bleechers's Blog

Americans are driving less... the decrease in demand has helped hold prices steady... but one group that doesn't care about supply, demand or your wallet wants its cut of the pie increased. You see, this group has no competition, responds to no market and has the power of absolute law behind them... Congress:

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Despite calls from the presidential campaign trail for a Memorial Day-to-Labor Day tax freeze, lawmakers quickly concluded — with a prod from the construction industry — that having $9 billion less to spend on highways could create a pre-election specter of thousands of lost jobs.

Now, lawmakers quietly are talking about raising fuel taxes by a dime from the current 18.4 cents a gallon on gasoline and 24.3 cents on diesel fuel. …

Oberstar, D-Minn., said his committee is working on the next long-term highway bill. He estimated it will take between $450 billion and $500 billion over six years to address safety and congestion issues with highways, bridges and transit systems.

“We’ll put all things on the table,” Oberstar said, but the gas tax “is the cornerstone. Nothing else will work without the underpinning of the higher user fee gas tax.”

ScienceDaily (July 17, 2008) — Research by a Valparaiso University geography professor and his students on the creation of Kankakee Sand Islands of Northwest Indiana is lending support to evidence that the first humans to settle the Americas came from Europe, a discovery that overturns decades of classroom lessons that nomadic tribes from Asia crossed a Bering Strait land-ice bridge. Valparaiso is a member of the Council on Undergraduate Research...

Yet [this new research] also supports research showing that North American Clovis points – a particular type of arrowhead that represents the oldest manmade object on the continent –identically match arrowheads found in Europe and made by humans at approximately the same time. And just within the last year, new research has provided strong evidence that a large meteorite struck the ice sheet covering North American and melted much of the ice shortly before the formation of the Kankakee Sand Islands [IN].

“Our research at Valparaiso supports this other recent research because it indicates there wasn’t a massive ice sheet covering North America that would have allowed tribes to cross over from Asia via a Bering Strait land-ice bridge,” Dr. Janke said.

Your Congress at Work:

“Let me tell you why it’s so wrong, It’s so wrong because in these situations . . . that 6-year-old is going to sit in front of me, or somebody far worse than me and I’m going to rip them apart. I’m going to make sure that the rest of their life is ruined. That when they’re 8 years old they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they won’t sleep. When they’re 19 years old they’ll have nightmares and they’ll never have a relationship with anybody. And that’s not because I’m a nice guy. That’s because when you’re in court, and you’re defending somebody’s liberty, and you’re facing a mandatory sentence of those draconian proportions, you have to do every single thing you can do on behalf of your client. That is your obligation as a trial lawyer.”

Another Demand for "Protection Money"

It is a lawyer’s job to defend his client the best he can, granted. That’s his “obligation” no matter what the sentence may or may not be. This is insane. In arguing against mandatory sentencing (in this case 20 years for CHILD RAPE), this lawyer is telling us that such sentences FORCE him to DESTROY children (children who have been victims of rape). So, again, society is being threatened that if we do not give in to the demands of lawyers (pick your group) they will be forced to wreak havoc upon us.

In my world we called that “protection money.” In this case, the “money” is going to some lawyer congressman in the form of reduced sentences because he doesn’t like mandatory sentences for CHILD RAPISTS. He is saying in essence “Oppose this law or I’ll destroy child rape victims!” Lovely.

UPDATE: The leftists on the Supreme Court joined their colleague in the House by voting 5-4 that the state has no right to seek the death penalty for brutal, horrible child rape unless the child dies.

"The Supreme Court today, in Kennedy v. Louisiana, found that the Eighth Amendment bars the death sentence of a man who brutally raped his 8-year-old stepdaughter, causing traumatic physical injury (decency doesn't permit quoting here the Court's discussion of the facts on p. 2 of its opinion), to say nothing of the emotional trauma. The decision was 5-4, with Justice Kennedy writing the opinion joined by the Court's liberal bloc."

Apparently there is great concern in some quarters for the rights of brutal, vicious child rapists.

Washington Post: Pardon the sarcasm. But given Mr. Obama's earlier pledge to "aggressively pursue" an agreement with the Republican nominee to accept public financing, his effort to cloak his broken promise in the smug mantle of selfless dedication to the public good is a little hard to take.

New York Times: Thursday, Fast Eddie Obama had his finest hour. Barack Obama has worked on political reform more than any other issue... In January 2007, he told Larry King that the public-financing system works. In February 2007, he challenged Republicans to limit their spending and vowed to do so along with them if he were the nominee. In February 2008, he said he would aggressively pursue spending limits. He answered a Midwest Democracy Network questionnaire by reminding everyone that he has been a longtime advocate of the public-financing system. But Thursday, at the first breath of political inconvenience, Fast Eddie Obama threw public financing under the truck. In so doing, he probably dealt a death-blow to the cause of campaign-finance reform. And the only thing that changed between Thursday and when he lauded the system is that Obama’s got more money now. And Fast Eddie Obama didn’t just sell out the primary cause of his life. He did it with style.


Change We Can Believe In

After contradicting his promise (and going against the spirit of two bills he co-sponsored in the Senate) concerning public campaign financing... Obama is now rethinking his stance on NAFTA:


--In an interview with Fortune to be featured in the magazine's upcoming issue, the presumptive Democratic nominee backed off his harshest attacks on the free trade agreement and indicated he didn't want to unilaterally reopen negotiations on NAFTA. "Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified," he conceded, after I reminded him that he had called NAFTA "devastating" and "a big mistake," despite nonpartisan studies concluding that the trade zone has had a mild, positive effect on the U.S. economy. Does that mean his rhetoric was overheated and amplified? "Politicians are always guilty of that, and I don't exempt myself," he answered.-- [wsj.com]



Well, maybe there is "hope" is his campaign after all!



UPDATE: Whoops! He may have changed his mind again! It's hard to keep up with the guy's "rock solid beliefs."

Raleigh, NC -- State records obtained by The News & Observer of Raleigh show Gov. Mike Easley's industry-hunting trip to Italy cost more than $170,000. Easley, his wife and a dozen others made the nine-day trip to April. The newspaper reported Thursday the expenses ranged from $590 for two nights in a hotel in Florence, to $61,000 for a daily chauffeured Mercedes for the Easleys.

Tax Dollars at Work

170 Thousand dollars in 9 days... that must have been one heckuva trip! I spent almost twice as long in Italy and can't imagine how they managed to spend that amount.

Insanity. I love NC, but I've also visited Italy. I don't think there is enough here to attract Italians to choose NC as a "tourist" destination. They have fine beaches, excellent ski resorts and don't get me started on museums. Maybe Easley thinks certain items in the Tea Pot Museum can rival Michelangelo's David. Why pay a few Euros to go to Florence when for a few thousand more you can see Sparta, NC?

Maybe the Italians are hungry for some entertainment at the Randy Parton Theater or they're just hankerin' for some Lexington Barbecue. I love good BBQ, but I don't think the Da Vinci airport is packed with BBQ connoisseurs itching to land at PTI. Or maybe it's hard to find a good meal IN ITALY.

I love NC and I'm eternally thankful that my family came to these shores from Italy... but I don't think NC's "tourist sites" are going to register with Italians. NC is the greatest state in the union and an absolutely wonderful place to live... I just think Easley took his own "tourist trip" to Italy (with a dozen of his closest friends) and stuck us with the bill.

Perhaps choosing Italy to sell tourism and food wasn't the greatest idea... but it sure was a lot more fun than visiting Turkmenistan!


Another Way

Hey, Governor, how about making NC more attractive by lowering taxes?

"North Carolina is ranked 40th in the nation by the Tax Foundation in terms of a favorable Business Tax Climate."

Our state income tax is too high. Our sales tax is too high. Our corporate tax rates are the highest in the Southeast.

I'm all for bringing new business to NC, but let's use our brains, OK Mike?


Suggested Trips for the Governor

• A swing over to Norway to sell Beech Mountain skiing.
• Selling Israelis on holy tourist sites along the Billy Graham Parkway.
• Encouraging the Chinese to visit "The Great Wall Along I-85"
• A trip to Montreal to set up a Hurricanes ticket outlet.

I'm sure there's a few hundred grand sitting around somewhere that we don't need to fund these unfailingly profitable ventures.

Kids These Days

My kids and their friends like to use the phrase "that was so random" when someone says something that does not follow the current line of thought. Let's say the group is talking about school (this is hypothetical after all) and one in the group blurts out "I'd like some ice cream," the comment is met with "that was so random!"

But was it "random?"

Actually, no, it was a "Non sequitur." The thought was very much chosen by the speaker and had a defined intent. Had the kid just blurted out the words "ice cream" for no reason, then you might say "that was random."

A "Non sequitur" is something that does not follow. You can equate it with the idea "out of sequence." In logic it can be used of a conclusion that does not follow a premise.

Premise: All basketballs are round.
Premise: Bob's ball is a basketball.
Conclusion: Bob's ball must be round.

That conclusion follows the premises.

Premise: All basketballs are round.
Premise: Bob's ball is a basketball.
Conclusion: Bob's a good dancer.

A "non sequitur" conclusion would be like the one above or even "Bob's house is round." The first is more absurd, but neither follows the argument.

While we're there, you can have a conclusion which does follow the premise, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the conclusion is correct

Premise: All cheese is from the moon.
Premise: Bob has some cheese.
Conclusion: Bob's cheese is from the moon.

The conclusion follows the argument, but it is based on a faulty premise. Even if you get a correct conclusion (based on a premise), that doesn't mean that the whole argument is sound

Premise: All cheese is from Wisconsin.
Premise: Bob has a piece of cheese.
Conclusion: Bob's cheese is from Wisconsin.

The conclusion follows the argument and Bob's cheese may very well be from Wisconsin, but that does not make the premise sound. We cannot point to the conclusion being correct to argue that the premise is sound. In both of the last two examples we have faulty premises, one just happens to lead to a correct conclusion (purely by happenstance).

Lastly, we can have an unsure premise and come to conclusions that cannot be verified.

Premise: The girl who lives in that room is pretty.
Premise: Bob likes pretty girls.
Conclusion: Bob would like the girl in that room.

Well, unless we've established that the girl is indeed pretty, we cannot say whether any of this is correct. It look correct. It sounds correct. We may have to trust somebody's opinion on the first premise. But we cannot draw hard and fast conclusions based on conjecture or pure opinion. And even in Bob's case, how do we know he likes pretty girls?

Sometimes "consensus" can make for a relatively sound argument. Sometimes "preponderance of evidence" can lead to relatively sound conclusion. But these are beyond either pure opinion or pure conjecture.

Premise: Michael Jordan was a great basketball player.
Premise: Bob enjoys watching good basketball.
Conclusion: Bob would enjoy watching Michael Jordan

Not absolute, but we can safely say that if Bob does indeed like basketball, he would enjoy watching Jordan. We cannot be 100% certain of our conclusion, but it is an educated conclusion based on a "consensus" of basketball fans, analysts and players.

Civil trials are based on evidence. A judge or a jury must draw conclusions based on the evidence (premises) presented. In these cases, all we can do is examine the evidence that is available to us and make the least prejudiced decision that we can.

I hope that wasn't too "random."

Corporate Lay-Offs Steady, Yet Unemployment Jumps

Unemployment is up. There are many factors that can affect unemployment. In some cases it is a simple matter of a shift in the economy. Often, however, it is simply a matter of the demand for labor. When the government messes with either side of the equation by trying to direct a free market (thus rendering it less free) bad news is sure to follow.

In the 1970s a statist view of the economy was adopted by both political parties and the government inflicted wage and price controls on us. Disaster. You cannot mess with the free market. Jimmy Carter tried to tax and regulate the US into prosperity. Disaster. 

With unemployment at well over six percent, NAFTA was adopted. Whereas unemployment in some sectors increased (I lost my job at Cone Mills to it), unemployment across the board dropped to historic lows. The demand for labor was so great that we had an influx of labor from across the globe and wages increased. The only people who were working for minimum wage jobs were students and those working part-time jobs.

Minimum Wage, Maximum Unemployment

When you increase the minimum wage, one of two things will happen. If the labor is needed it will put pressure on the price of goods (where laborers eventually find their wage) or if labor is not needed, it will lead to unemployment in that sector of the labor market. In the first case, the increase in inflation will negate any gains made from the wage increase. In the latter, if no one is hiring, it does not  matter what the wage is.
 

The chief economist with BenchMark Financial Network explains it this way:

• Ask yourself a few questions: Why did unemployment surge at a time when unemployment compensation claims are historically low? More to the point, how could unemployment spike this much without a coinciding spike in corporate lay-offs?
• The answer to all of these questions is same: because very few people lost jobs last month. This huge jump in the size of the unemployed comes from new entrants to the economy – hundreds of thousands of them. In short, well over 600,000 people who were not job seekers in April became job seekers in May. And who starts looking for work at the end of Spring? That’s right – students. Hundreds of thousands of students are looking for work right now, and they’re not finding it.
• Congress is to blame. Last year Congressional Democrats (along with some Stockholm-Syndromed Republicans) passed the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, which started a phased hike of the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25. Free market economists warned them that this would increase unemployment – that rapid increases in unemployment compensation hit teens and minorities the hardest. But the class-warriors are running the people’s house now, and they would hear none of that, so they took to the floor, let loose the dogs of demagoguery, and saddled America’s pizza parlors, municipal swimming pools, house painting businesses and lawn mowing services with a huge cost increase.

Ruling By Ideology Over Fact

The Democrats in congress are refusing to drill at home. Even as the Republican House Leader begs them to consider yet another domestic drilling bill, they open their ears and pockets to the environmental lobby and ignore the needs of the nation. But in the last two years, they did manage to radically increase the minimum wage. Whoop-de-do.

These simpletons probably believe that we can just magically set, by force of law, the price of gallon of gas at $1.50/gal and all will be well (a "maximum price" for the "minimum wage"?). Obama speaks of “oil industry price gouging” yet he can produce no evidence. This is all dangerous politicking. Handing out minimum wage increases that hurt the people who will buy the hype and demonizing the industries that deliver the products we demand.

Government does nothing to get the gasoline to your tank, yet they profit from every gallon to the tune of 40-60 cents! They cry against tobacco yet they profit more than the tobacco companies who do all the work. Pharmaceutical companies spend billions to bring humanity the greatest advances in medicine the world has ever known, and now leftists like Clinton and Obama are threatening them with a government takeover

As We Walk Into Slavery

The Congress is either utterly ignorant of economics or woefully sold out to a left wing, anti-American agenda that will lead to ruin. As you’ve probably guessed, I believe it’s a powerful combination of the two. They want to tell you how to live, where to live, how to raise your children, what to drive and where and when to go to the doctor. It’s a form of slavery and we willingly sit back and hand them our lives.

Next time you are seduced by the carrot of government-mandated wage hikes or promises of “free” this or that, know that the carrot is tied to a very large stick. Another name for that stick is a “whipping switch.”

A Foolish Call for a Boycott

There is an email floating around suggesting that we all stop buying gas from Exxon/Mobil. The theory is based on the economic force found in supply and demand. The hope is that if demand for Exxon gas plummets, the company will be forced to lower its price thus leading to a “price war.” The email promises $2.00/gal gas by year’s end.

Unfortunately, as with many things, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

What is left out of the equation is economic reality:

1) RAW MATERIAL COST - The demand for Exxon’s product will have no effect on demand for the product itself. That is, people will still be driving demand for oil/gasoline so there will be no pressure put on the raw material. No “glut” will be created and hence no pressure for the price of oil to come down. The oil companies cannot lower their prices below their cost of production (raw material + shipping + refining + shipping again + overhead + taxes, etc.). There is a floor to the price at the pump.

2) DEMAND WILL FOLLOW IMMEDIATELY - Even if Exxon did drop their price, as soon as they did, demand would quickly shift back to Exxon and the price would creep back to industry standard levels. If the other companies are charging $4/gal and Exxon drops to $3.90 to increase demand, customers will rush to Exxon. Exxon will then continue to raise the price slowly to again make its product profitable. Exxon would not start the drop at $2/gal.

The absolute worst thing that could happen from a boycott would be for Exxon Mobil to go bankrupt. That would accomplish nothing (except unemployment) and we’d have one less company in the market competing for customers.

What the market can do (and is doing) is to lower overall demand. SUV sales are markedly down while hybrid sales are on the rise. The market forces the oil companies to give us cleaner products. Go into the oil aisle at Wal-Mart. There are oil formulas that far exceed anything available just a few years ago. That is what the market does. The more oil companies competing for our dollars, the better. Even if they can't change the cost of raw materials, they can compete in other areas (quality, variety, service, etc.).

Boycott the Government's Promises

If the government takes over the oil companies (as Maxine Waters is threatening), the product, the service and the advancements will decay as competition is eliminated. And as the government can do nothing about the international oil market, the price would still be $4/gal. Mismanagement would actually increase the cost (not to mention the economic impact of the resulting collapse of the stock market).

The only thing government can do is to get out of the way of the market and encourage US industry. Let us drill at home, let us build refineries at home, let us build nuclear power plants at home and let us use the US’s abundant coal supplies. That would put pressure on the raw material by lowering demand and lowering the cost of production. The market will naturally react. If Shell can keep the same profit-margin at $3/gal that is has at $4/gal, the price will drop.

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER," and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.

– Thomas Paine (The American Crisis – 1776)

Thomas Paine

When Thomas Paine wrote “The American Crisis” he saw the enemy of liberty as did all the great men of his generation: a government seizing power and conferring upon itself unlimited rights to tax and to bind. Today the word “crisis” is being used by those with quite a different view of liberty and government.

When you hear the word “crisis” attached to anything, grab your children, your property, your wallet and your freedoms for the government will soon be coming to “bind” you. We hear of the “health care crisis” and the “gas crisis” and the “environmental crisis.” All of these are followed by calls for us to abandon our lives and liberties to a central government entity.

Great Men and Women Rise Up Instead of Giving Up

Economies, societies, markets and ecology ebb and flow. Tyrants look to either an ebb or to a flow and seize upon fears to grab power. The Popes in Europe, Napoleon in France, Lenin in Russia, Mussolini in Italy, Hitler in Germany, Mao in China, Ho Chi Mihn in Vietnam, the Ayatollah in Iran… all centralized power by playing on unwarranted fears and promises of Nirvana.

American greatness has always been built upon the idea that a crisis brings out the best in the individual. Necessity drove men and women to achieve great feats of technical, philosophical or societal advancement. The threat of international tyranny called men and women to sacrifice all for the protection of liberty. Today, it is easier to sit back and cede power to politicians promising the impossible. Tough times no longer lead to greatness and independence, today they lead to cowardice and dependency.

Government Responds Only to Government

If not for Fed-Ex and UPS do any of us believe for one moment that the USPS on its own would respond to the citizenry? What if all mail delivery was nationalized. Do you believe that mail delivery would get better or worse? Cheaper or more expensive? More private or more open to government intrusion?

Already we see SUV sales down and every car maker is rushing to build and sell hybrids. The influx of Japanese cars in the 70s forced Detroit to build a better product. Quality has soared as prices have remained steady or even fallen in many areas. We must learn to trust liberty and freedom.

We face a number of crises in our day. If we lose our patience with markets and the advances that come when liberty is allowed to flourish and cede our lives over to the government, we shall have ignored the lessons of history and shall have willingly entered into slavery.

The government will not only tax all that we have at will, they shall “bind us in all cases whatsoever.”

The "Boys" of Summer

When I was a kid there was girl who played baseball in the league for 10-year-olds in my township (PA). She pitched and was pretty good. Of course, no boy wanted to fail or appear inferior to her, but that was only natural. No woman wants to be upstaged by a man in a field generally dominated by women either.

We all marked the game against her team on our schedules and we all wondered if she would pitch. She (Pam) was treated with respect. Even at the age of 10 we could recognize talent and appreciate it. My team won the championship that season, but I would have traded many of our guys for Pam's arm. She could throw strikes with consistency. Not too many boys could say that.

I never questioned her "right" (perhaps too strong a word, but somehow appropriate) to play in our league. I never thought less of her as a girl. I would have been pleased to have her on my team... but I still understood the implications tangled up in a boy's world invaded by a girl.


My Day Had Finally Come

Pam had been playing baseball since we were eight. We didn't have "T-ball" or "Coach pitch" leagues in my day. We did our own pitching. From the first time she stepped on the field, Pam wanted to pitch. We were not on the same team for those first two years of organized ball, but I never had to face Pam. That day didn't come until I was ten.

Pam pitched for the Pirates and I played for the Twins. I played shortstop and batted third. In our first game against the Pirates, Pam did not pitch. In our second game she did not start the game, but she came in relief to face me. We had runners on second and third as I watched Pam warm up. It was at that moment that the reality of facing a "girl" pitcher suddenly dawned on me. Until then, her presence in our league was merely a curious footnote in my season.

Wow, I was about to face a girl pitcher in a moment that mattered! This wasn't just any at-bat; people would note this moment. Other guys in meaningless moments could strike out against Pam and have their K quickly forgotten. I didn't have that luxury. Field 3 in Plymouth Township morphed in my brain into Veterans Stadium (located in nearby Philadelphia) complete with its sixty thousand pairs of critical eyes.

As that odd quiet that accompanies a relief pitcher's warm-up tosses gave way to cheers I sauntered towards the plate spinning my bat alternately with each arm. I'd never done that before, but my usual confidence had been displaced with a weird sort of nervous swagger. I had always been conscious of the game situation when I stepped into the batter's box, but that day I suddenly only cared that "Pam the Girl" was pitching and every eye was on me.


Whew!

I wasn't thinking about the game, I didn't care who was on base. I just wanted to be sure that I succeeded to any degree. I wasted no time and took Pam's first pitched and lined it off the chain-link fence in left field; a double. I stood on second base and let out a huge sigh of relief; the most gender-specific moment of my young life had come and had passed favorably (as I viewed it).

I never wanted to go through that again and I never did. We were done with the Pirates and when the season ended Pam was done with baseball. As most of us moved up to the next level of baseball Pam went on to dominate Plymouth's softball league.

I'm better off for having lived through our encounter on the diamond. Pam taught me that in any field, talent is what matter most. Her desire to push herself was to my profit as well. Even if she hadn't been as good as she was, if she wanted to test her mettle against the boys, as long as her safety wasn't at risk, why shouldn't she have that opportunity? Both boys and girls can learn a lot from another kid wanting to test his or her limits.

Those Who Neglect History...

Growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia I was guaranteed annual trips to places like Independence Hall and the Franklin Institute, The names Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Dickinson and especially Franklin were ever-present in my world. I became of student of the Revolution and, more precisely, of the Revolutionary generation.

I was excited in 2000 when I moved with my family to a neighborhood adjacent to the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. I spent my first birthday in our new home with my daughter Brooklyn soaking up all the park had to offer. We walked where those rag-tag and maligned soldiers and their great leader, General Greene, handed Cornwallis a costly victory.

History does not rightly honor what happened on that battlefield. It was the bravery of those colonists and their willingness to stand up to the might of the British that sent Cornwallis scurrying to his eventual demise at Yorktown.

I think about that battle each day as I drive along Old Battleground Road. I also think about the three men who risked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor by signing the Declaration of Independence on behalf of North Carolina: John Penn, William Hooper and Joseph Hewes.


Keeping the Legacy Alive.

My son's name is Boston Clay in honor of John Adams and Henry Clay. My youngest daughter's name is London in honor of the philosophers and theologians who inspired the Revolutionary generation. Great men such as Wycliffe, Tyndale, Locke and Smith should be remembered. Their contributions to our liberty should not be forgotten. So too should we remember John Penn, William Hooper and Joseph Hewes.

John Penn was one of the great orators of the Continental Congress, This honor comes from the pen of no less than John Adams. William Hooper (originally of Boston) was a Harvard graduate and a respected lawyer (two words not often found together). Joseph Hewes was a native of New Jersey who captured and encouraged North Carolina's desire for freedom. All three men risked life to secure liberty for North Carolina.

In 1894 the bodies of Penn and Hooper were reinterred at Guilford Courthouse (the whereabouts of Hewes' body is unknown). As you walk through the park, the graves of these august men seem but a footnote. What an enormous honor it is for the city of Greensboro to have watch over the graves of these two great men. They are not only great North Carolinians and great Americans, they served as integral parts of one of the greatest events in world history.


Plan a Special Trip

I hope you will take the time to stop by their graves the next time you visit Guilford Courthouse NMP. They lie in the shadow of General Greene's monument. I had the honor of visiting General Greene's grave in Savannah. No such trip is necessary for the people of the Triad who want to honor two other great American (world) heroes.

Let us never forget John Penn, William Hooper and Joseph Hewes. I only wish we could do more to honor their contributions to our liberty,