American Update: A Record (in progress)
The insects are dying something fierce. You don’t need pesticides anymore; they are already dead. It’s not going to “maybe happen tomorrow”, it’s happening now. Can confirm personally, as a guy who hikes through the woods and fields of Northeast Kansas, professionally.
1,000+ families are going bankrupt from medical bills, alone, every single day. These are people who worked their entire lives with and through faith in the system, hoping that their lives would get better. How many days before this happens to everyone of us?
In America, many of the people I know have to work 2-3 jobs just to get by. Half the population lives in poverty. This is unacceptable. The rent is too high, the pay is too low, and anyone who wants to climb to the top, to have some semblance of monetary security, has to indebt themselves to the tune of 10s of thousands of dollars, for a job that is likely bullshit. We trade money, finances, back and forth like a game of hot potato, screwing each other over for meager scraps.
What is the most educated generation in American history to do, when they are hamstrung, framed, and stuck in servitude? How can we benefit our world, our communities, with such restrictions?
We live out a horrible tragedy every day we live like this. Our society is bullshit, it is killing the world, and it’s getting worse every day.
Let’s take a look at what has happened to the Bill of Rights:
1st Amendment: “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.”
Wrecked by “free speech zones”, “disturbing the peace”, the arrest of Julian Assange (beyond the reach of our sovereign nation, and strong-arming the world, and the arrest and torture of Chelsea Manning), have destroyed the first amendment. The Supreme Court has cut at its edges for many years, and our country’s actions of late, particularly relating to freedom of the press, are chopping off a big slice.
2nd Amendment: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
To editorialize, if there was ever a time that the import, and the “intention”, of this amendment were ever required to be utilized, it would be now. The rights, defined by it, have not been infringed, as yet, to a level that prevents us from following its intention.
3rd Amendment: “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.”
4th Amendment: “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.”
The NSA is spying on the entire American population, and ever more upon sovereign nations, as we are aware, our government and the transnational corporations that we have aided through our collective efforts. “Search and Seizure” has been systematized, and accepted, through the spying that we know exists, and, for instance, the institution of “asset forfeiture”, by the state, prior to any conviction in a court of law. Both search, and seizure, has been allowed, by law, in our country. This is unacceptable. These breaches are the very abuses that were to be avoided, through the very laws that define our nation.
5th Amendment: “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; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
6th Amendment: “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 defence.”
7th Amendment: “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 re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.”
8th Amendment: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
9th Amendment: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
10th Amendment: “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.”