Guest Post: Lives, Fortunes And Honor

Submitted by TFMetals Report

Lives, Fortunes and Honor

Monday is the 235th anniversary of the signing of the American
Declaration of Independence. As such, I'm dispensing with the regular,
weekend chart update. Today, I'd like you to consider the words of The
Declaration as well as the events that led to its signing.

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 British 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.

So, who were these guys, anyway? Legions of fuzzy-headed politicos
with an agenda would have you believe they were nothing but filthy rich,
old white guys who didn't want to pay their taxes. Is that true? Do you
even know whether or not it's true?

Below is the best summary I have ever found on the history of
America's "Founding Fathers". It was written some fifty years ago by the
father of radio host Rush Limbaugh. Regardless of your opinion of Rush
the Third, please take a few moments to read and reflect upon the words
and wisdom of Rush the Second. A link to the full page is here:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/folder/american_who_risked_everything_1.guest.html

"The Americans Who Risked Everything", by Rush Limbaugh, Jr.

It was a glorious morning. The sun was shining and the wind was from
the southeast. Up especially early, a tall bony, redheaded young
Virginian found time to buy a new thermometer, for which he paid three
pounds, fifteen shillings. He also bought gloves for Martha, his wife,
who was ill at home.

Thomas Jefferson arrived early at the statehouse. The temperature was
72.5 degrees and the horseflies weren't nearly so bad at that hour. It
was a lovely room, very large, with gleaming white walls. The chairs
were comfortable. Facing the single door were two brass fireplaces, but
they would not be used today.

The moment the door was shut, and it was always kept locked, the room
became an oven. The tall windows were shut, so that loud quarreling
voices could not be heard by passersby. Small openings atop the windows
allowed a slight stir of air, and also a large number of horseflies.
Jefferson records that "the horseflies were dexterous in finding necks,
and the silk of stockings was nothing to them." All discussing was
punctuated by the slap of hands on necks.

On the wall at the back, facing the president's desk, was a panoply
-- consisting of a drum, swords, and banners seized from Fort
Ticonderoga the previous year. Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had
captured the place, shouting that they were taking it "in the name of
the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!"

Now Congress got to work, promptly taking up an emergency measure
about which there was discussion but no dissension. "Resolved: That an
application be made to the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania for a
supply of flints for the troops at New York."

Then Congress transformed itself into a committee of the whole. The
Declaration of Independence was read aloud once more, and debate
resumed. Though Jefferson was the best writer of all of them, he had
been somewhat verbose. Congress hacked the excess away. They did a good
job, as a side-by-side comparison of the rough draft and the final text
shows. They cut the phrase "by a self-assumed power." "Climb" was
replaced by "must read," then "must" was eliminated, then the whole
sentence, and soon the whole paragraph was cut. Jefferson groaned as
they continued what he later called "their depredations." "Inherent and
inalienable rights" came out "certain unalienable rights," and to this
day no one knows who suggested the elegant change.

A total of 86 alterations were made. Almost 500 words were
eliminated, leaving 1,337. At last, after three days of wrangling, the
document was put to a vote.

Here in this hall Patrick Henry had once thundered: "I am no longer a
Virginian, sir, but an American." But today the loud, sometimes bitter
argument stilled, and without fanfare the vote was taken from north to
south by colonies, as was the custom. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration
of Independence was adopted.

There were no trumpets blown. No one stood on his chair and cheered.
The afternoon was waning and Congress had no thought of delaying the
full calendar of routine business on its hands. For several hours they
worked on many other problems before adjourning for the day.

Much To Lose

What kind of men were the 56 signers who adopted the Declaration of
Independence and who, by their signing, committed an act of treason
against the crown? To each of you, the names Franklin, Adams, Hancock
and Jefferson are almost as familiar as household words. Most of us,
however, know nothing of the other signers. Who were they? What happened
to them?

I imagine that many of you are somewhat surprised at the names not
there: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry. All were
elsewhere.

Ben Franklin was the only really old man. Eighteen were under 40;
three were in their 20s. Of the 56 almost half - 24 - were judges and
lawyers. Eleven were merchants, nine were landowners and farmers, and
the remaining 12 were doctors, ministers, and politicians.

With only a few exceptions, such as Samuel Adams of Massachusetts,
these were men of substantial property. All but two had families. The
vast majority were men of education and standing in their communities.
They had economic security as few men had in the 18th Century.

Each had more to lose from revolution than he had to gain by it. John
Hancock, one of the richest men in America, already had a price of 500
pounds on his head. He signed in enormous letters so that his Majesty
could now read his name without glasses and could now double the reward.
Ben Franklin wryly noted: "Indeed we must all hang together, otherwise
we shall most assuredly hang separately."

Fat Benjamin Harrison of Virginia told tiny Elbridge Gerry of
Massachusetts: "With me it will all be over in a minute, but you, you
will be dancing on air an hour after I am gone."

These men knew what they risked. The penalty for treason was death by
hanging. And remember, a great British fleet was already at anchor in
New York Harbor.

They were sober men. There were no dreamy-eyed intellectuals or draft
card burners here. They were far from hot-eyed fanatics yammering for
an explosion. They simply asked for the status quo. It was change they
resisted. It was equality with the mother country they desired. It was
taxation with representation they sought. They were all conservatives,
yet they rebelled.

It was principle, not property, that had brought these men to
Philadelphia. Two of them became presidents of the United States. Seven
of them became state governors. One died in office as vice president of
the United States. Several would go on to be U.S. Senators. One, the
richest man in America, in 1828 founded the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
One, a delegate from Philadelphia, was the only real poet, musician and
philosopher of the signers. (It was he, Francis Hopkinson not Betsy
Ross who designed the United States flag.)

Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, had introduced the
resolution to adopt the Declaration of Independence in June of 1776. He
was prophetic in his concluding remarks: "Why then sir, why do we longer
delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an
American Republic. Let her arise not to devastate and to conquer but to
reestablish the reign of peace and law.

"The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living
example of freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the
citizen to the ever-increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted
shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find
solace, and the persecuted repost.

"If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the
American Legislatures of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of
all of those whose memory has been and ever will be dear to virtuous
men and good citizens."

Though the resolution was formally adopted July 4, it was not until
July 8 that two of the states authorized their delegates to sign, and it
was not until August 2 that the signers met at Philadelphia to actually
put their names to the Declaration.

William Ellery, delegate from Rhode Island, was curious to see the
signers' faces as they committed this supreme act of personal courage.
He saw some men sign quickly, "but in no face was he able to discern
real fear." Stephan Hopkins, Ellery's colleague from Rhode Island, was a
man past 60. As he signed with a shaking pen, he declared: "My hand
trembles, but my heart does not."

"Most Glorious Service"

Even before the list was published, the British marked down every
member of Congress suspected of having put his name to treason. All of
them became the objects of vicious manhunts. Some were taken. Some, like
Jefferson, had narrow escapes. All who had property or families near
British strongholds suffered.

·    Francis Lewis, New York delegate saw his home plundered -- and
his estates in what is now Harlem -- completely destroyed by British
Soldiers. Mrs. Lewis was captured and treated with great brutality.
Though she was later exchanged for two British prisoners through the
efforts of Congress, she died from the effects of her abuse.

·    William Floyd, another New York delegate, was able to escape
with his wife and children across Long Island Sound to Connecticut,
where they lived as refugees without income for seven years. When they
came home they found a devastated ruin.

· Philips Livingstone had all his great holdings in New York
confiscated and his family driven out of their home. Livingstone died in
1778 still working in Congress for the cause.

·    Louis Morris, the fourth New York delegate, saw all his timber,
crops, and livestock taken. For seven years he was barred from his home
and family.

·    John Hart of Trenton, New Jersey, risked his life to return home
to see his dying wife. Hessian soldiers rode after him, and he escaped
in the woods. While his wife lay on her deathbed, the soldiers ruined
his farm and wrecked his homestead. Hart, 65, slept in caves and woods
as he was hunted across the countryside. When at long last, emaciated by
hardship, he was able to sneak home, he found his wife had already been
buried, and his 13 children taken away. He never saw them again. He
died a broken man in 1779, without ever finding his family.

· Dr. John Witherspoon, signer, was president of the College of New
Jersey, later called Princeton. The British occupied the town of
Princeton, and billeted troops in the college. They trampled and burned
the finest college library in the country.

· Judge Richard Stockton, another New Jersey delegate signer, had
rushed back to his estate in an effort to evacuate his wife and
children. The family found refuge with friends, but a Tory sympathizer
betrayed them. Judge Stockton was pulled from bed in the night and
brutally beaten by the arresting soldiers. Thrown into a common jail, he
was deliberately starved. Congress finally arranged for Stockton's
parole, but his health was ruined. The judge was released as an invalid,
when he could no longer harm the British cause. He returned home to
find his estate looted and did not live to see the triumph of the
Revolution. His family was forced to live off charity.

· Robert Morris, merchant prince of Philadelphia, delegate and
signer, met Washington's appeals and pleas for money year after year. He
made and raised arms and provisions which made it possible for
Washington to cross the Delaware at Trenton. In the process he lost 150
ships at sea, bleeding his own fortune and credit almost dry.

· George Clymer, Pennsylvania signer, escaped with his family from
their home, but their property was completely destroyed by the British
in the Germantown and Brandywine campaigns.

· Dr. Benjamin Rush, also from Pennsylvania, was forced to flee to
Maryland. As a heroic surgeon with the army, Rush had several narrow
escapes.

· John Martin, a Tory in his views previous to the debate, lived in a
strongly loyalist area of Pennsylvania. When he came out for
independence, most of his neighbors and even some of his relatives
ostracized him. He was a sensitive and troubled man, and many believed
this action killed him. When he died in 1777, his last words to his
tormentors were: "Tell them that they will live to see the hour when
they shall acknowledge it [the signing] to have been the most glorious
service that I have ever rendered to my country."

· William Ellery, Rhode Island delegate, saw his property and home burned to the ground.

· Thomas Lynch, Jr., South Carolina delegate, had his health broken
from privation and exposures while serving as a company commander in the
military. His doctors ordered him to seek a cure in the West Indies and
on the voyage, he and his young bride were drowned at sea.

· Edward Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, and Thomas Heyward, Jr., the
other three South Carolina signers, were taken by the British in the
siege of Charleston. They were carried as prisoners of war to St.
Augustine, Florida, where they were singled out for indignities. They
were exchanged at the end of the war, the British in the meantime having
completely devastated their large landholdings and estates.

· Thomas Nelson, signer of Virginia, was at the front in command of
the Virginia military forces. With British General Charles Cornwallis in
Yorktown, fire from 70 heavy American guns began to destroy Yorktown
piece by piece. Lord Cornwallis and his staff moved their headquarters
into Nelson's palatial home. While American cannonballs were making a
shambles of the town, the house of Governor Nelson remained untouched.
Nelson turned in rage to the American gunners and asked, "Why do you
spare my home?" They replied, "Sir, out of respect to you." Nelson
cried, "Give me the cannon!" and fired on his magnificent home himself,
smashing it to bits. But Nelson's sacrifice was not quite over. He had
raised $2 million for the Revolutionary cause by pledging his own
estates. When the loans came due, a newer peacetime Congress refused to
honor them, and Nelson's property was forfeited. He was never
reimbursed. He died, impoverished, a few years later at the age of 50.

Lives, Fortunes, Honor

Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of
wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned,
in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire
families. One lost his 13 children. Two wives were brutally treated. All
were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from
their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen
lost everything they owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his
pledged word. Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed so much to
create is still intact.

And, finally, there is the New Jersey signer, Abraham Clark.

He gave two sons to the officer corps in the Revolutionary Army. They
were captured and sent to that infamous British prison hulk afloat in
New York Harbor known as the hell ship Jersey, where 11,000 American
captives were to die. The younger Clarks were treated with a special
brutality because of their father. One was put in solitary and given no
food. With the end almost in sight, with the war almost won, no one
could have blamed Abraham Clark for acceding to the British request when
they offered him his sons' lives if he would recant and come out for
the King and Parliament. The utter despair in this man's heart, the
anguish in his very soul, must reach out to each one of us down through
200 years with his answer: "No."

The 56 signers of the Declaration Of Independence proved by their
every deed that they made no idle boast when they composed the most
magnificent curtain line in history. "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."

As you enjoy your 3-day weekend with friends and family, please take
time to remember the sacrifices made by these courageous men and their
families. Ask yourself, "would I have been willing to make the same
commitment"? "Which principles do I hold so dearly as to risk everything
for their maintenance"? "Should the time come again, will I be willing
to speak out and lead or will I stand idly by and watch freedom slip
away"?

I leave you this weekend with the words of Abraham Lincoln, written
some 90 years after The Declaration. Please have a safe and joyous
holiday.  TF

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we
say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the
living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they
who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to
be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from
these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation,
under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of
the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the
earth."

Comments

[Terminus C]

He'd never make it... he would be watching american idol and avatar eating McDonalds.

[karzai_luver]

As recent events have shown,the type of spirit if it still resides anywhere

is not in this country, maybe some in the MENA area have a bit of it left.

This piece has little to do with the current citizen of this country.

It would be ironic if it wasn't so cruel.

[BeansBulletsBandaids]

Really?  I'd like to think that this kind of spirit still resides here.  Maybe I'm too naive or like to se the cup "half full".

It's true that the vast majority of people just want to be comfortable and keep their heads in the sand as long as the have cable TV and an iPhone.  But surely there are some of us who will stand up and say "enough's enough" and try to affect real change.  I'm not sure how to go about doing it, but I owe it to my children to make this world a better place for them.

[DavidPierre]

1763: THE THIRTEEN COLONIES.
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 stops the seizure of Indian lands by speculators
from the Thirteen Colonies and establishes a frontier, essentially the
Appalachian Mountains, to the west of which vast tracts of land are to be
preserved in perpetuity where Indian nations will be able to carry on their
traditional way of life.<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /> Additionally, the proclamation reserves to
the Crown the exclusive right to purchase land from native Americans.

Even after the frontier is
established, land speculators, slave-owner George Washington, the wealthiest man
in the American colonies most prominent among them, arrange to “hunt out and
mark” Indian land beyond the frontier to be seized as soon as the Royal
Proclamation and treaties can be safely ignored. Washington who, generations of
American children have, with the fabricated story of the cherry tree, been
indoctrinated to believe, "cannot tell a lie", writes to his criminal
co-conspirator, Captain William Crawford, that their “scheme must be snugly
carried on by you under the pretence of hunting other game.”

<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />Washington was
only one of many wealthy land speculators engaged in laying the groundwork for
the theft of Indian lands in violation of the law and of legally-binding
treaties. His much-propagandized fellow slave-owner Benjamin Franklin was the
major promoter behind the Walpole, later the Vandalia, Company, a group of
Philadelphia land speculators who
had their eyes on ten million acres of Indian land protected by the
Proclamation. Other groups of speculators were anxious to steal Indian land in
“Charlotiana” (most of Illinois
and Wisconsin), in
Kentucky and
Tennessee. Plans were underway to
steal almost all of Michigan.

1766-1776: THIRTEEN
COLONIES. Deeply in debt from its war with
France,
the British government attempts to have the Thirteen Colonies cover part
of the cost of their own defence. A series of acts imposes taxes on colonists
but, in fact, they are considerably lower than the taxes levied on the people of
Britain.

Due to opposition to the
various taxes, they are repealed. In 1766, the Stamp Act was repealed. In 1779
the British government repealed the Townshend Acts and all duties on imports
into the Thirteen Colonies with the exception of tea. In 1773, the British
Parliament eliminated all British taxes on tea being imported into the Thirteen
Colonies with the exception of a small levy in the Colonies themselves. Other
than this, by 1773 there was no taxation of the Thirteen Colonies at all by
Britain,
making the revolutionary propaganda slogan “no taxation without representation”
something of a mystery.

1770: THIRTEEN COLONIES. According to John
Adams, who would become the second president of the United States, "a motley
rabble of saucy boys, Negroes and mulattoes, Irish Teagues and outlandish jack
tarrs," were harassing a British sentry. He calls for help, but the soldiers who
come to his rescue are driven back by the mob. The "rabble" grows to about fifty
people armed with rocks and sticks. The crowd are warned to desist but continue
to throw rocks at the British soldiers. Eventually, the soldiers open fire on
the mob killing five. The first to die is a black sailor, Crispus Attucks.
Several British soldiers are ultimately convicted of
manslaughter.

Attucks is often said to be the first person
to die in the American Revolution. The irony of a black man being the first
person to die in a revolution which had the primary purpose of maintaining
slavery seems to have escaped notice. In 1888, the City of Boston erected a
rather florid statue to Attucks on Boston Common, again without a hint of
irony.

The
slaveowners' chief propagandist, Samuel Adams creates from the incident a
mythological Boston Massacre in which evil British soldiers cold bloodedly
massacre innocent colonists. Each year on the anniversary of the shooting, the
propaganda fires are rekindled. Paul Revere does his bit by deceiving and
inflaming the public (and raking in the dough) by creating and offering for sale
an engraving depicting the so-called massacre which is inaccurate in almost
every detail, most significantly in the fact that the soldiers are shown
standing in a straight line shooting on command into an orderly and completely
innocent crowd in broad daylight. In fact, it was a scene of nighttime chaos
with the mob attacking the soldiers.

Among the many fallacious details in
Revere's engraving is the race of Crispus Attucks, who lies dead on the ground.
He is shown as being white. Can't be havin' no dead niggers in our propaganda
pieces, can we now?

1772-83: THIRTEEN COLONIES. “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.”

Words ringing with freedom. A
glorious revolution, we are told, led by high-minded lovers of liberty who
fought to bring the miracle of democracy to a valiant, enterprising and
freedom-loving people oppressed by an evil colonial power.

Unfortunately, like just about
everything else we have all been carefully trained to believe, it's just a great
big load of red, white and blue bullshit.

With
more than two centuries of propaganda, brainwashing and masturbatory invention
on the subject of the American Revolution, it is all but impossible to find
reference in the United States, outside scholarly works, to the fact that
throughout the 1760s and 1770s, there was a growing movement to abolish slavery
throughout the British Empire, including the Thirteen Colonies. The abolition
campaign reached a climactic point on June 22, 1772 when Lord Mansfield, Lord
Chief Justice of Britain, handed down an epoch-making decision in the case of
the "Negro slave known as James Somerset", against the man who purported to own
him, Charles Steuart of Virginia.

In
his decision, Lord Mansfield declared that “slavery is not allowed nor approved
by the law of England” and that Somerset must therefore be set free. Upon
hearing the decision, blacks in the audience stood up and bowed to the Court.
The Court also recognized that the legal principle of habeas corpus was
applicable to black people, a terrifying prospect for slaveowners. The Somerset
decision, and another similar one from the Scottish justices shortly thereafter,
were stunning victories for the abolitionists and catastrophic defeats for
slaveowners throughout the British Empire. These pivotal legal decisions would
ultimately lead to the abolition of slavery in all British colonies and
possessions throughout the world.

The Somerset case was followed avidly in
the Thirteen Colonies with extensive press coverage. It was only too clear to
the ruling class in the Thirteen Colonies that, under British rule, freedom for
the slaves they owned was inevitable and that the basis of their wealth and
power, slavery, would end if the Colonies remained under British rule.

The only way to retain their wealth
and power was to retain slavery and the only way to retain slavery was to break
away from Britain. Contrary to popular belief, every one of the Thirteen
Colonies including New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware practiced slavery.

Shortly after word of the
Somerset decision reached Virginia, slaveowner Thomas Jefferson and four other
Virginia politicians began to meet in private. They proposed the formation of a
"committee of correspondence" of the colonies which was a first step to breaking
away from Great Britain. They persuaded their cronies in the Virginia House of
Burgesses to present a resolution for the formation of the committees of
correspondence. The resolution included a list of committee members, Peyton
Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson and several others.
Every single one a slaveowner.

Also missing from the fantasyland
version of the American Revolution sold to the American public is the central
fact that, in 1768, the British had entered into treaties with the American
Indian nations, prohibiting further theft of their land by speculators including
George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. The Treaty of Fort Stanwix with the
Iroquois, the Treaty of Hard Labor with the Cherokee and the Treaty of Pensacola
with the Cree effectively confirmed the establishment of the frontier by the
Royal Proclamation of 1763.

The
very word “frontier” as it applied to the Thirteen Colonies is soon perverted by
propagandists for the American ruling class into a land of make-believe where
valiant, freedom-loving pioneers in coonskin caps with their best girl by their
side wrestle bears and struggle to tame the wilderness. In reality, the frontier
was a legally-established boundary, intended to be the limit of land theft by
the speculators such as George Washington, preserving forever the land on which
the Indian nations were guaranteed by law the right to carry on their
traditional way of life.

The majority of the signers of
the Declaration of Independence were, in fact, slave owners or their
representatives. Virtually all of the signers of the Declaration were land
speculators. Most of the “heroes” of the Revolution and of early America were,
in reality, resolute opponents of equality, freedom, liberty, the rule of law
and, above and beyond everything else, of democracy. Their true and blatantly
obvious purposes were to steal Indian land in violation of legally binding
agreements, to preserve slavery in perpetuity in order to maintain their own
wealth and power as the ruling class and to install a tyranny of that same elite
behind a facade of democracy. In fact, like just about it everything else in
this sad old world, it was all about money and power.

The
Declaration of Independence was followed by the Test Laws, designed to force all
colonists into swearing allegiance to their local junta. A record was kept of
those who took the oath and they were issued with "a certificate for safety from
arrest". Failure to take the oath meant imprisonment, confiscation of property,
loss of all legal rights, banishment and even death. Those who refused to
participate in the slave-owners’ revolution were barred from holding office,
banned from the professions and forced to pay double or triple
taxes.

Eight months after supposedly
giving his famous cry, “Give me liberty or give me death”, which may itself be
yet another invention of the propaganda machine, freedom-loving slave-owner and
land speculator Patrick Henry ordered “diligent patrols” to prevent slaves in
Virginia from accepting an offer of liberty by Britain. Propagandized-to-tedium
land speculator Benjamin Franklin, instrumental in drafting that immortal paean
to freedom, the Declaration of Independence, owned human beings as slaves. The
freedom-loving “patriots” of the colony of Rhode Island, a major slave trading
center, purchased African slaves who were forced to fight and die in the
Revolutionary armies in the place of those lily white lovers of liberty who had
purchased them as property.

In contrast, Britain, the evil
colonial power, not only ultimately abolished slavery in its own possessions but
fought slavery worldwide, maintaining costly naval blockades of the African
coast year-round and pursuing slave ships on the high seas, freeing captured
Africans. In the new “free” United States, slavery continued to exist for a
century after the Revolution. Those slaves who could escaped to freedom in
British territory in Canada via the Underground Railroad.

[karzai_luver]

winners write the history, there are always two side at least to any history.

The weak minded must have their "hero" to receive the wisdom from.

Never changes and never will.

[Waterfallsparkles]

I fear that England will take back America.  Without one gunshot fired, but thru Debt.

American Citizens and their Taxes are being used to fund the IMF.  To pay their Income, thru Taxes to save Countries outside of our Borders.  This in turn will create so much Debt for Americans that they will lose their Sovereignty and will become the property of England once again.

[cosmictrainwreck]

I seriously doubt it will be the Brits, but point taken....

[Gully Foyle]

For those who didn't know

(I have read that many of the Irish slaves in the West Indies interbred with the Negro slaves and that is why many Blacks have Irish surnames)

http://www.giftofireland.com/IrishSlaves.htm

In memory of the Irish victims of Slavery

President Jacques Chirac announced, last January, that France will hold a national day of remembrance for the victims of slavery every 10 May,.
The date for the annual holiday was chosen as it marks the day in 2001 when France passed a law recognising slavery as a crime against humanity. He said children should be taught about slavery at primary and secondary school as part of the national curriculum. "Slavery fed racism," he said. "When people tried to justify the unjustifiable, that was when the first racist theories were elaborated."

Given that tens of thousands of Irish people were shipped into slavery, isnt it strange that Ireland has no day remembering them? I dont know of a single monument to the victims of slavery in Ireland. Perhaps someone can let me know if they know of one. As far as I know, even the Republican Movement fails to commemorate the tens of thousands of innocents sold into slavery from Ireland. Many of the women and children into sex slavery.

The following extract gives an idea of the colossal scale of the slave trade from Ireland. No doubt this post will be met by the usual chorus of deniers wishing we could keep quite about this - but lets just ignore them. I think some remembrance should be made of these unfortunate people. The event could be linked with the fight against slavery in the world today. Does anyone have suggestions?

The reign of Elizabeth I, English privateers captured 300 African Negroes, sold them as slaves, and initiated the English slave trade. Slavery was, of course, an old established commerce dating back into earliest history. Julius Caesar brought over a million slaves from defeated armies back to Rome. By the 16th century, the Arabs were the most active, generally capturing native peoples, not just Africans, marching them to a seaport and selling them to ship owners. Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish ships were originally the most active, supplying slaves to the Spanish colonies in America. It was not a big business in the beginning, but a very profitable one, and ship owners were primarily interested only in profits. The morality of selling human beings was never a factor to them.

After the Battle of Kinsale at the beginning of the 17th century, the English were faced with a problem of some 30,000 military prisoners, which they solved by creating an official policy of banishment. Other Irish leaders had voluntarily exiled to the continent, in fact, the Battle of Kinsale marked the beginning of the so-called “Wild Geese”, those Irish banished from their homeland. Banishment, however, did not solve the problem entirely, so James II encouraged selling the Irish as slaves to planters and settlers in the New World colonies. The first Irish slaves were sold to a settlement on the Amazon River In South America in 1612. It would probably be more accurate to say that the first “recorded” sale of Irish slaves was in 1612, because the English, who were noted for their meticulous record keeping, simply did not keep track of things Irish, whether it be goods or people, unless such was being shipped to England. The disappearance of a few hundred or a few thousand Irish was not a cause for alarm, but rather for rejoicing. Who cared what their names were anyway, they were gone.

Almost as soon as settlers landed in America, English privateers showed up with a good load of slaves to sell. The first load of African slaves brought to Virginia arrived at Jamestown in 1619. English shippers, with royal encouragement, partnered with the Dutch to try and corner the slave market to the exclusion of the Spanish and Portuguese. The demand was greatest in the Spanish occupied areas of Central and South America, but the settlement of North America moved steadily ahead, and the demand for slave labour grew.

The Proclamation of 1625 ordered that Irish political prisoners be transported overseas and sold as laborers to English planters, who were settling the islands of the West Indies, officially establishing a policy that was to continue for two centuries. In 1629 a large group of Irish men and women were sent to Guiana, and by 1632, Irish were the main slaves sold to Antigua and Montserrat in the West Indies. By 1637 a census showed that 69% of the total population of Montserrat were Irish slaves, which records show was a cause of concern to the English planters. But there were not enough political prisoners to supply the demand, so every petty infraction carried a sentence of transporting, and slaver gangs combed the country sides to kidnap enough people to fill out their quotas.

Although African Negroes were better suited to work in the semi-tropical climates of the Caribbean, they had to be purchased, while the Irish were free for the catching, so to speak. It is not surprising that Ireland became the biggest source of livestock for the English slave trade.

The Confederation War broke out in Kilkenny in 1641, as the Irish attempted to throw out the English yet again, something that seem to happen at least once every generation. Sir Morgan Cavanaugh of Clonmullen, one of the leaders, was killed during a battle in 1646, and his two sons, Daniel and Charles (later Colonel Charles) continued with the struggle until the uprising was crushed by Cromwell in 1649. It is recorded that Daniel and other Carlow Kavanaghs exiled themselves to Spain, where their descendants are still found today, concentrated in the northwestern corner of that country. Young Charles, who married Mary Kavanagh, daughter of Brian Kavanagh of Borris, was either exiled to Nantes, France, or transported to Barbados… or both. Although we haven’t found a record of him in a military life in France, it is known that the crown of Leinster and other regal paraphernalia associated with the Kingship of Leinster was brought to France, where it was on display in Bordeaux, just south of Nantes, until the French Revolution in 1794. As Daniel and Charles were the heirs to the Leinster kingship, one of them undoubtedly brought these royal artifacts to Bordeaux.

In the 12 year period during and following the Confederation revolt, from 1641 to 1652, over 550,000 Irish were killed by the English and 300,000 were sold as slaves, as the Irish population of Ireland fell from 1,466,000 to 616,000. Banished soldiers were not allowed to take their wives and children with them, and naturally, the same for those sold as slaves. The result was a growing population of homeless women and children, who being a public nuisance, were likewise rounded up and sold. But the worse was yet to come.

In 1649, Cromwell landed in Ireland and attacked Drogheda, slaughtering some 30,000 Irish living in the city. Cromwell reported: “I do not think 30 of their whole number escaped with their lives. Those that did are in safe custody in the Barbados.” A few months later, in 1650, 25,000 Irish were sold to planters in St. Kitt. During the 1650s decade of Cromwell’s Reign of Terror, over 100,000 Irish children, generally from 10 to 14 years old, were taken from Catholic parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies, Virginia and New England. In fact, more Irish were sold as slaves to the American colonies and plantations from 1651 to 1660 than the total existing “free” population of the Americas!

But all did not go smoothly with Cromwell’s extermination plan, as Irish slaves revolted in Barbados in 1649. They were hanged, drawn and quartered and their heads were put on pikes, prominently displayed around Bridgetown as a warning to others. Cromwell then fought two quick wars against the Dutch in 1651, and thereafter monopolized the slave trade. Four years later he seized Jamaica from Spain, which then became the center of the English slave trade in the Caribbean.

On 14 August 1652, Cromwell began his Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland, ordering that the Irish were to be transported overseas, starting with 12,000 Irish prisoners sold to Barbados. The infamous “Connaught or Hell” proclamation was issued on 1 May 1654, where all Irish were ordered to be removed from their lands and relocated west of the Shannon or be transported to the West Indies. Those who have been to County Clare, a land of barren rock will understand what an impossible position such an order placed the Irish. A local sheep owner claimed that Clare had the tallest sheep in the world, standing some 7 feet at the withers, because in order to live, there was so little food, they had to graze at 40 miles per hour. With no place to go and stay alive, the Irish were slow to respond. This was an embarrassing problem as Cromwell had financed his Irish expeditions through business investors, who were promised Irish estates as dividends, and his soldiers were promised freehold land in exchange for their services. To speed up the relocation process, a reinforcing law was passed on 26 June 1657 stating: “Those who fail to transplant themselves into Connaught or Co. Clare within six months… Shall be attained of high treason… are to be sent into America or some other parts beyond the seas… those banished who return are to suffer the pains of death as felons by virtue of this act, without benefit of Clergy.”

Although it was not a crime to kill any Irish, and soldiers were encouraged to do so, the slave trade proved too profitable to kill off the source of the product. Privateers and chartered shippers sent gangs out with quotas to fill, and in their zest as they scoured the countryside, they inadvertently kidnapped a number of English too. On March 25, 1659, a petition of 72 Englishmen was received in London, claiming they were illegally “now in slavery in the Barbados”' . The petition also claimed that "7,000-8,000 Scots taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester in 1651 were sold to the British plantations in the New World,” and that “200 Frenchmen had been kidnapped, concealed and sold in Barbados for 900 pounds of cotton each."

Subsequently some 52,000 Irish, mostly women and sturdy boys and girls, were sold to Barbados and Virginia alone. Another 30,000 Irish men and women were taken prisoners and ordered transported and sold as slaves. In 1656, Cromwell’s Council of State ordered that 1000 Irish girls and 1000 Irish boys be rounded up and taken to Jamaica to be sold as slaves to English planters. As horrendous as these numbers sound, it only reflects a small part of the evil program, as most of the slaving activity was not recorded. There were no tears shed amongst the Irish when Cromwell died in 1660.

The Irish welcomed the restoration of the monarchy, with Charles II duly crowned, but it was a hollow expectation. After reviewing the profitability of the slave trade, Charles II chartered the Company of Royal Adventurers in 1662, which later became the Royal African Company. The Royal Family, including Charles II, the Queen Dowager and the Duke of York, then contracted to supply at least 3000 slaves annually to their chartered company. They far exceeded their quotas.

There are records of Irish sold as slaves in 1664 to the French on St. Bartholomew, and English ships which made a stop in Ireland en route to the Americas, typically had a cargo of Irish to sell on into the 18th century. Few people today realize that from 1600 to 1699, far more Irish were sold as slaves than Africans.

Slaves or Indentured Servants

There has been a lot of whitewashing of the Irish slave trade, partly by not mentioning it, and partly by labelling slaves as indentured servants. There were indeed indentureds, including English, French, Spanish and even a few Irish. But there is a great difference between the two. Indentures bind two or more parties in mutual obligations. Servant indentures were agreements between an individual and a shipper in which the individual agreed to sell his services for a period of time in exchange for passage, and during his service, he would receive proper housing, food, clothing, and usually a piece of land at the end of the term of service. It is believed that some of the Irish that went to the Amazon settlement after the Battle of Kinsale and up to 1612 were exiled military who went voluntarily, probably as indentureds to Spanish or Portuguese shippers.

However, from 1625 onward the Irish were sold, pure and simple as slaves. There were no indenture agreements, no protection, no choice. They were captured and originally turned over to shippers to be sold for their profit. Because the profits were so great, generally 900 pounds of cotton for a slave, the Irish slave trade became an industry in which everyone involved (except the Irish) had a share of the profits.

Treatment

Although the Africans and Irish were housed together and were the property of the planter owners, the Africans received much better treatment, food and housing. In the British West Indies the planters routinely tortured white slaves for any infraction. Owners would hang Irish slaves by their hands and set their hands or feet afire as a means of punishment. To end this barbarity, Colonel William Brayne wrote to English authorities in 1656 urging the importation of Negro slaves on the grounds that, "as the planters would have to pay much more for them, they would have an interest in preserving their lives, which was wanting in the case of (Irish)...." many of whom, he charged, were killed by overwork and cruel treatment. African Negroes cost generally about 20 to 50 pounds Sterling, compared to 900 pounds of cotton (about 5 pounds Sterling) for an Irish. They were also more durable in the hot climate, and caused fewer problems. The biggest bonus with the Africans though, was they were NOT Catholic, and any heathen pagan was better than an Irish Papist. Irish prisoners were commonly sentenced to a term of service, so theoretically they would eventually be free. In practice, many of the slavers sold the Irish on the same terms as prisoners for servitude of 7 to 10 years.

There was no racial consideration or discrimination, you were either a freeman or a slave, but there was aggressive religious discrimination, with the Pope considered by all English Protestants to be the enemy of God and civilization, and all Catholics heathens and hated. Irish Catholics were not considered to be Christians. On the other hand, the Irish were literate, usually more so than the plantation owners, and thus were used as house servants, account keepers, scribes and teachers. But any infraction was dealt with the same severity, whether African or Irish, field worker or domestic servant. Floggings were common, and if a planter beat an Irish slave to death, it was not a crime, only a financial loss, and a lesser loss than killing a more expensive African. Parliament passed the Act to Regulate Slaves on British Plantations in 1667, designating authorized punishments to include whippings and brandings for slave offenses against a Christian. Irish Catholics were not considered Christians, even if they were freemen.

The planters quickly began breeding the comely Irish women, not just because they were attractive, but because it was profitable,,, as well as pleasurable. Children of slaves were themselves slaves, and although an Irish woman may become free, her children were not. Naturally, most Irish mothers remained with their children after earning their freedom. Planters then began to breed Irish women with African men to produce more slaves who had lighter skin and brought a higher price. The practice became so widespread that in 1681, legislation was passed “forbidding the practice of mating Irish slave women to African slave men for the purpose of producing slaves for sale.” This legislation was not the result of any moral or racial consideration, but rather because the practice was interfering with the profits of the Royal African Company! It is interesting to note that from 1680 to 1688, the Royal African Company sent 249 shiploads of slaves to the Indies and American Colonies, with a cargo of 60,000 Irish and Africans. More than 14,000 died during passage.

See: http://www.kavanaghfamily.com/articles/2003/20030618jfc.htm   

 "In memory of all those who have died and suffered as a result of Slavery and the loss of liberty, wherever they came from, may they rest in peace"

http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/white_slavery.htm

White Slavery, what the Scots already know

A famous history professor stated that history was not a science but a continuing investigation into the past; a person’s conclusion is based on their own bias.  This story will offer evidence that the Alba, Scots, Irish and Pics have been the longest race held in slavery.  The reader will be responsible for their own bias pertaining to White Slavery.

Alexander Stewart was herded off the Gildart in July of 1747, bound with chains.  Stewart was pushed onto the auction block in Wecomica, St Mary’s County, Maryland.  Doctor Stewart and his brother William were attending the auction, aware of Alexander being on that slave ship coming from Liverpool England.  Doctor Stewart and William were residents of Annapolis and brothers to David of Ballachalun in Montieth, Scotland.  The two brothers paid nine pound six shillings sterling to Mr. Benedict Callvert of Annapolis for the purchase of Alexander.  He was a slave.  Alexander tells of the other 88 Scots sold into slavery that day in “THE LYON IN MOURNING” pages 242-243.

Jeremiah Howell was a lifetime-indentured servant by his uncle in Lewis County, Virginia in the early 1700’s.  His son, Jeremiah, won his freedom by fighting in the Revolution.  There were hundreds of thousands of Scots sold into slavery during Colonial America.  White slavery to the American Colonies occurred as early as 1630 in Scotland.

According to the Egerton manuscript, British Museum, the enactment of 1652: it may be lawful for two or more  justices of the peace within any county, citty or towne, corporate belonging to the commonwealth to from tyme to tyme by warrant cause to be apprehended, seized on and detained all and every person or persons that shall be found begging and vagrant.. in any towne, parish or place to be conveyed into the Port of London, or unto any other port from where such person or persons may be shipped into a forraign collonie or plantation.

The judges of Edinburgh Scotland during the years 1662-1665 ordered the enslavement and shipment to the colonies a large number of rogues and others who made life unpleasant for the British upper class.  (Register for the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol. 1, p 181, vol. 2, p 101).

The above accounting sounds horrific but slavery was what the Scots have survived for a thousand years.  The early ancestors of the Scots, Alba and Pics were enslaved as early as the first century BC.  Varro, a Roman philosopher stated in his agricultural manuscripts that white slaves were only things with a voice or instrumenti vocali.  Julius Caesar enslaves as many as one million whites from Gaul.  (William D Phillips, Jr.  SLAVERY FROM ROMAN TIMES TO EARLY TRANSATLANTIC TRADE, p. 18).

Pope Gregory in the sixth century first witnessed blonde hair, blue eyed boys awaiting sale in a Roman slave market.  The Romans enslaved thousands of white inhabitants of Great Britain, who were also known as Angles.  Pope Gregory was very interested in the looks of these boys therefore asking their origin.  He was told they were Angles from Briton.  Gregory stated, “Non Angli, sed Angeli.”  (Not Angles but Angels).

The eighth to the eleventh centuries proved to be very profitable for Rouen France.  Rouen was the transfer point of Irish and Flemish slaves to the Arabian nations.  The early centuries AD the Scottish were known as Irish. William Phillips on page 63 states that the major component of slave trade in the eleventh century were the Vikings.  They spirited many ‘Irish’ to Spain, Scandinavia and Russia.  Legends have it; some ‘Irish’ may have been taken as far as Constantinople.

Ruth Mazo Karras wrote in her book, “SLAVERY AND SOCIETY IN MEDEIVEL SCANDINAVIA” pg. 49; Norwegian Vikings made slave raids not only against the Irish and Scots (who were often called Irish in Norse sources) but also against Norse settlers in Ireland or Scottish Isles or even in Norway itself…slave trading was a major commercial activity of the Viking Age.  The children of the White slaves in Iceland were routinely murdered en masse. (Karras pg 52)

According to these resources as well as many more, the Scots-Irish have been enslaved longer than any other race in the world’s history.  Most governments do not teach White Slavery in their World History classes. Children of modern times are only taught about the African slave trade.  The Scots do not need to be taught because they are very aware of the atrocities upon an enslaved race.  Most importantly, we have survived to become one to the largest races on Earth!!!

White Slavery in America

The topic of this story is a sensitive one yet one of great importance.  White slavery in America was real. There are many documents that verify the bondage, kidnapping and transporting of Brits to the Colonies as slaves.  The importance of this story will help those who cannot find a ship passenger list on their ancestor.  This story may not pertain to all who came to America that are not listed on ship passenger lists.

The Journal of Negro History #52 pp.251-273 states, “The sources of racial thought in Colonial America pertaining to slave trade worked both directions with white merchandise as well as black.”

Thomas Burton recorded in his Parliament Diary 1656-1659 vol. 4 pp. 253-274 a debate in the English Parliament focusing on the selling of British whites into slavery in the New World.  The debate refers to whites as slaves ‘whose enslavement threatened the liberties of all Englishmen.’

The British government had realized as early as the 1640’s how beneficial white slave labor was to the profiting colonial plantations.  Slavery was instituted as early as 1627 in the British West Indies.  The Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series of 1701 records 25000 slaves in Barbados in which 21700 were white slaves.

George Downing wrote a letter to the honorable John Winthrop Colonial Governor of Massachusetts in 1645, “planters who want to make a fortune in the West Indies must procure white slave labor out of England if they wanted to succeed.”  Lewis Cecil Gray’s History of Agriculture in the Southern United States to 1860 vol.1 pp 316, 318 records Sir George Sandys’ 1618 plan for Virginia, referring to bound whites assigned to the treasurer’s office. “To belong to said office forever.  The service of whites bound to Berkeley Hundred was deemed perpetual.”

The Quoke Walker case in Massachusetts 1773 ruled that; slavery contrary to the state Constitution was applied equally to Blacks and Whites in Massachusetts.

Statutes at Large of Virginia, vol. 1 pp. 174, 198, 200, 243 & 306 did not discriminate Negroes in bondage from Whites in Bondage.

Marcellus Rivers and Oxenbridge Foyle, England’s Slaves 1659 consists of a statement smuggled out of the New World and published in London referring to whites in bondage who did not think of themselves as indentured servants but as “England’s Slaves” and “England’s merchandise.”

Colonial Office, Public Records Office, London 1667, no. 170 records that “even Blacks referred to the White forced laborers in the colonies as “white slaves.”  Pages 343 through 346 of Historical Sketch of the Persecutions Suffered by the Catholics of Ireland by; Patrick F. Moran refers to the transportation of the Irish to the colonies as the “slave-trade.”

Ulrich B. Phillips, Life and Labor in the Old South explain that white enslavement was crucial to the development of the Negro slave system.  The system set up for the white slaves governed, organized and controlled the system for the black slaves.  Black slaves were “late comers fitted into a system already developed.”  Pp 25-26.  John Pory declared in 1619, “white slaves are our principle wealth.”

The above quotations from various authors are just the tip of the iceberg on the white slave trade of the Americas.  People from the British Isles were kidnapped, put in chains and crammed into ships that transported hundreds of them at a time.  Their destination was Virginia Boston, New York, Barbados and the West Indies.  The white slaves were treated the same or worse than the black slave.  The white slave did not fetch a good price at the auction blocks.  Bridenbaugh wrote in his accounting on page 118, having paid a bigger price for the Negro, the planters treated the black better than they did their “Christian” white servant.  Even the Negroes recognized this and did not hesitate to show their contempt for those white men who, they could see, were worse off than themselves.

Governments have allowed this part of American and British history to be swallowed up.  The contemptible black slavery has taken a grip on people associated with American History.  Yet, no one will tell of these accountings that are well established on to the middle 1800’s. 

Slavery is not something to be proud of but it is a fact that happened to every country, kingdom and empire that has been on this earth.  Each of us needs to search our hearts and find the answer to stop racial hatred.  One place to begin; realize that the black race was not the only race in the last 400 years that was in bondage.

[vato poco]

aside from whining (at great length) that "gee, we had it rough back then TOO!", WTF exactly is the point you're trying to make here? that scots-irish people should be allowed to claim victimhood just like all the other minority/special-interest groups? is that it?

yeah, because everyone knows that 'victimhood' is the REAL route to success in life. dipshit.

[cosmictrainwreck]

holy shit, mon! aren't your typing digits seizing up?

[Hacked Economy]

Gully,

Could you try to perhaps condense your spew down to a couple of paragraphs, instead of (WAY too lengthy) plagiarized cut-and-paste that lost my attention back at the beginning?

Why so bitter here?  Why the fundamental hate for everything in all your comments?  Did someone take your girlfriend in junior high or something?

[WaterWings]

Although I mostly enjoy the content of his copy-pastes, I am surprised it wasn't nearer the top - to seemingly discourage further reading of comments below on small screens.

There are various trolls around here that are much more covert - insinuation and implication as opposed to clearly stating their view. Very effective in today's climate of mass-media conditioning. Weak-minded readers, without a solid understanding of what Freedom really is, can be easily swayed without even recognizing it.

To be more clear, ask anyone on the street what the difference is between:

• Civil Rights
• The Bill of Rights
• The first 10 Amendments to the Constitution.

They will usually have no idea what you are talking about. Bonus points if you already know that in any bookstore there are far more copies of the Federalist Papers than the Anti-Federalist Papers. Often there are NO copies of the of the latter - and it was from their cries that we even HAVE the notion of "Civil Rights". 

[Mr Drysdale]

logged in just to 'junk' him.

you sure are a 'wet blanket' are'nt you?

[WaterWings]

Oh, sorry.

I thought slavery was still alive and well:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2981327&page=1

[Rusty Shorts]

...don't forget that other success story known as "LIBERIA"

"Liberian history is supposedly "tragic," which is newspaper code for "funny as Hell." I can't help it, it is. It's not like I don't sympathize. I do. I mean, which slum did your grandparents come from? Probably some starved village where the coal mine's been closed since it ate a whole shift of locals. How'd you like it if everybody in your neighborhood took up a collection to send you back there, even if you didn't speak a word of the language? "We feel you don't fit in in Santa Barbara and you'll never be truly happy until you're back in Lower Slobovia:"

That's how Liberia started. It was white people's idea from the start. They were worried about free blacks, who made up about a tenth of the 2 million black people in the US. The two extremes of the slavery issue, abolitionists and crazy slaveowners, agreed something had to be done about all those free blacks.

The abolitionists loved black people so much they wanted them to go far, far away. So did the slaveowners, who announced with no evidence at all that free blacks were "promoters of mischief." (I don't know what "mischief" means--maybe they TP'd those Gone With the Wind plantation houses.)

A group of rich white do-gooders including Francis Scott Key, who wrote "the Star Spangled Banner," got together to raise the money to send free blacks back to Africa. For them Key had a special version of the anthem: "Oh say can you see/the home of the brave? If so, you're standing too close/Go about 4000 miles southeast, to West Africaaaa."

Congress came through with a big grant and in 1819, a ship with 88 freed blacks and three white chaperons landed in that other success-story for re-planting blacks, Sierra Leone. After gassing up at Freetown, they headed down the coast to the promised land, Liberia.

Within three weeks of arriving at their new home, all three whites and 22 blacks died of fever. That's barely time to start naming things "free-" this and "free-that..."

http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=8046&IBLOCK_ID=35

[Henry Hub]

The really sad thing is that the Irish are quickly slipping back into slavery...Bankster slavery.

[Cthonic]

Unless you're of Irish or Scottish descent you really need to stop plugging this drivel.  Have you noticed no one waving their clan tartans cheering you on?  Initially indentured or otherwise, Irish and Scotts have thrived in America, and our whole original philosophy of government owes itself to the thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment.  Nothing occurred here that wasn't just as bad, or worse, in old world Europe.  You selectively post this stuff and ignore impressment into the British navies, French corvée system, Spanish and Portuguese peonage, and a whole host of systems of involuntary servitude that existed contemporaneously throughout the 'civilized' world.   Have a beer, or whatever ethnic concoction you'd prefer, and unless you hail from some shithole like North Korea, count your f'in blessings.

[nah]

Worlds champions doing more to keep me free hell even more than congress even 235 years on.

.

i want to fucking party

[rapier]

By Rush of all people who famously  dodged the draft.  This is rich. A man of great wealth and power who makes a life out of feigning and encouraging seething resentment.

[RockyRacoon]

It was written some fifty years ago by the father of radio host Rush Limbaugh.

The apple sometimes does fall far from the tree it appears...

[vato poco]

the only problem i ever had with the movie 'fight club' - still easily one of the most interesting flicks i've ever seen - was "tyler's" "goals": just blow shit up or break it. remember the scene where he & ed norton walked along bashing car bumpers with beseball bats, to fire off the airbags & alarms? then there was that whole "tear the system down and start over" BS which was to be accomplished by blowing up empty buildings. (remember, it was filmed long before 9-11)

what the founding fathers did; what ZH readers seem to want; what *I* want is to do likewise...only let's use those destructive urges on deserving, corrupt targets. the ever-expanding, ever-intrusive (think NSA software doesn't keep an eye on this site and its comments?) federal government; the state/county/city governments who are doing their best to keep up with the example set by uncle Sam; the whole rotten system in which government and its minions, from cops to TOTUS, don't even *bother* to hide their contempt for us anymore. how many 'cop tases grandma/pregnant woman/retarded kid' stories have you read in the last few yeras? dozens? hundreds? want to see the tapes from all cameras rolling near the Murrah bldg. in OKC? tough shit: the FBI just told a court who ordered them to produce it that "we lost 'em." just like they "lost" the front door to the mt. carmel complex in waco. wanna see the tapes from all cameras rolling near the pentagon on 9-11? tough shit: "national security". wanna see an audit of The Fed? tough shit. an audit of Ft. Knox? tough shit. wanna see obama's school transcripts? the NSA budget? an audit of the long-term effectiveness of the (didn't have a clue the USSR was about to collapse) CIA? prosecutions over the geniuses at the DOD "losing" $2 TRILLION bucks?!?

tough shit, SERF.

and on & on.

I'll be the first to admit it's scary taking on Big Brother. He's got lots more spyware, military hardware, and immune-from-the -"law" killers on his payroll than we will ever have. plus, he's got unlimited funds: whenever they get low, they just....print up some more!! so tearing down the rotten sections of the tree will be tough - becuse it'll fight back, and fight back dirty. there are already drones flying above american cities right now - it wouldn't be too hard to attach missiles to them, would it.

so maybe we should start small. or strike at the root: the bankers. the largely unseen masters of the whole stinking mess. WWTDD? WWGWD?

[SMG]

+1 Live Free or Die!

[Al Gorerhythm]

Printer wars. Get a bigger printer.

[Bolweevil]

Toner costs too much.

[WaterWings]

Hell yes. Fight Club has some great ideas, like "Randianism", but it ain't perfect. So what!

After watching police brutality videos on YouTube I am sure there are many out there that have thoughts of "killing a bunch of cops". The target isn't the local guys - they are usually dumbshits anyway (I should qualify that by stating that most of them come from the same lower and middle-class environs as the majority - those that initiate force against harmless everyday folk should be punished with extreme prejudice).

The base of the tree is DC. Everything that extends from there is closer to Hell.

WWTJD?

[JR]

How could anyone add to this tribute except to say that he is awed by the sacrifice, courage and faith which have secured the freedom of the ground upon which this Republic stands.

I was struck by the irony of Richard Henry Lee’s plea for the new nation: “Let her arise not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign of peace and law,” with the comments yesterday by Talk Show Rush Limbaugh.  How different are the characterizations by today’s neo-cons that portray Independence Day as a celebration of Empire - flags, military parades and depictions of military conquests around the world as symbols of freedom. 

The true Independence Day celebrates a revolution against Imperialism and not the celebration of the extension of another Empire.  The men who sacrificed their lives and fortunes to establish this nation are not to be confused with the men and women who use remote control drones or heavy bombers to wipe out innocent villagers in the expansion of an American/Israeli Empire.

Today’s neo-con patriots are confusing Independence Day with Armed Forces Day.

And now, it appears a new Harvard study by old liberals – Shaping the Nation: Estimating the Impact of Fourth of July Using a Natural Experiment - is telling Democrats that the true message of Independence Day could turn their children into Republicans God forbid, and there is no advantage for Democrat politicians to participate in Independence Day celebrations (which denigrate dependence celebrations).

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread723365/pg1

[KennyG09]

+1 Logic and reason. Thank you.

[Hacked Economy]

Surprisingly well said, JR.

+2

[WaterWings]

Yes! Agreed!

July 4th isn't about militarism - it's about The Right To Be Left Alone "Day".

[Kayman]

Well said JR. And not surprisingly.

[Founders Keeper]

+1

[Shell Game]

+++

[Hondo]

Never trust anything written about history unless you have throughly researched all aspects or were part of it.

[knowless]

When I saw the end qoute was lincoln, I just knew this would turn into a civli war states rights/v/slavery debate..

[cosmictrainwreck]

Doesn't have to be.... just 'cause a couple of snarky axe-grinders are trying to steer it so. I suspect egotism is involved (I myself being immune from such petty motivations, of course)

[falak pema]

all this to say you will eat what on July 4?

[AllTheMarbles]

Lets see a show of hands - How many ZH'ers will stand up and take the pledge.....

"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."

The time is drawing near.....where will you stand?

Count me IN.

[Kayman]

If the resolution is to end the Fed.  Count me in.

Printing Money to monetize the debt is taxation without representation. 

[Founders Keeper]

Pledged.

[Comrade de Chaos]

I am glad I caught this post.

THANK YOU. 

Enjoy the 4th of July, yo'll. 

[Franken_Stein]

If Americans don't fight their rotten criminal system, then there is NOTHING that will stop them from sending you all to the gas chamber and burn you in the ovens.

I repeat, nothing.

Once they have the capabilites, they will start doing it.

They will not refrain.

Because they regard you as excess people.

They don't need you anymore.

They need none of you anymore.

[Kayman]

Franken_Stein

The parasite, blinded while engorging in blood, cares not about the host. Until the host is gone.

Do you have a substitute in mind for the American Middle Class ?

Apparently, even Sam Walton's ilk have discovered that outsourcing production eventually means no income for your customers.  Funny how that's connected... Whodathunkit.

[hardyboy1704]

Good piece. But i'd take the Articles, please.

[nmewn]

Despite the frenetic copy/paste sociopathic ramblings of a draft dodging Ojbwe "warrior"  (yeah, go figger...LOL!)...good post TF!

Happy Fourth to all!

[DavidPierre]

This is the time of a great awakening by humanity, but we must not just wake up if we wish to effect positive change in the world, we must get out of bed!!! We have unlimited opportunities to educate ourselves about what's really happening in the world and be a voice for peace. We can also make ourselves aware of real history that never made it into our history books. And, once we become aware, we might start to wonder just what the agenda really is on our planet by those who continue to enslave the spirit of humanity through the vibrations of fear brought about by war and oppression. There seems to be a constant need to feed the beast of oppression to make a few people rich and comfortable.

[nmewn]

The only problem I have with your "history lessons" is the selectivity of their nature.

If you're going to talk about land theft and the killing of Indians tell the whole story, they did the same to each other...if you're going to talk about African slavery in America...tell how the system came to be set up here (all of it) from enslavement of Africans by, in some cases, other Africans...to export by monarchies to here...and how it still goes on to this day in Africa and how Arabs do/did the same...you and I have been down this rat hole before DP.

I hate the concept of monarchies (elite vampires at the top). I hate the concept of communism/socialism (elite vampires at the top). I hate the concept of crony capitalism (elite vampires at the top)...I have been consistent & clear on this forever.

One does not further democracy or republican forms of law and governance with half truths and innuendo about the past. The past has to be seen through the prism of what it was then and where we have come to now. There were few (if any) republican or democratic forms of governance back then.

It was kings, queens, chiefs, sultans & caliph's...dictators all in my estimation, as if you were not born to the right family you were pretty much screwed.

To subject the present generation to the "sins" or debts of past generations is no different than the banker bondage we rage about today. It is imposed through government, is it not?

I'm not chained by it, I'm a Southerner (with all the "baggage" that entails...LOL!) because I know all of the history of it, not just emotional snips.

You shouldn't allow it either DP...don't forge your own chains...break them.

Now, war & oppression. In your scenario they are shown in a negative light...it is not always the case. 

If a people are being oppressed...by natural law they have a right (a duty, an honor) to war against their oppressors.

So my concept of war (in toto) may be different from yours...but yes, if war is for profit alone, it is evil. By its nature it should be the last option, always.

Now I'm going to war on the field out front with my tractor, its my only option...wish me luck ;-) 

[Hacked Economy]

Well, nmewn, I hafta say that this was very well said.  And all true.  I (gasp!) agree with every word.

Well done.  Hat tip to you.

[WaterWings]

That Alexander Hamilton is revered in any way proves that Elite Vampires venerate Elite Vampires.

That children are taught any good thing of Hamilton is quasi genocidal!

Much happiness to you, enemy within, on this weekend.

[nmewn]

"That children are taught any good thing of Hamilton is quasi genocidal!"

Dats a fact, he was a wolf in sheeps clothing...there are a ton one of Hamiltons these days because of the way children are taught. 

Thanks to you both ;-)

[Shell Game]

Excellent, couldn't agree more. The abuse of 'history' is second only to current monetary abuse in boldness and affect.

Being a Southern gentleman, I'm sure you're familiar with Thomas DiLorenzo's work.  Now there's some 'wake up and smell the coffee' history for any here on ZH who desire some Federalist deprogramming, it did me some powerful good.. 

[nmewn]

"The abuse of 'history' is second only to current monetary abuse in boldness and affect."

So true.

I am familiar with DiLorenza's work.

The puppet dictator of the NE cartel, who was Lincoln, holds a special place in Southern infamy.

From his turning Lee's front yard into a graveyard of Union dead so he could never return home (now Arlington Cemetery) to his genocide of civilans and forced removal of entire towns in Tennessee & Georgia to his treatment of POW's in places like Elmira and Ft. Douglas to his suspending of habeas corpus to his substituting foreigners who could not even speak English with the promise of US citizenship, instead of the pampered sons of the North. 

Yes, he was a swell guy ;-)

[Peter K]

...one nation, under GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 

Happy Independance Day to all.

PS Very well said. Couldn't agree more.

[Monedas]

We are a work in progress and deserve world wide kudos for having come so far from such a dismal beginning ? Maybe our rocky beginning should be imitated by Pol Pot, Assad, Ghadafi and those other people you admire ? What's your explanation of how we pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps ?        How about a few positive words about your personal preference of an ideal country ? Monedas 2011 We know what don't like....tell us what you like ? Dedicate as many words to what you find good and inspiring on Planet Fiat ? So we may know you better ?

[Fiat Money]

Get a grip, DavidPierre!

 "once we become aware, we might start to wonder just what the agenda really is on our planet by those who continue to enslave the spirit of humanity through the vibrations of fear brought about by war and oppression. There seems to be a constant need to feed the beast of oppression to make a few people rich and comfortable."

 The  #1 "BEAST"  who threatens humanity is... OUR OWN  ANIMAL reproduction tendencies!   

 The world can BARELY sustain the present human population of 7 billion -  MUCH LESS DOUBLE that some time soon -  as fossil fuel supplies (modern agriculture is 100% dependent on OIL) go down, and CO2 / global warming temperatures go UP, there will be less & less arable land, fresh water, and food available.

  If there is ONE hope for humanity, it is that people in high birth-rate countries  will quickly adopt the LOW birth rates of the Western,  (formerly) high wages, high benefits, high educationn countries (Western Europe, USA)  remnants of the empires you so despise.

(Although China's "1 child" policy is a similar "low birthrate" social policy attempted from an entirely different direction, i.e. imposed by a dictatorship, vs arrived at by 'free' choice of families or single parents.)

[dust to dust]

 Every member of the Senate and House of Representatives should read this article. They should all be ashamed. They are leading (I use this term loosely) this Nation to ruin. What do they represent? Not what the Signers envisioned.

[Fat Ass]

For goodness sake.  The USA is a charnel house.  The Scots and English came over and slaughtered all the natives.  It's not real complicated.

Sure, there was some infighting between the Scots/English on the ground and the Scots/English back in the old world, over who would get the money. Whatever.

[dwdollar]

Like the Native Americans and Africans knew nothing of war and bloodshed before the Europeans arrived.  Right...

After reading some of these comments, I can say with certainty, that some of you are truly f*****g lost.  I'm sure we have the wonderful public education system to thank for that.  If these people were the villains that some of you claim, we would be far worse than we are today.  It's been nothing but downhill since then.

[JR]

Exactly. To divert attention from the sacrifices made by the courageous men above with revisions of history, misrepresentations of the philosophy and lives of the Founders and the complete disregard for the world of slavery that existed at the time of America’s founding, including a despicable slave trade managed primarily by Jewish ship owners in Newport, RI, is beneath contempt. Slavery can be traced in history as far back as the Code of Hammurabi (ca. 1760 BC) and, although no longer legal anywhere in the world, in practice slavery continues to exist.

In modern times, according to Wikipedia’s History of Slavery: “The trading of children has been reported in modern Nigeria and Benin. In parts of Ghana, a family may be punished for an offense by having to turn over a virgin female to serve as a sex slave within the offended family. In this instance, the woman does not gain the title or status of "wife". In parts of Ghana, Togo, and Benin, shrine slavery persists, despite being illegal in Ghana since 1998. In this system of ritual servitude, sometimes called trokosi (in Ghana) or voodoosi in Togo and Benin, young virgin girls are given as slaves to traditional shrines and are used sexually by the priests in addition to providing free labor for the shrine. Slavery in Sudan continues as part of an ongoing civil war. Evidence emerged in the late 1990s of systematic slavery in cacao plantations in West Africa; see the chocolate and slavery article...

"African participation was major in the slave trade.  Britain played a prominent role in the Atlantic slave trade, especially after 1600. Slavery was a legal institution in all of the 13 American colonies and Canada (acquired by Britain in 1763). The profits of the slave trade and of West Indian plantations amounted to 5% of the British economy at the time of the Industrial Revolution."

Says Wikipeida: “The Africans that participated in the slave trade would sell their captive or prisoners of war to European buyers. Selling captives or prisoners was common practice amongst Africans and Arabs during that era. The prisoners and captives that were sold were usually from neighboring or enemy ethnic groups. These captive slaves were not considered as part of the ethnic group or 'tribe' and kings held not particular loyalty to them. At times, kings and chiefs would sell the criminals in their society to the buyers so that they could no longer commit crimes in that area. Most other slaves were obtained from kidnappings, or through raids that occurred at gunpoint through joint ventures with the Europeans …

“The kings of Dahomey sold their war captives into transatlantic slavery, who otherwise would have been killed in a ceremony known as the Annual Customs. As one of West Africa's principal slave states, Dahomey became extremely unpopular with neighbouring peoples. Like the Bambara Empire to the east, the Khasso kingdoms depended heavily on the slave trade for their economy. A family's status was indicated by the number of slaves it owned, leading to wars for the sole purpose of taking more captives. This trade led the Khasso into increasing contact with the European settlements of Africa's west coast, particularly the French. Benin grew increasingly rich during the 16th and 17th centuries on the slave trade with Europe; slaves from enemy states of the interior were sold, and carried to the Americas in Dutch and Portuguese ships. The Bight of Benin's shore soon came to be known as the "Slave Coast"

In the 1840s, King Gezo of Dahomey said:

"The slave trade is the ruling principle of my people. It is the source and the glory of their wealth…the mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery…"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery#African_participation_in_the_slave_trade

In a ZH discussion point regarding slavery, Rusty Shorts on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 19:36 #472790 provided this additional information, including documentation in “Who Brought the Slaves to America?” by Walter White Jr. (1968), which established the Jewish role in international and U.S. slavery. Here are excerpts:

“Jews owned over 300 Slave-Running Ships, too numerous to list here, and in continuous operation without interruption bringing Cane from the West Indies, to be made into Rum in Rhode Island, to Africa to trade for slaves, back to the West indies to drop off some slaves, pick up more sugar, onto Carolinas to drop of more slaves pick up more cane and GOLD, back to Rhode Island, to pay the Gold to the Ship owners, and drop off the few unwanted slaves as domestic help…

“It is essential to comprehend the seaport of Newport.  It is important in order to recognize the Jewish share in the Slave Commerce.  There was a period when it was commonly referred to as "The Jewish Newport – World Center of Slave Commerce…

“Newport also became the great trade harbor of the East Coast of North America.  There, vessels from other ports met, to exchange commodities. Newport, as previously mentioned, represented the foremost place in the commerce of Rum, Whiskey, and Liquor dealings… It was from this port that the ships left on their way across the ocean, to gather their black human cargo and then derive great sums of money in exchange for them.

“An authentic, contemporary report, based on authority, indicates that of 128 Slave ships, for instance, unloaded in Charleston, within one year, 120 of these were undersigned by Jews from Newport and Charleston by their own name.  About the rest of them, one can surmise, although they were entered as Boston (1) Norfolk (2), and Baltimore (4),  their real owners were similarly the Jewish slave dealers from Newport and Charleston.

“One is able to assess the Jewish share in the entire dealings of the Newport, if one considers the undertaking of a lone Jew, the Portuguese, Aaron Lopez, who plays an important part in the over-all story of the Jews and Slavery.

“Concerning the entire commerce of the Colonies, and the latter State of Rhode Island, (which included Newport) bills of lading, concessions, receipts, and port clearances carried the signature name of the Jew Aaron Lopez.  This all took place during the years 1726 to 1774.  He had therefore more than 50% of all dealings under his personal control for almost 50 years.  Aside from that there were other ships which he owned, but sailed under other names.”

http://www.iamthewitness.com/books/Walter.White/Who.Brought.the.Slaves.to.America.htm

[WaterWings]

Intensely relevant.

[snowball777]

http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/29/more-than-500-slave...

"What you realize in bonded labor is that the owner decides when they eat, when they sleep, whether they are free to leave or not. All the terms of their life are now dictated by the owner."

In this instance, the laborers were given a cash advance of 10,000 rupees, or about $225, each. They were then taken hundreds of miles away from home to work at the brick kiln.

Which is where government official S. Kandaswamy, along with police authorities and the International Justice Mission, raided the kiln and took the owner by surprise. The raiders themselves were taken aback, too. Expecting to find around 200 people inside, they found instead more than 500, including women and children.

"More than 14 hours a day they are working," Kandaswamy said. "Sometimes, they are being beaten, and some harassment was noted by the laborers. No medical facilities. ... Bonded labor is against humanity, so it has to be curbed."

[Mad Cow]

Thanks dwdollar, well said bro.

[Rodent Freikorps]

White males are only about 32% of the population, and the majority, and the imperial courts have decided they will be the next slave class.

What, exactly, is there to celbrate this 4th? That they still have the illusion of freedom? That the government refuses to enforce the southern border, but will enforce Affirmative Action if favor of the invaders? Nice.

Get back to work, and makes me my money, bitch.

[rwe2late]

 The Founding Fathers were, as many others, guilty of hypocrisy and compartmentalized thinking.

 As some have pointed out, the actual history of the US has been marked by violent injustice, conquest, racism, and the like.

 But it is the high ideals professed which make the actions so hypocritical. The words of freedom and equality, taken literally, set a high standard that we have fallen miserably short of.

It is no disservice to point out how far from the ideals the reality has been and continues to be despite the efforts of chauvinist flag-wavers, empire-builders, plutocrats, and militarists to portray it otherwise.

[OldPhart]

It is refreshing to be reminded that we once had leaders of courage, vision and personal sacrifice.

Sadly, most of today's "leaders" are hacks, shills and whores.

[G-R-U-N-T]

Indeed OldPhart....Characteristics in genuine manhood are truly scarce in this day and age.

We have a bunch of effeminate pussies running the country.

[Talcott]

I like the dreams of the future

better than the history of the past.

Thomas Jefferson

[HITMAN56]

“It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good.” - TJ “Every generation needs a new revolution.” -TJ

[HITMAN56]

....

[goldsaver]

Sadly, there are no men of honor anymore. You may question the motives and results of the revolution (and if you are French, remember that it took you three times, had monsieur guillotine as your friend and you ended up with Napoleon Bonapart), but you may not question the actual risk and sacrifice of the founders. In these days when a mere threat of a no fly zone over Texas cowers proud Texas "legislators" (sorry, I threw up a bit calling them Texans) and withholding of education funds cower the rest, what kind of hope do we have left.

Who amongst us will stand and write our name large so the King can read without his specatacles. Who amongst us will shout, "you may all go to hell, I am going to Texas".

Who amongst us is willing to pledge our lives, fortunes and sacred honors?

Who amongst us is willing to pull the trigger and send 150gr of copper and lead to end the tyrants reign?

Anyone? Bueller?

No, there are no men left. Call them racist. Call them rich white guys. Call them what you wish. But on Monday, call them better than you.

[Rodent Freikorps]

Where the fuck have you been?

 The threat of losing highway funds made the states the sex slaves of the Feds over 30 God damn years ago.

[Monedas]

Rodent ! You sound like a highway guy ! Here's Monedas' panacea to relieve traffic congestion on our urban freeways and Tollways !            !. Double or triple the number of transition lanes at freeway intersections ! Traffic slows on transition lane curves and has to merge ! Speed drops by half.......double these critical lanes to avoid a temporal bottleneck effect !      2. Double the number of off ramps ! Don't increase the number of on ramps ! 5 to 10 per cent traffic reduction, more emergency rerouting options to lessen severe traffic jams, enhance business property values and opportunities at new offramps, easy EPA approval for reducing carbon emissions ! Monedas 2011 Serving humanity as a hoarder !

[Rodent Freikorps]

My plan is simple:

Outlaw any vehicle from driving on public roads until is is completely paid for.

[Monedas]

Well, if you're goin' to get creative on me......hire Syrian snipers to randomly dampen irrational  motorist exuberance ! Monedas 2011 Put DavidPierre in a toll booth ! He'd talk them to death !

[Rodent Freikorps]

He'd bore them to death. I'd bet he is an Ivy League lecturer. I'd rather do time at Pelican Bay.

[WaterWings]

Nah. Call up Lagos and tell 'em you need someone to collect cash.

[Monedas]

DavidPierre ! So all the immigrants, legal and illegal, are dying to get here to join our crimminal conspiracy against humanity ? Go to the border and tell them to go back to save their souls ! Monedas 2011 Your message has not resonated with the great unwashed.....tommorrow's cannon fodder ! We're all damned......go save the innocent, naive noobies......stop preaching to us in the Devil's choir ! It has been estimated (by Monedas) that if the American border with Mexico was opened without notice for 24 hours....10 to 15 million people would scurry accross ! 35,000 would be trampled to death as in a European soccer stadium stampede ! Reach out to them, DavidPierre !

[AldousHuxley]

QUESTION: How many of signers of declaration of independence were slave owners?

ANSWER: About 1/3 of them were slave owners including 2 out of the three writers: thomas Jefferson who owned over 150 slaves. he gave them freedom at his death bed but sinse he was in such deep debt his estate was acquired so it is hard to tell how many were. Ben franklin the second owned two house servants but he soon liberated that and became one of the fervid founding members of the Pennsylvania Abolition movement.

It was new British elite vs. old British elite fight over control of the new world.

[Rodent Freikorps]

What exactly is your point douchebag?

Gandhi was a mother fucking racist, same as Lenin, Mao and Mohammad.

The world is imperfect.

[Monedas]

Pol Pot was a "readist" ! He killed 2 million people who might read the Declaration of Independence ! Did Israel maintain an embassy in Cambodia ? Monedas 2011 Probably not.....they surely would have spoken up at the UN ? 

[AldousHuxley]

My point is you and your children are still slaves. World is imperfect. Enjoy your short lives celebrating the glorious slave owners' victories with some Chinese made fireworks!

[Rodent Freikorps]

Chinese government owns over a billion slave today.

I am amazingly clear of conscience.

Getting old is overrated. Best to die slaughtering your enemies.

[AldousHuxley]

As you get older, is slaughtering your enemies better deal than collecting six figure California CHIPS pension starting age 45?

[Rodent Freikorps]

Yes. Valhalla or the grey lands. It is a binary solution set.

War is the flowering of Chivalry.

[Monedas]

I've been to Mt. Vernon ! I'd love to fix up one of those little slave cottages with a view of the Potomac ! Abe Lincoln, eat your heart out ! I wouldn't have to take down any Chinese worker's dormitory suicide nets ! Piece o' cake ! Monedas 2011 I'd get my metal detector and go find that silver dollar he threw across the Potomac (Greek for river) !

[WaterWings]

What is the "Freedom" coefficient, vis-a-vis security?

[Monedas]

Huh ? Don't follow you WaterBrains ? This is not a rehearsal.....this is life ! Monedas 2011 TSAs touch my privates.....I feel free to reduce their intelligence coefficients !

[WaterWings]

As in, how many "protectors" do we need for Freedom? Apparently, post-9.11, we need many, many of them. In human history, is there a balance? A mean to which we can align?

[Monedas]

The TSA seems the closest we've come to emulating Hitler's "Brown Shirts" ! I would rather they issue everbody, including Muslims, orange jump suits, scan 'em and let em board ! Searchin' babies and grandmas sucks ! If you want to ship luggage.....Fed Ex it before hand ? Monedas 2011 Always thinkin' !

[Rodent Freikorps]

The current administration makes the rules TSA must enforce.

[nmewn]

Here's an idea!

Lets search babies while the adult parents are forced to stand aside and watch...and elderly ladies wearing Depends!

[Rodent Freikorps]

Or we could practice racial profiling like every other nation on Earth. Why? Because it fucking works, that's why.

Political Correctness is a form of insanity.

We are an insane nation.

[nmewn]

Looking for the bombers instead of the bombs makes too much sense.

It requires less government taxation & labor ;-)

[WaterWings]

The TSA Fucks can go jump off a cliff, in "good ole day" terms. 

If you work for the gov't, I would push you off. Today.

[AldousHuxley]

Question of the day:

Is there a fireworks celebration of 'our' independence at casinos on native american reservations?

[Rodent Freikorps]

If you can't be bothered to invent the wheel, you do not deserve to keep the land.

Wahhh.

The only reason America's "minorities" can even spell more or less correctly, is because we raped enough of their females that they are at least 55% Caucasian.

[AldousHuxley]

According to archaeologists, the wheel was probably invented in around 8,000 B.C. in Asia. No wonder Chinese own America.

You know white folks are the "minorities" in California and soon the rest of the southwest. Also with spellcheckers, nobody knows how to spell anymore.

Also, what kind of sick white bastard rapes ugly uneducated minority females? Oh, the lowest of the low.

[Rodent Freikorps]

Chinese are too corrupt to rule the world.

Vikings rape every god damned body.

The only hope I have for California is that is burns to the ground. It is already a Mexican state.

[Monedas]

Do Puerto Ricans celebrate with fireworks the yearly anniversary of the date they voted to not separate from the US ? I think Puerto Rico should have a monthly referendum on independence ! It could be done electronically with their SNAP cards ! Monedas 2011 Wouldn't that shut up the FLN terrorists Clinton released !

[Monedas]

Invent the wheel ? They didn't have horses and burros......their squaws drug everything behind them on poles ! Why didn't the Native Americans do a pre-emptive strike and invade Europe like the Muslims are doing ? Why do Leftist want to take a snap shot of history then claim it represents all history ? Monedas 2011 A Leftist mind is a waste !

[AldousHuxley]

Muslims didn't invade Europe. Europeans invited them in. Cheap labor in the pyramid scheme bankster economics redefined as diversity.

Muslims are the Indians of  British Empire, and Blacks of America.

But then Europeans found that eastern europeans are just as cheap and they are all white meat.

[Rodent Freikorps]

Charles "the hammer" Martel.

Look it up, and stop being an idiot fool, muslim ass kisser.

[Moe Howard]

Do you know any history at all before the 20th century?

[SilverRhino]

>>Muslims didn't invade Europe.

You better go study idiot.  France, AL-Andalus, Reconquista, Vienna, Constantinople to Istanbul, Venice, Malta.  All muslim invasions or responses to invasion. 

[AldousHuxley]

Puerto Ricans can't become independent when they receive $9billion welfare from uncle sam.

"Puerto Ricans had a per capita GDP estimate of $17,100 for 2009.^[5] Federal transfer payments to Puerto Rico make up more than 20% of the island's personal income.^[6] By comparison, the poorest state, Mississippi, had a median level of $21,587"

They do have fine rum....Don Q.

[Tunga]

Puerto Ricans can't become independent... AldousHuxley

They might have to give up their national status too. Which would make them liable to pay income tax to the IRS. Something they don't have to do today. 

[JR]

What would it take to fix the so-called Indian problem, to your satisfaction?  A few hundred more tax-free casinos, maybe? More tax-free sacred land grants to add to the 55.7 million acres now reserved for native Americans, many in some of the nation’s most expensively developed areas - to add to those they have already in expensive areas such as downtown Palm Springs, or in Phoenix, San Diego, Santa Barbara County, or New Mexico or Georgia or Florida?

Or say more prime, occupied land along the Oregon coast, or more quaint lighthouses such as Cape Blanco or St. Martin Island Lighthouse on land now owned by a Native American Indian tribe that allows no passage directly onto the island by tourists?

There are currently 12 Indian reservations that are larger than the state of Rhode Island and 9 reservations larger than Delaware.  How about handing back Manhattan Island that the native Americans sold for $24 in beads and related trinkets?  Or giving them Washington, DC?

As you inadvertently point out, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court have been especially generous with the natives. All those Indians who live under their own governments within their reservation lands if they so choose to live there (even for tribes down to 3 or 4 members), have been allowed to build gambling casinos and resort hotels on those lands and reap the benefits of having exclusive access to populated areas that “non-native American” businesses are not allowed to have.

And, if the huge debt we owe native Americans (except of course if it turns out that the true native American was a white men such as Kennewick man whose remains are in limbo following claims by Kennewick, Washington’s “native Americans” that his remains belong to them to destroy because he was found in “native soil and whose grave was obliterated with rubble by Bill Clinton since Mr. Kennewick obviously long pre-dates “native” Indian arrival) falls short of forcing all of us on a Pol Pot genocide death march and turning the entire country back to them, what, practically, could be done that would satisfy you?

And while we are discussing this and that, how is your point relative to the establishment of freedom for all Americans?

[WaterWings]

"Never again!"

[Rodent Freikorps]

If that is a jewish reference, that should read, "Always, the same shit."

It seems they cannot fail to fund their own worst enemies.

You cannot save fools from themselves.

Shit happens.

[WaterWings]

Why don't they let everyone build sandcastles?

http://www.spaciousplanet.com/world/photo/9459/israel-banksy.html

[AldousHuxley]

All is fair in love and war. The original question was not meant to be taken seriously but it has obviously exposed the sensitivity of white middle class who got their jobs sold out by WASP capitalists, indebted by Jewish banksters, and out voted politically by Latinos and blacks.

So....we have what Mexicans are doing to California. Maybe after having Mexican majority, Mexican dominated culture, Mexican history in schools, Spanish as official language, Mexican politicians essentially driving out the unproductive whites, then they will give white folks a tax free casino boat in Lake Tahoe as a consolation prize.

Then the question becomes: will poor displaced whites celebrate cinco de mayo by eating at a Mexican restaurant?

[Rodent Freikorps]

Seems that way.

White males are the most pussified humans on the face of the earth. And I include Swedish pussies who only hope they won't be imprisoned for having sex with a female.

Fuckin insanity is on the rise.

[Shell Game]

Insanity is the new normal.  Sanity is being an outsider looking in..

[anony]

Contrary to this accolade to the Founders, a monstrous mistake was made in creating a single country on this part of the continent, and was made much worse during the Jackson and Lincoln admenstruations.

We have been witness to the folly of men who think that a single entity is better than many of them. Men who cannot govern their own family, a tiny village, or themselves sought govern what is now nearly 310,000,000 people.

The result: Look around you.  Utter chaos, corruption enshrined, embedded in the fabric of this mess we call the United States, and now So huge that it fails, epically.

The maniacal egos of a group of men who thought that they could govern, under a single entity, a diverse multicultural, multireligious, polymorphic people is a damning testament, and to celebrate it year after year is truly a sign of the ongoing insanity.

Franklin at least was cynic enough to realize it, and the guy who said that a democratic republic will never last because once the voter realizes that to get what he wants without working for it all he has to do is to pull a lever in the voting booth, while both are a tiny pinhead fraction of a minority, turn out to be 100% correct.

Humbug. The 4th of July is a celebration of something that does not exist.

[Hacked Economy]

I don't agree with your heavy sense of cynicism, but I do concede that this country might be a wee bit too large for its own good.  I remember when even my home state of California was talking about breaking up into two states (but it never will...L.A. depends too much upon NorCal's resources and would go to war to keep it).

Anyone here watch the short-lived TV series Jericho?  The notion of a second American Civil War was interesting in the way it was presented, but I was rather fascinated with the idea of three sovereign nations resulting from the chaos.  The United States of America (Eastern half), the Allied States of America (Western half), and the Republic of Texas.

I can understand many of the classic two-way divisions this country might encounter...liberal/conservative...Judeo-Christian/agnostic...whatever.  But what idealogical divisions could split a country three ways?

I think the large geographic area of our country isn't a problem.  But it's kinda tough to get 300+ million residents to all get along and play nice.  I wonder if we'll ever see a true attempt at secession from any states in the future?  Would the Fed Gov't give them the finger and say good riddance, or would it go to war to prevent it?

[Monedas]

We should get the same referendum Puerto Pobre got ? Europeon Onion isn't goin' so well ? Our Constitution was designed with balances and term limit safeguards (4 yrs for Pres. term) etc. to keep us from voting ourselves into permanent Mobocracy ! Obviously we need more safeguards to break up the Democrat hegemony Mobocracy ! A democracy is funcioning when we don't elect Stalin monsters and when there is regular alternating power between the leading parties fighting over the middle ! We have a permanent, tax supported bias for the Democrat party ! Monedas 2011 I thought the Left was all about fairness ????

[takinthehighway]

Food for thought...the Constitution and states' rights...

http://southernnationalcongress.org/truths/2011/states_rights_and_consti...

[AldousHuxley]

Who wants to sacrifice their life for 'honor'? If you sacrifice a limb during battle, then I 'll will throw in a medal in a shape of a heart. The catch is, you have to leave your job and family behind and eliminate pesky middle eastern families and secure the oil rigs.

At least founders put up their own lives and risk losing their entire property. Today, elites play simWar in cushy pentagon with Chinese money and other people's children's lives.

[Monedas]

I just want to see the whole world get the same proctology exam Americans get every day by our lovely, balanced and fair, media ! Monedas 2011 Leaves his water mark like a snake leaves his line in the sand !

[Rodent Freikorps]

You have a point. We were promised no more Viet Nams.

They lied.

Never trust a government. Especially a socialist government.

[AldousHuxley]

Communists were supposedly 'our' enemies. Just 20 years later, Vietnamese factory workers make Old Navy t-shirts with American flag on the front and politican's kids are eating a bowl of Pho soup as a hangover cure.

Apparently, now Vietnamese communist landholding elites are starting up their travel industry by trying to attract American tourists.

The world is a funny place.

[Monedas]

What did you and Jane Fonda think when China viciously invaded North Viet Nam immediately after our withdrawal ? Remember that one ? Monedas 2011 Keeper of inconvenient truths ! How about when Russia killed 25,000 Officers of the Polish Army at the end of World War II ?

[AldousHuxley]

Stupid Chinese...they won the war but they didn't make any cheap T-shirts.

Russians killed plenty of their own so no surprise there.

Americans kill too indirectly using native's own dictators....only if the natives occupy something we want.

I'm not complaining about the low gas prices. But let's not delude ourselves why gas prices are so low.

[Rodent Freikorps]

We are all communists now.

The US has its first dictator in Obama.

[AldousHuxley]

Bush and Hank Paulson bailed out the banks with your tax money. We are all socialists now. Actually if you count all of the special interest tax breaks and subsidies, we never really had a free market.

[nmewn]

And what of Barry & Pelosi's little lamb Clarice?...what sound did it make when its throat was slashed? 

[AldousHuxley]

I didn't say Obama and Pelosi are innocent. In fact, they are as guilty as Bush. Thus, America finds herself in a quagmire. Pelosi's net worth is in real estate in California which her husband owns as a real estate speculator/developer.

It doesn't matter....central banker is more powerful than the president.

[nmewn]

Well, there is no doubt Bush came in as a social conservative and left as a conservative socialist...lol.

But sober historians will place Pelosi at the very top in the annals of power drunken madness.

[Moe Howard]

Exactly.

[Dadburnitpa]

"Ain't seen a night
Things work out right
Go by

Things on my mind
And I just don't have the time
And it don't seem right

Ain't seen a day
That I don't hear people say
They know they're gonna die

Now, this may seem a little bit crazy
But I don't think you should be so lazy
If you think you've heard this before
Well, stick around I'm gonna tell you more

One just like the other
Sin's a good man's brother
But is that right?

You tell me that I don't
Then I say I won't
But then I might

You said this is the way it's supposed to be
But it just don't seem right to me
And that's outta sight

Some folks need an education
Don't give up or we'll lose the nation
You say we need a revolution
It seems to be the only solution"

M. Farner, GFR, Closer to Home, "Sin's A Good Man's Brother"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmXeAFXirKs&feature=related

[Reese Bobby]

The answer to all of America's problem's are readily available in the Christian Bible.  Now this Country may never save itself but each individual can.  And in the scheme of things this World is not that big a deal.  So turn that frown upside down you angry anarchists!

[AldousHuxley]

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+31%3A6-7&version=NIV

Proverbs 31:6-7 New International Version (NIV)

Let beer be for those who are perishing,
   wine for those who are in anguish!
Let them drink and forget their poverty
   and remember their misery no more.

So that's why the monks make good beer!

[Rodent Freikorps]

The barbed cock of Satan has your name on it.

[Reese Bobby]

Sounds like you might know something about that.  But Jesus lives in me so I am unimpressed.  And it is never too late for you...

[AldousHuxley]

No satan = no god, no hell = no heaven. But all this awakening is not good for status quo.

The elites are using religion to control you in your place. It is only you who are living by the rules of the Bible. The elites are exempt. How can Bush or any president call themselves Christians and go to church when they kiss the hand of the Saudis who have multiple wives and enslave their population? Religious righteousness is like a honor medal for soldiers. It is a worthless prop. wake up!

[Reese Bobby]

That is not for me to judge.  Which is both enlightening and liberating.

But beer is indeed good.

[Talcott]

Indeed people have been decieved and manipulated by 'elite's', infact they have peverted many belief systems.  However the progentitors of many of these systems such as Yeshua's technology will be the very things that will bring an alteration of Man's behavior.

Love, Forgiveness, Compassion, Charity eternal technology.

http://www.near-death.com/

[Monedas]

Japanese Leftists complain about US Forces in Okinawa ! Russia cowardly stole Japan's northenmost islands after declaring war on Japan during the final days of WWII ! Why don't Japanese Leftist complain about that ? Thank God there is a USA ! Even I admit, a bag of shit like Hillary is slightly better than foreign Socialists ! Monedas 2011 I'll expose the filthy Left as long as I live ! Happy 4th of July ! Monedas.....one of America's gifts to a hungry world ! Tyler, too !

[AldousHuxley]

That's what happens when you lose a war. The winner takes over military duties to protect the loser.

Japan is not allowed to have a military.

Germany is not allowed to have a military.

Iraq is not allowed to have a military.

Soon Iran will not be allowed to have a military.

America provides 'protection'.

[chindit13]

ZH Super PAC.

If Stephen Colbert can do it, so can ZH.

More importantly, if JPM can do it, so must ZH.

[WaterWings]

 Chindit,

FUCK YOU.

I don't care how erudite your thoughts are.

Your "anti-conspiracy" bullshit really, really pisses me of.

GO FUCK YOURSELF.

You are a fucking Hamilton.

Although strong, and without benefit of context, I WOULD PUKE IN YOUR FUCKING SKULL YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT.

You are a net-negative for the human race.

[chindit13]

It seems I have gotten in the way of a good fantasy, though I feel no obligation to apologize any more than I would if I failed to see someone's imaginary friend.  Funny that questioning the veracity of outright silly theories, or bringing the same degree of skepticism to the Internet Gurus that others bring to the MSM, causes such virulent, artery-popping outrage.  Must be bad chemicals running amok in that confined space on which your hat sits.

If you behave, perhaps you'll get a new visa to return to your soothing world of delusion, so that you'll once again have the comfort of rationalizing your failure and unhappiness in life by blaming it on "them".  In the meantime, the real crimes, most of which are sitting in plain sight, will go unpunished because the opposition is easily discredited by the sad company it unwillingly keeps.

I need not stoop to your level by firing off internet epithets, because your very nature does to yourself, without anyone's help nor admonition, what you suggest for those not sharing your delusions.

By the way, it would be an amusing, though short-lived parlor game to speculate what good you have done for the human race.  The empty set.

[WaterWings]

You are no simple contrarian, and again, a "net negative".

I don't recall you reasonably refuting (not even any link-love) any of those "silly" theories.

Your aloof contempt curdles and knots societal frustration and fails to support freedom.

I found it almost hilarious to see you, somewhat compulsively, posting after our main "conspiracy" theorist. Sorry, it's that word you don't like. You don't "believe" in it, right?

That's okay. Neither do banker fucks. They just don't know what you're talking about when you bring up the idea of collusion. They can't help getting richer.

So, now that you're airing out your wealth in SE Asia after learning a lot of lessons, maybe you could help us advance some TRUTH, if it's not too much trouble.

PUKE IN YOUR SKULL

[chindit13]

There are real battles to wage, then there is Don Quixote.  Sane and knowledgeable people, plus those who value economy of effort, can separate the two.  Just as nothing could convince DQ those windmills were not dragons, nothing could ever convince you that your beliefs are just as misinformed or as delusionary as his perceived foes.  The counterarguments have been posted ad nauseum, but the only response you can muster to those who disagree with you is to "puke in their skulls".  And you call me a "net negative"?  DQ's inner demons were harmless in comparison to what ails you and prompts such postured violence.  I suspect that life has afforded you little happiness, though the pains are most likely self-inflicted.

I have this theory, subject to further study, that people like you exist in order to make the likes of Jamie and Lloyd look good in comparison.  Heck of a job you're doing, and with the rest of the conspiratorialists you have diminished the credibility of what once was a site that struck fear into those who need striking.

[WaterWings]

Thank any God I'm not in your parlor, playing games; debating the status quo - as if we some sort of goddamn aristocrats.

You make the obvious even more painful for those living through it. This isn't fucking Simulacres et Simulation - the Military-Industrial Complex bombs people without any second thought - billions pilfered and you disdain the word "conspiracy", even though it is taught in the first year of law school.

DQ? How about Serpico? How about The Pentagon Papers? Pick a fucking medium. I make Jamie look better? Come back to planet Earth; after that windmill rotates you back down.

How about you post some of your counter-arguments; for our benefit. Everything I've seen so far, though interesting, is anecdotal.

[chindit13]

Besides being prone to postured violence, you also engage in spurious debate.  My contention has always been that if US society is going to be saved, it has to address the real and visible problems.  For you to insinuate anything else is false.  The power of the banker class, the power of the lobbyists, the self-destructive foreign policy of the US...all that is in plain sight.

What I object to is the nonsense perpetrated by the Internet Gurus who use sophistry, foolish speculation, and outright fabrication to create demons who do not exist.  Such foolishness detracts from the real issues and makes it easier to discredit anyone who might stand against the banker class, foolish politicians, or the defense industry.  It is a constant puzzle why the rantings of the IG's would be taken as gospel by the very same people who fancy themselves uber-sophisticated and who question everything coming from the MSM.  Sheeple come in many colors.

Perhaps I am one of the few on ZH who still bothers to address the lunacy when it rears it silly head.  Most everyone else has ceded the ground to the "Tim Osman" crowd and no longer bothers.  That gives you the false impression that you represent the true ZH zeitgeist, when in fact all you do is detract from the effectiveness that ZH might have.

[WaterWings]

All I have to do is look up one of your posts on a GW contribution to see your silliness and detraction.

Is it factually incorrect that OBL worked for the CIA? You seem to imply such. Is that information "sophistry, foolish speculation, and outright fabrication"?

So, we have whistleblowers that end up in jail for trying to address the real and visible problems. Bankers now just pay large fines as a cost of doing business rather than go to jail. Bradley Manning is being tortured for trying to address problems that are kept out of our view. Oh, I'm sorry, is this spurious? So it looks like we agree - we're having a difficult time with these broad-daylight problems as it is. Tip 'o the iceberg. I don't recall you making any suggestions on how the world economy gets out of this fix. 

That you, with others, actively strawman what you consider the "batshit" crowd (the ones that want answers to hard questions based on facts) irredeemably identifies you as an enemy of humanity.

[chindit13]

Softball pitch.

"ObL worked for the CIA"

This is how the conspiracy crowd, and GW in particular, use sophistry to fabricate a tale.

ObL joined the Mujahideen.  The Mujahideen (you can transliterate however you wish;  I speak Arabic so I choose my own manner of transliteration) received funding from the CIA.  From that fact, somehow the conspiracy crowd gets "Tim Osman" and "alCIAda" (the latter a naive opinion, the former a straight pull-out-of-the-ass fabrication).

I suppose you can choose to believe what you wish about al Qaeda, and fancy yourself uber sophisticated.  Ignorance is often willful.  The Downing Effect is real.  There is nothing anyone is ever going to be able to do to convince you of the error of your ways.  What I might be willing to debate is that US policies might have led to a backlash of which al Qaeda is the most virulent part, but I will not debate the reality of al Qaeda.  My experience obviously differs vastly from your own.  You are fortunate that your life is so sheltered;  it allows you the luxury of being wrong.

As for "Tim Osman"...if the conspiracy crowd is going to pull something out of their ass, at least do some research first.  There is guidance in the public record.  Try Phillip Agee's book for starters.  Code names in the CIA are constructed from a two letter digraph denoting a country or organization, followed by a name chosen by the IA who first establishes the 201 file.  Thus ObL might have been named something like TXBADGUY.  Not "Tim Osman".

This is the sort of thing GW does, though I don't ever remember him using "Tim Osman".  On the other hand, I have followed a good number of his links (as have other disappointed readers).  What I found were dead ends and quotes or facts taken completely out of context.  For example, GW will quote a government official as saying "we don't know anywhere near the whole story about 911".  Sounds sinister, yes?  Look at it in context, however, rather than as a cherry-picked soundbite, and what one finds is that the speaker was airing his frustration that various turf battles and/or the desire to save face kept government officials or agencies from coming clean on their own incompetence.  Incompetence is a very different thing than guilt.

Another "proof" I remember from a GW article concerned an "FBI translator who claims ObL was still a CIA asset".  Does GW think the CIA would not have its own translators if, indeed, it needed to debrief its "asset" and thus needed to use some GS-8 FBI contractor?

Just off the top of my head I also recall a notation GW had made to a US State Department Consular officer who served in Jeddah in the mid to late 1980's.  This Consular Officer stated that he had been encouraged to grant visas to Afghans who otherwise might not qualify.  GW extrapolated from this that visas were given to the hijackers in the late 1990's, though the official quoted had long since left Jeddah.  Absolutely nothing backs up GW's extrapolation.  Now, is it possible that this 1980's CO was encouraged to grant visas to some otherwise unqualified Afghans?  Yes, since the USG was supporting the Mujahideen against the Soviets at that time.  GW's leap, however, is the definition of sophistry.

You can do the rest of the homework yourself, as that would make it far more convincing.

The whole 911 conspiracy thing is much too long to get into here, has been done ad nauseum, and everyone's mind has already been made up.  For an unintended record of the dismantling of the "theories", however, one can watch the various and numerous permutations of "Loose Change", edited repeatedly as its arguments have been exposed as false.

I've already mentioned such things as kinetic energy, BTU's, better stop watches, faster-than-"freefall"-falling debris, and such things as the logical inconsistency of bringing buildings down via "controlled demolition" when an east-west tumble would have been far more spectacular, or taking down an entire building supposedly to destroy the only copies of some incriminating documents when a Watergate-style break-in would have been a heck of a lot easier.  Here's just one more fun thing to watch to make you reconsider one of your other arguments:

http://www.aopa.org/aopalive/?watch=dsdTFqMjplCJNSm7xLD44jHAw6fyzevp

In closing, I have been lucky enough to be outside the US while its dramatic decline has been taking place.  It hurts to watch, but at least I'm not there to feel it.  The incompetence and corruption as evidenced by the very real banking crisis and foreign policy blunders is outrageous.  What is saddening, however, and which gets very little mention on ZH and the other blogs is the great decline in the quality of the typical US citizen of which you are a prime example.  Grossly overestimating knowledge and sophistication, and possessing a character which sees no issue so small that it cannot be solved through violence has become the hallmark of the American character to such an extent that I now doubt the society can be saved.  There are far too many people like you, and nowhere near enough good and rational people.

When I first found ZH, back when most all of us were "anonymous" and when the readership was both wiser and more sophisticated, I thought this website and others like it could provide the type of pressure needed to finally begin dismantling the control the banking industry and other corporate interests have on America.  Sadly, the moonbats were drawn to the site, which both drove off most of the original readership and lent an (unintended) hand to destroying the credibility of this site and making it so easy to dismiss.  Jamie, Lloyd, and Tim could not have done a better job of marginalizing ZH.  Congratulate yourself for being a part of the decline.

[WaterWings]

I think you have sucked too much helium and with a squeaky voice, "Well, I speak Arabic, chap. How about this rarefied air? Good, no?"

I watched the video. You will have to provide some link-love if you want anyone around here to agree with your position, for I would love to know, for myself, what argument I have ever made to prompt you to post the (almost) entirely irrelevant video. Why don't you provide some links to the claims you refute.

That's what I find most interesting - you take no time to explain what the truth is - only that there is no conspiracy. Thank a fucking lot, you piece of shit.

Please go back to watching fruit bats in India while the rest of us suffer through our lack of sophistication.

[psychobilly]

What I object to is... sophistry, foolish speculation, and outright fabrication...

lol.  It's a wonder your head doesn't explode. 

Your histrionic screeds consist of little else.

[chindit13]

If you are in need of histrionics, go up to WaterWings original comment.