America the Gift Shop

America the Gift Shop

Photography by Phillip Toledano

(It's political.)

Censoring the Declaration of Independence

This is along the lines of what I've been trying to say when voicing my concerns about Independence Day.

Quoted from this viral video on YouTube from ScrewCensorship.com.

Censoring the Declaration of Independence
Every July 4th Americans celebrate a revolutionary document - The Declaration of Independence signed July 4th, 1776. The Declaration talks about the necessity "to dissolve the political bonds." About "unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Most radically of all it says "That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, IT IS THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO ALTER OR ABOLISH IT, and to institute new government..."
But some people don't want us to get that message...
If you go to the Jefferson Memorial you will see that the engraving of the first lines of the Declaration of Independence leaves out "the consent of the governed." and our "right to alter or abolish" government...
Then there is this movie reading of the Declaration which closes the door to Independence hall just as we get to that important phrase...
Don't let the government and the media censor the Declaration of Independence
It's time to celebrate the Fourth of July for what it really is...
"Right to Alter or Abolish the Government DAY!" A true people's holiday!


There are so many things about the government that we should be altering. Why not think about these things when we're setting off our fireworks?

Retroactive Immunity

The government is stomping on the fourth amendment, in case you hadn't heard.

Telecommunication companies that helped the government tap phones and listen in on the private conversations of Americans without a warrant are now being sued for their actions. Around 40 lawsuits have been filed against these companies because these actions are illegal based on the fourth amendment, which states:

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.

Sounds good, right? Upholding the Constitution and whatnot.

Unfortunately for the constitution, a bill has passed in the House and is now sitting in waiting in the Senate that will give retroactive immunity to these telecom companies because Bush told them to do it. According to this Reuters article, the suits stem from their participation in a warrantless electronic surveillance program Bush secretly began shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Again from Reuters, critics also charge Bush violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in authorizing the spy program without court approval. He maintains he had the wartime power to do it. But in January 2007 he put the program under FISA court jurisdiction.

Letter to the College Paper's Editor

So Tuesday, our group, Team The Juggernauts (the atheists you love to hate) had just finished packing up the Brother Jed Carnival. We raised $300.00 for Heifer International, a charity which allows you to buy livestock for destitute villages around the world. All the credit goes to the wonderful student body and a psychotic yet well-intentioned man named Brother Jed. Thanks, kids!
We used your money to buy live rabbits and chickens for six villages.

Anyway, we were naturally famished after a long day of saving the world, so we figured we'd go crash the Student Government Association banquet that they'd planned instead of a meeting.
You know, nom half a dozen slices of pizza each, stuff some brownies in our pockets, steal a couple 2 liter bottles of soda, and roll. We're pirates. We can't help ourselves.

So, anyway, about six of us stroll up to the PSU's fourth floor ballroom, and instantly we freeze. Here we are, half of us dressed in full pirate regalia (as our religion dictates), one of us holding a Satan costume complete with red trident and mask, and me wearing a freshly markered "Satan is my Homeboy" T-Shirt. Every one of us dirty and slimy and sweaty. Resting before us are dozens of tables surrounded by all the normal SGA kids in swanked out suits and dresses.
We're not talking buffet, people. We're talking courses. China plates with cake, salad, chicken... table cloths... more than one fork... the whole shebang. So between the time we hightailed it out of there and the time we arrived back at our base of operations for exorbitant amounts of self-congratulatory pizza, scrambled eggs, and beer (for the so inclined), I got to thinking.

How much is this costing you?

All this talk of missing money, of SGA waste, of cutbacks, of rising tuition, and we're still throwing massive bling away for a big end-of-semester party strictly for the bourgeois Student Government kids? And there's not even free pizza? What shenanigans! Call me ignorant, but I had no idea this kind of stuff was going on right here on our little campus. I knew the charlatans who run this country were blowing our money, but I never thought that it went so far down.

You know, I inquired, and someone told me that last year's banquet cost $300.00. That sounds lovely, but it just makes you wonder what someone could do with $300.00, doesn't it?