together."
~James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822

17. "Every new and successful example of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters is of importance."
~James Madison, letter, 1822

18. "Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies, may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history."
~James Madison; Monopolies, Perpetuities, Corporations, Ecclesiastical
Endowments

19. "It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising the sovereignty. Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found. The people themselves become the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin. Let us, then, look to the great cause, and endeavor to preserve it in full force. Let us by all wise and constitutional measures promote intelligence among the people as the best means of preserving our liberties."
~James Monroe, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1817

20. "When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obligated to call for help of the civil power, it's a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one."
~Benjamin Franklin, letter to Richard Price, October 9, 1780

21. "Manufacturers, who listening to the powerful invitations of a better price for their fabrics, or their labor, of greater cheapness of provisions and raw materials, of an exemption from the chief part of the taxes burdens and restraints, which they endure in the old world, of greater personal independence and consequence, under the operation of a more equal government, and of what is far more precious than mere religious toleration–a perfect equality of religious privileges; would probably flock from Europe to the United States to pursue their own trades or professions, if they were once made sensible of the advantages they would enjoy, and were inspired with an assurance of encouragement and employment, will, with difficulty, be induced to transplant themselves, with a view to becoming cultivators of the land."
~Alexander Hamilton: Report on the Subject of Manufacturers December 5,
1791

22. "In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced, and both by precept and example inculcated on mankind."
~Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (1771)

23. "That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forebearance, love, and charity towards each other."
~George Mason, Virginia Bill of Rights, 1776

24. "It is contrary to the principles of reason and justice that any should be compelled to contribute to the maintenance of a church with which their consciences will not permit them to join, and from which they can derive no benefit; for remedy whereof, and that equal liberty as well religious as civil, may be universally extended to all the good people of this commonwealth."
~George Mason, Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776

25. "A man of abilities and character, of any sect whatever, may be admitted to any office or public trust under the United States. I am a friend to a variety of sects, because they keep one another in order. How many different sects are we composed of throughout the United States? How many different sects will be in congress? We cannot enumerate the sects that may be in congress. And there are so many now in the United States that they will prevent the establishment of any one sect in prejudice to the rest, and will forever oppose all attempts to infringe religious liberty. If such an attempt be made, will not the alarm be sounded throughout America? If congress be as wicked as we are foretold they will, they would not run the risk of exciting the resentment of all, or most of the religious sects in America."
~Edmund Randolph, address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June
10, 1788

26. "I never liked the Hierarchy of the Church — an equality in the teacher of Religion, and a dependence on the people, are republican sentiments — but if the Clergy combine, they will have their influence on Government"
~Rufus King, Rufus King: American Federalist, pp. 56-57

27. A general toleration of Religion appears to me the best means of peopling our country… The free exercise of religion hath stocked the Northern part of the continent with inhabitants; and altho' Europe hath in great measure adopted a more moderate policy, yet the profession of Protestantism is extremely inconvenient in many places there. A Calvinist, a Lutheran, or Quaker, who hath felt these inconveniences in Europe, sails not to Virginia, where they are felt perhaps in a (greater degree)."
~Patrick Henry, observing that immigrants flock to places where there is no established religion, Religious Tolerance, 1766

28. "No religious doctrine shall be established by law."
~Elbridge Gerry, Annals of Congress 1:729-731

29. "Knowledge and liberty are so prevalent in this country, that I do not believe that the United States would ever be disposed to establish one religious sect, and lay all others under legal disabilities. But as we know not what may take place hereafter, and any such test would be exceedingly injurious to the rights of free citizens, I cannot think it altogether superfluous to have added a clause, which secures us from the possibility of such oppression."
~Oliver Wolcott, Connecticut Ratifying Convention, 9 January 1788

30. "Some very worthy persons, who have not had great advantages for information, have objected against that clause in the constitution
which provides, that no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. They have been afraid that this clause is unfavorable to religion. But my countrymen, the sole purpose and effect of it is to exclude persecution, and to secure to you the important right of religious
liberty. We are almost the only people in the world, who have a full enjoyment of this important right of human nature. In our country every man has a right to worship God in that way which is most agreeable to his conscience. If he be a good and peaceable person he is liable to no penalties or incapacities on account of his religious sentiments; or in other words, he is not subject to persecution. But in other parts of the world, it has been, and still is, far different. Systems of religious error have been adopted, in times of ignorance. It has been the interest of tyrannical kings, popes, and prelates, to maintain these errors. When the clouds of ignorance began to vanish, and the people grew more enlightened, there was no other way to keep them in error, but to prohibit their altering their religious opinions by severe persecuting laws. In this way persecution became general throughout Europe."
~Oliver Ellsworth, Philip B Kurland and Ralph Lerner (eds.), The Founder's Constitution, University of Chicago Press, 1987, Vol. 4, p.
638

31. "Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. Take away the law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes its original benignity."
~Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, 1791

32. "God has appointed two kinds of government in the world, which are distinct in their nature, and ought never to be confounded together; one of which is called civil, the other ecclesiastical government."
~Isaac Backus, An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty, 1773

33. "Congress has no power to make any religious establishments."
~Roger Sherman, Congress, August 19, 1789

34. "The American states have gone far in assisting the progress of truth; but they have stopped short of perfection. They ought to have given every honest citizen an equal right to enjoy his religion and an equal title to all civil emoluments, without obliging him to tell his religion. Every interference of the civil power in regulating opinion, is an impious attempt to take the business of the Deity out of his own hands; and every preference given to any religious denomination, is so far slavery and bigotry."
~Noah Webster, calling for no religious tests to serve in public office, Sketches of American Policy, 1785

35. "The legislature of the United States shall pass no law on the subject of religion."
~Charles Pinckney, Constitutional Convention, 1787

These are hardly the words of men who allegedly believed that America should be a Christian nation governed by the Bible as conservatives constantly claim. On the contrary, the great majority of the Founders believed strongly in separation of church and state. So keep in mind that this country has survived for over two centuries under the principle of separation and it is only now when conservatives are attempting to destroy that very cornerstone that we find America becoming ever more divided and more politically charged than ever before. If this right-wing faction has their way, America as we know it will cease to exist and the freedoms we have enjoyed because of the Constitution will erode. The Founding Fathers had a vision of this

nation and trusted that the people would protect that vision and improve upon it. Now is not the time to fail them. Because the day the people fail, so does America.

 
Author: July 4, 2013 8:00 am
 
 
 
"This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in."
-Teddy Roosevelt- Chicago, IL, June 17, 1912

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Little fawn Murderer, with an ignorant low-information analogy!

How does it feel to murder a little fawn? What is in the water in WI?
You analogy comparing the over-reaction of the DNR (Dumb Retarded Nutjobs) to the baby deer with a 10-12 man police raid to a raid on a drug house makes one wonder how someone so damn stupid gets to be a supervisor? Do they have a casting couch at DNR? But then again, WI, home of a the Village Idiot Governor, Scott Walker, so I'm guessing everyone below him is dumber then him by a factor of 10 every level of government you go down the chain of command.
It was obvious your 3 brain cells were having a tough time during the raid and the following interview. It looks like the only thing good about Wisconsin are the Green Bay Packers, and then it's all downhill from there, for the state and all the little fawn murderers.
Shame on you and your DNR for murdering a little fawn when that didn't have to happen. Karma baby, Karma!

Listen to the village-idiot's lame analogy about the DNR/Sheriffs Raid to murder the little fawn!


Best wishes always, and hope you can find a good neurosurgeon, (Obviously not in WI.) that can fix that tiny 3 brain-cell brain of yours. You folks truly are sad and pathetic sub-human beings.
Good Night and Good Luck!

Sincerely,
Mr. William D. Harasym
(Veteran- USAF Military Working Dog Handler K-9, Disabled)
"This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in."
-Teddy Roosevelt- Chicago, IL, June 17, 1912

LEAP