Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Do You Need Help?

Reposted from http://floridaactioncommittee.org/

"If you feel you are a victim to Florida's broad and aggressive sex offender issues and policies, please fill out our case consideration form so that we can assist you in your time of need."

Florida Action Committee Recent Posts - July 7, 2015

The heat is turned up (one hopes) against sex offender registry statutes

July 7, 2015
As I’ve noted a number of times here on the VC (most recently here) I’ve gotten involved over the last few years in a series of constitutional challenges to various State “sex...
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Advocates on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show

July 7, 2015
For those who were unable to catch the live show, today's Diane Rehm show can be listened to here:...
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9 Investigates uncovers proposed plan to make sex offenders pay yearly fee

July 7, 2015
ORLANDO, Fla. — Sheriff's offices all over central Florida spend tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to keep tabs on sex offenders. But 9 Investigates uncovered one state has a...
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Florida man convicted of having sex on beach sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.

July 6, 2015
Jose Caballero, one half of the "sex on the beach" case, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison today. The incarcerative sentence is one thing, but he and his girlfriend...
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NPR to address Sex Offender Registries

July 6, 2015
Tomorrow on the Diane Rehm Show (10AM EST) on NPR, the topic will be Sex Offender Registry Reform....
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Great Article in NYT: Teenager’s Jailing Brings a Call to Fix Sex Offender Registries

July 6, 2015
ELKHART, Ind. — Until one day in December, Zachery Anderson was a typical 19-year-old in a small Midwestern city. He studied computer science at the local community college. He...
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Area communities tighten their grip on sex offenders [WITH FAC COMMENTS]

July 6, 2015
Off U.S. 27 and just east of the Williston city limits sits a quiet, rural neighborhood of manufactured homes on tree-lined streets. The rigid, vinyl-sided homes are surrounded...
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Friday, July 3, 2015

Florida Action Committee Recent Posts - July 3, 2015

Trying to keep us down

July 3, 2015
Here's an interesting story that came out today from Orange County. A registrant is arrested for not providing his email address and other information, but that information was...
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Woman appeals prostitution case, sex offender label

July 3, 2015
DAYTON — A Kettering woman convicted of promoting prostitution and labeled a sex offender after she drove a friend to what turned out to be a prostitution sting was granted...
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More Teachers and Police Officers Getting Arrested


July 3, 2015
The proof that current sex offender management schemes are not working and more focus and resources need to be allocated to PREVENTION rather than punishment; still more teachers...
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Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Article by The Zoo Cage Prophet "Labels" by Adrian Torres

Found this article on line the other day and thought it worthy of repost: http://www.friendsofadrian.com/cms/index.php/blog/153-labels 


The Zoo Cage Prophet
Labels by Adrian Torres


"The labels came off these." The store manager held up two cans of roast beef. "They are not old or expired. The labels came off, that's all."
 
I was a bit suspicious, but I only had $8 to spend (my monthly earnings for working 150 hours) and I wasn't going to debate the person who knew her product. "Okay, I'll take them," I said to her. I also added two packs of Peanut M&Ms and a bag of refried beans (dehydrated.)
 
I walked off excited, thinking about the wonderful roast beef I would be enjoying that night. And to go with it, a nice-sized helping of beans. For dessert, M&Ms.
 
At night I took out one of the unlabeled cans and heated it up in my hot pot. I prepared the beans by adding 3 jalapenos (sliced in wheels) and 7 yellow hot chiles. (What? I’m Mexican.) I opened a pack of M&Ms as I waited.
 
About 15 minutes later I removed the very hot can out of the boiling water and prepared it to be opened. My mouth watered just thinking about the delicious roast beef that waited inside.
 
I took the can opener and clamped it onto the lip of the can. My mouth now watered even more. The can opener’s one claw pierced violently into the lid, causing it to bleed out the juices that were trapped inside.
 
Seeing the juices bleed onto my fingers brought of tsunami of saliva in my mouth. I felt rabid. Animal-like. Very Fred Flintsone-ish. So I cranked the can opener even harder. Even more hot juices majestically flowed down my fingers. Such a beautiful mess.
 
Too much of the can's nectar was on my fingers, so I paused the cranking to lick them.
 
Strange. It didn't taste like roast beef juice. So I took another – but slower – taste. Yup, it wasn't roast beef but beef stew. My mouth went dry.
 
I finished opening the can and confirmed what my taste buds were telling me. What a letdown.
 
I don't dislike beef stew; it's just that I had my heart set on enjoying roast beef. I still ate the beef stew with thanksgiving, but it wasn't the same. Even my heat-packed beans felt bland.
 
Labels on cans are important. I've learned my lesson. I'll never buy unlabeled cans again.
 
Labels are good for many things, like for organizations. Clothing. Gas or diesel. Men's and Women's restrooms. Labels are good, but not on people. Labeling people is very hurtful.
 
When we label, we judge, and make ourselves better than those we label. If the label is ugly enough, it causes the "labelee" to be boxed in.
 
As an inmate I have been labeled many things by staff – by other inmates – by society – and even by my own family. The worst label, however, is that which is placed on inmates the minute they are sentenced. Murderer. Molester. Rapist. Thief. This is the label you are known by from that day forward. A label one can't remove. 

This is the label other inmates use to judge who you are. Eventually this label causes separation, hate, depression, and violence. This is one of the reasons prisons are so full of hate – because some crimes – sins – are viewed more favorably than others.
 
The night of my Mystery-can Surprise, after eating my beef stew, I sat on my bunk (yes, while eating my second pack of M&Ms) thinking how Jesus hung around a whole bunch of labeled people. He purposely befriended tax collectors and sinners, two groups with the ugliest and lowest labels in His day. Yet He publicly was seen with them and never really cared what others thought.
 
The Pharisees did their best to discredit Yeshua by pointing out how He hung out and ate with them. But what the Pharisees didn't care to understand was that Yeshua left heaven to find, and dine with, the lost – the labeled. It wasn't a surprise to Him. Yeshua knew and expected others to judge Him for his actions. Yet He continued anyway.
 
He wasn't afraid to get down and dirty with the outcasts. He purposely embraced them to change their labels from "Sinners" to "Saved."
 
I wonder how many of us are purposely staying away from the labeled? Not wanting to be affiliated with the outcasts? Shying away for the sake of our reputations? If we are to be like Jesus, and are His disciples, why aren't we seeking the labeled?
 
You probably know someone, or have heard of, a labeled person to whom you could actively reach out, yet you don't. Why not? Are you better than he is?
 
Let's not forget that we too had the "Sinner" label on us. Yet Yeshua tore it off and graced us with a new label, sealed by His Holy Spirit, that reads "Saved."
 
There are many labeled souls out there who are waiting for your non-judgmental love.


... sticking to cans with labels ...    Adrian G. Torres
  
(Adrian's book "The Walls Talk" is available on online on Amazon and other dealers: ISBN 1495391000)

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Florida Action Committee Recent Posts - June 30, 2015


June 30, 2015
On June 4, Lauren’s Kids, released the results of an Internet poll it commissioned that found more than one-third of female respondents and one-fifth of male respondents had...

June 30, 2015
Operation Summer Heat targets sexual offenders; includes 7 from First Coast [FAC COMMENT: WHY DO THESE "OPERATIONS" ALWAYS GET THESE REALLY OMINOUS NAMES? IT'S LIKE THEY ARE...

June 29, 2015
During the RSOL conference we were lucky to have met and networked with hundreds of advocates, registrants and family members. Some of which were in Florida. Along with the...

June 29, 2015
Pedophiles are some of the most hated members of society. But what happens when the person sexually abusing a child is himself a child? It's a disturbing thought — children...

June 29, 2015
DALLAS - For the first time ever, sex offenders gathered at their annual conference in Texas have allowed cameras inside to get a look at the event. Approximately 100 registered...

June 29, 2015
For those who check in on our site regularly, you might have been wondering why nothing new has been posted since mid-week last week. It's because FAC has been attending the...

June 29, 2015
CAN SOMEONE PLEASE READ THROUGH THIS ARTICLE AND ALL THE OTHER RECENT POSTS ABOUT PRIVATE, FOR PROFIT PRISONS AND TELL ME THIS DOESN'T "WALK LIKE A DUCK"? ______   Lauren...

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Forida Action Committee Recent Posts - June 24, 2015


Josh Gravens, Advocate for Outcasts

June 24, 2015
As a rule, convicted sex offenders don’t get much empathy, and usually for good reason. Often, cities don’t think twice about creating laws that restrict sex offenders’ lives to...
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Is this really news?!?! Sex Offenders at Yard Sales?

June 24, 2015
So there are a lot of news stories this week about a yard sale in Apopka, FL where sex offenders worked. The yard sale was to benefit the Lighthouse Mission, a charitable...
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The Hunt for Child Sex Abusers Is Happening in the Wrong Places

June 24, 2015
It’s late March when Lauren Book and I head into the bowels of the Florida Civil Commitment Center (FCCC), armed with loose-leaf paper, pencils and the knowledge that we are...
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Sexual assaults less likely in neighborhoods where registered sex offenders live

June 23, 2015
ANN ARBOR—Reported sex offenses were lower in neighborhoods where more registered sex offenders live—a finding that runs counter to public perception about residential safety. A...
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NPR: For Registered Sex Offenders, An Uphill Civil Rights Battle

June 22, 2015
Click here to listen to a news story broadcast on NPR about the civil rights challenge for...
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A picture is worth a thousand words…

June 19, 2015
First let me insert the disclaimer that sexual abuse is a serious crime. Victims of sexual assault are deserving of justice and offenders are deserving of a punishment that is...
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The Frightening Sloppiness of the High Court’s Sex Crime Statistics

June 19, 2015
A new study came out this month on how the misconceptions over sex offender recidivism rates have been allowed to permeate the courts and make for decisions and legislative...
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7 Surprising Things That Could Make You A Sex Offender

June 18, 2015
We recently reported on a 10-year-old child who's required to register as a sex offender for abusing younger boys on an Arizona Army base. It's hard to imagine that a sex...
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Man grabs girl’s arm – now he’s a sex offender

June 18, 2015
A man who grabbed a 14-year-old girl’s arm to chastise her after she walked in front of his car, causing him to swerve to avoid hitting her, must register as a “sex offender,”...
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Judge rules Minnesota sex offender program unconstitutional

June 17, 2015
MINNEAPOLIS - A federal judge has ruled that Minnesota's sex offender treatment program is unconstitutional, but has deferred any immediate action to await further proceedings on...
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FBI: Hagerty High School teacher exchanged nude photos with minor

June 16, 2015
OVIEDO, Fla. —A teacher at Hagerty High School, in Oviedo, was arrested Friday by federal agents on child pornography charges. According to a complaint filed in federal court,...
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A Bit of Confusion Over the Newly Signed Prostitution Law

June 16, 2015
This coming October a new bill will become law. The bill was an "anti human trafficking" bill, which is good, but the way it goes about reducing human trafficking is by...
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Saturday, June 13, 2015

Flrida Action Committee Recent Posts - June 12


Hypocracy

June 12, 2015
This series of videos is interesting to watch in sequence. Watch this... Then watch this Then watch this Then watch this Then watch...
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Prisoners Pay Millions To Call Loved Ones Every Year. Now This Company Wants Even More.

June 11, 2015
A captive market, no competition and government contracts that make monopoly-enabled price gouging the industry standard -- it’s never been in doubt that the prison phone...
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Private prisons, public shame

June 11, 2015
Last month the state of Washington contracted with the GEO Group, one of the largest for-profit prison companies in the U.S., to move up to 1,000 inmates from the state’s...
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Mass Incarceration, Private For-Profit Prisons… Ahhh… Now it makes sense.

June 11, 2015
Over the past few weeks we've posted about the exploding prison population in the United States and how many of the criminal justice measures are not only ineffective but...
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Campaign for Elkhart 19-year-old underscores broader concerns about sex offender registries

June 10, 2015
ELKHART — The requirement that 19-year-old Zach Anderson register as a sex offender as part of his conviction for involvement with an underage girl isn’t just a concern for him...
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Violent sexual predators held indefinitely – FOR A PROFIT!

June 10, 2015
6/9/15 -- ARCADIA, FLa. -- There's only one place in the entire country where violent sexual predators are committed indefinitely that is run by a for-profit company. It's in...
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Polk Sheriff Grady Judd expands focus on sex offenders to non-sex-offenders.

June 9, 2015
We warned that it could happen. If authorities are allowed to probe into the lives of sex offenders without restriction under the theory that it's being done "to protect the...
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So what happened in Brevard?

June 8, 2015
This past Saturday FAC was supposed to conduct a "meet and greet" in Cocoa, FL. The purpose of the meeting was for members to get together and exchange information, ideas and...
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The danger of mandatory reporting

June 8, 2015
This weekend's LA Times featured a story, "Duggar scandal: What should parents do if a child touches a sibling?" which gives a road map for what a parent should do if one child...
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‘Old-fashioned scarlet letter’: Elkhart 19-year-old fights sex offender status after encounter with Michigan teen

June 8, 2015
During his five years of probation, he can’t have a smart phone or any other device that connects to the Internet, and he can’t live anywhere with Internet access. Les and Amanda...
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Mass Incarceration is Ineffective

June 5, 2015
The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School released a report on incarceration in the US and the statistics are shocking. While the crime rate has been steadily declining...
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Friday, June 5, 2015

Florida Action Committee Recent Posts - June 5


Juvenile Sex Offender Registration Impact Survey


June 5, 2015
The following was submitted to us by Sharon Denniston, who is conducting a survey on Juvenile Registration.     I'm collecting data for my dissertation, and thought you...
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FAC Member Call Tonight!

June 4, 2015
Tonight, June 4, 2015, will be our Florida Action Committee monthly member call. The topic of this meeting is an important one; travel for registrants. The member call begins...
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The Failure of Sex Offender Policy

June 4, 2015
The public expects and deserves evidence-based practices when it comes to public safety. This is true for any aspect of public policy but perhaps none so much as sex offender...
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Man awarded 20K after incorrectly labeled as sex offender on license

June 4, 2015
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The city has paid $20,000 to the family of a man who was incorrectly labeled a sex offender by the tax collector’s office. For six months Andrew Flaherty had...
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“Surprisingly, none of the men arrested is a sexual offender or predator”

June 4, 2015
"Surprisingly, none of the men arrested is a sexual offender or predator" that's a quote from this article out of Jacksonville which discusses the results of "Operation Savior" a...
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Editorial from Janice Bellucci: Two Heart Beats Away from President

June 3, 2015
As Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Dennis Hastert was two heart beats away from serving as President of the United States.  That is, if both the President and Vice...
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The Second Class Citizen

June 2, 2015
True Confessions - From a RSO POV By: JEV In a recent speech by Hillary Clinton, she spoke of  both the Immigrants in America as well as Women in the Workplace as being treated...
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Questionable Committments

June 2, 2015
There is a young man in Virginia sitting behind tall fences and razor wire, guarded by men with guns, and never allowed to leave. According to the state, he isn’t in prison, and...
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Another Congressional Hypocrite

May 31, 2015
Former Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert was indicted last Thursday for a huge financial cover-up to prevent news of his sexual relationship with a student becoming public....
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For Juvenile Sex Offenders, State Registries Create Lifetime Of Problems

May 29, 2015
Forrest Hampton is about to become a family man and he couldn't be happier. He's 25 and he lives in a suburb of Dallas with his fiancée, who's due to have their baby practically...
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Ron Book Angry Over “Poop Map”

May 28, 2015
This has nothing to do with registration, but we came across this article from last week's Miami Herald and though we'd feature it here. Apparently, Ron Book, who is not only the...
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Woman convicted of sex on the beach sentenced to time served (Still labeled a sex offender)


May 28, 2015
SIGN OUR PETITION: https://www.change.org/p/florida-governor-rick-scott-fix-the-florida-sex-offender-registry A Bradenton woman convicted of having sex in public July 20 in...
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One to See Change Blog List

"When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect."
~Adlia Stevenson U.S. Vice President (1893–1897) and Congressman (1879–1881)

On a Personal Note

Thanks for the opportunity to express my thoughts regarding the issue of citizens’ rights, particularly addressing certain sex offenders’ crimes that do not fit the devastating, inequitable and endless punishment given.


As you know, many young men and women lives across the nation are being destroyed by incarceration, life-time registry and restrictive laws that do more harm than good. For those individuals, there is no second chance.

Below is a personal letter to President Obama:
* * * *
“Dear President Obama,

I truly agree with your sentiments that individuals, such as ex-felons, should be able to receive a second chance at life. Since we all know that one can veer off that path of life and travel along rough, rocky terrain, sometimes running off and ending up in some ditch. We all have made our fill of mistakes and sometimes those held a costly consequence that changed life forever. So we lived through it, trying harder to make things right with family, friends and those around us, but what about those who aren’t able to make things right even if they tried…because they’re labeled as too dirty, a leper, a person who is rejected from society and home.


But what if they’re a seventeen year old and had sex with a fifteen year old, consensual at that? Or they’re a teen that had gotten so enraged after a breakup that he sent out naked pictures of his girlfriend on his cell phone or email? Or an individual urinates where someone just happens to see them?


All are wrong and a travesty but do they deserve the life of no second chance with a registry that ends all. They are labeled, no jobs, no where to live…they have been deemed a menace to society, a plague. These certain circumstances, and many other situations similar to these, I believe still deserve a second change.

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution


Section 1. 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.


After my son’s early release and two years of prison, I thought I had handled that fact graciously knowing after serving his time he would be able to get that fresh start, that second chance. He was an exemplary inmate, GED, college courses and vocational classes. Little did I know that a second chance on the outside was the farthest from the truth? He now struggles and lives in a trailer park sharing a trailer with another and surrounded by others in the same rocking boat, one to float endlessly in shark infested waters. I see him little because of probation requirements (he couldn’t live with us because we were 800 feet near a school). My family is afraid of what would happen to them if he lived with them…vigilantism. My son has no other place to stay since others condemn him of his crime that is screamed from the highest rooftop. Sex offender, sex offender!

Not all sex offenders are pedophiles or predators but some are simply young kids that make one stupid and rash decision that eventually changes everything, and they have no idea what they’ve done until their life is never their own. Exactly, where is that second chance for those sex-offenders who are lumped together with pedophiles and predators? Now, it makes me sick to think of my son’s future and many like him that are on the registry and many with no second chance…ever. I am asking you as a mother and as another concerned citizen of the United States that these laws are looked at again and taken into serious consideration in what they are doing to the Constitution of the United States, not for sex offenders in general but the future rights of every citizen, before anymore are put into effect. They unjustly strip an offender of their rights and place them in a guillotine that can be easily set off by anyone and at anytime. Where is the second chance for ex-sex offenders in the present, pending and future laws?”
* * * *
What truly saddens me is the weakness and deterioration of what the sex offense issue is doing to our once, great nation. Across Europe, others are seeing the injustice and disregard of rights, but we ignore this problem and it makes me wonder where humanity is heading….

We have become a hysterical society in which our latest witch-hunt is a sex offender--no matter his/her crime.

Below is a email sent from a foreign advocate to a father of a sex offender:
* * * *
“The tragic story of your son's death is just so sad that it's difficult to explain how. It was very hard to read your letters. It seems almost unbelievable that this can take place in a democracy! From our point of view, there is no justice in this. Not in any way: not for you, your son, the former girl friend – or even the state.

It is an abusive legal system. It seems barbaric. And we are so very sorry that this takes place. That's why it's so important for us to try to neutralize the debate with this…, hopefully making some changes. ….. to show the every day life of the sex offenders, trying to show how they keep on being punished, even after served prison time…..But we will for sure tell the story of the injustice that your son has been exposed to.”
* * * *
I appreciate everyone's commitment and backing to protect everyone's civil rights, plainly as noted in the Constitution of the United States and is presupposed, giving ALL men are “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.”