Land of the Free?...

I would like to bring up the some questions and concerns of my own. The First Amendment gives all Americans the right to assemble, protest, and petition, but why does this fall under fire when it comes to protesting politicians?

At the DNC, about 100 people were arrested when a crowd of about 300 people disrupted traffic near the Denver City and County Building (read article here). Now I understand that our right to protest is supposed to be granted when we do it in a peaceful way. This group decided not to be peaceful. The arrests I feel were warranted.

Now we come to the RNC convention this week. Again there were arrest, but I am lost as to why the arrests were made. When you read the article you find out that the police raided homes of these people that were planning to protest. They were planning and they get arrested. Why is this OK? I was also speechless to find out that "25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets." When did our freedoms get tossed out and this police state start to take over?

It has also been reported, as mentioned above, that the federal government was involved with this raid. From the article: "As the police attacks on protesters in Minnesota continue...it appears increasingly clear that it is the Federal Government that is directing this intimidation campaign. Minnesota Public Radio reported yesterday that "the searches were led by the Ramsey County Sheriff's office. Deputies coordinated searches with the Minneapolis and St. Paul police departments and the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

What laws allow the police and the FBI to raid a home, seize computers and pamphlets and make this type of arrest when the people are only planning to protest? Also, is it extreme that they went in with full riot gear? Also, why isn't this a bigger story on the news? People are losing their rights and the news gives it a no more than a little coverage.

I truly believe in our constitution and what it has done for us, but I also believe that we as a society need to follow the constitution and allow the freedoms that it affords us.

Read Articles here:
Massive Police Raids on Suspected Protesters in Minneapolis

Federal Government Involved in Raid on Protesters

Protester Raid

Leaving America...

This last week we went back to Michigan to see my family and give my parents time to spend with their granddaughter. We decided to head back through Canada since it cuts off more than three hours from the trip. We have done this many times, but this time things changed a little on our departure.

As we drove up to the border, we were stopped by two border patrol officers. One was talking to the person in the van in front of us and the other came to our window. This was different since most border patrol officers are in their little cubical at the gates. This time they were both standing outside waiting for cars coming to them. The officer asked to see our passports. He asked us the usual questions - why are you traveling to Canada, are you planning on stopping anywhere in Canada, any guns or alcohol in the your possession? This was all normal.

While this was happening the officer that was dealing with the car in front of us had the person get out of his vehicle. She asked him to open the back of the van so she could look in. The thing I noticed was that the gentlemen was of middle eastern decent. The officer that was dealing with us didn't go any further than asking us the normal questions and smiling the whole time. Then another van drove by us on the right hand side. This car was not stopped. The officer told the women, who started to run after the van that it was so and so. She smiled and nodded at our officer and continued with her driver.

We were handed our information back to us and were waved on. We put all our information away thinking that we were on our way to Canada. Now this all seems normal until we got to another gate where we had to give our passports over again. Come to find out the first stop that we had to make was actually the U.S. border patrol. The Vermont boarder patrol had officers asking people why they are leaving the U.S. Do we now have to get permission to travel outside America? Why were they so much more interested in the man in front of us than they were us? I think that they were doing some racial profiling. Why didn't they look in our van? And why are they concerned with who is leaving the country?

I told Mark the next time we leave and they stop us, we should tell them we are defecting. I just want to see what reaction it would get and how long we would have to be in jail.

Hoarding Case...

Two have been charged in animal cruelty. As I read the article, disgust, anger, and sadness filled my vains. Only people that are mentally unstable could possible think that what they are doing is right. According to the article, "The Harpins...didn’t know why their animals were dying. They were very angry (that animal control) were taking the animals away from them, and they didn’t offer any information. They simply said ‘We’re taking care of them, but they’re dying, there’s nothing we can do.’"

"Ferrets, rabbits, cats, three lizards, a tarantula, a boa constrictor, a chinchilla and a starving dog were among the animals in the home on Route 5 in Passumpsic. Also found was a decomposing animal of unknown type in a pot on a stove, and more than a dozen partially frozen dead animals in a refrigerator freezer.

I hate it when I hear about cases like this. According to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), animal hoarding is one of the greatest causes of animal suffering in the United States, resulting in more injuries, suffering, and deaths to animals than intentional acts of cruelty perpetrated by animal abusers. What is animal hoarding? The definition that follows is from Tufts.edu:

The following criteria are used to define animal hoarding:

• More than the typical number of companion animals
  
• Inability to provide even minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation, shelter, and veterinary care, with this neglect often resulting in starvation, illness, and death
• Denial of the inability to provide this minimum care and the impact of that failure on the animals, the household, and human occupants of the dwelling

Many people truly believe that what they are doing is better than what anyone else could do. Even if their animals are dying. I have had people tell me that they they could not possibly take the animals into the humane society because they knew that they would kill them. One lady told me this as I walked through more than a couple of inches of cat feces, spiderwebs, and fleas jumping on and off me. The lady that lived in this house was in her 80's, had no family and the department of the government that deals with the elderly told me that WE were not doing enough for her.

How can we as a society neglet people like this? How can government officials sit in their offices knowing that this poor women was denied travel on the local bus to get her groceries because other people on the bus were getting flea bites? The official that I was dealing with told me that she wasn't that bad off. Her oven we cakes in black something and the top of the stove was covered in cat feces. She had more than 20 cats living inside and out. When I met with her one day she was crying. When I asked her why, she told me that her favorite two cats had died and she had to throw them in the dumpster behind her house. This is OK?!

This is why I hate it when I hear about cases like this one. Read the rest of the article here. The image above is not from the case in the article. It's from Best Friends Network.

Observation of the Human Condition...

This morning was a busy day for Mikayla and myself. We had to take our car in to have the front end fixed (again). When you go over 65 the steering wheel shakes wildly. While we were waiting (for more than two hours), I was watching the people that come and go in the dealership. One thing that made me smile (out of pity mainly) was watching a young mechanic leave on his break. The whole garage takes a break at 10 and they all file out.

While this one mechanic who could not be any older than 20-21 got into his car (which was louder than a jet engine - not in a good way either) and drove off the dealership lot. As I was bored, I started to think where he could go in such a short amount of time. Then while I watched him I found out. He drove across the street to the Mobile station. Not to get gas. He parked. Got out of his car and went inside to get a sandwich.

I find it interesting and a little sad that this person needed to get in his car to cross the street. The best part of this is that another mechanic did walk across the street and made it there and back before the young guy could get through the traffic. I know that many people could care less about this, but why are we so dependent on these things?

Below is a picture of the Mobile station as I stood in the parking lot of the dealership.

Julia Child...

Did you know that during WWII, Julia Child "served in an international spy ring managed by the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA created in World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt". It's true.

"The full secret comes out Thursday, all of the names and previously classified files identifying nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralized intelligence effort by the United States. The National Archives, which this week released a list of the names found in the records, will make available for the first time all 750,000 pages identifying the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives."

Read the rest of the story at CNN.

What To Call It...

Back on April 3, I wrote about Mikayla's vagina. No, not in depth. I wrote about how people (friends and family) were calling the vagina many different names. Well searching the internet for something exciting to watch or read, I came across a group of fathers and their website called "Dadlabs - Taking Back Paternity". These guys are very funny and the site is often interesting. They do little videos concerning many problems that come up when dealing with our children. One of the videos is dealing with one father's daughter and what they were going to call her vagina. Not in the naming way that men call their penis, but in the is it going to be a vagina, who-who, or my new favorite - vagine.

Taylor at Camp and Art...

I am a bad uncle. Taylor had written this entry a while ago and with all the crap that has been happening (see below) I never got it on. Taylor is one very talented kid (she really is not a kid anymore, but hey). As you will see below, she is an artist and a damn good one at that. My family was out here in April and I remember Taylor working on this DVD cover when they were here. She finished it and when I got it, it took my breath away. This from a 16 year old (almost). Judge for yourself. Here is her entry about camp and the DVD cover.

Hi, sorry I haven't had anything posted in a awhile...

Well, I got back from camp about a week ago (Camp Midicha for kids with diabetes). This was my last year to go as a camper, but next year I can be a C.I.T., or a counselor-in-training. This Wednesday, I'm going to be leaving (again) to go to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp for the second year for art. I'll be gone for 12 days. Hopefully I get to make some cool art projects to show you all.

Speaking of which, I made a Rent poster (well, actually the DVD cover, to be exact), but I changed the characters to the ones from Fullmetal Alchemist. If you try looking it up but can't find the characters being Maureen and Joanne, don't worry, those two are my own character, Kita (the one with the teal bangs), and my best friend's character, Jenika.

I guess that's all the updating for now...

See ya,
Taylor

Dance...

Well not only is she talking. She is singing. She still loves to sing and will do so with a smile on her face when she is asked. Along with singing, she is a little dancer. Whenever she hears music she breaks out in dance. She does this even in her highchair. We try to have music on all the time, so when she hears a song she likes her feet take over (or her knees).

One day I had the music low and I could barley hear it, but when Janet's "Feedback" came on she stopped what she was doing, paused a second and then started to bop her head with the beat.



Here she is with Janet's "Feedback".

She Talks...

I have to admit that these are from July. I wanted to get them up, but school got in the way. In the videos she says "out", "hi", "car" and "house". OK, the word house only Mark and I can understand, but that was in July. Here are the videos.





As I said, these were taken in July. She has advanced since then, but I have no video yet. She now says, "hi", hi-ya", "car", "house (clearer)", "out", "please", and she knows some letter and can say them. She knows and says "m", "s", "b", "d", "f", and she can point out "a, c, o, q, z, x, y". She is growing up too fast.

Back...

I am back. Its been a while, but I have a good excuse - sorta. If you notice, the last time I posted anything was on June 20. The reason for this was school. Yes, during our wonderful summer months I have been working my ass off with school. Mark told me that he has never seen me spend so much time doing school - and it was pissing him off. Summer is supposed to be the time where we can get out of the house, work on the yard, grow a wonderful garden, but not this summer. This summer I had to take Accounting!

This class kicked my ass and then some. I was putting in more than 15 hours a week for this class alone. I also had a Sociology class that was driving me crazy. That along with taking care of Mikayla, trying to find time for Mark to work in his garden and time for me to breath. It blew. But with the click of a key stroke I am done with this horrid class. I now have a week and a half off to breath (somewhat). The reason I say somewhat is because next week starts "preweek" for my next classes and I will have work that will need to be done. The upside. Yes there is an upside. We will be in Michigan visiting my family. Grandma will be able to spend her days taking care of our little angel.

So why was this class so hard? The reason is that I had a professor that was absent for the first five plus weeks. With accounting, everything you are learning builds on what you had learned. My wonderful professor would post questions that we had to answer on a weekly basis and that would be it. He never commented on anything that anyone had said. Students were answering others questions concerning the homework. The professor had just disappeared. Hers is the best part. Weeks one through five we not corrected and given back to us until we were halfway through week six. So I was trying to do work with the hope that I got the first five weeks correct.

Emails to the professor came back with how busy he was. How far behind he was and that he was trying to get all the papers corrected. Sorry, if you cannot handle the work load - don't do the work. He would tell us all that such and such would be back to us by X date. Nothing. I mean come on. I had a deadline that I had to make concerning my post and homework. Since he is teaching, he should be right on top of things.

Well, the whole class received an email from someone at the collage telling us that many students had concerns about this professor. The email went on to tellus that they were also trying to get in touch with him and that we should hold on tight. Yes I was one that ratted on him. Then a couple of days later, there he is, but still no homework. He is still behind and we are finishing week six. This is a twelve week course. By the end of week six all of my homework is finally graded and amazingly I did well. All A's on the homework and B's on the posts (I didn't care about those as much since the professor didn't seem to either).

Now with a smile on my face - I AM DONE!!!

So on with all the important things that have been happening.