I was in Washington DC National Archieves, the original Constitution is so faded I can hardly see any writings on it.
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http://www.latimes.com/wires/20010703/tCB00V5360.html

Tuesday, July 3, 2001
Constitution Going Off Display

Associated Press Writer

    WASHINGTON--When the National Archives closes at the end of July Fourth, the Declaration of Independence will go out of sight as experts examine it and repair the display that houses it.
    Gone, too, for the next two years will be original copies of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
    The last holiday visitors will leave the rotunda at 6 p.m., EDT, instead of the usual 9 o'clock closing. At that time, the three precious documents will be lowered 22 feet into the building's concrete and steel vault.
    That's customary. But instead of being raised for public view once again on Thursday morning, the documents will be readied for transfer in a month to a laboratory in suburban College Park, Md., for their first close examination since 1952.
    There is evidence that the glass enclosing them has been flaking.
    "The deterioration is not readily visible under current exhibition conditions," said an Archives report, "but eventually the glass will become opaque and block the visibility of the documents."
    Experts have decided that the documents should not be shown and stored vertically, as they now are. Their new cases of gold-plated titanium will display them at an angle, convenient for children and the disabled. The cases will be filled with argon, an inert gas, and glass will no longer touch the parchment.

    For the first time all four pages of the Constitution will be on view when they return, not just the first and last pages.
    "We hope to create a place where visitors will find it easy to look at the Charters of Freedom, not just because the glass is clear, but because the perspective is fresh and visitors young and old can find something new to rekindle their civic pride," said John W. Carlin, archivist of the National Archives and a former governor of Kansas.
    Experts will also renovate two large 65 -year-old murals by Barry Faulkner in the rotunda of the Archives. They depict the presentation of the Declaration of Independence to John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, and James Madison presenting his final draft of the Constitution to George Washington.
    All day Wednesday there will be traditional ceremonies by the Joint Services Color Guard, the 3rd U.S. Infantry Fife and Drum Corps and costumed actors representing Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other leading figures of the late 1700s.
    For the occasion, Archives officials have brought in an internationally known calligrapher -Brody Neuenschwander of Houston, who lives in Belgium. He will demonstrate how the authors of the documents sharpened their goose-quill pens and scratched the words in ink made of oak galls and vitriol. A new computer program will enable any visitor to add his or her signature to a copy of the Declaration, in Hancock's famous bold handwriting.
    Also, on Wednesday, the 225th anniversary of the nation's founding, one of the 200 original prints of the Declaration will be displayed in Philadelphia as part of a celebration that includes a staged reading.
    The document will then travel to presidential libraries, museums and schools throughout the country during the next three years to encourage interest in history and political activism.
    The print belongs to television producer and liberal activist Norman Lear, who lent it for the tour. Lear said he expects the tour to cost about $6 million, supported by foundations and private donors.
    Lear announced the tour in front of the Jefferson Memorial, which honors the nation's third president and main author of the Declaration of Independence.
     
Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times

Who needs a constitution anyway? [smoke]

I was lucky to have seen both the Constitution and the Declaration as a kid, when I lived in Maryland.  Now I wish I'd been back to seem them again.  Hopefully they will return better than ever because of this.  

Of all the places to read about these documents, try [url]http://www.nara.gov[/url].  
In particular, the Charters of Freedom: [url]http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/charters.html[/url].  Spend a few minutes with your family, kids, etc., and learn about your history.

It couldn't have come at a better time. I call upon on current and former peacekeepers on this forum to petition Washington D.C. and demand that this important document be place on display instead:

[url]fox.nstn.ca/~yleblanc/onu/onu.html[/url]

[B]THE UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS[/B]
Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human right should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas the people of the United Nations have in the Charter rearmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, therefore The General Assembly

Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among, the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.


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If there is a big enough outpouring of support, then it might be possible to get this important and crucial document on display in time for the July 9th UN Conference on Gun Ownership Protection in N.Y.

Finally a document with some common sense that doesn't link freedom with the lawlessness of guns. [smoke]

When the constitution comes back, there will be all kinds of gaps in it from whiteout... with marxist phrases scribbled in.

This is great reading, but who wrote this B.S.[img]http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/dung.gif[/img]

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex. language, religion, political or
other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs,
whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person.

Article 4

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

These UN words sound pretty good in theory.   These feel good words, without the means to back them up is pretty much meaningless.  I don't thnk it would have stopped Stalin, Hitler, and all of the masscres in Africa.

The UN charter is a good document, it's just that the organization has failed to live up to its own standards.

Incidentally, you can see amazing parallels between the U.S. Constitution and the UN Charter.  We gun owners bitch about the UN being big, bad and socialist, but our own country has been going down that road since a certain fellow from Illinois was elected president.  Our change to the "peace" of no resistance has just taken much longer.

Its this moment they are going to add that second comma to the Second Amendment...


BISHOP

No shit, the SoB's will rewrite it.