IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

And the signers:

Georgia: Button Gwinnett Lyman Hall George Walton
North Carolina: William Hooper Joseph Hewes John Penn
South Carolina: Edward Rutledge Thomas Heyward, Jr. Thomas Lynch, Jr. Arthur Middleton
Massachusetts: John Hancock
Maryland: Samuel Chase William Paca Thomas Stone Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia: George Wythe Richard Henry Lee Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Harrison Thomas Nelson, Jr. Francis Lightfoot Lee Carter Braxton
Pennsylvania: Robert Morris Benjamin Rush Benjamin Franklin John Morton George Clymer James Smith George Taylor James Wilson George Ross
Delaware: Caesar Rodney George Read Thomas McKean
New York: William Floyd Philip Livingston Francis Lewis Lewis Morris
New Jersey: Richard Stockton John Witherspoon Francis Hopkinson John Hart Abraham Clark
New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett William Whipple
Massachusetts: Samuel Adams John Adams Robert Treat Paine Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins William Ellery
Connecticut: Roger Sherman Samuel Huntington William Williams Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire: Matthew Thornton

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Time, Inc. is a bunch of weasels, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Saw this over at Texas Fred’s place and thought I would share it with you. He got it from a neighbor and fellow gun-owner, and wanted to pass it on to all of us:

The purpose of fighting is to win.
There is no possible victory in defense.
The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important than either.
The final weapon is the brain.
All else is supplemental.

1. Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.
2. If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
3. I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.
4. When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away.
5. A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him “Why do you carry a 45?”
The Ranger responded, “Because they don’t make a 46.”
6. An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity.
7. The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm. “Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?”
“No Ma’am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my rifle.”
8. Beware the man who only has one gun. HE PROBABLY KNOWS HOW TO USE IT!!!

But wait, there’s more!

I was once asked by a lady visiting if I had a gun in the house. I said I did.

She said “Well I certainly hope it isn’t loaded!”

To which I said, “Of course it is loaded, can’t work without bullets!”

She then asked, “Are you that afraid of some one evil coming into your house?”

My reply was, “No, not at all. I am not afraid of the house catching fire either, but I have fire extinguishers around, and they are all loaded too.”

To which I’ll add, having a gun in the house that isn’t loaded is like having a car in the garage without gas in the tank.

I’m a firm believer of the 2nd Amendment! If you are too, please pass this around.

Remember – never advertise how well armed you are, or how well trained your dogs are. Let it be a surprise.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Time, Inc. is a bunch of weasels, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

If you are a Marine, please take the time to read and comment. If you are not a Marine, then it’s up to you whether you read this or not. The issue was brought to my attention by Akinoluna. She blogged about the trend of the term “Devil Dog” to be looked on as a curse more than a point of pride.

Personally, I find this trend disturbing. I am very proud of the nickname “Devil Dog” and find it odd that the younger Marines of today would be bothered by it. However, I will take to task those of higher rank that use it only when getting ready to issue a correction or reprimand – of course it would become associated with bad behavior. The idea behind using it, as stated in the article:

“I think the backlash against ‘Devil Dog’ does begin with the leadership. [Noncommissioned officers] (myself included) use the following phrase, ‘HEY, DEVIL DOG!’ to initiate a ‘correction’ when we don’t know exactly who the Marine may be. Thusly, hearing the phrase Devil Dog creates a negative Pavlovian response in Marines. As they come up in the Corps, the response stays,” one Marine wrote.

(emphasis mine) (yes, I know the article appeared back in April. sue me.)

Now, when I was serving, if you didn’t know who the Marine was, you would use the term “Marine” to get their attention. “Devil Dog” was reserved for when you knew who were motivating – and it was used as motivation: “Come on, you Devil Dogs! Let’s take that hill!”

Corrections or reprimands would start out with you, the corrector or reprimandor, spotting a goldbricker slouching across the parade deck (for example) and hollering out, “Hey, MARINE!” This would get their attention and allow you to quickly determine the rank of the offender.

You would then issue the correction based on their rank: if the Marine in question was of lower rank, then “boot” or “maggot” was used to get your point across: “Hey, maggot – quit dragging your heels whilst strolling across my parade deck – step to smartly, and make it look like you know where you’re going!”

If the Marine was of the same rank, then a more comradely term would be used: “You know, corporal, by dragging your heels while walking across the parade deck some boot might think that was the way to do it. Let’s try stepping a little more lively to impress the newbies.”

If the Marine was of higher rank, then a whole new attitude would have to surround the conversation: “Good morning, Second Lieutenant Wetbehindtheears, here on the hallowed grounds of the Third Battalion, we have a tradition of either circumventing the parade deck or stepping off in a smart manner in order to impart the respect we have for those who have passed before.”

Using “Devil Dog” as a jumping-off point for corrections is setting a bad example – and chewing up the traditions of the Corps. Shame on the Marine who helps tear this fabric. Let’s show some respect for those who HAVE passed before!

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

I had to borrow the wording for the title of this piece from my good friend Gawfer.

I was curious about a certain candidate’s constant chant of “hope” and thought I would look it up to see if that might give me a clue as to what he was talking about, since the candidate in question (*coughobamacough*) is kinda light on the details about the “hope” he has.

So, let’s go to Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (I’ve always liked it, although since the revisionists have gotten hold of it there seems to be some changes that don’t jive with me):

Hope
Hope\, n.

1. A desire of some good, accompanied with an expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable; an expectation of something which is thought to be desirable; confidence; pleasing expectancy.

2. One who, or that which, gives hope, furnishes ground of expectation, or promises desired good.

3. That which is hoped for; an object of hope.

So, “hope” is a wish or desire for something, accompanied by expectation of its fulfillment.

Therein lies the problem.

This campaign is not about race, no matter how much the supporters of a particular candidate want to make it so. This campaign is not about age, no matter how much the supporters of the same candidate want to make it so. It’s not even about experience, no matter how much the supporters of either candidate do or do not want to make it so.

It is about perception. The perception of what is expected. With the RepubliCAN’Ts offering, the voters know that they cannot “hope” to see anything different, so the voters will be getting what they see (and, in a way, deserve, since they allowed the MSM to guide their voting in the primaries – but that’s another topic). With the DemocRAT’s offering, their supporters are claiming that their candidate offers “hope” but cannot express what exactly is being “hope”d for.

The demographics of the supporters of the candidate with “hope” would indicate that since they have a shorter attention span, they don’t stick around to find out what the “hope” is for, so they cannot possibly be expected to be able to tell you what the “hope” is for. On the other hand, those of us with more *ahem* experience in life have the second part in the forefront of our mind when we hear “hope” – that is, we have an expectation of its fulfillment, and we don’t see that forthcoming based on the “hope”ful candidate’s track record.

Thursday, I may take a look at the “change” part of the equation.

Or not.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Hard to believe that it’s been that long, and so much has changed.

I started out blogging on Blogspot just to put my family history in electronic form – that project is still in the works, as evidenced by the lack of progress behind the tab marked “The Wisconsin Cartters” at the top of this page.

Then I started a personal blog to take my rants off the family page. That led me to meet a wonderful bunch of people – most of them still hanging out on my blogroll, some of them having signed off, one or two having shed this mortal coil – but all of them worth reading and chatting with when I get the chance. Oh, sure – like any family, there are going to be instances where some members of my blog-family aren’t going to be getting along with other members, and that’s fine, we’re all human, and if we all got along all the time it would be downright boring.

I started out with two blogs, and ended up with this one when I merged them in April of 2008. Having my own domain and full control over the blog is a comfort to me, being the semi-control freak that I am, and I have to thank Texas Fred and Robert for their help with getting this site set up.

I don’t remember who the first batch of contacts I made was, perhaps the gang over at The Notebored, a writer’s workshop headed up by Dee and her wonderful circle of fellow writers. I tried my hand at some writing projects over there, but there was something – I don’t know, missing? – and I just never really fully clicked. They are very welcoming there on The Notebored, but I don’t think I was ready for primetime. I do know that once I ran into Gawfer I ran into the best bunch of people I could call friends and a great variety of “conservatives” – from absolute white hat to situational conservatives, you can find a bunch of them on the blogroll now. Like I said, we don’t all get along all of the time, but we always have a great conversation.

I found Bill Whittle, a former liberal who started reading and thinking for himself (proof, by the way, that it can happen) and then using his talents as a writer to put our thoughts to “paper” and let us all read it and realize that “Yes, by thunder, that is EXACTLY what I was trying to say!” I still read him, when he publishes in between his super-glam life on the west coast and the movie deals and the screenplays… In fact, one of my personal favorite entries for I’m Thinking of the “O” Word was inspired greatly by Bill’s writing; specifically, my entry titled The Sheep, The Sheepdogs, and the Wolves was written after I had read his entry titled Tribes. I think it’s still relevant.

My wife, whom I refer to as TMBWitW, gave birth to our child, MEG, on December 30, 2006. I ran a babypool of sorts, and Paul at prying1 came in second while Just John (who, at the time, was going by Gunny John) came the closest in guessing the day and time for the momentous occasion. MEG is growing and running around and keeping the dogs on their toes now – the cats are not sure what to make of this little rosy-cheeked beauty that wants to pet them all…

And then in January of 2007 I read this entry on Jenn’s blog, and it just didn’t sit right with me. I started my campaign. Without funding. Trying to get a groundswell of support and momentum for a run at the White House. Trying, and failing. My feelings haven’t changed, especially now that we are guaranteed a liberal in the Oval Office, and I am seeing more and more signs of a revolution brewing to take this country back into the conservative hands of We The People. I do, however, plan to take another run at it in 2012, when the people of this country should be good and fed up with the liberal actions of the president and want to get back to being a sovereign country with absolute borders and absolute laws.

Now I have a BlogTalkRadio show called, appropriately enough, The O Word. Be sure to tune in on Friday mornings at 0700 Mountain Standard Time.

One thing about having a blog, and meeting (on line, of course, except in rare instances where you actually get to meet the fine people you blog with in person) other blog-owners – you will never run out of people to meet, and people who you want to link to, and people who may want to link back to you. Of course, having all these links is one thing, but being able to keep the connection going is another. I don’t always get to read all my links every day, but I sure try to stop in at least once a week or so.

Most recently, I was asked to join the gang over at Reject the UN and help spread that word. I don’t know how often I will be able to contribute, but I will be doing what I can when I can.

One thing that hasn’t wavered since I’ve discovered it: Wear Red on Fridays. I’ve got some way cool shirts that help spread the word, and I know that when service members see my red shirt they know they are being supported, prayed for, worried about, and generally appreciated for what they are doing.

A lot has changed in three years. I am so happy to have met all of you, and hope that you feel the same about me. We may not see eye to eye, but unless you break my commenting rules and totally disregard common courtesy, you will be welcome here. I know that there are a lot more people out there who deserve to be mentioned, and I will, on this Friday’s show. I’m sorry if I didn’t specifically mention you, but know that I think of each one of you often. Either to wonder what you are up to, or why you haven’t written anything lately, or to berate myself for not getting over to your site and leaving a comment. Tell you what – would you do me a favor, and just click on the “All Blogrolls Here” tab up there, and read through everyone who is making a difference in the blogosphere? Stop in and tell them I said hi, and I’ll be by later to chat.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!