I recently picked up The American Patriot’s Bible. Truly a must to add to your collection. The seven principles are at the foundation of who we are as a nation. The United States is exceptional with a relationship with God, where we, as Americans, acknowledge that our rights are unalienable. There is no other country on earth built on this framework. It’s up to us to protect and preserve, carrying on the torch of liberty and freedom for the next generation.

The American Patriot’s Bible intersects the teachings of the Bible with the history of the Unites States while applying it to today’s culture. Beautiful full-color insert pages spotlight America’s greatest thinkers, leaders, and events that present the rich heritage and future of our great nation. (The American Patriot’s Bible Website)

The Seven Principles of the Judeo-Christian Ethic

WHEN OUR NATION’S FOUNDING FATHERS gave us documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and others, they had to lean upon a common understanding of law, government, social order, and morality. That understanding sprang from the common acceptance of what has come to be known as the Judeo-Christian Ethic, which is the system of the moral and social values that originates in the Old and New Testaments of the Word of God.

Whether each of the Founding Fathers was a Christian is not the issue. Their writings, their statements, and their votes evidence the fact that the majority of them embraced these great principles as the basis for a civilized nation.

The Scriptures emphatically teach the great importance of the respect and preservation of human life. In the Declaration of Independence our nation’s Founding Fathers wrote that everyone has “unalienable rights,” and that among these rights are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” We Americans not only believe this for our land, but also we send our brave military men and women around the world to defend the rights of those who are threatened.

If people and nations do not grant ultimate respect and protection to both the born and the unborn, all other professed morals and values are meaningless. The dignity of human life is not just a principle of the Bible- it is the first principle of any civilized society.

“You shall not murder.” – Exodus 20:13
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” – Matthew 22:39

Our society has been based upon the belief that the biblical view of traditional marriage and family is the backbone of a healthy social order. Since the joining together of Adam and Eve, marriage has been recognized as a holy union between one man and one woman, and out of that union comes children- born into a home with a father and a mother to love them, nurture them, and teach them how to become healthy, productive, and responsible citizens.

The plan of God, nature, and common sense is a man and a woman producing children within the institution of marriage. When that plan is lost, “marriage” and “family” become meaningless, and a nation and its people will follow the road to ruin. World history has proven it over and again. Preserving the traditional family is vital to the future of any great nation.

“And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” – Genesis 2:23,24

Ingrained deep within the American spirit is the willingness and the desire to give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. This independent spirit has no desire to simply exist on handouts from government or to depend on the generosity of others. It is this same independent spirit that has allowed America to create the greatest and strongest economy in the history of the world.

Americans have had their challenges. The Great Depression of the 1930’s knocked us to our knees, but it did not beat us. Together, Americans helped one another and lifted our nation back to its economic might. The powers of the world look at our nation and ask where that spirit of honest labor came from and where this work ethic originated. It came from the men and women who lived before us. Those generations were raised to believe in this third principle of honest work, which is found throughout the Word of God.

“For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” – 2nd Thessalonians 3:10

We see in Proverbs 1:7 that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” How can one understand the creation without first knowing its Creator? The answer is that one cannot.

Our Forefathers certainly understood this. For example, did you know that most of America’s oldest universities such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Dartmouth were founded by Christian preachers or churches? Harvard University, founded in 1636, adopted “Rules and Precepts” which stated: “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.” Harvard’s original seal has upon it these words: “Truth for Christ and the Church.”

The early children’s textbook “The New England Primer” taught the ABC’s by having children memorize: “A- In Adam’s fall, we sinned all. B- Heaven to find, the Bible mind.” Today’s youth are tomorrow’s America. There is truth in the statement attributed to George Washington: “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail to the exclusion of religious principle…. It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”

“And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” – Ephesians 6:4

A covenant is a decision involving two individuals or groups stating that they will keep a promise or fulfill an agreement between them. The Book of Genesis records the story of God making a covenant with Abraham. The basis of that covenant was that if Abraham would follow God, obeying His laws and commandments, God would bless Abraham with generations of children that would outnumber the stars in the heavens (Genesis 15:5). Abraham believed God, obeyed his Word, and God rewarded him with many descendants, a nation of people now know as Israel.

This principle of the Abrahamic covenant states that if a person or a nation obeys God, observing the moral truths found in the Bible, that person or nation will be blessed. If they disobey, they will bring punishment upon themselves. For most of our nation’s history, Americans have accepted the belief that good deeds produce good results and that people who were “God-fearing” in language and in lifestyle would be blessed by Him. That belief has been proven to be true time and again. The writer of Proverbs tells it plainly, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (14:34).

“Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” – Genesis 12:1-3

“Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” – Galatians 3:7

Simply put, this is the belief that a decent nation is made up of decent people. That nation, when faced with any trying or difficult situation, will do the decent, right, and honest thing. And for the most part, that has been the record of our national history. For example, Americans have given their lives in wars on foreign soil so that others might experience freedom. Americans have worked to feed the world’s poor, to clothe the naked, and to aid the hurting. Americans have opened their arms to many of the world’s oppressed and given them safe haven.

Engraved on a bronze plaque on the base of the Statue of Liberty are these words from the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” A world-renowned symbol of freedom, this statue stands to remind us all that America has indeed been, and continues to be today, a nation of common decency.

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” -Matthew 22:39

Perhaps the greatest restraint against acts of evil towards others is the knowledge that every person and nation will one day give an account for their actions to Almighty God. Certainly the Bible tells us that we are responsible for our actions and we must be accountable for what we do or don’t do. It also teaches that there is a penalty for doing wrong and a blessing when we do that which is right, noble, and just.

The great American statesman Daniel Webster was once asked, “What is the most sobering thought that ever entered your mind?” He quickly responded, “My personal accountability to God.” Webster knew that he would one day stand before God in eternity and give an account for his actions. The same applies to every man, woman, and nation.

“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” -Hebrews 9:27

Glenn Beck: Restoring Honor Rally at the Footsteps of Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC (8.28.10)

Estimates of up to 500,000 or more attended the “Restoring Honor” rally, which is hardly the 87,000 some news outlets like CBS reported or even the tens of thousands like that from CNN. The pictures of the event speak for themselves and we are talking hundreds of thousands — clearly the crowd is obviously large. (estimates of 200,000 can fill around the reflective pool area and clearly the crowd stretches well beyond that, as well as extending most of the way to the Washington Monument, however, not as packed.)

The liberal media will try to spin it any which way they can. They will fail to recognize the importance, diminish the message, and scale down the size. It was not a political event and no matter what the papers tell you, 8.28 was about God and prayer. It was about connecting one another with common values to restore honor and character that has long been missing from an ailing nation. To honor those who have sacrificed their lives, to seek and do better in “goodness,” standing alongside with our fellow brothers and sisters, and to reclaim the American Dream.

Sure there were many patriots who attended, many from the Tea Party, but also there were thousands of others who do not look at what is happening in our country through a political lens but that of through a loving and healing hand of God. It’s a time to move forward, to restore our Judeo-Christian principles and values which has made this country exceptional. We are called upon in this life to do something meaningful; take action and move forward with a purposeful and gentler spirit.

Glenn Beck was contacted late Saturday night by the Smithsonian. They called asking for items from the event to be preserved. America’s museum of history calling Glenn Beck? Gee, I wonder why that would be. It wouldn’t have anything to do with such a small number like that of 87,000 that attended or that he was using race to further a political agenda? Nope. Simple. The media doesn’t get it. They do not understand the importance of it and clearly there are those who do not get what our nation is about.

Inspiration and historic from Saturday’s rally comes to mind. Now it’s up to each and every one of us to continue the message of Hope, Faith, & Charity. God Bless and God Bless America!

Glenn Beck

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The O’Reilly Factor

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Sarah Palin in Prayer at Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally on 8.28 (taken by George Lange)

Other pictures posted on GlennBeck.com from the 8/28 Restoring Honor event in Washington, DC.

Glenn Beck’s 8/28 Rally:
It’s a matter of character & honor!

“The rally will be a celebration of who we are as a nation and a chance to stop for a moment, reflect, reorganize, and re-energize. It’s a chance to think about character; both our character as a nation and our character as individuals.” – Dr. Alveda King

Dr. Alveda King – the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., – explains why she’s speaking at the Glenn Beck 8/28 rally in Washington this Saturday.

Read Dr. Alveda King’s Opinion Piece

People from all over our great nation came for God and they came for honor.

“Today we are going to concentrate on the good things in America, the things we have accomplished and the things we can do tomorrow,” Beck said.

“For too long, this country has wandered in darkness,” Beck said. “America today begins to turn back to God.”

Restoring Honor

Glenn Beck Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.

Opening Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance

Beck: America Is Turning “Back to God”

Restoring Honor Rally- Dr. Alveda King

Restoring Honor: Pastor C.L. Jackson- Badge of Merit (Faith)

Sarah Palin Speech

What We Saw at the Glenn Beck Rally in DC

Glenn Beck on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace

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Some great videos for Republican victories in November, 2010.

Extreme

Next time Democrats call you extreme, show them this video. Visit http://www.nrsc.org or text “extreme” to 54608 to learn more.

12 Weeks
by Republican Governors Association

12 Weeks from Republican Governors Association on Vimeo.

The GOP Comeback – begins with Republican Governors!

Here is an excellent piece by Thomas Sowell and a recent clip of Andrew Napolitano on our Constitution. Then a video on Barack Obama’s end game.

Dismantling America
By Thomas Sowell

“We the people” are the familiar opening words of the Constitution of the United States– the framework for a self-governing people, free from the arbitrary edicts of rulers. It was the blueprint for America, and the success of America made that blueprint something that other nations sought to follow.

At the time when it was written, however, the Constitution was a radical departure from the autocratic governments of the 18th century. Since it was something so new and different, the reasons for the Constitution’s provisions were spelled out in “The Federalist,” a book written by three of the writers of the Constitution, as a sort of instruction guide to a new product.

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To get their way, the elites must erode or dismantle the Constitution, bit by bit, in one way or another. What that means is that they must dismantle America. This has been going on piecemeal over the years but now we have an administration in Washington that circumvents the Constitution wholesale, with its laws passed so fast that the public cannot know what is in them, its appointment of “czars” wielding greater power than Cabinet members, without having to be exposed to pubic scrutiny by going through the confirmation process prescribed by the Constitution for Cabinet members.

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What Ever Happened to the Constitution? – Andrew Napolitano

President Barack Obama’s Endgame: A Look At The National Debt

There are very few speaking out regarding the real dangers of Islam, mostly because America and the West has become politically correct. I’m all for our right to religious freedom, unless of course it involves the killing of infidels. Brigitte Gabriel of Act for America and Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs are both active voices speaking out against Jihad and the infiltration of radical Islamic militants. They are waging war on America and they must be stopped!

This Is ACT! for America

Islam is not a religion, nor is it a cult. In its fullest form, it is a complete, total, 100% system of life.

Islam has religious, legal, political, economic, social, and military components. The religious component is a beard for all of the other components.

Islamization begins when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their religious privileges.

When politically correct, tolerant, and culturally diverse societies agree to Muslim demands for their religious privileges, some of the other components tend to creep in as well.

Pamela Geller on Ground Zero Mosque – AtlasShrugs

No Mosque at Ground Zero!

Keep America Safe: WE REMEMBER!

“The board members of Keep America Safe, Liz Cheney, Bill Kristol and Debra Burlingame announce the release of “We Remember,” an ad featuring first responders and family members of the victims of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 who are speaking out in opposition to the proposed Ground Zero Mosque. We believe their voices should be heard throughout our country and we encourage you to pass their message along.”

Moral Myopia at Ground Zero
by Charles Krauthammer

It’s hard to be an Obama sycophant these days. Your hero delivers a Ramadan speech roundly supporting the building of a mosque and Islamic center at Ground Zero in New York. Your heart swells and you’re moved to declare this President Obama’s finest hour, his act of greatest courage.

Alas, the next day, at a remove of 800 miles, Obama explains that he was only talking about the legality of the thing and not the wisdom — upon which he does not make, and will not make, any judgment.

You’re left looking like a fool because now Obama has said exactly nothing: No one disputes the right to build; the whole debate is about the propriety, the decency of doing so.

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Ground Zero is the site of the most lethal attack of that worldwide movement, which consists entirely of Muslims, acts in the name of Islam and is deeply embedded within the Islamic world. These are regrettable facts, but facts they are. And that is why putting up a monument to Islam in this place is not just insensitive but provocative.

Just as the people of Japan today would not think of planting their flag at Pearl Harbor, despite the fact that no Japanese under the age of 85 has any possible responsibility for that infamy, representatives of contemporary Islam — the overwhelming majority of whose adherents are equally innocent of the infamy committed on 9/11 in their name — should exercise comparable respect for what even Obama calls hallowed ground.

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Muslim Mosqueteers
by Ted Nugent

There are no words to express the outrage Americans would have expressed if the Japanese government proposed to build a memorial to their fallen soldiers at Pearl Harbor immediately following World War II. We can only hope that President Truman would have ordered our military to fire-bomb the Japanese again for being so rude and stupid.

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Islam is no more a peaceful religion than Jim Jones was a Christian prophet. Islam attracts violent maniacs stuck in the year 700, reduces women to third-class citizens, discriminates, persecutes and kills Christians and burns their churches, stones people for punishment, and believes in world domination. Saudi Arabia, a Muslim theocracy, goes so far as to outlaw all other religions other than Islam. Sounds like real nice, neighborly Islamic folks.

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Mosque Leader Blames U.S. For 9-11 & Bin Laden — 19 Days After Attack!

Muslims Celebrating 9/11

Canadian Muslims speak out against Ground Zero Mosque

Gutfeld & Beck Discuss “Suspicious Packages”–A Ground Zero Islam-Friendly Gay Bar

Glenn Beck on Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment about Ground Zero Mosque

Geert Wilders Warning to America

Ann Coulter on Muslims

Three Things About Islam

Report of Investigation Park 51

What do “global warming,” “global governance” and “sustainable development” have to do with the proposed “Ground Zero mosque?” One would think absolutely nothing; however investigation into the money, organizations and people behind the project has uncovered some revealing and disturbing connections. An extensive analysis of these findings provides the missing insight into the larger agenda, motives and modus operandi associated with what is now known as the Park51project. It also reveals the reasons behind the persistence of the insipid and insulting project and why it remains viable in the face of such visceral opposition.

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Stop the Islamification of America – Pamela Geller

Long video given by Pamela Geller at the Tennessee Tea Party regarding the 9/11 mega-mosque at Ground Zero in New York City but worth it. She delivers a wake-up call.

Take America Back Video Blueprint

From Czars to America-hating radicals to avowed Marxists and Communists to criminal organizations surrounding our President, this administration is taking America into a dark and unprecedented direction. With crony corporatism large at work mixed in with corrupt politics, you have yourself a toxic cocktail that is an ever growing cancer spreading throughout our entire landscape. So much is at stake and as our country continues to spiral more out of control, we are left with more doubts regarding the future of our great nation. We must continue to remain vigilant and engaged.

Let Me Know When You Get It
by Ted Nugent – 07/17/2010

One has to jack up one’s imagination to try to come up with dumber decisions from our flagrantly corrupt, out-of-control government than those occurring daily in America today.

Americans are tested more and more to convince ourselves that the rookie in chief, his Mao Tse-tung fan-club administration and gang of anti-American czars could possibly be that stupid or, horror of horrors, are in fact intentionally steering the good-ship America into the rocks.

How else to explain these developments:

• Appointing self avowed Marxists and Communists like Van Jones and Cass Sunstein et al. to be in charge of anything in America is clear and present treason from where I stand.

• Having your administration’s communications director look to Mao Tse-tung for philosophical direction is phenomenally crazy.

• Surrounding yourself with America-hating radicals like Bill Ayers, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and SEIU union gangsters shows us who you are.

• Praising the bizarre cult of ACORN and turning a blind eye to their criminal activities is the act of a collaborator.

• Accelerating a maniacal spending orgy as unaccountable debt piles up at unprecedented rates is economic suicide by any sane soul’s measure.

• Banning the development of America’s energy resources as our enemies hold us hostage is aiding and abetting those enemies.

• Appointing a self-claimed hater of the free market with promises of redistributing wealth to be in charge of Medicare, Medicaid and America’s new healthcare debacle is sabotage of the highest order.

• Suing Arizona for passing a law that simply enforces federal immigration laws while ignoring the criminal violations of sanctuary cities is the act of the enemy of the state, clearly siding with illegal invaders.

• Directing the Department of Justice to drop charges against Black Panther thugs caught on film breaking federal law is insubordination and dereliction of duty.

• Rudely alienating America’s top allies shows just which side you are on.

• Bailing out wildly wealthy, criminally irresponsible bankers and crony mortgage outfits without the permission of taxpayers is mutiny.

• Appointing racists Supreme Court justices is anti-American.

• Condemning police officers and rhetorically siding with a friend while admitting not knowing the facts in a case is unpresidential.

• Increasing welfare to your constituency in the face of runaway corruption and abuse is soulless pandering.

• Offering amnesty to illegal invaders is obvious voter baiting.

• Directing NASA to reach out to Muslims is illogical rookie 101.

• Ignoring the development of nuclear capability by America’s avowed No. 1 enemy is suicidal.

• Being praised by Russians and other Communists is an overt indicator that our enemies admire the direction of a weakening America.

• Increasing spending and taxes during an economic downturn is ignorant and dangerous.

• Tying the hands of America’s military to fight the war on terror is wantonly asking for trouble and will increase terrorist strongholds and their capability to attack us again.

• Burdening small businesses with more taxes and regulations makes America weaker, increases unemployment, reduces America’s productivity and strengthens our enemies.

That there are no patriots or statesmen in Congress blowing more whistles and raising more hell is more frightening than the violations of the President and his gang. With a soulless, unprofessional, grossly irresponsible lapdog media kow-towing to such egregious acts by the government which they are supposed to be watch-dogging, is as anti-American as it gets. That it has gotten this bad and this far without a meaningful response from anyone in government or the mainstream media is the worst-case scenario.

Thank God for Glenn Beck and Fox News. Thank God for Rush Limbaugh and much of talk radio. Thank God for the new Tea Party and Americans waking up to the inside job of Barak Hussein Obama and his evil destroyers of America.

November is varmint season, America. It is a target-rich environment. Vote the rats out. Clean house. Take America back.

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Obama’s Economic Unreality
by David Limbaugh – 07/13/2010

Sadly, with President Obama, each day is crazier than the previous one. His latest economic speeches border on the surreal. I just can’t quite figure out who he thinks his audience is because so much of what he says doesn’t square with reality.

In a speech Friday in Las Vegas, Obama painted quite a rosy portrait of his economic record to date — at least rosy compared with what we’ve all experienced with our five senses.

Though I don’t intend to go all “Joe Wilson” on him (“You lie!”), please let me share with you a few, shall we say, “discrepancies” in his speech, the major theme of which could be summarized as “I inherited the worst economy since the Depression, and I saved us from a new depression because I say I did.”

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The End of the Post Racial Presidency
by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann

The very basis of Barack Obama’s entire political career has been the assertion that he is one of the first examples of a post-racial politician. He consciously eschewed the notion that his presidency was notable for the triumph of a black politician and focused, instead, on what it said about the irrelevance of race to the political process.

When the Clintons sought to inject race into the election by harping on the polarization of black support for Obama and likening his triumph in the South Carolina primary to that of Jesse Jackson, the Obama supporters cried foul and accused the former first couple of injecting race into the contest.

Now, Obama is letting his supporters strip away his image of a post-racial president by their increasingly racial rhetoric and his support for radical black activists.

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Scott Brown: Is He Stupid or Corrupt?

In one of the greatest upsets in modern political history, the people of Massachusetts, sick and tired of the free spending, economy destroying ways of Obama and Democrats in Washington, came together to elect Republican Scott Brown to take over Ed Kennedy’s old Senate seat with the intention of ushering in a new age of federal fiscal responsibility.

But what a sorry joke that has turned out to be… instead of acting as a brake to the Obama agenda that the people had thought they voted for, Brown has become a bigger enabler to the President’s anti-business policies than the guy who shows up to an AA meeting with a bottle of gin.

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Obama’s Next Act
by Charles Krauthammer – 07/16/2010

WASHINGTON — In the political marketplace, there’s now a run on Obama shares. The left is disappointed with the president. Independents are abandoning him in droves. And the right is already dancing on his political grave, salivating about November when, his own press secretary admitted Sunday, Democrats might lose the House.

I have a warning for Republicans: Don’t underestimate Barack Obama.

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But Obama’s most far-reaching accomplishment is his structural alteration of the U.S. budget. The stimulus, the vast expansion of domestic spending, the creation of ruinous deficits as far as the eye can see are not easily reversed.

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Obama Must be Impeached: He’s Either Incompetent, or Purposely Failing

Is there a single American who secretly thinks Obama’s up to the task of the presidency? Or, does anyone believe Barack does not take bad situations and worsen them to magnify his power? These are rhetorical questions, of course. The only way Barack is an acceptable president is if you’re an opponent of America’s greatest achievements.

Therefore, if you support Obama it means you want to revolutionize the US. But no democratic country knowingly elects leaders to debase their country, give away power, bankrupt the treasury, incorporate socialism, dissolve constitutional rights, cripple capitalism, and menace every citizen with reckless policies. That would be ridiculous and anti-American. Barack has done all these things. Therefore, he must be impeached.

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This weekend we celebrate the birth of our nation.

July 2, 1776 was the original signing of the Declaration of Independence declaring independence from the British Crown. July 4, 1776 Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence proclaiming a new United States of America from Great Britain and its king.

Happy Birthday America! Have a great Independence Day!

President Reagan’s Address to the Nation on Independence Day – 7/4/86

Independence Forever: Why America Celebrates the Fourth of July

The Fourth of July is a great opportunity to renew our dedication to the principles of liberty and equality enshrined in what Thomas Jefferson called “the declaratory charter of our rights.”

As a practical matter, the Declaration of Independence publicly announced to the world the unanimous decision of the American colonies to declare themselves free and independent states, absolved from any allegiance to Great Britain. But its greater meaning-then as well as now-is as a statement of the conditions of legitimate political authority and the proper ends of government, and its proclamation of a new ground of political rule in the sovereignty of the people. “If the American Revolution had produced nothing but the Declaration of Independence,” wrote the great historian Samuel Eliot Morrison, “it would have been worthwhile.”

Although Congress had appointed a distinguished committee-including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston-the Declaration of Independence is chiefly the work of Thomas Jefferson. By his own account, Jefferson was neither aiming at originality nor taking from any particular writings but was expressing the “harmonizing sentiments of the day,” as expressed in conversation, letters, essays, or “the elementary books of public right, as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, etc.” Jefferson intended the Declaration to be “an expression of the American mind,” and wrote so as to “place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent.”

The structure of the Declaration of Independence is that of a common law legal document. The ringing phrases of the document’s famous second paragraph are a powerful synthesis of American constitutional and republican government theories. All men have a right to liberty only in so far as they are by nature equal, which is to say none are naturally superior, and deserve to rule, or inferior, and deserve to be ruled. Because men are endowed with these rights, the rights are unalienable, which means that they cannot be given up or taken away. And because individuals equally possess these rights, governments derive their just powers from the consent of those governed. The purpose of government is to secure these fundamental rights and, although prudence tells us that governments should not be changed for trivial reasons, the people retain the right to alter or abolish government when it becomes destructive of these ends.

The remainder of the document is a bill of indictment accusing King George III of some 30 offenses, some constitutional, some legal, and some matters of policy. The combined charges against the king were intended to demonstrate a history of repeated injuries, all having the object of establishing “an absolute tyranny” over America. Although the colonists were “disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable,” the time had come to end the relationship: “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.”

One charge that Jefferson had included, but Congress removed, was that the king had “waged cruel war against human nature” by introducing slavery and allowing the slave trade into the American colonies. A few delegates were unwilling to acknowledge that slavery violated the “most sacred rights of life and liberty,” and the passage was dropped for the sake of unanimity. Thus was foreshadowed the central debate of the American Civil War, which Abraham Lincoln saw as a test to determine whether a nation “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” could long endure.

The Declaration of Independence and the liberties recognized in it are grounded in a higher law to which all human laws are answerable. This higher law can be understood to derive from reason-the truths of the Declaration are held to be “self-evident”-but also revelation. There are four references to God in the document: to “the laws of nature and nature’s God”; to all men being “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”; to “the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions”; and to “the protection of Divine Providence.” The first term suggests a deity that is knowable by human reason, but the others-God as creator, as judge, and as providence-are more biblical, and add a theological context to the document. “And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God?” Jefferson asked in his Notes on the State of Virginia.

The true significance of the Declaration lies in its trans-historical meaning. Its appeal was not to any conventional law or political contract but to the equal rights possessed by all men and “the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and nature’s God” entitled them. What is revolutionary about the Declaration of Independence is not that a particular group of Americans declared their independence under particular circumstances but that they did so by appealing to-and promising to base their particular government on-a universal standard of justice. It is in this sense that Abraham Lincoln praised “the man who, in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecast, and capacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary document, an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times.”

The ringing phrases of the Declaration of Independence speak to all those who strive for liberty and seek to vindicate the principles of self-government. But it was an aged John Adams who, when he was asked to prepare a statement on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, delivered two words that still convey our great hope every Fourth of July: “Independence Forever.”

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Independence Day Video

John Adams – Declaration of Independence

Our Nations Inspiration!

Using quotes from our Founding Fathers, this video leaves no debate that our country was founded on Christian principles, and even on Christ Himself.

1776 – A Tribute to American Independence

‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’ (Steffe-Howe)

Happy Birthday America (Independence Day)

Happy 4th of July!

United States Armed Forces Tribute (Armed Forces Medley)

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Red Skelton In The Pledge Of Allegiance Video

MARINE STUNS A TEA PARTY WITH THE FOURTH VERSE OF THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER

4th of July Tribute

History of the Star Spangled Banner

David Barton gives the true story behind our National Anthem. For more info, go to www.wallbuilders.com and www.wallbuilderslive.com

We Need God in America Again

Martina McBride – God Bless America

This weekend we celebrate the birth of our nation.

July 2, 1776 was the original signing of the Declaration of Independence declaring independence from the British Crown. July 4, 1776 Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence proclaiming a new United States of America from Great Britain and its king.

Have a safe and happy Independence Day weekend! God bless the United States of America!

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

Understanding the Declaration of Independence – 9 Key Concepts Everyone Should Know

Independence Forever: Why America Celebrates the Fourth of July

The Fourth of July is a great opportunity to renew our dedication to the principles of liberty and equality enshrined in what Thomas Jefferson called “the declaratory charter of our rights.”

As a practical matter, the Declaration of Independence publicly announced to the world the unanimous decision of the American colonies to declare themselves free and independent states, absolved from any allegiance to Great Britain. But its greater meaning-then as well as now-is as a statement of the conditions of legitimate political authority and the proper ends of government, and its proclamation of a new ground of political rule in the sovereignty of the people. “If the American Revolution had produced nothing but the Declaration of Independence,” wrote the great historian Samuel Eliot Morrison, “it would have been worthwhile.”

Although Congress had appointed a distinguished committee-including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston-the Declaration of Independence is chiefly the work of Thomas Jefferson. By his own account, Jefferson was neither aiming at originality nor taking from any particular writings but was expressing the “harmonizing sentiments of the day,” as expressed in conversation, letters, essays, or “the elementary books of public right, as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, etc.” Jefferson intended the Declaration to be “an expression of the American mind,” and wrote so as to “place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent.”

The structure of the Declaration of Independence is that of a common law legal document. The ringing phrases of the document’s famous second paragraph are a powerful synthesis of American constitutional and republican government theories. All men have a right to liberty only in so far as they are by nature equal, which is to say none are naturally superior, and deserve to rule, or inferior, and deserve to be ruled. Because men are endowed with these rights, the rights are unalienable, which means that they cannot be given up or taken away. And because individuals equally possess these rights, governments derive their just powers from the consent of those governed. The purpose of government is to secure these fundamental rights and, although prudence tells us that governments should not be changed for trivial reasons, the people retain the right to alter or abolish government when it becomes destructive of these ends.

The remainder of the document is a bill of indictment accusing King George III of some 30 offenses, some constitutional, some legal, and some matters of policy. The combined charges against the king were intended to demonstrate a history of repeated injuries, all having the object of establishing “an absolute tyranny” over America. Although the colonists were “disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable,” the time had come to end the relationship: “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.”

One charge that Jefferson had included, but Congress removed, was that the king had “waged cruel war against human nature” by introducing slavery and allowing the slave trade into the American colonies. A few delegates were unwilling to acknowledge that slavery violated the “most sacred rights of life and liberty,” and the passage was dropped for the sake of unanimity. Thus was foreshadowed the central debate of the American Civil War, which Abraham Lincoln saw as a test to determine whether a nation “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” could long endure.

The Declaration of Independence and the liberties recognized in it are grounded in a higher law to which all human laws are answerable. This higher law can be understood to derive from reason-the truths of the Declaration are held to be “self-evident”-but also revelation. There are four references to God in the document: to “the laws of nature and nature’s God”; to all men being “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”; to “the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions”; and to “the protection of Divine Providence.” The first term suggests a deity that is knowable by human reason, but the others-God as creator, as judge, and as providence-are more biblical, and add a theological context to the document. “And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God?” Jefferson asked in his Notes on the State of Virginia.

The true significance of the Declaration lies in its trans-historical meaning. Its appeal was not to any conventional law or political contract but to the equal rights possessed by all men and “the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and nature’s God” entitled them. What is revolutionary about the Declaration of Independence is not that a particular group of Americans declared their independence under particular circumstances but that they did so by appealing to-and promising to base their particular government on-a universal standard of justice. It is in this sense that Abraham Lincoln praised “the man who, in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecast, and capacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary document, an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times.”

The ringing phrases of the Declaration of Independence speak to all those who strive for liberty and seek to vindicate the principles of self-government. But it was an aged John Adams who, when he was asked to prepare a statement on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, delivered two words that still convey our great hope every Fourth of July: “Independence Forever.”

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Surprise rise in jobless claims stokes recovery worries

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New claims for state unemployment aid unexpectedly rose last week, heightening fears the U.S. economic recovery is stalling.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 472,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

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Pending home sales plunge record 30 percent

(Reuters) – Contracts for pending sales of previously owned homes plunged a record 30 percent in May, far more than expected, after a popular tax credit expired at the end of the prior month, a survey from the National Association of Realtors showed on Thursday.

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Evidence mounts that recovery is hitting the skids

WASHINGTON – The economic rebound is stalling.

A raft of weak new reports Thursday provided the strongest evidence yet that the recovery is slowing and added to concerns that the nation could be on its way back into recession.

Most notable was a rise in the number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time. The four-week average for jobless claims now stands at its highest point since March.

The bleak indicators come just after Congress adjourned for the holiday weekend without extending jobless benefits, and a day ahead of a report expected to show only modest improvement in the national job market.

On top of that, the housing market appears to be slumping again, and the Dow Jones industrials closed down for the sixth trading day in a row. Add in slower growth in China and the Europe debt crisis, and economists are scaling back their forecasts for the U.S.

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Job worries hurt stocks at start of 3rd quarter

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks began the third quarter with another loss after reports on jobs, housing and manufacturing raised investors’ economic worries.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 42 points Thursday for its sixth straight loss, although it ended well off its lows ahead of the government’s June jobs report. The report is critical because a rebound in jobs is needed for the economy to recover. The numbers are due before the start of trading Friday.

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Personal savings rate: worse than we thought

FORTUNE — The long decline of the savings rate in the United States has been widely discussed, yet every revisit of the data brings new cause for alarm. Hedgeye recently provided its clients a chart showing savings as a percentage of GDP. In the 1970s and 1980s savings were in the 5 – 7% range. In the decades since, personal savings have declined to the 1 – 3% range.

Many pundits suggest the decline in savings is a non-issue, while others, more on the extreme, believe that it one of the primary economic issues currently facing the United States. While the implications can be debated, the fact remains that the savings rate has declined dramatically over the past few decades and is among the lowest of any modern nation state.

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Jobless Claims in U.S. Increased Last Week to 472,000

July 1 (Bloomberg) — More Americans unexpectedly applied for jobless benefits last week, a sign the labor market recovery may be slowing.
Initial jobless claims increased by 13,000 to 472,000 in the week ended June 26, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance rose, while those getting emergency benefits dropped after Congress failed to act on extending the legislation.

The jump in applications raises the risk that the turmoil in financial markets brought on by the European debt crisis is leading to additional cutbacks in staff. The Labor Department tomorrow may report the U.S. lost jobs in June for the first month this year, reflecting a drop in temporary federal workers who helped to conduct the decennial census.

“The labor market is not generating employment for anyone, even for people who have been out a long time,” said Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities USA Inc. in New York, who forecast claims at 470,000. “What we’re seeing in the backup of claims is not a particularly healthy story, showing we can’t generate upside momentum in the labor market.”

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Private sector job growth falters

The U.S. economy created a modest 83,000 private sector jobs in June, adding to concern that the economic recovery is tepid at best and highlighting the political danger to President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats heading into a tightly contested midterm election cycle in which control of the House and perhaps the Senate are at stake.

The unemployment rate ticked down slightly from 9.7 percent to 9.5 percent.

The Labor Department this morning reported an overall decline of 125,000 non-farm payroll employment but the number was dragged down by a 225,000 decline in temporary Census jobs. The underlying private sector jobs created represent an increase from the 41,000 positions generated in May but a significant drop from the peak recovery job creation figure of 218,000 new jobs in April.

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America’s Economic Future
Laura Ingraham fills in on The O’Reilly Factor

Rick Santelli Shouts that Government Must “Stop Spending, Stop Spending, Stop Spending!”

Gerald Celente on Russia today 30 June 2010

Peter Schiff on Uncle Sam’s Spending Habits
Spending vs. Saving

Ron Paul on Fox Business, 6/30/2010

Ditch the Buck! Dollar demise ‘a matter of months’

John Boehner Responds to Obama: Stop Whining