On this Memorial Day we are supposed to pause to remember the sacrifices of the men and women who have served this country, many of them giving their very lives in that service, in order to protect our most basic freedoms.
Chief among those freedoms are those laid out by the Founding Fathers in the Bill of Rights as the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The first of those amendments reads thus:
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Enter the Southern Poverty Law Center, a self-proclaimed “civil rights organization,” according to their never-ending stream of press releases and fundraising requests. For a group of alleged civil rights lawyers, the SPLC seems to have a serious problem with the most fundamental civil rights identified in the First Amendment.
This week, which contains Flag Day, is also Flag Week. Most people are unaware of that fact. They are also unaware that the 21 days from Flag Day to Independence Day are Honor America days. To begin your celebration, we offer this video of the Star-Spangled Banner sung by the young group Daves Highway.
Talk to a fellow hunter about wolves, cougars or bears and their first reaction will most likely be that their populations are out of control and must be scientifically managed. Ask an anti-hunter and you will hear that they are the most majestic, critical, endangered and necessary animal to ever set foot in the woods.
The truth is predators are a critical tool in the endgame of the anti-hunting movement far more than they are critical to “balancing our ecosystem”, as they would have the general public believe. The portrayal of the wolf, cougar, bear, coyote and other predators as harmless creatures that only kill the weak and diseased is nothing more than a marketing scheme aimed at making the prey the perpetrator. It has been very successful for the anti-hunting movement as they have made predators the star player in their endgame to ban all hunting.
LOS ANGELES—Science fiction legend Ray Bradbury passed away last night peacefully after a lingering illness. Bradbury—heavily influenced by the ability of Edgar Allen Poe to draw people into his stories—is noted for a variety of story lines from warning to the hopeful. His Fahrenheit 451 and Martian Chronicles elevated him to the caste of such greats as Issac Asimov, Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. His most recent work is Now and Forever.
“In a career spanning more than seventy years, Ray Bradbury has inspired generations of readers to dream, think, and create,” his publisher HarperCollins wrote in a statement to the press. “A prolific author of hundreds of short stories and close to fifty books, as well as numerous poems, essays, operas, plays, teleplays, and screenplays, Bradbury was one of the most celebrated writers of our time.”
Rarely one to rest, Mr. Bradbury converted 65 of his short stories into highly popular television series The Ray Bradbury Theater. The author of a Playboy interview with him wrote:
Even at the age of 75, there’s something childlike about Ray Bradbury. He bounces with enthusiasm, he nearly always wears shorts and his homes are stocked with toys – from the statue of Bullwinkle that presides over the basement of his Los Angeles home to the nine-foot dinosaur that occupies its own bed at his desert hideaway.
Phoenix—While Arizona may win its battle over the watered-down SB 1070 due to the efforts of Governor Jan Brewer, the governor vetoed several other measures which the Legislature passed to enforce State sovereignty and the Tenth Amendment to the Bill of Rights. Among those were measures to prevent State agencies from enforcing provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act, a measure supporting county Sheriffs, and objections to international forces on American soil.
Vetoed by the governor was SCR 1008 and SB 1081 which would have given authority to the State and counties to declare emergencies in the forests and take action to clean them up. The governor recently signed the Four Forest Restoration contract with the “National Forest Service.” A main problem with this contract is that any money taken in from the resources leave Arizona.
The governor vetoed Senate Bill 1332 to demand that the federal government extinguish title to all public lands in the State relinquishing title to Arizona. In her veto letter she stated that the bill, “…appears to be in conflict with Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 and Article VI, Clause 2, as well as the Enabling Act.”
The first article mentioned is one that the federal government uses in their arguments.
“The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.”
While a Territory, it was constitutionally legitimate to form a “forest service.” With the Enabling Act mentioned—which allowed Arizona to form a Constitution—and the signing of that Constitution by William Howard Taft, Arizona is no longer a territory and this provision no longer applies.
The Constitution of the United States allows for certain properties for the federal government “To establish Post Offices and post roads” (I, Sect. 8, Clause 7), and the Seat of Government (3) and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature (4) for the Erection of Forts, (5) Magazines, (6) Arsenals, (7) dock-Yards, and (8) other needful Buildings (Article I, Sect. 8, Clause 17). None of these purposes gives Congress the right to form a National Forest Service, National Parks Service or other Bureaus to control lands within a State. The exception is waterways to ensure they are navigable. The federal government also argues Fifth Amendment authority to confiscate public and private land at will, but the Fifth Amendment was only meant to allow them to take land for their limited, allotted purposes. Article VI, Clause 2 is the so-called “Supremacy Clause.” This clause was only meant to give the federal government authority over those areas they were specifically given authority over by the Constitution of the United States. The wording of the Tenth Amendment of the Bill of Rights was meant to make that very clear.
Also in Article IV of the Constitution is a provision that gives the federal government the specific duty to protect the State from invasion. Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 and Title 32 §109 of the United States Code gives Arizona the authority to establish a defense force for the purposes of protecting Arizona citizens from invasion. Despite the claim of PBS, the Mexican drug cartels are known to be working with Hezbollah and Fox News has reported concerns by the Department of Homeland Security that they may be working with the terrorist group al-Qaeda. SB-1083 originally would have set up an Arizona Defense Force. A choir of Arizona media led by Senator Steve Gallardo (D-13) accused Arizona of setting up a “vigilante” group displaying their apparent ignorance to the definition of a vigilante group. One television media outlet said that the bill would hand guns out to untrained citizens and send them to the border. They did not mention the training, psychological testing, vetting process and command structure written into the bill. The bill was later changed by the author, Senator Sylvia Allen (R-5), in response to the concerns to create an Arizona Special Missions Unit. The governor did not have a chance to veto this bill which was killed in committee by House Speaker Andy Tobin.
Governor vetoed SB 1182 which would have prevented the State and any State agency from providing material support in implementation of Sections 1021 and 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act. Despite the assurances by Representative Allen West of Florida, many groups advocate that these sections do not exempt American citizens from being apprehended by the military as “terrorists” without trial and being held indefinitely.
In an e-mail, Senator Allen wrote that the governor, “…said it was wrong to force law enforcement to have to decide rather to enforce state law over federal law. She was more worried about law enforcement than the citizens of this state who longer have due process under the Constitution, which by the way, law enforcement took an oath to uphold. The Governor was wrong on this one.”
The governor also vetoed HB 2434 which would have required federal law enforcement officers to notify the Sheriff of a county before conducting operations within their county. In the veto letter by the governor she wrote, “Rather than hinder the efforts of our federal law enforcement colleagues, we need to focus on collaboration. For example, the Arizona Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Center brings together local, state and federal law enforcement to jointly fight against terrorism and other serious crimes.” Apparently this does not consist of preventing terrorists from entering the country.
Recent news reports are that Russian troops are training in Colorado at the Denver Airport to fight terrorists (See Right-wing Extremist document). HJR 2001, proposed by Representative Harper (R-4) and Senator Gould (R-3) was written prior to that knowledge and opposes the use of international force in America to enforce unratified treaties and authorizes resistance against any international force infringing on the United States Constitution. The governor said, “Many terms are undefined or ill-defined which leaves this measure vulnerable to misuse, confusion and unintended consequences.”
The Resolution only shows Legislative support for the Constitutional right of American citizens to resist foreign invasion as granted by Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 aforementioned, and the Second Amendment (See Federalist Paper No. 2, 3, 4, 5, 24, 25 & 29 ) the Ninth and Tenth Amendment of the Bill of Rights.
Justice Noah Haynes Swayne in the Cherokee Tobacco Case (78 u.s. 616, 20 L.Ed. 227, 11 Wall. 616 (1870)) wrote, “It need hardly be said that a treaty. cannot change the Constitution or be held valid if it be in violation of that instrument.” That sentiment was upheld by Justice Horace Gray who authored the decision in UNITED STATES v. WONG KIM ARK, 169 U.S. 649, 18 S.Ct. 456, 42 L.Ed. 890 (March 28, 1898), “…as will appear by tracing the history of the statutes, treaties, and decisions upon that subject, always bearing in mind that statutes enacted by congress, as well as treaties made by the president and senate, must yield to the paramount and supreme law of the constitution.”
In 1913, Elihu Root published his lecture Essentials of the Constitution in which he wrote, “The constitution provides that ‘This constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.’ Under this provision an enactment by Congress not made in pursuance of the constitution, or an enactment of a state contrary to the constitution, is not a law. Such an enactment should strictly have no more legal effect than the resolution of any private debating society.”
The National Archives has devised an interesting way to be a part of history. Or to collect names for the next edition of the Department of Homeland Security Domestic Terrorist magazine. You can now sign the Declaration of Independence. Ironically, they even warn you.
Wonder what happens if you decide not to sign?
The Declaration of Independence was ratified by adopting the Lee Resolution for Independence with only New York not voting. After some minor changes by Franklin and Adams, according to the web site, it was declared officially adopted on July 4th 235 years ago in 1776.
Their Charters of Freedom web site has photographic images and text transcripts of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. At the bottom of that page is a button which takes you to a page with another link to sign and other links to information about the signers and a timeline for the events surrounding the Declaration.
You can elect to sign the document in three different fonts; Colonist, American and Patriot. You can print on a color or black-and-white printer. Make sure you used the print link at the bottom of the page and do not try to print from your browser print function. Flash is required to use the program.
And you thought that investment in parchment paper was foolish.
In an interesting protest against the SOPA and PIPA bills in Congress, the English version of Wikipedia went dark at midnight today. Some report being able to access the online encyclopedia through certain smartphones according to CNN.
The protest is over concerns that these bill would allow the United States to take down domains for virtually any excuse. Proponents say the bills are necessary to protect intellectual property available on the Internet. Thefts and piracy do present a problem, but industry estimates of the dollar loss could be inflated.
By Edith Honan
NEW YORK | Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:05pm EST
(Reuters) – U.S. home improvement chain Lowe’s Monday defended its decision to pull advertising from reality TV show “All-American Muslim” amid charges the company had given in to bigotry.
“All-American Muslim,” which airs on TLC, follows several Muslim families in and around the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, which is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the United States and its largest mosque.
It has been accused by one Florida group to be propaganda. But the decision by Lowe’s sparked an outcry by defenders of the show.
Lowe’s employed its Facebook page to defend itself and called “All-American Muslim,” a “lightning rod” for “strong political and societal views.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Hoping to gain federal support to allow several Coconino County residents to retain property they’ve lived on for years, County Supervisor Matt Ryan testified before the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee on Friday morning.
Supervisor Ryan urged members of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands to approve H.R. 1038. The resolution, introduced by U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar on March 11, 2011, would allow the U.S. Forest Service to transfer up to 3 acres of federal land inside the Mountainaire Subdivision that was erroneously labeled and settled as private property.
In November 2007, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management completed a land survey in the Mountainaire Subdivision in the Coconino National Forest south of Flagstaff. During the 2007 survey, the BLM determined that an erroneous privately contracted survey of Mountainaire Unit I, which was completed between 1960 and 1961, misidentified several acres of U.S. Forest Service land as private property.
“On some of the developed parcels, the revised boundary goes through portions of the landowner’s residence,” Supervisor Ryan told the Subcommittee. “Furthermore, several of these residents have maintained these parcels and developed them as their own for years, and in some cases decades.”
The legislation authorizes the transfer of the property from the U.S. Forest Service, avoiding a long and costly administrative process. The boundary discrepancy impacts approximately 26 lots and 27 property owners in the subdivision, many of whom have been unable to sell their properties because they are unable to prove land ownership, Supervisor Ryan testified.
Rep. Gosar and U.S. Forest Service Acting Deputy Chief Gregory Smith testified in support of H.R. 1038.
“We believe this is a small price to pay to grant these homeowners the peace of mind of knowing the property they live on is their own,” Supervisor Ryan said. “H.R. 1038 will provide much-needed relief to homeowners of the Mountainaire Subdivision.”
