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I bought a schedule planner for my purse as a little experiment recently. Basically I have a problem with keeping my own written schedule when I’m not in school because I already have to manage my Dad’s court calendar (since I work for his practice full-time), so I just record my own appointments and important dates onto it too. My last attempt at keeping my own calendar is still hanging up in my room — three years out of date (hey, I liked the pictures)! *L* So, I figured that this time, if I carried a calendar with me, I might be more inclined to record dates onto it as I arranged them. Anyways, we’ll see how it goes!
Oh, and how nerdy is this: while picking out my planner, I bought this funky mauve shade of nailpolish expecting (hoping?) for it to match my peripherals. I think that I might have succeeded too! ww
AOClaus sent me a code for the Premium Fallout 3 Theme on XBL and I absolutely looove it!! I remember being so disappointed with the Mass Effect Theme that I bought because it amounted to little else than a glorified wallpaper. The Fallout 3 Theme modifies your Friends View though, so backdrops change depending on Friend Status — which is really cool!! I think that my favorite is the broken airstream (pictured in the photo of Korgak). You’ll have to excuse the poor image quality BTW; I took these from a regular TV with my camera. ww
I received some unexpected political feedback to my last post. Apparently some have concluded that I must be a supporter of President Obama’s healthcare reform bill (H.R. 3200) because of my family’s experiences with insurance providers. Without going into my political beliefs, I just wanted to say that it upsets me to have people broach political subjects with me after already making an assumption about what I believe (or rather, what they believe I should believe). It is just another reason why I do not discuss my political views publicly.
There is a legal side to H.R. 3200′s coverage on the news however that I have been thinking about and do feel like posting my thoughts on here. One of the biggest criticisms facing H.R. 3200 is the possibility that coverage for undocumented residents of the United States — illegal immigrants — could represent a portion of the bill’s enormous cost. Feelings on this issue are so incensed that when President Obama addressed a joint session of congress on 9/9/09, stating that “the reforms [he was] proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally,” Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina broke political etiquette and civil decorum by interrupting the President’s speech and shouting out, “that’s a lie.”
Rep. Joe Wilson later apologized for his outburst, but not his choice of words. Could President Obama’s statement that H.R. 3200 would not apply to illegals have been misleading, untrue, or even a lie?
“Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits
on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.”
The mere existence of this section in H.R. 3200 has been enough to convince popular news media and even FactCheck.org that illegals will not receive coverage under President Obama’s plan for a public option. But what they have overlooked in their consideration of legislation is how that section will be preserved, applied, or upheld once H.R. 3200 becomes law, subject to stare decisis and intermediate scrutiny by the judiciary.
“Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
The US Supreme Court held in Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982) that illegal immigrants and their children, though neither citizens nor legal residents of the United States, still constituted people “in any ordinary sense of the term,” and are therefore entitled to protections under the Equal Protection Clause. To date, more lawsuits have been filed over Fourteenth Amendment issues than any other provision of the US Constitution, and courts since Plyler v. Doe have upheld the precedence that public government benefits cannot be denied on the basis of status alone. IMO, it is within reason to predict that if H.R. 3200 does pass into law, this section (once inevitably challenged) will be struck down as unconstitutional.
 
6 Responses to “Carousel”
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That is an adorable planner! I carry my organizer with me in my purse as well, because I refuse to use my BlackBerry as an organizer (and already bought paper for it for 2010) and it does help when you do it like that! I don’t think I’d ever be able to use a wall calendar…unless I really had to xD
The polish does look like it matches your mouse! That is such a cute mouse, too. Does it have 5 buttons? I’ve been looking for a 5 button mouse for WoW (ssshhh- don’t tell anyone my mouse only has 3!!! lol) but I’m not sure what to get.
By the way, your nails look absolutely lovely! ♥
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Ethabella
Haha I’m the same way! I need to record dates on something more material than a cellphone or computer, and I hate using wall calendars! So it was just easier to keep one that combined both our schedules than manage my own. *L* I think that this planner is super adorable too, but it isn’t the kind that you can replace the paper on so I will probably purchase a reusable one eventually.
Oh, you play WoW? Are you Horde or Alliance? I used to play a Blood Knight, but these days I’m too addicted to free FPS games. The new expansion looks interesting though… werewolves!
My mouse is the iron.lady Ikari Laser by Steel Series. It is a five button mouse and I would definitely recommend it for MMOs like WoW! There is a button between the left and right click that will switch between CPI settings and two other buttons beneath where your thumb rests. All are programmable for macros. My favorite thing about the mouse though is that it records all of this information onto the hardware and is completely driverless. All of your macros and sensitivity settings will be there no matter what PC you plug the mouse into. I really wish I had it back when I played RO. *L*
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That’s quite insightful information about H.R. 3200.
The President could very well have been lying about it. He may have put that clause on there to give people the idea that immigrants wouldn’t be covered. He may have done so knowingly, to prove that Joe Wilson’s “you lie” accusation was false. And then, at the point when the bill is being evaluated at the end, the clause could, like you said, be declared unconstitutional and removed, while the rest of the bill passes, still covering illegal aliens despite the President’s assurance that it wouldn’t…
This is something I and many others never would have guessed! Most people probably wouldn’t see through something that sneaky, unless they’re law students or graduates, or otherwise very familiar with specifics in the law, which is a category you seem to fall into.
And on the other hand, maybe President Obama does actually, genuinely intend for the bill not to cover illegal aliens, but maybe it’s beyond the power of the President’s office to pass and enforce that clause, and maybe he hasn’t considered this entirely. Maybe if it doesn’t pass, the legislators could get lazy and/or under pressure, and still push for healthcare reform by a deadline anyway, omitting that clause rather than disputing it further and pushing back the deadline even more.
I think the latter is more likely, because I feel that Obama is fairly reasonable, in concept at least, for a democrat. Not totally reasonable, of course, and maybe not the most trustworthy, and not the best fit for the office, either, but I do believe he’s making an honest effort as President. Not to mention, conspiracy theories are often extremely questionable a lot of the time (Prime example: Zeitgeist, a controversial movie about a very famous 9/11 conspiracy theory) and I don’t think many people would buy the first argument I outlined here because it sounds more like an unverified conspiracy theory.
Either way, whatever the President’s intention is, I foresee a promise, or maybe even just an assurance that people could interpret as a promise, not being upheld due to technicalities and other constitutional rights which would be interfered with by keeping that promise. I really am glad you mentioned it, because it sounds like something that could be very easily overlooked by many, either way.
Basically the question I’m posing with all of this is: Did President Obama really lie, or did he just make an accidental oversight?
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I think that I share many of the same feelings that you’ve so eloquently expressed.
I believe that President Obama genuinely cares about addressing America’s concerns about the bill, so much as he genuinely cares about seeing it pass. Emphasizing the inclusion of this section does demonstrate his willingness to address conservative criticism on this particular issue and even attempt to resolve it. But did President Obama actually believe that the inclusion of this section would protect his plan, rather than merely pacify conservative concerns about it? No, I do not think that he is that naive. President Obama was an attorney before becoming a politician, and Plyler v. Doe is required reading in even the most basic of community college courses on Constitutional Law.
The situation is a difficult one for President Obama, because he can’t “have his cake and eat it too.” There is no way for his “public option” to exist without illegal aliens also being entitled to its coverage.
As for whether or not he bent the truth, mislead, or lied… well, I guess that depends on how you want to size up moral character in politics, as well as what your definition of “is” is! =PpP
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I play Horde, I have two main characters mage and priest, I played other stuff too on the same server but those are the ones I’m mainly on. Realm is Blackwing Lair – apparently known for having a bad battlegroup but I dunno, it’s been decent…
Found that mouse btw =S it’s amazing, I have been meaning to look for a mouse that would make macros and settings easier but never got around to it lol.
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Hey! That’s me! …In a ruined landscape! Aww. my avatar even looks sad.
Also, I didn’t you know play(ed) WoW. Is your character up on the armory? I actually started playing a warrior again after BlizzCon this year which is probably why I’ve been missing out on all the new games this season.
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