We are well aware that our lifestyle is what many would call “unconventional.”  Up until now, we’ve always lived in a modern style house, unless you consider the 1 bedroom cabin we rented when our 2nd daughter was born “unconventional.”  Our cabin on the dirt road was a tad bit “unconventional.”  But, to us, it was wonderful.  We were living in the country down the road from my parents.  I am not a city girl, so living in a little cabin on a dirt road was peaceful and home.  The two little girls and I would have picnic lunches in the front yard by the orchard.  We lived simply and were content with little.

Since that little cabin on the dirt road, we’ve lived in “conventional” houses.  Some of those “conventional” houses were older, some newer.  The last house we owned was only a couple of years old when we bought it.  It was small, but it was almost new, on 1/2 acre and it was rural.  So, for the most part, up until  now, we’ve lived the “conventional” lifestyle which most of us in today’s America are used to and consider “normal.”

But “normal” is relative.  Now, according to today’s “conventional” standard, we live “unconventionally.”  But, if you were to compare our “unconventional” lifestyle of today to early America or any other time or place in history, and even many current societies, we live royally.  It’s all a matter of what one’s perspective of “normal” is.

Having lived in “conventional” housing most of our life, our family would say that its really over-rated.  And living rurally and building as God provides the funds, is hard, but oh so worth it!  We’ve learned so much, not just building wise, but character wise.  We’ve learned to work.  We’ve learned to build.  We’ve learned to milk animals.  We’ve learned how to change flat tires.  We’ve learned how to hunt.  We’ve learned how to butcher.  We’ve learned how to change tires, and we’ve learned how to drive and back up trailers. And, we’ve learned so much more!

Most importantly, we’ve learned that we need to be content with much as well as to be content with little.  We’ve learned that one can live an abundant life while cooking over an open fire (as our forefathers did), or heating water to wash dishes, that one can be content living in a beautiful canvas deck tent cooking in roaster ovens, just as one can live an abundant life while cooking on a propane stove, in a beautiful double oven, washing dishes in a sink with running hot and cold water.  Its all a matter of perspective.

When we were just living in the 5th wheel, we were thankful, remembering the Pilgrims and the very real hardships they suffered when they came to this land with no housing at all. Remembering the Pilgrims helped us to keep our new life in perspective and to be thankful.  How many people get to camp on their own property for an entire year in their 5th wheel? ; )  It was an adventure!  It was beautiful to both sit and work outside as nightfall approached and see the colors in the sky change, glisten and fade into dark as we watched the stars start to pop out one at a time until there were too many to count and the sky was full of God’s glory.  What a gift that year was!  And the memories we made were and are priceless.

When we added the canvas deck tent to the 5th wheel, it was glorious!  We were so thankful for the additional space and room to occupy and set up house. We didn’t need a “conventional” house to be thankful!  WE had a canvas deck tent!  How many people get to live that kind of adventure?  Some people pay big money to go camp or live in a Yurt.  What stories our children will have to tell their children some day. And it won’t be tales of woe.  It will be tales of life here at Plymouth Rock Ranch!

When we enclosed the canvas deck tent raised wood floor into a “conventional” stick built cabin, it was wonderful and we had so much for which to be thankful!  And on top of that, it was Thanksgiving Week ; )  We loved our tent, and some had dubbed us the Tent Family ; ) but our tent wasn’t going to hold up much longer and needed replacing.  We thanked the Lord for His wondrous provision for us and were thankful for our new cabin and the  many blessed friends who came and helped us build it in one week’s time.

One week later, the Lord miraculously provided us with a beautiful custom oak cabinet kitchen with gorgeous granite counter tops for our humble abode.  Once again, He showed Himself, Jehovah Jireh, the God Who Provides, to us, in the little details of providing for us a wondrous kitchen for our new cabin!

Rick found a beautiful large kitchen sink at Habitat that is now in our kitchen.  A coworker decided they wanted a stainless steel double oven instead of a white one and graciously handed his beautiful white double oven down to us.  My handy husband altered the waiting-for-a-double-oven cabinet that came with our new-to-us kitchen, to fit our new-to-us white double oven and ran the electricity for it, and whalla!  We’re so thankful to now be cooking in a beautiful white double oven!

Our most recent addition is enclosing the 6′ deck at the end of the cabin into an entry/pantry/fridge/freezer storage room.  Oh, how 100′ of additional square footage added to the logistics of our daily life!

We are thankful!  We are thankful in little.  We are thankful in much.  We are thankful for how the Lord provides for us and how the little things in life are sources of joy………….unless we want to see the glass as half empty………..then they will be sources of discontentment.  It is a decision each of us must make each and every day.  Will be be thankful?  Or will we be discontent and grumble?  Thankfulness…………..

• We are thankful for the Lord in our lives.
• We are thankful for each one in our family.
• We are thankful for each one of our animals.
• We are thankful for our fresh Jersey milk, our fresh eggs, the roosters crowing, the nose nudging of an English Shepherd, and the recent rains which have watered our parched land.
• We are thankful for our friends.
• We are thankful for our neighbors.
• We are thankful for our land.
• We are thankful for our cabin and the progress we are making.
• We are thankful for the trials.
• We are thankful for the blessings.
• We are thankful to the Lord for His many abundant provisions for us.
• And we look forward to how the Lord will continue to provide  what it is that He wants us to have each and every day.

Some people feel sorry for our children that they have to endure such “hardships” living “unconventionally.”  Funny thing is, our children feel sorry for those who must live in a “conventional” house in town with no land of their own to go build forts on or raise their own chickens or build their own house, or milk their own cow or grow their own garden, or fix their own car, or get away from the hub-bub of the city.

It really all comes down to one’s perspective on what “normal” is.  And beyond that, it comes down to being content with little or being content with much.  For if we were living in the city in a “conventional” house, we would still need to be content and thankful.  Although, we must admit, it would be harder for us all to be content in the city in a “conventional” house than it is to be thankful living “unconventionally” in the beauty of the country with room to grow and learn.

We are ever so grateful to the Lord for planting us on our rural property in our “unconventional” lifestyle.  We are truly blessed.

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From the producers of “Fireproof,” which dealt with the God-given role of being a husband, now comes the movie “Courageous,” which deals with the God-given role of fatherhood. Both are sacred roles given to men to fulfill before the Lord.

Genesis 18:18-19 says, “since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”

On Friday night our family had the privilege of attending the premiere of the movie, “Courageous,” with many other friends. All I can say is……Wow!……… This movie is full of truth, humor, fallen man, tears, hurt, compassion, repentance and a call to all men to stand up and be the fathers that God has created them to be. The range of emotions runs the gamut throughout the entire movie.

The role of fatherhood is a priceless role.

It is a role that God holds in high esteem.  A role that He saw Abraham fulfilling and therefore Abraham was a faithful and trustworthy man in the Lord’s eyes.

Fatherhood is a role that calls for a Biblical understanding of the generational importance of that role.

A role that has one opportunity with each child God gives a man.

A role that calls men to be on their knees in humility and seeking wisdom from God on how to best fulfill that role of providing for, guarding, shepherding, molding, training, teaching and discipling the hearts, minds and souls of each of his children.

The role of fatherhood is one that should drive each man to the Lord because, in and of himself, no man is adequately capable of fulfilling this role without the mercy and grace of the Lord in his life.

Fatherhood………a foundational role………..to be faithfully fulfilled…………or squandered…………

Please go see this film. Its message is timeless and precious. The results immeasurable. The tears unstoppable. The repentance and turning to fulfilling the calling of the Lord as a father…………priceless…………

Vision Forum is offering The Courageous Movie Family Pack at 30% off until October 8th.

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Friday morning………..Saturday afternoon………..

Sunday night…………..

And now……….Wednesday night…………

We’ve been watching all evening as the clouds to the north of us built and built and built.  The sky from afar lit up and was beautiful with the heavenly show of lights.  The doppler showed a very large cell building to the north.  It didn’t seem to be moving towards us, but rather  the cell was moving more in a circle over the north of us.  We weren’t sure if we’d get any rain or not……..and it was soooooooo close!

But, in God’s providence, the circular motion stopped and the cell has slowly started traveling south and we are presently receiving rain.  This cell looks like it will water our land well as it is moving so slowly.  The rain is mostly a moderate rain, which is perfect.  Enough water to water our land and sprout some grass for our grass deprived livestock. Yet not so much rain that it all runs off.

We’re hoping to find the wet weather creek flowing in the morning as the rain to the north of us is what feeds that very dry stream.  And……….we know we will wake up to mud.  Mud is inconvenient.  Mud gets everywhere inside and out.  But, tonight and tomorrow……..mud is beautiful ; )

Thank you, Lord, for quenching the thirst of a very dry and parched land.

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Friday night and Saturday morning started off the three days of rain.  The guys got as much of the roofing done as they had material to use on Saturday after our afternoon rain break.

Sunday morning we debated………..go to Church and leave the roof almost secured and covered with plastic, or make a run for more materials and finish the roofing before more rain hit.

We opted to go to Church, pick up the materials we were short on on the way home and then head home to finish the roof later in the day.

The sky was dark when we got home, the guys all got on the roof and went to work.  Someone asked me to check the doppler as the clouds to the north of us were spectacular……..and threatening looking.  Lo and behold, there was a very long line of red celled storms on the doppler from west to east and heading our way to the south.

I notified everybody that rain was a comin’ and to batten down the hatches.  Everybody went into a whirlwind of activity closing down the roofing and getting it covered back up, protecting tools, rolling up car windows, securing animals and feed and more.

We watched as the doppler tracked the moving storm cell as we anticipated its arrival with joy and thanksgiving as our land is so very much in need of the nourishing and replenishing rain.

It was close to bedtime when the rain hit.  With the first drops of rain, those of us who sleep in the trailer decided to make a run for it and beat the majority of rain between the cabin and the trailer.  It was such a refreshing sound to hear the rain hit the metal roof of the trailer for about an hour or so.  The rain was hard…….but not too hard………just right to reacquaint the earth with the aspect of rain.

The next morning, the animals were chipper, the ground was muddy, which soon made our floors muddy as there is no good way to keep the mud out yet, and we were very thankful to be dealing with mud issues once again! And best of all, the roofing that we were able to get down, kept the water out of the cabin and the cabin addition was dry!

So far, the forecast for this week looks clear.  We sure could use some more rain to grow some local hay in the last bit of this fall season.  The winter hay stores are non existent and some fall cutting would sure be a good start towards being able to feed livestock here this winter.  So we lift our voice of supplication up to the Lord beseeching Him for even more rain, as we thank Him for the wonderful gift of water that He’s so recently given us 3 days in a row.

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………….which caused sleeping children to jump out of bed at just before dawn at the sound of heavy rain to waterproof……just a little too late………….

………….get our almost covered addition roof wet enough to cause us to lower the newly installed insulation and blow a strong fan in the new addition to dry it out ; (  ………………..

…………get the uncovered newly purchased, very valuable in a drought, hay wet………………..

…………get the tools that were out wet………………..

…………scramble to cover the exposed rabbits………………..

…………make a muddy mess which gets traipsed into the buildings……………..

…………get the dogs muddy…………

…………bring everyone back into the trailer looking like drowned rats at dawn…………..

That was on Friday morning.

Today, on Saturday afternoon, we had enough drops of blessed rain to…………………

………….cause work to cease on the roof we were desperately trying to get covered before more rain hit……………..

………….cause us to make another rainproofing scramble to cover the exposed roof and tools and animals…………….

………….get the dogs muddy………..

………….give us a non-Texas sprinkling rain on Saturday afternoon during work on the roof…………..

And…………there’s more in the forecast!

We are praying for a steady, gentle rain that will nourish this parched land and not wash it away, grow some local fields of hay as the winter storebarns are empty…………and give all of the animals a much needed shower……………AFTER we get the roof completed and secured!

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We use 7 strand nylon paracord which can hold 550lbs.  Paracord is water proof and mildew resistant.  It can be woven  into different accessories that one can wear and easily transport everywhere with them in the form of bracelets, knife handles, zipper pulls, key chains, rifle slings, belts, pet collars and leashes and many more uses.

These items can be easily unraveled should you ever need a strong rope for multitudes of uses including: lanyards, repelling/climbing, outdoor uses, anchoring things down, shoe laces,  snares & traps, clothes line, making a shelter, hammocks, and tourniquets.  The 7 strands in the core of the paracord can be used as fishing line/fishing net, bow strings, and thread for stitches.  These are just a few of the many uses of paracord.

Single Cobra Rose Pink

We have a customer whose husband wears a Rose Pink Bracelet in honor of his wife who is a breast cancer survivor.  What a special way to honor one’s wife!  And another facet to Saved by a Thread’s “Survival Bracelets.”

Double Cobra Black & Black Knife Handle

Double Cobra Glow In The Dark OD Green & OD Green

Getting Patriotic

Black Zipper Pull

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]]> http://plymouthrockranch.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=2849 0 http://plymouthrockranch.com/blog/?p=2841 http://plymouthrockranch.com/blog/?p=2841#comments Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:53:23 +0000 http://plymouthrockranch.com/blog/?p=2841 God has lead our family to a new family business that we are very excited about.  We love the concept of a family business.  All of us working together as a family toward a united goal.  We’ve prayed for a long time for a business such as this, but couldn’t quite put our finger on what it should be.  This business idea just kinda fell into our hands unexpectedly and has taken off much faster than we’d have ever anticipated.

From the time she was a baby, Larissa has been very tactile, loving anything soft or made of yarn or fuzzy or knotted or crocheted.  As she grew, that attraction transferred into perfecting a crocheting thread, a craft that her Great Grandmother, Baba, so lovingly made for so many years, lacey and beautiful thread doilies.  Larissa became a very talented thread crocheter and makes beautiful thread doilies in honor of Baba as well as baby outfits and blankets for special gifts and occasions.  She’s recently expanded her lifelong love for handling tactile threads into a new product line and business.

Larissa is designing, and the family is making and selling custom paracord survival gear and accessories through our new business, Saved By a Thread.  You can also find some of our premade items on Etsy. You can read some testimonials of our products too.

The Seargeant Family for generations has been known for their master craftsmanship designs and skills and heart that they put into anything and everything that they design, build or make.  Larissa’s products fall right in line with the Seargeant heritage of beautiful craftsmanship made with love and high quality products.

She’s invested much time in finding the best products to use, the best way to design and the best way to make these items and has had many, many compliments as to the high quality of her product.

The Lord has recently gifted us with our first wholesale order of these products and a second one is approved and in the works, for which we are very grateful.

The entire family has been very busy with this project.

• Our family’s webmaster has been busy, busy, busy, working on the SBATGear.com website.  It is still is under construction with much more to add and tweak, but it is up and running with changes and additions being made routinely.

• Our family webmaster is also our graphics designer, so she’s been busy designing our packaging materials.

• Our multiple photographers have been busy, busy, busy taking great pictures of our products so y’all can see the design detail and handcrafted precision that go into each of our products.

• Our engineering staff has been designing and making tools to assist in making each product, while uniquely handmade, as uniform as possible.

• Our purchasing department has been working hard to try to find reputable sources for materials.  Reputable can be hard to find these days, sadly to say.  But, we think we’ve worked through those issues and are happy with the integrity of our suppliers now.

• Our sales and marketing committees have been hard at work trying to figure out Ecommerce options, sales options, marketing options, equipment needs vs. wants, and more.

• Our shipping department has learned lots about different shippers, different options, different price structures, different shipping times and prices, miscellaneous costs that can be overlooked by have an impact on the budget, and more.

And some of us wear multiple job description hats ; )

Needless to say, we’ve been beyond busy here…………which can be seen in the lack of posts recently.  But, its been a good busy.  One for which we are very thankful for and excited about!

Oh……….and there are other projects in the works that we can’t divulge just yet.  More to come on that later.  So, stay tuned!

Double Bracelet & Knife Handle Cover

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I am thankful that we’ve been able to have some of the pups into their adolescence as its given us an opportunity to watch them morph and change and mature and grow as other pups have left the pack and the pack order has changed.

Stonewall was one of the more dominant pups early on, but he’s now such a sweet, loving, attentive pup.

Valiant was the Not-So-Valiant-Valiant early on.  But he’s really matured beautifully and has outgrown most of his initial shyness.

Copper Bullet has grown up into a very strong, all around English Shepherd, who reminds me of his mama in just about every way.

Bonanza is the least changed of all of them.  He’s always been the friendliest, sweetest, most loving people pup of them all.  He still is.

We’ve learned a lot about the changes that can take place in a pup as they grow and mature and the pack changes.  And we’ve enjoyed each of these 13 pups at their individual places.

Its so interesting to see the morphs and changes in the pups as they’ve matured into adolescents.

As the puppy numbers have reduced we’ve worked hard to spend individual time with the remaining pups adolescents.

They are all doing so well in learning their manners and how to listen and please.

Because there are 4 growing male pups and we live in a small cabin, we cannot have them all loose or in the cabin every day.  So, we rotate them through spending time in the cabin with us 1-2 pups a day where they get special one on multiple people attention.

We also take them out of the kennel 2x/day to run, exercise, and work with them.

Each of these pups have their own person who is giving them lots of individual love and training.

And some of them have 2 or more special people in their lives ; )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just-Shy-of-6-Month-Old Pictures

Stonewall

Stonewall has grown and matured so much.

Stonewall’s hair color has gone from one of the lightest sables to a red sable now.

He is gorgeous.

His personality has evened out from his more dominant beginning as one of the biggest pups.

He has become very biddable and eager to please with a very sweet personality.

Callan has taken him under her wing and worked with him and he has loved it and thrived under her special love and attention.

BONANZA

Bonanza is still the most affectionate, friendly pup.  Out of all of the pups, he has changed the least since the description below.

He is a sweetheart waiting for his very own family to love and serve.

His thicker, feathery coat around his neck is stating to grow in  and it just adds to his bubbly, affectionate personality!

He is Delaney’s special pup.

He LOVES the fresh Jersey milk she squirts his way during milking time : )

VALIANT

Valiant is growing and maturing beautifully.  He’s growing into being more assertive while being very, very biddable and loving.

He LOVES attention from his people in an unassuming kind of way.

He LOVES to be bathed and combed on and loved on.

He’s so very sweet.

He has a tail that curls into a circle which gives him lots of personality ; )

Of all the pups, he’s matured and grown the most puppyhood.

Galilee and Harrison love working with Valiant so he gets lots of their attention and he loves it!

COPPER BULLET

Copper Bullet has grown and matured and is a very strong dog.

He’s an independent thinker and intuitive, and is very trainable.

He has great instincts and loves activity.

I love the way he is maturing.

He would make a great stock dog or be great in a breeding program.

He’s a great all around English Shepherd!

I would love to see him in a breeding program.

I love all of these pups, but Copper Bullet has my affections ; )

All of the feedback I’ve received from families that have added one of our pups to their family has been that they have exceeded their expectations and are so thrilled to have added them to their family.  So, while I am a tad bit biased, others would agree with me when I say that these pups are special pups ; )

If you’re interested in one of these pups, please fill out a puppy questionnaire and let us know of your interest.

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A book that our family has enjoyed is “For You They Signed” by Marilyn Boyer. This book won Vision Forum’s 2009 Home School Resource of the Year Award.  It is about the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, some of whom are well known and some of whom are lesser known.  This is a great resource and read for young and old alike.  Vision Forum has it as their Deal of the Day TODAY ONLY for 50% off!

I encourage you to read through the 27 grievances and translate them into today’s world, the one in which we live, and see how these apply to us today and the government under which we live.  Lots of food for thought and prayer and consideration…………..

The first sentence of the Declaration asserts as a matter of Natural law {Editor’s Note:  Wikipedia conveniently left out “and of Nature’s GOD” here……..which I would say is the more important of the two to both us and the Founding Fathers} the ability of a people to assume political independence, and acknowledges that the grounds for such independence must be reasonable, and therefore explicable, and ought to be explained.

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 {Color added for noting the above Editor’s Note} entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

The next section, the famous preamble, includes the ideas and ideals that were principles of the Declaration. It is also an assertion of what is known as the “right of revolution“: that is, people have certain rights, and when a government violates these rights, the people have the right to “alter or abolish” that government.^[69]

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,^[70] that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. {Editor’s Note: There was debate over the word Happiness and some thought that the word Property should be here instead.} 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.

The next section is a list of charges against King George III, which aim to demonstrate that he has violated the colonists’ rights and is therefore unfit to be their ruler:

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.

{Numbers added for learning purposes}

1. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
9. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
10. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
11. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
12. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
13. 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:
14. For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
15. For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
16. For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
17. For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
18. For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
19. For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
20. 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:
21. For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
22. For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever
23. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
24. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
25. 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.
26. 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.
27. 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.

Many Americans still felt a kinship with the people of Great Britain, and had appealed in vain to the prominent among them, as well as to Parliament, to convince the King to relax his more objectionable policies toward the colonies. The next section represents disappointment that these attempts had been unsuccessful.

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.

In the final section, the signers assert that there exist conditions under which people must change their government, that the British have produced such conditions, and by necessity the colonies must throw off political ties with the British Crown and become independent states. The conclusion incorporates language from Lee’s resolution of independence that had been passed on July 2.

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.

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Speech delivered at Oakland Heights Baptist Church on Sunday, July 3, 2011

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It is great to be back in east Texas. Thank you for your counsel, encouragement and especially your prayers while I have been in Austin.

It has not been easy serving you and the people of Texas, but I have fought a good fight and I have a good conscience. I have a closer relationship with God, my wife and my family than when I began.

I am involved in civil government to limit it to its proper role and to restore individual freedom and responsibility. I believe this is both biblical and American.

Genesis tells us that God made us in his image — free and responsible creatures to represent him, to exercise his rule over his creation, and to enjoy him. God did not make us robots; he is not pleased with forced work or worship, but love from a willing heart both now and in eternity.

Our forefathers’ believed this. Their vision started with creation and stretched to eternity, as the hymn says: “O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears.”

They remind us in the Declaration of Independence that God is the Author of liberty. The rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are gifts of God, not civil government.

Our forefathers came here for freedom — to work and worship as free men. Of them we sing: “Oh beautiful for pilgrim feet, whose stern impassioned stress a thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness.”

The Declaration and the Bible further remind us that civil government has

a limited scope and purpose: to secure those God-given individual rights. Civil government was not instituted to run our lives, our families, our businesses. We should not idolize it. (Rom. 13, 1 Pet. 2, 1 Tim. 2)

The purpose of civil government is simple and limited: to punish the wrongdoer who harms his neighbor; to enforce the rules between individuals; and to get out of the way of freedom and responsibility.

Our greatest enemy of liberty today is not a cabal of terrorists that lurk and sometimes destroy; it is ourselves — our own irresponsible behavior and an out-of-control government. It is our shifting responsibility to others that we ourselves should shoulder. Proverbs 28:2 tells us that because of irresponsibility there are many rulers and laws.

What we need is not more civil government — to oppress us, to regulate us, to watch us, to feed us, to touch us in order to make us safe. What we need is more self-government and more family government.

“America, America God mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law.”

May God restore us to himself through the gospel and may he restore and save our Republic and the State of Texas!

David Simpson (R-Longview), Texas State Representative, House District 7

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Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be over thrown, our present republican forms of government, and all the blessings which flow from them, must fall with them.”

Dr. Jedidiah Morse, 1799

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The following I read on A Baker’s Dozen this morning and thought it fit in well with the other two quotes I’ve been saving for today.

The following are some quotes from George Washington, often referred to as the Father of our Country:

• “I am sure that never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the Omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them.”

• “I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an “Honest Man.”

• “A government is like fire, a handy servant, but a dangerous master.”

• “Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”

• “I earnestly pray that the Omnipotent Being who has not deserted the cause of America in the hour of its extremest hazard, will never yield so fair a heritage of freedom a prey to “Anarchy” or “Despotism.”

• “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”

• “It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”

• “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.”

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The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

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.

Have a blessed and happy 4th of July!

Blessings,

Sherry

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14

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We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom.

We drift toward superstition and call it faith.

We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation.

We slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism.

We slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”

- D.A. Carson

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It is through the Christian Faith of the holy and sovereign God of the Bible that our Nation was founded upon laws which were derived from the principles and precepts of the Holy Scriptures.  It is only through we, as individuals, we as families, we as cities, we as counties, we as states and we as a nation turn back to the Lord and His Word and Ways, that we will be able to return to being governed by HIS laws and not the adulterated laws of man.

Today, we are no longer governed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights.  It is conveniently tossed aside, redefined in order to turn our back on the laws and foundation that these brave men gave to us to safeguard our liberties.  So that government can gain more and more control and the people less and less self-government.

This is only accomplished as we forget the past.  Forget why our forefathers fought for these freedoms willing to give all in order to do so.  Forget that these courageous men fought in order to not become enslaved to another.

It is only through knowing and remembering these things that we will see and understand that our forefathers opposed a government who:

• Refused to live under its own laws.
• Quartered a standing army in a time of peace within  the Colonies.
• Committed searches against its own citizens without probable cause or warrants.
• Was taxing oppressively.

And more………………………

Today……….we find ourselves in much the same situation as the men of 1776.  Will we roll over and take it?  Or will we stand up to Tyranny and say, “No More!”  Do we have men like those of old, who will courageously stand up and change themselves, their families, their city governments, their county governments, their state governments and their federal government and be what God calls them to be?

God help us to be men and women who love you and live by Your Word.

Thank God for the brave and courageous men of 1776.

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Courtesy of Texas Tribune.

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June 29, 2011 Billboard, Columns, Keep Austin Free, Latest News & Quotes, Protect Yourself, Relevant Articles, Take Action

Texans can’t celebrate just yet, but we may be one step closer to a victory with the TSA Anti-Groping Bill. On Monday evening, June 27, the Senate passed an amended version of SB 29 which removed most of the unacceptable language which had earlier prompted TsaTyranny.com to withdraw support of the measure.

Senator Dan Patrick introduced amendments that stripped the Senate version of the bill of much of the bad language that the House adopted earlier in the day.  This language left the bill crippled and all but unenforceable. While the anti-groping bill does not include the stronger language of “probable cause”, the Senate added wording to the existing language of “reasonable suspicion” which should more narrowly limit the scope in which this term can be employed as a condition to search. Concerns still exist over the vague insertion of “unknown” object, with the possibility of extending too much latitude to individual TSA agents to exercise discretion. However, contrary to the House version of the bill, we do believe this bill is better than no bill at all. The final Senate bill does make an invasive pat-down without reasonable suspicion illegal and a breach of constitutional protections.

Although important provisions and amendments have still been excluded, the legislation now more closely resembles its original language. Consequently, the bill now has more defined parameters with regards to when TSA agents may exercise their “search”. Neither opting out of the potentially cancer-causing nude image scanners nor refusing the enhanced pat down should be interpreted as reasonable suspicion sufficient to breach Texas travelers’ Fourth Amendment rights; however, the bill is regrettably vague regarding whether citizens who refuse such treatment will be able to fly.  This being said, if Texans are unreasonably searched as a result of opting out of TSA screening procedures, we have sufficient language for criminal prosecution with the state of Texas behind us.

Background:

On Monday afternoon, June 27, HB 41, the House version of the Anti-Groping Bill, garnered unanimous support in the Texas House of Representatives during its second reading. Texans watched as the original version of the bill received amendments which weakened its ability to protect citizens. Reports that the bill was only “symbolic” and “wholly irrelevant” as a defense against the abuses of the TSA were shared by many.  Strong language became compromised language, and the House voted to accept the proposed amendments, leaving the House bill crippled and prompting TsaTyranny.com to withdraw support from the measure.

Meanwhile in the Senate, testimony before the Transportation and Homeland Security Committee was offered on SB 29 in hopes of persuading the Senate to remove the unacceptable language which the House had included in its amendments to their version of the bill. The Senate committee heard testimony from first-time activists, advocacy groups, and prosecuting attorneys. Constitutional Attorney Don Hart urged the Transportation and Homeland Security Committee to strip language incorporated in the House amendments which “make the bill worse than no bill.”

Thankfully, the Senate took seriously many of the appeals made by you the people! They heard your concerns, they considered the infringement of our liberties, and they acted. Within eight hours of the committee hearing, Senator Patrick introduced new amendments to strip egregious language from the Anti-Groping Bill that would have rendered the legislation all but unenforceable. Patrick’s amended bill passed 19-12, and the Senate bill, while not perfect, does provide grounds within a Texas statute which should place the TSA on their heels and force them to soberly think twice before dismissing Fourth Amendment rights of Texas travelers.

When asked about the actions of the Senate, Don Hart commented, “I am grateful for the discernment demonstrated by Senators Patrick and Wentworth in recognizing the implications of language in the House amendments which would have made SB 29 almost completely unenforceable. Their leadership, and the swift action of the Senate, helped put some teeth back into SB 29.  While much work remains as we seek to protect Texans from TSA abuses, I believe these efforts are a step in the right direction.”

Read the final Senate bill – SB 29

Conclusion:

Some speculate that the House will not pass the current version of the TSA Anti-Groping bill, SB 29, given the fact that they need a 4/5ths majority to suspend the rules to pass the bill to third reading for final passage. The special session ends tomorrow, and if the bill is not passed by the end of formal business on Wednesday, it would have to be called again during another special session, or wait till the next primary session in 2013, to begin again. Given the fact that the Senate formally adjourned today, no changes or amendments can be introduced now to SB 29 by the House, or the bill automatically dies.

After consulting with various constitutional and trial attorneys, we believe this bill could be used to defend Texas travelers. And we believe it to be worth supporting. There is no doubt additional wording and amendments would substantially improve the bill, but we don’t have time for amendments during this session. If SB 29 passes in the House, we will have ammunition to put the TSA on their heels. And, we submit to you that, while imperfect, this bill defends your liberties on at least three fronts:

1. SB 29 makes it illegal for a TSA agent or agents to perform an enhanced pat-down without either your express permission or reasonable suspicion of the presence of an object.

2. SB 29 makes it illegal for the TSA to fine you if you refuse to participate in their enhanced pat-down after entering the screening process

3. SB 29 affords sanctions against a TSA agent or agents who conduct themselves in a way contrary to this statute

Additional accountability may yield further benefits by discouraging the TSA from seeking to exercise the heavy-handed discretion in other areas for fear of reprisal. We believe the results of this bill will lead to greater security from the TSA and greater preservation of our liberties.

For these reasons, and given that there is not time to propose changes or offer amendments, we recommend your support of this bill during this legislative session.

Action Point:

Contact Representatives in the House and encourage them to support the Senate version of the TSA Anti-Groping Bill, SB 29, as passed out of the Jurisprudence Committee on Tuesday, June 28.

Support this bill before the special session comes to an end. Call and urge their support for SB 29.

Find your Representative here .

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By Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D.
June 28, 2011

NewsWithViews.com

It seems as if every day someone posts on the Internet a new video documenting the ever-escalating level of oppressive police-state behavior from the TSA. In many of these instances, TSA officials explicitly are heard making the claim that, because flying on a commercial air carrier is supposedly a “privilege”, rather than a “right”, passengers can be required to surrender their constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment (and, presumably, under all other provisions of the Constitution as well) in order to be allowed to enter the supposedly “secured” areas of a terminal or to board a flight. Passengers are told that they have no justifiable complaint against the ill treatment they receive at the blue-gloved hands of the Blueshirts, because by entering the terminal they have implicitly agreed to “conditions” that are imposed on all airline travelers. This rationalization has been put forward on numerous occasions by various higher-ups in the TSA, and by their apologists in the big media, as well.

Unfortunately, as with most pronouncements on constitutional matters emanating from public officials and their shills these days, this claim is more than simply lame. It is an affront to the intelligence of every American.

The Supreme Court has long enforced the general rule that officials may not constitutionally condition the grant of any benefit to a particular individual on a requirement that would be unconstitutional if imposed promiscuously on the general public. E.g., Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507, 513-516 (1980); Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 597 (1972); Graham v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 365, 374-375 (1971); Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 627 note 6 (1969); Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 568 (1968); Keyishian v. Board of Regents, 385 U.S. 589, 605-606 (1967); Elfbrandt v. Russell, 384 U.S. 11, 17-18 (1966); Baggett v. Bullitt, 377 U.S. 360, 379-380 (1964); Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398, 404-406 (1963); Cramp v. Board of Public Instruction, 368 U.S. 278, 288 (1961); Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 U.S. 488, 495-496 (1961); Shelton v. Tucker, 364 U.S. 479, 485-486 (1960); Speiser v. Randall, 357 U.S. 513, 518-519 (1958): Slochower v. Board of Higher Education, 350 U.S. 551, 559 (1956); Wieman v. Updegraff, 344 U.S. 183, 192 (1952); American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 390 (1950); Hannegan v. Esquire, Inc., 327 U.S. 146, 155-156 (1946); West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 630-631 (1943).

This rule applies irrespective of whether the benefit at issue can properly be labeled a “right” or a “privilege”. E.g., Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 571 & note 9 (1972); Bell v. Burson, 402 U.S. 535, 539 (1971).

(Doubtlessly, any good legal researcher can add numerous other citations to these lists.)

So, assuming for the purpose of argument that travel by commercial airliner is a “privilege” rather than a “right”, such travel can nonetheless not be conditioned on any requirement that would be unconstitutional if imposed directly on the proverbial “man in the street”. Now, perforce of the Fourth Amendment, a “man in the street” cannot be subjected to any “unreasonable searches and seizures”. Rather, as a prerequisite for any “place to be searched” or “persons or things to be seized” in a constitutionally reasonable manner, a “Warrant[ ] shall issue, * * * upon probable cause, supported by Oath or Affirmation”. Yet, as everyone knows, the TSA does not apply for “Warrants” before the Blueshirts engage in their low-handed searches—no doubt because the agency could never obtain
a “Warrant[ ] * * * upon probable cause” except in the most extraordinary situation.

To use the fashionable judicial mumbo jumbo, it is “clearly established” that what the TSA is doing would unquestionably violate the Fourth Amendment if it were done to “the man in the street”. It is also “clearly established” that the TSA cannot constitutionally condition anyone’s supposed “privilege” to travel by commercial airline on the traveler’s waiver, surrender, or forfeiture of his rights under the Fourth Amendment. Therefore, every Blueshirt who coerces any traveler into submitting to an unconstitutional search or seizure has violated that traveler’s “clearly established” constitutional rights—and, as a consequence, (i) is personally liable in his individual capacity for monetary damages, and (ii) cannot raise the defense of “qualified official immunity”, because that defense applies only when the rights at issue are not “clearly established”.

So perhaps justifiably disgruntled victims of the Blueshirts’ oppression should engage experienced and hard-bitten civil-rights litigators to sue—not the TSA as an agency—but instead the Blueshirts and their supervisors, as individuals, in order impose directly on them, as individuals, the full costs of their misbehavior, relying on an “implied cause of action” directly under the Fourth Amendment. See, e.g., Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971). Success in such litigation will seriously impact the TSA, too. For no tyrannical regime can long exist if its myrmidons are made to pay, as individuals, for the egregious effects of the regime’s evil policies. Once the enforcers desert in droves, or are deterred from performing dirty deeds, or must “pay the piper” out of their own personal financial resources, the regime must soon collapse.

To be sure, some (perhaps many) “judges” may attempt to whitewash the Blueshirts’ oppressive behavior. This likelihood constitutes a practical objection to any strategy for correcting the TSA’s abuses through litigation. For no one who studies, let alone has to deal with, contemporary American “courts” should be unaware that judicial decisions and the Constitution are all too often quite different from each other, to the point of being mutually antagonistic—and that, in a case involving really serious constitutional challenges to the Establishment, the first order of business for people who have a grasp of practical political reality should often be a motion for change of venue to Sydney, Australia, where at least a geographically proper Kangaroo Kourt could be convened.

Yet, on the bright side, overt obstructionism by “judges” in favor of the burgeoning national para-military police state can only draw the entire judiciary’s credibility and even legitimacy into question—for which the “judges” have no answer that any thinking American will accept. And the sooner the last vestige of credence is stripped from rogue jurists, the sooner Americans will realize what other steps need to be taken to bring this situation under control.
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Texans Still Fighting for Traveler Dignity — Anti-TSA Bill May Pass

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A woman has filed a complaint with federal authorities over how her elderly mother was treated at Northwest Florida Regional Airport last weekend.

Jean Weber of Destin filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security after her 95-year-old mother was detained and extensively searched last Saturday while trying to board a plane to fly to Michigan to be with family members during the final stages of her battle with leukemia.

Her mother, who was in a wheelchair, was asked to remove an adult diaper in order to complete a pat-down search.

“It’s something I couldn’t imagine happening on American soil,” Weber said Friday. “Here is my mother, 95 years old, 105 pounds, barely able to stand, and then this.”

Sari Koshetz, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration in Miami, said she could not comment on specific cases to protect the privacy of those involved.

“The TSA works with passengers to resolve any security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner,” she said.

Weber’s mother entered the airport’s security checkpoint in a wheelchair because she was not stable enough to walk through, Weber said.

Wheelchairs trigger certain protocols, including pat-downs and possible swabbing for explosives, Koshetz said.

“During any part of the process, if there is an alarm, then we have to resolve that alarm,” she said.

Weber said she did not know whether her mother had triggered an alarm during the 45 minutes they were detained.

She said her mother was first pulled aside into a glass-partitioned area and patted down. Then she was taken to another room to protect her privacy during a more extensive search, Weber said.

Weber said she sat outside the room during the search.

She said security personnel then came out and told her they would need for her mother to remove her Depends diaper because it was soiled and was impeding their search.

Weber wheeled her mother into a bathroom, removed her diaper and returned. Her mother did not have another clean diaper with her, Weber said.

Weber said she wished there were less invasive search methods for an elderly person who is unable to walk through security gates.

“I don’t understand why they have to put them through that kind of procedure,” she said.

Koshetz said the procedures are the same for everyone to ensure national security.

“TSA cannot exempt any group from screening because we know from intelligence that there are terrorists out there that would then exploit that vulnerability,” she said.

Weber filed a complaint through Northwest Florida Regional’s website. She said she received a response from a Homeland Security representative at the airport on Tuesday and spoke to that person on the phone Wednesday.

The representative told her that personnel had followed procedures during the search, Weber said.

“Then I thought, if you’re just following rules and regulations, then the rules and regulations need to be changed,” she said.

Weber said she plans to file additional complaints next week.

“I’m not one to make waves, but dadgummit, this is wrong. People need to know. Next time it could be you.”

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Thank you for the lead you have taken in the fight against the tyranny of the TSA. We have been there with you and behind you. You have been the Patrick Henry of the day, bringing forth the Constitution as our foundation in a day when the Constitution is tattered and torn and our rights as American citizens are being stripped from us daily.

Our family has fought for HB 41 from our home and at the rally in Austin. This is a very important bill to our family, our community, Texas and America.

Imagine how our hearts sank when we heard of the Amendments that you have agreed to that strip this IMPORTANT bill of its very Constitutional foundation! This bill, if put forth with the amendments, will give the TSA even more power to search ladies who wear skirts, such as I endured, as well as any other air traveler (for now) and later on it will be train, auto or just a trip into the market. We MUST stop this police state mentality HERE and NOW!

Because the 4th of July is coming up a week from tomorrow, I started reading the book “Give Me Liberty” by David Vaughan to our family. This book, about the pre-Revolutionary time frame and Patrick Henry in particular, is a preshadow of where our country is now and an example for you right now. How this book speaks to where you now find yourself!

Our legislatures now are like the King of England, not accountable to the people and out of touch, playing political bureaucratic games of you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.

You, Representative Simpson, are the bright star of hope under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You, Representative Simpson, are there for such a time as this. When Patrick Henry was the lone, 9 day fresh representative in the House, who wasn’t willing to acquiesce, but instead stood up to the aristocracy and long termers and spoke the truth, boldly and accurately, he set the stage for change and freedom in the Colonies. This is YOUR MOMENT, given to you by God, to stand upon principle and do the right thing by upholding the Constitution as the foundation for law WITH NO COMPROMISES!

Historian William Cabell Rives had this to say of Henry’s time in history.

“By his ever memorable resolutions in opposition to the Stamp Act, and the lofty eloquence with which he sustained them, he struck a timely blow which resounded throughout America and the world, and rouse a spirit that never slumbered till its great work was accomplished. The moment was opportune and critical; and he seized it with a bold and felicitous energy that belonged to his ardent and impassioned nature. His was the temperament and the genius of the great popular orator, that fitted him to lead at such a moment, and like Aaron, to proclaim the divine message of freedom to his countrymen, and of wrath and denunciation to their oppressors.”

Representative Simpson……..THIS MOMENT THAT IS BEFORE YOU IS OPPORTUNE AND CRITICAL. YOU MUST NOW SEIZE IT WITH A BOLD AND FELICITOUS ENERGY as Patrick Henry did. God has placed you in this position for this moment in time. You must proclaim this divine message of freedom for your countrymen and denounce the oppressors and deniers of the Constitution that was given to us by men such as Patrick Henry.

I urge you, I plead with you, to introduce HB 41 to the House WITHOUT ANY AMENDMENTS THAT ROB US OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS fought for with the blood of our forefathers and grounded in the Scriptures. DO NOT COMPROMISE for compromise is a worse loss than no bill at all.

Dear Sir, from a wife, a mom and a daughter of the Lord Jesus Christ, I beseech you to think of the example that you are setting for your children, your Church, your community, the Legislators, Texans and Americans. Will you choose PRINCIPLE? Or will you choose pragmatism and compromise?

The Lord has placed you here for such a time as this. Choose PRINCIPLE. Choose truth. Choose liberty. Choose the Constitution and the Constitution as your foundation as that is the foundation given to all of us by our Founding Fathers. Follow in their footsteps. Trust in the Lord for the victory, whether it be no bill at all or the victory of a solid bill with no amendments.

Prayers and Blessings………..

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June 25, 2011 Billboard, Columns, Latest News & Quotes, Relevant Articles, Take Action

Recent amendments introduced to HB 41 — which adopt changes made at the urging of Lt. Governor David Dewhurt and Speaker Joe Straus — would strip the proposed TSA Anti-Groping bill of its teeth and render prosecution under the measure extremely difficult. More importantly, the new language concedes the debate on the fundamental constitutional question at stake. Rather than declaring that a state actor cannot touch a person’s private parts without probable cause in violation of the Fourth Amendment, the amended language requires that a prosecutor prove in every instance that such inappropriate touching does in fact violate the Constitution, or their case will be dismissed. With this in view, TsaTyranny.com believes HB 41, in its present form, will only affirm and embolden TSA officials in their abusive procedures and hinder prosecutors from holding them accountable. Consequently, TsaTyranny.com opposes the present wording of HB 41 and withdraws support of the bill until the compromise language is removed.

Action Points:

Background:

“After Lt. Gov. Dewhurst published a press release indicating that he had been working with the Attorney General’s office to address the threats of the Obama Administration, we read other reports which stated that the amendments to the TSA Anti-Groping bill he was advancing would render the legislation ‘wholly irrelevant’ and make its passage a mere symbolic victory — reports which left us very concerned,” noted Michael Gobart, Founder of TsaTyranny.com. “After consulting with multiple attorneys and legal teams who investigated the matter, we concluded that the amendments would indeed gut the bill of its force.”

“The office of TsaTyranny.com, along with the legal team who helped to draft the original wording of HB 41, met with Representative David Simpson, the bill’s author in the House, to oppose recommended changes which would strip the legislation of language clearly identifying the TSA pat-downs/searches as unconstitutional,” continued Gobart. “Our appeals were heard, but not heeded.”

Gobart concluded: “We entered this important battle to secure our Fourth Amendment rights and the sanctity of our bodies, not simply to get a bill passed.”

If HB 41 is passed with the amendments suggested by the Attorney General’s office (amendments solicited by Lt. Gov. Dewhurst to make the bill as impervious as possible to a facial constitutional attack), it will no longer be possible to prosecute TSA agents who execute full-body pat downs without probable cause unless such searches are first declared “Constitutionally Unreasonable”.

Under the amended language, HB 41 is no longer a legislative declaration that such actions are unconstitutional and criminal. Instead, the amended bill leaves the issue of constitutionality to be determined by the courts, with the burden of proof shifted to the one who experienced the “sexual assault.”  While this amendment certainly makes the bill more impervious to Federal attack on constitutional grounds, it does so by surrendering the entire battle.

“If we believe that travelers being touched in their private parts without probable cause is unconstitutional, then we must not be afraid to say it, to codify it, and to hold actors who violate this standard accountable with the force of law,” remarked Wesley Strackbein, co-founder of TsaTyranny.com.

“The nature of confrontation is to confront — not appease — and we should not adopt language in the TSA Anti-Groping Bill that concedes the constitutional high ground at the outset of the battle,” Strackbein added. “The sanctity of innocent men, women, and children hangs in the balance. We owe it to them to fight for their rights, rather than to willfully disarm ourselves to placate bureaucrats who are running roughshod over our constitutional liberties.”

See original TSA Anti-Groping language here: HB 41. And, see amendments here: Amendments to HB 41.

Don Hart, Esq. Founder and President of Heritage Defense (an advocacy group for Family rights against government intrusion) contributed in authoring the original legislation. Hart stated the following regarding the proposed amendment described above:

In my opinion, it is clear that the amended bill will bar the state of Texas from taking action against the TSA until their invasive screening procedures are declared unconstitutional. Accordingly, the bill may encourage and empower the TSA to continue in the very actions the bill is supposed to curtail without fear of reprisal until a court declares such actions unconstitutional. The TSA may proceed as usual without fear of prosecution under the statute, secure in the knowledge that Texas has voluntarily tied its own hands unless and until the TSA’s actions are declared unconstitutional.

The TSA may well be emboldened to be more aggressive and inappropriate with Texans since Texas has conceded that it will do nothing until such a constitutional determination is made. Accordingly, the TSA may well be more confident in its position, and Texans will be less safe from the abuses the bill is supposed to discourage since Texas has said it will only prosecute the TSA if a federal court says Texas may do so by declaring the TSA’s actions unconstitutional. Of course, such a declaration would obviously render the bill almost entirely moot anyway.

Whether a misinformed concession to Federal authority, a symbolic gesture, or a politically motivated effort to appear to take action about the TSA while doing nothing substantive in an effort to pacify the outrage of Texans about TSA abuses, the consequences of the bill may very well be harmful. The bill is not merely symbolic. It puts Texans in greater danger of abuse. Moreover, it shifts the burden to Texas to prove a constitutional violation in the context of a criminal statute.  This is a more difficult burden than simply challenging the TSA’s actions as unconstitutional, either facially or as they are being applied.

Lt. Colonel John Eidsmoe, USAF (Retired), Counsel for Foundation of Moral Law and Professor of Oak Brook College of Law and Government Policy, took issue with the changes recommended by the Attorney General’s office:

“With due respect to the Texas Attorney General, I believe his proposed amendments . . . would weaken the proposed law considerably and would make prosecutions under the law much more difficult.

Eidsmoe then called on Texas to take leadership in opposing federal overreach:

The claimed powers of the federal government are being expanded at the expense of the states, in ways that the nation’s Founding Fathers would never have condoned. This trend will continue, unless states take a stand and reassert their authority to protect their citizens’ rights against federal abuses.  Texas is a large and influential state. If Texas leads the way, I believe other states will follow. (Lt. Col. John Eidsmoe – TSA Anti-Groping Bill Amendment Opinion)

Bradley Pierce, family rights activist and Attorney, was a contributor to the early versions of HB 41. Pierce made the following observations:

The amendments make it clear to TSA screeners that they may continue to operate in an unconstitutional manner until the Fifth Circuit or U.S. Supreme Court says otherwise. Moreover, instead of the burden being on the TSA to prove that their actions are constitutional, the burden will now be on the State of Texas to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the TSA’s actions are unconstitutional and that the TSA screener knewhis actions were unconstitutional when he performed them. As a result, the bill puts Texans in a worse position than no bill at all.

Pierce concluded:

The amended bill implicitly declares that the State of Texas has no voice in what is and is not constitutional, and that the federal government must choose to restrain itself if we are to be free.

Other amendments have been suggested which would also dramatically weaken the bill, if adopted. One example insisted on by Speaker Joe Straus would establish that TSA agents be permitted to exercise a “reasonable suspicion” standard of review (a standard created by case law for police officers which is applied by far better trained personnel in circumstances far more dangerous than TSA agents encounter manning a gate with X-Ray machines and metal detectors). This would permit the TSA to use their judgment to require a search if they held the judicially created “reasonable suspicion” rather than the constitutionally mandated standard of Probable Cause. This amendment also weakens the bill unwisely and unnecessarily and is opposed by TsaTyranny.com. While Rep. Simpson agreed to compromises on other amendments, he thankfully stood firm in maintaining the standard of probable cause in the bill.

“We appreciate Rep. Simpson and Sen. Patrick’s willingness to take on the issue of TSA abuse in Texas,” commented Strackbein. “We urge that they not cave now to demands made on them to neuter the TSA Anti-Groping bill. It would be better to go down fighting for a bill that upholds the Constitution than to have an empty ‘win’ that gives further credence to tyranny.”

Conclusion:

In light of these recent amendments to HB 41 — changes which entirely strip the proposed TSA Anti-Groping bill of any firm constitutional defense of the sanctity of Texans’ bodies or the security of their persons, and which remove the ability for the State of Texas to effectively prosecute the TSA for intimate pat-downs without probable cause — TsaTyranny.com no longer supports Texas HB 41. TsaTyranny.com further believes HB 41, in its present form, will only affirm and embolden TSA officials in their abusive procedures and hinder prosecutors from holding them accountable. Consequently, TsaTyranny.com opposes the present wording of HB 41 and withdraws support of the bill until the compromise language is removed.

TsaTyranny.com will focus its efforts in the remaining days of the Special Session in Texas on encouraging passage of legislation which truly protects Texans and holds the TSA accountable for illegal and unconstitutional invasions of the bodies of law-abiding citizens.

Download: TsaTyranny.com HB 41 Withdraw Statement