When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with its own government, 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 denunciation.
A strong bold and clear definition of the proper form of government, one deriving its power from the citizens solely to protect the rights each individual is born with. Fifty years later, Jefferson wrote in a letter to Henry Lee describing the Declaration of Independence as “an appeal to the tribunal of the world,” and “…intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion…”
Why Aren't the Democrats as Happy as the Republicans?
Society + Culture
By Rachael Bliss
Friday, 04 July 2008
I just went to hear Eric Weiner, author of The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World. One aspect he mentioned was that American's Republicans tend to be happier than our Democrats (45 percent vs. 30 percent).
Groundbreaking Lawsuit Accuses Big Oil of Conspiracy to Deceive Public About Climate Change
Attorney Stephen Susman helped file a groundbreaking lawsuit earlier this year on behalf of 400 Inupiat villagers in the Alaskan town of Kivalina who are being forced to relocate because of flooding caused by global warming. The suit accuses twenty oil, gas and electric companies, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips and Peabody, of being responsible for emitting millions of tons of greenhouse gases causing the Arctic ice to melt.
THE PRESIDENT: Distinguished guests, fellow citizens, and future citizens: the grounds of this house, which saw so many changes during President Thomas Jefferson's lifetime provide an ideal setting to reflect on the history of our nation. We have progressed so far in so many ways since that day on which the Declaration of Independence was signed, in that distant time when slaves inhabited this place.
Ingrid Betancourt, the French-Colombian politician rescued after being held by Farc rebels for six years, is flying back to France after being reunited with her family.
Hamas says it has suspended negotiations on the release of Gilad Shalit, a captured Israeli soldier, because Israel was not respecting the terms of a truce with the group.
Asian stocks continue to fall, particularly reflected through the Japanese stock market where the longest losing streak in half a century reached the eleventh consecutive day.
Barack Obama, the US Democratic presidential candidate, has denied that comments he made over refining his Iraq policy meant he had altered his position on withdrawing US troops.
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, has said that he wants to destroy the home of the driver who killed three Israelis after he rammed a bulldozer into their vehicles.
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China and Taiwan have resumed regular direct flights between the two sides for the first time in nearly 60 years.
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