So, my darling niece Haylee will be 1 and a half on October 14. She has recently started this thing where, when she wants something, she will come and grab your finger and pull it until you get up. She then escorts you (by one finger) to the object of her desire and looks at you with those big blue eyes and rubs her little tummy (sign language for please) until you give it to her. The other night she and her parents (Tom & Melissa) were at my parents' place for dinner. Tom & Mel went across the street (to their house) for a few, and left Haylee playing. She was cool until she realized they were gone, when she starts looking for Meliss, saying "Mama? Mama? Mama?" So she looks through the storm door and sees her Mama across the street. And she comes over to my dad and says, "Gampa," and pulls his finger. It didn't work, he didn't get up, so she walks around and grabs the other hand. When he does get up, it's (of course) over to the door where she says "mama" and points across the street. She wants to go over there. Well, my dad has a bum knee right now, and has had to use a cane to get around lately if there's any distance involved. (He's having surgery on it Oct. 6). He says to Haylee, "Sorry, baby, Grandpa can't take you over there. I can't walk all the way across the street. Grandpa can't walk over there." Haylee looks at him for a second, then turns around and picks up his cane which is leaned against the wall, and brings over and hands it to him. Then she starts pulling him toward the door again. And you KNOW he put his shoes on after that. How did her little behind know that that's what the cane is for? Cause she's a genius, just like her aunt, that's why.
I miss sweet Haylee. She's growing up too fast. And Melissa will be having another one in March. At least I'll be back home then. And I won't have a real job then like when Haylee came, so I can take some time off and be around. I can't wait to move back! I'll be needing an apartment end of December/first of Jan., so real-life friends from home, please keep an eye out for me. If you see anything wonderful or hear of any great deals, please let me know.
Friday, July 29, 2005
By His Will
As Attorney General, John Ashcroft zealously employed the death penalty. In cases where United States Attorneys did not seek death in a death-eligible case, Ashcroft overruled them every time.
In a recent case from Oregon, Ashcroft encouraged a strained reading of federal law to prevent doctors from, pursuant to state law, helping people end their own lives.
In Ashcroft v. Raich (now Gonzales v. Raich), he led the charge to keep sick people from medicating themselves. And in a previous medical marijuana case, he fought hard to ensure that a sick person could not use the "medical necessity" defense if charged with a federal crime. That is, the government can argue that a defendant uses marijuana because he's a doper; the defendant cannot argue that he uses marijuana because it's the only medicine that will keep him alive.
These cases tie together in a horrifying way. You may not live unless the State agrees. You may not take medication, unless the State gives its permission. Indeed, you may not die, except by its will.
Somewhere along the road, Ashcroft and his cronies decided that Chuch and State should merge. "Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the [the Federal Government] doth man live." Deuteronomy 8: 2-3 (KJV) (according to Ashcroft).
Amen!
Quoted From http://federalism.typepad.com/crime_federalism/2005/05/
In a recent case from Oregon, Ashcroft encouraged a strained reading of federal law to prevent doctors from, pursuant to state law, helping people end their own lives.
In Ashcroft v. Raich (now Gonzales v. Raich), he led the charge to keep sick people from medicating themselves. And in a previous medical marijuana case, he fought hard to ensure that a sick person could not use the "medical necessity" defense if charged with a federal crime. That is, the government can argue that a defendant uses marijuana because he's a doper; the defendant cannot argue that he uses marijuana because it's the only medicine that will keep him alive.
These cases tie together in a horrifying way. You may not live unless the State agrees. You may not take medication, unless the State gives its permission. Indeed, you may not die, except by its will.
Somewhere along the road, Ashcroft and his cronies decided that Chuch and State should merge. "Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the [the Federal Government] doth man live." Deuteronomy 8: 2-3 (KJV) (according to Ashcroft).
Amen!
Quoted From http://federalism.typepad.com/crime_federalism/2005/05/
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Why You (Or I) Can't Argue With a Conservative :)
Current mood:amused
Typical Conservative reasoning. This all started becase this goober read my General Interests section. Stay tuned, new episodes undoubtedly to follow.
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: TIM
Date: Jul 12, 2005 1:26 PM
So Amanda, are you saying that if someone's not a liberal, then they're a bigot? Or if they don't see things your way, then they are a bigot? Or if you're just a conservative, you're a bigot?
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Miss Amanda
Date: Jul 12, 2005 11:50 PM
Actually, Tim, I said nothing of the sort. What I said was that I have no tolerance for intolerant people. Being intolerant makes one a bigot. Being conservative does not make you a bigot, it just makes you somewhat unenlightened and generally possessing of poor political judgment. :o)
Amanda
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: TIM
Date: Jul 13, 2005 10:09 AM
So as far as you're concerned, conservatives are "unenlightened" and "politically stupid"? Sounds like you have a "bigoted" view of conservatives. So tell me, what are conservatives "unenlightened" about?
Tim
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Miss Amanda
Date: Jul 13, 2005 10:42 AM
Tim, Tim, Tim! You simply must lighten up! It seems I have offended your conservative sensibilities. The odd little set of characters ":o)" is intended to represent a smile and generally indicates happiness, good sentiment, or that an adjacent statement was made in jest, as my statement was. In my defense, I never said "politically stupid" so that would be an inaccurate quote altogether. I stand by my initial assertion that I have no patience with intolerance, and I am not at all intolerant of the right of others to have views that differ from my own, nor am I intolerant of their views. I do however reserve my right to most vehemently disagree with any or all of them as I deem necessary. I am not a political bigot.
As to the "unenlighten(ment)" of conservatives I wryly alluded to, that would depend on both the issue and the conservative at hand. Anyone who doesn't feel that the opposing side is unenlightened in some way just does not believe passionately enough in their cause.
Amanda
Typical Conservative reasoning. This all started becase this goober read my General Interests section. Stay tuned, new episodes undoubtedly to follow.
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: TIM
Date: Jul 12, 2005 1:26 PM
So Amanda, are you saying that if someone's not a liberal, then they're a bigot? Or if they don't see things your way, then they are a bigot? Or if you're just a conservative, you're a bigot?
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Miss Amanda
Date: Jul 12, 2005 11:50 PM
Actually, Tim, I said nothing of the sort. What I said was that I have no tolerance for intolerant people. Being intolerant makes one a bigot. Being conservative does not make you a bigot, it just makes you somewhat unenlightened and generally possessing of poor political judgment. :o)
Amanda
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: TIM
Date: Jul 13, 2005 10:09 AM
So as far as you're concerned, conservatives are "unenlightened" and "politically stupid"? Sounds like you have a "bigoted" view of conservatives. So tell me, what are conservatives "unenlightened" about?
Tim
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Miss Amanda
Date: Jul 13, 2005 10:42 AM
Tim, Tim, Tim! You simply must lighten up! It seems I have offended your conservative sensibilities. The odd little set of characters ":o)" is intended to represent a smile and generally indicates happiness, good sentiment, or that an adjacent statement was made in jest, as my statement was. In my defense, I never said "politically stupid" so that would be an inaccurate quote altogether. I stand by my initial assertion that I have no patience with intolerance, and I am not at all intolerant of the right of others to have views that differ from my own, nor am I intolerant of their views. I do however reserve my right to most vehemently disagree with any or all of them as I deem necessary. I am not a political bigot.
As to the "unenlighten(ment)" of conservatives I wryly alluded to, that would depend on both the issue and the conservative at hand. Anyone who doesn't feel that the opposing side is unenlightened in some way just does not believe passionately enough in their cause.
Amanda
Monday, July 4, 2005
Happy Independence Day Folks!
Happy Independence Day, everybody. In honor of this important day, I'm posting some of my favorite quotes from the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. Interestingly, Thomas Jefferson died on the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration, July 4th, 1826.
"A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither"
"Money, not morality, is the principle of commerce and commercial nations"
"The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism"
"The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it."
"The loathsome combination of Church and State"
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to = remain silent."
"In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty."
"Almighty God hath created the mind free"
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence. If you haven't read it, you should. Today's the perfect day!
In Congress, July 4, 1776,
The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America
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 shown, 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 of 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 harass 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 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 complete 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 attention to our British 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 emi- gration 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.
In Congress, July 4, 1776,
The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America
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 shown, 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 of 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 harass 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 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 complete 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 attention to our British 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 emi- gration 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.
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