Happy Birthday, Jesus. Thanks for the gift of American Freedom!

As a student of history & an armchair philosopher, i regularly examine the progression of events, ideological thinking, & how we got to where we are.. the basis for our ideology.  Most people know me as a  zealous american, who still gets misty eyed reading the declaration of independence, & is filled with awe & amazement at the simple truths in it.  The basic concept of individual freedom is unique in human history, especially as a basis for governance.

So i have often pondered the events in history & the evolution of thinking that got us to this point.  I see the beginnings of america in the roots of the reformation.  There was a backlash to the establishment religious institution, & the idea that the authority of religious instruction should be in the written texts, not the edicts of the hierarchy.  Many religious groups & philosophies went to the new world to be free to practice their version, or dream of a religious utopia.  Many of them were no more tolerant to alternate views than the oppressive system they left.  But the idea was born.  The new world became a place where tolerance to other religious views was the norm.. it was institutionalized, & eventually stated clearly in the 1st amendment of the constitution.

But before that, the magna carta emphasized the concept of Law.  Law is something deeper.. an inner morality & sense that everyone has.  It does not need to be constantly spelled out, or especially, arbitrarily changed at the whims of the king.  This also has its roots in the biblical texts, specifically, the writings of Paul the apostle.

Ro2:14For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,…

So Law was something internal.. something that EVERYONE had to respect, not just the serfs of the kingdom.  Even the king was subject to the Law of God.  But the concept of freedom was more obscure.. the 'powers that be' were not keen on telling people about that part.  They loved to tell them about submission to the king, & respecting the law of God, but didn't talk much about freedom.. until the reformation.  More & more people were becoming literate.. the central reason was to read the sacred texts of the bible.  And what did it say?

Gal5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Freedom?!?  We have been set free?!?  But wait!  There's more!

Gal5:13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Ok, so there is responsibility, too.  We are free, but still must live under the Law of love.. We can live as free men.. in harmony if we follow the golden rule that Christ taught.

The very first point in the magna carta had to do with freedom.. for the church, & the local leaders.. they were pleading (threatening) for liberty from an oppressive monarchy.

1. In the first place we grant to God and confirm by this our present charter for ourselves and our heirs in perpetuity that the English Church is to be free and to have all its rights fully and its liberties entirely. We furthermore grant and give to all the freemen of our realm for ourselves and our heirs in perpetuity the liberties written below to have and to hold to them and their heirs from us and our heirs in perpetuity.  ~magna carta

By the time we get to america, it is phrased like this:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.. ~declaration of independence

Now we've got the concept of human equality.. no divine right of kings.  We are ALL equal, & govt exists solely to secure our freedoms.  The concept of america has been born!

Here's a summary of the progression:

1. Mat7:12  So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
2. Law, not edict, is supreme.  The inner Law trumps human edicts.
3. Christ has set us free.  The inner law provides liberty.
4. The purpose of govt is to secure our rights & freedoms.

So thank you, Jesus, for the gift of American Freedom.  We would not have it but for your teachings..  oh, & Happy Birthday!!

Time for an American Spring..

We are at a point in our history where we need to 'alter or abolish' the current federal govt.  It is corrupt, deceitful, wasteful of the citizens' lives & property, & has spent us into near economic collapse.

The first step is a simple list of budget cuts that are in line with the constitution. ..not picking & choosing the ones we like, but cutting ANY & ALL of them. There is no partisan favoritism here, just meat cleaver fiscal policy. Cut the military to the bone.. the hawks will howl, but they have been overspending & over meddling with the us military for decades. Cut the welfare state to the bone.. the libs will howl, but they have done the same. Cut taxes to a fair amount that only the top earners pay. The poor & lower middle classes should pay nothing. They also should get no benefits from the feds for being poor.. just not be taxed for it. If states want to give away free food, housing, cell phones.. they can do it (and pay for it). But that should be a local matter, not something for the united states govt. THAT govt should concentrate on foreign affairs & treaties, a stable currency, & homeland defense. All the meddling in business, education, healthcare, housing, redistribution, & lots of other federal acronyms should not be allowed, as they are unconstitutional. A federal govt like this could be manageable.. people could haggle with the other things at the state & local level, where the people actually are. The federal govt should only be concerned with things that are of common interest to the states.

Here's my list.. open to tweaking..

1. Balanced budget amendment. They cannot spend more than they take in. During war, sell bonds.
2. Stable currency. Congress should take responsibility of the treasury. The federal reserve should be phased out, & the dollar stabilized with hard assets. Even oil reserves can be used to provide backing. But fiat currency is destroying western civilization. Just like the dollar used to be a set amount of silver, it can now be a set amount of oil, or a combination of precious metals. It can be done. The statists & world bankers just don't want it to be done.
3. End military meddling & occupation. No police actions, no unconstitutional 'executive actions', no illegal wars. We are in a time of relative peace, if we want. We are unable to police the world.. both by sheer numbers & costs. Make reasonable treaties with allies.  End ALL foreign aid.
4. Wind down the welfare state. Begin to wean everyone off the dole. Stabilize social security with valid actuarial numbers, & make it voluntary. It should pay for itself, & not be subsidized or run like a pyramid scheme. Phase out & completely eliminate all redistribution schemes. They do not work, but breed crime, corruption, & trap people in generations of dependency.
5. End all govt programs & departments, & massively cut the dept of defense. We can identify any real threats to our security, & assign funds to meet those threats. End govt contracts & contractors, & start over, justifying each one within the parameters of real need for national security. Have several checks & balances for that determination. No foreign aid. No grants. No subsidies. The federal govt is too inept & corrupt to be responsible for handling the public funds in this way. It is a magnet for corruption.

IMO, 3 branches of govt, with corresponding checks & balances, are the best form of governance invented by man. The US constitution is a brilliant concept, & can work if implemented & guarded by the people. We have been lax in protecting this system.. scoundrels & charlatans have sneaked in & corrupted the intent & purpose they are charged with. They have elevated themselves to an elite ruling class, & have forgotten or deliberately distorted the role of the public servant. For generations, we have gotten worse stewards than the previous ones, all plundering the public treasury for political & personal gain.

It is time for Americans to take back their country. Where are the leaders & patriots? Where are the governors & statesmen to call for an American Spring? This federal govt is corrupt to the core.. it is decayed & useless, except to lead us to ruin & destruction. It is time to cut up their credit cards & demand fiscal responsibility.

The power to determine the quantity of money... is too important, too pervasive, to be exercised by a few people, however public-spirited, if there is any feasible alternative. There is no need for such arbitrary power... Any system which gives so much power and so much discretion to a few men, [so] that mistakes - excusable or not - can have such far reaching effects, is a bad system. It is a bad system to believers in freedom just because it gives a few men such power without any effective check by the body politic - this is the key political argument against an independent central bank. ~Milton Friedman

Too often in recent history liberal governments have been wrecked on rocks of loose fiscal policy. ~FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

"I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and in our comforts, in our labor and in our amusements. If we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy." ~Thomas Jefferson

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. ~Thomas Jefferson

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

The lessons of history, confirmed by evidence immediately before me, show conclusively that continued dependence on relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. It is inimical to the dictates of sound policy. It is a violation of the traditions of America. ~FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

“I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.” ~Benjamin Franklin 
"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." ~Samuel Adams 

Fiscal or moral factors?

Some people think we have to choose between doing what is fiscally responsible, or morally right.  They think that choices by politicians should have 'morality' as a priority factor over financial responsibility.

But it is a false comparison. It's not about morals. It is about emotion & misplaced compassion. We can be compassionate for the jobs lost in the buggy whip manufacturing sector, but demanding govt to 'do something about it!' never works. They can subsidize the industry, even though it cannot compete in the open market, but to do that you have to take from other, productive segments of the economy, thereby punishing their success. Markets are fluid. Change happens. Evolve or go extinct. This is market based, global, natural selection at work. The more we can adapt & change with the trends, the better off we are as a society & economy. Rewards go to the smart & resourceful, rather than the lazy or scam artists. You make a widget with demand, you get rich. That is better than writing up a clever grant proposal for the feds to consider, then they take from someone else to give to you, just because you wrote up a good scam concept. Solyndra did this, as have thousands of other grantees who get 'free money' for some dubious business venture. They don't risk their own capital & labors, but the taxpayers.

Real production should be encouraged & rewarded. That is the basis for wealth & will build a positive trade balance & real gdp. We have been going the wrong way for years, & unless we turn it around, we will collapse. This is not complicated. Money does not grow on trees, but must be earned by producing, harvesting, mining, or creating something of value. Printing money to hand out is a recipe for collapse. That is what we're doing now, & it cannot last. Subsidizing failing, non productive, or counter productive sectors is also a drain on the real production of the country.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. ~Ronald Reagan

The govt shutdown.. a crisis of credibility

It's really not even much of a slowdown.  83% of the govt is still fully funded, with 17% under the administrations cuts.  Most of the sectors cut are at obama's discretion.  He can cut the parts of govt he deems not as essential, & he has shown what his priorities are by cutting things like the national parks, but providing full funding for pbs, govt cafeterias, & health clubs.  He shuts down the ww2 memorial, which takes more personnel to close than it did to keep it open, but keeps the very expensive golf course open so he can play.

"Based on estimates drawn from CBO and OMB data, 83 percent of government operations will continue. This figure assumes that the government pays amounts due on appropriations obligated before the shutdown ($512 billion), spends $225 billion on exempted military and civilian personnel, pays entitlement benefits for those found eligible before the shutdown (about $2 trillion), and pays interest costs when due ($237 billion). This is about 83 percent of projected 2014 spending of $3.6 trillion."source

So we have with this 'crisis', a 17% reduction in spending by the feds.  Let's see what the people have had over the last few years.



The real median household income for US the peaked in 2007 and is now $4,818 (8.57%) lower.  source
American citizens have had to adjust their budgets to adapt to the reduced income from a recession.

But what about the govt?



They went from spending ~ $2.7T in 2007 to ~ $3.8T in 2013.  This was about a 41% INCREASE in spending, while the taxpayers are cutting costs & living within their means.  Even with the govt 'shutdown', the govt is  currently spending more than they did in 2007, while most of us are forced to spend a lot less.

So all the hype about the 'govt shutdown' is just propaganda.  They are spending a LOT more than they did in 2007, even with the recession.  All this has done is add trillions to the deficit, & bring us closer to a currency collapse, as the dollar gets weaker.

But let's also check the govt's income, to keep everything in perspective.

Gross revenues:
2007-  $2.85 T
2013-  $2.81 T

So, while their revenues declined by ~ 1%, their spending went up 41%!!  The american people's income dropped by 8.6% during that same period.

So this 'govt shutdown crisis' is a manufactured crisis.. an emergency with no alarm.  They have MORE than enough to run the govt, & MORE than enough to waste in corrupt & inefficient programs.

The administration is using this phony 'crisis' for political strategy.  Obama is punishing the american people to bully the congress to increase spending & bankrupting the nation.  This is a petty, despicable tactic from a deceptive politician.  Most of the media is complicit with this deception, & the american people should see through their lies & demand justice.  The combined actions of this administration should be enough for us to call for impeachment or resignation.  Deliberate lies & falsehoods over the irs, benghazi, fast & furious, obamacare & it's promises.. these & many more have shown the corruption & falsehood of this presidency.

The only 'crisis' is the continued deception by our elected officials, who spin & lie to us for their political agenda.  We should be alarmed about that.. corruption, dishonesty, graft, cronyism, waste, & fraud.  It is time to get the liars out of politics.  We need honest representatives, not spin doctors.

Gold or Fiat?

I think most of the demise of America can be DIRECTLY attributed to leaving the gold standard, & going to fiat currency. I concede that we probably could not have had the exponential economic growth from the middle to the end of the last century, but that era is over, & now we pay the piper.  It was like a pyramid scheme, with lots of people getting rich as long as it works, but hurting a lot more when it crashes down. With a hard currency, the govt has little to do, other than minting coins & providing exchanges for gold or silver.. and we could easily add platinum & even copper or other things to the basis for the currency. IMO, oil is kind of the defacto standard for the dollar, as it is the currency of choice in that exchange. That also propped up the dollar during the massive QE's & inflationary printing of paper.

BUT, instead of basing the currency on something of value.. 'hard' assets.. the govt has gone fiat.. since 1972, when nixon took off the last vestiges of gold basis in the dollar. FDR started it in 1933. The gold standard was blamed for the great depression. People didn't trust paper money, & began to exchange it for gold, hoarding it rather than 'investing' in the dollar. So fdr made it illegal to own gold, & everyone has had to trust the govt since.. a bad idea. We can own gold again, now, but the damage to the dollar had already been done. It & just about every other currency on earth was no longer tied to hard assets.

So as long as currency is fiat, instability is certain. Govts will print money, start wars, promise goodies for votes.. anything to feed the fantasy that govt can provide. In hard currency times, people would put their money in banks, who paid interest, then loaned it out at a higher rate to make a profit. Lots of small or mid sized banks could operate in this system. But now, the govt just prints money, & hands it out to the big banks. They skim off some for themselves, then loan it out to smaller banks to loan out. Interest is not market based, but declared by the govt. They keep rates artificially low, discouraging anyone from saving in banks. So everyone has to put any investment or savings into the money ponzi scheme.. stocks & bonds, which is a casino for fiat money. You don't work, save, & increase at a stable rate. You borrow, leverage, & bet on fluctuations in the market. The system has converted us from a production based economy.. building wealth by labor.. to one of speculation & shuffling paper around. In past centuries, industrialists, manufacturers, & entrepreneurs got wealthy by making something. Now, they get rich by betting on the market. Most of the market is fiat based speculation, not actual production.

One of the most important duties of a good govt is to provide a stable currency, where business can operate on a level playing field, & where the laborer's fruits can be saved & invested in his future. It is as essential as securing our rights to speech, religion, & assembly. But they have deceived us, & generations have become dependent on govt currency manipulation.



The power to determine the quantity of money... is too important, too pervasive, to be exercised by a few people, however public-spirited, if there is any feasible alternative. There is no need for such arbitrary power... Any system which gives so much power and so much discretion to a few men, [so] that mistakes - excusable or not - can have such far reaching effects, is a bad system. It is a bad system to believers in freedom just because it gives a few men such power without any effective check by the body politic - this is the key political argument against an independent central bank. ~Milton FriedmanThe Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy. ... Roosevelt's policies were very destructive. Roosevelt's policies made the depression longer and worse than it otherwise would have been.
Milton Friedman

In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. ... This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard. ~Alan Greenspan

Historically, the United States has been a hard money country. Only [since 1913] has the United States operated on a fiat money system. During this period, paper money has depreciated over 87%. During the preceding 140 year period, the hard currency of the United States had actually maintained its value. Wholesale prices in 1913... were the same as in 1787. ~Kenneth Gerbino

With the exception only of the period of the gold standard, practically all governments of history have used their exclusive power to issue money to defraud and plunder the people. ~Friedrich August von Hayek

It is time to retake America

We hold these truths to be self-evident:
1. That all men are created equal,
2. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
3. That among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
4. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed
5. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.

America has become corrupted. It is long overdue for the citizens of America to retake their country. The government we have has NOT done it's prime directive, to secure our rights, but has been corrupted by greedy, self seeking opportunists. They are NOT operating with the consent of the governed, but are usurpers, seizing power & ignoring the constitution. This govt has failed in it's most basic duty to protect the freedoms & property of the citizens. We need to alter or abolish it. It is time.

1. Wars & meddling throughout the world. Instead of extending a hand of friendship, out govt bites the hands of other world citizens. They bite ours too, & we feed them. Our domestic problems are too severe for us to be meddling in other nation's affairs. We are on the verge of collapse, & civil unrest grows. Politicians waste the producers' labors supporting oppressive dictators & corporate business interests. This should stop.
2. Corrupt & racist redistribution policies. The welfare state has been a dismal failure, & has only institutionalized poverty. It is filled with fraud & encourages dependency. It does not help society, but ruins it, promoting crime & social dysfunction. Our own govt has convinced a large section of the electorate that they can provide something for nothing. They are scammers, promising easy living for votes. They tear down the productive elements of society, & promote dependency & an entitlement mentality. This should stop.  Local govts can determine the level of safety net that is needed.
3. Cronyism, election fraud, & govt corruption. This govt is filled with corruption. Back room deals, insider trading, extravagant govt jobs for electioneering, grants & contracts with PUBLIC money for political purposes.. this is standard procedure in our government. They have no shame, & no sense of justice or propriety. Instead of rewarding these crooks with re-election, we should tar & feather them.
4. They pass laws & policies for working Americans that they exempt themselves from. We are being scammed. Our elected representatives work only for themselves, not for the people. They are greedy & self serving, masking their motives in duplicitous speech & smooth talk.

It is time to retake america. Shut the govt down, & restart it under the constitution.

At $17 trillion in debt, with continued deficit spending, the currency is nearing collapse, & the economy has no stability. The government has no concept of a productive society. It is a leech upon those who produce, & all they do is take. It is time for the producers in america to remind the govt leeches that they work for us. They are not entitled lords, granting us rights & privileges to live in some utopia they create. They have nothing without us, & should be frugal, responsible stewards of the public trust. But instead, they act like entitled celebrities. Govt workers & our elected officials spend lavishly, tossing our money around like parade queens throwing candy.  You have forgotten your place.  You are servants, not lords. You are not the solution, you are the problem.

It is past time to retake america. De-fund the government, cut all departments, & begin anew.

Our military has taken an oath to 'Defend the constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign & domestic'. It is time to fulfill your vows. Enemies have overrun the country, & are violating the constitution constantly. Do not oppose those who want to retake america, but help them. I call on law enforcement & the military to not be an arm of oppression, but serve the people as freedom providers. Promote justice & freedom.
Stop engaging in foreign aggression. Go on strike for this blatant disregard for the constitution in police actions that have no bearing on our national security. From Generals to privates, use your head & defend the constitution, not some politician's dreams of military glory or secret corporate agenda. Refuse to deploy to foreign lands. We are not at war. Stop enabling politician's military meddling. Your vow is to the constitution, not a hierarchy or corporate structure. Defend the constitution, & oppose those who oppose it.
State & local police should continue upholding the law & serving justice. If a revolution for America grows, find yourself on the side of the people, rather than the oppressors. Support the constitution, not those who trample it. Refuse to arrest people exercising their rights. Think. Don't be a pawn of the oppressors. Join the people in opposing the anti-constitutionalists. Be a force for freedom in america.

It is time to retake America. We need & are ready for action & reform.

1. Stop paying federal taxes. Send them an IOU, or put the money in escrow. Refuse to support those who do not abide by the constitution. Businesses & individuals can make a powerful statement by refusing to pay for the govt that is dismantling america. The best way to cut govt is to cut their money supply. They are mismanaging the public treasury, & we should take away the checkbook.
2. Bankers, if you want to be on the side of freedom & those who will win, do not support the seizing of assets by the govt. Ignore the irs. Count on local police & the citizens to back you.
3. Govt workers. See the handwriting on the wall. The current level of govt is unsustainable. Don't be a leech, but fulfill your duty as a public servant. The massive bureaucracy needs dismantled, as there are too many dependents in govt for the citizens to support. Be prepared. The gravy train is coming to a stop.
4. Elected officials, if there are any among you who are loyal to the constitution & sincerely wish to serve the public interests, use your influence to support this cause. As more & more people become disenchanted with the govt, do not punish them with oppressive laws, policy, & police state actions, but resist the growth of govt.. oppose the dismantling of the constitution. Be a force for real American freedom, not state centered oppression.  Serve the people, not the bloated govt monstrosity.

Americans need to unite to retake America. It is time for action.

If this is a haphazard movement of the fringe, it will have little effect. But if millions of dedicated Americans see the problem, & resolve to fix it for posterity, it can be done. We are not lawbreakers, but wish to see the foundation of law, the constitution, returned to it's place. We need selfless leaders in this cause, or America will fade to a footnote in history, rewritten by the statists who will become our lords. If we vocally, physically, & actively oppose all the state centered workings of the federal govt, we can turn things around. There can be real change & reform. It is up to us. 'We the people' have this power, no one else can do it. We need leaders from all segments of society to take a chance.. make a difference in history, not just fade to anonymity. Take a stand. Fight for freedom. It has come to us, in this generation, to decide whether to let this nation become another state centered system, or 'alter or abolish' it to serve the citizens. Will we be proactive & fight for freedom, or passively submit to the destruction of America?

I am not a military strategist, politician, or a tactician. Violence will no doubt be used against Americans who resist the current govt. But i call on all justice providers in america to look to your deepest loyalties. You are not obligated to enforce unjust or immoral laws or policies that punish or oppress the people.  Serve the people, don't oppress them. The goal here is to bring freedom & prosperity to America, not anarchy or oppression. I hope for reason & common sense to prevail, but history shows us these things do not happen without sacrifice & determination.

I am a 12th generation American. I have built homes in America all my life. I have worked with my hands, & have helped & watched America grow. I am not an activist, nor a strategist. I am an American & an idealist. I call for my fellow Americans to come together to preserve our nation. Americans from every state, locale, race, ethnicity, & heritage... we are all Americans, & need to come together to secure our freedoms.. for ourselves & our children. We need leaders who will stand & call for this reform. It will not come easily, or without cost. We must wrest power from the rulers.. they will not relinquish it voluntarily. We must take back our rights, our property & what we have worked for. We owe it to our forefathers who built this country. We owe it to our children & grandchildren. We owe it to ourselves.

It is time to retake America.

Missing link? Ardipithecus Ramidus

Ardipithecus Ramidus is very interesting, & a good example of trying to manipulate data to prove a theory, rather than letting the data speak for itself. There certainly is no overwhelming evidence for many of the claims & assumptions made by the discoverers of these fossils.
1. the dating is circular. It was found in strata that is assumed to be 4.4 M yrs old.
2. The conclusions are still a matter of debate, as many assumptions are made, & gaps are filled with speculation. The papers from 'Science' published in 2009 had 'probably' 78 times, & forms of 'suggest' 117 times. These are speculative guesses, not anything that can be construed as proven science.

"Is Ardipithecus a hominin?—that question will likely dominate the paleoanthropological debate over this fossil taxon for years to come." source

So even with the debate over these fossils not having any consensus within the evolutionary community, evolutionists are quick to trumpet this as a 'transitional species'. That is a pretty bold move, & smells more of desperation & bluff, rather than anything 'scientific'. All you have is an extinct apelike creature. You do not have a complete fossil skeleton, yet they make dogmatic assertions about this find, based completely on assumed dating & fitting it into the evolutionary timeline. This is not proof of anything, except the desperation of evolutionists, & the yearnings of researchers to make a name for themselves.

Not all paleoanthropologists are convinced that Ar. ramidus was our ancestor or even a hominin.  source




Here is the assumed drawing and the actual fossils. So many liberties have been taken, & assumptions made, i am surprised any self respecting scientists would go along with this fantasy.  I see no compelling reason to embrace evolution on account of this fossil. It is NOT a transitional species, definitively. It can be imagined as such, but that is speculation.

Do you see the same face as the drawing? It seems pretty plain to me the skull of the creature was much more protruded, rather than flat faced like a human. This is artistic license, used for propaganda, not science.

In 1992, the Middle Awash Research Team, co-led by [Tim] White, made a discovery that ended Lucy’s reign. About 75 kilometers south of Lucy’s resting place, at Aramis in the Afar depression of Ethiopia, the team found fossils of a chimp-sized ape dated to about 4.4 million years ago. … The team named this species Ardipithecus ramidus, drawing on two words from the Afar language suggesting that it was humanity’s root species. But skeptics argue that the published fossils are so chimplike that they may represent the long-lost ancestor of the chimp, not human, lineage. 

The next field season, team member Yohannes Haile-Selassie found the first of more than 100 fragments that make up about half of a single skeleton of this species, including a pelvis, leg, ankle and foot bones, wrist and hand bones, a lower jaw with teeth—and a skull. But in the past 8 years no details have been published on this skeleton. Why the delay? In part because the bones are so soft and crushed that preparing them requires a Herculean effort, says White. The skull is “squished,” he says, “and the bone is so chalky that when I clean an edge it erodes, so I have to mold every one of the broken pieces to reconstruct it.” The team hopes to publish in a year or so, and White claims that the skeleton is worth the wait, calling it a “phenomenal individual” that will be the “Rosetta stone for understanding bipedalism.” (Ann Gibbons, “In Search of the First Hominids,” Science, 295:1214-1219 (February 15, 2002).)

Now, for 15 yrs the researchers rebuilt & filled in the gaps of the skeleton with their assumptions, & polish the findings so it would be hailed as a groundbreaking discovery of human evolution. Instead of releasing their findings as they found them, we have manipulated data.. polishing the research & releasing only what they want to produce the desired effect. This is finely tuned propaganda, not peer reviewed science.

What about Neanderthals?

for a long time paleoanthropologists have viewed Neanderthals as too dull and too clumsy to use efficient tools, never mind organize a hunt and divvy up the game. Fact is, this site, along with others across Europe and in Asia, is helping overturn the familiar conception of Neanderthals as dumb brutes. Recent studies suggest they were imaginative enough to carve artful objects and perhaps clever enough to invent a language.
for a long time paleoanthropologists have viewed Neanderthals as too dull and too clumsy to use efficient tools, never mind organize a hunt and divvy up the game. Fact is, this site, along with others across Europe and in Asia, is helping overturn the familiar conception of Neanderthals as dumb brutes. Recent studies suggest they were imaginative enough to carve artful objects and perhaps clever enough to invent a language.

Neanderthals, traditionally designated Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, were not only “human” but also, it turns out, more “modern” than scientists previously allowed. “In the minds of the European anthropologists who first studied them, Neanderthals were the embodiment of primitive humans, subhumans if you will,” says Fred H. Smith, a physical anthropologist at LoyolaUniversity in Chicago who has been studying Neanderthal DNA. “They were believed to be scavengers who made primitive tools and were incapable of language or symbolic thought.”Now, he says, researchers believe that Neanderthals “were highly intelligent, able to adapt to a wide variety of ecologicalzones, and capable of developing highly functional tools to help them do so. They were quite accomplished.” source

Neanderthals were human. They buried their dead, used tools, had a complex social structure, employed language, and played musical instruments. Neanderthal anatomy differences are extremely minor and can be for the most part explained as a result of a genetically isolated people that lived a rigorous life in a harsh, cold climate. source

Since drawing about 60% of neanderthal dna, a lot has been discovered about them.

• They interbred with homo sapien. ~ 2 Billion people have neanderthal genes in them.. mostly european & asian. What does this tell us? They were the same species. Separate species cannot interbreed. They were merely a 'tribe' of humans that had unique physical features.. like many tribes today. Their genetic 'line' can be traced. They did not evolve separately, nor were they a distinct hominid species. They just 'looked different' than whatever normal 'homo sapiens' looked like.

This was a problem for those in the evolution field.
“We were suspicious of the result,” Reich says. “We found signals of mixture and then worked very hard to make them go away.”
He tried for a year, to no avail. Finally, Reich and his colleagues had no choice but to conclude that Neanderthals had mated with humans. They estimated that the DNA of living Asians and Europeans was (on average) 2.5 percent Neanderthal. source

We are spoon fed these kinds of images from infancy..


They are the result of a creative mind, but not anything that can be called science. Evolutionists are so desperate to validate their 'theory' that the fall victim too easily to any scammer or self seeking con man looking to make a name for himself. Instead of trying to force the data into the theory, why not try something novel? Use the scientific method. Let the data speak for itself, rather than distorting it into some philosophical propaganda.