Bill of non-rights

[Retic chic]

I found this on one of the American hunting forums I frequent. I think it applies to us Canadians as well...

"We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone
get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our
nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt
free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby
try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for
the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other liberal
bed-wetters.
We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are
confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON
Rights."
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 tak e 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!!!!
If you agree, share this with a friend. No, you don't have to, and nothing
tragic will befall you if you don't. I just think it's about time common
sense is allowed to flourish.

[snakehunter]

SWEET

[ilia]

Oh I love rednecks.

[Batdad]

Nicely said :D

[gonesnakee]

This post has nothing to do with Rednecks that I can see there ilia. Being from NJ I'm sure you know everything about them though eh LOL I think its an overall reality check for those who think that the world should somehow revolve around them because they are "special" & that we should all go out of our way to change everything to make them more comfortable & to ensure that they are happy. Afterall they are special right? LOL Too many people out there think that somehow its societys responsibilty to take care of them, despite their obvious lack of effort to do so by themselves. Society makes such a great 'Scapegoat" afterall now doesn't it. I think we need to go back to nature myself. "Live & Let Die" Yep, I'm sure "Natural Selection" would clear up most of the problems in the first couple of generations LOL I'd better quit now before the Redneck starts coming out in me eh y'all LOL Mark

[Cruciform]

The author was doing pretty good until they hit the "english speaking" crap.

It's hypocritical to put all the other stuff in there and then say "you have to speak english". If you walk into a store, and the owner doesn't speak english, go somewhere else if it's a problem for you. Otherwise buy the bloody cigarettes/pack-of-gum, whatever.

Both nations are supposed to be built on the premise that if you come here, work hard, it doesn't matter who you are.

[Invictus]

Well, this has the potential for an utter explosion.... :D

Me personally, I am a staunch Socialist. Some people think that means that I believe that it is society's responsibility to look after the lazy, unmotivated slime, but nothing could be further from the truth. I just believe it's the responsibility of the Corporate sector. :D

Nonetheless, good article, and some would do well to read it and let it really sink in.

[gonesnakee]

"you have to speak english" is not a quote Cruciform unless you are quoting yourself (reread #10). IMO it is meant to come across as you choose to move to & become part of a society, but refuse to become part of it by rejecting the language. Whatever that society/languauge is has already been established long before you came along. I can't expect to move to France say & be all mad at them because they don't want to change everything to english for me just because I decide to move there & refuse to accept the language & culture already in place. There is no harm in bringing culture with you, but don't expect the "natives" to change theirs just because you decide to move there & refuse to become actively involved in the culture that already exists. If where ya came from is so great, why did ya move here? My 2 cents (again LOL) Mark
P.S. I see a lot of bank machines here in Canada now have english, french & Mandrin Chinese. Do you think we should include every other language in the world as an option too just not to offend anyone by leaving them out LOL

[Cruciform]

gonesnakee:
it was paraphrased.

and the first languages in North America weren't english. That was instilled here by violent conquest.

The current conquest is one of immigration, but it's no less effective. Consider the number of asian and middle eastern immigrants entering North America. In some areas of Toronto, *English* is the second language. And those areas have been growing.

Our laws and language evolve because we are a land of settlement and opportunity. If learning English improves someones life in this country, they can learn it. But as long as it isn't hurting us, why should we care, and there's certainly no reason to tell someone to go back where they came from if they don't speak the current accepted language.

I've got bigger things to worry about in life than whether my neighbor speaks English, Romanian, or Farsi.

[gonesnakee]

Good points Cruciform & yes we do need to "evolve" to try & meet our countries changing needs. Thus the Mandrin Chinese, as well as english & french on bank machines. I do think that we need to concentrate on the wants/needs of the majority of the population though, not go out of our way to change everything to accommodate the needs of a minority group whatever it may be (this can be race, culture, political or sexual views etc. etc.). As certain groups become a larger part of the majority we as Canadians have/will changed things to become more universal, but too many people don't want to become part of the collective, but insist on being treated as a special group. I have no problems with any cultures or peoples, too each their own, but if you don't want to try & become part of society you choose to join & then expect extra special rights aside from those already in place & extended to the general population, Yes I have a problem with that. I am Canadian (irreguardless of my personal heritage)NOT French Canadian, Africian Canadian, German Canadian, Chinese Canadian etc. etc. etc. Too many groups seem to go out of their way to segregate themselves & then "whine" because they are segregated, when it is largely due to their own views & efforts that they are. If you want to be a Canadian make an effort to support the culture that already exists & of course feel free to add to it as thats what Canadas aboot LOL, not try to change it to try & make it like whereever it was you chose to leave . 2 more cents Mark >(

[MouseKilla]

Totally ignorant right wing BS. I have to go vomit now.

This is the point of view of a spoiled brats who personally take credit for the luxuries that the very type of society they are trying to combat has afforded them.

There seems to be an underlying FALSE belief here that we live in some sort of meritocracy in Western society where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. All you have to do is look at the King of right wingers, George Dubya, who never had an honest job in his life and has gotten by on his rich daddy's name and daddy's friend's money and rose to the level of the leader of the richest country on the planet. I ask you, did he work the hardest? Is that what got him there? Are there perhaps those who have worked much harder but yet remain poor?

In the very same country you see things like Workfare that force people to work at slave labour rates to get their pitiful cheque every month and in the process deny them the opportunity to find real work because as soon as they do their benefits are cut off.

Only when people realize that the best way to cure poverty and societal dependance is to help those that haven't had all the breaks in life rather than hope they starve to death will these problems start to go away.

[gonesnakee]

Good post MouseKilla (especially the "Workfare" point). The rich get richer & can't understand why everyone else can't eh. We must all try to be more empathetic & understanding if its ever going to work, but we all seem to have different versions of the "Perfect World" making it hard to find that happy medium, DOH. Maybe some day eh? Too bad most in power seem to have personal agendas more often than not rather than worry about the needs of their people (or should I say us normal folks & those less fortunate). No one said life was fair.
Mark

[ilia]

The only articles that I have a problem with are 10 and 11. Everything else in there is perfectly fine. You pointed out that I'm form NJ and we do have an abundance of rednecks here, so I do know them pretty well. From big rednecks come little rednecks and I go to school with them.

[JeffT]

anyone seen Bowling for Columbine? lol this author seems to think America is a great big saviour and all mighty God.

[BWSmith]

Since political posts are deleted in short order, I will reply quickly.

Only when people realize that the best way to cure poverty and societal dependance is to help those that haven't had all the breaks in life rather than hope they starve to death will these problems start to go away.

Very utopic Mousekilla. Too bad that is not reality and never will be (as the left would have us believe). How many people have YOU given a break, a chance at a real job, som skills, some education? What have most people done other than vomit ideals? I can count at LEAST a dozen people that I have given that chance. A chance to better their lives, to learn a skill, a chance at a real job. How many people have you employed from the "Y"? Six for me. Good work, albeit hard work. How many have you offered to help get back on their feet, clean them up, get new clothes, and help get them a job (even if it is at McDonalds)? Only 2 for me. How many returned for work the next day, took me up on a real job, went to fill out an application, or did anything else to better their lives? A big fat ZERO.

You cannot succeed if you don't want to. And sadly, there are many that don't. My only thought is that your comments were regurgitated from a left wing Politcal Science Professor. Reality is much different. I don't claim to know everyone and I don't try to make a blanket statement, I just go by percentage. And ZERO percent out of at least 12 made an effort to better their situation in my direct experience. Now if you have taken 12 people and helped turn their lives around, then I will gladly change my number to 50%. But that still falls short of your utopic ideals.

[BWSmith]

Just for reference: Most of the opportunities were given while I was in college (work on the house or offers of training) or when I was supervising construction. The primary labor was African American and Hispanic. Only the hispanics that spoke English worked for me. If they cannot understand instructions, they are of no use to me as employees.

[Burium]

As a married woman, who grew up in the US and then had to move to Europe to survive, I find quite a few of those rules very true. I know people who use and abuse the systems and they teach their kids to do the same thing. I also know, from first hand experience, that the system doesn't work. When you make $150 to much a month to qualify for assistence and you don't make enough to feed you, your husband, and your child; what do you do? We moved to Europe, where my husband was from. I admit that our problems were made worse by the fact that my husband was a foreigner and no one wanted to hire him. He worked with computers and finally got a job working as a maintenance worker in a mall earning $0.25 over the minimum wage. His 13 years of computer knowledge was being wasted. I also know that if you don't speak the language of the country in which you reside, you don't get hired. The Dutch gov puts everyone who is not from an EU country through language and intergration courses. Life saver! America needs to do this too. In many schools that have high numbers of hispanic children, they have classes only in Spanish. They are not required to ever learn English. In some of the schools in California, they have classes in Ebonics for the African AMERICANS. Last word being Americans. They too never have to learn how to properly speak English. They get to butcher and pervert the language. And this is acceptable. I've had to learn to speak, write, read, and understand Dutch in 1 year. At the end of that year, I had to take a proficency test to insure I could contibute back to society. One year is not a long length of time to ensure that you can fully function in society. That's my 2 cents worth anyway. Most of it's from personal expierence. Just felt I had to offer what I could to this post, not that you really care or it will change anyhting.

Kelly

[JimmyDavid]

Dont take english for granted in Canada, guys. The need to fit in and speak a certain language doesn't come from the fact that it was the mother language there but because the majority of people speak it and the "few" have to bend. Now, Canada is so poorly populated that if a few million brasilian folks were to emigrate there at once, you would all have to learn portuguese. HEhe...

[Wizwise2000]

I agree 500% with MouseKilla. Good post!

Shane

[MouseKilla]

BWSmith,

While I agree with you on the point that only those people who have a desire to succeed (or hell, even survive) will be able to do so. The other ingredient to becoming self sufficient is opportunity though and that's what I am talking about. I find it quite cynical to suggest that anyone who is poor is just not trying hard enough. Back to Dubya, how hard did he have to work? How many other extremely powerful and rich people are in that position because of factors other than hard work or brilliance? And are ALL the poor people in that same country poor because they are lazy?

While you may have seen examples of poor people who seemed unwilling to take the McJob they are offered (there is always SOMEONE behind the counter when you go though, so somebody's taken that "opportunity"), many of the champions of free enterprise never had to worry about flipping enough burgers to pay the rent. If everyone had the same opportunities, if free market capitalism magically created a meritocracy, then it would be fair to say that everyone gets what they deserve.

I am not suggesting that it is possible to achieve that Utopian society with hand outs either, that would be stupid, but it's also stupid to say that there is nothing more to success and independance than hard work. The fact is, no matter how many burgers you flip, you can never hope to pay the bills. You need more than that, the priviledge of post secondary education maybe, or better yet a daddy with oil tycoons for golfing buddies.

As for what I have personally done to help others I must admit that I have never owned a business so I haven't yet hired anyone.

I began working to support my young family when I was 18, and work I did! I didn't sit and wait for someone to feed my child, I worked my butt off for a little more than minimum wage through a temp agency, fifty to sixty hours a week and eventually earned a full time position. The money I was making there wasn't enough to pay the rent even with the 20 hours of overtime every week.

Fortunately for me this workplace was unionized and while still working my guts out (in fact I was promoted and put in charge of my department while being the youngest employee of the company) I decided I wanted work to improve my situation and that of the people I worked with by running for a position on the union's bargaining committee. I was successful and was elected.

In that position I was able to help improve the livelyhoods of some 400 plus WORKING poor people through improving their wages and health coverage by over 100% over the course of 4 years and 2 collective agreements.

I'm not sure if in your mind those 400 + people that worked for those low wages or the thousands of people that flip your burgers or greet you when you go to DevilMart to buy rubbermaids offset the 12 lazy folks you have crossed paths with. To me the fact that there are people doing those jobs proves that not everyone is able to be just work their way to independance. They're doing as I did, working overtime at the worst low paying jobs for multi-billion dollar corporations and still sharing accomodations with family.

Things are not equal, and they probably never will be but things like inherited wealth, so-called "right to work" jurisdictions that basically outlaw labour unions and minimum wage rates that are far below a living wage make it much harder to work your way to independance.

Those are all things we could change to narrow the disparity of opportunity in society but you are correct to say that it would not be enough, people will always have to put forth the effort to survive.

[BWSmith]

Cool, some middle ground ;)

I also do not feel that resentment to those that have had an easier life is valid. The way i look at it, even if they were born into priviledge, the money originally came form somewhere along the line in their family. More power to them. I don't think that it is the responsibility of the wealthy to cater to the poor. Knowing how to stay rich is something different. The Bush's know how to keep their standing. Good for them. I will never be rich because I suck at managing money (it is all snake oney to me :D ). There have been many people who have won the lottery and a few years later are back where they were, if not worse. I have no idea what the point is, or even if there is one. Just mindless rambling while on a break at work ;)

[UpscaleBoas]

wow...never thought there would be Rush Limbaugh fans in this place...

[BWSmith]

he he. My mother in law is a flaming militant liberal. We get into it all the time :D

[gonesnakee]

Some more good points bt all & I must say we should all be proud of ourselves because this topic is still going dispite having involved Religon, Race, politics etc. We can discuss/debate as adults afterall LOL Now if only we could expect the same of our "leaders" & yes I use the term loosely LOL Mark