Happy Independence Day

Please read the whole thing, out loud, in front of as many people as possible. 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

Is this politics? Or just plain common sense and decency?

Some other songs

Fugazi,
Long Distance Runner:
The farther I go the less I know
One foot goes in front of the other
It all boils around to not hanging around
To keep moving in front of the gravity
The answer is there the answer is there
but there is not a fixed position
It keeps moving along so I keep coming along
and that's why I'm a long distance runner
and if I stop to catch my breath
I might catch a piece of death
I can't keep your pace if I want to finish this race
My fight's not with it
It's with the gravity
Long distance runner

Down By Law
1944:
somewhere a pen is busy with hate tonight
jaded eyes and cynics bring me down
somewhere a kid is playing his heart out tonight
but he'll get nowhere with the Berkeley in-crowd
well put-downs are so easy
like a novel without a soul
and every executioner wears a hood
when it's time for heads to roll
well they're just like new dictators
trying to tell us what to love
well their opinion they can take and shove
somewhere young rebels will meet up tonight
somewhere skateboarders and straightedgers will unite
they don't need no magazine that's filled with hate and lies
get enough from the world around them
they're young but they are wise
but negativity's easy
you just fire and walk away
and it's the armchair general
who lives to fight another day
well their opinion they can take and shove
if this was 1944, they'd be pointing their guns at you
cause every fascist, left or right, has a fucked-up set of rules
but do they really think the kids are such fools?
Or do they even care?

These were a coupple of songs that resonatd with me when I was listining to the ipod While running on the treadmill this morning. No breakdown required.

May all be well and happy!
Jordan

Myanmar & China (book plug for China Wars)

More Tics
Jordan

Late add, a Photo vid of Myanmar.



Please check Greg's Blog for updates on action ou can take here: Link

May all be well and happy,
Jordan

Currenrt events: Myanmar

Ok folks even the honorable Mr. Bush is talking trash about the Government of Burma.
Oh, yes I have to call elected officials "The Honorable" it comes with the uniform.

I am not much about politics. I am going to say again what I have heard.

Politics= Poly= Many and Ticks= Blood sucking insects.

That said, My friend Greg has put up stuff where you can actually do something.
So Go on over to Meeting it Everyware and take some action.

This is some news's/ opinion from Strategy Page you may not see else ware:

In neighboring Myanmar (Burma), the military dictatorship that has ruled the country since the 1960s is facing a crisis. The Buddhist clergy, which usually stays out of politics, has been organizing larger and larger demonstrations. It all began when police beat up some monks and the government refused to apologize. That was the trigger, but the real reason for the increasingly large demonstrations is the dictatorship. In classic fashion, the generals have taken control of the economy and squeezed what cash they could from it to keep themselves, and key leaders of the military and security forces, fat and happy. All the generals have to fear is the kind of massive popular rebellion that brought down the communist dictatorships in
1989 and the early 1990s. That sort of thing has frightened dictators everywhere. The Myanmar generals, however, crushed such an uprising in 1988 leaving over 3,000 dead. But some generals, and many Burmese, believe another major uprising might succeed. Burmese are increasingly unhappy with the dictatorship's poor economic performance and increasingly heavy handed treatment of any dissent. It's not lost on most Burmese that neighboring India and Thailand are thriving economically while Myanmar sinks further into poverty.

This is mostly old news. Violence is escalating and we are not doing much to help.
However, don't pack the bags for a guilt trip just yet! Thailand and India are right there and could lend a hand, so maybe someone should write them too.

Update: From Jundo's Blog: Ngwe Kyar Yan
I have no words for this.

The Buddha's Words on Kindness (Metta Sutta)

This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in saftey,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all beings be at ease!

Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings:
Radiating kindness over the entire world
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.

Also If you are in the Portland Oregon area
Check this out:

RARE BUDDHIST RELICS VISIT PORTLAND
Dates September 28, 29 & 30, 2007
Times Friday 7pm Opening Ceremony, public viewing until 9pm
Saturday and Sunday 10am to 7pm each day
Venue: Buddhist Daihonzan Henjyoji Temple,
2634 SE 12th Ave, Portland
Entrance No entrance charge, donations welcome

No I won't be there. Just not into that kind of thing.

I pray for the merit of all those in conflict around the world.
Jordan

Politics

Normaly when I think of politics I think of the words Poly, meaning many, and Tics, meaning blood sucking insects.

This year appears to be diffrent America. We have a canidate for president whos own party is affraid of. Someone with(say it isn't so) principals. This is a Republican that Bill Marr even likes. He was in the New Hampsire debated and smoked all of his compettitors. I think this guy is the real deal.

Please take a moment to check out this Ron Paul.