Coral Rhedd

Agree on Michael Crichton. To be a little gossipy: What a mess her personal life was! Or rather, what a mess she made of everyone else's. Ever read the book The Judgment by Nathaniel Brandon? One of the things that is interesting about Rand is how much she rejected the feminine role. And got away with it!

I don't disagree with you at all. IMO, the death penalty should be abolished in all instances. I was merely explaining that the Court considered the Atkins case as important in it's decision. Please read the post in which I first mentioned Atkins and pay attention to my word choices. You are arguing with me when there is no necessity. Or perhaps you are just enjoying yourself. You can go on and on about how the Court should have ruled or what they should have considered in their ruling, but that won't change the facts. Are you aware that the majority also took into account world opinion on executing minors? I suspect you are a strict constructionist. That should make you blanch.

Thank you both. Clearly, I need more compartmentalization of my finances. Sandi, your separate account with debit card idea for expenses is a real gem! It never crossed my feeble mind. So far I have no one on payroll but if I take a draw, am I on payroll? Phi, there is no reason why I can't bill once a month. I just got in the habit of twice a month because I needed the money ASAP. Are there any advantages in my present circumstance to becoming a Limited Liability Corp or would I just be asking for paperwork that would not make it worth it? I did not realize I could have a business account in just my name.

At this point ecoli, I wouldn't want me for a partner. I can't imagine inflicting myself on someone else.

How often do you think I should do it? With the gov. agency, I bill every two weeks. Get paid two months later. This is a good idea. Sometimes people need follow up help as they keep tweaking their resumes to suit different potential employers. If I decided to meet clients at home, could I write off the expenses of a maid for cleaning the office part of my house? Thank for advising me.

If you consider the expense of the appeals process, I believe it is quite expensive to put someone to death.

The link I provided was used as precedent in the case decided today. Just below the NYT article you linked to was the decision itself by Justice Kennedy. I quote it to show that the Atkins decision on the execution on the mentally retarded was very much considered in the current decision. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=03-633&friend=nytimes "Three Terms ago in Atkins, however, the Court held that standards of decency had evolved since Penry and now demonstrated that the execution of the mentally retarded is cruel and unusual punishment. The Atkins Court noted that objective indicia of society's standards, as expressed in pertinent legislative enactments and state practice, demonstrated that such executions had become so truly unusual that it was fair to say that a national consensus has developed against them. 536 U. S., at 314-315. The Court also returned to the rule, established in decisions predating Stanford, that the Constitution contemplates that the Court's own judgment be brought to bear on the question of the acceptability of the death penalty. Id., at 312. After observing that mental retardation diminishes personal culpability even if the offender can distinguish right from wrong, id., at 318, and that mentally retarded offenders' impairments make it less defensible to impose the death penalty as retribution for past crimes or as a real deterrent to future crimes, id., at 319-320, the Court ruled that the death penalty constitutes an excessive sanction for the entire category of mentally retarded offenders, and that the Eighth Amendment places a substantive restriction on the State's power to take such an offender's life, id., at 321. Just as the Atkins Court reconsidered the issue decided in Penry, the Court now reconsiders the issue decided in Stanford. Pp. 6-10 . . . As in Atkins, the objective indicia of consensus in this case--the rejection of the juvenile death penalty in the majority of States; the infrequency of its use even where it remains on the books; and the consistency in the trend toward abolition of the practice--provide sufficient evidence that today our society views juveniles, in the words Atkins used respecting the mentally retarded, as "categorically less culpable than the average criminal." It is judgment here that is at issue. If they had deemed teenagers to have the same culpability as adults their decision would have been different.

No. Please pay attention to the words beginning the first sentence you quote: ONE MIGHT . . . If I had wanted to use the first person singular, I would have. If I had wanted to use a less equivocal word than "might," I would have. You didn't read the link, did you? You have a little problem with nuance, don't you? I did not mean to be snide concerning your appearance. Just factual. I am as matter of fact about my own age. Now if you were hoping to pass for thirty, I sincerely apologize for offending you.

I could use a little help. Life was much easier until I went into business for myself. Now I am questioning the wisdom of such a move. My main problem lies not with the product that I sell. My main problem is with the organizational and the money management aspects of self-employment. Can some people who are successfully in business for themselves give me some hints? I feel like I am drowning in paperwork. I am a sole proprietor. I sell a service not a product. I have trouble doing things like remembering to write down minor expenses and prodding myself into invoicing. You would think I could manage to do these things that would be most beneficial to me.

That is not all they are saying. You are simplifying a bit, aren't you? This is the case that was the chief precedent for today's decision: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=00-8452 It dealt with the ability of mentally retarded people to make judgments. There is a reason that 18 is the age of consent in most instances. That reason is that teenagers are less able to use good judgment. The court seems to be saying that even in heinous crimes the ability of defendants to judge what actions they should take or refrain from taking is more important than the type of crime committed. This does not seem unreasonable to me. Nor do I think it makes it more immediately likely that the death penalty will be considered cruel and unusual for adult murderers. It is a step in the right direction, but I suspect we will have the dealth penalty for quite some time to come.

Where did I indicate my personal opinion? I did not. However, judging from you photo, your concerns are valid. If we as a culture decide that the years (few ahead) of older people are less worthy than those of younger people we could be in for some trouble. For instance, when resources become scarce we may decide they are more properly allotted to the the young. I found this following NYT article of interest -- although admittedly off topic: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/business/yourmoney/27view.html? I will be reading about the Court's decision since I have not yet. Maybe I will offer an opinion when I am more informed.

And if you can't remember s**t? What then? I am beginning to think that my ADD is meeting Alzheimer's. Perhaps I should start a new thread on memory stategies.

One might answer that yes. They lose more years. The suffering from thinking of losing all those years may be more acute. Rather difficult to quantify, wouldn't you say?

Some people think the DPT vaccine is the culprit. I have read several places that it is on the upswing, but there is no denying that they are now more canny about it and able to diagnose it sooner. Probably some autism was mistaken as certain forms of mental retardation in the past. Of course they often exist together.

To think I used to foolishly try to fill an inside straight. I should have just called it a skip straight ala Cheney.

Just thought I'd mention that the full moon of February (Feb 24 this week) has three names. Hunger Moon, Snow Moon, Wolf Moon.

I'll take my powers anywhere I can get them.

If He/She did not want me to use this gift, why was I given it?

I have no doubt that Newtonian will appeal directly to God.

Kaaatherine, A person with no outside stimuli would probably die. But is this really possible? If you are talking about an "enviroment" with total sensory deprivation, I don't think this exists. If you are talking about people who cannot perceive their environment, how would they eat?

People's reactions have to do with how they perceive public figures and whether of not they "like" them. The press does play a role in this. I was hardly aware of Brad and Jen until The New York Times weighed in. It seems that at first the general press thought Jen was a self-interested fool who wasn't ready to have Brad's baby because she was overinvested in her acting career. Then suddenly it was Brad who was the villian because he had been attracted to Angelina Jolie. I tell you, it positively makes my head swim. If this goes on, I may have to start watching television just to know who the real movers and shakers in the world are.

Actually, it seems he found it quite some time ago but had a little recognition problem. I have no great emotional investment in whether or not Charles finds happiness. As a American, I am much more concerned that George Bush does not find happiness at everyone else's expense. It's called gossip Aardvark. Why is this thread even continuing? Others contributed to it. You contributed to it. Now I have contributed again. I do indeed, but I hope there is not another devastating tsunami even more. However, what I hope will influence neither.

Everyone with a brain at all communicates. You just have to know the language. I work with people with disabilities. A blind woman I work with uses a computer program -- Dragon Speaking or something like that -- to communicate with me via email. I have worked with people with IQs below sixty. I assure you I had little trouble communicating with them. Generally you just avoid abstractions. However, I found I constantly underestimated the senstivity and understanding these people had. I learned a lot from the mentally retarded. I worked briefly with a deaf schizophrenic. Now that one was hard. We make assumptions about others from inside our own paradigm. People that help you step outside that paradigm and eventually expand it are a gift to you.