A bird from the Bush?

Much has been bandied about the blogosphere regarding Commander Codpiece recently either hitchhiking for a helocopter or indicating his mental age, take your pick.

Thumb or finger? Really now, is it so hard to believe that the no class bastard would give the bird to the press corps? Enough said.

Bolton... again.

From CNN
"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush may use a recess appointment early next week to install John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations, two senior administration officials told CNN Thursday...

'If the Senate fails to act and move forward on those nominees,' McClellan said, 'then sometimes there comes a point where the president has needed to fill that in a timely manner by recessing those nominees.''
More
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- John Bolton, President Bush's nominee for U.N. ambassador, mistakenly told Congress he had not been interviewed or testified in any investigation over the past five years, the State Department said Thursday..."

Bolton was "mistaken" he "forgot" that he was questioned, by the State Department, in the Plamegate leak investigation. I'm sure he was. If his memory is so faulty that he cannot remember being questioned regarding the hottest issue in Washington, Plamegate perhaps that is prima facie evidence that he lacks the requisite brain power to be flipping hamburgers at MacDonald's much less Ambassador to the United Nations.

Of course he could, as is the style of members of this maladministration, be lying his ass off which would make his false testimony to the questions put forth by the State Department as a felony, again disqualifying him from holding a job as janitor let alone ambassador.

This is, without question, the most corrupt maladministration in our nation's (and possibly the world's) history.

Lying scum.

From the Washinton Post:

"...Harlow, the former CIA spokesman, said in an interview yesterday that he testified last year before a grand jury about conversations he had with Novak at least three days before the column was published. He said he warned Novak, in the strongest terms he was permitted to use without revealing classified information, that Wilson's wife had not authorized the mission and that if he did write about it, her name should not be revealed.

Harlow said that after Novak's call, he checked Plame's status and confirmed that she was an undercover operative. He said he called Novak back to repeat that the story Novak had related to him was wrong and that Plame's name should not be used. But he did not tell Novak directly that she was undercover because that was classified..."

Can there be any doubt as to the motives of the lying scum of this maladministration and the willing tools in the media who are at their beck and call? They are not merely disgusting, their actions prove that it is they who hold America, and everything it represents, in contempt. They are truly the lowest of the low.

Scandal, no but troubling for another reaon.

From the Washington Post:

"Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. has repeatedly said that he has no memory of belonging to the Federalist Society, but his name appears in the influential, conservative legal organization's 1997-1998 leadership directory."

Roberts is a conservative, I would expect him to be a member of The Federalist Society. I would also expect that he would remember that he was more than just a regular member. That he claims to have no recollection would seem to indicate he is either lying (which brings the question, why?), doesn't remember (which brings the question, why?)

Either way, his response merits an explanation, for all we know the reason for his faulty memory could well be a sign of early onset Alzheimer's or other dementia and if that is the case, he does not belong on the Supreme Court.

GratisNetMore on Judge Roberts

GratisNet: "From: The Free Press

'In 2003, after joining the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Judge Roberts disagreed with the Court’s ruling in the case of Rancho Viejo, LLC v. Norton. The Court ruled that the Endangered Species Act could be used to prevent a real estate development company from building on land that would have jeopardized the continued existence of a rare toad. Judge Roberts’ dissent strongly suggests that he supports overturning the Endangered Species Act and limiting Congress’ ability to protect the environment.'

So it seems that Roberts has little regard for the environment, at least when it conflicts with business objectives, development and goals. I am reminded of the line from Moonstruck where Olympia Dukakis' character speaking to the wayward college professor played by John Mahoney says of his dallying with his students, 'Don't shit where you eat' evidently Judge Roberts cares not what the world his children and grandchildren will inherit will be like. Typical conservative republican hypocrisy that makes a lie of the oft stated comment that conservatives are the stewards of the good of the nation.

'Last year, in the case of Hedgepeth v. Wash. Metro. Area Transit Auth., Judge Roberts ruled that equal protection rights provided by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments were not violated by a law that mandated that an adult who commits a crime be given only a citation, while children guilty of the same crime be arrested. Judge Roberts ruled that the harsher treatment of children encouraged '…the legitimate goal of promoting parental awareness and involvement with children who commit delinquent acts.''

Personally, I find this not as distasteful as it sounds at first blush. I do however believe that the Metro Police went far, far over the top in the manner of their taking the teenager into custody. That Judge Roberts also addressed this seems, to me, a point in his favor"

Lest we forget... Ohio

GratisNet: "Yet another example of republican integrity, morality, ethics and honor in action.

From the Toledo Blade

COLUMBUS — Tom Noe stole millions of dollars from the state and used a “Ponzi” scheme to fabricate profits within the state’s $50 million rare-coin investment, Ohio’s attorney general said yesterday.

“There was an absolute theft of funds going on,” Attorney General Jim Petro said.

Mr. Petro said there is evidence that Mr. Noe pocketed nearly $4 million in money invested with the coin fund through the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation since 1998.

Mr. Petro asked a judge to further restrict the former Toledo-area coin dealer from selling personal assets because he believes they may have been purchased with state money.

State officials yesterday laid out a complicated scheme of payments between companies Mr. Noe controlled, which they say resulted in the theft of state money.

The attorney general said the theft began on March 31, 1998, the day Mr. Noe received the first of two $25 million payments from the workers’ compensation bureau, and continued until late May — more than eight weeks after The Blade first reported on April 3 that there were problems with the state’s investment.

“On Day One, Tom Noe took $1.375 million and put it in his personal or his business account,” Mr. Petro said. Records show that Mr. Noe immediately began using the state’s money for his personal use, the attorney general said.

A week later, Mr. Noe and his wife, Bernadette, made $4,500 in contributions to then-Secretary of State Bob Taft’s campaign for governor.

Link to story

Has there ever been political party more corrupt than todays GOP?"

Good news/bad news

GratisNet: "Tom delay is happy that the Texas grand jury investigating his corruption is off the front pages and newscasts. That's the good news. The bad news is that it took the Fitzgerald investigation to do it.

More bad news... the Texas grand jury is still investigating Slug DeLay"

Plamenamedgate

GratisNet: "More leaks from the Fitzgerald grand jury regarding what Rove and Libby told them, with emphasis on the fact that their testimony differs factually from that of the reporters they referenced.

What to think of all the leaking? True? False? Wishful thinking? Or is it a Special Prosecutor's office playing a mind game on the players they suspect were part of the conspiracy to 'get' Wilson and then, cover it up?

One thing is certain, come October we shall know for sure and the nation could be in for as wild a ride it has ever had. So until then, keep your seat belt fastened, your tray tables stowed and your seat back in the upright position because the ride is just liable to get a tad bumpy."

Web of lies.

GratisNet: "From the Washington Post:

'A classified State Department memorandum central to a federal leak investigation contained information about CIA officer Valerie Plame in a paragraph marked '(S)' for secret, a clear indication that any Bush administration official who read it should have been aware the information was classified, according to current and former government officials.'

Full article

There you have it. They knew her identity was classified, they knew. Of course all of the fools and tools on the right will continue to engage in their little charade trying to define what the meaning of covert really is but they know they are being disengenuous and hypocritical. At the end of the day, the fact remains that her identity was classified, as indicated by the memo, and the memo was circulated among the White House staff while it was in the control of Colin Powell.

Oh yes, Karl Rove testified to the grand jury that he never saw the memo. Can you use 'orange jump suit' and 'frog march' in the same sentence? Fitzgerald will get someone, Ari Fleischer perhaps, who will not be willing to go to jail for this criminal enterprise known as the Bush regime and then in the parlance of crime writers immemorial, 'the jig will be up.'

I expect that Fitzgerald will use every day of the term of the grand jury (through October/November, if memory serves) to build 'Iron Maiden' cases for perjury, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and oh yes, perhaps even one for exposing the identity of a covert CIA agent."

Speaking of the unspeakable

GratisNet: "A Boston Globe reader nails it.

'...The second, more disturbing, possibility is that Bush authorized, either explicitly or implicitly, the leak to retaliate against Joseph C. Wilson IV, who publicly presented evidence that the administration was distorting facts to sell the American people on going to war. Either way, the president has painted himself into a corner.'

Read the letter

I have had the picture of C-plus Augustus being a part of the Wilson mess from the git go and most certainly in the obstruction and coverup that have followed. One hopes Mr. Fitzgerald's investigation will kick ass and take names, regardless of the asses or names involved. The future of our republic depends on it."

More on Roberts

GratisNet: "From:

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1108389946956

[in part]
NOT ALWAYS PREDICTABLE

So far on the D.C. Circuit, Roberts' votes have mainly fallen on the conservative side, but not always.

Last December, in United States v. Mellen, Roberts ruled in favor of a criminal defendant who challenged his sentence in a fraud case. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson -- yes, an appointee of the first President Bush -- dissented.

In the July 2004 decision Barbour v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), Roberts joined Merrick Garland -- a Clinton appointee -- in deciding that sovereign immunity did not bar a D.C employee with bipolar disorder from suing the transit agency under federal laws barring discrimination against the disabled. Conservative Sentelle dissented.

But then there was another WMATA case -- known as the french fry case -- which some critics point to as a sign of a certain hard-heartedness in Roberts' decision making.

In the unanimous ruling last October in Hedgepeth v. WMATA, Roberts upheld the arrest, handcuffing and detention of a 12-year-old girl for eating a single french fry inside a D.C. Metrorail station. 'No one is very happy about the events that led to this litigation,' Roberts acknowledged in the decision, but he ruled that nothing the police did violated the girl's Fourth Amendment or Fifth Amendment rights.

Roberts also displayed what some viewed as insouciance toward arroyo toads in a 2003 case, Rancho Viejo v. Norton. Roberts wanted the full D.C. Circuit to reconsider a panel's decision that upheld a Fish and Wildlife Service regulation protecting the toads under the Endangered Species Act. Roberts said there could be no interstate commerce rationale for protecting the toad, which, he said, 'for reasons of its own lives its entire life in California.'

In another decision last June, Roberts went even further than his colleagues in supporting the Bush administration in a case that pitted the government against veterans of the first Gulf War. American soldiers captured and tortured by the Iraqi government during the first Gulf War sued the Iraqi government in U.S. court and won nearly $1 billion in damages at the district court level.

But once Saddam was toppled in 2003, the Bush administration wanted to protect the new Iraqi government from liability and intervened to block the award. Roberts, alone among the circuit judges who ruled with the government, said the federal courts did not even have jurisdiction to consider the victims' claim. An appeal is before the Supreme Court.

'These decisions are troubling in a lot of ways,' says Elliot Mincberg of the liberal People for the American Way, a point person in any battle over Supreme Court nominees.

But Mincberg's criticism of Roberts may be muted somewhat by the fact that he worked with Roberts at Hogan years back and likes him personally. 'He's a very smart lawyer and easy to work with, but there is no question he is very, very conservative,' says Mincberg.

Another person who might otherwise be a critic of Roberts is a longtime friend. Georgetown University Law Center professor Richard Lazarus, an environmental law advocate, was a classmate of Roberts at Harvard Law School and roomed with him when they first came to Washington 25 years ago.

'John Roberts and I are very good friends, and I think very highly of him as a person, lawyer and judge,' says Lazarus with care. 'After that, I have to bow out.'

Lazarus would not comment further, but other friends say the roots of Roberts' conservatism can be traced to his days as a Harvard undergraduate, toward the end of the Vietnam War. Seeing fellow students demonstrate in sympathy with Ho Chi Minh, one said, did not sit well with Roberts, who grew up in Indiana.

---

May I remind everyone that while Roberts is 'very, very conservative' that, in and of itself, is not a disqualification to serving on the SCOTUS. The fact that his intelligence and knowledge of the law is without question, on both sides of the political divide, means that absent some evidence of damaging conduct in his past, and I don't mean his championing conservative causes, I don't see how he does not win confirmation.

Remember, we want judges to reasonably interpret the law using the constitution and yes, common sense and reason, as a reference. We do not want judges to make law (ie: activism) whether they are liberal, conservative or whatever."

And the winner is...

GratisNet: "John G. Roberts Jr. whose record is somewhat thin. Educated at Harvard and while a staunch GOP type and conservative, the true believers are on record as not trusting his fealty to conservative dogma.

Interesting times. Absence something very bad in his record, I suspect the democrats will support his nomination, as they should. The wingnuts, however, just may have a hissy fit over him."

SCOTUS Nominee

GratisNet: "Seems the Bush maladministration is moving up the naming of their nominee to replace Justice O'Connor. The DC rumor mill has it that it will be Judge Edith Clement of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans. While she is known as both a conservative and a strict constructionist she has also made some interesting comments regarding abortion rights. From CNN: [The Supreme Court] 'has clearly held that the right to privacy guaranteed by the Constitution includes the right to have an abortion' and that 'the law is settled in that regard.' It remains to be seen what the reaction of the SCRTL (So Called Right To Lifers) will be if she is indeed the choice of C-plus Augustus.

Apparently the naming of the nominee has been moved up in order to take the air out of the sails of the Karl Rove story. Yet another indication of the contempt this damnable group has for the press and the American people. Hopefully both the press and the people will demonstrate that, unlike this maladministration of fools and tools, they can chew gum and walk at the same time."

Special Prosecutor, Turd Blossom & the media.

GratisNet: "Regarding the hoopla about the subpoena of records pertaining to Ari (No lie too bold) Fleischer's discussions vis-a-vis Plamegate; let the man do his work and we will see what we will see when and if indictments are forthcoming. It would do well for everyone to remember that the Republican Party, even in the face of indictments, will not allow any congressional investigations, period. The Republican Party and republicans, especially those of the conservative persuasion, will place loyalty to the party above country every time.

So until such time as they demonstrate otherwise remember, republicans and treason go together like rum and coke, or bread and butter, or pretzels and beer, in other words, sit back, relax and watch the show. The time to rejoice shall come when this anti-american regime is in the dock. Also remember when watching or listening to republicans trying to spin this thing that if their lips are moving, they are lying. When it comes to using the big lie technique republicans make Communists and other dictatorships look like rank amateurs."

Karl Rove.

GratisNet: "What can be said about the growing storm over Karl Rove and his role in outing Valerie Plame in retaliation for Ambassador Joseph Wilson's scathing report regarding the then lie du jour, yellow cake uranium, that hasn't been said before?

Is there any surprise that the right wing are spinning this thing so furiously that some of their 'explanations' are comical? A case in point from the FIDOnet amateur network:
Link

FidoNet Echomail Archive - politics

From: TIM R---------
To: ED C------
Date: 2005-07-11 17:40:00
Subject: Re: Valerie Plame

On 07-11-05, ED C------ said to TIM R---------:

EC>Hey, TIM.

TR> Another possibility I've yet to see put forth:

TR> It also could have been her husband, Wilson. And trying to sneak the blame on someone close to the president is his revenge for being sidelined, and then quietly eased out the door, when the new Bush administration came into office.

EC>The really interesting thing here that none of the main-stream media is talking about - that I've heard - is that this former ambassador was sent to investigate things in Africa, not by the president, not by the head of the CIA, but by his wife. [g]

If that true........who paid his air fare, his expenses and any salary or compensation he might have recieved for his time? And what was the purpose of his trip and its result?

I don't understand how some low level CIA employee could be `sending' anyone anywhere. Now `there's' something for a Senate investigation!

There you have it, there should be an investigation alright but it should be to find out who paid for and authorized Ambassador Wilson's trip! The fact that an undercover 'operative' was outed seems not to matter to these people, but rather the fact that Wilson's report put the lie to administration claims regarding Saddam and yellow cake uranium, is an attack on their dear leader, George W. Bush (aka The Lyin' King), the worst president, ever.

When will the media and the great majority of the people finally wake up to the fact that this group currently holding the levers of power in America will stop at nothing when it comes to stopping dissent and keeping their hold on power, nothing. No lie too bold, no treason too much, no subversion of the Bill of Rights too severe as long as it further consolidates their control over America.

I am constantly amazed at the gyrations these supporters of the fascists who would destroy America must go through to maintain their allegiance. Although in fairness to the language, their actions are more in keeping with the old definition of fealty rather than allegiance, for they seem to defend their leader much as serfs were required by the feudal obligation where the tenant or vassal was bound to be faithful to their lord.

I know it is considered bad form to compare this behavior to that exhibited by the supporters of Adolph Hitler or Benito Mussolini back in the 1930s but watch the old newsreels, read the old newspaper accounts, finally, read Berlin Diary by William Shirer. Earlier today I read a bit that stated America today is not like the Germany of 1938 but rather the Germany of 1930. I do not agree for I have maintained that America stands today at a crossroad, much as the Germany of 1933 stood at a crossroad, a crossroad that in one direction leads to the restoration of the America admired by its citizens and the world, and the other direction that leads to dictatorship, destruction of liberties and ruin of America by those who would be the lords of destruction. History teaches us of the path taken by Germany in the 1930s and the terrible price that was paid, by the civilized world, for that choice. One can only imagine the cost in national honor, national treasure and lives lost, the world over if America goes down the that path today."

Dream World.

GratisNet: "Comment from the amateur network, FIDOnet:

Referring to Hillary's comments regarding the economy. I have omitted the posters name in the interest of privacy, but the idiocy of his words shine through.

'All they know how to do is complain... I am wondering what ailing economy she is referring to ? Most economic numbers under Bush are better than they were under The Clinton. It must have really sucked in the 90's.'

There you have it, most economic numbers under Bush are better than they were under Clinton. How is it possible to have a semi-intelligent conversation with someone whose idea of reality is in truth as far from being reality based as FOX News is from being unbiased.

Try this Link to the alternate reality of conservative politics. Follow some of the conversations and see why it is impossible to deal with what passes for conservatives today."

Fillibuster, part 2

GratisNet: "For all those who thought the fillibuster 'deal' worked out by the 'Gang of 14' would last, I say think again. There will be a rule change to allow cloture by a simple majority rather than the 3/5ths vote currently required in the coming consideration of the replacement for Sandra O'Connor.

Of course Senate rules state that in order to end debate on changing the rules a supermajority of 2/3, 67 senators, is needed but this is merely an inconvenience and will not stop the extremists in the senate from having their way. Consider this scenario. The Senate parliamentarian will be kept from the Senate chamber, thus allowing the rules to be interpreted upon by the President of the Senate, Crash Cart Cheney, who will rule that the 2/3 rule to the contrary, only a simple majority is needed to change the rules regarding changing the rules.

The vote will then begin and the fillibuster, as it has been known since the early days of the Senate will have been eliminated. The vote will also demonstrate yet again that conservative republicans will let nothing get in the way of their agenda. Not any sense of ethics, not any sense of fair play, not any sense honor to historical traditions, not any sense of loyalty to country. Nothing can override the loyalty to the party, nothing. The damage done to mankind by such subservience to party, in the last century alone is mute testimony to such a warped philosophy."

Bombs in London

GratisNet: "At least 4 bombs ripped through the central district of London today causing many casualties. Three bombs in the subway and one on a bus. Officials are struggling with the wounded and trying to piece together what has taken place.

I suspect that a good clue is in the fact that the G8 meeting is currently taking place in Scotland. Another is that the planning for such an attack must have gone on for quite a long time, this is a hallmark of Al Qu'da so they cannot be ruled out.

So much for the War in Iraq making the world safer from terrorism. Yet another lie of the Bush regime exposed for what it is."

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday... to me!
Judith Miller in the slammer!
Matt Cooper coming to Jesus!
Washington media talking about the HUGE implications of all this.
The Big Wheel possibly coming around on the republican reprobates.
Happy Birthday, indeed!

Impeachment? Dream on.

GratisNet: "The latest Zogby poll shows that some 42% of Americans would support impeachment of George W. Bush and other members of his administration if it were conclusively proved that he lied in order to get his war on Iraq.

If it were conclusively proved? After the Downing Street Memo and others, can there be any doubt as to the deceit and bold faced lies used to bring about the war on Iraq? To any reasonable and honest person there can be no question that they lied their way into this war but the Republican Party today is not lead by reasonable or honest people and it is they who control both houses of congress. They will never, repeat never, institute any investigative proceedings whatsoever against Bush and his regime, for in truth they consider themselves an integral part of that regime.

I have noted on many occasions that it will require moderate republicans to recognize what has happened to their party and is in the process of happening to our system of government and act accordingly. Time grows short, the sun is rapidly setting upon the American republic much as it did on the Weimar Republic in 1933. The time to stop this assault upon the America of our forefathers is now for soon it will be too late, America will suffer the equivalent of the Enabling Act of March 23, 1933 and the light of liberty will have been put out.

Impeachment? Dream on."

Remember!

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows:
New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton