Robert J. Allen

The 3 Branches of The Federal Government: Their Origin and Purpose

The 3 Branches of American Government –
Their Origin and Purpose

DRAFT

Robert J. Allen
Starkville Tea Party
2/26/11

You wouldn’t know this if you get all your “information” from the public schools, state colleges, and liberal media, but the Constitution of the United States of America is a thoroughly Christian political document. *1 Nearly every major portion at least of our Constitution is directly, or indirectly, derived from, and based upon, a specific Christian teaching, or at least is consistent with Scripture. Many of these teachings are DISTINCTLY Christian teachings – in the sense that no other religion on Earth teaches them. In these cases the other religions teach something else – even the direct opposite of – what the Bible teaches on that specific matter.

This is especially true when we consider the 3 branches of American Government. There are several Christian teachings that relate to the 3 Branches of American Government, but the one that perhaps led the most directly to them is the teaching that man is a sinner.*2

*2
Gen. 8:21 “And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.”

Jer. 17:9 “9: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Mk. 7:
20: And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
21: For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22: Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
23: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Rom. 3:
4: God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
5: But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)
6: God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?
7: For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
8: And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
9: What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
10: As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12: They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13: Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15: Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16: Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17: And the way of peace have they not known:
18: There is no fear of God before their eyes.
19: Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20: Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21: But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22: Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”

1 Jn 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”

The other religions or philosophies of the world, and the governments based on them, outright STATE, or silently presume, that man is NOT a sinner, but is basically good, or at least is perfectable by law, education, and/or self-will. This belief that man is basically good is a basic belief of communism, of the Secularized nations in Europe, and of the religious states of Islam. It is an incredible contradiction that these governments – especially the communist and Islamic ones – would be based on this high view of man, when every one of these governments are unusually oppressive to their citizens. For all their professed belief that man is basically good, all the supposedly basically-good men that are leaders of these governments are murderous and oppressive tyrants ruling over police states that all deny, and refuse to secure, the God-given rights of their supposedly basically good hedonistic, pagan citizens.

But, in THIS nation, every one of our Christian, or Christian-oriented, founding fathers understood and accepted the truth of the sinfulness of man.
They also accepted the summary statement by the Englishman Lord Acton who famously stated that “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

And BECAUSE our founders acknowledged the sinfulness of man, they were not men who were going to put a lot of trust in men – even in themselves. So, when these founders got together to write our Constitution and form the new government, they had a problem… they realized that men cannot be trusted, but that men were also all they had to work with in staffing the new government. They solved this dilemma by designing a government that entrusted as little governmental power as possible to any one man in government, that distributed governmental power and authority as widely as possible, and that put power holders in a sort of antagonism with each other so that one power-holding official in one part of government would “check and balance” the power held by another official in another part of government. In this way, our founders hoped to minimize the damage any one corrupt man who managed to get into the system would be able to do.

Here too, they got the idea, and example of, distributing the power of government to many officials also primarily from the Bible.*

* These men realized that the purpose of civil government, according to the Bible, is to be God’s servant to restrain evil, to punish evildoers, and to reward good (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-14)… that government is to allow the individual to govern himself, in a climate of freedom and liberty as expressed in Leviticus 25:10, which informs us, :”Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” and in II Corinthians 3:17 which reveals to us that, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

Our founders knew from many verses, but particularly from Isa. 33:22 (which says, “For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.) that, to be effective, governments need to do, and have, 3 specific things:
1. They need to have one or more judge(s) to settle disputes between parties
2. They need to have rules, or set laws. And
3. They need to have one or more law enforcer(s)

Our founders followed the example of, or model in, Isaiah 33:22 and designed 3 separate Branches into our Federal Government:
1. The Legislative Branch (Article I) which is charged with writing, or giving, new law. This was intended to be the strongest Branch of government.
2. The Executive Branch (Article II) which is charged with enforcing the law. This was intended to be the next strongest Branch of government. And
3. The Judicial Branch (Article III) which is charged with settling, or judging between, disputes over the law when different parties claim a conflict exists between them concerning the application of the law. This was intended to be the weakest Branch of government.

This “checks and balances” and separation of powers into these 3 Branches of Federal government, was only a part of the separation designed into our government to protect us from the perversion of our government that sinful men that get into our government would be prone to do against us.

Our Founding Fathers understood that local and state government was more important than federal government. So they designed our Constitution to specifically limit the powers of the Federal government – they limited the Federal government by giving it only 17 powers. All other rights and powers that our Creator endowed to men – many more than 17 – are reserved to the states and to the individual.

And so we see further separation of powers and additional checks and balances prescribed – especially in the Bill of Rights – in the:
Separation between Federal powers and States rights, in the
Separation between Federal powers and individual rights, and in the
Separation between State rights and individual rights.

Now, when the sinful men that we all are happen to be saved sinners, we have new creatures* introduced into the mix…creatures that have a new heart and a new and different motivation for the way we live. Therefore, when saved sinners are the ones who occupy offices in our government, the tendency to abuse the power and authority of their office is – not eliminated – but at least greatly reduced. And saved sinners WERE the great majority of our first office-holders and on into our first hundred or more years. And with these saved sinners in government, our system of separation of powers and checks and balances worked pretty well. But, after a while Christians, for the most part, backed out of government and allowed the offices of our nation, state, and local governments to be mostly filled by non-Christians who began abusing the power of their offices — just as we were warned they would do – all to the great harm of our nation.
* II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Now we have been recently and increasingly witnessing – especially in the actions of the current administration (whose fruit makes them known*3 to me at least, that they are NOT Christians, but corrupt Pagan anti-Christian Secularists – regardless of what words they SAY about themselves being Christians*4 ) officers in each of these Branches abusing the powers and authority of their offices. In doing so, they are increasingly corrupting our government. It is the duty of the officers within a corrupted Branch, and of the other Branches, to check and balance this abuse. But, as we have seen – many times in just the last 2 years – the officers in the different Branches are failing to do their duty. Many of us are persuaded that these officers are failing to do their duty because they are actual accomplices and parties to the corruption being perpetrated by these other officers in one or both of the other Branches.

This then brings us to a very important insightful quote by John Adams. In this quote Adams warned us,
“We have no government armed in power capable of contending in human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”

To restate, expand upon, and explain what Adams said:
“We in America have no government with strong enough laws, enough police, enough prisons… that is capable of controlling and overcoming the uncontrolled… lusts, sins, and criminal intents of people who are not self-controlled by the strong and proper sense of what is right and wrong taught by Christianity. Our Constitution was made only for a Christian people, who will exercise self-control and will not have to have their every action and behavior defined by more and more specific laws and who will have to be watched over, spied upon, and dictated to, to make sure they do right. Our government is wholly inadequate for the government of any people who hold to any other religion.”

Isn’t the inadequacy of our government to control the corrupting effect of non-Christians what we are seeing done in our nation, and to our Constitution, today? Are we not seeing all about us how true Adams’ warning was, and is? At all levels of government, in nearly all places, we see non-Christian, and even anti-Christian, officials and common citizens demanding rights and behaviors that a Christian, in self-control, does not do, would not do, and certainly would not demand that he has a “right” to do. These false “rights” and behaviors the non-Christian officials and common citizens are demanding today (abortion, sodomy, profanity, theft-by-welfare, blasphemy… ) have until recently been recognized to NOT be legal rights at all, but to be “criminal” behavior. But non-Christians – especially militant anti-Christians – who do not have the internal moral guidance and self-control mechanism that Christians have, are not only DOING such formerly illegal things, but are insisting upon MAKING THEIR BEHAVIOR LEGAL, and even common practice in the nation in general.* They are insisting in having these CRIMINAL BEHAVIORS officially declared, and defined, to be just as much “rights” as are the freedoms of religion, speech, assembly, and others that have always been recognized as genuine rights. And in many ways, these Secularists have gotten their way — which is why our nation is having such trouble socially and culturally. And in the process, these non-Christians are destroying our Constitution and our nation with it. These people have corrupted and perverted our government to the point that our protective layer of separation of powers and of checks and balances are no longer effective. These protective items that were designed to protect us and our Constitution have now actually been turned against us. And, but for the grace and mercy of God, this breach in our Constitutional “security system” may succeed in destroying us.

* Romans 1:
18: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
19: Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20: For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22: Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23: And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24: Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26: For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
28: And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29: Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30: Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31: Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Notes and References

* 1 Our Constitution is a Christian Political Document

“We have no government armed in power capable of contending in human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”
John Adams

Explained version:
“We have no government armed in power (equipped with strong enough laws, enough police, enough prisons…) capable of contending in (controlling, overcoming) human passions (lust, sin, criminal intents…) unbridled (unguided, uncontrolled…) by morality (a strong and proper sense of what is right and wrong) and religion (Christianity). Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious (Christian) people (who will exercise self-control and will not have to have their every action and behavior put into laws and who will have to be watched over, spied upon, and dictated to, to make sure they do right. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other (people who hold to any other religion).”

“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”
President John Quincy Adams

“Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind…It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are empathically Christian…This is a religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation…We find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth…These , and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterance that this is a Christian nation.”
Supreme Court, The Church of the Holy Trinity vs. United States, 1892

“Religion” at this time was understood, in the American context, and by these and other quotes and documents, to mean – and to mean only – “Christianity”.

We are seeing all about us how true this statement is. All about us we see people demanding rights and behaviors that a Christian, in self-control, does not do, would not do, and certainly would not demand the right to do. These false “rights” and behaviors (abortion, sodomy, profanity, theft by ,welfare, blasphemy, have until recently been defined legally as not rights at all but as “criminal” behavior. But non-Christians – especially militant non-Christians – do not have such an internal self-guidance mechanism as Christians do. These non-Christians not only do such formally illegal things, but insist upon making their behavior legal and even common practice in the nation in general. And in many ways, they have gotten their way, which is why our nation is having such trouble socially and culturally.

*2 America’s Declaration of Independence states, “All men are created equal.”
The concept of universal human rights and equality comes exclusively from the biblical ideas that all people are created in the image of God and from Jesus’ sacrificial death for all.

All men are created equal
Declaration
Gen. 1:26,
Acts 10:34,
17:26,
Gal. 3:28,
1 Pet. 2:17

This concept was unknown in history outside of biblically-based cultures.

Importance of governing self and family as first level of governance
First, Second, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments
Mat. 18:15-18, Gal. 5:16-26, 1 Cor. 6:1-11, 1 Tim. 3:1-5, Tit. 2:1-8

*3 Matthew 7:
15: Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16: Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17: Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18: A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19: Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20: Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

*4 James 2:
18: Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19: Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
20: But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21: Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22: Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
23: And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
24: Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25: Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26: For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Thoughts on the MSU Presentation of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

Thoughts on the 2/15/11 MSU Presentation of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

Robert J. Allen
[email protected]
1-662-465-6190

DRAFT

I attended the 2/15/11, (7-10 PM ) presentation by astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York. which he gave at Humphrey Colosseum, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS. Along the left margin of the following text, are statements (as close to verbatim as I can recall or was able to write down at the time) he made in that lecture. At times I have expanded upon Dr. Tyson’s words when I felt it necessary to explain and give context to certain of his statements. His statements are reported in this text as close to the order in which he presented them as I was able to recall at the time of this writing. Indented, to one degree or another, below the left-margin statements of Dr. Tyson, are comments I offer in response to his statements.

Two Failures of Memory:
1. Remembering things that never happened
2. Forgetting things that did happen
If this happens to you, are you still doomed to repeat the past?
This question may initially sound clever and insightful but, and not to quibble here but, it is actually a time-wasting nonsense question – how can one repeat what never happened?

Recently, a Moon-orbiting satellite propelled an impactor portion of that satellite down into a crater at the N pole of the Moon. The ejected cloud plume that rose up from that collision enabled the detection of 50 million gallons of water (frozen, ionized, etc.) at the bottom of this crater.
This value sounds (to me, at least) to be one of those “made up” statistics dishonest scientists, and other people, use to make it easy to support an otherwise unsupportable (or at least difficult to support) claim.
How can one determine, with accuracy (and credibility), how much water remains in the source/reservoir from which a plume was just ejected — from the size of the plume itself? Did the plume carry all the water at the bottom of the crater up with it…only 1%… .001 %… .000,000,001 %? And if Tyson will present as fact, such speculative numbers in such a talk, what other unsupportable things has he said and/or is willing to say in his presentations?

Typical velocity of an asteroid impacting Earth = 10 miles/sec.
Again, and however common this value may be bandied about, it sounds like just another “made up” statistic. Such unacknowledged fictions should be below the bar of acceptable behavior for respectable speakers giving supposedly fact-based invited lectures to institutions of higher education.
1. The orbital velocity of the Earth around the Sun is often stated to be 18 mps. If so, then the velocity of an asteroid striking Earth would tend to be plus-or-minus that 18 miles/sec velocity of the Earth.
( “-“ if the asteroid caught up with the Earth from behind, or
“+” if it struck the Earth head-on from in front of it.)
Either way, the “+” and “-“ total values seem sufficiently different to not allow for an average impact velocity of 10 mps.
2. Also, we would only know that the average speed of an asteroid impacting Earth is really 10 mps by clocking and then averaging the observed speed of many side-approaching impact asteroids – and I don’t think there is even ONE such KNOWN asteroid that has actually been “clocked” to give us even a single “hard” number of velocity.*

* For an overview mix of “fact and fancy” contained in the typical evolutionary description of asteroid impacts, see:
THE EFFECTS & LIKELIHOODS OF ASTEROID IMPACTS, http://bookbuilder.cast.org/view_print.php?book=6808

Photo:
Along the inner rim of a c. 2-week-old new “stage-sized” (c.50′ X 30′?) impact crater on Mars was seen a white surface. This white surface was interpreted as being either white rock that had been exposed by the impact or water ice. Since the white was not seen in an overhead flyover satellite 2 weeks later, it was decided that the white had been produced by water ice that had sublimed away.
1. How do they know the white had not been rock material that had been covered by dust that had blown over the white surface during the subsequent 2 weeks and returned it back to the condition (covered) it had been in before the impact?
2. If sublimation was the explanation for the disappearing ice – within 2 weeks – in this crater on Mars, why does not sublimation cause the disappearance of ice on comets that come, at perigee, into much greater and ever-closer proximity to the Sun than Mars ever comes?*

*Primordial Dry Ice Fuels Comet Jets, http://www.spacedaily.com/reports /Primordial_Dry_Ice_Fuels_Comet_Jets_999.html

*http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/EPOXI_Reveals_Comet_Hartley_2_999.html

Photo:
A running water rivulet meandering down the wall of a newly produced impact crater on Mars.
1. Although Tyson did not actually SAY this, the audience understood that the reason he even SHOWED this and similar photos, and the reason he made the statements he made about non-Earth-bound water is because the whole search for, and emphasis on finding, water anywhere beyond Earth is to advance the speculation that the presence of water – especially liquid water – is a near-guarantee that life is almost inevitably possible – if not actually probable – to be found at that location. This speculation is a grossly dishonest exaggeration. To say it is probable that life will be found wherever liquid water is found, is the same grossly dishonest exaggeration as it is to say it is probable that buildings will be found wherever the clay used to make bricks is found. Informed and reasonable people know that much more than water and clay is needed to make life and buildings.* And they know that only dishonest and/or badly uninformed people would make a claim that these alone are sufficient.
2. How do they know it was water that produced this rivulet? Could it have been lava or some other solid-suddenly-turned-to-liquid material?*

∙ http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-life-04w.html
∙ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1242794/Have-Nasa-scientists-trees-Mars.html

Photo:
Meteor Crater, Arizona.
This crater was once thought to be a volcanic crater, even though no lava has ever been found in, or around, it.
If you never look up (as Astronomers do), you (geologists, who are always looking “down” at your rocks, and mountains, and volcanoes, etc.) can never see the answers to the problems below you.
I generally agree with this generality. But I apply this insight to Dr. Tyson himself, and to other Secularists/Evolutionists: if they never look up (to the Creator God) they can never see the answers to the unnecessary problems their naturalistic belief-system viewpoint has brought upon themselves and their discipline.

Photo:
Artist’s conception of a flying pterodactyl in the foreground with an asteroid impact in progress (in the background) that many evolutionists believe and teach was the cause of dinosaur extinction.
Tyson reported he had used this photo in a former lecture in which a member of the audience had asked, “Is that a photograph?”
In this depressing quote, we see the influence that highly skilled artisans can (and often do) have on the relatively uninformed lay public. In this case, the skill (and license) of the artist was so well executed that it presented to this viewer (and many others who have seen this and similar highly-skilled naturalistic/evolutionist depictions) such a realistic-looking appearance and impression that what it depicted was immediately accepted as a “snapshot” of the way dinosaur extinction “really happened.” This persuasion in many cases seems to be often accomplished with only a mere assertion that dinosaur extinction occurred this way – the mere picture is enough to convince many – no supporting data or information need even be given to many viewers to support the depiction that the extinction indeed happened that way.
While well-done accurate depictions and illustrations are of course beneficial to teachers and students of all sorts and subjects, persuasion within these subjects should be achieved by honest and objective substance, information, data, and content – it should not be obtained by mere subjective pretty flashy misleading and exaggerated theatrical presentations and depictions of imaginary themes and schemes.

The Apophus asteroid is projected to possibly hit Earth on 13 Apr 2026 near the San Diego California coast. This hit will supposedly produce a rapidly-repeating cycle of 45 fountain-type “ups-and-downs” to the Stratosphere-and-back, a series of water-pulses that will all be over in 45 seconds. Most of the action, and resultant damage, produced by this impact will be confined to the general region around San Diego – a tsunami-type wave will not even travel very far inland from this impact zone to cause great damage in the continental interior.
1. This 45-second event is contrary to what we know about gravity. According to what we know about gravity, nothing can go “up to the Stratosphere” and free-fall back down (at the acceleration of 32 feet per second/ second) to Earth even one (1) time – let alone 45 times within a 45-second interval.
2. Perhaps the 45 “second” detail stated by Tyson was a verbal “typo” and he meant to say 45 “minutes.” Perhaps the vertical oscillations he described are possible within that time frame (I doubt it, but a rebuttal requires more time, data-and-number-crunching instrumentation, and expertise than I possess).
3. Tyson’s impact scenario for Apophis is strange – and frankly (to me at least) intuitively unrealistic and unconvincing. Is this scenario his own idea or one that he acquired elsewhere? A citation would have been helpful. But regardless, what is supposedly different from his projected future impact of Apophus, with its projected more-or-less “tranquil” and relatively small-scale consequences, and the impacts of similar-sized known past impacts (and other projected future impacts) that have all allegedly resulted in globally catastrophic mass-extinction consequences that include long-distance-traveling lithographic and atmospheric shock waves, continent-covering-or-even-globe-circling tsunamis, massive dust up-drafting, sun-blocking, “nuclear winter”-type scenarios that are all supposedly more-or-less typical of all the other past and future asteroid impacts? Why is none of this projected to happen when Apophis hits?

Gravitational tether: A suggested way of gradually gravitationally “coaxing” Apophus out of harm’s way to Earth.
Knowing there are always 2 sides to every issue and question, I would have liked to have heard Tyson offer a second opinion from specialists in the field as to whether or not the tether approach he mentioned is actually feasible.

Miller-Urey experiment in 1950s.
Tyson presented this experiment as if the amino acids produced in it strongly indicated that the spontaneous generation of life is nearly inevitable wherever water, methane, carbon dioxide, and energy were combined.
Tyson’s use of this old and long-discounted experiment (both the experimental conditions and the experimental results and use of these results have been shown to be unrealistic*) to advocate spontaneous generation was perhaps his most outrageous of many outrageous claims in this presentation

∙ http://creation.com/why-the-miller-urey-research-argues-against-abiogenesis
∙ http://creation.com/hawking-aliens-life-by-chance

85% of the gravity in the Universe is of unknown origin. We do not know what mass is responsible for making this gravity. We call this mass, “dark matter” but that is just a name…a place holder”
1. This admission shows then that this “place holder” is actually a hypocritical “matter-of-the-gaps” equivalent to the “god-of-the-gaps” appeal that evolutionists/Atheists dishonestly charge/criticize Christians/Creationists for using. The “god of the gaps” claim is an accusation that Christians insert God into science into those places where we have no explanation. But, these Secularists claim, when we DO obtain an explanation, we take God out of that gap and put the explanation in. In this way, Secularists argue, God is being increasingly displaced and pushed farther and farther away – until He is eventually shown to be totally irrelevant. This accusation is a straw man. Creationists do not appeal to God because of what we do NOT know…we appeal to God because of what we DO know – He is the only known sufficient cause for what we know exists.
2. But, let’s say that the Secularists are correct in their claim that we are guilty of a “god-of-the-gaps” evasion. How is it wrong for US to appeal to such a tactic but it is OK for THEM to do so?

The Universe is expanding – and accelerating in that expansion. We do not know what mass or energy is responsible for this acceleration. We call this energy, “dark energy” but that too is just a name…a place holder
This admission shows that this “place holder” is yet another hypocritical equivalent to the “god-of-the-gaps” appeal: this time it is an “energy-of-the-gaps” appeal. Again, why is it OK for them to resort to such a tactic, but not for us? These intellectual double standards are outrageous and all honest men of science should expose and reject them.

…Therefore, 96% of all the Universe is stuff of which we are IGNORANT. The matter and energy component that we do know about constitutes only 4% of what apparently exists…For as much (96%) as we don’t know of the Universe, that which we do know, we know really well
For as confident as Tyson may have projected himself in claiming this, this is a patently illogical (even absurd) statement. When we admit that we do not know 96% of the information we must know in order to understand/comprehend a system, we do NOT know that the 4% we think we DO know is REALLY knowledge. With 96% of the knowledge missing, there is simply too much opportunity for things within that 96% to contradict/overcome the mere 4% we think we know.
We should be intellectually honest and make sure we REALLY KNOW what we claim we know. Much of what Tyson and other Naturalistic Secularist claim is “knowledge” is really merely “plausible-to-THEM-but-unproven” speculation and concepts – much of it merely ad hoc.

Optical illusions should be called “brain failures”. These “illusions” are not real…they are merely a consequence of our brain processing supposedly easily-recognizable visual inputs inaccurately.
For all of Tyson’s realization about, and insight into, how our brain often processes supposedly easily-recognizable visual inputs inaccurately, one would think he would be sensitive to a possible tendency to misinterpret inputs and data of all sort (including in science). One would think this sensitivity would lead a fair-minded speaker to be open to presenting to the public different interpretations, answers, hypothesizes, of the Astronomical, Biological, Geological and other science issues, questions, and problems he speaks and writes upon Yet, he advocates and presents to his audiences only one of the only two known and viable interpretations of all of physical reality. He presents only Atheism/Naturalism/Evolution while omitting, if not actually opposing its alternate perspective of Theism/Dualism/Creation. For a speaker to general audiences, this one-sidedness is not honest and reasonable. It is a “brain failure” (not to mention a “professional ethics failure”) on his part.

STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Excellence/expertise in these areas are the source of the solutions to all of our society’s problems
Tyson presented these areas (without defending/explaining it or even specifically SAYING it) as if they are automatically and naturally counter to the Theistic (and specifically Judeo-Christian moral) foundation of America. As just stated, Tyson did not actually SAY this himself: he merely played video clips of OTHER people saying it.

Colbert TV Program – Tyson guest appearance video clip.
Tyson acted like his showing of this clip was a “Oh yeah… let me show you THIS that I just happened to think of” type of spontaneous action. It looked “practiced” to me.
Secularist’s straw man alleged summary claim of Theists: “I know there is a God because I don’t know how things work.”
The video clip Tyson showed was a cut-and-paste-and-then-looped-back-upon-itself-stream-of-video-segments of O’Reilly saying something to the effect that he knows God is real “because we don’t know what makes the tides occur everyday…because we don’t know what makes the tides occur everyday…because we don’t know what makes the tides occur everyday…because we don’t know what makes the tides occur everyday…”
Anyone can make anybody appear silly and laughable by cutting-and-pasting and then looping back upon itself a stream of video segments of them saying anything they frequently say in different video segments covering the same topic. So, the fact that someone in Colbert’s circle did this to O’Reilly is – by itself – irrelevant to anything of substance – a logical “Zero” contribution to honest legitimate discussion – and therefore only “good” for emotional purposes (mocking, ridicule, misleading, etc.)
While I agree O’Reilly could have argued his point better, (but he is not a scientist and cannot be expected to carry an argument of “Earth-Moon Science” as well as astronomers, geologists, and related scientists can be expected to do) he obviously was merely citing a strong talking point he uses when discussing his persuasion that science supports the conclusion that God must exist. If more than the laugh-track segment had been played of what O’Reilly said in these events, we might have seen O’Reilly show knowledge of what he (and most half-informed adults) surely knows – that it is the Moon that primarily is the physical cause of the tides. So, if more of the video had been presented, we would have seen that what O’Reilly was really referring to was that only God could have established the orbit of the Moon and established the other relevant Earth-Moon parameters that make, and keep, the tides so very regular, precise, and predictable.
This video clip was therefore merely a cheap shot and would have been beneath the dignity of an honest speaker. If Tyson had been such an honest speaker, the audience would have been spared having our intelligence insulted in this way by this video.

The Universe is 13.7 billion-years-old (has a 13.7 billion-year-old radius).
This is an unreasonable, self-contradictory argumentum ad absurdum concept/claim. Evolutionary Astronomers tell us the most distant objects we can see in the Universe are galaxies that are 13.7 billion light years away – therefore it took the light from those galaxies 13.7 billion years to get to us. For purposes of discussion, let’s give that to them and say we might be “seeing” objects that are really 13.7 billion years old. But those objects were aging on their way to the 13.7-year-old point. Then we saw the light from them at that age – but it took 13.7 billion years for that light to get to us. So the Universe must really be closer to DOUBLE that value, or 24.4 billion years old.

Quantum physics operates at a level that is below common sense. Because of this, one can no longer invoke common sense to judge whether or not something is “true” or not at this level.
If this claim is true, then one cannot use common sense to judge whether or not something Tyson, or anyone else, says about things at this level, and in this area, are correct or not. Therefore, by your own common sense (or whatever) reasoning, we have no basis or reason to accept anything you say. So, why are you taking my time up by telling me stuff you cannot even argue is true and worth telling?

These Secularist/Evolutionists reveal great inconsistency at several places in their argument.
1. For example, they would say that “Science is what you see” but to solve problems produced by their own naturalistic belief system, they imagine unseeable items (which, being “unseeable” cannot even be confirmed to exist – but they MUST be known to exist in order to be viewed as legitimate possible components of an eventual solution to the problems we are seeking to solve).
2. They claim that their approach to problems is a common-sense approach, yet they are quick to warn us that common sense does not apply at the level of reality that they are investigating.

Tyson listed several technological failures in the US: the broken levees at New Orleans, the collapsed bridge of years ago in Minneapolis, train collisions in Alabama, etc. He then used these examples as evidence of the failure of American technology.
This use is false on several counts. For example:
1.He did not mention the similar technological-system failures experienced in other nations. But it happens: is the technological base in these nations in a state of collapse too? He never suggested it was – Tyson implied that it was only a deteriorating AMERICAN technological base that is the cause of failure of systems in our infrastructure.
2. He did not mention that in each technological disaster case he mentioned, subsequent follow-up investigations identified human factors were the causative agents: repeated failure of political parties to use sufficient funds allocated to them to correct known deficiencies, failure to follow specified and routine maintenance schedules, a captain/conductor was drunk and/or asleep at the wheel, etc. In the cases he mentioned, it was failure/refusal to apply the STEM knowledge that we DID possess and know. These system failures were NOT caused by a failure to even KNOW the necessary STEM data.
3. In this 2nd Law of Thermodynamics world*1 in which “moth and rust” *2 (biological and chemical processes) corrupts and deteriorates everything, even in properly used and maintained systems failure is possible. But eventual failure of improperly-maintained and improperly-used technological systems, such as the ones Tyson cited, is inevitable. Therefore, when such systems do fail, it is not necessarily evidence of collapse of the technological base that initially built these systems but that is no longer able to maintain them.

*1 http://www.allaboutscience.org/second-law-of-thermodynamics.htm

Proverbs 24:
30: I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
31: And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
32: Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.
33: Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
34: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth;
The owner of these properties is never home to make necessary repairs and do PM on things that have a 2nd Law of Thermodynamics natural tendency to deteriorate

*2 Matthew 6:19 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Tyson talked about how, in an apparent public appearance with the Oxford Atheist Richard Dawkins, Tyson had chided Dawkins about his great ineffectiveness against Theists due to his intentionally highly-abrasive obnoxious insulting treatment of them. Tyson said he told Dawkins that he would be much more effective if he treated his opposition with a little respect. He reported that Dawkins acknowledged the value of his criticism, but did not follow his advice at that time, nor any other.
What Tyson failed to mention is that Dawkins is ineffective due to his sloppy philosophical arguments and false reconstructionist history. The obnoxiousness he shows towards Theists does alienate him from many layman-level Theists, but most well-informed Theists are quite able to endure his admirably picturesque, well-crafted, well-expressed, but untrue-and-uncalled-for, knowledge-free insults of mere words. Many of these well-informed Theists are even happily willing and able to take him and the other popular Atheists on – and several of these have already done so in public debates*1 and best-selling books that devastated these Atheists and their Atheism.*2

*1 Madalyn Murray O’Hair debate with Dr. Walter Martin
Madalyn Murray O’Hair did particularly badly in her debate with Dr. Walter Martin.[435] For example, when she claimed there were supposedly were contradictions in the Bible, Dr. Martin asked her to provide an example of one and Ms. O’Hair did not and could not offer even an alleged example of a Bible contradiction.[436] In addition, Ms. O’Hair was ill prepared in terms of defending against the issue of atheism and mass murder.[437]

Frank Zindler Versus Dr. William Craig Debate
The website TrueOrigin states the following regarding the debate between atheist Frank Zindler and Christian philosopher Dr. William Lane Craig:
“Frank Zindler… A leading light in the American Atheists. Isn’t it amazing how so many atheists love evolution and appear to be threatened by the massive scientific evidence for creation? Zindler took the atheism side in an Atheism v. Christianity debate in front of 7,500 people at Willow Creek Community Church, USA. His opponent, Dr William Lane Craig, tore his ignorant arguments to shreds so effectively that many atheists in the audience realised that Zindler had lost the debate. It was presumably to this debate that John Snowden was alluding when he wrote that a representative of the American Atheists, whom he used to support, lost a public debate to a “fundamentalist” (Skeptic 18(3), 1998).[438]

*2 General Works On Atheism:

* Norman Geisler, (2004), I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, Crossway, ISBN 9781581345612
* Alister McGrath, (2004), The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World ISBN 0-385-50061-0
* Ravi Zacharias, (1994, 2004), A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism ISBN 0801065119
* Ravi Zacharias, (1994, 1996), Can Man Live Without God? ISBN 0849939437
* Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, (1982) Understanding Secular Religions, Here’s Life Publishers, San Bernardino, California, ISBN 0-86605-093-0
* Vox Day, (2008),The Irrational Atheist, BenBella Books, Inc. ISBN 1933771364
* American Vision, Return of the Village Atheist (e-book), ISBN: 9780915815784
* R. Albert Mohler Jr., (2008), Atheism Remix: A Christian Confronts the New Atheists, Crossway, ISBN 9781433504976

Source of the above: http://www.conservapedia.com/Atheism

Pluto is not a planet – “Get over it”.
It would have been instructive if Tyson (since he is particularly identified with the demotion of Pluto from being considered by many as “not a planet”) would have given some of the reasons why he and others had reached that arbitrary mere “definitional” conclusion.
Q/A

One questioner commented about the two charts Tyson presented: One chart portrayed the number of STEM papers presented one year by the nations of the world, and the other chart portrayed the change in number of papers presented by the same nations 10 years later. Tyson then compared the difference between the 2 charts and claimed that this difference documented/illustrated the declining impact of the USA in the world as it relates to STEM matters.
The questioner stated that the charts themselves, and the use of the charts in the way Tyson used them, may be just as reasonably interpreted as showing a bias against the productivity of USA. The questioner said that a nation such as the USA, that has been very productive for a long time, has less opportunity to increase its publication volume in a world in which it has already pretty-well saturated the major journals of the world. But the other nations, that have not been publishing much, will show a relatively great change in numbers of publications, with only a small increase in their publication number. The questioner suggested that another way of expressing this bias is seen, for example, with a student who has been an A student all along: it is much harder for this student to show improvement than it is for a student that has been a “D” or “C” student all along to show improvement by finally getting some “A”s or even “B”s. The D or C student has “room” to “grow”, whereas the A student does not. I agree with the questioner. Tyson dismissed him with something like, “I’ll have to think about that.”

One questioner asked a question about what Einstein referred to as “spooky” photon behavior: the apparent behavior of a pair of photons to act in tandem, such that when one photon of one charge (say “+”) disappears in one place, its opposite-charged (“-“) counterpart “automatically” appears in another place. The questioner asked how the experimenter KNOWS the particular photon that appeared is indeed the actual counterpart of the particular one that just disappeared?
Tyson replied that it is more reasonable to conclude that the – photon that appears in the same room in which a + photon just disappeared, is more likely to be the counterpart of the just-disappeared + photon than is a – photon that just appeared, for example, in Thailand. But how does Tyson, or anyone else, KNOW this? In my view, the questioner posed an excellent question – one which Tyson sidestepped (copped-out on) with only the appearance of having answered it.

Photo:
The “Face” on Mars:
Tyson claimed that some people saw (see?) the “human” face on Mars, not because an actual human face is actually there, but because they themselves are people and are biased to see what they are themselves. If we were lobsters, some of us would be seeing lobsters on Mars.
1. This claim may sound plausible to folks like Tyson, but it is merely an attempt to explain, it is not a confirmed fact.
2. It needs to be determined that there ARE lobster-shaped “faces” on Mars that exist to be seen, in order for us to see them as lobsters, if we were lobsters.
3. Many people see shapes that are not man-like. If they can see spider shapes when they are not spiders, how can Tyson logically claim the seeing of human shapes is a result of being a human?
4. The fact that people may be biased to see things that look like people does not mean that some things do not indeed look like people. And if they indeed do look like people, the easy dismissal of a tendency of proneness to see one’s own image, does not address the speculation that certain things that look like people look like people because they were fashioned to look like people by people who wanted them to look like people. I don’t know what the ‘human” likeness on Mars is, but I do know that Tyson’s bias against human shapes actually being on Mars was merely self-serving chronological snobbery and bias.

==========================

I conclusion, as an above-average-informed layman on these matters, and from a thoroughly Christian perspective, I regard the talk given by Tyson to have been a meritless-but-high-sounding mere theatrical performance. Tyson delivered to the Secularized student masses what he knew from experience that students in a state Secular educational institution are indoctrinated into believing and that consequently tend to want to hear.*1 But Tyson did nothing to inform and actually serve these students. These students did not leave the lecture better for having been there. Actually, they left this lecture in a worse state.*2 The lecture worked to keep these students trapped in the monopolistic anti-God, anti-Christian, worldview that government-run-and-supported Secular institutions promote. These institutions (often mistakenly called “higher education”) ensnare students into Atheistic beliefs and people like Tyson are regularly invited in to give them another dose of it all in the form of guest speakers in special assemblies.

The “success” of the Secularists in filling this trap with these students is not as remarkable a feat as it may seem. The entrapment was actually a relatively easy task to accomplish, and maintain, because each member of the “catch” was already inclined in that direction by his own inner and natural enmity against God*3 – the target against which all Secularism is directed. The audience displayed throughout his talk an eager “give us more, give us more” attitude that was, to me at least, a sad – even tragic – scene.*1 I saw a false teacher promising hundreds of deceived students wisdom and knowledge but delivering them to an even greater enslavement in their own error and foolishness.*4

*1
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;”
II Timothy 4:3

*2
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”
Matthew 23:15

*3
“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
Romans 8:7

*4
“For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.”
II Peter 2:18

“These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.”
Jude 1:16

“Republican” : The Party of “No”?

1/27/11

To the Editor:

“Republican”: The Party of “No”?

Democrats like to call the Republican Party the “Party of No.” The implication is, “THOSE MEAN OLD REPUBLICANS! THEY NEVER LET US DO ANYTHING! ALL THEY EVER TELL US IS ‘NO’! ”

The thing these Democrat whiners never explain is: “To WHAT are Republicans saying “No?” The facts are, the Republicans are saying “No” to unrealistic, unreasonable, harmful things to which the Democrats are constantly saying “Yes.”

What is a mature, realistic, reasonable Party (or Parent for that matter) to do when someone they are responsible for demands they be allowed to do short-term foolish harmful things – no matter how popular, immediate-relief, PC “feel-good,” “lovey-dovey”, “warm-and-fuzzy”- sounding they appear to their adolescent charges? ( “Let us go deeper in debt”…print more money…borrow more money…give away more money… Let us kill more babies…Let us weaken our military…Let us destroy marriage and the family…” “EVERYBODY’S DOING IT…I WANT IT! I WANT IT!… GIVE IT TO ME!” Democrats keep insisting.) The mature, realistic Party should, of course, do the adult thing and say “NO.” And the NON Democrats ARE saying “No.” THANK YOU REPUBLICANS!

In a delightfully fitting, unexpected and unintended homonymic twist of “poetic justice”, Democrats, in their adolescent rhetorical complaint, have unintentionally paid the Republicans (REAL Republicans – not RINOS) a high, and proper, compliment. As a result of this twist, when I hear the Democrats describe REAL Republicans this way, I hear them saying, “The Republican Party is ‘The Party of KNOW’. ” And THAT is an accurate, and comforting, description.

Yes, indeed: REAL Republicans “know” what is realistic and reasonable. And REAL Republicans thankfully have the courage, resolve, and real love for their country, and their countrymen, to stand up FOR realistic, reasonable, good and right things. And they thankfully have the courage, resolve, and real love for their country, and their countrymen, to stand AGAINST the dangerous things that the Democrats, the liberal “old” media, the liberal academics, and others are pushing that could literally destroy us.

These Republicans “know” the nation should go by the Constitution, they “know” we should get out and stay out of debt, they “know” we should be militarily strong, they “know” we should protect – not kill – our babies, and they “know” we should strive for the other things that have traditionally characterized America.

Again, THANK YOU REPUBLICANS!

Thank you.

2. The US Constitution: What it says

2. The USA Constitution: What it says

This lecture is intended to inform on the basic Constitutional directions given in defining the government of the United States of America.

The Constitution of The United States of America 1787

http://www.tnz.biz/documents/usa/Constitution_of_The_USA.html

Preamble:
“We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect* Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

* An improvement over the former failed Articles of Confederation

ARTICLE ONE

Section 1. All* legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress* of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

* The Legislative Branch is intended to be the most powerful of the 3 Branches

* It is assumed that the members of this Branch know what the Constitution (Amendments) and Law says – because its members wrote it.

* ALL law is supposed to come out of the Legislative Branch.

Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by law Direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the expiration of the sixthYear, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.

No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall choose their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

Judgment in cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

Section 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different Day.

Section 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Each house may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.

Each house shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony* and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

* Felony = A major crime: murder, arson, rape, etc. with minimum imprisonment of 1 year

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.*

* This portion prevents conflicts of interest and favoritism in a person who might otherwise hold 2 separate offices, positions in which he could use his action in one position to obtain unfair advantage in and for the other position.

Section 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that house shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted)* after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which case it shall not be a Law.

* a reference to the Christian “day of rest” – Leviticus 23:3 , Leviticus 23:28, Deuteronomy 15:19, Deuteronomy 16:8, Jeremiah 17:24

* This method of adopting law was intentionally designed to be slow — in order to check (prevent) hasty actions, that are prone to be not thought-out well and therefore, unwise.

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

Section 8. The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque* and Reprisal*, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

* Letters of Marque = Authorization for citizens to fit out ships to capture the ships or property of another nation with which it is at war.

* “Reprisal” = Documentation that a ship is not engaged in pirating.

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia* to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

* Militia = armed private citizens…authorized “conscription”…the “draft”…

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, Dockyards, and other needful Buildings;–And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or Duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus* shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

* Every citizen must be informed of the crime he is being accused of committing and is being imprisoned for.

No Bill of Attainder*1 or ex post facto*2 Law shall be passed.

*1 “Bill of Attainder” = being declared guilty of an alleged crime without being tried for it

*2 “ex post facto”… “done afterwards”… “after the fact” – being accused of committing a crime that was not legally defined as a crime at the time you allegedly committed it

No Capitation*, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

* “Capitation” = “Head” or “poll” tax – no tax on the individual levied against and on him just because he exists as a citizen.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States; and no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument*, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

* “Emolument” = payment received for work.

Section 10. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder*, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

* “Bill of Attainder” = a legislative pronouncement of guilt without a trial.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

ARTICLE TWO

Section 1. The executive Power shall be vested in a President* of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:

* This Branch was intended to be the second-most powerful of the 3 Branches.

* The President of this Branch is assumed to know what the Constitution and law say because it is his duty is to enforce them – He has to know what they say in order to be able to properly enforce them.

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not lie an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; a Quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:–“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”*

* “So help me God” – added by George Washington, at the end of saying this oath of office. This addition has been voiced by most of the later – if not all – Presidents taking this oath.

Section 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of impeachment.

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next session.

Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.

Section 4. The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors*

* “Misdemeanors” = “misbehaving”: minor offenses leading to fines or local jailing for less than 1 year.

ARTICLE THREE

Section 1. The judicial Power* of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good behavior*, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

* This Branch was intended to be the least powerful of the 3 Branches – However, it has usurped its bounds and become the most powerful of the 3 Branches – especially since the other 2 Branches have neglected their duty and allowed this usurpation to go uncorrected.

*It is NOT good behavior to:

Usurp its power over the other Branches
“legislate” from the bench
Invent “rights” that are not there
Give higher authority of foreign law over the Constitution

According to this Section 1, Justices which have done any of the above should be removed from the Court.

Section 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases*, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;–to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;–to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;–to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;–to Controversies between two or more States;–between a State and Citizens of another State;–between Citizens of different States; –between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

* “Cases” = legal trials in which disagreements and/or uncertainty regarding the interpretation of the Law as it is to apply in new situations/environments which have arrived are argued and decided.

In all cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate* Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

* “appellate” = having jurisdiction to review appeals and to retry cases raised to this level in the system.

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses* to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

* Two (2) witnesses – Deuteronomy 17:6, 18:5

The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood*, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

* Protects the relatives of a convicted traitor from being punished for what he did. – Deuteronomy 24:16, II Kings 14:6, II Chronicles 25:4, Ezekiel 18:20

ARTICLE FOUR

Section 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records, and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all* Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

“Hate” crime laws and same sex “marriage” abuse this Section by giving “protected” status to certain groups (historically considered perverted and perverse non-groups) but not to others.

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

No person held to Service or Labor in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labor, But shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labor may be due.

Section 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

ARTICLE FIVE

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress;* Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of it’s equal Suffrage in the Senate.

* This method of amending the Constitution is designed — and intended — to be long and drawn out so that no big changes are made quickly and easily.

ARTICLE SIX

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid* against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.

* Keep your vows (promises…agreements…commitments ) – Numbers 30:2, Deuteronomy 23:21, Ecclesiastics 5:5

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, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

* Original intent and meaning of the words as they were used and understood at the time the Constitution was written. The Constitution is NOT a “living” document, in which it can supposedly be “interpreted” in terms of new meanings attached to old words and in terms of new and alien beliefs and principles being “read into” the original beliefs and cultural and political ones.

* ANY dependence upon — or even reference to — foreign law in deciding issues of the Court is UNCONSTITUTIONAL and forbidden.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

ARTICLE SEVEN

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.

Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven* and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In Witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

* The “Lord” Jesus Christ is the ONLY PERSON in the world and in all of history that corresponds to this reference to a person and a time.

Article 1, Section 7

“Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.” – Leviticus 23:3

“And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.” – Leviticus 23:28

“All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep.” – Deuteronomy 15:19

“Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work therein.” Deuteronomy 16:8

“And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;” Jeremiah 17:24

Article 3, Section 3

* At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. – Deuteronomy 17:6:

“One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.”- Deuteronomy 19:15
………………………………………

“The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” – Deuteronomy 24:16

“But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” – II Kings 14:6

“But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.” – II Chronicles 25:4

“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” – Ezekiel 18:20

Article 6

“If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.”- Numbers 30:2

“When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.”- Deuteronomy 23:21

“Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.”- Ecclesiastics 5:5

Article 7

“He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.” – John 1:23

“Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”- John 6:68

“She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.”- John 11:27

“Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.” – John 13:13

Bill of Rights

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof*; or abridging the freedom of speech*, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble*, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

* “Separation of church and state” is a false “interpretation” of this Amendment

(See lecture 3 in this series.)

* A “No-speech zone” around “abortion” clinics is UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

* The “Fairness Doctrine” in which radio programs are required to give time to views with which the programmer disagrees is UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

* Tea Parties, and the Tea Party Movement, are CONSTITUTIONAL.

Amendment II

A well regulated militia*1, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people*2 to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

*1 “militia” = people’s or citizen’s army.

“2 the people” = the general population…

This phrase is NOT making the nonsense statement that the military is the only party that has “the right to keep and bear arms”.

Amendment III

No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

* This Amendment requires the use of Search warrants to search the home and other property of a citizen.

* Your car is an extension of your home.

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger*1; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy*2 of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself*3 , nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law*4 ; nor shall private property be taken for public use*5, without just compensation.

*1 Enemy combatants do not have Constitutional rights.

*2 “double jeopardy”

*3 “plead the Fifth” = People don’t have to testify against themselves or their immediate family members.

*4 fair trial

*5 Eminent domain for PUBLIC NEED AND USE ONLY – private property can not be taken from one party and handed over for the PRIVATE USE of another private party.

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him*; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

* Anonymous calls to accuse parents of child abuse, etc. are UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

Amendment VII

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people*.

* The PEOPLE – not the federal government – have more rights than the ones mentioned so far.

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people*.

* Congress does not have ANY powers that are not specifically mentioned (“delegated”) by the Constitution. ALL powers not specifically delegated to Congress remain (“are reserved”) to the states or the people.

* The Federal government is to have NO involvement in:

Education
Health care
income tax
FCC (communication/media)
Other