Uh…

“An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”

“the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion” – Treaty of Tripoli-

Background info: The preliminary treaty began with a signing on 4 November, 1796 (the end of George Washington’s last term as president). Joel Barlow, the American diplomat served as counsel to Algiers and held responsibility for the treaty negotiations. Barlow had once served under Washington as a chaplain in the revolutionary army. He became good friends with Paine, Jefferson, and read Enlightenment literature. Later he abandoned Christian orthodoxy for rationalism and became an advocate of secular government. Joel Barlow wrote the original English version of the treaty, including Amendment 11. Barlow forwarded the treaty to U.S. legislators for approval in 1797. Timothy Pickering, the secretary of state, endorsed it and John Adams concurred (now during his presidency), sending the document on to the Senate. The Senate approved the treaty on June 7, 1797, and officially ratified by the Senate with John Adams signature on 10 June, 1797. All during this multi-review process, the wording of Article 11 never raised the slightest concern. The treaty even became public through its publication in The Philadelphia Gazette on 17 June 1797.

So here we have a clear admission by the United States in 1797 that our government did not found itself upon Christianity. Unlike the Declaration of Independence, this treaty represented U.S. law as all U.S. Treaties do (see the Constitution, Article VI, Sect.2: “This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.”)

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin

What is scarry is that Rudi might have been the most libertarian of the viable contenders for President.

I mean really do you think that Obama, McCain, etc have a better definition of freedom?

Can you source that quote? I was looking for it today (for use in this post), but the only real thing I could find was a very similar Edward Abbey quote.

If you can let me know where this quote is attributed to Thomas Paine, I’d greatly appreciate it.

Thomas Van Flein, for
Governor Sarah Palin

“Only YOU can set YOU free”
-Living Colour

Happy 4th to one and all. Be safe. Be responsible. Have fun!
-Helmut

That Guiliani quote is both the scariest and most depressing quote I have seen in a long time.

Scary, because he is (or was) considered a serious contender for the Presidency.

Depressing, because there seem to be so many people – right and left – who agree with him.

“I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.” – Will Rogers -