The Liberty Tree Lantern

If we Americans do not take the initiative to take back our power from the U.S. Government, by forcing it to comport to the LAW of The Constitution of the United States of America, that We The People wrote for the express purpose to make sure these sorts of things didn’t happen, we are all going to end up like the people written about below.  We shall all have the “equal” distribution of misery and poverty at the hands of the Socialists in the U.S. Congress.  How much more damage can we afford to our cost of living which is entirely caused by their legislation, such as with our energy and gasoline costs?  If we don’t get the U.S. Government completely out of our daily lives, our work and our businesses this is what we all have to look forward to.  This is the ultimate result of socialism as a result of the lack of FREEDOM (from Government “helping us”)

I don’t want to live like that; I am sure none of us do.  But what are we going to do about a U.S. Congress who wants us to live in Socialism or Communism?  Through out history this is what has happened to countries that employ Socialist legislation.  Our Founding Fathers knew this and that is why they, well representing us, wrote the Constitutional Laws on Government, so that they would be subservant to us and not our masters.

Now the only question is are we willing to fight for our FREEDOM.  What does FREEDOM mean?  According to the Founding Fathers, FREEDOM means freedom FROM Govenment.  Freedom (from Government “helping” us) is the greatest wealth generator ever created amongst man.  With FREEDOM comes prosperity, wealth, and happiness for the far greatest number of people. 

Thomas Jefferson wrote the following quotes:

• A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government.
• Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society.
• Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.
• I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
• Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

L.A. Sees More People Living Out of Their Cars
Monday, June 23, 2008

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AP

June 4, 2008: Darlene Knoll, 53, in the sleeping area of the 1978 motor home where she lives in L.A. after losing her job and home.
LOS ANGELES — Having lost her job and her three-bedroom house, Darlene Knoll has joined the legions of downwardly mobile who are four wheels away from homelessness.

She is living out of her shabby 1978 RV, and every night she has to look for a place to park where she won’t get hassled by the cops or insulted by residents.

“I’m not a piece of trash,” the former home health-care aide said as she stroked one of five dogs in her cramped quarters parked in the waterfront community of Marina del Rey.

Amid the foreclosure crisis and the shaky economy, some California cities are seeing an increase in the number of people living out of their cars, vans or RVs.

Acting on complaints from homeowners, the Los Angeles City Council got tough earlier this year by forbidding nearly all overnight parking in residential neighborhoods such as South Brentwood.

But some people are just crowding into other parts of the city, including the seaside community of Venice, where dozens of rusty, dilapidated campers can be seen lined up outside neat single-family homes. The stench of urine emanates from a few of the vehicles, and some residents say they have seen human waste left behind.

“They’re nasty and gnarly,” said Venice resident Jeff Scharlin. “We’ve heard about drug dealing and prostitution in them. I’ve never seen it, but visually they’re a blight and they take up parking space.”

In Los Angeles, as in many other cities, it is illegal to live in vehicles on public streets. But the law is not easy to enforce. Police have to enter a vehicle to find signs that people are living there, such as cooking or sleeping, and occupants often refuse to answer when cops knock.

An easier way is to restrict overnight parking. In L.A., a first offense carries a $50 fine, and subsequent violations can cost as much as $100.

Parking-enforcement officers often give vehicle owners a warning and tell them to move on before issuing a ticket, and that usually solves the problem, said Alan Willis, a city transportation engineer. But other cities in the area are not as lenient.

“I had my motor home towed in Culver City. It cost me $500 to get it out,” said Desiri Hawkins, who lives in a small RV in Venice. “I got ticketed in Santa Monica and had to go to court.”

Tourist states with temperate climates, such as California and Florida, have long been magnets for the homeless. Los Angeles is the nation’s homelessness capital, with an estimated 73,000 people on the streets. A survey of 3,230 homeless people last year in Los Angeles County found nearly 7 percent living in vehicles, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

“It’s trending toward an increase,” said Michael Stoop, acting executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. “People would rather live in a vehicle than wind up in a shelter, and you can’t stay on a friend’s couch forever.”

People living out of their cars or campers tend to be more well-off than the homeless on the street. They usually have jobs or disability checks that enable them to maintain an old camper but do not allow them to afford rent.

“For more working-class and lower-middle-class people, the car is the first stop of being homeless, and sometimes it turns out to be a long stop,” said Gary Blasi, a University of California, Los Angeles, law professor and activist on homeless issues.

Some Venice residents are clamoring for overnight parking restrictions. But parking limits in oceanfront neighborhoods are problematic because the California Coastal Commission requires communities to accommodate surfers, fishermen and other early-morning beachgoers.

“The complaints are getting louder and louder,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl.

For years, some cities such as Santa Barbara, Calif., and Eugene, Ore., have accommodated people who live out of their vehicles. Activists in Venice are looking at some of those ideas. Santa Barbara, for example, allows vehicles to stay from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. in church and city parking lots.

Knoll said she can barely afford to drive around with the rising price of gasoline eating away at the $950 monthly disability check she receives because of mental illness.

She said she is also sick of police waking her up in the wee hours by pounding on her vehicle with their nightsticks, and she is tired of fighting with residents who call her “lowlife scum” and hurl other insults.

“We need somewhere we can have a safe haven, where we won’t be harassed,” Knoll said as the wind from a passing car rocked her RV. “I never thought I’d be living like this, but I’m stuck. This is it for me.”