Bill of Non-Rights

[kuyu]

This is genius....

ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.

ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be.

ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.

ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.

ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care.

ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.

ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure.

ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful.

ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness, which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.

ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you are from, English is our language. Learn it or go back to wherever you came from!

(Lastly....)

ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history, and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH !!!!

This is attributed to a state senator from Georgia. He pretty much sums it all up.

[scem0]

ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history, and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH !!!!

Our country was also founded on a seperation of church and state, which is partially why this country was created in the first place. Religious freedom.

The phrase "In God we trust" is only in some people's heritage. The USA's heritage says "In God we can trust, but it is our choice".

That's just my personal opinion. :)

scem0

[mpw]

...ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you are from, English is our language. Learn it or go back to wherever you came from!...


Where a person go to if they only speak Apache or Soux?

As for English being your language, it may be the one you've chosen to use but that hardly makes it yours.

[kuyu]

Our country was also founded on a seperation of church and state, which is partially why this country was created in the first place. Religious freedom.

The phrase "In God we trust" is only in some people's heritage. The USA's heritage says "In God we can trust, but it is our choice".

That's just my personal opinion. :)

scem0

Exactly his point. However, he's talking about some groups effort to remove "God" from anything pertaining to government. The founding fathers put it in there. Some people want it removed. He's saying, if you don't believe it, that's fine, but you do not have the right to remove phrases from historical documents because they offend you.

[IJ Reilly]

Who is trying to remove any phrases from historical documents? Please be specific.

[Thanatoast]

ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.
If you want to end welfare, make it corporate welfare. The story of multi-generation welfare recipients is just this close to a myth. Any percentage of welfare recipients who "pursue" this lifestyle is so small as to be unnoticable in the greater scheme of things. If you want to complain about welfare, try shutting down tax breaks and subsidies for giant corporations (eg. the recent medicare overhaul). We spend way more on corporate than personal welfare.
ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care. Free health care isn't a right, it's just a good idea. A healthy country is a productive country, after all.
ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.I don't support the death penaly, as I think it's effectiveness and fairness is questionable at best. But if you wanna toss people into jail for life, I'm all for it.
ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness, which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.How about an overabundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who want to tell me what to do, who to do it with, and never on Sunday? If over-regulation of the economy is a bad idea, than any regulation of "family values" is as well.
ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you are from, English is our language. Learn it or go back to wherever you came from!Bad news, you're gonna have to learn another language or get left behind. I suggest Spanish since that's the implied complaint, but if you plan on doing international business, French, Russian, Chinese, or Japanese would suit you just as well.
ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history, and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH !!!!As mentioned by scem0, this country was also founded on the principle of the seperation of church and state. If you are uncomfortable with people calling you on mixing the two together, TOUGH!!!!

[pseudobrit]

Who is trying to remove any phrases from historical documents? Please be specific.

I'm hoping someone is trying to remove the cut-and-pasting vapid political e-mail and blog entries from this forum.

These types of posts are just so much internet diarrhea.

[takao]

ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history, and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH !!!!

must ... resist ... to grin ...

[katchow]

This is genius....


hmmm...i can think of a few other words that would apply.

[Lyle]

ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.Or: "You do not have the right to physically harm other people; however, the rest of us reserve the right to physically harm you." :rolleyes:

[Desertrat]

Seems to me that when you have women who are on AFDC and are grandmothers at age 28, there's some "multi-generational" goings-on. Massive amounts of governmental effort (and $$$) have gone into attempts to deal with "infants having babies", mothers at age 14...

Bi-lingual is good; poly-lingual is better. However, one is expected to learn the primary language of the country to which one has moved. Try being English-only in Mexico or Germany or China. I've not heard of ballots in Germany being printed in both German and Arabic. Hey, try your luck in Mexico, come time to vote...

'Rat

[Lyle]

This is attributed to a state senator from Georgia. He pretty much sums it all up.On a side note, I looked this up at snopes.com (http://www.snopes.com/language/document/norights.htm). According to their sources, this "Bill of No Rights" is often erroneously attributed to Mitchell Kaye (a Georgia state representative), but the author is apparently one Lewis Napper. I also noticed that there are some slight differences between the snopes.com version and the one that kuyu has quoted here, so I guess it has mutated along the way.

[skunk]

He pretty much sums it all up.
He certainly does. Where's the exit?

[mactastic]

The phrase '3/5's of a person' is part of our heritage too. If you don't like it TOUGH?

[takao]

Bi-lingual is good; poly-lingual is better. However, one is expected to learn the primary language of the country to which one has moved. Try being English-only in Mexico or Germany or China. I've not heard of ballots in Germany being printed in both German and Arabic. Hey, try your luck in Mexico, come time to vote...

i would agree about learning the language but i got somehow puzzled by your post about the ballots. .. the three times i voted there never were much text on the ballots just names and places were to mark ;)
i remember that there were instructions in multiple languages in the cabin at least once (don't remember there were at least german ,turkish and another one croatian or slovenian...but i'm not sure...)

since 2-3 years you have to make a very basic german test here as an immigrant (from a non-eu country ... but i'm not sure)within 1,5 years i think
caused a lot of discussion between the political parties...

[patrick0brien]

-I'd disappoint mactastic if I didn't chime in with this:

ARTICLE XII: You do not have the right by action or omission to cause my freedoms, or financial state to be infringed upon because you are too stupid to be out in public by yourself unsupervised.

(Kind of a backwards-put tip of the hat to the Darwin Awards)

[mactastic]

I don't get it. Are you saying I'm too stupid to be out in public by myself?

[skunk]

ARTICLE XIII: We own you.

[patrick0brien]

I don't get it. Are you saying I'm too stupid to be out in public by myself?

-mactastic

Jeez, I'm sorry you took it that way - it wasn't even aimed at you, it was aimed at the faceless idiots out there.

It was in reference to the conversation we had a while back about overregulation, and how much our taxes were going to signs around California to inform us that "the Gasoline at this Filling Station Has Been Shown To Cause Death".

I'm sorry you felt I'd even attack you.

[mactastic]

Ohhh I see. I thought they covered that in Article III?

[patrick0brien]

Ohhh I see. I thought they covered that in Article III?

-mactastic

Oo. You're right.

But then, some things should be said twice, eh? :D

[mactastic]

Nah, if you miss it the first time it's your own fault. ;)

My wife (who teaches HS) instructs anyone who missed any information in class to get it from a classmate. Her time is too valuable to spend repeating herself.

[skunk]

you're own fault. ;)

My wife (who teaches HS) instructs anyone who missed any information in class to get it from a classmate.
Ahem. Think of me as a class-mate... :)

[mactastic]

Ahem. Think of me as a class-mate... :)

OK, did you miss something? I'd be glad to let you look over my notes... :p

[kuyu]

How about an overabundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who want to tell me what to do, who to do it with, and never on Sunday? If over-regulation of the economy is a bad idea, than any regulation of "family values" is as well.
Bad news, you're gonna have to learn another language or get left behind. I suggest Spanish since that's the implied complaint, but if you plan on doing international business, French, Russian, Chinese, or Japanese would suit you just as well.
As mentioned by scem0, this country was also founded on the principle of the seperation of church and state. If you are uncomfortable with people calling you on mixing the two together, TOUGH!!!!

I never created any idiotic laws. You can't buy alcohol on Sunday here, and I oppose it. You can't smoke here either. It's the same argument, but from opposing sides. I'm stuck in the middle of dumb laws from both sides.

I know a bit of Spanish and some Latin, although I doubt the latter will help me much. However, the language of this country is English. I'm all for learning other languages: this includes non-English speaking residents of the USA as well.

"By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California teacher has been barred by his school from giving students documents from American history that refer to God -- including the Declaration of Independence."

" The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
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.

[IJ Reilly]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California teacher has been barred by his school from giving students documents from American history that refer to God -- including the Declaration of Independence.

This story is essentially a fraud. The teacher has not been prevented from giving students copies of the Declaration of Independence or any other historical document.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/12/08/MNGPBA8DPL1.DTL

[stubeeef]

Hadn't seen this in a while, some of it makes me chuckle, others I don't find it so appealing, I can shrug it off. The point it makes is not subtile, nor should it be.

[chanoc]

In God We Trust and One Nation Under God were added in the 1950's by fundamentalist religious politicians. Read the original:

http://www.heresyhouse.com/desktops/pledge1-800x600.jpg

[Xtremehkr]

"Under God" was added to counter the Godless Communists.

Madison argued against including a Bill of Rights because he predicted that these would become our only rights, he was right.

[Desertrat]

takao, we have a lot of Spanish-only folks in the U.S. In Texas, all governmental political notices in our newspapers are printed in English and also in Spanish. Our ballots are also available in Spanish as well as English. (Mostly the titles of the offices being sought.)

In the private sector, my local phone book's general information section is given in both English and Spanish. Same for any information sheets accompanying the monthly bill.

'Rat

[Thomas Veil]

<snip>
Bravo.

And thanks to chanoc, too, for noting that "under God" was not always a part of the Pledge of Allegience. That damned Godless, amoral Bellamy...what was he thinking?? ;)

[solvs]

In God We Trust and One Nation Under God were added in the 1950's by fundamentalist religious politicians.

You'd think the strict preservationists who want to keep things like the Confederate Flag for historical context would know that, but most don't (or choose not to). People are surprised when I bring it up. For the record, you can keep your flag if we can take out the extra Gods that were added later. Declaration of Independance and Bill of Rights notwithstanding. I'm a fairly religious person, but I believe in remembering our history the way it was, lest we soon forget it.

Most of those were common sense, but some (like the one picked apart) are not so great. You may not have the right to health care, or help with low income housing (which is not free BTW, just cheaper), but maybe you should still get them. In a civilized society, helping the needy does not need to mean subsidizing the lazy. Any good Christian would know that.