“When we came into the union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that.

“My hope is that America, and Washington in particular, pays attention.  We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that?”

 Gov. Perry took a lot of heat for his comments.  And then  Dr. Paul stood up to defend him:

“I don’t think anybody called for secession, and I don’t think the governor called for it. But he brings up an important issue. The biggest surprise to me was the outrage expressed over an individual who thinks along these lines, because I heard people say, well, this is treasonous and this was un-American. But don’t they remember how we came in to our being? We used secession, we seceded from England. So it’s a very good principle. It’s a principle of a free society. It’s a shame we don’t have it anymore. I argue that if you had the principle of secession, our federal government wouldn’t be as intrusive into state affairs and to me that would be very good.”

Oh my. Did THAT raise even more of an uproar! 

Texas is not the only state that has been hinting at the “s” word lately.  Montana hinted at it last year over the Supreme Court Case DC v Heller, which addressed whether the 2nd Amendment provided individual or collective rights. The decision ultimately stated that the right to bear arms is, indeed an individual right.  The following appeared in an amicus brief filed to the Supreme Court:

“A collective rights decision by the court would violate the contract by which Montana entered into statehood, called the Compact With the United States and archived at Article I of the Montana Constitution. When Montana and the United States entered into this bilateral contract in 1889, the U.S. approved the right to bear arms in the Montana Constitution, guaranteeing the right of “any person” to bear arms, clearly an individual right.

“There was no assertion in 1889 that the Second Amendment was susceptible to a collective rights interpretation, and the parties to the contract understood the Second Amendment to be consistent with the declared Montana constitutional right of “any person” to bear arms.

“As a bedrock principle of law, a contract must be honored so as to give effect to the intent of the contracting parties. A collective rights decision by the court in Heller would invoke an era of unilaterally revisable contracts by violating the statehood contract between the United States and Montana, and many other states.”

I think my husband’s comment on the Ron Paul interview blog sums up what I believe quite eloquently, better than I could have said it myself.

“Bravo Ron Paul for once again saying what needs to be said that few want to hear, and judging from most of the comments here, even fewer understand.

“His comparison of American independence to secession is correct. So what that the word “secession” wasn’t used to describe that. It’s the same concept. So if Texas or Alaska or whomever declared their “independence” instead of using the “s” word, that silly argument goes away…

“The only two organizations I know of that allow you to join but will kill you if you want to quit are the mafia and the United States. [emphasis added -k] A state that was allowed to freely request admission to the United States should be allowed to leave if its people want that. Congressman Paul is so right that even the threat of this would make the authoritarians in Washington more respectful of our federal system that was intended to have a much smaller, less intrusive federal government and preserve much autonomy and indepence for the states.”

Butterfly & Luna - 1998

April 22nd is Earth Day, which got me thinking about Julia “Butterfly”  Hill, who spent from Dec 10, 1997 to Dec 18, 1999 (yes, 738 days)  living 180 feet up in a Coastal Redwood tree she had named Luna. She did this to save Luna, who is over 1,000 years old, and other surrounding trees, from destruction by loggers. That kind of passion is rare and admirable. 

I lived in Humboldt County at the time, not far from where Butterfly (her forest name) perched in Luna. Just knowing she was up there was part of the whole magic of living there. I could not even begin to imagine how a North Coast winter storm felt when perched 180 feet up in a redwood tree. We had some fairly fierce storms during which I prayed for her safety.  That’s not to say my  cynical side didn’t rear its ugly head as well. It did. And still does, I am learning. This started out as a distinctly cynicism-free post, I swear, but all it took was to read her recent interview in the SF Chronicle to change that, I’m afraid.

Julia - 2008

A Chronicle staff writer asks Julia such questions as:

“What girl were you in high school?”  (Didn’t fit in.)   

“Ever look up an ex on faceBook?”  (No.) 

“When you Google yourself, you feel…”

“I refuse to Google myself. I just don’t engage in that reality. … If I were to read all the media that’s been done on me, I would no longer be me … But my manager and executive director have a Google Alert for Julia Butterfly Hill, and they check it out.” 

Over the cliff of cynicism I fall once again.

(Read the full article)

4/21/09 Update: After some time, discussion with my husband (who is the most reasonable man I know), watching the birds compete over nearby nesting spots, and admiring how the baby rabbit in my back yard is growing, I have climbed back out of the depths of cynisicm.    I have also learned of an organizaiton, cofounded by Julia Hill, called “What’s Your Tree?“  Here is a quote from their website:

What’s Your Tree builds on Julia’s story and asks the question: What calls YOU to be bigger and more powerful than you ever imagined? What cause is so important to you that you will go outside of your comfort zone to achieve it? What purpose are you willing to use your life to fulfill? In other words: What is YOUR tree?

Most notably, they have developed a curriculum designed for small groups with the aim of helping “individuals discover their deeper calling and to create one’s life around that calling.” Then, they work on moving “from an ‘individual’ point of view to a community point of view:”

Ultimately, we are building communities of people who are lit up by purpose, living their life powerfully and making choices that call them courageously forward into creating the kind of world they want to live in.

Whatever each person’s individual pathway is, we want to see them connected, cared for, and in community — because at the end of the day, being in community is the best (and funnest) way to change the world.

Now how can anyone be cynical about that?

Crack (Candy) Babies,
…The hip thing for little whippersnappers to do, apparently, is crush up Smarties into a fine powder, take a big hit, then exhale what looks like smoke. Let the countdown begin. … more…

California briefly allowed same-sex marriage, but rescinded it in a very contentious referendum (Prop-8) last November which had the effect of changing the State Constitution to forbid same-sex marriage. It was an ugly time to live here and it made me sad and embarrassed to be a Californian.

This all reminds me of the initial purpose I had for starting this entry! It was really just to learn how to embed a You Tube video in a post!

(I’m absolutely certain that in the future I’ll have a post about Bonobos, my favorite primates! I’ll only mention now that they exist in female dominated societies and resolve their differences with sex rather than with violence. There’s a lesson to be learned there, maybe?)

In Vermont, the State House of Representatives overrode Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of marriage equality by a vote of 100-49. This makes Vermont is the first to recognize same-sex marriage legislatively, rather than by judicial fiat. The decision leaves 44 states with laws explicitly prohibiting such marriages, including 30 with constitutional amendments restricting marriage to one man and one woman. The next battlegrounds appear to be New York, Maine, and New Hampshire. 

So what’s my opinion on all this? Well, I believe that marriage is a private matter between two individuals and that there should be no laws defining who can marry who. But we don’t live in that world, and there are certain contractual benefits to being recognized as “married.” Not a very romantic idea, but true. 

Gay couples should have the same rights as any couple to have the contractual aspects of their relationship respected and enforced: so that if one partner becomes incapacitated, the other has health care decision-rights, property rights, etc. In the world we live in, this means having state governments recognize same-sex marriage.

And that’s all I have to say about that.  Well… for now, anyway!

Original Curious Heart logo

Well… not exactly!  But there are still a number of links I keep finding out there to the original CuriousHeart.com site. If you found this site from such a link, and were hoping to find heart health information here, please let me know so I can ask the referring site to delete the link.

I first developed the website back in 1999.  As a cardiac nurse, and as one who enjoyed patient teaching, I developed the site to provide health information about the heart.  It became one of the best places on the Internet to get information about various cardiac illnesses, diagnostic tests and treatments.  The forum and e-mailed questions I received from people outside of the US really opened my eyes about the availability and quality of care in countries with nationalized health care!  I heard from many people who had to wait for months to get a cardiologist appointment for a potentially life-threatening problem.  They turned to a complete stranger on the Internet for medical advice, which I could not give them.  But more about that in another post (rant!) someday! 

By 2002, I was no longer working in a cardiac clinical area and the website updates became less and less frequent. I finally took the site down the following year and have used it just for my e-mail address until recently.

I recently saw that Britney Spears began marketing a Curious Heart perfume a couple of years ago. Maybe instead of just using the domain name for e-mail the last few years, I should have tried to sell it to her! Poor thing–she’s had enough on her mind lately. It looks like the site she did have for the perfume is gone now too.

Curious Heart Perfume

So, to sum this post up, if you are looking for heart health info or perfume, I’m sorry to disappoint you!  There is a nice little gift shop in Nashville by the same name that you might like to visit though. 

Hopefully, this solves the mystery of the “missing link”!

I’ve been working on my husband’s website, www.deviantdollarstore.com.  It used to live here on my site until it moved into its own home.  I’ve been learning a lot.  Dreamweaver, some PHP, Javascript… I even did my first animated gif!  Let’s see if I can place it here….

 I think I’ve caught the website bug again!

This MIGHT turn into a real blog someday.  For now,  in case anyone wanders in,  it’s just me learning!