EnZed (NZ) Update

I wanted to add a blog entry to bring everyone up to date on my progress in emigrating to New Zealand, and to say a few things I think need saying.

Having a job is absolutely the bottom line to my quest at this point. When you begin the process, NZ Immigration has a short questionnaire which gives you an indication of your potential acceptance status. Each answer is worth so many points. A minimum of 100 is required for any consideration; a total of 130 puts you into the assured consideration segment. This doesn't mean you'll be granted admission, merely that your application will be seriously studied, and your chances are fairly good. My total, if I simply get an offer of employment, is 160 points.

I have spent some time putting my resume' out on various online news and employment sites. I am trying to get into a job which may entail transitioning older software into updated, web-commerce applications. The language I primarily write in, Visual FoxPro, will no longer be supported by Microsoft after this version expires, in 2010. It seems Microsoft has placed all its RAD (rapid application development) eggs in one basket: .NET, which includes Visual Basic (vb.net) and asp.net, along with C#.

Anyway, the next step in the process is the completion of an "Expression of Interest" (EOI), which is a long, involved questionnaire, for the completion of which NZ Immigration advises you to set aside "at least 2 hours" of time. Hmm.

Once the EOI is completed, officials will make a preliminary determination, based on it as well as the points-questions answers, on whether to continue toward an offer. At that time, the applicant must submit medical, police and other records to substantiate what is claimed on the applications. This is decidedly not equivalent to jumping a fence, wading across a river, and getting into the "promised land". This is a strictly regulated, documented legal process. I for one am quite happy to do some hoop-jumping, because I know EVERYONE ELSE who is applying must do the same.

There is a pair of lists involved in the hiring arena, including critical skills and long-term (chronic) shortage areas. It turns out that programming is on both; extra points for that. Also, NZ Immigration is trying to give priority to people who wish to live on the more sparsely populated south island vs. the big cities of the north, which I am aiming to do. Again, there are extra points for that.

Assuming I do get a job offer, and absent any exclusionary issues, Immigration should grant me a job visa for entry, which would then be converted to a job permit upon completion of the hiring process and the submission of paperwork by the employer. They have the option of restricting the duration of that permit, and requiring me to have employer verification of continued employment.

Via Myspace, I have contacted some folks who live on the South Island, and in my "goal city" of Dunedin and have received very friendly and encouraging responses. I was made to feel quite welcome to come live in their homeland by everyone I wrote to.

And now, a bit more of the personal. New Zealand is on the other side of the Earth from my current home. Although I have seen many videos, photographs and other images of the place, I have never physically been there. I have several friends who've spent time there, and they universally loved the place. But there's another level, as noted by my good friend Rick: I will be leaving the land in which I was born, in which I grew to adulthood, in which I had my children, bought homes, got my education, and worked. I gave four years of my life in service to the United States of America, in the U.S. Navy. Everyone I've ever been close to and every place I have true familiarity with exist within America's borders.

The epic film, "Lord of the Rings", was filmed in New Zealand, and it's appropriate that one of the characters, Bilbo Baggins, uttered a comment which frames my current situation:

I'm old, Gandalf. I know I don't look it but I'm beginning to feel it in my heart. I feel thin... sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread. I need a holiday. A very long holiday. And I don't expect I shall return.
In fact I mean not to.

It is exactly the same feeling that a man might have felt in an earlier time, looking out at the sea from Ireland, Italy, or Germany, anticipating his departure. He'd be carrying only what was absolutely necessary, in his pocket whatever cash he could scrape together. He would be in a new place, in some ways like his home, but in myriad others, a new and different experience. He would have been determined, properly, to learn his new culture, adapt to the differences and become a good and productive citizen in his adopted land.

And so shall I.

Free-dumb

Independence Day of 2007 has passed. Normally, tying into that day, I'd focus on the facets of Constitutional government as the Founders intended them. Instead, I want to ramble on about some "then and now" thoughts about summertime.

When I was young, in the 60's, every single kid in the neighborhood got fireworks on July 4th. They were only sporadically sold in New Jersey, and expensive, so many parents made trips to other states to get the latest ordnance. There were Roman candles, ubiquitous firecrackers, sparklers for the little kids, bottle rockets (which were often used as dueling weapons), and whistlers, or whizzers, which sounded cool.

The favorite of us junior Demolition Men, since it was alleged to be "the equivalent of a quarter-stick of dynamite", was the M-80 (also known as an "ashcan" in another version). You could flat out blow stuff up with one of those. We put them in all kinds of dangerous vessels: beer cans, Coke bottles, under piles of dirt, in flower pots, whatever. Light 'em and exit the area pronto, unless the thought of picking debris out of your butt cheeks was appealing. Spectacular, loud as all get-out, and destructive; everything a boy could want in a micro-bomb.

On July 2nd of this year, there were signs on I-78 inbound from Pennsylvania, trumpeting the violations you'd be charged with for bringing fireworks into New Jersey. I guess adults just can't be trusted with such things anymore, let alone kids.

At this time of year, I was often with my cousins Jack and Skip, and my Aunt Lorraine would take us to the local swimming hole. She would do this by piling us into the back of her trusty Chevy Nomad wagon, maybe 6 or 7 rambunctious boys, and we'd head out, all windows wide open. Seatbelts were not worn, because her car didn't come with them. We survived dozens of trips nonetheless. Today, that'd be multiple summonses, fines and likely loss of license.

The pond itself was huge, clean and about 15 feet deep, with a great rope swing. You could sail out about 25 feet, let go, and catch another 10 feet of air on your way in. Icy cold water, even in July, and about as good a feeling to fight the heat as you could find. We were all good swimmers, and one of us would hang out on shore and make sure everybody was ok. No professional lifeguards needed. In today's world, there'd be no swimming, to avoid lawsuits. In fact, the pond we swam in was filled in; there now stands a subdivision on that location.

Another great summer activity was hunting for snapping turtles. Nearby was the (polluted, but we didn't really care) Shrewsbury River. It was surrounded by those weeds we called "cattails", but weren't. We headed for Flanigan's Field. There were all kinds of creatures there, from frogs to snakes to all kinds of insect-types. But we were interested in the snappers. We liked the idea of getting hold of an animal that could bite through a broom handle. Made us feel brave, I suppose. I still remember the first time we trapped one, the size of the thing, and its sheer primordial appearance, with barnacles and algae covering his shell. We wouldn't think of hurting them (as if we could). And we always let them go after we looked them over, hauling them into the water with great effort. On one occasion, we got a thumbs-up from a local cop who was watching us work him out of the river and onto the shore. Nowadays, if you could avoid the "no fishing, no hunting, no anything" signs, climb the inevitable barricade fence, and get to the water, you'd be arrested on your way out. The charge would probably be, depriving the turtle of his civil rights.

We rode our bikes everywhere. One of my friends, Danny, would get one big birthday present every year. One year, when I was 14 or so, he got a new Schwinn "Orange Krate" bicycle. It had a "banana" seat and ape-hanger bars, stick shift, and was about the coolest thing you could own. We all wanted "spider bikes" like his, and since we all worked (I was working full-time as a busboy then, usually 60 hours a week), all of us ended up buying replicas of some type. When we would jump our bikes off the 2-foot curb on Allen Place, or ride them at full tilt between the hedges in the old lady's yard, we didn't wear helmets. We got bumps, bruises and chipped teeth, but nobody died. Today, you might have to wait an extra year for your driver's license if you got caught not wearing your state-mandated, DOT-approved headgear, and your parents would owe a hefty fine.

One last memory: my best friend, Artie, had a great basement with an extra layer of concrete on one wall. In front of that, we set up some padded plywood. At various times, 4 or 5 of us would go down there to shoot. It was our rifle range, where we'd fire anything from BBs, to pellets, to .22s. We had all been trained by our (mostly WW2 or Korean War vet) dads in gun safety and marksmanship, and we were very careful when shooting. All of us owned guns, as did just about every one of our fathers. I had a nice little Italian .22, which I also took out to the old quarry to shoot about every other week.

In 2007, to purchase a gun, especially a revolver or pistol, in New Jersey is just slightly less difficult than getting licensed to do open-heart surgery. Applications, fees, background checks, criminal checks, examination of any violations of even traffic laws, cooling-off periods, all kinds of roadblocks. If you have it in your home, it's supposed to be unloaded and trigger-locked, with the ammo in a separate location. If you transport it, say to a (licensed) shooting range, it has to be unloaded, in a secure container outside easy reach, normally in the trunk. The 2nd Amendment doesn't authorize any such restrictions, but New Jersey's politicians long ago burned their copies of the Constitution, since it was cutting into their graft and corrupt practices.

In today's America, you are restricted in every activity undertaken. You almost need a permit to fart. Americans think of this country as "the land of the free", which would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic. We allowed a small group of alien manipulators to undermine our entire lifestyle, to the point that the country I am living in today bears almost no resemblance to the one I recall from just 40 years ago. We've been so conditioned, for so long, to accept our chains that we don't even realize we're shackled. And the U.S. is not alone, although it's the most prominently controlled. The media tells us to buy a new car, we accept the order, and put ourselves into debt slavery for four or five years. We get a new HDTV, we get a new reduction in our take-home pay. Politicians tell us a small, under-militarized, weathered country in the Middle East is an imminent threat to our security, and we barely look up from watching "CSI" or the football game as the war begins. So far 4,000+ of our kids have paid with their lives for this sleight-of-hand.

We are in the grasp of great evil, men who have no concerns whatsoever except for two things: money and absolute power. They control you at every level, from deciding where you'll "educate" your children, to whether you can re-occupy your own home after a storm, to how many will be allowed into a shelter in the event of air attack. For themselves, though, those limits mean nothing. They live in gated and walled communities, have access to secret Air Force hide-outs, own huge yachts in the Caribbean, and keep secondary homes in other, safer lands. Their kids go to exclusive private schools, isolated from the havoc their policies cause in the outside world. Their Swiss bank accounts are fattened by interest groups like AIPAC, keeping them pork-laden until their retirement and appointment to directorial boards.

Because of them, we only get to wave sparklers and brag about how free we are. They get to play with M-80s and laugh at us. At some point, if the lemmings awaken from their headlong march to oblivion, it will be time for us to be the grownups again, and put real, proper and permanent restrictions on the useless people in power instead.

Redirection

Several months ago, I put the idea of moving to another state on the table. I absolutely despise almost everything about the People's Republic of New Jersey, although I was born and raised here. Our population density is 1200 people per square mile, and we are like caged rats. Road rage is common. Violent crime is quite high. The state is literally running out of room to build homes in many counties. I can't imagine staying here any longer than absolutely necessary.

So, after several visits to the north country, I'd thought of moving up to New Hampshire, Vermont or Maine. The area that appealed to me was along the Canadian border. It's quiet, very open, few people, with lots of land. There are lots of forests, lakes and mountains.

The problem came down to the very idea of remaining in the United States. The people in power are creating a country steeped in fear and terror. Their terror. This country simply is no longer the place where I grew up, and sadly, it's becoming a place I no longer want to live in. My kids live with their mother and we are growing apart as time goes by and they get older. Thus, I'm left with decisions which will focus on and affect my own life.

The political landscape, which used to charge me with ideas and challenge me to find solutions for problems facing myself, my family and our People, has gone to seed. I can't maintain my bearings any longer. I feel, more each passing day, that the fight, the struggle to alleviate the burdens being placed not only on White Americans, but all Americans, and in fact, all people in the Western world, is completely and utterly futile. Perhaps if there were some indication of a ground-swell, if there were any stirrings of true patriotism, I would keep my shoulder to the wheel and fight on. But the masses of asses prefer to keep their noses in the feedbag while their very lives are being taken by the state, along with their money, their dreams and their dignity. Few care, and that's become more obvious.

About a month ago, I began to think of a place where I might be able to capture some of the serenity I'd hoped to attain by this age. As I've said, being over 50, I would so much prefer to take long walks, garden, talk with friends and relax on the porch, instead of posting blogs, writing letters, editing websites and urging resistance among the unconcerned. And so I shall, in greater measure. I have granted myself that luxury and will leave more of the heavy lifting to younger White warriors who may have some fighting desire for change left in them.

My target is New Zealand. Specifically, the place I'd like to permanently hang my hat is the south island, and even more to the point, somewhere outside the city of Dunedin. There were many factors that figured into my decision to pursue this relocation.

1. The undeniable, rugged physical beauty of the place. The Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand, and every outdoor scene radiates majesty.
   
2. The "kiwis" are very diligent in protecting the environment they have.
   
3. The population on the south island is quite low, with lots of open space.
   
4. The Southern Alps are the dominant natural feature.
   
5. There's great surfing, diving and boating there.
   
6. Staying within New Zealand, one can run the gamut from sub-antarctic to sub-tropical climates within a couple days' drive.
   
7. The official language is English, so no linguistic issues, and everyone has to learn it.
   
8. Dunedin is large enough to provide employment, but small enough to easily get far away from.
   
9. It's in the southern hemisphere, so any fallout from the nuke war Israel's working on causing will not land there on the prevailing winds (no kidding).
   

The New Zealand immigration agency has a questionnaire that must be completed, and each question answered adds points that count toward a letter of admission, which in turn leads to a residence card, which in turn leads to permanent residence and possible citizenship. At this point, all I need is a job offer and I will have more than enough points to get admitted and start my new life.

It's not paradise, certainly, but it's the only alternative to the downward spiral caused by the criminals in D.C. And, no matter who's elected next year, the system will continue to deteriorate and life, especially for the White middle class, will be debased further. I can't stomach that thought.

So, the next year will be spent paying off my remaining debt, cleaning out all the non-essential items from my inventory, saying goodbyes to those I'll leave behind, and preparing myself for an entirely new paradigm. If everything works out, by the will of the gods and the weaving of the Norns, I will be leaving the U.S.A. at the end of July 2008. The next 12 months will be the real test.

Now, I just need to find a job in Dunedin...

Whoring Around

In an old joke, a man and his wife are trying to discern what path their young son will take. They place a bible, a $20 bill and a bottle of whiskey on the table. The father says, "If he picks up the money, he'll be a businessman. If he picks up the bible, he'll be a preacher. And if he takes the whiskey, he'll be an entertainer." The boy walks to the table. He grabs the bible, stuffs the money in his pocket, takes a swig of the whiskey and heads out the door. "Goodness!", exclaims his father, "the boy's gonna be a politician!"

In reality, while politicians are often entertainers, and even more often invoke higher powers for the benefit of their constituents, politics isn't about campaigns or speeches or sexual indiscretions with interns. It's about power.

The inherent aim of government is to increase its authority over the population it is trying to control. The Founders understood this implicitly. In crafting the Constitution, they understood the balance between the novel concept of individual (as opposed to inherited, or titled) rights, and the attempts by central government to accumulate power. With that, they laid out a structure in which the powers delegated to the Federal government by the States were plainly spelled out. As previously noted, "delegation" is not something subordinates can do, so the Founders clearly saw the States as the more powerful entity. They correctly understood that the more local the authority is, the more closely it will be watched, and opposed if needed, by the citizenry.

Further, in Amendments 9 and 10, the Founders unequivocally stated that any and every power and responsibility not granted to the Federal government was left to the States and their residents. The Constitution was intentionally written in very plain language which could be, and was, easily understood by the People; it would be read aloud at assemblies, town meetings, and in churches across the country.

Of course, as predicted by Jefferson, almost as soon as the ink dried on the Constitution, the various branches of government began to expand their limited roles. This continued from Marbury v. Madison, to the illegally-waged Civil War (or more properly, War of Southern Revolution), to the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank and unConstitutional transfer of control of America's money supply to them, to the questionable passage of Amendment 16 (the Income Tax), to the New Deal and institutionalized socialism, to today's illegal and illicit undeclared wars around the world.

In the world of prostitution, the rules are simple: the customer, or "john", pays a sum of money, and the prostitute performs a service. Everyone knows the game and everyone goes away satisfied.

In the world of political prostitution, certain individuals get together and "lobby" the Congress or the President (or in several cases, the Supreme Court justices, who are supposed to be immune from such things). The term "lobby" is a polite euphemism for another polite euphemism, "campaign contributions". Those, of course, are cash payments. The process is the same as out in the back alleys of hookers. Only the results are different. The lobbyists want certain laws passed, or blocked. The politicians will vote for whichever laws make them the most money. In many cases, there is no recorded vote, merely "acclamation", which means that if the "Ayes" are loudest on the floor, the vote carries. This relieves the politicians of embarrassing paper trails, gets them their loot, and they can claim voting either way as suits them.

Recently, there was an attempt by the Senior Traitor from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy, along with co-traitor Jon Kyl from the Mexican Territory of Arizona, to push through a piece of legislation which would make official the resident status of 12-million (their number; actually closer to 30-million) illegal, criminal Mexican invaders. There were some unenforceable sops to the sheep, some minor catches to legal residence. But on the whole, it was an amnesty for breaking federal law and a "get-in-line" pass for the illegals. Unfortunately for Messrs. Kennedy & Kyl and their Mexican-employing businessmen friends, the American people somehow awoke from their haze of American Idol, Paris Hilton and Obama's autobiography, and demanded the sinking of the bill. The House of Representatives, closer to the people and with 2-year terms, immediately passed a motion to reject the bill before it even made it out of Senate committee. Several Senators who had cheerfully smiled while supporting the bill did an abrupt about-face. The bill died, was resurrected in slightly different form, and died again. One of the two jewish Senatorial Traitorettes from Mexifornia, Dianne Feinstein, called the bill's opponents racist and hateful. Her Senate sister, Barbara Boxer, also condemned the media for calling it an "amnesty bill". It would, to be sure, legalize illegals, but hey, they'd have to pass driving tests and register for Social Security, so how is that amnesty?

The problem we face, along with these naked attempts to flout the Constitution and its laws that these swine were sworn to protect when elected, is the explosive growth of political action committees, or "PACs". The largest of them in terms of dollars spent to buy political whores are:
* The AARP, which lobbies for more handouts and giveaways to seniors;
* The NRA, which is trying to walk the line between the 2nd Amendment and the socialist confiscation of all private weapons, while making its executive board wealthy;

and, the one which is most worrisome...

* AIPAC, which is the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Every politician who hopes to remain in high office supports and defends AIPAC, attends its fund-raisers, gives speeches in support, and so on. This includes members of both parties: Bush, Cheney, Rice, Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Pelosi, you name them, they're in the ring, stumping for AIPAC. Why?

The United States allows Israeli scientists and military technologists nearly unrestricted access to advanced weaponry and codes. We supply them, at cost, with the latest weapons, tanks, aircraft and so on. Israel receives classified IFF identification numbers from the U.S. military every year, which identify their aircraft to our side as "friendlies". Every year, the U.S. "forgives" nearly all previously agreed-to "loans", at least in part, owed by Israel. They are a party to all intelligence we've gathered from all operations worldwide. "Our" Director of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, is the son of a rabbi and holds dual Israeli-American citizenship.

Most importantly, the U.S. gives Israel around $5-billion every year in direct foreign aid. And the Israelis, through AIPAC, use that U.S. taxpayer money buy the whores in "our" government who will do their bidding. That bidding includes, for instance, the 4000 dead American sons and daughters involved in the undeclared war of American aggression against Iraq, where we are now building four large, permanent bases. It also includes the ramping-up of aggression against Iran, with a third aircraft carrier group sent there recently. Other future targets include Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. We are also, at the behest of Tel Aviv (which despises the nationalistic Vladimir Putin), attempting to emplace offensive missiles in Poland, facing Russia.

The Iranian targeting is based on Iran's refusal to stop producing nuclear reactors, which the Iranians insist are being manufactured as internal power plants. The UN's original inspection of the plans tended to agree with that assessment. However, because they could, 8-10 years downstream, be used to produce nuclear bomb materials, Israel (and so the United States) demands they cease.

Israel, meanwhile, has at least 200 nuclear bombs of its own, refuses UN weapons inspection, operates a biological warfare research facility at Dimona which is specifically prohibited by Geneva Convention rules, and has stated that, if Israel "feels threatened", it will launch nuclear weapons at "undisclosed targets" (the "Samson Option"); most of the missiles have European targets.

The "johns" in America, the taxpayers, think they are paying taxes to operate legitimate government. But the "whores" in D.C. are getting bigger checks from others whom they also see as "johns", but are really their "pimps", and the pimps are paying for America to do things which are in direct opposition to America's traditions and best interests, which have already indelibly stained us, may bankrupt us, and could kill us off. At that point, the pimps will close up shop and look for new whores, as they seem to be doing in China.

Will we allow them to continue, or will we rise up as with the amnesty bill and demand that America be run, again, by Americans?

Bullies

Many of us, especially males, remember the school bullies. There were, of course, the routine types, who might knock your books out of your hands for fun, or trip you, and so on. Those clowns were simply insecure, and took it out on others whom they knew could not stop them. When they weren't around, they didn't spend time thinking about you, and simple avoidance usually solved the problem.

There was another kind of bully, though, a more psychopathic variety. These guys were deadly serious, and targeted certain kids as if preprogrammed to do so. They would place a kid in a bad situation, challenge him, merely to have an excuse to pummel their chosen victim. They would taunt the kid, shove him, put him in a place where he had to at least try to push or punch his way out. And then, this bully would administer the coup de grace, and plaster a wall with his victim's face.

We are now faced with a similar group of bullies who operate from positions within government.

They create laws which oppress people, take their money (in the form of limitless taxes), open the doors of their homelands to others from anywhere else, and emplace law upon law to restrict or remove freedoms under various disguises. They pronounce edicts without any restraint, proclaim themselves the final arbiters of power, and tighten their nooses upon the necks of the people.

Just like the determined bully, they shove us, slap us, demean us and provoke us. And they dare us to respond.

To keep us from doing just that, they employ their paid agents in the innumerable agencies, all armed and dangerous, from the local police to the courts to the various federal agents. They declare legitimate, reasoned dissent to be "terrorism". They consider any efforts by any group to break free to be treason, punishable, as in 1861, by unrestricted warfare. They pass laws prohibiting the free exercise of alternate opinions, and fine, jail or simply kill any person or group which challenges them. In short, they use the constant threat of financial, social or physical force to curtail any negative responses from the populace.

The weapons of the bullies are many: open borders and the continual attempts at amnesty for border-jumpers, growing intrusion into personal business (including emails, internet access and telephone conversations), "No-knock" entries by law enforcement, asset forfeiture laws, increasing pressures for "hate speech" laws, secret trials, the USA-PATRIOT Act, the Military Commisions Act, the North American Union scheme, the ramping up of taxes and penalties for avoidance, the growing attacks upon peaceful nations who have done nothing to us, the alienation of potential allies around the world, and all of this under the aegis that anyone who dares to confront the President, Congress or Supreme Court will be considered an enemy and dealt with accordingly.

Congress has abandoned its duty to remove this Constitution-defiling President by impeachment, the Supreme Court will not rule against his imperial edicts, and elections are 1.5 years away. How much more damage will the megalomaniac, psychotic, power-mad, alcoholic frat boy do to the integrity, character and future of the former Republic of the U.S.A. by 2009 when he finally steps down?

Or will he step down? Or create a new "terror" plot to usurp continuing control of government and abolish the election process altogether?

The massive clampdown upon liberty, such as we have seen in recent years, may delude the authorities, already drunk with power, into believing that they have a handle on things. But it is the calm before a very dangerous, expensive and explosive storm of response. John Wilkes Booth, the actor who'd had enough and took matters into his own hands against the dictatorial Abraham Lincoln, declared when he shot the President, "Sic semper tyrannis!", or "Thus is it ever with tyrants!". Once government fails to act in the interests of the People, Jefferson said, it is incumbent upon them to replace it.

My prediction is, the people under such bullying, the people of the United States and the rest of the Western world, will soon find the resolve to face the bullies who are forcing them against the wall. They will see an uprising which may be triggered by another "shot heard 'round the world". In the world of bullies, there can be no other outcome.

Born On The Fourth Of July

On this day in 1776, while in the midst of a war with Great Britain with uncertain outcome, a group of wealthy, educated, well-propertied White men gathered with a solemn purpose. They aimed to create a new country, a new European nation-state. They were placing their signatures on a document which they would present to the British leadership, to King George III himself. In doing so, were they captured, they would almost certainly be hanged for treason and sedition. Their cause was in no way universal, but enough of the colonists had been persuaded to support them, that they faced no great impedence among the people. Instead they would face perhaps the most powerful war machine, and certainly the most competent navy, on Earth.

Standing against this formidable force, which was augmented by German mercenaries from the State of Hesse, were a total of 90,000 colonials. Many formed armies, but most were militiamen: regular farmers, smiths, drovers and other common men who took up arms against what they saw as a repressive regime.

Eleven years later, the war was over, and to the amazement of many around the world, the colonies were now the Confederation of American States. Their leadership met again, and after long hours, interminable debate, heated arguments and strenuous compromise, they produced a document which they hoped would be the germ of a lasting government. That document would weld together thirteen disparate small nations into one largely unified entity. It was not a set of allowances or an authorization of unlimited power to the ruling class. It was instead another declaration of the Rights of the citizenry over the central government. The first statements of guarantee of those naturally-held Rights were contained in the compromise addition, a set of ten amendments known now as "The Bill of Rights". Among the absolute guarantees made in that pact between governors and governed, between the elected in the national capital and their rulers, the voters, in the States were these: Freedoms of speech, of religion, of the press, of popular oversight of government, and of peaceable assembly. The absolute Right to possess and use firearms in defense of family, neighbors, property and homeland. Freedom from military occupation. Prevention of unreasonable searches and seizure of private property. Security of trial procedures. Rights to know charges and evidence, and subpoena witnesses in criminal cases. Juries present at trials of value. Protections against excessive bail, police and court-ordered cruelty, and punishments outside the norm.

And the two final Amendments, possibly the most important to invoke when the national government oversteps its boundaries:

Amendment 9 states that just because some Rights are specifically mentioned in the Constitution, it does not mean that others (under Common Law) are not available to the citizenry.

Amendment 10 also speaks of States and the People. The Constitution mandates that the national government is granted certain powers, such as coinage of money (now illegally usurped by the privately-run "Federal" Reserve), raising a navy, and so on. These responsibilities are thus denied to the individual States by agreement. This Amendment ensures that anything falling outside that perimeter belongs to the States and their resident citizens. The language is plain: the States are the superiors versus the national government, which is subordinate. One can not be an "inferior" entity and delegate power to another.

On this day, I am thankful for the work of the Founders. I thank those who determined to break away from European rule and strike their own course. I thank the men, and women, who gave their lives as well as those who put all they had on the line for the benefit of people they would never know. I also tip my hat to the authors of the United States Constitution for their ultimate selflessness in providing a blueprint for an open society which could last for centuries.

Yet, at this time, the men and women who are running our government have turned their backs on the Constitution. They have sought to reduce the long-ago work of those men to a target. The least capable among them, the man who fancies himself the new King George, has verbally spit upon the document of Rights, calling it "a goddamned piece of paper". Such behavior from the lout then in power prompted the People to call for the end of his rule, the end of that tyranny. And they got it.

Two-hundred thirty-one years ago, in declaring the quorum's collective grievances against the Crown, Jefferson penned a sentence, the quality and impact of which is undimmed by the passage of time. It read:

...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.

It's time to return to our political roots. It's time to stand against the new tyrant. It's time to reinstate the Republic the traitors have stolen from us.