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July 4th, Independence Day
Kansas City, 3rd of July - It was nice while it lasted |
On July 4th, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Some of us, those who read history books, know, what followed. A bloody war for freedom in which Americans got rid of a ruler, who spied on them, has citizens killed without a warrant or court verdict, taxed them without any form of representation, abused any form of government service to suppress their justified attempts to say their opinion and so on and so on. He even sent his police investigators after political active opposition to pry on their private lives. George III of England had behaved like a blood sucking tyrant and had to be deaf against all the grievances, his people in the colonies uttered. Because this was the point. Till July 4th, 1776, the colonists were his people, his subjects, he was their ruler, which caused a responsibility, legitimie rulers have against their people. Only George III didn't live up to that responsibility.
So, America kicked out an inept ruler, who didn't live up to this responsibility. And this would start also in other parts of the world actions against tyrant rulers who basically committed the same crimes. The French King ended up on the guillotine for example. Even the later revolutions in German and Austria in 1848 were, as far as the case for inherited reasoning goes, a consequence of this July 4th, 1776 because after that day, no government, claiming to be set in by God as much as they wanted, could actually ignore the power of the people anymore. Especially, I admit, I love the preamble part of this document, that changed the world:
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.
| A government serves the people, not vice versa.
 The Declaration of Independence
That was quite big when it was written. And actually, it gave for over 230 years freedom to Americans and not only Americans. Actually, the concept of this Declaration and it's later manifestation in the Constitution was copied by a number of nations, adapted to local understandings and used as template by an even bigger number of nations. The Declaration of Independence is without doubt, one of the most important documents ever written in human history, only equaled maybe, very maybe, by the Magna Charta.
For more than 230 years, there was freedom. No taxation without representation, no murder of citizens by the government because the balance between the branches of the system prevented that. No successfully covering up of all kinds of crimes committed by an administration. Well, I know, Americans always claimed there was more and more of that, but actually, compared to most other countries in the world, America was the cool and free place. Any society has it's struggles. It's in the nature of things as big as societies. But in the end, America came out of it just fine. And of course, there were wars and those wars gave millions and millions of others freedom or tried at least. Freedom came with a price, America lost a lot of her best in those wars. But freedom has a price. Freedom is not a sofa, you can just rest on, even this is a subject for another article. 230 years and more, America has not only been a free nation but a guarant for freedom in the world. It has been a great time, it was a good run. It was really nice while it lasted.
Actually, I still remember when I came for the first time to the US of A. There were a lot of things, sometimes in little details, people here didn't notice anymore. They took them for granted, but for me, and actually, I came from a country with some long tradition in democratic | attempts (democratic as in the basic system, not the party). You can find in the archives still articles, I wrote about that. America was great, just a few years ago.
But now, we have again a government that spies on the citizens, abused governmental agencies as instrument to suppress opposition, a government that has already actively killed citizens without warrant and surely, as the Supreme Court stated, since Obamacare is a tax, taxed us without representation. Basically, we are exactly where we were under King George III. The good run is over, guys! This year, when we celebrate 4th of July, it is not to celebrate what we won, it is to mourn, what we lost.
Of course, there will be fireworks, the usual picnic and a lot of speeches. It will appear as always. Back then it took people many years to recognize, they could, they had to do something till it came to July 4th, 1776. Many of our fellow citizens are still in that process. They think, the world is still okay. Many of them still believe in their sacrosanct glorious leader, but then even in 1776, there were still militant loyalitsts to George in the country and not just a few, were there?
Now, we don't have to grab muskets, we don't have to go out and die for the course. All we have to do is voting against an administration and its suport mechanisms in Congress, especially Senate. We can do that without the risk of bodily harm, at least we still can do that yet. 2014 is the point, in which it will show, whether those who died in the Independence War have bled in vain or whether we are able to stop an administration that has done exactly the same things, King Goerge did, only more perfect because they have more money and more technology - which probably makes things rather more dangerous for freedom.
-PB- |
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Tue, May 17, 2016
12:00 AM CT
Daniel Lee Siebert
Daniel Lee Siebert is now also in our serial killer collection. A more or less garden variety strangler type who got away longer than necessary bacause some big PDs dropped the ball ... and left it to smaller ones, to get the job done.
| Fri, Dec 18, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Christman Genipperteinga
THe legendary robber along the wine road Trier-Cologne made it finally into our collection. With a total of 970 victim, including six of them his own children, he is currently the most prolific serial killer in the Collection.
| Thu, Oct 22, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Gerard John Schaefer
The allegedly most prolific Florida Serial Killer, "Killer Cop" Gerard Schaefer, finally also made his way into out collection.
| Thu, Sep 24, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Royal Russel Long
Long was quite messed up in the investigation of the Wyoming Rodeo Murders, but details show, he was another kind of animal, y typeless pedophile serial killer. Now his file is in our collection.
| Mon, Aug 17, 2015
12:00 AM CT
The Wyoming Rodeo Murders
A story of misperceptions and midnless cabinet cleaning by police authorities that ended up with someone getting away with at least two murders on young women. Now in our collection.
| Wed, Jul 15, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Joseph Vacher, the French Ripper
Now new in our collection: Joseph Vacher, the French Ripper. The first case, blood spatter analysis was used in a court trial world wide!
| Sat, Jun 20, 2015
12:00 AM CST
No new addition in June
Usually, we try to bring another case up in our serial killer collection every month, but this month, we simply had no time. Between working open cases and other activities, it was just not possible. Sorry for the inconvenience.
| Sat, May 16, 2015
12:00 AM CT
The Beauty Queen Killer
New in the serial killer collection: Christopher Wilder, the Beauty Queen Killer. A case that shows how nonsensical the disctinction between serial and spree killers really is.
| Thu, Apr 16, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Burton W. Abbott
Abbott killed only one victim, a case that caused some public attention in 1955. But he showed all hallmarks of a fledgling serial killer and thus, we added him to our collection.
| Mon, Mar 16, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Darren Deon Vann
Ha is basically the usual garden variety strangler case if it wouldn't be for the early warnings statistical data cretated about serial killer activity in Gary/Indiana. Now he is in our collection.
| Wed, Mar 4, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Apologies!
Due to technical problems, the March article was up late. Take my apologies for this glitch.
| Mon, Feb 16, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Affaire of the Poisons
We have added the infamous Affaire of the Poisons to our collection. With more than 80 offenders, it breaks a little the format, but well, it's one of the biggest cases of "organized" crime ever, so how can we let it out?
| Mon, Dec 8, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Joseph Bryan
Once he made the FBI Ten Most Wanted list, now nobody remembers the case anymore. Nevertheless, the father of all allegedly schizophrenic serial killers has entered our collection.
| Fri, Nov 7, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Trailside Killer
David Joseph Carpenter has now become also part of the Serial Killer Collection ... complete with profile.
| Tue, Oct 7, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Vampire of Duesseldorf
Peter Kuerten aka The Vampire of Duesseldorf roamed the city at the River Rhine for more than two years and left behind a trail of bodies-
| Fri, Sep 12, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Grim Sleeper
Lonnie Franklin aka The Grim Sleeper has been added to our serial killer collection
| Thu, Aug 14, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Michael Lee Lockhart
... and with a little delay, another serial made it into the serial killer collection. Michael Lee Lockhart, not so much interesting for his "achievements" but because his case appears as if he became a psychopath only after a serious head injury.
| Tue, Aug 12, 2014
12:00 AM CT
A Game of Daggers
Diane's new novel A GAME OF DAGGERS is now available at Amazon for Kindle. A story of murder, mayhem and political intrigue set up in the year of the Lord 1096.
Pope Urban II has called for a crusade, but this news has yet to reach Cornwall. And people there have anyway to deal with other problems from storms to wreckers on their coast and when some murdered men are discovered on the beach, nobody guesses, this is only the prelude to much greater events coming to the so remote shores ...
| Sat, Jul 5, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Ivan Hill
Ivan Hill, as the first of the many serial killers, who haunted Los Angeles in the 80s and 90s, is now added to our serial killer collection.
| Sun, Jun 8, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Raya and Sakina
The famous Egyptian serial killers have become part of our collection. And as so often, things are not as simple as the urban legend tries to tell us.
| Thu, May 1, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Dagmar Overbye
The infamous Danish baby farmer has been added to our Serial Killer Collection.
| Thu, May 1, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Pharaoh Djoser added to the Egyptian Collection
I finally came around to add a new pharaoh to our collection: Djoser, 1st Pharoh of the 3rd Dynasty.
| Fri, Apr 4, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Green River Killer
This month, we added Gary Ridgway to our serial killer collection, a case, not so much interesting for the profiling but for the lessons about case organization to be learned from it.
| Tue, Mar 4, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Manson Family
The "Manson Family&quo; has been added to our serial killer collection. Especially interesting for those who think, brain washing isn't possible.
| Fri, Feb 7, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Hans van Zon
Dutch serial killer Hans van Zon joined our serial killer collection. Not entirely voluntarily though.
| Mon, Jan 6, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Syracuse Dungeon Master
John T. Jamelske aka the Syracuse Dungeon Master has been added to our Serial Killer Collection. While not a seria killer but a serial rapist, Jamelske represents a similar psychopathology as some OCD type serial killers, for example Dahmer and therefore is some valuable object for studies.
| Thu, Jan 2, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Khasekhemwy
The last of the 2nd dynasty pharaohs, the man who re-united Egypt, is now also in the Egyptian collection.
| Thu, Dec 12, 2013
12:00 AM CT
Pharaoh Sekhemib added to the Egyptian Collection
I finally came around to add Pharaoh Sekhemib to the collection, the sixth of the 2nd Dynasty. So, with some luck, I can finish this year the 2nd dynsty, only one, Khasekhemwy is left.
| Tue, Dec 10, 2013
12:00 AM CT
The Riha disappearance
In 1969, Dr. Thomas Riha disappeared and in the subconsequent series of events, Gloria Tannenbaum was arrested for forgery and under suspicion of two other homicides. She plead not guilty by reason of insanity and got away with it. The case has now been added to our serial killer collection.
| Mon, Nov 4, 2013
12:00 AM CT
Richard N. Clarey jr.
Clarey is one of the lesser known serial killers, skirting the definition a little. Still, for some reasons an interesting case.
| Wed, Oct 2, 2013
12:00 AM CT
Now in the collection: William E. Cosden
A garden variety sexual predator, notable only because his existence shows, how wrong the idea of 1 monster at 1 time in 1 area is.
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