Finally FFQF: John Jay and Is the Jury Still Out?

I am tardy with the Friday's Quote. I think this is the second time I've published my post on a Saturday. My sincerest apologies, Mr. Mulligan.

(I finally took some time after work to look at some much-needed furniture for my place. The pieces were a good deal, but I am still in shock after paying the sales tax. 8.75%, for the honor of being a New York State citizen. I'd rather not.)

Without further adieu:

See what's up with today's FFQF at Meet the Founders blog

My quote is from John Jay. I have an affection for Jay, a fellow New Yorker and Christian. This is what our former Supreme Court Chief Justice had to say about the jury in our judicial system:

The jury has the right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy.

That's quite a statement. I haven't read the entire essay from whence this came; but dare I say it implies that a jury can dismiss a law it deems unacceptable, as well as make a determination about the guilt/non-guilt of the party in court. This is now very far from where we stand today. Today, the jury is told by the judge that HE will instruct the jury about the law. This should not be. I think We the People are being deceived and sold out, again.

It's just a quote, but it certainly is worth looking into, particularly of you are called for jury duty and take that duty seriously.

Thank you for visiting.

An Underhanded Martial Law?

Just an obscure news story at the ArmyTimes. Oh my God. It is against the law of the United States to have our own military patrol WE the PEOPLE. This is horrific.

3rd Infantry’s 1st BCT trains for a new dwell-time mission. Helping ‘people at home’ may become a permanent part of the active Army...

Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been tapped to help at home. In August 2005, for example, when Hurricane Katrina unleashed hell in Mississippi and Louisiana, several active-duty units were pulled from various posts and mobilized to those areas.

But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

Isn't enforcing the law the role of the police force, under the jurisdiction of local governments by We the PEOPLE? This "federal response force" is against the law, not to mention terrifying. What is happening in this country? I do not want the 3rd Infantry to "help" me. The article is riddled with euphemisms. And don't think for a moment that when the year of "help" is over, the Army will just go away. On the contrary, they have long-term plans for us.

After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.

“Right now, the response force requirement will be an enduring mission. How the [Defense Department] chooses to source that and whether or not they continue to assign them to NorthCom, that could change in the future,” said Army Col. Louis Vogler, chief of NorthCom future operations. “Now, the plan is to assign a force every year.”

The article makes clear the position and responsibility of the soldier policing his own countrymen:

...they’ll learn new skills, use some of the ones they acquired in the war zone [in Iraq] and more than likely [?!] will not be shot at while doing any of it.

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.

...The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

"Dangerous" individuals? Are we not innocent until proven guilty in this country, or has that law changed, too? The article then describes the experience of being "tasered."

“I can’t think of a more noble mission than this,” said Cloutier, who took command in July. “We’ve been all over the world during this time of conflict, but now our mission is to take care of citizens at home ... and depending on where an event occurred, you’re going home to take care of your home town, your loved ones.”

This is tyranny, no other word for it. I'd like to remind them of our Bill of RIGHTS:

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

No person shall be held to answer for any capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Federal Lawsuit to Stop AIG Bailout

Here's some amazing news. Odd, I haven't seen this on NBC Nightly News. We the People Foundation is suing to stop the federal bailout of American International Group:

On the day following the 221st anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, WTP Chairman and constitutional activist Robert Schulz today filed a federal lawsuit in United States District Court in Albany seeking to halt the execution of the emergency bailout of American International Group, Inc. (AIG) by the United States Government and the Federal Reserve.

The lawsuit asserts that the commitment of public funds and credit for the direct benefit of privately owned AIG is an ultra vires action by the United States Government and Federal Reserve, i.e., beyond the limited legal authority granted by the Constitution. The lawsuit asks for a "show cause" hearing demanding that the Government produce evidence of its legal authority to commit public funds for such a purpose, as well as emergency and permanent injunctions halting the bailout transaction.

Beyond the Constitutional deficiencies, the bailout establishes a dangerous precedent enabling the Fed and/or Government to nationalize virtually any business or property within the United States without legal authority or congressional approval.

The defendants include the Federal Reserve System, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanki, the U.S. Treasury, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson Jr. and the United States Government.

We the People says it is taking a stand, morally and financially. You can read their press release here.

This is great news. Who knows that this is going on? I have to wonder why more hasn't been made out of this.

A Lesson in Civil Government

A Lesson in Civil Government: it's expensive.

A few years ago, I had an assignment that required me to research and record the salaries of state government employees. It was an impossible task. What very little I could discover on the web (thank you, League of Women Voters, for your website), I found even less via telephone calls, submitting emails, and calling my local representatives. I absolutely could not, for example, find out what the state treasurer's salary was. It seemd to be the best-kept secret (that and Eliot Spitzer's "indiscretions").

I am making a short story long. I am very pleased to announce to my fellow New Yorkers that a small sliver of light has now entered the secret vault into the depths of taxpayer expenditures. The news is not good, but it's better than ignorance, I suppose.

It's the Top New York State Pensions Report. Read it and weep.

Mind you-- these are pensions, not salaries. Good God, do we really pay our "leaders" all this money every year?



Forget the Soviets-- New York State is in need of some serious glasnost to end this cycle of taxpayer abuse.

Go Back in Time

This is an ingenious website, the Living Room Candidate. It's a portal of old presidential candidate commercials. Here's one long before my time:



It's interesting to see how things have progressed over the years. The eloquence and intelligent discourse of these past campaigns is gone, but the propaganda never ceases, does it?

FFQF: The Re-Founder

My apologies to the FFQF group. I'm late getting my quote in. Haven't had much time lately. But better late than never, as they say.

Here's my quote. It's something I've been mulling over for a while. Technically, it's not an "old" founder. He is a "new" founder, the man who tried to bring our nation back to limited government, federalism, and governmental accountability. It is a disgrace to his efforts and his memory that the Reagan Revolution was so short-lived and that those who claim to follow his precepts (which are merely a return to originalist precepts) are hypocrites.

"Our natural, inalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation from government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment."
-- Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) 40th US President

Better bloggers have spoken of the week's events, of the government's foolish actions bailing out risky bankers. We are enduring a change of titanic proportions, a coup d'etat by these buffoons we call our "leaders." It is obvious that we are being sold into slavery, and nary a finger is lifted. Very sad.

FFQF hosted by H. Mulligan at Meet the Founders blog

Intolerance U

Saw the link to this great video at Hamilton College Alumni for Governance Reform. It's called "Intolerance U" and is a trailer for a documentary film that exposes the true agenda behind the liberalized, radicalized universities and colleges across America. As one guy in the video stated, "They're quite ruthless about their desire for a kinder and gentler world."

The point is well made. The terms and definitions have changed, sneakily, while no one was watching. "Harrassment" now constitutes "being offended," and the first amendment has somehow been twisted to say that liberals have the right not to be offended. This is exactly what our founders warned us of when they built for us this free republic. The threat of licentiousness and the casting off of restraint would bring our liberty to its knees faster than any army invading our borders. This documentary looks great, another in a chain of expose films being produced.

Do you smell that? That's the smell of a breath of fresh air, cleansing the musty halls of stuffy intolerance and poltical correctness. Take it in!

The WarMonger's Toolbox

Guest post: Theophobe

Need to start a war? With just these 2 tools, you've got everything you'll ever need!

  Remember fights on the playground when you were a kid? Usually, it was 2 boys going at each other, a crowd forming, and then a teacher coming over to break things up and saying something like, "Okay, okay! What's going on here? Which one of you started this?" Without fail, they would both proclaim, "He hit me first!" And then the crowd would start voicing who they thought started it. Somehow those boys and that crowd knew that whoever had started the fight was in the wrong. But if you were the one who had to fight back, you were justified; it was self-defense.

  And it's the same way for groups of people too, whether street gangs or sovereign nations. If you hit us, or one of us first, then we have the right to strike you back. And the crowd would agree: the one who started it was wrong, and the one striking back was justified.

  Enter the 'False Flag Operation': Tool #1 in the Warmonger's Toolbox. Born somewhere in the history of war, I suspect this tactic has been used regularly throughout the centuries, despite it's being relatively unheard of by the general public. Here's a hypothetical illustration of it: Imagine, in the time of America's revolution, a naval vessel manned by sailors in red coats and flying a Union Jack entering into an American harbor and firing it's cannons at the shore. Now, imagine that the men on that vessel are actually Americans - Americans dressed as British sailors in order to deceive their countryman into believing the Brits have started a fight with them. Voila! The False Flag (the Union Jack in this example) Operation! For actual FFO's, research The Maine (Spanish-American War), and the Gulf of Tonkin Incident (Korean War).

Or imagine during the time of America's westward expansion, 'Indian' attacks being staged against settlers. Or in the present time, missiles coming from inside Iran, though not launched by Iranians, hitting population centers in Israel. (An actual flag is not always necessary). The whole idea behind the deception is to gain justification for 'striking back', while in fact the supposed enemy has done nothing, and all that has truly happened is a self-inflicted wound. Note the need to convince everyone that there's a moral justification, and yet using deception to achieve that goal. Note the willingness to inflict harm on one's own neighbors. The consciences of the people who perpetrate these operations, I assure you, don't rest easily. It all sounds pretty nasty, eh? But then, war is a pretty nasty business, isn't it? 

Enter Tool #2 in the Warmonger's Toolbox: The Pre-Emptive Strike.

A Slap on the Fanny Mae

I haven't said much about the latest federal government takeover, that of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest home mortgage corporations in the United States. I merely sighed. Isn't this all somewhat expected? The government has been hankering to bag up as many public corporations as it can. I shake my head and wonder how much more we Americans will tolerate. I think Nelson Schwartz at the International Herald Tribune said it best: 

Mortgage crisis has Washington putting aside free-market ideology

Despite decades of free-market rhetoric from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, Washington has a long history of providing financial help to the private sector when the economic or political risk of a corporate collapse appeared too high.

The effort to save Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is only the latest in a series of financial maneuvers by the government that stretch back to the rescue of the military contractor Lockheed Aircraft and the Penn Central Railroad under President Richard Nixon, the shoring up of Chrysler in the waning days of the Carter administration and the salvage of the U.S. savings and loan system in the late 1980s.

More recently, after airplanes were grounded because of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Congress approved $15 billion in subsidies and loan guarantees to the faltering airlines.

How can their be any doubt in our minds that our country is chugging full-steam ahead toward a socialst/fascist type of government? Remember how it was so popular six years ago to mock the French and rename our French fries to "Freedom Fries"? Yet we are embracing the French form of government-- yea, may even surpass it in ineptitude and tyranny-- without a cry of protest. How can people be so concerned about their French fries and not of the government takeovers of more and more of our corporations?

"If anybody thought we had a pure free-market financial system, they should think again," said Robert Bruner, dean of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

It's time to stop deluding ourselves. America is no longer a free country, we are ruled by bureaucrats and fascists. And that's the awful truth.

FFQF: Liberty, George Mason

This is taken from the debates during Virginia's ratifying convention in 1788. George Mason, a brilliant thinker and statesman, had this to say regarding the modus operandus of Britain (or any tyrant):

"[W]hen the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man, who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia."

As always, I shall let the seriousness and insightfulness of this founder stand of itself. Definitely food for thought.

A More Positive Outlook

Having a difficult day? Discouraged and depressed about the nosedive in character, intelligence, and integrity among our politicians? Let's do something about it!

How to Start Each Day With a Positive Outlook

1. Open a new file in your computer.

2. Name it ‘Barack Obama’.

3. Send it to the Recycle Bin.

4. Empty the Recycle Bin.

5. Your PC will ask you: ‘Do you really want to get rid of ‘Barack Obama’?

6. Firmly Click ‘Yes.’

7. Repeat, using the file name ‘John McCain’.

8. Feel Better?

GOOD! - Tomorrow we’ll do Nancy Pelosi!

From Pat Buchanan's blog. Thank you, Mr. Mulligan, for sending me this. I feel so much better now.

FFQF: Liberty's Fighting Chance

"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States." Noah Webster

Abort, Palin, Abort!

McCain's VP pick, Sarah Palin, recently admitted that her unmarried 17-year old daughter is expecting a child. As disgraceful as this is, the liberal wolves are having a bloodbath about it. Some idiots even speculated that Sarah Palin's youngest child was actually her grandchild, and Palin had claimed the kid to be her own to protect her teen daughter.

Here's the nity gritty:

1. These are the same liberal kooks who shrugged their shoulders about Clinton's rabid adulteries and rumors of rape. "It's only sex," they clucked. Unbelievable. NOTHING pleases these kooks-- unless perhaps young Miss Palin gets an abortion? Oh yes-- Miss Palin, wait until you are eight months pregnant, then go get one of those "partial birth" abortions where the doctor stabs the baby's brains with scissors, sucks out those brains with a vacuum, and rips out the carcass. Palin, you just might have the way to please those liberals yet!

2. I don't understand why suddenly "conservatives" are "pleased as punch" over McCain's tepid choice. It's the position of VICE-PRESIDENT, perhaps the worst and least powerful public office known to mankind. I just do not see how this makes McCain more palatable.