We recently attended an advanced screening of “The Undefeated”, the new Sarah Palin film that is due out in theaters on July 15th. The filmmakers call the movie “a two-hour-long, sweeping epic…” and ” a galvanizing prelude to Palin’s prospective presidential campaign”. I’ll call it a pretty darn good movie that despite leaving a few holes for me, gives you an excellent sense of the real Sarah Palin.
While it’s known that the movie was made to excite current Sarah Palin fans and redefine her as presidential material, I believe this film will prove to be even more valuable to the pull-my-string-I-hate-Palin demographic – those that have a negative opinion about Palin, but if you ask them why they don’t like her, you can see the smoke coming from their ears as they work to keep their head from exploding. If you have friends and/or family members that have bought into the myths created by the mainstream media and other moonbat liberals with Palin Derangement Syndrome, but are otherwise fairly reasonable people, please take them to see this movie. The film does a good job of giving you no choice but to look at Mrs. Palin as a human being, and I can think of several people that could use this type of re-education.
The Arizona premier of “The Undefeated” will be shown at the AMC Ahwatukee 24 theater on July 15th. You can buy your “The Undefeated” tickets in advance right here. There’s even an 11:30 matinee showing for only $5 bucks, leaving you even less of a reason not to go see the movie.
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If you can’t figure out what makes the United States so exceptional, read The Declaration of Independence. If you understand and cherish what makes us so great, read The Declaration of Independence as a reminder. Happy 4th of July, everyone!
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 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 harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
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 & 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 Brittish 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 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 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
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
Column 4
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
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
text from http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html
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Independence Day is right around the corner and this year we’ve got a little something extra to celebrate. Thanks to some pro-liberty Arizona Legislators and our Governor, there will be a significant increase in shiny things during our 4th of July festivities.
Late last year, Arizona bill HB 2246 went into effect, and a variety of “non-aerial” consumer fireworks became legal. Not perfect, but a good start to restoring the liberties and freedoms that Government Gone Wild so casually and continually strips from its citizens. The law includes a provision that allows incorporated cities and towns to regulate fireworks in their jurisdiction, and as soon as the law passed, many of the liberal leaning, nanny cities immediately banned their use. Fortunately, we live in one of the few cities where common sense still pokes its head out from time to time, and we are permitted to have fun with approved fireworks on our property from June 28th to July 4th, and again from December 30th to January 1st. Again, not perfect, but something to build upon.
Another positive effect of the legalization of fireworks in Arizona? Capitalism at its finest. Small and large tents are popping up all over town selling these “approved” fireworks. The jobs created by our new freedoms are sorely needed, as Arizona’s official unemployment rate is currently 9.3 percent.
Economic liberty breeds capitalism. Capitalism creates jobs. Jobs create a healthy economy.
And that’s the fact, Jack.
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I’m very excited to be attending another Friends of NRA event tonight, this one sponsored by the Central Arizona chapter. Am I hoping to win another fine firearm like the one we won last year at this same event? Not this time.
I WANT THE TOASTER.
It’s not just a toaster. It not only creates a perfectly golden and crispy treat, it also brands the NRA logo on to each slice. The toaster was part of the live auction at the last Friends of NRA dinner we attended earlier this year, but because it was part of a special, larger auction (the high bidder of the toaster also won a chance at a DPMS AR-15), the toaster commanded a hefty sum. The final bid was $375.00. For a toaster. Ouch.
I’ve got my fingers crossed that the toaster makes another appearance tonight, this time without any other offers that will drive the price beyond my reach. Wish me luck!
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It’s time for the fun to start at the LuckyGunner.com blog shoot, at an undisclosed location, just outside Knoxville, Tennessee.
We made it to Tennessee, and our firearms did too. The TSA check on our luggage was a bit of a nail biter as we watched the TSA agent swabbing the contents of the bags (like holsters and gun belts – think there might be some gunpowder residue on there?).
The bags passed the test, and while there was no “bad touch” for either of us, we both were directed to the “enhanced” millimeter-wave machine. After getting an unknown dose of radiation, we made it to the gate, arrived in Tennessee and jumped into the rental car just in time to drive through a ginormous super-cell thunderstorm.
We arrived a couple of days early so we could check out some of the sights. It’s green beyond imagination!
The jungles of Eastern Tennessee
We’ve had a lot of biscuits since the International Biscuit Festival is underway in Knoxville. Picked up some extra radiation during an educational visit to the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge (as in Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Oak Ridge Boys). Now, it’s time to meet celebrity gun bloggers we read on a regular basis and hang out with some old friends.
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We recently attended an advanced screening of “The Undefeated”, the new Sarah Palin film that is due out in theaters on July 15th. The filmmakers call the movie “a two-hour-long, sweeping epic…” and ” a galvanizing prelude to Palin’s prospective presidential campaign”. I’ll call it a pretty darn good movie that despite leaving a few holes for me, gives you an excellent sense of the real Sarah Palin.
