Brought to you by...

 

SeaViews: Insights from the Gray Havens 
July-August 2000

(formerly the _Rochester Rag_, formerly the _News from Detroit_)

Motto: The surest way to get a reputation for being a trouble maker these days is to go about repeating the very phrases that the Founders used in the struggle for independence.

-- C.A. Beard

Editorial:

email Steve
Anon ftp site
News Archives

Standard disclaimers apply. In addition, the author makes no guarantees concerning the grammatical accuracy of his writing. Submitted text files must be in raw or compressed (.Z, .gz or PK Zip) ASCII. Image files must be in raw or compressed (see above) GIF89 (or older).

On last month's Fix;

the answer to last month's Fix,
"What's to be done about the gas prices??"
is

Well, by the time you read this - the answer is laready clear. Nothing. OPEC, as usual, was unable to maintain their internal agreement to limit production, so supplies increased and the price fell. In the Midwest, the fall was probably hastened by govt. investigation of alleged price fixing on "reformulated" gas. The free market works - when it's truly free.

On Fairness in the Media;
I recently read a book called "How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (and found inner peace)" written by Harry Stein. Those of you who have read the New York Times, the New Yorker, or the Village Voice (all centrist publications - to be sure) may recognize his name. Becoming a father, however, reformed Stein. Out of curiosity, he did a Nexus search on the 1998 volume of the NY Times for certain key words. Results:

  •  
  • The term "mean spirited" appeared in the New York Times 102 times, always attached to a conservative.
  • Twenty stories referred to "right wing" Reps. Two to "left wing" Dems.
  • "Advocate" was used 165 times, alwyas linked to liberal causes; gay rights, homeless, privacy. The term was never used to refer to those fighting for gender neutral admissions, fighters for the unborn, or other conservative issues.

In 1998 Stein also saw a ESPN clip of Ted Kennedy giving a award Dinner for the 1998 Home Run champions Sammy Souza and Mark McGuire. Only Ted called them Sammy Shoosher and Mike McGuire. Stein checked how many references were in the newspapers the next day about the Kennedy gaff - 37. The number of references to Dan Quayle's mispelling of potato in the next day's papers - 1716.

More studies, movies on the cable channel Lifetime for the week Jan 3-9, 1999. Remember Lifetime's slogan? Lifetime - the channel for women. Does the following really speak to the tastes of America's women?

  •  
  • Abandoned and Decieved: Woman with 2 sons fight ex who stopped child support.
  • Becuase Mommy Works: LA nurse fights ex-husband and his new wife.
  • Betrayed - A story of three women: Women learn their lawyer husbands are cheating
  • Change of Heart: Wife is shocked by her husband's choice of mistress
  • Cried Unheard - the Donna Yanklich Story: A mother tells her son why she hired a hit man to kill dad.
  • Cry for Help: Abused wife sues police for lack of protection.
  • Eye of the Stalker: Lawyer obesses with judges daughter
  • Her Final Fury, Betty Broderick: Woman on trial for killing ex and his lover
  • In the Company of Darkness: Undercover woman cop and protector lure serial killer
  • Sin and Redemption: Pregnant minister's daughter learns the evil truth about her husband
  • When no one would listen: Murderous marriage
  • A Women Scorned, the Betty Broderick Story: Woman on trial for murder of husband who goes for mistress


Guest Editorial:

Last month I included an editorial from Oliver North that described the fates of some of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independance. I realized as I did so that I had seen some of the descriptions before, but I didn't know where - and North didn't see fit to give the original author credit. I've since been educated as to who wrote the original article, and include it in its entirety below with the proper attribution.
 

"Our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor"

 by Paul Harvey, Rush Limbaugh Sr. and lots of others


 It was a glorious morning. The sun was shining and the wind was
 from the southeast. Up especially early, a tall bony, redheaded
 young Virginian found time to buy a new thermometer, for which
 he paid three pounds, fifteen shillings. He also bought gloves for
 Martha, his wife, who has ill at home.

 Thomas Jefferson arrived early at the statehouse. The
 temperature was 72.5 degrees and the horseflies weren't nearly
 so bad at that hour. It was a lovely room, very large, with
 gleaming white walls. The chairs were comfortable. Facing the
 single door were two brass fireplaces, but they would not be used
 today.

 The moment the door was shut, and it was always kept locked,
 the room became an oven. The tall windows were shut, so that
 loud quarreling voices could not be heard by passersby. Small
 openings atop the windows allowed a slight stir of air, and also a
 large number of horseflies. Jefferson records that "the horseflies
 were dexterous in finding necks, and the silk of stocking was
 nothing to them." All discussion was punctuated by the slap of
 hands on necks.

 On the wall at the back, facing the President's desk, was a
 panoply-consisting of a drum, swords, and banners seized from
 Fort Ticonderoga the previous year. Ethan Allen and Benedict
 Arnold had captured the place, shouting that they were taking it
 "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!"

 Now Congress got to work, promptly taking up an emergency
 measure about which there was discussion but no dissention.
 "Resolved: That an application be made to the Committee of
 Safety of Pennsylvania for a supply of flints for the troops at New
 York."

Then Congress transformed itself into a committee of the whole.
 The Declaration of Independence was read aloud once more, and
 debate resumed. Though Jefferson was the best writer of all of
 them, he had been somewhat verbose. Congress hacked the
 excess away. They did a good job, as a side-by-side comparison
 of the rough draft and the final text shows. They cut the phrase
 "by a self-assumed power." "Climb" was replaced by "must
 read," then "must" was eliminated, then the whole sentence, and
 soon the whole paragraph was cut. Jefferson groaned as they
 continued what he later called "their depredations." "Inherent and
 inalienable rights" came out "certain unalienable rights," and to
 this day no one knows who suggested the elegant change.

 A total of 86 alterations were made. Almost 500 words were
 eliminated, leaving 1,337. At last, after three days of wrangling,
 the document was put to a vote.

 Here in this hall Patrick Henry had once thundered: " I am no
 longer a Virginian, Sir, but an American." But today the loud,
 sometimes bitter argument stilled, and without fanfare the vote
 was taken from north to south by colonies, as was the custom.
 On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

 There were no trumpets blown. No one stood on his chair and
 cheered. The afternoon was waning and Congress had no thought
 of delaying the full calendar of routine business on its hands. For
 several hours they worked on many other problems before
 adjourning for the day.

 Much To Lose
 What kind of men were the 56 signers who adopted the
 Declaration of Independence and who, by their signing,
 committed an act of treason against the crown? To each of you
 the names Franklin, Adams, Hancock, and Jefferson are almost
 as familiar as household words. Most of us, however, know
 nothing of the other signers. Who were they? What happened to
 them?

 I imagine that many of you are somewhat surprised at the names
 not there: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick
 Henry. All were elsewhere.

 Ben Franklin was the only really old man. Eighteen were under
 40; three were in their 20s. Of the 56 almost half -24- were judges
 and lawyers. Eleven were merchants, 9 were landowners and
 farmers, and the remaining 12 were doctors, ministers, and
 politicians.

 With only a few exceptions, such as Samuel Adams of
 Massachusetts, these were men of substantial property. All but
 two had families. The vast majority were men of education and
 standing in their communities. They had economic security as
 few men had in the 18th century.
 

Each had more to lose from revolution than he had to gain by it.
 John Hancock, one of the richest men in America, already had a
 price of 500 pounds on his head. He signed in enormous letters
 so "that his Majesty could now read his name without glasses
 and could now double the reward." Ben Franklin wryly noted:
 "Indeed we must all hang together, otherwise we shall most
 assuredly hang separately." Fat Benjamin Harrison of Virginia
 told tiny Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts: "With me it will all be
 over in a minute, but you , you will be dancing on air an hour after
 I am gone.

 These men knew what they risked. The penalty for treason was
 death by hanging. And remember: a great British fleet was
 already at anchor in New York Harbor.

 They were sober men. There were no dreamy-eyed intellectuals
 or draft card burners here. They were far from hot-eyed fanatics,
 yammering for an explosion. They simply asked for the status
 quo. It was change they resisted. It was equality with the mother
 country they desired. It was taxation with representation they
 sought. They were all conservatives, yet they rebelled.

 It was principle, not property, that had brought these men to
 Philadelphia. Two of them became presidents of the United
 States. Seven of them became state governors. One died in office
 as vice president of the United States. Several would go on to be
 U.S. Senators. One, the richest man in America, in 1828 founded
 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. One, a delegate from
 Philadelphia, was the only real poet, musician and philosopher of
 the signers (it was he, Francis Hopkinson - not Betsy Ross who
 designed the United States flag).

 Richard Henry Lee, A delegate from Virginia, had introduced the
 resolution to adopt the Declaration of Independence in June of
 1776. He was prophetic in his concluding remarks:

 "Why then sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let
 this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise
 not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign of
 peace and law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She
 demands of us a living example of freedom that may exhibit a
 contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever increasing tyranny
 which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an
 asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted
 repost. If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of
 the American Legislatures of 1776 will be placed by posterity at
 the side of all of those whose memory has been and ever will be
 dear to virtuous men and good citizens."
 

Though the resolution was formally adopted July 4, it was not
 until July 8 that two of the states authorized their delegates to
 sign, and it was not until August 2 that the signers met at
 Philadelphia to actually put their names to the Declaration.

 William Ellery, delegate from Rhode Island, was curious to see
 the signers' faces as they committed this supreme act of
 personal courage. He saw some men sign quickly, "but in no
 face was he able to discern real fear." Stephan Hopkins, Ellery's
 colleague from Rhode Island, was a man past 60. As he signed
 with a shaking pen, he declared: "My hand trembles, but my
 heart does not."

 "Most glorious service"
 Even before the list was published, the British marked down every
 member of Congress suspected of having put his name to
 treason. All of them became the objects of vicious manhunts.
 Some were taken. Some, like Jefferson, had narrow escapes. All
 who had property or families near British strongholds suffered.

 - Francis Lewis, New York delegate saw his home plundered and
 his estates in what is now Harlem, completely destroyed by
 British soldiers. Mrs. Lewis was captured and treated with great
 brutality. Though she was later exchanged for two British
 prisoners though the efforts of Congress she died from the effects
 of her abuse.

 - William Floyd, another New York delegate, was able to escape
 with his wife and children across Long Island Sound to
 Connecticut, where they lived as refugees without income for
 seven years. When they came home they found a devastated
 ruin.

 - Philips Livingstone had all his great holdings in New York
 confiscated and his family driven out of their home. Livingstone
 died in 1778 still working in Congress for the cause.

- Louis Morris, the fourth New York delegate, saw all his timber,
 crops, and livestock taken. For seven years he was barred from
 his home and family.

 - John Hart of Trenton, New Jersey, risked his life to return home
 to see his dying wife. Hessian soldiers rode after him, and he
 escaped in the woods. While his wife lay on her deathbed, the
 soldiers ruined his farm and wrecked his homestead. Hart, 65,
 slept in caves and woods as he was hunted across the
 countryside. When at long last, emaciated by hardship, he was
 able to sneak home, he found his wife had already been buried,
 and his 13 children taken away. He never saw them again. He
 died a broken man in 1779, without ever finding his family.

 - Dr. John Witherspoon, signer, was president of the College of
 New Jersey, later called Princeton. The British occupied the town
 of Princeton, and billeted troops in the college. They trampled
 and burned the finest college library in the country.

 - Judge Richard Stockton, another New Jersey delegate signer,
 had rushed back to his estate in an effort to evacuate his wife and
 children. The family found refuge with friends, but a Tory
 sympathizer betrayed them. Judge Stockton was pulled from bed
 in the night and brutally beaten by the arresting soldiers. Thrown
 into a common jail, he was deliberately starved. Congress finally
 arranged for Stockton's parole, but his health was ruined. The
 judge was released as an invalid, when he could no longer harm
 the British cause. He returned home to find his estate looted and
 did not live to see the triumph of the revolution. His family was
 forced to live off charity.

 - Robert Morris, merchant prince of Philadelphia, delegate and
 signer, met Washington's appeals and pleas for money year after
 year. He made and raised arms and provisions which made it
 possible for Washington to cross the Delaware at Trenton. In the
 process he lost 150 ships at sea, bleeding his own fortune and
 credit almost dry.

 - George Clymer, Pennsylvania signer, escaped with his family
 from their home, but their property was completely destroyed by
 the British in the Germantown and Brandywine campaigns.

 - Dr. Benjamin Rush, also from Pennsylvania, was forced to flee
 to Maryland. As a heroic surgeon with the army, Rush had
 several narrow escapes.

 - John Martin, a Tory in his views previous to the debate, lived in a
 strongly loyalist area of Pennsylvania. When he came out for
 independence, most of his neighbors and even some of his
 relatives ostracized him. He was a sensitive and troubled man,
 and many believed this action killed him. When he died in 1777,
 his last words to his tormentors were: "Tell them that they will live
 to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it [the signing] to
 have been the most glorious service that I have ever rendered to
 my country."

 - William Ellery, Rhode Island delegate, saw his property and
 home burned to the ground.

 - Thomas Lynch, Jr., South Carolina delegate, had his health
 broken from privation and exposures while serving as a company
 commander in the military. His doctors ordered him to seek a
 cure in the West Indies and on the voyage he and his young bride
 were drowned at sea.

- Edward Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, and Thomas Heyward, Jr.,
 the other three South Carolina signers, were taken by the British
 in the siege of Charleston. They were carried as prisoners of war
 to St. Augustine, Florida, where they were singled out for
 indignities. They were exchanged at the end of the war, the
 British in the meantime having completely devastated their large
 landholdings and estates.

 - Thomas Nelson, signer of Virginia, was at the front in command
 of the Virginia military forces. With British General Charles
 Cornwallis in Yorktown, fire from 70 heavy American guns began
 to destroy Yorktown piece by piece. Lord Cornwallis and his staff
 moved their headquarters into Nelson's palatial home. While
 American cannonballs were making a shambles of the town, the
 house of Governor Nelson remained untouched. Nelson turned in
 rage to the American gunners and asked, "Why do you spare my
 home?" They replied, "Sir, out of respect to you." Nelson cried,
 "Give me the cannon!" and fired on his magnificent home himself,
 smashing it to bits. But Nelson's sacrifice was not quite over. He
 had raised $2 million for the Revolutionary cause by pledging his
 own estates. When the loans came due, a newer peacetime
 Congress refused to honor them, and Nelson's property was
 forfeited. He was never reimbursed. He died, impoverished, a few
 years later at the age of 50.

 Lives, fortunes, honor
 Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine
 died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured
 and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost
 wives, sons or entire families. One lost his 13 children. Two wives
 were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the victims
 of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had
 their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they
 owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his pledged word.
 Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed so much to create is
 still intact.

 And, finally, there is the New Jersey Signer, Abraham Clark.

 He gave two sons to the officer corps in the Revolutionary Army.
 They were captured and sent to that infamous British prison hulk
 afloat in New York Harbor known as the hell ship "Jersey," where
 11,000 American captives were to die. The younger Clarks were
 treated with a special brutality because of their father. One was
 put in solitary and given no food. With the end almost in sight
 with the war almost won, no one could have blamed Abraham
 Clark for acceding to the British request when they offered him
 his sons' lives if he would recant and come out for the King and
 Parliament. The utter despair in this man's heart, the anguish in
 his very soul, must reach out to each and one of us down through
 200 years with the answer: "No."

 The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence proved by their
 every deed that they made no idle boast when they composed
 the most magnificent curtain line in history. "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."
 

Letters:


1. By the time you see this, the 4'th of July will be far behind, but here Matt B provides an alternate viewpoint of the founders.

Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 00:11:35 -0500 (CDT)
From: Matt Birkholz <matt@birkholz.chandler.az.us>
To: Dr. Steve Langer <sglanger@Oakland.edu>
Subject: fate of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence
 

> Taken from http://blacksheep.amity.org/price.htm.
>
>                    False Revolutionary War History,
>               Circulating since at least 1956, Debunked.
>          The Essay: The Price They Paid, follows the Analysis
>          ----------------------------------------------------
>
> This analysis by Jim Elbrecht, indicates many misconceptions included
> in the essay entitled "The Price They Paid". His analysis follows:
>
> I'd like to address this 'Price They Paid' essay. [Similar essays have
> been posted to the Libertarian party, John Birch Society, Pat
> Buchanan's and SAR sites. Also the city of Annapolis site, and even the
> DAR magazine carried one as an editorial-- with no comment on how far
> off the mark it was]
>
> Before anyone passes it on, or posts it to their website, please do
> your own research.
>
> I have spent 100's of hours in the past year chasing down the source of
> several similarly worded, and equally erroneous essays that have made
> the rounds each summer for a few yrs. Most of what I've uncovered can
> be found with a Deja-News search of soc.history.war.us-revolution. Look
> for 'signer' in the subject.
>
> This particular one appears to be what I call 'The Hildreth' version.
> It is nearly verbatim from Paul Harvey's 1956 essay. [Harvey's work has
> been re-copyrighted twice since then with no change in any of the
> inaccuracies] Gary Hildreth is credited with in some places on the
> web-- but mostly it is repeated as 'anonymous'.
>
> Some collections of bios are better than others, but in general, I'd
> stay away from them altogether and read about the signer's
> individually. If you must read a collection, I'd recommend PJ
> Scudierre's _NewYork's Signers of the Declaration of Independence_, for
> the NY'ers and Dumas Malone's _The Story of The Declaration of
> Independence_ for an overview of the whole shebang. Both are historians
> who specialize in Revolutionary history.
>
> To address as briefly as I am able a few of the errors in that essay;
>
>   Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured
>
> Only one was captured because he was a signer. None died in captivity.
> There is no record of any being singled out for 'torture'. Prisons were
> hell on both sides.
>
>   Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
>
> More than that-- but it doesn't appear they were destroyed because they
> were signers. There was a war going on and troops needed to eat. [ if
> they were looted because they were signers, then why were Sam Adams',
> John Hancock's, Benjamin Franklin's,Thomas Jefferson's, James Wilson's,
> Benjamin Rush's, Robert Morris' homes spared when the British occupied
> their towns?]
>
>   Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons
>   captured.
>
> This one is interesting. I haven't been able to find the second son who
> was killed. James Witherspoon is one son. The 'second son' is mentioned
> in a few of these essays. In his preface, Meldrim Thomson's book says
> one of Francis Lewis' sons was killed by the British. In the text he
> correctly writes that Lewis lived with his two sons after the war.
> Lewis only had 2 sons & a daughter that survived childhood.
>
> Perhaps someone wrote somewhere that Lewis had a child 'claimed by the
> British, never to be seen by him again'? That would be an accurate
> description of Lewis' daughter who married a British officer, was
> disowned by her father, and never seen again. [She and their children
> did quite well in England, however]
>
> Abraham Clark had two [maybe 3] son's captured. Given the number of
> sons who served, I'll bet a lot more were captured during the
> Revolution. There is little written of the children in the bios and
> biographies that I've read.
>
> Also, a little noted side-note. Ben Franklin's son spent more time in
> prison than any of the signers -- and with similar treatment that they
> got. But Ben's son was a Loyalist and was held in 'rebel' prisons.
>
>   Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or the hardship
>   of the Revolutionary War.
>
> Nine Signers did die during the Revolution. *None* in/at the hands of
> the British. Only one from wounds. [sustained in a duel with a fellow
> officer]
>
>   What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.
>   Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation
>   owners, all men of means, well educated.
>
>
> I'd love to know the source of 24-11-9. It's been repeated elsewhere
> with some variation and I tried to count them myself. Most of these men
> wore more than one hat, so these numbers don't add up to 56-- but
> here's what I got last yr; [As of Aug 14, 1999] 31 'public service'
> prior to 1770 22 lawyers 11 Judges and Justices [28 were either lawyers
> or Judges or Justices before they signed] 18 merchants 16 planters,
> farmers, agriculturists 6 academics 5 authors 4 surveyors 3 doctors 3
> ministers. 2 "gentlemen" There was also a brewer, a cooper, a couple
> inventors, a musician, a poet, a printer, a publicist, a couple
> scientists, a seaman, a shoemaker, and a [land?] speculator.
>
>   Carter Braxton ....... died in rags.
>
> After remaking, and re-losing his fortune.
>
>   Thomas McKeam,..... and poverty was his reward.
>
> He also rebuilt his fortune, and died a wealthy man surrounded by his
> family.
>
>   At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr. noted that the
>   British General Cornwallis, had taken over the Nelson home for his
>   headquarters. The owner quietly urged General George Washington to
>   open fire, which was done. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died
>   bankrupt.
>
> This one I love. My most recent biographies that I've read were about
> Thomas Nelson. [_Thomas Nelson of Yorktown, Revolutionary Virginian_ by
> Emory G Evans; and _Thomas Nelson, Patriot above Profit_, Nell Moore
> Lee; both excellent and well footnoted]
>
> 1. It was the French artillery that was firing on that part of
> Yorktown.
> 2. The home that was destroyed in Yorktown was Thomas The Signer's
> uncle's home. The signer's home was damaged, but repaired & is a
> National park service site today.
> 3. When Nelson died he was 'cash poor', but among the 10 largest
> landholders in VA. After his debts were paid, his *several* plantations
> were distributed amongst his children and wife.
>
>   John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying.
>   Their 13 children fled for their lives.
>
> An excellent reference site for John Hart is in the Link above. This
> will show fallacies included in the above statement.In 1778 his 13
> children were aged from 36 to 13-- only 3 of them were under 20. Mrs.
> Hart died a month before the British invaded NJ.
>
> May 19,1779 The NJ GAZETTE said: On Tuesday the 11 th instant, departed
> this life at his seat in Hopewell, JOHN HART, Esq. the Representative
> in General Assembly for the county of Hunterdon, and late Speaker of
> that House. He had served in the Assembly for many years under the
> former government, taken an early and active part in the present
> revolution, and continued to the day he was seized with his last
> illness to discharge the duties of a faithful and upright patriot in
> the service of his country in general and the county he represented in
> particular. The universal approbation of his character and conduct
> among all ranks of people, is the best testimony of his worth, and as
> it must make his death regretted and lamented, will ensure lasting
> respect to his memory.
>
> John and Deborah Hart had 12 children: Sarah, Jesse, Martha, Nathaniel,
> John, Susannah, Mary, Abagail, Edward, Scudder, Daniel and Deborah.
> Only Daniel and Deborah were still minor children during the war and at
> his death.(end Obituary)
>
> John Hart died owing money, and due to the shortage of hard money,
> depreciation of colonial money, and a glut of land on the market as
> Loyalist land was confiscated and sold, most of his property was sold
> for a pittance. His sons later moved to the frontiers, his daughters
> married area men.
>
> I haven't finished the genealogy on his family, and there might have
> been 13 kids at the house when the British marched through on their way
> to Philadelphia, but some would have been grandkids. Most importantly,
> though,they didn't go out of their way to 'get him'-- his house was in
> the line of march.
>
>   Morris and Livingston suffered similar fates.
>
> Similar in that they had the misfortune of holding land in an area that
> the British were occupying. There were two Morris's, of course. The
> NY'er, Lewis Morris did have to leave his estate in Westchester Co.,
> [though he rebuilt it after the war]. Philip Livingston died before the
> British left, but he had written a recent will leaving his substantial
> estate to his family.
>
> The other Morris, Robert, not only *didn't* have his property
> confiscated, he and two other signers lived in Philadelphia while it
> was occupied by the British and were not bothered by the British or
> Loyalists.
>
> If you've gotten this far, you must have more than a passing interest
> in the signers, so I'll end with some of the sources for the NY/NJ
> folks that I've read & can recommend;
>
> http://bioguide.congress.gov/
>
> George Washington Letters in the Library of Congress Documents from the
> Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789 [Both
> from http://www.loc.gov]
>
> Boyd, George Adams; _Elias Boudinot, Patriot and Statesman_ Princeton
> University Press, 1952 [he was Stockton's brother in law and the first
> Commissary of Prisons]
>
> Delafield, Julia Livingston 1801-1882; _Biographies of Francis Lewis
> and Morgan Lewis_,Pub. 1877. ^Á ^Á ^Á ^Á ^Á ^Á ^Á ^Á [Delafield is Francis
Lewis'
> gr-granddaughter -- This is in the NYS Archives in Albany-- I don't
> know where else]
>
> DeWan, George; _They Signed for Independence William Floyd and Francis
> Lewis, the two Long Islanders who took a stand for freedom_
> http://www.lihistory.com/4/hs426a.htm
>
> Ferris, Robert G., ed; _Signers of the Declaration: Historic Places
> Commemorating the Signing of the Declaration of Independence_
> Publisher: Washington, DC: National Park Service, 1973 LOC Card #
> 73-600028 Sup. of Doc's USGPO # 2405-00496 [Good- repeats a couple
> legends, but identifies most as such]
>
> Goodrich, Rev. Charles A.; _Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of
> Independence_ ; 1829 [on Colonial Hall Site-
> http://www.colonialhall.org a few legends, but a fair 'starter' ]
>
> Krout, John A.; _Dictionary of American Biography, Vol XII_ [this one
> has some legends repeated as fact-- use caution]
>
> Malone, Dumas; _THE STORY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE_ NY:
> Oxford University Press, 1954. 250 pictures, prints and photographs
> from museums and private collections. A pictorial biography of events,
> people and stories surrounding the Declaration of Independence. 282
> pages, index [Excellent- easy read, lots of illustrations and
> photographs; Malone was a Colombia Univ. professor of history. The
> background of the Declaration is excellent. The bios accurate, if
> brief. Many legends are repeated *and identified as legends*]
>
> Della Gray Barthelmas _ The Signers of The Declaration of Independence;
> A Biographical and Genealogical Reference_ McFarland & Co, North
> Carolina and London;1997 [this one is real tempting, but has quite a
> few transcription errors and I suspect that much of her genealogy comes
> from unreliable sources. Still a good starting point, as few of the
> others even look at children or parents]
>
> Sanderson, John; _Lives of the Signers_ Apr 28, 1820, Pennsylvania; 9
> Volumes [subject to a few legends repeated as facts]
>
> Scudiere, Paul J.; _New York's signers of the Declaration of
> Independence_ Publisher^Á : Albany : New York State American Revolution
> Bicentennial Commission,[1975] [Only about 30 pages, but accurate as
> far as I can tell and should be easy to find via ILL]
>
>
> Thanks,
> Jim Elbrecht
>
> Visit Jim's website for more details:http://home.nycap.rr.com/elbrecht/signers/signerindex.html
 

2. And we have from John Johnson an article whose prediction time has not proved kindly towards;

Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 16:53:43 -0500
From: John Johnson <jjohnson@ppsa.com>
To: sglanger@Oakland.edu
Subject: Fwd: Submission

>From: "Freebase" <Freebase@email.msn.com>
>To: <jjohnson@ppsa.com>
>Hello.
>
>I submit. Here is an column I wrote for SKEW magazine, which you are welcome
>to.
>
>Spencer Wolf
>
>With the vice-presidential nominee rumor mill churning at a ferocious pace,
>one name keeps popping up in DNC circles - Evan Bayh. A two-time Governor,
>and current Senator, from Indiana, Bayh is a Gore clone. Frightening.
>The choice of Bayh would do nothing in terms of diversity for a Democratic
>ticket (surprise!); other than turning out Indiana like the bitch that it is
>(read: I am a New York Knicks fan) for it's 22 electoral votes; which itself
>is significant, especially given the fact that the state has been part of
>the GOP's harem for the past 36 years straight.
>Simply put, a Gore-Bayh ticket presents two jackasses that not only look
>alike, but are also the son's of famous State politicians (although Bayh's
>famous father has the dubious distinction of loosing an election to Dan
>Quayle...yes, that Dan Quayle); both attended that infamous breeding ground
>for closet homoerotic politicians, St. Albans Preparatory Academy; and both
>are as exciting as a Mormon social - which, in answer to all you steaming
>mad, Joseph Smith fearing zombies, I HAVE been to. Anyone who denies that
>the nomination of Bayh for the vice-presidency is NOT political
>autoeroticism on Gore's part stands to be pimp slapped in front of your
>children.
>What Gore need's goes without saying - the Angry American vote. You know the
>continuance of which I speak. It's that guy so pissed off at the .03%
>property tax hike that, damn you bastards all to hell, ain't using his turn
>signal. It's that guy who had a contact-mind altering experience from the
>guy in the leather tasseled vest at the Neil Young concert back in '74, and
>ever since then, "sort of understands things, you know?" If there ever was a
>silent, stewing, nearly impotent majority, this is it.
>What the GOP has that the Democrats sorely lack is the poster child of these
>silent white ragers of America, John McCain. Asshole would be a kid
>description of George W. if he didn't choose McCain as his running mate. But
>he won't, which doesn't determine much given we knew he was an asshole long
>ago. Bush, despite his coke-snorting, slut slapping, ass-munching reputation
>of yesteryear is the closest thing to royalty the current pathetic political
>landscape has to offer. And as such, he likes his table neat.
>Fork here, napkin just right, sphincter clenched as tight as the hand of a
>crack head around a discarded chicken bone from Popeye's, dare any leaks get
>out of the Bush castle. McCain is messy, politically if not mentally.  And
>as Bush assembles his entourage for what so many in the dank, murky corners
>of the GOP have told him is his pre-destined presidency, the Angry Americans
>will be left to curse at little league umpires and tell stories to
>co-workers of how they VERY NEARLY slashed the tires of that jerkoff from
>Information Technology.
>It's a crying shame.
>
>Next Week - How the 1,200 hollering, hairy legged, political neophytes of
>the Green Party stand to change the face of the election...
 

Quote(s) of the month:

"Is it the position of the United States that persons who are  not in the National Guard are afforded no protections under the Second Amendment?"

Meteja: "Exactly."

--Attorney for the US Justice Department, answering a question from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Fix of the month:

"Is it time to give free prescriptions to Senior citizens?"

News:

Washington;


1. 28 August, Statewide: A sampling of the news. Item - E. Coli outbreak in Bellingham's county fair - 11 hospitalized. Item - E.Coli outbreak in Vancouver Washington - 7 hospitalized. Item - E. Coli outbreak in Portland Wendy's restaurant - 3 hospitalized. Item - toxic shellfish in Saun Juan Islands - 2 hospitalized. Item - chemically tainted VitaMilk - no hospitalizations reported. Item - Langer family pushes back from their dinner.
 
 

New Mexico;


1. Aug. 26, Los Alamos: In what must surely be the worst year in its history, the Los Alamos national lab has been hammered by back-to-back FBI investigations into security lapses, intense congressional scrutiny, budget cuts, and an exodus of government computer experts and physicists to high trading jobs elsewhere, and finally-a wildfire that shutdown the lab for 12 days and forced evacuation of surrounding towns.

Said former director Sigefried Hecker, "When you read all things being written about this laboratory, anyone who has a choice has to think twice about coming to Los Alamos.  I'm not sure that we can repair the damage to the lab quickly enough-a lot of damage has been done."

About half of the permanent computer staff, 14 individuals, have left the group that is responsible for building supercomputer codes to model nuclear explosions without actually having to perform live tests.  Replacing them has not been easy-when Los Alamos recruiters went to Stanford University's computer department to recruit-no graduates came to see their sales pitch.

"Potential employees do not care to subject themselves to lie detector tests, FBI abuse, and increasing harassment by their neighbors," said Hecker.  The upper lab management has offered to resign, at the suggestion from chief physicist William Varnum, but many other remaining employees would view this as abandonment to elements in Washington D.C..
 

Washington D.C.

1. Aug 26: What monumental events are occuring in the nation's steamy capitol? From the Washington Post Front Page:

When DC native Jenny Ringley started Jenny Cam four years ago, she was for a crazy and self sets.  She was a young woman who displayed her life for everyone to see under an Internet camera 24 hours a day.  She changed in front of camera, brought her dates home in front of its, and allowed us to see her online diary.Eventually the stunt got old.

Enter Pamela Courtney.  Courtney followed in Jenny's footsteps and began putting her life in Sacramento on the Internet two years ago.  She and Jenny that at a party for Web broadcasting participants, and quickly became friends.  At Courtney's invitation, Jenny moved to Sacramento and in fact in a neighboring house -where she meant Courtney's fiancee.

You can guess where this is going.  Yes, Jenny seduced Courtney's fiancee live on Jenny Cam.  The soap opera continues.
 

2. Aug 29: The supreme court, once again decides that the states don't know what's good for themselves, and on the suggestion of a Presidential order have declared the laws permitting medical use of marijauna in California, Alaska, Washginton and Oregon to be null and void. Those people with medical prescriptions can expect a friendly visit from their local DEA chapter.

3. August 10: The prestigious Journal of the American  Medical Association shocked the anti-gunrights crowd by publishing a study revealing that the fabled Brady Act is a failure. Drs. Philip Cook of Duke and Jens Ludwig of Georgetown University concluded "our analyses provide no evidence that implementation of the Brady Act was associated with  a reduction in homicide rates."

Because the national crime rates have been steadily declining since 1991--beginning a  couple of years after various "get tough on criminals" laws began putting more offenders in prison, and for longer terms--the advocates of gun laws have been cheering that the Brady Act and "Assault Weapons" bans have caused the decrease in crime, though they             didn't go into effect until 1994.

Cook and Ludwig studied the homicide and suicide rates in the 32 states where Brady created new gun restrictions, compared to a "control group" of the 18  states which already had equal or more restrictive laws, and were therefore not affected by Brady.  They had anticipated that the 32 "treatment states" would have experienced greater             declines in crime, now that they had been "treated" with a dose of gun control.  They were wrong. The only "statistically significant" effect they could find was that there  had been a decrease in suicides by people over 55, which they attributed to the Brady  waiting period--and an assumption that older people own fewer guns.

Both the NY Times and the Washington Post siezed on this last point, namely that Brady decreased suicides among      the elderly.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote the New York Times that the study begins with  the "flawed premise" that criminals obtain their guns from within their own states. and pouts that the study is "likely to set back the cause of gun control." "If anything, this study proves we need even more gun laws," said Schumer.

4. June 20:  Last Tuesday's oral argument on U.S. v. Emerson in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals demsontrates that according to the US Justice Dept., there is no Constitutional right to buy, sell or continue to  possess any firearm. A Lubbock, Texas Judge, Sam Cummings' opinion struck down a Federal law prohibiting possession of a firearm by someone under a restraining order-- as in the case of Dr. Timothy Emerson, where the routine order was issued during a divorce proceeding when there was no threat of violence.

Judge Cummings found that section 922(g)(8) of the Gun Control Act violates both the Fifth Amendment's "due process" protection (since Emerson didn't know he could not possess a gun) as well as the Second Amendment. At the US Court of Appeals, the Federal prosecutors argued their case for over 90 minutes.

Judge William L. Garwood, the senior judge (appointed by Reagan), seemed startled by  the government's position.      He said,"You are saying that the Second Amendment is consistent with a position that you can take guns away from      the public? You can restrict ownership of rifles, pistols and shotguns from all people? Is  that the position of the United States?"

Meteja (attorney for the government): "Yes"

Judge Garwood demanded: "Is it the position of the United States that persons who are  not in the National Guard are afforded no protections under the Second Amendment?"

 Meteja: "Exactly."  Meteja added that National Guard members could only possess guns issued or used in  the Guard.

When Meteja said he was unaware of any Federal definition of militia, Judge Garwood snapped that it's in Sec. 311 of Title 10, U.S.C. (which defines the unorganized militia as all able-bodied citizens not members of the formal State Guard or National Guard). Both Judge Garwood and Judge Harold DeMoss, Jr. (appointed by Bush) challenged Meteja's interpretation of the Supreme Court's 1939 Miller decision, which upheld the 1934 National Firearms Act on grounds that  no evidence had been presented that short-barreled guns like Miller's were normal militia equipment.

 Judge DeMoss pointed out that Emerson's Beretta 92F 9mm is the standard U.S. Army  pistol.

Judge DeMoss also raised a critical Tenth Amendment and Commerce Clause question.  "I have a 16-gauge shotgun in my closet at home. I have a 20-gauge shotgun. I also have a .30-caliber deer rifle at home. Are you saying these are 'in or affecting interstate commerce?"

Meteja: "Yes."

The judges pointed out that in U.S. v. Lopez and last month's U.S. v. Morrison decision, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the gun-free schools act and the violence  against women act, on grounds that both exceeded Congress' powers under the Commerce Clause.
Ed: What is interesting here, is that the supporters of the Brady Bill say that "assault rifles" have no legitimate sporting purpose and thus shuld be banned. Then the anti-gunners will spin on a dime and say that sporting guns are not legitimate for militia use, and thus should be banned. In the end, of course, the aim is to ban everything.
 

Net News;


1. From the August 30, 2000 sciencedaily.com

Since climate change affects everyone on Earth, scientists have been trying to  pinpoint its causes. For many years, researchers agreed that climate change was triggered by what they called "greenhouse gases," with carbon dioxide        (CO2) from burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas, playing the biggest role. However, new research suggests fossil fuel burning may not be as important in the mechanics of climate change as previously thought.

NASA funded research by Dr. James Hansen of the Goddard Institute for space Studies, New York, NY, and his colleagues, suggests that climate change in recent decades has been mainly caused by air pollution containing                  non-CO2 greenhouse gases, particularly tropospheric ozone, methane, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and black carbon (soot) particles. Such soot can be found in manmade pollutants, as well as forest fires and volcanic eruptions.

"The good news is that the growth rate of non-CO2 greenhouse gases has declined in the past decade, and if sources of methane and tropospheric ozone were reduced in the future, further changes in climate due to these gases in the      next 50 years could be near zero," Hansen explained.

Ed: Here it comes, the slow but sure backpeddling away from the melddown scenario, due no doubt, to the shining leadership in the White House for the past 8 years. But if a Rep. gets in .... Armegeddon here we come.

 

© Steve Langer, 1995-2000