How New Year Traditions Came About

Have you ever wondered how New Years became a celebration and resolutions to do better or be better or something along those lines became a part of the tradition? Me too, I got curious and decided to do a little research and came up with the following bit of trivia which I hope informs and entertains you.  

The celebration of the New Year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, Babylonians celebrated the beginning of a new year on what is now March 23.Greeks chose to celebrate on the Winter Solstice, At that time in history the Roman calendar only had ten months with March being the first month. That would give each month 36 and a half days. 
Numa Pompilius, the second king, of Rome, divided the year into twelve lunar months by adding the months of January and February giving the months 29 days each. The months now only had 349 days each. New Years was shifted to January 1 as it marked the beginning of the civil year in Rome.
 

The tradition of New Year's Resolutions goes back to 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar. With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.

Julius Caesar was pretty smart. He figured that since a year had 365 days, each month should have 30 or 31 days except for February which had 28 or 29.  That was the beginning of the Julian solar calendar. That 29 came much later as a leap year addition but Julius came real close to the real deal.

There have been arguments about calendar when to celebrate what just about since the calendar begun. Medieval Europe the celebrations were considered pagan and unchristian like and in 567 A.D. the Council of Tours abolished January 1 as the beginning of the year In various places through out Medieval Europe, December 25 the New Year was celebrated along with the birth of Jesus, March 1, March 23, the Feast of the Annunciation and Easter.

  

So, for 40000 years, we humans have been celebrating some date as the beginning of the new year, and using it as a reason to drink and be rowdy then make some kind of resolution to not make the same mistakes again in the next year, Yeah…sure we do...Have a Happy New Year and keep those resolutions simple.

The Communist Party of the USA

I came across a video of the Communist Party USA this morning which offended my sensibilities as well as my intelligence. Watch it below and read my comments if you will.

I hear more cries from the Unions and other people every day that we need to do away with Capitalism. They make statements such as: “Capitalism steals your money via politicians, taxes, products, services, shops, food, fuel, musicians, celebrities, films, sports, banking, TV, the internet, etc.” 

Under the Communist Manifesto, supposedly written by Karl Marx although Friedrich Engels has often been credited in composing the first drafts. There were ten statements as follows:

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form and combination of education with industrial production.

The implementation of these policies would, as believed by Marx and Engels, be a precursor to the stateless and classless society. In a controversial passage they suggested that the "proletariat" might in competition with the bourgeoisie be compelled to organize as a class, form a revolution, make itself a ruling class, sweep away the old conditions of production, and in that step have abolished its own supremacy as a class. This account of the transition from socialism to communism was criticized particularly during and after the Soviet era.

All well and good but it didn’t work out quite that way. 

Then along came Vladmir Lennin.

Born to a wealthy middle-class family in Simbirsk, Lenin gained an interest in revolutionary leftist politics following the execution of his brother Aleksandr in 1887. Expelled from Kazan State University for participating in anti-Tsarist protests, he devoted the following years to a law degree and to radical politics, becoming a Marxist. In 1893 he moved to St Petersburg, and became a senior figure in the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). Arrested for sedition and exiled to Siberia for three years, he married Nadezhda Krupskaya, and fled to Western Europe, where he became known as a prominent party theorist. In 1903, he took a key role in the RSDLP schism, leading the Bolshevik faction against Julius Martov's Mensheviks. Briefly returning to Russia during the Revolution of 1905, he encouraged violent insurrection and later campaigned for the First World War to be transformed into a Europe-wide proletariat revolution. After the 1917 February Revolution ousted the Tsar, he returned to Russia. 

Lets just call this news clip an obituary:

Nicholas II abdicated his throne in 1917 as revolution swept Russia. He and his family were placed under house arrest in Tsarskoe Selo, then evacuated to Tobolsk in the Urals in August that year. 

The Bolsheviks came to power in October 1917 and by March 1918 the family were forced to live on soldier's rations. 

The next month, the Red Army moved the Romanovs to Yekaterinburg. There were plans to put Nicholas on trial, but these were scuppered (I would have used the word scuttled here,) when the city became the target of the rival anti-communist White Army. 

The Bolsheviks decided to shoot the entire family on July 18 so they could not be rescued by the White Army.  

They woke them, told them to get dressed and pretended they were being moved from Yekaterinburg away from the oncoming battle. 

They were shot in a basement and their bodies buried in a pit near the city. Their remains were reburied in 1998 by the Russian government, who gave them a state funeral.

Lenin, along with Leon Trotsky, played a senior role in orchestrating the October Revolution in 1917, which led to the overthrow of the Provisional Government and the establishment of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. Lenin was elected to the position of the head of government by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Under Lenin's leadership the new government nationalized the estates and crown lands. Homosexuality and abortion were legalized; Lenin's Russia was the first country in the world to establish both of these rights. Free access was being given to both abortion and birth control. No-fault divorce was also legalized, along with universal free healthcare and free education being established. Lenin supported world revolution and immediate peace with the Central Powers, agreeing to a punitive treaty that turned over a significant portion of the former Russian Empire to Germany. The treaty was voided after the Allies won the war. In 1921 Lenin proposed the New Economic Policy, a mixed economic system of state capitalism that started the process of industrialization and recovery from the Civil War. In 1922, the Russian SFSR joined former territories of the Russian Empire in becoming the Soviet Union, with Lenin as its head of government. Only 13 months later, after being incapacitated by a series of strokes, Lenin died at his home in Gorki.

After his death, there was a struggle for power in the Soviet Union between two major factions, namely Stalin's and the Left Opposition (with Trotsky as de facto leader). Eventually, Stalin, whom Lenin distrusted and wanted removed, came to power and eliminated any opposition.

Lenin remains a controversial and highly divisive world figure. Historian J. Arch Getty has remarked that "Lenin deserves a lot of credit for the notion that the meek can inherit the earth, that there can be a political movement based on social justice and equality". Lenin had a significant influence on the international Communist movement and was one of the most influential and controversial figures of the 20th century. Admirers view him as a champion of working people's rights and welfare. However, others disagree: one of his biographers Robert Service, says he, "laid the foundations of dictatorship and lawlessness. Lenin had consolidated the principle of state penetration of the whole society, its economy and its culture. Lenin had practiced terror and advocated revolutionary unscrupulousness." Time magazine named Lenin one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century, and one of their top 25 political icons of all time; remarking that "for decades, Marxist–Leninist rebellions shook the world while Lenin's embalmed corpse lay in repose in the Red Square". Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, reverence for Lenin declined among the post-Soviet generations, yet he remains an important historical figure for the Soviet-era generations.

The history of the atrocities committed by these men who thought they knew a better way than Capitalism has filled books, and I do not want to make a book of this blog, but by omitting a lot of known and documented facts about Socialism and or Communism (there’s very little difference between the two no matter what the intellectuals say).

I’ve been told that I’m too long winded as a writer but I hate to omit any thing factual to prove a point. But for the sake of shortening up this (I call it a diatribe where I rant my opinions), I will summarize with a few thoughts.

These Socialist Democrats who are pro worker and anti Capitalism, pro jobs and all the other things discussed in the video included with this blog leads me to question is if there is no Capitalists, then who is going to create the jobs, the government? Hell, we are already broke. The government of all other Socialists countries failed miserably. People in China work for slave wages. Russian citizens make far less money than any American who holds a job. Most Americans can afford to buy a home or rent an apartment. In Russia you are told where to work and where to live. You take what salary is offered and have no one to complain to. There are no food stamps, no welfare but yes there is Socialized medicine and if you are sick you can go to the doctor for free. You may have to stand in line a few days but it’s there for you. 

Just out of spite, I would love to see America become socialist for a few years just to show the idiot intellectuals what will happen to their labor party, their jobs and where they are going to have to call their home. But in truth, I love the Constitution and the freedoms it provides for us as Americans. I would really hate to see that go down the drain. I wonder if those socialist democrats have ever thought of losing their freedoms that I’m sure they think they will be able to keep. Or are they taking freedom for granted. Maybe they should get their heads out of their backsides and think about FREEDOM.

Thanksgiving, Just a Little History Lesson

Thanksgiving 2014 is nearing and there is so much misunderstanding about this Thanksgiving Holiday I feel compelled to present the true history of Thanksgiving. 

The Mayflower, filled with religious separatists from England,  was supposed  to land at the mouth of the Hudson River, present day New York but after being blown off course by a storm while crossing the Atlantic they made landfall at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts in 1620, To settle there, they would have wait for permission from the King which would take several months. In order to establish a civil society while they waited, they wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact.

The text of the Mayflower Compact is as follows:

"Having undertaken for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together in a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the gen eral good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sov ereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620."

For the next few months many of the settlers stayed on the May flower while ferrying back and forth to shore to build their new settle ment. In March, they began moving ashore permanently. More than half the settlers fell ill and died that first winter, victims of an epi demic of disease that swept the new colony. After the epidemic was over they began a serious effort to build a self sustaining  colony.

In March of 1621, they began farming and planting crops in order to provide the colony with a constant supply of food. They were aided a native American named Tisquantum, better known as Squanto, who would become a member of the colony. He taught them how to plant and grow corn. Corn was not native to England. He also taught them where to hunt for wild game. The Pilgrims learned much from Squanto about surviving in this new land.

Squanto knew and understood English because had been kidnapped by explorer John Smith and taken to England where he stayed until he could escape back to his native land. He acted as interpreter and mediator between the leaders of the colony and the native Americans.

In  the fall of 1621, after a successful season of planting and harvesting, the Pilgrims shared a meal along with their friends from the Pokanokets tribe that lasted for three days. Even with all the hardships and deaths that settling in the cold northern climate had brought them had no problem thanking God for the His blessings. That was considered the first Thanksgiving.

William Bradford became the first governor of the Plymouth colony and governor for 30 years and penned in his journal: 

"Being thus arived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees & blessed ye God of heaven, who had brought them over ye vast & furious ocean, and delivered them from all ye periles & miseries therof, againe to set their feete on yefirme and stable earth, their proper elemente. And no marvell if they were thus joyefull, seeing wise Seneca was so affected with sailing a few miles on ye coast of his owne Italy; as he affirmed, that he had rather remaine twentie years on his way by land, then by sea to any place in a short time; so tedious & dreadful was ye same unto him.

"But hear I cannot help but stay and make a pause, and stand half amased at this poore peoples present conditions; and so I  thinke will the reader too, when he will considers ye same. Being thus passed ye vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before in their preparation (as nat be renenber bt yt which wente before0, they had now no friends to welcome then, nor inns to entertaine or refresh their weatherbeaten bodys, no houses much less townes to rapaire too, to seek for succor....."

Thanksgiving did not become an official holiday in 1863 when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “prayer, thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens” to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November.

Just How Dead Am I?

All is blackness. I can see no light. All I’m aware of is a splitting headache. I feel that I’m lying on some kind of bed. I come to realize that I have a tube down my throat that’s making me breath. I hear voices in the room with me. I hear the beep of a heart monitor which means I’m not dead yet.

The last memories I have is of lying in my bed snuggled warm and comfortable in my down comforter, my head buried in my pillow. I was sleeping so well. Not a worry in the world. Now my reality seems to have changed.

I hear a man speaking to my wife: “you should considering pulling the plug, his electrocardiogram shows no sign of brain wave activity. He’s been clinically dead for over an hour.”

My wife, crying loudly objects “But doctor, are you sure there is no hope for a recovery.

“The the 38 caliber bullet through his temple has destroyed much of his brain and there isn’t anything we can do to repair it.”

I am unable to speak, move or blink my eyes yet I am aware of everything going on around me. I can’t see nor feel but my hearing is still working. I have become aware of being attached to Intravenous bag filled with something and a mechanical breathing pump which keep my lungs filled with oxygen. I can only guess that it is the only thing keeping my heart beating.

I hear the doctor talking to the police that my death is an apparent suicide.  That the only reason I’m alive is the machine that‘s pumping oxygen into my body. 

Suicide my ass. I have never even considered suicide. I lead a happy successful life in the suburbs and have no money problems nor problems with my marriage. My business is going well so why would I want to end it all on such a successful note.

I hear as my wife tells the Doctor to go ahead and pull the plug. She sobs loudly as he does. The beep on The heart monitor starts slowing down and eventually stops. The nurses disconnect my intravenous lines and remove the tube from my throat. Now I hope I can speak and let them know I’m not dead but nothing comes from my mouth but the last gasp of breath that was pumped into me by the breathing machine.

I quietly lay there while my wife kisses my face and strokes my hair bidding me a loving good bye. Then I’m aware the sheet is being pulled up to cover my face.

As I lay there in this state called death I wondered why I was still conscious of what’s going on around me. I always thought death was the end and that I would be taking hold of an angel’s hand and led to the promised land. I guess that was all a myth taught me as a child when I attended church regularly. 

I was eventually taken downstairs to a refrigerated room where I remained until the undertaker came for my body. I wasn’t aware of the cold, I wasn’t aware of anything except time passing and darkness.

Eventually the undertaker arrived and put me into his van and carried me to his mortuary. There I was placed in another refrigerated vault to await my turn on his stainless steel table. 

Later that evening, a mortician pulled me from the refrigerator and he and his assistant placed me on his stainless steel table, removed my hospital gown and started washing my body. After I was thoroughly clean to their satisfaction, they plugged all my body orifices and made an incision under my left arm to get at the artery and vein through which they would exchange my blood for a formaldehyde formula to preserve my remains. They injected formaldehyde into my stomach and chest cavity then they stitched my mouth shut and made sure to glue my eyes closed. Nothing so frightening as a dead person who eyes pop open while people are viewing the body.

A makeup person came in and touched up my now ashen face and hands so they would look somewhat normal to any viewers that came to visit me before burial. I was then dressed in a white shirt, tie and my blue suit, I can only assume because that was my choice long before my death. They gently lay me in a coffin and pushed it back into the cool room until viewing that evening at 9 pm.

Time seems to have lost all meaning now but I keep trying to remember what led to my death. It surely wasn’t suicide so someone must have killed me....murder?...it’s hard to imagine anyone I know wanting me dead, but someone must have.

The next night I was rolled out and placed in a viewing room for friends and family to come by and give their condolences—pretty much as I have done myself in the past. “Sorry for your loss” and all those comments about him being such a good friend. “He will be missed.” I recognized a lot of the voices as they filed by. It was kind of a surprise to me that a lot of my old friends found the time to come by.

Next morning I was carried down to the Mausoleum where a preacher stood by my coffin and delivered a stirring eulogy. Had he only known that I could hear every word he said, he may not have said so many nice things about me.

After the proceedings were finished, the undertakers pulled my coffin around to where my mausoleum was located and slid my coffin in, bolted the door shut and placed a floral arrangement in front of it for the family and friends to come and pay their final respects.

Now all is quiet again. The undertaker left my casket partially open so my body would mummify. That’s the main reason I bought a mausoleum to begin with. I didn’t want to lay in a sealed vault buried six feet under simmering in my own juices for eternity.

As I lay here with only my thoughts to keep me company I wonder how long will this go on. Will I be entombed with my many thoughts for eternity or will I eventually fade away? Only time will tell. 

Freedom From Religion

I have a specific ire for Atheists who want the We the People to accept that the First Amendment of the Constitution means “Freedom From Religion.”  They even have a foundation called “Freedom From Religion Foundation.”  If they had their way we would all be Atheists like them. If they don’t believe in God, why oh why are they so afraid of those who do. Why are they afraid someone might believe in God just by hearing about Him from a Christian. And a second thought crosses my mind: why do they not go after Islam, after all they believe in a god called Allah. They march up and down the streets with signs saying death to the infidels.

I am so dismayed by a group that is so afraid of religion they want God removed from all aspects of pubic life. If they don’t believe in God, what are they so afraid of. Halloween is coming at the end of October and there will be Witches and Goblins. I don’t mind because I don’t really believe in them and they are no threat to me. If I did not believe in God then I would not think He was a threat to me either. These people must have some other agenda other than Freedom From Religion.

The First Amendment says in part: “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment OF religion OR prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”…The rest goes on to protect freedom of speech.

Those who know their history should remember the break with Rome was effected by a series of acts of England's Parliament passed between 1532 and 1534, among them the 1534 Act of Supremacy which declared King Henry VIII to be the "Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England"

Our Constitution was just a promise that the Government of United States of America would not do that to its citizens, but give them the freedom of worship that came with the differing religions of the immigrants who came to America. On the Mayflower in 1620 there were close to 40 members of a radical Puritan faction known as the English Separatist Church. 

In the ensuing years many differing religions migrated to America; Calvinist, Lutheran, Catholics and Jews . We have Quakers, Amish, Methodists and Baptists. We have more than I can remember so I’m not even going to try and list them all; but suffice it to say we all have the freedom to worship as we see fit according to our understanding of the Gospel. You don’t believe in God, don’t worry about it, apparently you were not meant to, and that is a Biblical statement.

This current ranting, as I call it, was brought about by an article demanding that a poster based on a painting titled “Faith in America” by artist Donald Zolan, which has been hanging in Kenneth Cooper Middle School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for nearly two decades, be removed. The Freedom From Religion Foundation claims it violates the U.S. Constitution.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist activist group, sent a letter to district officials on August 25, 2014 complaining about the poster which features children praying in front of an American flag.

An attorney for the Putnam City Public School District responded to the atheist group September 29, noting that the complaint—reportedly based on a local family’s dissatisfaction with the poster—is the first ever the district has received in its 18 years of displaying the image.

“We cannot agree that the poster displayed in the office is a per se violation of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution,” wrote attorney Anthony Childers.  Though, as you have pointed out, the title given to the artwork by the original artist is labeled ‘Faith in America,’ there is no text displayed with the poster which imputes the artist’s intent, theme, or title.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is hard put to take no for an answer and have written that “in any school context coercion is virtually assumed demanding that the district remove the image to fall in compliance with the U.S. Constitution.”

Let me quote Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia: 

 "For more than 35 years I have written on the topic of America’s religious foundation. I’ve written five books on the subject, dozens of articles, and participated in a debate with atheist lawyer Edward Tabash."

The study of American history will show that the atheists, ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Freedom From Religion Foundation don’t have a constitutional or historical leg to stand on when they file suits against religious displays, sectarian prayers, monuments, or anything else religious as it relates to government. They get away with their legal theatrics because:

(1) the general population is ignorant on the subject and

(2) the courts rule in terms of precedent and not historical verities.

During a speech at Colorado Christian University on Wednesday [October 1, 2014], Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia argued:

"The U.S. Constitution does not prohibit religious references in public places, including schools. Anyone who says otherwise on the facts of the case is lying."

What if illegals left?

Somebody really did their homework on this one. Best on the subject to present date.

What if 20 Million Illegal Aliens Vacated America?

Tina Griego, journalist for the Denver Rocky Mountain News wrote a column titled, "Mexican Visitor's Lament."

I interviewed Mexican journalist Evangelina Hernandez while visiting Denver last week. Hernandez said, "Illegal aliens pay rent, buy groceries, buy clothes. What happens to your country's economy if 20 million people go away?"

Hmmm, I thought, what would happen? So I did my due diligence, buried my nose as a reporter into the FACTS I found below. It's a good question... it deserves an honest answer. Over 80% of Americans demand secured borders and illegal migration stopped. But what would happen if all 20 million or more vacated America? The answers I found may surprise you!

In California, if 3.5 million illegal aliens moved back to Mexico, it would leave an extra $10.2 billion to spend on overloaded school systems, bankrupt hospitals and overrun prisons. It would leave highways cleaner, safer and less congested. Everyone could understand one another as English became the dominant language again.

In Colorado, 500,000 illegal migrants, plus their 300,000 kids and grandchildren would move back "home," mostly to Mexico. That would save Colorado an estimated $2 billion (other experts say $7 billion) annually in taxes that pay for schooling, medical, social-services and incarceration costs. It means 12,000 gang members would vanish out of Denver alone.

Colorado would save more than $20 million in prison costs, and the terror that those 7,300 alien criminals set upon local citizens. Denver Officer Don Young and hundreds of Colorado victims would not have suffered death, accidents, rapes and other crimes by illegals.

Denver Public Schools would not suffer a 67% dropout/flunk rate because of thousands of illegal alien students speaking 41 different languages. At least 200,000 vehicles would vanish from our gridlocked cities in Colorado. Denver's 4% unem ployment rate would vanish as our working poor would gain jobs at a living wage.

In Florida, 1.5 million illegals would return the Sunshine State back to America, the rule of law, and English.

In Chicago, Illinois, 2.1 million illegals would free up hospitals, schools, prisons and highways for a safer, cleaner and more crime-free experience.

If 20 million illegal aliens returned 'home,' the U.S. Economy would return to the rule of law. Employers would hire legal American citizens at a living wage. Everyone would pay their fair share of taxes because they wouldn't be working off the books. That would result in an additional $401 billion in IRS income taxes collected annually, and an equal amount for local, state and city coffers.

No more push '1' for Spanish or '2' for English. No more confusion in American schools that now must contend with over 100 languages that degrade the educational system for American kids. Our overcrowded schools would lose more than two million illegal alien kids at a cost of billions in ESL and free breakfasts and lunches.

We would lose 500,000 illegal criminal alien inmates at a cost of more than $1.6 billion annually. That includes 15,000 MS-13 gang members who distribute $130 billion in drugs annually would vacate our country.

In cities like L.A., 20,000 members of the '18th Street Gang' would vanish from our nation. No more Mexican forgery gangs for ID theft from Americans! No more foreign rapists and child molesters!

Losing more than 20 million people would clear up our crowded highways and gridlock. Cleaner air and less drinking and driving American deaths by illegal aliens!

America's economy is drained. Taxpayers are harmed. Employers get rich. Over $80 billion annually wouldn't return to the aliens' home countries by cash transfers. Illegal migrants earned half that money untaxed, which further drains America 's economy which currently suffers an $8.7 trillion debt. $8.7 trillion debt!!!

At least 400,000 anchor babies would not be born in our country, costing us $109 billion per year per cycle. At least 86 hospitals in California, Georgia and Florida would still be operating instead of being bankrupt out of existence because illegals pay nothing via the EMTOLA Act. Americans wouldn't suffer thousands of TB and hepatitis cases rampant in our country—brought in by illegals unscreened at our borders.

Our cities would see 20 million less people driving, polluting and grid locking our cities. It would also put the 'progressives' on the horns of a dilemma; illegal aliens and their families cause 11% of our greenhouse gases.

Over one million of Mexico's poorest citizens now live inside and along our border from Brownsville, Texas, to San Diego, California, in what the New York Times called, 'colonias' or new neighborhoods. Trouble is, those living areas resemble Bombay and Calcutta where grinding poverty, filth, diseases, drugs, crimes, no sanitation and worse. They live without sewage, clean water, streets, roads, electricity, or any kind of sanitation.

The New York Times reported them to be America's new 'Third World' inside our own country. Within 20 years, at their current growth rate, they expect 20 million residents of those colonials. (I've seen them personally in Texas and Arizona; it's sickening beyond anything you can imagine.)

By enforcing our laws, we could repatriate them back to Mexico. We should invite 20 million aliens to go home, fix their own countries and/or make a better life in Mexico. We already invite a million people into our country legally annually, more than all other countries combined. We cannot and must not allow anarchy at our borders, more anarchy within our borders and growing lawlessness at every level in our nation.

It's time to stand up for our country, our culture, our civilization and our way of life.

Interesting Statistics!

Here are 13 reasons illegal aliens should vacate America, and I hope they are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them:

1. $14 billion to $22 billion dollars are spent each year on welfare to illegal aliens (that's Billion with a 'B')

2. $7.5 billion dollars are spent each year on Medicaid for illegal aliens.

3. $12 billion dollars are spent each year on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they still cannot speak a word of English!

4. $27 billion dollars are spent each year for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.

5. $3 Million Dollars 'PER DAY' is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens. That's $1.2 Billion a year.

6. 28% percent of all federal prison inmates are illegal aliens.

7. $190 billion dollars are spent each year on illegal aliens for welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.

8. $200 billion dollars per year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.

9. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in t he US.

10. During the year 2005, there were 8 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our southern border with as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from other terrorist countries. Over 10,000 of those were middle-eastern terrorists. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin, crack, guns, and marijuana crossed into the U.S. from the southern border.

11. The National Policy Institute, estimates that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion, or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.

12. In 2006, illegal aliens sent home $65 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin, to their  

families and friends.

13. The dark side of illegal immigration: Nearly one million sex crimes are committed by illegal immigrants in the United States!

Total cost a whopping $538.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR !

My History Lesson For Today

Almost daily I hear comments that America is not a Christian nation. I’ve even read comments on the internet by certain bloggers that our founding fathers were either Deists or Atheists. I don’t know what history books they are reading but all my life (77 years) I have been student of American and I hope many people read the following article and check it out in your library or other sources of educational material. The truth needs to be known. I have written much on this history of the United States, the Revolution and founding fathers and their thoughts and actions. 

The only real dissenter toward religion in the United States was Thomas Paine, a Deist who criticized the Bible and the church in his writing called “Age of Reason”. Atheists today use a lot of his terminology against religion, probably without even knowing about his writings. It seems that the more educated people are in this day and age the more they rely on “common sense” as a rule to follow. One common sense rule I have heard quoted that it is impossible for a “virgin to give birth. A savior cannot possibly rise from the dead.” 

Following is a true history of the Founding Fathers and the beginnings of what has become the greatest nation in the world.

Patrick Henry is not quoted properly in our present day school texts. "Give me liberty or give me death" is not exactly all that he said or why!

Did you know that 52 of the 55 signers of the Declaration of Independence were orthodox, deeply-committed Christians? The other three all believed in the Bible as the divine truth, the God of scripture, and His personal intervention. It is the same Congress that formed the American Bible Society. Immediately after creating the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress voted to purchase and import 20,000 copies of scripture for the people of this nation.

Patrick Henry, who is called the firebrand of the American Revolution, is still remembered for his words, “Give me liberty or give me death“. But in current textbooks the context of these words is deleted. Here is what he said:

“An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle sir, is not to the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death.”

These sentences have been erased from our textbooks. Was Patrick Henry a Christian? The following year, 1776, he wrote this “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great Nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religious, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here.”

Consider these words that Thomas Jefferson wrote on the front of his well-worn Bible: “I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our Creator and, I hope, to the pure doctrine of Jesus also.”

Consider these words from George Washington, the Father of our Nation, in his farewell speech on September 19, 1796, “It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion and morality are the indispensable supporters. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that our national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

Was George Washington a Christian? Consider these words from his personal prayer book: “Oh, eternal and everlasting God, direct my thoughts, words and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the lamb and purge my heart by thy Holy Spirit. Daily, frame me more and more in the likeness of thy son, Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time obtain the resurrection of the justified unto eternal life. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind and let the world be filled with the knowledge of thee and thy son, Jesus Christ.”

Consider these words by John Adams, our second president, who also served as chairman of the American Bible Society. In an address to military leaders he said, “We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and true religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

How about our first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay? He stated that when we select our national leaders, if we are to preserve our Nation, we must select Christians. “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian Nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”

John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, was the sixth U.S. President. He was also the chairman of the American Bible Society, which he considered his highest and most important role. On July 4, 1821, President Adams said, “The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”

Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President of the United States reaffirmed this truth when he wrote, “The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.”

In 1782, the United States Congress voted this resolution: “The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools.”

William Holmes McGuffey, author of the McGuffey Reader, was used for over 100 years in our public schools with over 125 million copies sold until it was stopped in 1963. President Lincoln called him the “Schoolmaster of the Nation.” Listen to these words of Mr. McGuffey: “The Christian religion is the religion of our country. From it are derived our notions on the character of God, on the great moral Governor of the universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free institutions. From no source has the author drawn more conspicuously than from the sacred Scriptures. From all these extracts from the Bible I make no apology.”

Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including the first, Harvard University, chartered in 1636. In the original Harvard Student Handbook, rule number 1 was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study the scriptures: “Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom let every one seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of him (Proverbs 2:3).”

For over 100 years, more than 50% of all Harvard graduates were pastors! It is clear from history that the Bible and the Christian faith were foundational to our educational and judicial system. However, in 1947, there was a radical change of direction for the Supreme Court. It required ignoring every precedent of Supreme Court ruling for the past 160 years. The Supreme Court ruled in a limited way to affirm a wall of separation between church and State in the public classroom.

In the coming years, this led to removing prayer from public schools in 1962. Here is the prayer that was banished: “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on Thee. We beg Thy blessings upon us and our parents and our teachers and our country. Amen.”

In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled that Bible reading was outlawed as unconstitutional in the public school system. The court offered this justification: “If portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could and have been psychologically harmful to children.” Bible reading was now unconstitutional, though the Bible was quoted 94 percent of the time by those who wrote our Constitution and shaped our Nation and its system of education and justice and government.

In 1965, the Courts denied as unconstitutional the right of a student in the public school cafeteria to bow his head and pray audibly for his food. In 1980, Stone vs. Graham outlawed the Ten Commandments in our public schools. The Supreme Court said this: “If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments were to have any effect at all, it would be to induce schoolchildren to read them. And if they read them, mediated upon them, and perhaps venerated and obeyed them, this is not a permissible objective.”

Is it not a permissible objective to allow our children to follow the moral principles of the Ten Commandments? James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution of the United States, said this: “We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.”

Today, we are asking God to bless America. But, how can He bless a Nation that has departed so far from Him? Prior to September 11, He was not welcome in America. Most of what you read in this article has been erased from our textbooks. Revisionists have rewritten history to remove the truth about our country’s Christian roots. You are encouraged to share this with others, so that the truth of our nation’s history will be told.

Events that Changed America

As I observe the events occurring in our nation and around the world, I cannot help but to worry that something is very much amiss. I have lived long enough to have seen times when doors were seldom locked, church bells rang on Sunday morning, people watched out for each other’s children, children were taught to respect their elders, teachers read scripture and had morning prayer in classrooms, and the pledge of allegiance was recited by students with hand over heart, including the words Under God. 

Under president Theodore Roosevelt and then Harry S. Truman, I was witness to a nation, whose citizens sacrificed their time, money, sons and daughters to a world war on foreign soil for the freedom that united we stand, stands for. Allied with England, France and Russia we went to battle against Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan. We gave aid to England and Russia under the Lend Lease Plan and allied together we liberated France, Belgium and Holland, soundly defeating Germany, Italy and Japan.

Then again, under the presidency of Harry S. Truman, I saw men and women go, not to war but a “police action”, to save the small country of South Korea from the threat of communist North Korea. China got into that fray by pouring thousands of their military across their borders into North Korea and raising havoc on our military there. When General Douglas MacArthur wanted to take on China with nuclear weapons if necessary, he was fired by president Truman fearing he might escalate the war and bring communist Russia in on the side of China. The war rocked on for years before we were finally able to get North Korea to the peace table. Thousands gave the last full measure of their life to this cause but the reward was great. Now, South Korea is a free nation with a thriving economy while North Korea is a poor retched place with only a strong military and filled with poor, starving citizens.

In the early 1960’s, president John F. Kennedy gave us reason to be proud when he faced down Castro and Kruschev during the Cuban missile crisis. Nuclear armed Russian submarines and missiles ninety miles from Florida were threatening the US. Kennedy stood firm while our navy ships and submarines chased and captured one of the Russian submarines while the other fled back to Russia. Kruschev backed down and withdrew his missiles and the threat was over.

Then came, possibly our histories most unpopular conflict, Vietnam. France had already been there and was soundly defeated, so the USA decided to take up the task. At first, under president Richard Nixon, we were only going in as advisors to the South Vietnam military and supply them with weapons to defend themselves. North Vietnam refused to meet at a peace conference in France so Nixon started severely bombing North Korea, especially Hanoi. The North Koreans came to the peace conference and a treaty was signed. The results of that treaty was a promise that we would keep the South Vietnam military supplied to a level that it could defend itself. 

Under president Jerald Ford, democrats became the majority party in both the house and senate and the promise to South Vietnam was disregarded. Without support from the US, North Vietnam began their assault on South Vietnam again.

Under President Lyndon Johnson, US military involvement kept being escalated until there were 536,100 American soldiers involved by 1968. The rules of don’t fire unless fired on seriously hampered our military. For some unknown reason, our political leaders were afraid to win this “conflict” because it might offend our other enemies, namely the USSR and China. If memory serves me correctly, again they were afraid that it might escalate into a nuclear conflict. 

There was also a anti-war movement on our college campuses across the nation fueled primarily by media coverage and the high death toll the conflict was creating. The word peaceniks was coined to identify those who were opposed to the war. 

Our returning soldiers, who had endured the “don’t fire unless fired upon” rule that clawed their way through mud and jungle and survived, were jeered and spat upon as they disembarked their ships. They were exhausted and demoralized from having lost, and yet they were treated like the “evil bad guys” when they finally made it safely back to the land of the free and the home of the brave. It was a sad thing to see. 

The Jane Fonda type “peaceniks” bravely mistreated our returning soldiers with impunity. Only in America could they have gotten away with such atrocious behavior, protected by the same men who were offering their lives for freedom around the world. Only in America are people free to be as obnoxious and belligerent as they please.

Now there are terrorists, both foreign and domestic thinking a bomb placed here or there every now and then to kill a few innocent civilians will make all the difference in the world. What kind of difference do they really want? America is the greatest nation in the world where every citizen has the freedom to speak his peace, practice his religion, and make his life pretty much what he wants it to be without any interference from anyone. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is guaranteed under the Constitution.

America’s war against terrorism is far from over and yet our citizens tire of it. It is beginning to look like another Vietnam. No real ambition to be winners again. Pogo author, Walt Kelly said it best in 1970 when he wrote: “I have seen the enemy and he is us.” 

We have no leadership in Washington; congress, the senate, the president, all seem to have their heads in the sand thinking things will eventually get better. Things won’t get better unless we decide to be a world super power again, the defender of freedom, the greatest nation on earth. At the rate we’re going it won’t be long before we’re a third world nation and there will be no one to give us aid as we have done for so many.

This nation was once the bright shining light on a hill that all other nations looked up to. We gave and are still giving aid and support to and our allies and even non deserving countries because of our wealth. Many people migrated here to become part of this greatness and to have liberty and freedom. There are many still coming but not because of liberty and freedom but because of our social welfare system. They see great opportunity in our welfare system where they can live off the wealth of others.

What are we and them going to do when the wealth of others runs out. The nation’s debt now is at $17 trillion and climbing daily due to interest and government out of control spending. How much longer can we continue being a super power in the world when our credit rating has dropped from AAA to AA+. 

Most of my adult years I have heard a pleas from a small number of politicians as well as citizens calling for a balanced budget. Yet it never happens. It is really our fault, we the voters. “The enemy is really us.”  We the people…yes, we. We are too busy to pay attention and vote as though our very freedom and liberty depend on it and yet it really does. The very people we elect to govern our country are the problem with all that is going on in Washington. Freedom loving Americans had better start paying attention to the really important matters at hand. I hope it is not too late, some people think it is. 

The value of the dollar for years has been based on the price of oil. Oil purchases by every country in the world who relied on foreign oil, paid in US currency, the almighty dollar. Behind the world scene at this time, Russia, Iran and China are plotting to do away with the dollar system mostly due to the dollar being devalued by inflation and they see a way to finally defeat America. Breaking the greatest nation in the free world’s economy would certainly bring us to our knees.

In my judgment, there is was conspiracy afoot when Muammar Gaddafi set about returning his country to the gold standard. He was  minting gold dinars and doing away with paper money altogether. Other world leaders could not allow that to happen because it would upset the current system of buying oil with paper money. Gaddafi was overthrown and Libya is back on a paper money system.

United States, at one time, was backed by the gold standard. The price of gold was set at $35 an ounce and every dollar could be exchanged for an equivalent amount of gold. The Gold Standard Act, passed in 1900 was An Act To define and fix the standard of value, to maintain the parity of all forms of money issued or coined by the United States. The gold standard was blamed for the 1929 stock market crash because it was not flexible enough to allow the Federal Reserve Bank to print money to support the economy. 

Now with a 17 trillion dollar debt the Federal Reserve is printing money faster than ever. Inflation is rampant and the cost of living is bringing down the middle class citizens of this country rapidly. With the Green thing, taxes on coal and fossil fuels are driving up the cost of everything needed for our survival. We the people of this sovereign Republic are in trouble. Our children and grand children and generations on down the timeline will be paying for our disregard for our right to vote. “I have seen the enemy and he is us”. By the way, how much is your Federal Reserve Notes in your pocket worth?

Independence Day, July 4th, 1776

The Fourth of July has just passed; the day we celebrate our independence from Great Britain and I meant to write something sooner for the holiday but I have been busy with another project.

The meaning of this celebration has all but become lost to many people in our nation who either are not well educated or don’t really care anymore. We have come to equate July 4th with vacation from work, fireworks, barbaque and beer and going to the beach. After all it has been two hundred thirty eight years since that five year long struggle for independence took place. In our modern comfortable lives we don't seem to care to remember anymore.

The Bill of Rights was the first document written in 1764 defining a list of limits on government containing ten amendments. All ten amendments listed in the Bill of Rights were attached to the Constitution written in 1788, ratified in 1789 and put into operation in 1790. Eleven more have been added and ratified down through the years.

The Declaration of Independence was written on July 2nd, 1776. It began when Richard Henry Lee brought a resolution before Continental Congress on June 2nd 1776 which became known as the Lee Resolution. This resolution stated “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states…” Congress debated for four days and a committee of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston and Thomas Jefferson gave the task of writing the Declaration to Thomas Jefferson.

John Adams wrote his wife Abigail on July 3rd: "The second day of July 1776 will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It aught to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illumination from one end of this continent to the other."

The Declaration of Independence, though written on July 2nd, was not ratified until July 4th. The fifty six men who signed the declaration, as the last eight words on the declaration said: “we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.” These were men of wealth, plantation owners, business men and merchants; they had much to lose however they pledged it all. King George III had denounced all rebels in America as traitors. The punishment for traitors was hanging.

If the revolution was lost they were risking all they had including their lives. If they won, they faced the long hardship of building a new nation, rebuilding all that was destroyed in the many battles. During the five years of the revolution many of them lost their fortunes, their families and their lives in the ensuing battles. 

At the start of the Revolution, America had a population of 3.5 million. The enrolled soldiers numbered 200,000, only 5.7 per cent of the population. The total combat casualties (killed and wounded): 10,263 Deaths (Disease or accident): 18,500. Total (Hessian) Combat Deaths: 1,200. Unlike modern warfare, there was no estimated cost of rebuilding towns and homes destroyed by the combat.

I could find no official British Combat Casualties but unofficially there were approximately 13,617. That is the cost in lives for freedom and justice for all in 1776. The war lasted five years and was fought from upstate New York to Savannah, Georgia.

The War of 1812, our second revolution is another story for another day.

Obama’s Plan to Use Military Against Americans

According to an article in the Washington Times, Obama now has a plan to use the U.S. military to put down any rioting or other civil unrest in the United States.

“According to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which followed Reconstruction after the Civil War, it is unlawful and prohibited for the President to order or use military forces within the United States.”

“Of course, over the years numerous exceptions and provisions have been carved out, leaving several loopholes open that can now be exploited.”

“These exceptions and loopholes typically refer to using military forces to restore order after major natural disasters or to quell an insurrection, or other similar type emergency.  However, there is no concrete definition of what exactly constitutes a ‘national emergency‘, and it is open to interpretation by the President.”

In Sal Alynsky’s book: “Rules for Radicals”, dedicated to the first radical “Lucifer”, one of his rules is “never let a crisis go to waste.” I have suspected for some time now that Obama is endeavoring to create a crisis so he can put some of us down with his military might.

In my honest opinion, he doesn’t want to face the 2016 election so he will probably create a crisis and use that to stay in power by using the following Directive to keep there from being an election, either this year or 2016. I’m not exactly sure what he has planned for the next two years but you can bet it will be a doozy. 

Back to the 'Washington Times" article:

Directive No. 3025.18, entitled “Defense Support of Civil Authorities” provides the President and US Commanders of military forces with broad authority during emergencies. 

“Federal military forces shall not be used to quell civil disturbances unless specifically authorized by the president in accordance with applicable law or permitted under emergency authority,” the directive states. 

“In these circumstances, those federal military commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the president is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances” under two conditions.

 The conditions include military support needed “to prevent significant loss of life or wanton destruction of property and are necessary to restore governmental function and public order.” A second use is when federal, state and local authorities “are unable or decline to provide adequate protection for federal property or federal governmental functions.” 

“Federal action, including the use of federal military forces, is authorized when necessary to protect the federal property or functions,” the directive states.

The Directive is clearly aimed at engaging civilians in times of unrest.  An unnamed official at the White House even admitted that Obama considered using the authority from this Directive during the standoff at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada earlier this year, but wisely decided against it. 

Defense analysts say there has been a buildup of military units within non-security-related federal agencies, notably the creation of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams. The buildup has raised questions about whether the Obama administration is undermining civil liberties under the guise of counterterrorism and counter narcotics efforts. 

Other agencies with SWAT teams reportedly include the Department of Agriculture, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Education Department. 

The militarization of federal agencies, under little-known statues that permit deputization of security officials, comes as the White House has launched verbal attacks on private citizens’ ownership of firearms despite the fact that most gun owners are law-abiding citizens.

That makes it sound like almost every Bureaucratic Department in Washington has been armed for a war with us private citizens. Scarey, isn't it?

Trey Gowdy lead the charge in passing a bill that directs Obama to follow the laws – clearing the House by a 233 to 181 vote. I personally would like to know who the 181 who voted against the bill were. 

But with his phone and pen and executive order ability, WILL HE? I personally cannot keep up with all his shenanigans spending 12 hours a day on my computer reading everything I can find. I read in someone’s post recently that he has written more executive orders than all other presidents combined. I was unable to “fact check” it but I suspect it is true.

One of Obama’s claims is that he taught Constitutional Law for 10 years so I guess he is pretty well up to date on all the loopholes he can slip through.

It’s no secret that they (primarily the Democrats) are trying to do away with the First and Second Amendments; politically correct speech and no armed citizens to to deal with would be a great help in Obama‘s efforts to “Fundamentally Change“ the United States. 

Let me quote the Declaration of Independence on this: "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." 

And this quote from President John F. Kennedy: "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

I have read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights several times and find them to be well written documents, easily understood with exception to Article One, Section Nine, Paragraph Three.

The First and Second Amendments are so clearly written, any child at junior high school level should be able to understand them but in Article One, Section Nine, Paragraph Three there is a short but very important sentence which states: “No bill of attainder or ex post facto bill shall be past.” With a good dictionary you will find attainder means “confiscation of property or rights”. Ex post facto means “applied retroactively: applying to events that have already occurred as well as to subsequent events.”

In other words if you own property as in a home, land, automobile and a weapon, they are property, and they cannot be taken away from you at anytime from past into the future. That would mean to any thinking person that the First and Second Amendment cannot be taken away either except by Constitutional Amendment which requires two-thirds of the House and Senate to pass and then three-fourths of the states to ratify.

This one short sentence in the Constitution guarantees your rights from when they began in 1789 until the United States ceases to exist.

Let me finish up with some quotes that come to mind:

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.”—Thomas Jefferson

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." —Thomas Jefferson 

“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” — Justice Louis D. Brandeis — dissenting, Olmstead v. United States, 277 US 479 (1928)

I do believe I have said enough for one day.