TeresaCentric

When I was a kid, my father would make a point of reading the Declaration of Independence to me, beginning to end, every July 4th. He did a wonderful job of explaining the antiquated language to me as he went along. And because he showed such respect for the document, I grew up to respect it as well. To carry on the tradition, I am reprinting the text here. Please consider reading it with your children so that they understand that July 4th is not just about fireworks, barbecues and sunshine. It's about a principle that binds us and unites us as Americans. --------- 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 shewn 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 for 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 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 benefit 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 compleat 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 attentions 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 emigration 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.

Barry Bonds hit his 751st home run today, putting him four behind Hank Aaron. As a watched him him number 751, and they showed pictures of him in 1996, and pictures of him in 1998, I couldn't help but notice that he is CLEARLY on steroids. It's so obvious a 3-year-old could diagnosis it. Not just a few steroids either: he is on EVERYTHING. Anabolic steroids, human growth hormones, bull testerone, etc. His cap is several sizes larger, his hair has fallen out, he's twice as big as he used to be, and he hits the ball 600 feet about 70 or so times a year when he's healthy. Now I'm pretty sure that baseball has some sort of rule about substances that turn you into the Incredible Hulk. So why is Bonds being allow to play? There is no way in hell he's clean. He's used more drugs than Keith Richards and Ozzy Osborne put together. Hank Aaron was a great ballplayer who broke Ruth's record honestly. It's a travesty that his record will be broken by superhuman freak jacked up up steroids. Can't Bud Selig just throw him out for so OBVIOUSLY being on 'roids?

I let Andy do the Bush Pardons Libby post yesterday because I was too hopping mad to think straight. I figured I'd just launch into a rant rather than discussing the facts. It's been more than 12 hours and I'm still hopping mad, but I'm posting anyway. Just who the hell does President Bush think he is? More than 200 years of American history and this guy thinks he's King George IV. As Andy said to me yesterday, he believes that no loyal member of his administration is accountable for his actions. I keep asking myself just how much more Congress is actually going to let Bush get away with. Every time he does somthing like this, he wastes what little political capital he has left. His approval rating is in the toilet. The American people would likely support an initiative to censure him. The whole reason Congress exists is to enforce the system of checks and balances our forefathers put in place to prevent tyranny. But so far, they've done nothing. Censure him. Open impeachment proceedings. Call for a vote of no confidence. Somebody with some political credibility needs to do something STAT!

Of all the things that Bush has done, I find this the most offensive. I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was recently convicted of perjury, lying to investigators, and obstruction of justice. President Bush commuted Libby's sentence today, after Libby's attempts to delay serving time failed. Bush called the sentence "excessive", and indicated that he felt Libby had suffered enough. This essentially indicates that Bush feels that no loyal member of his administration should be held accountable for anything they do. Bush clearly feels he and his cronies can get away with whatever they want. Gonzales can lie to Congress, Rumsfeld can botch a war, Libby can expose a CIA operative. He continues to push and push and see what he can get away with. The only consequence he ever receives is a dropping approval rating, but as he has said before, he only cares what his wife and dog think. I worry that Congress will not act on this. Just ignore it, and wait out his term. Bush and Cheney should be impeached, and then thrown in jail. Here's a list of impeachable charges. Here's where you can help us impeach him.

If you have read this blog before, or if you take a look at the right sidebar, you are aware that Teresa is not exactly a fan of the Mariner's currently manager, Mike Hargrove. This is a stance she has had for years, which I believe dates back to him trading Randy Johnson (apparently he turned out to be an okay pitcher). However, the Seattle bigwigs seemed to like him, and it didn't appear he was going away soon. Especially with the M's winning 10 of their last 11 games. So it came as a bit of a shock today Hargrove announced his resignation in the team's pregame meeting right before playing Toronto. "It's a shock, I think everyone's still in shock here," Raul Ibanez said. "Nobody was prepared for it, or anything like this." Hargrove cited a decreased amount of passion for the game as his reason for leaving. The timing, however, is confusing, as the Mariner's win today put their steak at 8, and the team is looking better than it has since 2001: Jeff Weaver, whose first six games earned him a demotion to the minor leagues, has since returned and allowed 1 run in 17 innings in his past two starts. Jose Guillen and Ichiro Suzuki are hitting well enough to make me think they are on steroids. And JJ Putz, with a 0.92 ERA, is the best closer in the league. The Mariner's have not announced any replacements candidates, but whoever takes over will inherit a very hot ballclub. They initially offered me the job, but withdrew the offer when they learned that my dad is a Yankee's fan.

Welcome to a whole new world!

I got down to University Village today with the intention of stopping by to visit Andru Edwards & Co. in the iPhone line and then being on my merry way. By then, the line at the Apple Store was way too long. I figured I'll get one sometime next month. And then I saw the line at the AT&T Store. At the Apple Store, you can buy two iPhones. But at the AT&T store, you can only buy one. So the line is much, much shorter. I've been waiting here since about 5:30 and right now I would estimate that there are 30 people between me and my iPhone. The problem is, they're only allowing 10 people inside the store at a time. And you have to give them your name and social security number so that you're pre-approved credit-wise before you can purchase a phone. According to some people who have already been in and out, the system is really slow because everyone on the West Coast is trying to register their phones right now. I'm in line with a couple of really cool geeky guys and we're having quite the conversation over just how much fun Steve Jobs is having right now. I'll bet he's sitting behind his desk cackling with glee. Or perhaps it's an evil belly laugh... Either way, I definitely didn't plan on doing this today. Now I am. Sue me.

I've slept in line for a good many things I really, really wanted: tickets to Star Trek: Generations for example. But I decided that perhaps I would skip the madness and mayhem surrounding the iPhone. Why? Because I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get one relatively soon regardless of whether I sleep in line. It seems like despite the hype, Apple has stepped up to meet demand for this thing. This isn't like the Nintendo Wii, where the company didn't understand the demand for the product until long after it was too late. Apple knows this is a hot item and they're not going to let it die on the vine by keeping people waiting. I could be wrong, but I'll swing by the Apple Store at University Village this afternoon to say hello to my good friends Andru Edwards and Nate True of GearLive Media. I won't be cutting in line of course. I'll actually be there to take my girlfriend Megan to a pedicure and lunch for her birthday. But I will check out the situation and report back. And of course, I'll give Andru a big hero hug. Cuz he's my hero.

I keep trying to get on to Facebook, but all my browser says is "failed to open page because the server stopped responding." What's going on? Can anyone else get on to the system? Update: Looks like I'm not the only one having this problem. It also looks like I'm not the only geek in the world not standing in line for the iPhone.

Today, the White House sent a letter to Congress invoking the increasingly broad concept of "executive privilege" to explain why they wouldn't share important documents regarding the firings of several U.S. attorneys. President Bush has shown a consistent, flagrant, arrogant disregard for the Constitution, the separation of powers and the rule of law. His main concern in all of this is partisan politics and he refuses to reach out and seek compromise. His behavior while in office the antithesis of everything our nation's founders envisioned when they designed the executive branch. It's time Congress started playing hardball with this White House. Senate Judiciary Committee chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that he would consider pursuing contempt citations for those who fail to reply to Congressional subpoenas. I certainly hope Congress is prepared to follow through on that, because I'm sick of watching them back down to a White House that has absolutely not respect for their role as the voice of the American people.