Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness


What happens to those who conform to old ways, higher authority, and the media? Don’t you think you owe it to yourself to be informed, speak up, and fight for your rights? Is the government working in your favor? Is it fulfilling its duties? Have you been cheated out of important information? We Americans have been deceived, stripped of our freedom, battered of our justice, and robbed of our purity.

The beginning of what was and is to come. George W. Bush stated, “Evil men, obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience, must be taken very seriously—and we must stop them before their crimes can multiply.” Although he was referring to the Iraqis, he foreshadowed the truth about himself. These words none the less warned us of his future presidency and how he would mislead the nation into disaster. Bush persuaded the nation to believe that Iraq would use its weapons of mass destruction at any moment. He also dishonestly led the American people to believe that Saddam Hussein was closely working with al Qaeda.

George W. Bush offered these two notions to rationalize the war in Iraq. The Iraq war has claimed at least 4,000 American lives and a countless number severely injured. These soldiers, your fathers, brothers, and sons, are not only fighting a physical war but a mental and emotional war. Have I stirred up a little bit of anger yet? Representative Jane Harman, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, has stated that there were flaws in US intelligence. She has also made clear that Bush’s administration rarely included the caveats, a legal notice to a court or public officer to suspend a certain proceeding until the notifier is given a hearing, in prewar assertions about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.

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. (Declaration of Independence)

The media landscape is dominated by massive corporations that, through a history of mergers and acquisitions, have concentrated too much control in too few hands. The six most dominating media giants are General Electric, Time Warner, Disney, News Corp., CBS, and Viacom. Do not let these corporations silence diverse voices and eliminate local content. The problem is that Americans are being swallowed by the quick sand of media junk. Men and women are being sucked in by pornography, weed, money, and celebrity drama.

There is an enormous amount of information that has not been made available to Americans by the media. Average Americans, when asked, “What caused the twin towers to collapse on 9/11?” they reply “The towers collapsed due to the impact of the planes and the gallons of fuel.” But the planes had formed two isolated pockets of fire that could have been taken out easily. Professionals have even put their careers on the line to inform you that, if the fire is what made the towers collapse the interior steel structures were supposed to stand. These facts lead to, why did the towers come down in seconds? The speed the towers came down was the exact speed of demolition taking place. “People should not be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of their people.” (V for Vendetta)

I have come to believe that there will always be only a hand full of people who will fight for what is right. But I stand here today and plead with you to mark this day as the beginning of what is to come for our government. Let my name stand among those who are willing bear the consequences of shaking up sleeping bones and earn some right to rejoice when victory is won. I leave you with these last words from Samuel Adams :


The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth


defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We


have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they



purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and

transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of

infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to


be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by

the artifices of false and designing men.