Thirtieth President of the United States

Posted in President by R Lee Wrights on May 16th, 2012

Calvin Coolidge, served August 2, 1923 - March 4, 1929

Calvin Coolidge (July 4, 1872 - January 5, 1933) was the 30th President of the United States (1923-1929). A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state. His conduct during the Boston Police Strike of 1919 thrust him into the national spotlight and gave him a reputation as a man of decisive action. Soon after, he was elected as the 29th Vice President in 1920 and succeeded to the Presidency upon the sudden death of Warren G. Harding in 1923. Elected in his own right in 1924, he gained a reputation as a small-government conservative, and also as a man who said very little.

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr., was born in Plymouth Notch, Windsor County, Vermont, on July 4, 1872, the only U.S. President to be born on Independence Day. He was the elder of the two children of John Calvin Coolidge, Sr. (1845-1926) and Victoria Josephine Moor (1846-1885). Coolidge senior engaged in many occupations, and ultimately enjoyed a statewide reputation as a prosperous farmer, storekeeper and public servant; he farmed, taught school, ran a local store, served in the Vermont House of Representatives and the Vermont Senate, and held various local offices including justice of the peace and tax collector. Coolidge’s mother was the daughter of a Plymouth Notch farmer.

Coolidge attended Black River Academy and then Amherst College, where he joined the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. At his father’s urging, Coolidge moved to Northampton, Massachusetts, after graduating to take up the practice of law. Avoiding the costly alternative of attending a law school, Coolidge followed the more common practice of the time, apprenticing with a local law firm, Hammond & Field, and reading law with them. John C. Hammond and Henry P. Field, both Amherst graduates, introduced Coolidge to the law practice in the county seat of Hampshire County. In 1897, Coolidge was admitted to the bar, becoming a country lawyer. With his savings and a small inheritance from his grandfather, Coolidge was able to open his own law office in Northampton in 1898. He practiced transactional law, believing that he served his clients best by staying out of court. As his reputation as a hard-working and diligent attorney grew, local banks and other businesses began to retain his services.

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NC lets emergency powers ruling stand

Posted in Press Releases by R Lee Wrights on May 15th, 2012

from SAF staff 

BELLEVUE, WA - North Carolina’s failure to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that struck down the state’s emergency power to ban firearms and ammunition outside the home during a declared emergency adds one more Second Amendment victory to the court record being established by the Second Amendment Foundation.

“When the anti-gun lobby claims that courts have not struck down any laws on Second Amendment grounds,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, “they deliberately ignore the fact that the District of Columbia’s handgun ban was overturned. Likewise, Chicago’s ban was stricken by McDonald v. City of Chicago, as was the city’s ban on gun ranges. Maryland’s draconian regulations on concealed carry were struck down, and so was the Massachusetts ban on firearms ownership by legal alien residents. Part of Omaha’s registration law was overturned, and now North Carolina’s emergency powers gun ban has fallen.

“All but one of those cases,” he added, “were filed by SAF, and in the Heller case against Washington, D.C.s ban, SAF filed an important amicus brief.”

Gottlieb said North Carolina’s decision not to appeal their loss, “frees the foundation to file more legal actions against cities and states that still have laws on the books that violate our constitutional rights.” There are now at least six federal court victories to SAF’s credit, knocking down laws that infringed on Second Amendment rights, and Gottlieb is confident more are coming.

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God who gave us life gave us liberty

Posted in And I Quote... by R Lee Wrights on May 14th, 2012

by Thomas Jefferson

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.”

 

- Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third President of the United States (1801–1809). At the beginning of the American Revolution, Jefferson served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia. He then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781). Just after the war ended, from mid-1784 Jefferson served as a diplomat, stationed in Paris, initially as a commissioner to help negotiate commercial treaties. In May 1785, he became the United States Minister to France. He was the first United States Secretary of State (1790–1793) during the administration of President George Washington. Upon resigning his office, with his close friend James Madison he organized the Democratic-Republican Party.

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Founding Fathers - George Read

Posted in Founders by R Lee Wrights on May 13th, 2012

George Read, September 18, 1733 - September 21, 1798

Read was an American lawyer and politician from New Castle in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a Continental Congressman from Delaware, a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, President of Delaware, and a member of the Federalist Party, who served as U.S. Senator from Delaware and Chief Justice of Delaware.

Read was born in Cecil County, Maryland on September 18, 1733. He was the son of John and Mary (Howell) Read. When George Read was an infant the family moved to New Castle County, Delaware, settling near the village of Christiana. As he grew up, Read joined Thomas McKean at the Rev. Francis Allison’s Academy at New London, Pennsylvania and then studied law in Philadelphia with John Moland.

He was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1753 and a year later he returned home to establish a practice at New Castle, Delaware. In 1763 married Gertrude Ross Till, daughter of the Rev. George Ross, the Anglican rector of Immanuel Church in New Castle and widowed sister of George Ross, also a future signer of the Declaration of Independence. They had five children, John, George Jr., William, John, and Mary, who married Matthew Pearce (she is often confused with her paternal aunt, Mary Read, who in 1769 married Gunning Bedford, Sr., a future Governor of Delaware). They lived on The Strand in New Castle and their house was in what is now the garden of the present Read House and Gardens, owned by the Delaware Historical Society. They were members of Immanuel Episcopal Church.

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A thank you to my friends and family - The Libertarian Party

Posted in Carolinus, Wrights 2012 by R Lee Wrights on May 12th, 2012

by R. Lee Wrights 

Hearing my name placed into consideration for the Libertarian Party’s nomination for President of the United States was the proudest moment of my life. It was a privilege and an honor for me to be considered for that august office by my family - the Libertarian Party.

When I started my campaign for the nomination I said that I was determined to ensure that whatever else happened the Libertarian Party would talk about war during the 2012 national convention. We did that. Every American who watched the presidential candidates debate or the convention proceedings on CSPAN heard that message loud and clear - stop all war.

They also were treated to a fine example of how political discourse should be conducted in America. During the debate, they didn’t witness the spectacle of two men going after each other, out for blood and tearing each other apart. They saw two rational and reasonable people discussing alternative ways that liberty and freedom can bring peace and prosperity to our nation.

Yes, there were contentious debates and votes — several votes - over electing members of the national committee. But no blows were struck, no blood was spilled, and no one stormed out of the room. We resolved our differences peacefully and nominated candidates for President and Vice President every Libertarian can and should support.

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While our backs were turned

Posted in LFA Flashback by R Lee Wrights on May 11th, 2012

by Ed Lewis

courtesy of Kevin TumaOur forefathers warned us that we must be always vigilant and protective of the freedom they gave us.  They knew by the very nature of man that people put in positions of authority would abuse their authority.  And, so it has been.

Not only are we in illegal military actions around the world, including the well-publicized and illegal invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, but also are in dozens of countries illegally.

Such are under the guise of “national security,” a phrase made up to justify illegal actions in other countries - and our own.  Under it, no official in the federal government has to explain anything.  And so we are kept in the dark, thereby securing the unlawful and illegal actions by the “national” government.

However, such does at times make the national news.  Of course, such reporting is completely controlled by the federal government so that what the public in general receives is only what the federal government wants known in its action of misinforming the public.

It also serves as a distraction from what is going on locally, although whether this is intentional or not is not known by this writer.  He presumes it is intentional because without local disinformation, the federal government would not have been able to secure its hold over the states and the people.

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PA state police suspension of Second Amendment inexcusable

Posted in Dangerous Politics by R Lee Wrights on May 10th, 2012

by CCRKBA staff 

A complete shutdown of the Pennsylvania Instant Check System by the state police for a period of 60 hours later this month for a system upgrade is “inexcusable,” the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

“Closing down the background check system, and thus suspending all firearms transactions and concealed carry license processing simply allows the Pennsylvania State Police to obstruct the gun rights of law-abiding citizens,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan M. Gottlieb. “We are not reassured by a promise from the agency that it will expedite this computer system update in order to restore service as soon as possible. Access to the computers for background checks should not be suspended at all.

“Surely,” he continued, “the State Police can find alternate means of processing firearms transactions and permit applications while the upgrade is in progress.”

The system is scheduled for update from 10 p.m. Saturday, May 19 to 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 22. Gottlieb said this highlights a problem with such systems when there is no backup. Authorities can literally suspend the Second Amendment by turning off a switch or pulling a plug, he observed, and use whatever excuse they want.

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Twenty-ninth President of the United States

Posted in President by R Lee Wrights on May 9th, 2012

Warren G. Harding, served March 4, 1921 - August 2, 1923

Harding (November 2, 1865 - August 2, 1923) was the 29th President of the United States (1921-1923). A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate (1899-1903), as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio (1904-1906) and as a U.S. Senator (1915-1921). He was also the first incumbent United States Senator and the first newspaper publisher to be elected President.

Warren Gamaliel Harding was born November 2, 1865, in Blooming Grove, Ohio. His paternal ancestors, mostly ardent Baptists, hailed from Clifford, Pennsylvania and had migrated to Ohio in 1820. Nicknamed “Winnie”, he was the eldest of eight children born to Dr. George Tryon Harding, Sr. (1843-1928) and Phoebe Elizabeth (Dickerson) Harding (1843-1910). His mother, a devout Methodist, was a midwife who later obtained her medical license. His father, never quite content with his current job or possessions, was forever swapping for something better, and was usually in debt; he owned a farm, taught at a rural school north of Mount Gilead, Ohio and also acquired a medical degree and started a small practice. It was rumored in Blooming Grove that one of Harding’s great-grandmothers may have been African American. Harding’s great-great grandfather Amos claimed the rumor was started, as an attempted extortion, by a thief caught in the act by the family. Eventually, Harding’s family moved to Caledonia, Ohio, where his father then acquired The Argus, a local weekly newspaper. It was at The Argus where, from the age of 10, Harding learned the basics of the journalism business.

Upon graduating, he had stints as a teacher and insurance man, and made a brief attempt at reading the law. He then raised $300, in partnership with others, for the purchase of the failing Marion Daily Star, the weakest of the growing city’s three newspapers; Harding was complete owner of the Star by 1886. Harding revamped the paper’s editorial platform to support the Republican Party, and enjoyed a moderate degree of success. He became an ardent supporter of Governor “Fire Alarm Joe” Foraker; however, his political stance put him at odds with those who controlled local politics in Marion. When Harding moved to unseat the Marion Independent as the official daily paper, he was met with strong resistance from local figures, such as Amos Hall Kling, one of Marion’s wealthiest real estate speculators. The editorial battle with the Independent became so heated that, at the inevitable mention of Harding’s questionable bloodline, father and son proceeded, with shotgun in hand, to demand, and get, a retraction.

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I will not comply!

Posted in Power to the People by R Lee Wrights on May 8th, 2012

by Michael Badnarik 

If you ask people who came up with the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun, most people will answer that it was Galileo - the guy who invented the telescope. Actually, Galileo found evidence to support a theory espoused by Copernicus twenty-one years before Galileo was born. Similarly, Marconi is credited with inventing radio in spite of the fact that Tesla demonstrated that technology fifteen years earlier.

I may have been too harsh in my criticism of Glenn Beck. I just learned that Mr. Beck has drawn his line in the sand with the defiant phrase, “I will not comply!” His website says:

“As regulations, indoctrinations and more come closer and closer to his front door, he made one promise - I will not comply.”

I want you to start saying those words to yourself. If you’re driving in the car right now all by yourself, I want you to say those words out loud. You need to start hearing yourself say those things: ‘I will not comply.’ You want to take away my right to have my kids work on my ranch, my farm? You want to tell my kids they can’t drive the tractor? I was driving a tractor when I was 10. I will not comply. You want to tell me that my kid — so what? So they can go play soccer and get a trophy for losing? I will not comply. Learn to say those words, and say them with meaning.

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The proliferation of bureaucrats

Posted in And I Quote... by R Lee Wrights on May 7th, 2012

by William Henry Chamberlin

“The proliferation of bureaucrats and its invariable accompaniment, much heavier tax levies on the productive part of the population, are the recognizable signs, not of a great, but of a decaying society. Historians know that both phenomena were especially marked in the declining eras of the Roman Empire in the West and of its successor state, the Eastern or Byzantine Empire.”

 

- William Henry Chamberlin (1897 – 1969) was an American historian and journalist. He was the author of several books about the Cold War, Communism and US foreign policy, the most famous of which was The Russian Revolution 1917-1921 (1935). Chamberlin wrote the book whilst stationed in Russia between 1922-34 as the Moscow correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor. After leaving the USSR, he went to Germany and his experiences with Nazism further convinced him of the dangers of collectivism and absolutism in general. He became more convinced of the importance of individual rights and of the value of the United States Bill of Rights. Much of his later work was aimed at criticizing communism, socialism and collectivism in general. He continued to write both scholarly books and more popular articles.

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