HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

There are many things to be thankful for. Most of all, the precious life we share with all living creatures on this Earth. So, be safe out there, everyone.

Enjoy the day.

--Joe

Tasers and Excessive Force

The Report has discussed Taser use in the past. We firmly believe that Eureka City Police use of Tasers does NOT serve to protect the best interest of the community or its citizens. When will the EPD arm and certify use of the new Taser gun -- called the Shockwave -- a powerful crowd-control weapon?

"With the push of a button at a stand-off distance of up to 100 meters, the Shockwave unit deploys multiple standard TASER® cartridges that are oriented across an area arc. Full area coverage is provided to instantaneously incapacitate multiple personnel within that region."

Tasers Are the New Killers: Watch Their Popularity Surge!

As Taser use proliferates and deaths grow, lack of police accountability becomes a serious problem. Continuing to argue that Taser's are safe is:

... allowing Tasers to occupy a gray area -- not lethal except when they are -- will make it that much harder for police to be held accountable for excessive force and homicide. Cops already get away with shooting suspects dead with little to no consequences. Arming them with Tasers under the pretense that they are safe will only perpetuate this trend as inevitable deaths occur.

Like "pre-emptive" arrests, the 50,000-volt Tasers that London police are carrying as they stand off with G20 protesters this week may be seen as a necessary precaution. But the past several years have shown the slippery slope governments create in the name of security.

This issue seems most appropriate for Humboldt County with its sordid history of impunity and lack of accoutability as Taser use emphasizes police safety rather than that public safety. Because Taser's are proven lethal, this community needs to know every time a Taser is used by the Eureka Police Department or any other agency and why. That report needs to be published by the local news media.

Since Taser use is about intimidation and forced submission, actually torturing "suspects" into agreeing that the police have the right to arrest them, police safety and simple logic suggests people just might be a little more cooperative with police officers:

- "while also suggesting that suspects are less likely to resist police officers for fear of being tasered to death. "People now recognize that the Taser is painful and that Taser -- maybe they're thinking -- may kill me, and they're co-operating too"

If city, county and state governments are putting public safety first, then put out Taser usage so that we know what we're dealing with the next time a police officer decides to have a talk with one us.

You can read the complete discussion here.

Addendum :: Why torture is legal in America today:

America, due to Bush/Cheney policy, has added torture to our standard operating procedure, even if it is now held in abeyance by the Obama administration. That morally reprehensible act, while now out of favor, is essentially legal and Constitutional because no Congressional objection has been made and no one has been held accountable.

[Source of quote]

--Joe

Joe's Gems

What was it the ancient Master said? "Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these [other] things will be added to you. So, never be anxious about the next day, for the next day will have its own anxieties. Sufficient for each day is its own evil."

We offer some more precious jewels to soothe the soul. Remember, if we don't happen to answer your question . . .

1. An answer brings no illumination unless one asks the right question.
2. Have the wisdom to abandon the values of a time that has passed and pick out the constituents of the future.
3. The truth that links the divine to the mundane is incomprehensible to the cerebral intelligence.
4. Experience is a journey, not a destination.
5. The bad master makes the seeker into a slave.
6. A man's heart holds his own truth.
7. Ignorance is the temple of the presumptuous.
8. All seeds answer light, but the color is different.
9. Experience will show you. A master will only point the way.
10. If you search for the laws of harmony, you will find knowledge.
11. Images are nearer reality than cold definitions.
12. Never believe a word without putting its truth to the test.
13. A pupil shows by his own effort how much he deserves to learn.
14. The key to all problems is the problem of consciousness.
15. Organization is impossible unless those who know the laws of harmony lay the foundation.
16. Exuberance brings action, but the inner light grows in silence and concentration.
17. Discernment of truth does not grow in lazy minds.
    
18. Altruism is the mark of a superior being.

Altruism:

1. the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others (opposed to egoism ).

Egoism:

1. the habit of valuing everything only in reference to one's personal interest; selfishness
2. egotism or conceit.
3. Ethics. the view that morality ultimately rests on self-interest.

---

--Joe

The Roots of War

Mr. Bronner lays out a very revealing commentary about the disparaging ways of thinking that justifies Zionist Israel's right to exist and defend that existence in any way they so choose. Mr. Bronner and The Joe Blow Report share a common reality; life's experiences speak to the truth. Judgmental, worthless opinions expounded as false, lying accusations used to establish one's illegitimate right to exist by controlling, compromising and occupying their neighbor's space, can only produce war. Mr. Bronner defines these "roots" this way: "...because their belief in their own view is so overpowering that anything that contradicts it becomes a minor detail."

---

Gaza Notebook - Bullets in my In-Box
By ETHAN BRONNER
Published: January 24, 2009 by the New York Times

GAZA — Faisal Husseini, a Palestinian leader who died at the start of this decade, used to tell a story about his first visit to Israel. The 1967 war had just ended, borders were suddenly opened and he took a drive to Tel Aviv, where at some point he found himself detained by an Israeli policeman. Questions and answers ensued. At one point the policeman said to him, “As a proud Zionist, I must tell you ....” At which Mr. Husseini burst out laughing.

What’s so funny? the policeman asked. “I have never in my life,” Mr. Husseini replied, “heard anyone refer to Zionism with anything but contempt. I had no idea you could be a proud Zionist.”

I have written about the Arab-Israeli conflict on and off for more than a quarter-century and have spent the past four weeks covering Israel’s war in Gaza. For me, Mr. Husseini’s story sums up how the two sides speak in two distinct tongues, how the very words they use mean opposite things to each other, and how the war of language can confound a reporter’s attempts to narrate — or a new president’s attempts to mediate — this conflict in a way both sides can accept as fair.

Among Israel’s Jews, there is almost no higher value than Zionism. The word is bathed in a celestial glow, suggesting selflessness and nobility. But go anywhere else in the Middle East and Zionism stands for theft, oppression, racist exclusionism.

No place, date or event in this conflicted land is spoken of in a common language. The barrier snaking across and inside the West Bank is a wall to Palestinians, a fence to Israelis. The holiest site in Jerusalem is the Temple Mount to Jews, the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims. The 1948 conflict that created Israel is one side’s War of Independence, the Catastrophe for the other.

After Israel’s three-week air, sea and land assault in Gaza, aimed at halting Hamas rocket fire, it is worth pausing to note how difficult it has been to narrate this war in a fashion others view as neutral, and to contemplate what that means for any attempt by the new Obama administration to try to end it.

It turns out that both narration and mediation require common ground. But trying to tell the story so that both sides can hear it in the same way feels more and more to me like a Greek tragedy in which I play the despised chorus. It feels like I am only fanning the flames, adding to the misunderstandings and mutual antagonism with every word I write because the fervent inner voice of each side is so loud that it drowns everything else out.

George Mitchell, the former Senate majority leader who is Mr. Obama’s new special envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, could find something similar when he arrives here.

Even though an understanding crystallized a decade ago over the outline of an eventual solution here — Israel returning essentially to its 1967 borders and a Palestinian state forming in the West Bank and Gaza — the two sides’ narratives have actually hardened since attempts to reach a peace foundered.

So Mr. Mitchell, who once led a commission tasked with finding a solution to the conflict, will begin this latest effort grappling with two separate wars fought here, based on two very different sets of assumptions.

Opponents of Israel feel the Gaza fighting has demonstrated (again) everything they have always believed — that Israel is a kind of Sparta that dehumanizes the Palestinians and will do anything to prevent their dignified self-determination. The ways in which Israel attacked — the overwhelming force, the racist graffiti left on walls — are what one has come to expect of that state, they say; those Hamas rockets were no challenge to the Israeli military behemoth, and, after all, who could blame the resistance fighters for launching them to protest the blockade and everything else about Israel’s longstanding occupation?

Those for whom Israel is the victim and never the aggressor likewise saw in this war a reaffirmation of their beliefs — that Hamas, an Islamist terror group, hides its fighters behind women and children; that Israel’s army was an exemplar of restraint and respect, holding its fire when civilians were in sight, allowing tons of humanitarian aid in even while at war (what other army would be so decent?).

Abroad, people care deeply about this conflict. That should make it easier for a reporter to cover, because the actors and place names and history are familiar. But it turns out that like the actors themselves, the audiences have utterly distinct and contrasting sets of assumptions. Every time I fail to tell the story each side tells itself, I have failed in its eyes to do my job. That adds up to a lot of failure.

What’s more, the competing war narratives are part of a larger narrative disconnect.

One side says that after thousands of years of oppression, the Jewish nation has returned to its rightful home. It came in peace and offered its hand to its neighbors numerous times only to be met with a sword. Opposition to Israel, this side argues, stems from Muslim intolerance, nationalist fervor and rank anti-Semitism, all fed by envy at the young state’s success. Every time I write an article about the conflict that does not mirror this story line — if, for example, I focus on Palestinian suffering or alleged Israeli misdeeds or quote a human rights group like Amnesty International — I have proven myself to be a secret sharer with the views of the enemy.

As one recent complainer wrote, “To read your paper, all the questions and criticism are directed at Israel, and it is all based on a collection of anti-Semitic organizations masquerading as humanitarians.”

The other side tells a different story: There is no Jewish nation, only followers of a religion. A group of European colonialists came here, stole and pillaged, throwing hundreds of thousands off their land and destroying their villages and homes. A country born in sin, Israel has built up an aggressive military with help from Washington in the grips of a powerful Jewish lobby.

Every time I fail to allude to that story — when, for example, I examine Israel’s goals in its Gaza war without implicitly condemning it as a massacre, or write about Israel in ways that do not call into question its legitimacy — I have revealed my affiliation and can no longer be trusted as a reporter.

Since the war started on Dec. 27, I have received hundreds of messages about my coverage. They are generally not offering congratulations on a job well done.

“Thanks to you and other scum like yourself,” said one, “Israel can now kill hundreds and you can report the whole thing like it was some random train wreck.”

“Bronner ,” said another, “you’re back to your usual drivel about only the poor filthy Arabs — who voted for the Hamas people who got them into this predicament — with incessant indiscriminate rocket fire on innocent Israelis.”

There are also blogs and chat sites on both sides that spend time accusing all the journalists here of having agendas because our articles mention facts or trends that they consider a diversion from the real story.

Because Israel barred foreign journalists from entering Gaza until the war ended, The New York Times relied on my Palestinian colleague here, Taghreed el-Khodary, for on-the-ground coverage of the fighting.

We would speak several times a day as she cautiously went out. Her first stop was usually Shifa Hospital to get a sense of civilian casualties. Early in the war, at the hospital, she witnessed the murder of an alleged Israeli collaborator by Hamas gunmen. They shot him in the skull more or less in front of her. One of the gunmen told Taghreed that she should never mention what she saw to anyone. She told him there was not a chance she would stay silent, then made some calls to find out about other such events and sent me the information, which we published the next day.

A couple of Arab bloggers went after Taghreed with the worst insult they could come up with — Zionist. She was a Palestinian Uncle Tom doing the bidding of her white-man bosses at a newspaper that, as one reader said in an e-mail message, “is fully complicit in the atrocities that Israel commits against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. You make it sound guiltless and reasonable. That’s your assignment.”

At the same time, Israeli officials and their backers declared that keeping reporters out of Gaza was the right move because no independent journalism could possibly occur in an area run by Hamas, which controls every utterance here. Have any of these people ever read Taghreed’s work? Or any of our work out of here?

Many have but it doesn’t matter because their belief in their own view is so overpowering that anything that contradicts it becomes a minor detail. As another reader put it, “Basically, you are aiding terrorists and causing the increase in bloodshed while telling one-sided stories, totally ignoring the whole picture.”

He did say one thing I agree with: “You should not be a reporter if you are not telling the whole story, not just the parts that sell.”

I would offer a mediator the same advice.

A Serious Gem From Israel on Manhood

Is this the picture of real manhood?

---

Israel accused of using illegal white phosphorus shells in Gaza

By Damien McElroy in Jerusalem
Jan. 11, 2009

White phosphorus is an incendiary material that causes severe burns when it comes in contact with human skin and its use in conflict zones is restricted inside civilian areas. Syria called on the UN to investigate the claim.

Human Rights Watch said its researchers witnessed the use of the materiel on Saturday and Sunday in Gaza City and Jabalia refugee camps, both built-up areas.

The Israeli military, which refuses to comment on the types of munitions it is using in the conflict, rejected the accusations. "There is no use of white phosphorus," a spokeswoman said. "Everything we use is according to international law," Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch said: "Israel should not use it in Gaza's densely populated areas."

source: Telegraph UK

Manhood I learned from my father:

My father, a World War Two combat veteran fighting in Europe, told this story to my brother and me one day when we were just teenagers. He never talked about his experiences, with the rare exception of when he was talking to fellow combat veterans. That is when my brother and I would sneak in and listen. Occasionally, as we grew older he would talk to us about the atrocities of war. He never got real specific, but he always got his point across.

This time he was talking about the day he and his platoon were nearly destroyed. He said that everyone carried, as standard gear, two grenades hanging from their suspenders on their chests. One was a fragmentation grenade the other a phosphorus grenade. He said the phosphorus grenade was the most lethal because it would burn through anything; it would not stop burning until it was burned out. Well, this day they were on the march and the guy walking right next to him, my Dad said collapsed later from "battle fatigue" - he said the last time he "saw him he was sitting beside the road bawling like a babe." My Dad said he happened to look and see that the pin that hold the trigger to the phosphorus grenade was hanging only by a thread. He said he was able to grab the grenade and get the pin put fully back in place. He said when the platoon realized what was going on they all ran like hell; screw the Germans, they'd take their chances.

My father was rather vague when we asked him what they used those grenades on. However, he did mention an occasion when he and another soldier were searching a home when they heard a noise from the basement. My father said all the houses had basements, with internal doors and and stairs leading down into the basement. He said those basements were always black as pitch and they never ventured down into them. He said the German people would hide there to get away from the bombardment coming in before the American soldiers moved in to search the towns building by building. The problem, he said, was that you never knew if it was civilians or German soldiers hiding down there, or both. He said his partner hollered down the stairwell in both English and German for whoever was down there to come out. When nothing happened, the customary response was to toss in a grenade and move on. This time my father noticed that his partner had pulled the pin on a phosphorus grenade and was about to toss it into the basement when all of a sudden people began to come pouring up the stairs. He said the basement was full of dozens of old men, women and children. He said he can still see the look in their eyes and shakes in his boots every time he thinks about how close they came to incinerating all those poor people.

Real men, men whose manhood is secure, do not wage war on the innocent civilian population with impunity even if there might be an enemy soldier hiding among them amid their family and friends.

DISCLAIMER:
It has come to our attention that some are accusing The Joe Blow Report of being anti-Jew and anti-Semantic. These people carry their own load or responsibility for what they do and do not do. Making observations of their attitudes, actions, behavior and conduct does not speak to the writer's, in this case Joe Blow, motivations or intentions. The facts speak for themselves!

Joe Blow is constantly addressing and exemplifying the works, writings and heroic works of Jewish people. Not all people in Israel or Jews around the world are cowardly war-mongers. Right now the majority are and their crimes are before the world.

If it is wrong to say anything negative, regardless the obvious truth, about a Jew or Israeli, their government or religions without being branded a racist then it is wrong to say anything negative about the Palestinians, Arabs, or their religions. Those that live by the double-standard, because they presume to be unique among mankind, shall also die by it.

An ancient Jewish Bible scholar wrote about the "lawless" people when he said: "So that is why God lets an operation of error go to them, that they may get to believing the lie, in order that they all may be judged because they did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness." The truth is revealed when they are judged because they act in harmony with their beliefs or opinions that are lies. Assaulting the messenger never changes the truth.

--Joe

More Gems

Some of my favorites are,

1. Ignorance is the temple of the presumptuous. [*]


2. The bad master makes the seeker into a slave.


3. There are two kinds of error: Blind credulity and piecemeal criticism. [*]


4. Envious greed must govern to possess and ambition must possess to govern.


5. Know yourself... Your beginning will disclose your end.


6. The gift of knowledge is so great that no effort whatsoever could hope to 'deserve' it.


7. In every vital activity it is the path that matters. [*]


8. What you are doing does not matter so much as what you are learning from doing it.


9. Your body is the temple of knowledge.


10. The first step to knowing wisdom is knowing your ignorance [*]


11. All organs work together in the functioning of the whole.


12. Images are nearer reality than cold definitions.


13. A house has the character of the people who live in it. [*]


14. Leave him in error who loves his error. [*]

ADDENDUM :: Thursday, January 8, 2009

Some good words on Light and Darkness I took the liberty to copy here:

There is an ancient Chinese saying “It is easy to give sinister words, but hard to utter good phrases”. In other words, human beings have tendency to criticize, condemn, and judge. Yet it takes great understanding and big heart to console, encourage, and build up.

Why our human nature has this tendency to blame others, and not ourselves? It’s because we are all prone to the self-righteous attitude. Then, why this direction and not the other way around? I’ve been pondering over this question for a long time now, and I believe the explanation can only be found from theological point of view.

There are two forces exist in and beyond this universe. Force of Light and force of darkness. The force of Light creates, nurtures, fosters, encourages, and gives meaning to otherwise mundane existence. The force of darkness destroys, depresses, demolishes, defeats, and judges. Similar notion was vividly illustrated in C.S. Lewis’s book.

Seek and walk in the Light. Everyday let’s put a smile on a child’s face, cheer up a grieving heart, and console a languishing soul.

--Joe

Simple Truths beyond Pearls

On this day of Christmas, the birthday of Jesus, some say the founder of Christianity, said: 

“Do not give what is holy to dogs, neither throw your pearls before swine, that they may never trample them under their feet and turn around and rip you open.” 

Joe offers these words to all serious bloggers and commentators of integrity that are constantly pilloried by the disingenuous, stupid, moronic and inane commentator that hopes to express his/her profound opinionated ignorance. Take solice that not all are of their ilk. These simple truths make a great response, so use them with Joe's blessings.

Pearls of Wisdom? 

1. Peace is the fruit of activity, not of sleep.
2. No discussion can throw light if it wanders from the real point.
3. To teach, one must know the nature of those whom one is teaching.
4. It is an essential thing to have a fixed point from which to check reality now and then.
5. Not the greatest master can go even one step for his disciple.
6. An answer brings no illumination unless one asks the right question.
7. You will be free when you follow your heart without perturbance.
8. Paradise is within us all, and whosoever shall know himself shall find it.
9. Experience is a journey, not a destination.
10. Every man must act in the rhythm of his time...  such is wisdom
11. Discernment of truth does not grow in empty minds.
12. Always look for a fixed point, something you know is stable  ...yourself.
13. True teaching is not an accumulation of knowledge, it is an awakening of consciousness.
14. Growth doesn't depend upon the will of the intellect, but on the intensity of the inner urge.
15. Listen to your convictions even if they seem to absurd to your reason.
16. Our senses serve to affirm, not to know.
17. Knowledge is consciousness of reality, and reality the laws that govern nature.
18. The only active force that arises out of possession is fear of losing the object of possession.
19. The nut doesn't reveal the tree it contains.
20. Seek peacefully, you will find.
21. Understanding develops by degrees.
22. We mustn't confuse mastery with mimicry, knowledge with superstitious ignorance.
23. If you would build something solid, don't work with wind.
24. Routine distorts vision...  Each man thinks his own horizon is the limit of the world.
25. All thought comes from within, but the Master gives the keys.
26. Experience will show you, a Master can only point the way.
27. By knowing one reaches belief. By doing one gains conviction. When you know, dare.
28. A Master does not teach, but guides the seeker back on course when they stray.
29. Knowledge is not necessarily wisdom.
30. The seed cannot sprout upwards without simultaneously sending roots into the ground.
31. The key to all problems is the problem of consciousness.
32. The truth that links the divine to the mundane is incomprehensible to the cerebral intellegence.
33. Every man is rich in excuses to safeguard his prejudices, his instincts, and his opinions.
34. A seed can't reach its potential without receiving corresponding energies from the sky.
35. Popular beliefs must be examined in order to discover the original thought.
36. Each truth you learn will be, for you, as new if it had never been written.
37. Grain must return to the earth for new growth to begin.

More pearls?

Pearls? No. The pearls are those insightful people that can understand and apply the meaning of these self-evident truths in their daily reality. They are a rare, enlightened being in this dark-age world. They know that everything is about something different.

--Joe

More Light - Less Pearls

Wise words come in many sizes, shapes and forms. Here are some more "Simple Truths." Enjoy!

1. If you defy an enemy by doubting his courage, you double it.
2. The body is the shrine of divinity.
3. Know the world in yourself, never look for yourself in the world.
4. Understanding develops by degrees.
5. There grows no wheat where there is no grain.
6. The seed includes all the possibilities of the tree.
7. All is within yourself, know your most inward self and seek its equal in nature.
8. The way of knowledge is narrow.
9. A pupil shows by his own effort how much he deserves to learn.
10. Each truth you learn will be for you, as new as if it had never been written.
11. Never believe a word without putting its truth to the test.
12. Images are nearer reality than cold definitions.
13. Lead your neighbor to truth for they may one day lead you.
14. It is no use whatsoever preaching wisdom to men: You must inject it into their blood.
15. One foot isn't enough to walk with.
16. Knowledge is consciousness of reality, and reality the laws that govern nature.
17. For every joy there is a price to be paid.
18. The gift of knowledge is so great that no effort whatsoever could hope to deserve it.
    
19. Everyone finds himself in the world where he belongs.
20. An environment must be suited to the age and men to their environment.
21. Physical consciousness is indispensable for the achievement of knowledge.
22. The only thing that is humiliating is helplessness.

Bloggers and commentators alike might broaden their horizons by a review from time to time.

Bright Light of Truth, Sacred and Holy - a Pearl

--Joe

Be Thankful - It's Good For What Ails You

"EVERYTHING IS ABOUT SOMETHING DIFFERENT"

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:15 NIV)

--Joe

Good Advice for the Young at Heart

"Teach them to say 'NO'. Not a miserly 'No,' but the life-affirming 'NO' of those who hate bullies and petty rules." Never grovel because people are famous or powerful. Read tyrants as though you were a detective and learn to say 'No'. It's not global warming that will destroy us, it's gullibility."
Words of wisdom from Tarzie Vittachi.

--Joe

The Antichrist Declares War On Majority Rights

On a sunny Sunday morning as I sat down to savor my morning brew, I was confronted with this Times-Standard headline: "A CHANGING LANDSCAPE" followed by, "Half of eucalyptus trees along Highway 101 corridor to be cut" and "The new civil rights movement." A changing landscape alright; a destructive change.

Here's your declaration of war right, from the mouths of civil terrorist:

Local businesses and individuals that contributed to the “Yes on 8” campaign were also targeted at Saturday's protest, with some speakers calling for boycotts.

”Support the businesses that supported us,” Susan McGee urged the crowd, drawing loud cheers of support.

Linda Atkins, who won a city council seat representing Eureka's 2nd Ward on Election Day, also urged those in the crowd to use their power as consumers to effect change.

”We have a big economic impact on this state -- let's use it,” she said.

Atkins told the crowd that the proudest moment of her life came when she recently married her wife at the Humboldt County Courthouse.

Included in this is the posting on the Humboldt Herald, for one, the names and addresses of those and I quote: "SUPPORTERS OF PROP H8te (ARCATA & EUREKA):"

The will of the people means nothing to the thug bully. All he or she cares about is getting his or her way. There's usually only one way to deal with bullies and these people, and I use the word "people" loosely, would be wise to remember that when they go military on their relatively peaceful neighbors.

It's one thing to take Democracy into other parts of the world and force them to convert, destroying their culture and religious beliefs held for thousands of years, depriving them or causing the to forfeit their legitimate right to exist. It is an all together different situation when you try to force a depraved sub-culture on your own people, destroying or at least trying to destroy the very basis for their and your existence.

These "people" are not interested in civil rights, or any other right you can think of. They want legitimacy and equality to all other members of society. Unfortunately, they are fighting a losing battle no matter how many people think or believe "these people" are endowed with unalienable Rights. That God or Universe our founding fathers believed granted all "people," excluding women, blacks and homosexuals of course, has spoken. A plague is upon them and they are a cancer in our society. When you vote such "people" into office you bring the very essence of corruption into halls of government. The lines are being drawn and drawn deeply.

So goes the eucalyptus trees, so goes the people; mostly young people, I'd say.

--Joe

What Value Words of Truth?

United States Declaration of Independence
1823 facsimile of the engrossed copy from Wikipedia

America's legitimate right to stand or exist as nation co-equal to all other nation's on the earth including its patriarchal adversary, England and its aristocratic ruling monarchy, was founded on the legal premise expounded in the Declaration of Independence. These men, the architects of this long lost Republic, argued their right to overthrow the rule of a despotic parent that refused to recognise their offspring's right to legitimate existence did so by invoking God's recognition. Hence, these words:

"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."

Those men not only spoke and wrote such words, they put their lives on the line for treason for making such a Declaration. They didn't hope nor offer hope in some angry, senile old man or some word-hack spouting sanctimonious ideas about hope and trust in vague promises of a new direction.

If you need someone to tell you what to do, how to do it and to speak for you, take some time and read the book by an American historian and political scientist, Howard Zinn published in 1980, A Peoples History of the United States. Herein lies the history of a free people that knew how to speak for themselves and how to act for themselves.

"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." These words became their truth.

All men may have been created equal, but very few act like they are, actually believe that equality is a self-evident truth, with the rare exception of the kind of people Mr. Zinn wrote about, perhaps. Joe Blow, like he says, is just a nobody. So, he celebrates the Fourth of July the only way he knows how to celebrate life, like nobody, but like any first-class citizen, he votes with his feet.

What value are your words of truth?