Day 209: Unexpected Arrival

 

July 28th, 2011Today marked a day of many events, ending with the unexpected arrival of Adam Ratke. In the morning, I went to EH&S helping my boss set up for his Grizzly Bear presentation, as well as proceeding to wash a cart. During Doug Harvey’s so called presentation, he presented a variety of valuable tips on how to avoid a bear attack, and also gave me lots of wonderful stories about the adventures he shared with his wife while hiking. Free pizza was provided, and I subsequently chowed down 8 slices to fullfill my duty as student employee. It certainly makes me want to hike for bears someday in the not so immediate future. Afterwards, I went to Price Center, where Geetha met up with me. We departed shortly thereafter, and I went back to my place, watching a ton of Breaking Bad episodes. Afterwards I ate noodles for dinner, and went to Geetha’s place. We tried to play Pool at Michael’s Lounge, but it looked too fancy (Fail #1), no good movies were out so we didn’t see anything (Fail #2), and then Adam Ratke called saying he was coming today instead of tomorrow (Fail #3). So, from Ralph’s, we went to Starbucks where I had a delicious Vanilla Bean, and we had an interesting conversation before getting interupted by Adam Ratke at Trader Joe’s. I proceeded to my place immediately afterward to await Adam, picked him up at Von’s, and walked him back to my place, positioning him on the couch so he could get comfortable. After talking to Geetha for roughly an hour and a half on a bench outside my place, I talked to Adam for quite a long amount of time about his family drama. The end.

Following its ratification by the necessary three-quarters of U.S. states, the 14th Amendment, guaranteeing to African Americans citizenship and all its privileges, is officially adopted into the U.S. Constitution. Two years after the Civil War, the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 divided the South into five military districts, where new state governments, based on universal manhood suffrage, were to be established. Thus began the period known as Radical Reconstruction, which saw the 14th Amendment, which had been passed by Congress in 1866, ratified in July 1868. The amendment resolved pre-Civil War questions of African American citizenship by stating that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States…are citizens of the United States and of the state in which they reside.” The amendment then reaffirmed the privileges and rights of all citizens, and granted all these citizens the “equal protection of the laws.” YES….

House Republicans called off a vote Thursday on Speaker John Boehner’s plan that would raise the nation’s debt ceiling and enact sweeping cuts in government spending, but the possibility remained that the measure could come up on Friday. “Members are advised that there will be NO VOTES in the House tonight,” said a message from House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy’s office. “We apologize for the late notice.” The delay in voting on the proposal revealed a deep rift within the GOP that could undermine the party’s latest attempt to avoid an unprecedented national default and stave off potential economic catastrophe. SAD… Ron Paul was right.

P.S.: