When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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, –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, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Georgia
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
North Carolina
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Massachusetts
John Hancock
Maryland
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
Pennsylvania
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
New York
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple
Massachusetts
Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire
Matthew Thornton
Primary Source by Richard Henry Lee, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, John Hancock (1776)
Posted by Chris 
Wings of the Wind 
BABY CASPIAN KIDNAPPED IN NORWAY…UPDATE #8
July 23, 2016It has been over 40 days since Baby Caspian was abducted by Norway’s Barnevernet without any apparent legal reason. On that day, Monday, June 13th, Caspian was awakened from his nap and taken away from loved ones while his mother Nadia was away at an infrequent appointment. Several police officers and Barnevernet personnel came to the home of Margaret Hennum and took Caspian. He had been sleeping soundly under the care Ms. Hennum, a pediatric nurse and Nadia’s friend.
Nadia’s next trial (rettsak) will be on Monday, August 8th. The case will be heard in Alesund, Norway. Apparently, Ms. Hennum and Doctor Ingvild Setså will be witnesses at this hearing.
Nadia has been allowed to travel to Bergen to visit Caspian. She sees him on Thursdays and Fridays and has not missed a scheduled visitation thus far. From her address near Brandal, Norway, it is a 40 minute trip by car to the airport. Nadia then takes an hour long plane trip and a 40 minute bus ride to see Caspian. This has been Nadia’s routine the past three weeks and will continue for at least two more weeks. The travel expenses and the housing costs have been paid for by the Barnevernet.
Nadia and Caspian’s visitations are monitored by people from the Church City Mission. These monitors are contracted by the Barnevernet to make evaluations of visitations. There is apparently no security at these visitations as no police have been present for the first six visitations.
Here are the evaluations that Nadia received for her first four visits with Caspian:
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Evaluation:
“Nice interaction between mother and child with calm mood. They were close together and the mother was engaged with the boy all the time. She spoke with quiet tone. Mother seems in good spirits. The child seemed to be active, engaged with everything around them and smiled a lot,”
Friday, July 8, 2016
Evaluation:
“A quiet and nice gathering. Mother plays with the baby and talked to him in a gentle tone . She follows Caspian and his initiative . Mother appeals to Caspian several times and says we’ve enjoyed today.”
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Evaluation:
“Nice interaction between mother and child with calm mood. They were close together and the mother was engaged with the boy all the time. Mother seems in good spirits . The child seems a little tired from the early moments, but was active and involved with everything around it.”
Friday, July 15, 2016
Evaluation:
“Mother has powered Caspian throughout assemblage. Has only eyes for him. Mother speaks with calm and gentle voice. Showing good face. Assemblage is much influenced by activity. After a supervisor ‘s assessment, an assemblage that something hectic as it is the mother who takes the initiative and constantly introduce new toys. Supervisor experience that Caspian seems tired after one hour visitation. Caspian showed signs of penetrating break on occasion without this being accommodated by mother.”
The Wings of the Wind is not aware of any public statement made by any source responsible for the separation of this child from this mother.
Nadia waits until Monday the 8th of August to find out if she will have custody of Caspian until thursday, August 25th.
The hearing on August 25th will be in Bergen at the County Council for Child Welfare and Social Affairs (Fylkesnemnda).
The court hearing on Monday the 25th will determine who has permanent custody of Caspian.
——————————
My thoughts…
How the case ever began is still a mystery to me. I see no reason why, with the abundance of evidence on Nadia’s side, Caspian should have been taken in the first place.
This case has all of the appearances of an upcoming reunification between Nadia and Caspian.
The charges are unmerited. Nadia has done everything that has been asked of her. In spite of a very emotional situation, she has remained steady throughout her visitations. Her visitations with Caspian appear to be going very well.
I am not certain what some of the terminology in the fourth evaluation means but I hope this will be clearer as I learn more. Maybe there is something lost in translation or maybe there are parts in the fourth visitation evaluation are not complimentary. It is hard to tell.
I’ve learned that language has to be carefully looked at when dealing with the Barnevernet. The word “assemblage” is used. In English, the definition of assemblage is: “a collection or gathering of things or people.” The word is used twice. What does this mean: “After a supervisor ‘s assessment, an assemblage that something hectic as it is the mother who takes the initiative and constantly introduce new toys.” There is “calm” and “gentle” and then there is “hectic” and “constantly.” They seem incongruous. Then there is the last sentence: “Caspian showed signs of penetrating break on occasion without this being accommodated by mother.” What does this mean? Is it a good or bad thing? Am I being too picky here? Maybe, but a child has been taken for no good reason for heaven’s sake.
Will testimony from good witnesses be allowed in the next hearing unlike the hearing that took place on Monday, June 27th, in Molde Norway? Fourteen days after Caspian’s abduction, a decision to continue to keep Caspian and Nadia separated was made by one man called “The Tribunal.” “The report of a doctor; and the eyewitness account of the professional nurse, Margaret Hennum was not admissible evidence,” according to Mr. Harald Grape, Nadia’s attorney.
Ingvild Setså (A doctor approved by the Barnevernet) had checked Caspian’s health the day after he was taken from the Hennum home and his mother, Nadia. The doctor found Caspian to be in good health after being away from Vilde (“the Mothers’ Home” or “Parent Center”), enough to write some type of “medical certificate.” “The medical certificate dated 14 June, 2016 from Dr. Setså mentioned that “Caspian provide(s) very good contact, smiles and is very active, good general condition. He was a healthy and active boy who provide(s) very good contact.” This was a statement that was given by Harald Grape, Nadia’s lawyer.
Margaret Hennum, the pediatric nurse who has taken Nadia into her own home noted her observations of Caspian’s development. They were all positive.
A mother has been deprived of most of 40 very important days in a child’s development. A government supported childcare organization is responsible for what would be called a kidnapping had it been done by “criminals.” This is not the first time the Barnevernet of Norway has done something this unjust. Situations like this are increasing rather than decreasing in Norway.
Nadia’s case is about a mother who loves her child very much and has done nothing to warrant having her child taken from her. She has been informed of visitations with little notice and then has to wait for what seems like ages for important court hearings. The next hearing is about whether or not Nadia gets to have custody of Caspian until the next hearing. Then the next hearing IS ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT SHE WILL GET CUSTODY OF HIM…PERIOD.
It is a cruel system of “child welfare.”
Chris Reimers
July 8th, 2016
Share this: