Blogging from Williamsburg

We arrived last night safe and sound, although we went through a huge rainstorm outside of Richmond (and the usual parking lot that is I95).

Youngest Daughter is memorizing a speech from Othello for her audition tomorrow. The bloodier the speech, the more she likes it. Sweet little thing.

Far left moves to censor free speech

This article appeared on www.foxnews.com this morning. It's a blatant attempt to censor the Fox News Network because it doesn't conform to the ideals and views of DailyKos and MoveOn.org. EVERYONE should be concerned about this, and if I have to tell you why---well, that's just sad.

Liberal activists are stepping up their campaign against Fox News Channel by pressuring advertisers not to patronize the network.

MoveOn.org, the Campaign for America's Future and liberal blogs like DailyKos.com are asking thousands of supporters to monitor who is advertising on the network, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

Once a database is gathered, an organized phone-calling campaign will begin, said Jim Gilliam, vice president of media strategy for Brave New Films, a company that has made anti-Fox videos.

The groups have successfully pressured Democratic presidential candidates not to appear at any debate sponsored by Fox, and are also trying to get Home Depot Inc. to stop advertising there.

At least 5,000 people across the U.S. have signed up to compile logs on who is running commercials on Fox, Gilliam said. The groups want to first concentrate on businesses running local ads, as opposed to national commercials.

"It's a lot more effective for Sam's Diner to get calls from 10 people in his town than going to the consumer complaint department of some pharmaceutical company," Gilliam said.

Some of the videos produced by Gilliam's company compile statements made by Fox anchors and guests that the activists consider misleading, such as those that question global warming.

Representatives for Fox News Channel did not immediately return calls for comment.

Home Depot has not had an unusual number of calls, said spokesman Jerry Shields, and the home improvement chain will not change its advertising strategy.

"We're not in the business of censoring media," Shields said. "We need to reach our customer base through all mediums available."

Groups like the Sierra Club have targeted Home Depot because they believe it's inconsistent for the company to promote environmentally friendly products while advertising on a network that has questioned global warming.

The groups seem particularly angry at Fox's Bill O'Reilly, who has done critical reports on left-wing bloggers. On July 16, O'Reilly said the DailyKos.com Web site is "hate of the worst order," and sent a reporter to question JetBlue Airways Corp. CEO Dave Barger about the airline's sponsorship of a gathering run by DailyKos.

He'll never ride on JetBlue again, O'Reilly said.

Fox said JetBlue has since asked that its name be removed from the DailyKos.com Web site.

MoveOn.org is campaigning against Fox because it says the network characterizes itself as a fair news network when it consistently favors a conservative point of view, said Adam Green, the organization's spokesman.

"We're not trying to silence anybody," Green said. "(Conservative radio talk show host) Rush Limbaugh has a right to be on the air — he admits his point of view. Fox doesn't."

My mind, made up for me

Spouse just e-mailed me a link to a story in today's newspaper. Tuesday morning, our friend Erma and her husband were brutally beaten and bound in the fifth home invasion to take place in one week in this city. Erma doesn't live all that close to us, but two of the five invasions have been within a few blocks of our house. What's ironic is that Erma has worked for 30 years in low income housing, helping people in her district buy their first homes and fix them up. She was inside getting ready to go to work; her husband was taking the garbage out. Such mundane activities, violently interrupted by three men with guns.

The police response, at least as reported in this story, was less than comforting. They are still saying most home invasions are drug-related, and that in most cases the victims are not all that innocent. Well, Erma and her husband were innocent. Sounds to me like something is being ramped up.

Spouse's instructions were to shut and lock the doors, and to install the makeshift barricade he puts up every night. He's calling our representative on the city council on Monday to see what is being done to protect citizens. We both think that these types of incidents are on the rise since our city went to one-policeman patrol cars.

That's it. I am out of here. We still have a teenage daughter, and there is no way I want to risk her life and wellbeing. It's time to move. Way past time, I think. I've been contemplating buying a piece of land in UniTown and building, as I don't have cash for a downpayment on an existing house. Definitely, I am putting that plan into action now. I'm not keen on living in Fort Apache.

All's right with the world

Spock lives!

I have a serious craving for a Klondike Bar

None in the house--and Mr. Softee just raced by, too fast to flag him down. Argh.

Bloomers in a twist

Ms. Magazine is all aflutter over a Washington Post article about Hillary Clinton in which her attire (and what it supposedly reveals) is discussed. MM thinks it's a rabid attack on HRC based on her gender, and has circulated a petition decrying such "sexist coverage".

Methinks Ms. is Ms.guided and agenda-driven (as in, LET'S ELECT HILLARY BECAUSE SHE'S A WOMAN! Um, let's not).

Does no one remember "Boxers or briefs"? How about John Edwards' haircut, Kerry's botox, McCain's sweaters? Was MM as incensed over cartoons portraying Condoleezza Rice as Aunt Jemima, or this Washington Post article called Dr. Rice a Dominatrix? I can only imagine how MM would react if someone asked Hillary "Bikinis or thongs?"

This hypersentivity may backfire on Hillary's campaign. One can only hope.

In the category of "You've GOT to be kidding!"

At Berkeley, students in a computer science class given an assignment to program a checkers game. Even here, PC-talk rears its increasingly stupid head. Here's a sentence from the game description:

"If a piece reaches the opposite side, it becomes an AAP (Additionally Abled Piece -- actually, it's called a "king", but we decided to eschew sexist and monarchist nomenclature) and can move both backwards and forwards along the diagonals."

Absolutely unbelievable. If I were a student in that class, I'd call the thing a "king" anyway.

----

Today my first MS student defends. I am a bit anxious. Got here early to have some time to go over her paper, and as usual there were five or six smokers hanging around outside the entrance. I took a deep breath, held it, and ran the gauntlet between the clouds of cigarette stink, only to find that the door was locked--apparently the last person through it flipped the lock mechanism by mistake. Good thing I can hold my breath for a long time! I turned around and headed for the other door, while the smokers were trying the door for themselves and cursing that they now had to walk around the building to get in.

After shoehorning ourselves and our gear into a tiny Focus for the Baltimore trip, it sure feels nice to stretch out in my truck. How Enterprise classifies a Focus as an intermediate-sized car, I have no idea. Downsides: Too small for the three of us plus cooler, luggage, books, etc.; smelled musty; no cruise control. Upsides: Great mileage, fabulous AC. Weird bit: Friday night the car locks went spastic for some reason, cycling on and off and on and off, until they stopped with the child locks on. I had to shut the car off and let Son out of the back seat.

UPDATE: Defense went off well. I was a wreck, but she answered questions well and I only had to jump in a couple of times. The hole I knew about was found, as I thought it would be, and she has gotten a provisional grade of B. If she fills the gap, we will bump it up to an A. Whew! It was a long long hour.

Afterwards I stopped at the parents' house to pick up Eldest Daughter's garbage from last weekend. Mom made me a BLT (yum) and I helped Dad buy tickets for Jamaica. Looks like he won't be accompanying us to take Son to grad school! I told him if anything goes wrong he is getting a call, even in Jamaica.

It's raining steadily. Son zapped the hornets in the newspaper box. We have had our dinner and now I need to to work on the agenda for tomorrow's meeting. Kitty Son is happily licking (like that's anything new) and Kitty Mama is looking over my shoulder to make sure I am working and not doing a jigsaw puzzle. Or blogging.

Back from Baltimore

and beat, beat, beat.

Notable things seen and done on the way:

• Lewisburg PA features a drive-through buffet featuring Kentucky Fried Chicken AND Taco Bell. We forgot to save room for this taste treat on the way home.
• The hotel we stayed at is rough around the edges as the immigrant owners try to make a go of it. Some of their staff look downright worn out. They've done a good job of remodeling the bathrooms although the hot and cold water was reversed in our sink.
• The internet access, frankly, stunk. So I spent a lot of time at Panera's until my cash ran out. I felt guilty sitting there taking up bandwidth without eating or drinking something.
  
• An interesting event was taking place in our hotel while we were there--the Ikale World Congress. Lots of beautiful native dress, and excited, jabbering kids.
• Youngest Daughter got me an engraved dagger with my initials on it, the name of my clan, and the clan motto. It's gorgeous. It'll scare the students (evil grin).
• Son bought me a beautiful china set. I think I shall order some nice Formosa Oolong to go with it. I need a china cabinet!
  
• Every year we go past the beautiful Susquehanna River on the way to and from Otakon. This year, we stopped and went wading in its cool, clear waters. Two Mennonnite girls brought inner tubes tied together, climbed in them dresses, shoes, and all, and drifted happily away down the river.
• For once I didn't stop at Annie's house on Route 15 to look at Amish quilts. I still want to buy one for Eldest Daughter.
• I didn't get near enough work done yesterday, and very little the day before. Instead, I watched Revenge of the Sith (nothing else on TV) and some bad movie about volcanoes starring Xander Berkley. Usually he's a bad guy (Air Force One) or a jerk (Apollo 13), so this role, a scientist who was too involved with his work to pay attention to his wife, was a change of sorts. Still a jerk, but a more sympathetic one.
• This morning, I dropped YD and Son off at the convention center and visited Fort McHenry while they shopped. Bought a book for GrandNiece whose birthday is next week.
• After the kids were done with their shopping we went to see the USS Constellation. Lovely ship. They fired the 20 lb. Parrot gun and that was really cool.

It's nice to be home and not driving, although I am technically not home yet because I am at the condo. I have a student defending her MS project tomorrow, and Tuesday I have to take a short trip with my boss. THEN I get to go home.

Kitty Son loves my mom's banana bread.

One last distraction...

Laugh out loud funny, from The Daily Gut:

FRIDAY'S GREGALOGUE: HOW TO SAVE THE EARTH, ONE HUMAN AT A TIME

Many of our most thoughtful environmentalists are telling us that our planet is facing an unfathomable calamity. The combination of unbridled overpopulation and increasing greenhouses gases puts us on a path to destroy Mother Earth - unless we do something now. Two of the major suggestions to prevent such disaster were unveiled this week: in England, scientists suggested creating compulsory restriction on family sizes, to reduce the global population. Meanwhile researchers in Japan suggest an end to eating meat, since the environmental cost of a few pounds of beef is responsible for more pollution than driving a car for three hours.

I have examined this problem closely and realize there is a simple answer to this dilemma. If overpopulation and consumption of animals cause major harm to our planet, then we can simply eradicate both threats through cannibalism.

Let's eat each other.

Like acupuncture and Yoga, cannibalism has been around for many centuries. And as you know, we are willing to embrace anything associated with ancient, spiritual cultures. And believe me, you can't get much more ancient or spiritual than a self-consuming practice that protects animals while paying tribute to our lovely planet. What I'm talking about is a healing process for the earth.

But in a pot.

With carrots and maybe some spring potatoes.

Because in order to embrace modern environmentalism, you must reject any exceptionalism about humanity, or any possibility that something good might come from creating more people.

So dig in. I suggest we start with Al Gore. He's got some meat on those bones!

Blogging from Baltimore

I am here with Son and Youngest Daughter for the 2007 Otakon convention, a veritable feast for the eyes of people-watchers. The younguns are attending the convention; Mom is just the taxi driver, as usual.

At the moment, I'm esconced in a Panera's restaurant, drinking too much tea and eating too many carrot muffins while I take advantage of their free Internet. The hotel wi-fi is abysmal, with a low signal if we get one at all. Tomorrow, I think I will visit the public library in Catonsville which also gives free wi-fi and won't be so injurious to my pocket.

So, between sips of tea and bites of muffin, I am working on the revise and resubmit due the 31st, trying to satisfy the reviewers' comments while adhering to the strict word count guidelines. Two of three reviewers made sarcastic remarks about "many" grammatical errors and typos. I have yet to find a typo, and I have pattern recognition skills par excellence. I couldn't find any egregious grammatical problems either, other than one sentence that a reviewer pointed out. I rephrased the offending sentence rather than accept the reviewer's revision--it ended the sentence with THREE punctuation marks. I've therefore decided to focus on how to shoehorn more references and more explanation into the tight framework I've been given. Maybe if I stop using spaces between words....

A note on Baltimore: this is the fourth time we've come for this convention, and I'm convinced that this city rips up every street every year. I dropped Son off at his hotel last night, and within an hour the adjacent street was closed and torn up.

Quick update

Spent weekend moving Eldest Daughter's last few things out of our attic and my parents' basement. Drove ED, her belongings (minus her grandmother's sewing machines, which were too heavy for us to handle), and her boyfriend's composite hood to The City Too Very Far Away. Got there late Sunday night. Unloaded truck bed but left stuff inside as we were too tired.

Got up Monday morning, unloaded truck completely, put hood back in bed and drove it to Boyfriend's house. Unloaded it for the last time (THANK GOD). Drove to Walgreen's to buy new sunglasses as mine had split in the heat we had a couple weeks ago.

Got lost trying to find a national historical site. Ran over a chipmunk. Stopped at Dunkin Donuts for directions to park; got them in terms of how many Dunkin Donut shops we would pass en route. Passed poor chipmunk remains. Counted Dunkin Donut shops. Found site.

Took awesome tour. Took picture of ED in front of one of the site buildings. Bought books and stuff in the gift shop. Drove back to ED's apartment via the City. Said goodbye to ED and did not cry. Filled up truck. Drove home. Fell into bed.

Tomorrow we head southeast for a weekend. More later!

Outrageous

From National Review, by way of John Boehner's office:

Even Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) admitted that the Democrats’ bill was a political charade, telling reporters yesterday that Democrats had to bring the bill to the floor to pacify antiwar groups: “If we don't do anything, these groups will feel like we haven't done anything.”


Greaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. Give aid and comfort to the enemy, who is just thrilled at the headlines coming out of Congress, by putting the anti-war people's interests and demands before those of the very soldiers whose lives are on the line.

You've got to be kidding!


I got a letter from the electric utility that services the condo asking me to purchase 300 kwH of energy from their new wind farm venture. What do I get for this purchase? Cheaper power? Nope. Only the privilege of paying an additional $7.50 each month for the costs of adding wind power to the state power grid. No thanks. I already pay taxes on each kilowatt hour that are state mandated charges supposedly used to fund renewable energy projects, energy efficiency programs, assistance for low-income customers, and energy research--according to the utility. Do I see any statements at the end of the year accounting for that money? No. Assistance for low-income customers--is that charity? Can I deduct that on my income taxes?

We pay too much for electricity here as it is--considering that we sit on a major source of hydroelectric power. No way am I going to voluntarily subsidize this wind farm project, especially when the only benefit I see is another hand going into my wallet.

Ways to help our troops

There are many ways we can support our military men and women as they defend us in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places around the globe. Here are just a few:

• Submit a prayer for unit leaders to recite with their men
• Email a Marine
• Buy a calling card
• Write a thank-you message
• Donate frequent flyer miles
• Treat a Soldier
• Welcome a soldier home
• Adopt a soldier
• Buy a voice-activated laptop
• Fulfill a soldier's wishlist
  
• Send books
• Buy an air conditioner
• Send MRE's to Brits in Basra
• Contribute to a scholarship fund
• Donate to a survivor's fund
• Send a care package
• Sew adaptive clothing
• Meet the needs of the wounded
• Give blood

If you know of others, send them to me and I'll add to the list.

Random stuff

• Spouse, Youngest Daughter, and I ate at Chili's last night. Mediocre food, we probably won't go back.
  
• Watched Breach yesterday. What a sobering film.
• Also watched Bourne Identity. I loved the books, although Ludlum's penchant for exclamation points gets old after a while. I have the same complaint about Allen Drury; so much shouting going on.
• It's going to be hot today. Thank God for air conditioning, which in the HomeCity house is only available in two bedrooms--but at least it's available.
• I am really glad I am not in Las Cruces, although it was a beautiful campus. I would have melted in the summers. I nearly did melt when I visited there, and had such a roaring headache after being walked all over campus in 100+ degree temperatures that I ripped through my job talk in half the usual time.
  
• If the Democrats are so upset over the supposed one-sided talk radio scene that they are trying to reinstate the so-called Fairness Doctrine, why are they not upset that NBC is televising Al Gore's Live Earth concerts? Hmmmmm.......nah, partisanship COULDN'T be a factor there, not at all.
  
• I need a new pair of dress shoes, really badly. Unfortunately, everything out right now is the typical summer-type shoes that I can't wear. I will have to wait for the fall shoes to start coming out.
• Some smart guy in Texas designed his house to float. Lots of houses in his neighborhood are under water, but his house is just fine. Wow. Good for him, I hope he markets his idea!
  
• It's relatively quiet for my neighborhood...except for the cars rushing down the street. It's amazing how many cars there are, and how fast they go on this short stretch between stop signs.
  
• Spouse wants to get a little spinning propeller cover for the receiver on my truck. I want the American flag cover. Those propellers are silly. But not as silly as these!
  

"Dead Earth"


Hahahahaha---this is a good NationalReviewOnline post by Mark Steyn:

I don't know about the rest of the gang but I was kinda looking forward to spending the weekend doing cracks about rock stars taking their private jets halfway round the world to tell the little people why they need to sell the second-hand Honda Civic and get back on the bus. But to be honest my heart's not in berating the rock colossi for their carbon footprints of clay. The way this thing's going it looks like, thanks to Al Gore, all-star charity galas will be joining the polar bears on his endangered species list.

I want to bequeath the wonders of this earth to the next generation, but I worry that my grandchildren will never know the feeling that you've totally demonstrated your tremendous concern and commitment to taking action just by going to a concert and staying until halfway through the George Michael set when he started doing stuff from the new album. I worry that my grandchildren will never know the thrill of being hectored by Bono and Bob Geldof, and that many already rare species will simply vanish from the earth - Seventies supergroups who've not yet had a long-awaited charity-gala reunion, hot young acts who haven't had the chance to cover "Imagine" with the lights down and everybody in the stadium holding disposable lighters, Eighties girl groups who've not yet reunited for a Playboy shoot, the last three celebrities who haven't duetted with Elton John, bald-headed Eagles doing the 50th anniversary performance of "Hotel California"...

On the other hand, if Cat Stevens goes down well, Jihad Aid might have legs.

What we are up against

I've been following Michael Yon, a freelance reporter who is in Iraq writing about the surge, and posting about events the big networks are ignoring. This excerpt is from his latest dispatch from Diyala province. It's not pretty reading, but it's necessary reading. If you have a weak stomach, take a deep breath and take it slow--but you seriously need to know what is going on.

Speaking through an American interpreter, Lieutenant David Wallach who is a native Arabic speaker, the Iraqi official related how al Qaeda united these gangs who then became absorbed into “al Qaeda.” They recruited boys born during the years 1991, 92 and 93 who were each given weapons, including pistols, a bicycle and a phone (with phone cards paid) and a salary of $100 per month, all courtesy of al Qaeda. These boys were used for kidnapping, torturing and murdering people.

At first, he said, they would only target Shia, but over time the new al Qaeda directed attacks against Sunni, and then anyone who thought differently. The official reported that on a couple of occasions in Baqubah, al Qaeda invited to lunch families they wanted to convert to their way of thinking. In each instance, the family had a boy, he said, who was about 11 years old. As LT David Wallach interpreted the man’s words, I saw Wallach go blank and silent. He stopped interpreting for a moment. I asked Wallach, “What did he say?” Wallach said that at these luncheons, the families were sat down to eat. And then their boy was brought in with his mouth stuffed. The boy had been baked. Al Qaeda served the boy to his family.

Monsters. Absolute monsters. May they burn in hell.

I am such a ditz.

Youngest Daughter gets allergy shots every week for the next three months (we are halfway through the weekly-shot part, hurrah!). Usually she gets them on Wednesdays at 2:15 p.m. Then we sit in the doctor's office for an additional 15 minutes to make sure she doesn't have a bad reaction. I make her appointments 4-5 weeks at a time, and we are booked right up to the weekend when we leave for Williamsburg for Shakespeare Camp. She will get two shots that week before camp, so that she doesn't miss a dose. That means she goes on Wednesday and on Friday.

Well, Wednesday was Independence Day, and obviously we weren't going to do shots on a holiday. So, for some reason I thought that her shot appointment for this week was also Friday. We got to the office this afternoon and the receptionist looked at us like we were from Mars. Turns out her appointment was TUESDAY. Argh.

They said they could take her anyway, which was nice. We had a new nurse this time, REALLY new--as in, she had only been working there for two weeks. I am wondering, after watching her give my skinny kid a shot in each arm, if she's only been giving injections for two weeks, too. Poor YD--her left arm was bleeding, her right arm stinging and sore. She cried all the way home. She is feeling better now, thank goodness.

The other ditzy thing I did was schedule a yearly physical exam at the suburban facility instead of the one ten minutes from my house, where I've gone for years. When do I discover this error? When I go to the reception desk today, and they look at me like I'm from Mars. I am rescheduled for August 7th.

After those two debacles I came home and had a Klondike bar. It seemed the logical thing to do.

Midweek holidays mess me all up

It feels like Saturday, and I've been working all day on my student's MS project report. It should not have taken me all day to finish this thing, even if I am heavily editing some really bad English. How did I prolong my agony? I shall take a break and enumerate the ways:

• Cleaned off my desk in the sunporch, and moved all the clutter that was around it.
• Swept around the desk
• Took boxes and stuff down to the basement
• Talked to Eldest Daughter via MS Messenger
• Talked to Youngest Daughter via cell phone
• Requested quotes to ship Son's car to grad school state
• Fielded phone calls generated by the request for quotes
• Talked to Spouse twice via cell phone
• Talked to Best Friend twice via cell phone
• Made and drank several cups of tea
• Made and ate toast
• Made and ate popcorn
• Answered and sent several e-mails
• Took in the mail
• Picked up Youngest Daughter from work
• Watched National Treasure. Again.
• Looked for building plots near UniTown
• Looked at plans for a house to put on said building plots

I even looked at passive solar plans but the ones I saw were too contemporary-looking for me. It may all be a pipe dream anyway, building my own house, but it's fun to look.

Best Friend and her husband, Old College Buddy, have asked Youngest Daughter to accompany them and their daughter to South America for a Christmastime vacation. YD is excited except that she found out there are bugs bigger than her tiny little hand. Amazingly, Spouse said she could go--which is a miracle, considering that he is always telling us about horrendous insects and animals in other locations and advising us not to travel outside of HomeCity let alone the good old US of A. His phobia means that he rarely, if ever, accompanies us on vacation. Once we (minus Spouse, who refused to go, and Eldest Daughter, who had to work) spent a wonderful week in a cabin in Tennessee near the Smokies. He warned the kids to watch out for scorpions, a comment that puzzled them greatly. Scorpions? Nothing about black bears? I have to go to Seattle for a conference in November. Any mention of the Pacific Northwest results in a shudder and a whispered "kissing bugs!" Virginia? "Deer ticks!" Arizona? Some sort of super-poisonous snake, or maybe it's a tarantula, I forget. I think maybe I should block Discovery Channel from our cable lineup...then again, it's too late now. He can't remember names or phone numbers, but he knows every poisonous insect and snake and where they live.

Back to editing...sigh.

Happy Independence Day!

God bless these United States.

I've made the shortcake for tomorrow, when we will go to UniTown to spend the Glorious Fourth with my parents and Son. The parental units' town has fabulous fireworks--hope the rain holds off!

In the spirit of the day, some stirring words every American should recognize:

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 harass 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 benefit 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.

John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson\, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Good news in Anbar province

Courtesy of the Fighting Sixth:

While not everything is sunshine and lollipops here, on a pretty regular basis now we get to assist in another school opening. Lance Cpl. Christopher Zahn, our correspondent with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, brings us the following story and photos on the efforts of the 5th Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, Civil Affairs Group to bring education to the lives of Iraqi children.

Iraqi citizens in this small community recently celebrated the opening of another school for their children. The Al Fajr School is a high school for teenage boys, giving them a place to learn and improve their quality of life in a safe environment. The school is yet another sign of hope for the once-volatile Anbar Province.

Read more here

Support a Marine

Some time ago Michelle Malkin posted a call for e-mails to be sent to Regimental Combat Team 6, stationed in Fallujah. Since then 10,000 e-mails have come in from all over the US. Here's an update from http://www.blackfive.net/main/:

Just heard from Sgt. Deboard that they're sending out the Ten Thousand flag. The man who wrote in the 10,000th email was an "Old Corps" Marine who served in WWII and Korea. Apparently, those of you who have pushed out the email campaign to veterans' organizations are seeing the effect now.

If you still haven't sent your letter, or you know someone who should, write to:

RCT-6lettersfromh@gcemnf-wiraq.usmc.mil

And keep up with their blog! They had a Marine decorated since the 6,000th email came in. Go read about Cpl. Jason D. Soley, who received the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for his quick thinking and gallant actions under fire.

They have been so thankful for the messages that they sent out a flag (flown over their camp and signed by the team) to the writers of the 3000th, 6000th, and now 10000th e-mail. They print out the messages and distribute them among the men.

With Independence Day coming up, this is a great opportunity to express your thanks to those who volunteer to protect and defend our freedoms. Take a few minutes today and send an e-mail to our brave Marines. I address mine to "Dear Hero"--they are all heroes in my book.

July 1, 1863

The Battle of Gettysburg began when General Henry Heth encountered General John Buford's dismounted cavalry on the Cashtown Road west of town. Over the next two days, the two armies clashed in epic battles from Little Round Top and Devil's Den to the Peach Orchard and Pickett's Charge.

How devastating was the Battle of Gettysburg?
American battle deaths:
WWI: 53,402
Korea: 33,741
Vietnam: 47,424
Gettysburg: 51,112

Total battle deaths in the Civil War approached those of WWII:
WWII: 291,557
Civil War: 214,938

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.

We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.

The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. 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.

Abraham Lincoln

November 19, 1863

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania