IPFS
Craig Franklin - Drone Man and Charlottesville, Va
Written by Melinda Pillsbury-foster Subject: Drones City in Virginia passes anti-drone resolution
Craig Franklin, Drone Man
Born: Charlottesville, Va., July 1, 1946
Born: Charlottesville, Va., July 1, 1946
Senior
Vice President of Green Hills Software, Inc., a major drone supplier
for the software infrastructure which makes drones possible.
Thomas Jefferson
There are ironies and a stellar affirmation in the fact Charlottesville, Virginia has become
the first city in the United States to pass an anti-drone ordinance.
It's most famous son, Thomas Jefferson, author of the
Declaration of Independence, lived there, at his home in Monticello. Jefferson remains, today, an exemplar of courage in the fight for
freedom and the rights of individuals.
But since that time other men, with very different characters and life-goals, have been born within the town boundaries.
What
would Jefferson have said about the man above, born in his same home
town for whom greed trumps freedom and the sovereign rights of the
individual? A polite man, Jefferson might have limited his reaction to
the cut direct if the bovine face above ever appeared in his range of
vision.
Ironically,
Franklin uses a song borrowed from it's author, Dean Ahmad, an early Libertarian, and former National Treasurer, about
Jefferson, as one of his tools to position himself as a supporter for
freedom and to seduce women.
Franklin even attempted to buy the rights to the song so he could
pass off its hauntingly beautiful words as his own. Failing in this,
Franklin wrote his own version which he preformed at the National Libertarian Nominating Convention in 1991 in Chicago. The Triumph of the 1991 Libertarian Convention. The untold story
Franklin,
and his family, claim to be related to Benjamin Franklin but since no
record exists of a line through Benjamin Franklin's wife this would be
an illegitimate connection.
The song, Thomas Jefferson,
was written on April 13, 1976 and performed that same night for the
Libertarian Party of Massachusetts by Dr. Ahmad, an astrophysicist and
later founder of the Minaret of Freedom.
Thomas Jefferson
Original Lyrics
In colonial Virginia, you lived 200
years ago
The land was green and wild then and men were free to grow
Philosopher, inventor, naturalist and diplomat
A lover of the common folk, unlikely aristocrat
I'm proud of all your words and deeds in the freedom fight you won
And I am proud to be a child of yours, Thomas Jefferson
The land was green and wild then and men were free to grow
Philosopher, inventor, naturalist and diplomat
A lover of the common folk, unlikely aristocrat
I'm proud of all your words and deeds in the freedom fight you won
And I am proud to be a child of yours, Thomas Jefferson
In 1776 Americans were held down
Their natural rights had been usurped
by the despot British crown
They declared independence in a
paragraph and asked if you would polish it
When government destroys our rights you
said we must abolish it.
Right on, right on, death to tyrants,
every one.
They pledged their lives, their
fortunes and their honors, every one
They were men to match your mighty
phrases, Thomas Jefferson.
You wrote that all men born possess inherent liberty
for human rights are not a gift or the whim of society
But how they lie about you, how they twist the life you lead
Like the reason that you freed your slaves from your dying bed
Did you see the unbound future of the nation you'd begun
Did you dream of universal freedom, Thomas Jefferson?
The men we now call heroes that you knew as living men
Patrick Henry with his mighty voice and Tom Paine with his pen
George Mason with his Bill of Rights, he knew there were more than ten.
It's a tragedy America won't see those men again.
But it’s not to late to save a world
with tyrants, overrun
For you have many sons and daughters,
Thomas Jefferson.
From: Los Angeles Times
February 06, 2013|By W.J. Hennigan
Charlottesville,
Va., has taken action against the use of police spy drones, ordering a
two-year moratorium on the citywide use of unmanned aircraft.
It is the first city in the nation to do so, supporters say, and its move may prompt other municipalities to act.
Seeking tough regulation over the future use of civilian drones in U.S. airspace, the City Council passed a resolution that prohibits police agencies from utilizing drones outfitted with anti-personnel devices such as Tasers and tear gas.
It is the first city in the nation to do so, supporters say, and its move may prompt other municipalities to act.
Seeking tough regulation over the future use of civilian drones in U.S. airspace, the City Council passed a resolution that prohibits police agencies from utilizing drones outfitted with anti-personnel devices such as Tasers and tear gas.