Do You Know Your Bill of Rights?

The First 10 Amendments to the
Constitution as Ratified by the States

December 15, 1791

Preamble

Congress OF THE United Statesbegun and held at the City of New York, on Wednesday
the Fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.

THE Conventions of a number of the States having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.:

ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.

Amendment I

Freedom of Religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II

Right to Keep and Bare Arms

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III

Conditions for quarters of soldiers

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV

Right of Search and Seizure Regulated.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V

Provisions Concerning Prosecution

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI Right to a speedy trial, witnesses, etc. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. Amendment VII Right to Trial by Jury In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. Amendment VIII Excessive Bail, Cruel/Unusual punishment. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Amendment IX Rule of Construction of Constitution The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Amendment X Rights of States Under Constitution. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The Debate...Smokers

I'm about to venture into an area that many feel strongly about.   Everyone has strong opinions regarding smoking and smokers and some people will become very defensive about the topic.  I would like to preface this by stating that I do have friends who smoke and I love them dearly.  I also worry about them terribly.  The majority of my friends who smoke do so with respect to others.  They go outside to smoke; they wash their hands afterwards or wear a hat to avoid getting the smell in their hair and they never try to push their habit onto me.  With that said...here I my issues with smoking and smokers in general.

1.  I do not want to breathe in your toxins.  Please do not smoke right outside the entrance ways to buildings.  If you are walking down the street I really don't want to be stuck behind you with your toxic smoke of death floating into my face.  You have the right to poison yourself but not others, please be considerate of where you smoke.

2.  If you have asthma and you choose to smoke I do not want to see your ass in the ER complaining that your asthma is out of control or that you can't get rid of your respiratory infection. DUH IDIOT  QUIT SMOKING THEN

3.  If you have children and you smoke do NOT smoke around your children.  Do not smoke in the house and for God's sake DO NOT SMOKE IN THE CAR WITH YOUR CHILDREN IN IT!!!  I am sick and tired of parents bringing their children in for difficulty breathing, recurrent ear infections, and recurrent asthma problems and saying "i don't understand why they have so many breathing problems/ear infections" BECAUSE YOU ARE EXPOSING YOUR CHILD TO POISON!  THEY ARE SUFFERING BECAUSE OF YOUR ACTIONS.  These particular smokers absolutely wreak of smoke, i feel like I'm going to have an asthma attack just walking into the exam room and I don't have asthma.  If you want to put your own health at risk fine...but don't do it to your children.   Additionally; research has shown that the chemicals and toxins from smoking linger on clothing, hair, skin and materials such as carpet for much longer than ever expected; therefore when you smoke outside and come in and pick up your child and they touch your face, your hands, your hair and your clothing you are still exposing them to chemicals and toxins that are just as dangerous as those they can breath in from the smoke.

4.  Lying to health care providers about smoking.  Really? You think we can't smell it on you.  We can.  Tell us the truth.  We aren't going to berate you, or lecture you; I am going to offer you help in quiting if you ever desire to do so and I am going to educate you about the health effects of smoking including; high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, cancer (alot more of them then just lung), menstruation problems, infertility, fetal injury and insult, and hygiene. 

5.  Quiting smoking is one of the absolute hardest addictions to overcome.  Smoking stimulates the same receptors as using heroin and cocaine and therefore is just as addictive.   I give a great deal of credit to those trying to quit and those that have.  And if you fail once don't think you'll just keep failing, on average it takes 6 attempts to quit successfully.

Really...Hang Up the DAMN Phone Already!!

Here's my take on cell phone etiquette.  Yes our world has changed since the introduction of the mobile phone.  They are handing, helpful, and for many an absolute must have on them all time.  But what happened to politeness and some form of etiquette when using them.  Here are my top 10 cell phone no no's.

#1.  DO NOT text, surf the web, or check facebook while you're driving!  Are you trying to KILL someone else or just yourself?

#2.  If you can't have a conversation and drive at least the speed limit and safely hang your damn phone up!

#3.  When you come into the ER or Doctors office for medical care...get the hell off your phone.  You clearly are not ill enough to be in the emergency room if you are too busy talking/texting on your phone to answer the triage nurses questions.  Health care providers do not have all the time int he world, if you can't get off your phone during your appointment then reschedule for a more convenient time and let the practitioner get back to taking care of patients who clearly need and respect them!

#4.  Get off your damn phone when you are in line or interacting with a check out person, barista, bank teller etc!  It is completely rude and inconsiderate to be blabbing on your phone, probably having a conversation no one else wants to hear, and not even acknowledging someone who is helping you.

#5.  Do not sit on your phone talking or texting when you are on a date.  I do not care if it is your first date, date night with your spouse of no matter how many years, or a date with your girlfriends who haven't seen in awhile...It is rude and makes the other people feel like they really aren't worth your time. Put your phone away and return calls/messages when dinner/date is over!

#6.  No I, and most of people in the bathroom do not want to hear your intimate phone call and the person you are talking to probably doesn't want to be hearing you or anyone else pooping or peeing - Hang Up!

#7.  Absolutely under no circumstances should you be using your cell phone in any manner while in a movie theatre...leave the damn thing in your car or purse and make sure the damn ringer is off!

#8.  This one I just discovered tonight.  When you are at the gym, you and most other people there are there to work out right?  GET OFF YOUR DAMN PHONE when you are on the treadmill next to me!  The gym is no place of chitchatting on your cell!  It is distracting and I don't want to hear your intimate conversations or your discussion about what to make for dinner or what your doctor told you....its more annoying than those damn men who grunt while lifting weights or let the weights slam down making loud noises that startle me when I'm trying to concentrate on my cardio!

#9.  Do not call people and put them on speaker phone without their knowledge...better yet, don't 3 way call people without warning them.

#10.  When you are in the same room as other people who are watching a movie, or reading etc...do not call people and talk to them super loudly and on speaker phone...that is rude and inconsiderate.

Seriously...Can't we all just..AIM

Ok I need to rant a bit here tonight.  

why can't men get all their damn pee in the fricken toilet?  This is gross people.  I have to deal with pee on the toilet seat enough at home; I DO NOT want to worry about it at work.  Really...come on; I work in the health care field at a hospital.  I do not think or expect that I should need to check the toilet seat in the employee restrooms before I sit down.  So tonight I go potty in the ER employee restroom attached to the ambulance garage.  I sit down and do my thing and as i move to clean up and stand up I realize that a large part of my butt cheek is wet!  Yes some moron peed on the toilet seat in an employee bathroom in a hospital!  Really?

Here's the deal people.  If you cannot get all your urine into the large hole in the middle of the seat you need to either sit your ass down on that seat when you pee, or wipe the fricken thing off when you are done! 

Enough is Enough!  Us women need to stand up for our "clean toilet seat rights"!  Men take note...we will not tolerate this any more; when I find pee on the toilet seat at home I make the culprit come clean it up...you better believe I'm gonna be doing that at work from now on.  I will hunt down every one of you men and make you come wipe the seat down!  Maybe I'll sprinkle some sort of gross body fluid onto the seat before you go in there to poo...see how you like it; HMMPH

Keep It Neat...Manscaping

By the request of two peeps...here is my take on manscaping...I'd love to hear yours!

Manscaping; as Marth Stewart would say, "its a good thing"!!  Yes I prefer a neat man.  I think a lot of my girls out there would agree.  Its just cleaner, and neater and shows that the man takes care of himself.  Most men prefer a woman to be "womanscaped"; hmm I'm going to have to come up with a good term for that; so why wouldn't we like them to do the same?  Nothing crazy please; and no, manscaping does not imply your sexual preference.

You Aren't The Boss of Me!!

Working off a fb friends suggestion this evening I would like to discuss the importance of making your own choices and decisions about different life experiences.

Marriage - it seems other people always have opinions about who you should marry and when.  Whose business is that really.  Unless you are in an unhealthy or abusive relationship; other people need to keep their damn comments to themselves.  I know plenty of people who got engaged and married after only a short dating period.  I know people who married someone that they spent most of their time complaining about.  The worst comment in these situations is, "you can do better".  Best Reply..."Really better than what; I love this person, faults and all, they make me feel complete...shut up and go look in the mirror...maybe you are the one doubting your relationship".

Having Children: it is no ones business to tell someone when they should or shouldn't have children.  We all have our opinions on what is best for a relationship. Some people think getting pregnant right away is important, others think 2 years is good, others want five.  Some people think you shouldn't plan it at all because God will make it happen when it is supposed to.  Well, just because waiting 5 years for you worked well doesn't mean it is what I or my partner want.  Bud out.

Religion: I'm not going into too much depth here but I am simply going to state this.  What you believe is what you believe and what I believe is what I believe.  DO NOT try to push your beliefs or practices onto someone else; no matter what their religion is...Buddist, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Luthern, or agnostic...let them learn about their own god as they want to.

How to parent:  Wow this could be an entire blog on its own.  Everyone has the right to decide how they will parent their children.  Other people, including myself, will always think their methods are better and many will give unsolicited advice about what you are doing wrong and how to do it right.  Yes, I see kids whose parents seriously need to learn how to discipline them.  I also see children whose parents need to lay off a little and let them be a kid.  I see parents who feed their kids McDonald's on a daily basis and get made when their kids are called fat; but I also see parents who feed their children only raw foods and wonder why they are anemic, underweight, and behind on developmental milestones.  The thing is, maybe there is no "right way' to parent.  I think there is...and its my way...but I bet you are thinking the same thing.

You're Pregnant; you Can't do that:  First let me say...never Tell a pregnant woman she can or can't do something unless she asks you or you are her health care provider.  When I was pregnant people were constantly telling me "you can't drink coffee" - guess what idiot - Yes I can because I checked with my health care providers to make sure a certain amount of caffeine is safe and BTW how the hell do you know this isn't decaf?  "you can't eat that" guess what moron, yes I can because it isn't real sushi its made with cooked fish or fake fish...ask whats in it before you force your "all knowing knowledge" on me.  "You shouldn't lift that its heavy" - I'm pregnant not disabled, Unless you know for a fact someone is having pregnancy problems and their health care provider has told them no activities then shut up.  I could keep going; but here's the one that pissed me off the most..."you don't want a girl" - SHUT THE F UP...actually I do and guess what else, I don't get to choose the gender of my baby and even if I could I wouldn't!  Just because you don't like and can't take care of your girls doesn't mean I'm going to be unable to care for mine!

Here is a list of some other things that everyone seems to have opinions on but really need to mind their own business unless asked for advice...buying a home - what kind and where; pets; choosing schools/education; decorating your home; weight issues; immunizations...I really could go on and on

So what is the message I'm trying to convey here.  Mind your own business unless some asks you for advice or input.  We all have the right and abilities to make decisions that will or can alter our lives for ourselves.  And if we are making a mistake...let us...that's how people of all ages learn.  What is right for you or your family may not be right for me or mine...so lay off, and maybe think about why your way is so much better.

Crazy Love

I've dated a lot of freaks and jerks; and spent far too much time worrying about those idiots liking me and wasting time.  Four and a half years ago I met someone different.  He was very kind, friendly, social, talkative, genuine, and cute.  He wasn't a recent felon or parole, he wasn't married, and didn't have a 6 week baby at home...or his "baby mama's" home where he still lived...yep been there dated that.  But most importantly this man was extremely funny and always able to make me laugh.

His name is Dave and 1 1/2 years ago we got married!  Despite the little annoyances I have with him; I mean really...we are all annoyed but at least one thing our spouse/SO does; the man is hilarious.   He always has these one-liners that would just crack me up...for example he likes to announce "what a great day with friends" after an outing or night at the bar; "Im kinda  a big deal" and "people know me" these hilarious and random things he'd say...which I thought were so original...until I watched "Anchorman" with him and realized that half of his one liners were directly taken from this movie.  He also says things at random times such as "i love your curves", "I love how you're put together", and "you don't know how badly I need this".  Yes my husbands one liners are random, sometimes at inappropriate times, but always manage to make me smile.

My husband also has some highly dangers habits that drive me crazy and make "driving with him" a crazy experience.  He does not check his blind spot before he switches lanes, he likes to ride the lines, he has a habit of playing with his phone...not texting but twirling it in his hands while driving, he tries to look at the scenery...while driving, he never looks up directions anywhere before we go so we end up driving around until he figures it out, and he has some sort of chronic addiction to hitting potholes and getting flat tires (that goodness we have AAA), and locking his keys in his car.  Yes being in an automobile with my husband as a passenger is a crazy and sometimes a down right heart stopping experience.

My husband does not actually make plans.  Oh he tells me he does, but it is a big fib.  For example, he is known for planning a dinner out but not actually picking a restaurant until we've driven by about 15 and I've said, just pick a fricken place already; planning ahead is not a trait of his but makes for some interesting and impromptu dates.

My husband is extraordinarily social and loves to meet new people.  This is nice because I can bring him basically anywhere, high school reunion, weddings, work events, and not worry at all that he'll be bored because I know he'll find several people to talk to.  This does however get a little crazy sometimes.  One night we were at Perkins on our way home from, i think a baseball game, and there is a very drunk and very emotional guy at the booth by us eating by himself...so what does my husband do; invites him to join us.  My husband also likes to talk to strangers and homeless persons on the street; I'm just not so sure that is a safe way to meet people.  But the worst part about it, at least for me, is that the majority of times we go out together, which are few and far between now that we have a baby, I feel like he is on a date with our waitress/waiter and not me because he spends more time talking to them during our dinner than me...hmmm maybe I'm boring?

My husband loves....LOVES the library.  Its a little odd, I'm sure he spends time talking to random people there, but at least I know our daughter will be exposed to a lot of books and literature!

My husband also loves our bonfire pit.  He really enjoys putting large pieces of brush and wood into the 3 foot diameter pit...without cutting it or making sure it will fit within the stone bricks...this also makes for interesting bonfire experiences; and no grass growth within approximately 3 feet of our pit.

My husband enjoys to cook and is particularly fond of our Rachael Ray cookbooks.  However; if he can't find an ingredient, and lets admit it - she uses some odd ones, he just substitutes or leaves it out.  Its great he is adventurous and willing to experiment with cooking;  but when you leave the main ingredient of the dish out or switch it up...it's a little weird.

I could probably go on and on and on about the interesting and crazy things my husband does.  But the main point here is...he keeps our lives really REALLY interesting; he makes me laugh no matter how bad of a day I had or how poor my mood is...he's even been known to make me laugh when I am fuming at him!  Yeah, living with my husband can be a little crazy but hey....that's just one of the reasons I love him...I guess its a Crazy Love