since poeople keep masking uniformed comments without reading the entire article…..
I post it all ….
The Freemasons, the Constitution, and Gnosticism
by Thomas Saunders
Scholars in the 1800, and early 1900’s like Albert G. Mackey, tried to connect Freemasons with the practices of Gnostics. In Mackey’s “The History of Freemasonry,” in Chapter 38, “Freemasonry, and the Gnostics,” he states….
“The hypothesis which seeks to trace a connection between Gnosticism and Freemasonry, and perhaps even an origin of the latter from the former, has been repeatedly advanced, and is therefore worthy of consideration.”
Mackey goes on to argue in his work for a Gnosticism more closely aligned with Clement of Alexandria, rather than Gnostics associated with Basilides. Mackey’s work is problematic in that the work of G.R.S. Mead, also circa 1800’s discloses that different names for Gnostics like Naaseenes, Ophites, and Sethians actually are more closely aligned with the same religious epistemology than previously thought. Mackey never pointed out that the Freemasons were composed of many religious faiths, and do not aspire to one.
Today scholars, like Gaffney, “The Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenes” have come to the conclusion that there is not enough known about Gnostic sects to conclude much in regard to their differences. What they had in common were what are now called Sethian texts. Sethian is defined…
Sethian: It is a name for a specific sect of Gnostics, but also a category created by scholars to refer to a number of sects that are related to Valentinians, Clement, and Basilides. The Sethians as a group were known to Hippolytus who dedicated Book Five in his work, ”The Refutation of All Hereseys,” to denouncing them. (See Gaffney) Seth was a character of Gnosticism who represented a savior figure and third son of Adam, founder of the Gnostic race. Generally Sethian works include, “The Pistis Sophia,” “Allogenes,” ”The Gospel of Mary,*” “Sentences of Sextus,” “Marsanes,” “Gospel of The Egyptians,*” ”The Apocalypse of Adam,*” “Origin of The World,” ”The Gospel of Thomas,*” ”The Gospel of Philip,” “The Three Steles of Seth,” “Melchizidek,” ”The Apocryphon of John,” ”The Gospel of Judas,” Trimorphic Protennoia,” the un-named text in the Bruce Codex, and ”Zostrianos.” (Others) Some Sethian works suggest strong ties with Jewish Gnosticism, as well as Platonic thought, and Zoroasterism. See also; ”Sethian Gnosticism, A Literary History,” Turner) see also; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sethian ( * Indicates works from the Nag Hammadi Lib., with other works by the same name.) http://www.answers.com/topic/sethianism (Source; Saunders Gnostic Glossary.)
Neither Mackey, nor Mead had any of these texts with the acception of the Bruce Codex which contained “The Pistis Sophia,” a badly damaged ”Gospel of Mary,” and the “Books of Jue.” What the early scholars did was compare and make parallels to the Heresiologists like Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Tertullian. Mead concluded that all the accounts about Gnostics by these early Church Fathers were distortions, if Mead had the Nag Hammadi, he would have known lots more about these lies. (See; http://www.gnosis.org/library/grs-mead/fragments_faith_forgotten/fff40.htm#page_280
Index: http://www.gnosis.org/library/grs-mead/fragments_faith_forgotten/fff03.htm
Mead did correctly conclude some things about the Gnostics, however to date no scholar besides myself has properly disclosed the use of the Monadology in Sethian Christianity. This disclosure in my opinion could not be made on any information known to scholars, Freemasons, or the Founding Fathers, and writers of the Constitution.
Sethian Gnosis differs drastically from mainstream Christianity, and Masons do not aspire to one form of religion or Christianity. Whatever Benjaman Franklin, and other Freemasons knew about the Gnostics and Monadology at the time can be shown today as related to the work of Gottfried Leibniz, who coined the term “Monadology” for modern science. The Sethian works talk about a Monadology also, but a much earlier one than Leibniz or Franklin knew about. However, both Leibniz, and the Sethian Christians based their Monadology on Pythagorean theory.
It is doubtful that any Founding Father, or Freemason during the creation of America could make any meaningful connection to the Sethian methods of Christianity. They may have known a legend about a secret Christianity. It is not likely from the historical documentation of Gnosticism at the time, anyone knew the Pythagorean methods, were based upon the Tai Chi, although there are references to Pythagoeans studying Oriental philosophy, the right connection was not made.
The theories surrounding the Monad and Pythagoreans, are a direct parallel to the study of the Tai Chi. The first modern philosopher to note this is Fung Yu-Lan, author of “The History of Chinese Philosophy,” Princeton, 1953. All my adult life, or for forty of my 60 years I have studied and practiced Isshinryu Karate, which is also based upon the study of the Tai Chi. This is how I was able to identify how the Sethian Christian methods of their Monadology works.
This connection to Pythagorean, and Oriential philosophy was probably common knowledge for followers of Justin Martyr, Tatian, and the Basilidians. Sometime after the 5th century the informaion must have been lost. An important archeological and historical connection to Christian Gnosticism, and the study of the Tai Chi, can be found in Martin Palmer’s the “Jesus Sutras.” Palmer translates the ‘Gospels’ of Chinese Christians, circa 600 A.D., with a lineage to early Gnostic Christians. Palmer’s work is excellent scholarship and shows how the Tai Chi system is regarded as an underlying philosophy and catalyst for spirit, just like the Sethian Monad.
The Constitution is modeled after an earlier Pythagorean style document, the ancient “Corpus Juris Secondom.” This means the body of the document is designed with an underlying philosophy which is like the Oriental concept of ‘Chi,’ or ‘Ki,’ and this energy from the Monad, generates through the sections or units of the document. This gives the Constitution, an interlockutory feature, which would be known to Sethian Christians, real Pythagoreans, and anyone else who really knows the applications of the Tai Chi. The ‘spirit’ of the Constitution as such is that to provide freedom from enumerated rights.
The Constitution serves as the Monad, in the enumertion of rights. The ‘Monad in Form’ or Constitution provides the guidence or right to freedom for the Exevutive, Judicial, and Legislative branches of the government, as well as the people. This arrangement is meant to create a balance of power and at its best harmony. Sethian Christians, and Pythagoreans would know that to show the Law, you must also show this harmony. In other words to show the law or right, you must show that the law making units of the government are in agreement, in this case the Judicial and Legislative branches.
A right that can be established by both the Judicial and Legislative branches from the Constitution, I will call a “Law of the Land Right.”
A “Law of the Lan Right” is established by defining the particular ‘right’ by presenting the Constitutional mandate, with ‘stare decisis’ of court decisions, and/or Legislative acts, mostly from the United States Code, and valid sources of case law.
Stare decisis: (To stand by things that have been settled.) The doctrine under which courts adhere to precedent on the questions of law in order to insure certainty, consistency, and stability in the administration of justice with departure from precedent permitted for compelling reasons, ( as to prevent the perpetration of injustice). (”Webster’s Dictionary of Law,” Webster, 1996, p. 467) { Similar to ‘Res Judicata,’ or, ‘what has been decided before, and considered final.’ Usually pertaining to a single case.}
Stare decisis presents ‘primary cases of law,’ or Case Law that determine the general aim of a law in regard to Constitutionality. Case law; is ”law established by judicial decisions in cases, as distinguished from law created by legislation.” (Webster,Ibid. p. 67.) Legislative acts that are passed by process become statutes. ”A statute is a law made by the legislative branch of the government.” Constitutional law, is ”a body of statutory and case law that is based on, concerns or interprets of the constitution.” Webster, Ibid, p. 469. 470.)
This method employs the ‘rule of law,’ with a combination of Acts, and ‘coded law,’ from the Constitution, the Legislature, and the Judicial branches of the government. This is to clarify, and define a method so a particular ‘right’ is recognized as one that should be ‘legally’ protected by ‘all’ through the ‘rule of law.’
Establishing a “Law of the Land” Right
The ‘rule of law,’ in its most basic form, is the principle that no one is above the law. The rule follows logically from the idea that truth and therefore law, is based upon fundamental principles which can be discovered, but which cannot be created through an act of will. (Wikipedia)
American Law is based from the Legislative standpoint of the Senatorial forums of past civilizations. The Judicial branch is from similar past forums and texts of those bodies. These forums borrowed largely from Pythagorean methods, the “Coups Juris Secondom,” is one example.
The philosophy of the ‘American Right,’ is bound in a system where the premise of the philosophy is that the Constitution should provide a free republic, and liberal democracy. these are bound to the understanding of all its citizens, through the Constitution. This is supplemented by the “United States Code,” and the “Corpus Juris Secondom,” as a trust of the Judicial branch to preserve in writing the Law.
The Constitution is still the ‘root’ of all these texts, and must through declaration fuel them all. It provides the basis in different forms of mandates. Jon Roland, author of “Presumption of Nonauthority and Unenumerated Rights,” explains how clues indicate mandates.
“One of the clues is found in the fact that some “rights” are expressed as declarations, and some as restrictions on delegated powers. From this we can discern that in the Constitution and its amendments, public action is partitioned into delegated powers of government and rights against the positive acts of government. Constitutional rights are rights against public action by public officials. Therefore, we might more precisely call them “immunities”, as they are called in the FourteenthAmendment. Immunities are the complement of delegated powers: Every delegated power is a restriction on immunities, and every immunity is a restriction on delegated powers. Thus, a constitutional right, or immunity, can be expressed either as a declaration, or as a restriction on a power. The two modes of expression represent different ways of expressing the same concept.” (Jon Roland) http://www.constitution.org/9ll/schol/pnur.htm
It is from the formulation of rights expressed as immunities or protections that the “Law of the Land” formula works. Establishing a right is based upon the duality of what rights can be given, and what can be denied. Declarations, restrictions, delegated powers, protections, and immunities are defined through the combination of official sources of describing the Law concerning these issues. A “Law of the Land” right is virtually triangulated with the ‘right’ with the relative sources in the full ‘body’ of the law. These sources are primarily the United States Code, (USC), and the Corpus Juris Secondom, (CJS), and the U.S. Constitution.
“The United States Code (U.S.C.) is a compilation and codification of the general and permanent federal law of the United States.” (Wikipedia) Each State has an equivalent.
The ‘CJS’ is an authoritative 20th century American legal encyclopedia that provides a clear statement of each area of law including areas of the law that are evolving and provides footnoted citations to case law and other primary sources of law. Named after the 6th century Corpus Juris Civilis of Emperor Justinian I of the Byzantine Empire, the first codification of Roman law and civil law. (The name Corpus Juris literally means “body of the law”; Secundum denotes the second edition of the encyclopedia, which was originally issued as Corpus Juris by the American Law Book Company.) (Ibid.)
By Pythagorean design the trinity of the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches of the government can be made a tetrad of Executive, Judicial, Legislative, and Americans. This design is so if the ‘government’ fails to do its job in protecting the Constitution, the people can still retain power to enforce the mandates and protections. This means that a mutual nexus of power can be shared. This is to make sure all parties understand and perform their required duties.
A judge who violates the Constitution, is by law committing treason…a judge does not fully comply with the Constitution, then his orders are void, in re: Sawyer, 124 U.S. 200 (1888), he/she is without jurisdiction, & he/she has engaged in an act or acts of Treason. I’ve always contended that a Congressman, Indian Chiefs, all the way to a ‘Road Kill Picker,’ has a civic responsibility to alignment with Constitutional standards. The point of aligning both Constitutional mandates, and case law is to establish rights, which can be seen as ‘Law of the Land’ rights, that it would be treason for a judge to deny.
The basis for establishing a Law of the Land Right, is to establish a fact of Law. In other words a Law of the Land right is like a verification of the ‘yardstick’ measurement mentioned above. A Law of the Land Right, is a concrete, like 36 inches, and three feet, are a yard.
Several “Law of the Land” examples have been compiled below in order to establish both the fundamental Constitutional protections, and reveal the method of establishing a ‘right’ by using the method. My examples can be expanded , and other rights can be established with the following method.
1. Protection from laws that plunder life, liberty, and property, both individual and collective.
2. The right to security in your home, family, and papers.
3. The right of free speech, and free expression.
4. The right to be free from unreasonable searches.
5. The safety net of judicial warrant requirements, and habeas corpus.
6. The right of free assembly, and association.
7. The right to a trial by a jury of your peers in a system of due process.
8. Reasonable bail and recourse for false arrest, and the right to redress grievances.
9. Protection from cruel and unusual punishment.
10. The right to own private property over the right of the ‘government’ to ‘steal’ it.
1. Protection from Laws that Plunder Life, Liberty, and Property.
Constitutional, and Legislative Statutes, Case Law:
Article One, Section, Nine, and Ten of the United States Constitution states that “No Bill of Attainder, or Ex-Post Facto Law” shall be passed. Under the United States Code, Article One, Sections Nine, Clause Three.
The United States Code, Article One, Section Nine provides the legal cases and establishes the following declarative judgments. These are the cases of stare decisis for bills of attainder, used to define the term in the United States Code.
U.S. v. Brown, 381 U.S. 437, 448-49 (1956), ”What are known at common law as bills of pains and penalties, are outlawed by the ”bill of attainder” clause.”
Communist Party of U.S. v. Subversive Activities Control Board, (1961). ”The singling out of an individual for legislatively prescribed punishment constitutes a bill of attainder whether the individual is called by name or described in terms of conduct which because of its past conduct operates only as a designation of particular persons.”
U.S. v. Lovett, (1946). Legislative acts, no matter what their form, that apply to either named individuals or easily ascertainable members of a group in such a way as to inflict punishment without a judicial trial, are bills of attainder under this clause.
Cummings v. Missouri (1867), states, “A bill of attainder, is a legislative act which inflicts punishment without judicial trial and includes any legislative act which takes away the life, liberty or property of a particular named or easily ascertainable person or group of persons because the legislature thinks them guilty of conduct which deserves punishment.” (Cited in the United States Code, as defining cases, Art. 1 Se.9, U. S. C.)
Re: Yung See Hee, 36 F. 437, (1888) Supports that the doctrine of pains and penalties as punishment without trial, is inclusive as a bill of attainder.
The following is a list of cases that may also be used as case law sources in bill of attainder actions.
See; Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, 433 U.S. 425, 468-84, (1977) This case reveals the use of eminent domain, when the Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had the right ownership of papers that were confiscated from his belongings. See also; McFarland v. American Sugar refining Co., 241, U.S. 79, 85-86, (1915) Note: This case deals with ‘pains and penalties’ as bills of attainder.) Losier v. Sherman, 157 Kan 153,138 p 2nd 272, 273. State v. Graves, 352 Mo. 1102, 182 S.W. 2nd 46, 54. United States v. Lovett, 328 U.S. 303, 315-16, (1946). Bennis v. Michigan, 517 U.S. 1163 (1996) Note: This is an asset forfeiture case where the accused lost the family car when the husband was caught soliciting a prostitute. Ex Parte Garland, 71 U.S. 333, 374 (1867). FORETICH v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, OFFICE OF THE MAYOR (12/16/03 – No. 02-5224) Congress violated the constitutional prohibition against bills of attainder by singling out plaintiff for legislative punishment. In enacting the Elizabeth Morgan Act, Congress determined that plaintiff is a criminal child abuser and singled him out for punishment on that basis, targeting him for application of the Act’s unique child custody standard. Pierce v. Carskaden, 83 U.S. 234, 239, (1877).
Law of the Land:
The “Law of the Land” in the case of laws that plunder life, liberty, and property would suggest that a ‘Bill of Attainder’ is a law or legal device that outlaws people, suspends their civil liberties, confiscates their property, punishes or puts them to death without a trial. (Saunders, United States Commission on Civil Rights, case No. CC# 93-1-1037.) The passing of asset forfeiture laws, and other laws that plunder life, liberty and property, can be seen as a breach of the Ninth Amendment, ”The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” Before the ruling of the Court in Calero-Toledo, asset forfeiture did not exist in its current form.
2. The Right to Security in your Home, Family, and Papers.
Constitutional, and Legislative Statutes, Case Law:
The protection of home, ‘family,’ and papers is stated in the 4th Amendment: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
In United States criminal law, probable cause refers to the standard by which a police officer has the right to make an arrest, conduct a personal or property search or obtain a warrant. It is also used to refer to the standard to which a grand jury believes that a crime has been committed. This term comes from the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution: (Wikipedia)
In the context of warrants, the Oxford Companion to American Law defines probable cause as “information sufficient to warrant a prudent person’s belief that the wanted individual had committed a crime (for an arrest warrant) or that evidence of a crime or contraband would be found in a search (for a search warrant).” “Probable cause” is a stronger standard of evidence than a reasonable suspicion, but weaker than what is required to secure a criminal conviction. Even hearsay can supply probable cause if it is from a reliable source or is supported by other evidence. (Ibid.)
The Supreme Court decision Illinois v. Gates (1983) lowered the threshold of probable cause by ruling that a “substantial chance” or “fair probability” of criminal activity could establish probable cause. A better-than-even chance is not required.
The decision in Terry v. Ohio (1968) established seizures may be made in reasonable cause if the officer believes a crime has been committed or soon will be committed.
In United States v. Matlock, 415 U. S. 164 (1974), the Court announced the “co-occupant consent rule” which permits one resident to consent in the co-occupant’s absence. The case established that an officer who makes a search with a reasonable belief that the search was consented to by a resident does not have to provide a probable cause for the search. However, in Georgia v. Randolph, 126 S. Ct. 1515 (2006) the Supreme Court ruled, when officers are presented with a situation wherein two parties, each having authority to grant consent to search premises they share, but one objects over the other’s consent, the of?cers must adhere to the wishes of the non-consenting party.[1]
New Jersey v. T. L. O. (1985) set a special precedent for searches of students at school. The Court ruled that school officials act as state officers when conducting searches, and do not require probable cause to search students’ belongings, only reasonable suspicion.
Law of the Land:
Americans are protected by the Law of the Land in that; “All jurisdictions with a rule of law and a right to privacy put constraints on the rights of police investigators, and typically require search warrants, or an equivalent procedure, for searches within a criminal enquiry.” (Wikipedia)
3. The Right of Free Speech, and Free Expression.
Constitutional, and Legislative Statutes, Case Law:
The right to free speech and expression is in the 1st Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
“The principle of free thought is not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought we hate.” US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in United States v. Schwimmer (1929). (Wikipedia)
Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726, 1978. George Carlin’s monologue “filthy words” (listing the “seven dirty words” in a variety of contexts and colloquialisms ) because “vulgar,” “offensive” and “shocking” was properly subject to time, place, and manner regulation and could be played only late at night when the possibility that children were listening was vastly reduced. The First Amendment protection available to broadcast media is the most limited because “of the uniquely pervasive presence that medium of expression occupies in the lives of our people. Broadcasts extend into the privacy of the home and it is impossible completely to avoid those that are patently offensive.”
The fighting words doctrine, in United States constitutional law, is a limitation to freedom of speech as granted in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. In its 9-0 decision, Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942), the U.S. Supreme Court established the doctrine and held that “insulting or ‘fighting words’, those that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace” are among the “well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech [which] the prevention and punishment of…have never been thought to raise any constitutional problem.” (Wikipedia)
The United States has constitutional protection for freedom of speech, which is not interpreted to protect every utterance. The Supreme Court has found that, when used in the context of the First Amendment, the word “obscenity” is usually limited to content that directly refers to explicit sexual acts that are publicly accessible, though it has at times encompassed other subject matters, such as spoken and written language that can be publicly transmitted and received by the general public. (Ibid.)
“First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.”-Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Ashcroft V. Free Speech Coalition
Law of the Land:
Freedom of speech is the concept of being able to speak freely without censorship. It is often regarded as an integral concept in modern liberal democracies. The right to freedom of speech is guaranteed under international law through numerous human rights instruments, notably under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. (Wikipedia)
4. The Right to be Free from Unreasonable Searches, and Seizures.
Constitutional, and Legislative Statutes, Case Law:
The right to be free from unreasonable searches is found in the 4th Amendment, which states and secures…… “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the
persons or things to be seized.”
Stopping a car at a roadblock is a seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 809-10 (1996); Michigan Dept. of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444, 450 (1990).
The illegality of pretentious road stops has been upheld in cases like, United States v. Huguenin, 154 F.3d 547, 554-55 (6th Cir. 1998); United States v. Morales-Zamora, 974 F.2d 149 (10th Cir. 1992); Galberth v. United States, 590 A.2d 990 (D.C. 1991), and Wilson v. Commonwealth, 509 S.E.2d 540 (Va. App. 1999), which held them illegal, upon the final decision of Palmer v. Indianapolis.
A search warrant must particularly describe the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized in regard to private property. See; Andresen v. Maryland, 427 U.S. 463, 480, 49 L. Ed. 2d 627, 96 S. Ct. 2737 (1976) (internal quotation marks omitted); Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 467, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 2038, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971); see generally Stanford v. Texas, 379 U.S. 476, 481-85, 13 L. Ed. 2d 431, 85 S. Ct. 506 (1965) (describing history and purpose of particularity requirement). A sufficiently particular warrant describes the items to be seized in such a manner that it leaves nothing to the discretion of the officer executing the warrant. See Marron v. United States, 275 U.S. 192, 196, 72 L. Ed. 231, 48 S. Ct. 74 (1927). http://www.robertslaw.org/4thamend.htm
The Fourth Amendment safeguards “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” In reading the Amendment, the court is guided by “the traditional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures afforded by the common law at the time of the framing,” Wilson v. Arkansas, 514 U.S. 927, 931, 115 S.Ct. 1914, 131 L.Ed.2d 976 (1995), (Ibid.)
Law of the Land:
Americans are protected by the ‘Law of the Land’ right from the abuse of unreasonable searches, and seizures under the Fourth Amendment in both their homes, private and public property.
5. The Safety Net of Judicial Warrant Requirements, and Habeas Corpus.
Constitutional, and Legislative Statutes, Case Law:
Due process, meaning a fair and impartial process, is guaranteed by the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments.
Amendment 5 – Trial and Punishment, Compensation for Takings
“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
The 14th Amendment states: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
2.) Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
3.) No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
4.) The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
5.) The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
The reach of habeas corpus is currently being tested in the United States. Oral arguments on a consolidated Guantanamo bay detention camp detainee habeas corpus petition, Al Odah v. United States are being heard by the Supreme Court of the United States on December 5, 2007. (Ibid).
Law of the Land:
Americans are protected by the “Law of the Land” from unjust prosecution, without due process, habeas corpus, or any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of any citizen of the United States.
6. The Right of Free Assembly, and Association.
Constitutional, and Legislative Statutes, Case Law:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Freedom of association is a human right and concept in constitutional law based on the premise that it is the right of free adults to mutually choose their associates for whatever purpose they see fit. (Wikipedia)
The Supreme Court has found the Constitution to protect the freedom of association in two cases:
1. Intimate Associations. A fundamental element of personal liberty is the right to choose to enter into and maintain certain intimate human relationships. These intimate human relationships are known as “intimate associations.” The paradigmatic “intimate association” is the family.
2. Expressive Associations. Expressive associations are groups that engage in activities protected by the First Amendment-speech, assembly, petitioning government for a redress of grievances, and the free exercise of religion. (Ibid.)
“It is illegal in the United States to consider race in the making and enforcement of private contracts other than marriage or taking affirmative action. This limitation of freedom of association results from Section 1981 of Title 42 of the Civil Rights Act, as weighed against the First Amendment according to the court decision Runyon v. McCrary.” (Ibid.) (See also: “The Rave Act”)
CIVIL RIGHTS CASES, 109 U.S. 3 (1883) See; U.S. v. Stanley. U.S, v. Ryan, U.S. v. Nichols, U.S. v. Singleton, ROBINSON and wife v. MEMPHIS & CHARLESTON R. CO. Note: The nexus formed by combining these cases make them as a group or as separate cases, all relative to showing ‘stare decisis’ in their context.
‘Section 1. That all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement; subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law, and applicable alike to citizens of every race and color, regardless of any previous condition of servitude.
‘Sec. 2. That any person who shall violate the foregoing section by denying to any citizen, except for reasons by law applicable to citizens of every race and color, and regardless of any previous condition of servitude, the full enjoyment of any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, or privileges in said section enumerated, or by aiding or inciting such denial, shall, for every such offense, forfeit and pay the sum of $500 to the person aggrieved thereby, to be recovered in an action of debt, with full costs; and shall, also, for every such offense, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than $500 nor more than $1,000, or shall be imprisoned not less than 30 days nor more than one year: Provided, that all persons may elect to sue for the penalty aforesaid, or to proceed under their rights at common law and by state statutes; and having so elected to proceed in the one mode or the other, their right to proceed in the other jurisdiction shall be barred. But this provision shall not apply to criminal proceedings, either under this act or the criminal law of any state: And provided, further, that a judgment for the penalty in favor of the party aggrieved, or a judgment upon an indictment, shall be a bar to either prosecution respectively.’
Law of the Land:
The ‘Law of the Land” provides that every citizen be granted free and equal enjoyment of any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, or privileges offered by the general public, within the limits of the established laws.
7. The Right to a Trial by a Jury of your peers in a system of Due Process.
Constitutional, and Legislative Statutes, Case Law:
Trial by Jury, Original Jurisdiction, Jury Trials is protected under Article Three, Section 2., of the U. S. Constitution.
“The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority; to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; to Controversies between two or more States; between a State and Citizens of another State; between Citizens of different States; between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.” (This section in parentheses is modified by the 11th Amendment.) (Ibid. Appendix A.)
The 11th Amendment states: “The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.” (Ibid.)
The courts are mandated to assess constitutionality in proceedings from the decision in Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24. Held: In 28 U. S. C. §2254 proceedings, a federal court must assess the prejudicial impact of constitutional error in a state-court criminal trial under Brecht’s “substantial and injurious effect” standard, whether or not the state appellate court recognized the error and reviewed it for harmlessness under the “harmless beyond a reasonable doubt” standard.” (See also; Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U. S. 619, 631). The Sixth Amendment right to a speedy public trial, is upheld in Klopfer v. North Carolina, 386 U.S. 213 (1967). (See; Sixth Amend.)
Law of the Land:
The United States Constitution recognizes the right to a jury trial to be a fundamental civil liberty or civil right. A jury trial is a legal proceeding in which a jury either makes a decision or makes findings which are then applied by a judge. It is to be distinguished from a bench trial where a judge or panel of judges make all decisions. (Ibid.)
8. Reasonable Bail and Recourse for False Arrest, and the Right to Redress Grievances.
Constitutional, and Legislative Statutes, Case Law:
The 8th Amendment states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” “An important part of the American political tradition (guaranteed by the First Amendment) is the right of the people to petition the government for redress of grievances. An example of the federal governments approval of grievance mediation is the fact that the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service makes it’s Commissioners available to the Labor/Management community at no charge for grievance mediation.” (Wikipedia)
A police officer, or a person authorized by a jurisdiction’s police powers act, may arrest anyone whom the officer has reasonable and probable cause to believe has committed any criminal offence. However, in the case of a misdemeanour, summary conviction offence, or non-criminal offence (such as a municipal by-law offence) the officer may arrest the suspect only long enough to identify the suspect and give the suspect a summons to appear in court, unless there is reason to believe he or she will not appear in answer to the summons. (Wikipedia)
Chapter 42 Section 1983. Civil action for deprivation of rights: (See also: Title 18, U.S.C., Section 241 – Conspiracy Against Rights)
“Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.” (Ibid. USC)
The United States government provides that complaints regarding violations of civil rights be addressed to the, Criminal Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, P.O. Box 66018, Washington, D.C. 20035-6018.
Torry Smith and Patricia Gray v. City of Oakland, et al. Case Number: C 05 04045 EMC
Torry Smith and Patricia Gray sued the City of Oakland and others on a civil rights violation theory, 42 U.S.C. 1983, claiming that the Oakland police violated their civil rights when they went into their home and falsely arrested him on charges that he had a rifle.
Law of the Land;
The Law of the Land provides that every citizen be protected from excessive bail, and shall be granted the right to redress grievances in a prescribed manner.
9. Protection from Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
Constitutional, and Legislative Statutes, Case Law
The 8th Amendment cites, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
In Furman v. Georgia (1972), Justice Brennan wrote, “There are, then, four principles by which we may determine whether a particular punishment is ‘cruel and unusual’.”
a.. The “essential predicate” is “that a punishment must not by its severity be degrading to human dignity,” especially torture.
b.. “A severe punishment that is obviously inflicted in wholly arbitrary fashion.”
c.. “A severe punishment that is clearly and totally rejected throughout society.”
d.. “A severe punishment that is patently unnecessary.”
Continuing, he wrote that he expected that no state would pass a law obviously violating any one of these principles, so court decisions regarding the Eighth Amendment would involve a “cumulative” analysis of the implication of each of the four principles. (Wikipedia)
Law of the Land:
The ‘Law of the Land’ provides that Americans shall be protected from torture, abuse mental and physical, and shall not be punished in excess for violations of the law, and shall be provided due process.
10. The Right to own Private Property over the Right of the ‘Government’ to ‘steal’ it.
Constitutional, and Legislative Statutes, Case Law
The 5th Amendment states:
“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
In effect the United States government has passed laws which allow the confiscation of property by asset forfeiture, in the criminal courts, and eminent domain in civil courts. See: Calero-Toledo v. Pearson Yacht Leasing Co., 416 U.S. 663, 683 (1974) , and Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005)
Law of the Land:
Americans have virtually been denied the right to own private property, above the right of the U.S. government to use civil, and criminal means to take it. By allowing the courts, and legislatures both in civil and criminal proceedings to take private property since the ‘Calero-Toledo,’ and ‘Kelo’ decisions, no Ninth Amendment consideration has been given to the ‘right’ of the American citizen to own and retain his private property.
The ten examples above should be enough for anyone to be able to establish other rights with this method. Whether or not the Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution understood the Sethian Christian method of the Monad, is not likely. However, I have shown above how it can be used by a Sethian Christian, to show the ‘spirit’ of freedom, that does exist for all citizens who seek it.
Related:
The Philosophy of American Rights
Jesus and the Constitution
Basic History of Sethian Gnosticsm
Prayers and Reflections 