"When climbing the steps to success, do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Separation of Church and State?

As a conservative Christian Republican, naturally I voted Yes on Proposition 8 in this past election. I voted according to my morals and my religious beliefs; my belief that marriage is only to be between one man and one woman, as God originally and still does intend it to be.

While watching a political talk show last night, the panel began discussing Prop 8 and my husband and I got to talking about it in a way we never had before. The views presented on the show were contradictory to ours, and although the following ideas were not represented in the dialogue, the panel's conversation did open the door for the ideas and conclusions we came to. I must add that what I am about to say is not necessarily the view my husband holds; I have expanded on our original discussion and do not want to press onto him any ideas I hold that he may disagree with.

Here in the United States, we have a separation of church and state. That means government has no bearing on religion, and religion has no bearing on government, or at least it's not supposed to. The phrase "separation of church and state" is not explicitly stated in the constitution or any other supporting document, but the idea is there, in the First Amendment. Thomas Jefferson reaffirmed that this amendment creates a "wall of separation" as stated in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists. This idea has since been enforced in a number of Supreme Court rulings beginning in 1878.

As a Christian, I voted according to my religious beliefs to alter our state constitution. Now, where's that separation? Okay, so no one ever said individuals had to keep it separate, but the management of this country and the laws that are passed are suppose to keep it separate. Which leads me to my next question...What was the proposition doing on the ballot in the first place? I would say that a one man-one woman marriage is a predominately Christian ideal although there are many non-Christians who support this view as well. If we stayed true to our American heritage, Prop 8 never would have made it to the ballot.

I have to wonder how I would feel if Islam was or became this nation's influential religion, and the Muslim religious beliefs began to be pushed onto me. For example, the Quran (the sacred text of Islam) states that a husband shall beat his wife if necessary. What if people began passing laws about domestic violence against women not only allowing it, but encouraging it? I, along with many others, would be pissed. No, pissed doesn't even begin to describe it. There are so many arguments that can be made against it. I won't get into it all, but here's a thought: If it became a lawful and acceptable thing to beat on women, what does that say about women in general? That we are inferior to men? That we don't have the same rights as men? That we don't deserve to have the same rights? That we hold a lesser worth or value as a human being? That we are no more than property? I could never go for that and there are many others who wouldn't either.

And that's the beauty of having a separation of church and state; with true separation, that could never happen. But do we really have it? What about the people in this country now, who aren't Christians, or who do not hold Christian values? Is it right to impose upon them our religious beliefs? Is it right to frame our laws around those beliefs? Don't they, as humans in America, deserve the right to live their lives according to their own values and not those of someone else? (As long as they are posing no physical harm or threat to others, of course) By passing Prop 8, we have imposed our Christian values onto those who do not share them. That is wrong from an American political point of view as I previously discussed, and it is wrong from a Christian standpoint, which I will now explore.

Christians are called to show God's love to all people and to reach out to those who are in need of His saving grace. As a Christian, Jesus is my perfect example of how I should live my life and interact with others. For those who don't have Jesus yet, we as Christians are all they get to see of Him. Jesus made right and wrong very clear, but everything He did, He did in love, never forcing anything on anyone; He always gave people the opportunity to choose the right thing. If we as Christians are forcing our beliefs onto others, other who don't know anything about Jesus except what they see in us, why would they want Him? Nobody likes a dictator.

The God I serve is the farthest thing from a careless dictator, but how would anyone know that by the way so many of us have been acting? It should be our mission to befriend homosexuals (and non-Christians, in general) and love them and show them the heart of God and give them the opportunity to understand and to choose Jesus. We shouldn't just tell them or try to force them to conform to our beliefs; Jesus never would have done that.

So no matter which way I look at it, I did a very hypocritical thing by voting Yes on Prop 8. But if I was given the chance to go back in time and change my vote, I most likely would not change it. What does that say about me as a person in light of what I just explained? As a Christian? As a person who believes in freedoms and choices and that everyone deserves them? That is an entirely different blog altogether...one that I will probably never write. But I will say that I still have a LOT of growing to do.


http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html (Jefferson's letter)

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/church-state/decisions.html
(Supreme Court rulings)

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Quran/003-wife-beating.htm (Quran text)

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Hallelujah!






Just months ago we were paying close to $5.00 per gallon for gas, now we are down to this; I never thought I'd ever see this price again! Last time we were here we were all freaking out about how expensive it was getting. And that was so long ago that I can't even remember when it actually was. Now we are excited about it...How long will it last?

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Where were you when...?

History is full of "Where were you when's?" Where were you when Kennedy was shot? Or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Where were you when the first man walked on the moon? Or the morning of September 11th? There are more, and when people live through such events, they can tell you many years and even decades later exactly where they were when it happened, how they felt, what they said, or couldn't find the words to say. They can tell you who they were with, even what they were wearing or eating.

I just watched tens of millions of Americans elect a black man as the 44th President of the United States of America. This election transcended race! No...an election doesn't do anything on it's own...the people of America transcended race in this election. For generations, we have lied to our young people; we have taught them that in American anybody can be anything they want to be, and today that is no longer a lie. We have risen from a nation once wrenched with slavery into a nation where all men truly are created equal. It has been a long, hard journey to get here, but we have reached another milestone...one most of us never thought we'd live to see take place. What about our grandparents who are still with us? They have seen much, much worse times than we have...I'm sure not one of them thought they'd ever see it in their lifetime.


I never stopped believing in Barack Obama's ability to lead this nation to unity, but I did stop having faith in the people. But I watched people celebrate last night. All kinds of people, all together (maybe not a whole lot of Republicans, but I didn't see the bitterness I thought I would see). In the midst of all the celebration, I was reminded of how much "coming together" it took to make this happen. (I'm just going to throw party unity out the window because I don't know that that will ever really happen, although there were many Republicans that crossed over for Obama in this election). But I watched people, young and old, black and white, rich and poor, all crying and jumping for joy and hugging one another. In those moments, there was no demographic that mattered to any of them. I didn't see any fights, or smoke in the distance. All I saw was unity. I saw people put their differences aside and come together for a common purpose.


I've got to come clean and say that although I did vote in this election, I chose not to vote for a President. Choosing not to choose was not an easy conclusion for me to draw. Policy-wise neither candidate had my full support, and that's the only way I, in good conscience, can vote. But my heart always wanted to see Obama stake his claim for America.


This country is forever changed...and we ARE headed in the right direction. If you read my previous blog, right now you are probably thinking I'm bi-polar; I assure you I am not. I just see things happen sometimes, awful things that make me shudder, things that quake me to my core. And when I'm lucky enough, I get to see something that contradicts it, and calms me down reminding me that it doesn't have to be as I imagined. Last night I was lucky enough to watch people come together, and I listened to our President-elect talk about change one more time. And all the fear and turmoil festering inside of me subsided. I have complete faith that this man will change America for the better (he's already surmounted tremendous obstacles, therein starting that cycle of change) and I once again have faith that the people will do what they can, too. I know we have to take it one baby step at a time, but we have just made a huge leap forward. I don't know how there can be anyone that isn't excited about that!


Many times I have expressed my gratitude to God for choosing this country and this period in time for me to be born into. I don't think I could have made it in any other time or place. I'd be too "soft" or too "rogue" or too any number of other things. And I have even more reason to be thankful today. I was born with this strong desire to see true racial equality. I can't even explain it. It wasn't something I had to be taught, I just knew what was right and what was wrong, I knew what should matter about a person and what shouldn't. And today a piece of that desire was satisfied. This is not only an important event for Americans in general, but this is an especially important event for black Americans. I could never begin to explain the depths of it's significance for black people in America because I will never be able to fully understand their struggle. And I would never cheapen it by pretending.


So, where were you when the people of America voted the first black man into the Presidency of the United States of America? For me, it was 8:01 PM PST on November 4, 2008 when Keith Olbermann announced the winner. I sat on the couch in my living room next to my husband, with a laptop in my lap and tears streaming down my cheeks. I wore a pink shirt with pink tweety bird pajama pants and stared at the television in awe, in disbelief, in amazement and pride and joy and hope. I could hardly speak; all I could say was, "America did it." Then I watched Barack Obama walk across the stage like he was born for this very purpose; he was born to break the barrier. This is a story I look forward to telling my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And I hope that as I tell them this story that it will blow their minds to even imagine that we once lived in a world where the color of a person's skin was such a big deal. Now, someday I will be able to tell my mulatto children that with dedication and hard work, they can be anything they want to be...even President of the United States. And it won't be a lie.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27546437#27546437 (Obama's victory speech)

Monday, November 3, 2008

A Nation Divided?

Here we sit, on the eve of one of the most important, history-making Presidential elections...I would say THE most important one in my lifetime. I'm pretty certain about who our next President will be; if it turns out that I'm wrong, I already have several theories about how and why the numbers would swing in the other direction, but I'm not going to get into that. What I really wanted to talk about today is what this election has done to our country.

I feel like we have been divided during this race. Republicans hate Democrats, Democrats hate Republicans. There never has been unity between the parties, but at least we used to be somewhat civil towards each other. All decency and tact has now been thrown out the window. So much hate with regard to party affiliation, race and religion has surfaced and escalated.

Towards the beginning of the Primaries, both McCain and Obama advertised themselves as agents for change. Obama talked about change in many different areas, but the one I particularly liked was for party and racial unity. It just struck a chord with me; it's something I'd really like to see happen. Because of his background and his way with people, I thought that if anyone could do it at this point in time, HE could. But as I've watched this Presidential election unfold, I see that we are running full speed ahead in the opposite direction. I see a divide much greater than the one previously there. A divide between parties, races, religions, socio-economic classes...Maybe it was always there and it's just been masked or maybe I've just been blind, REALLY blind. But has it always been this bad? Have I been naive? Living in a fantasy world? Or has it gotten much worse, as I suspect?

It's great that this election has inspired so many; that so many have found their passion because of it, but how did that passion cross over into hatred? Have you ever heard of a group of little old ladies ganging up on young men and beating them down for supporting the opposite ticket? Well, it happened. And that doesn't even begin to tell the story of the past year. I don't even want to get into it in detail.

This country is not coming together at all. Will that POOF! just change overnight when we finally know who our next President will be? I doubt it. Tomorrow we find out which man that will be, and I could bet that no matter who it is there will be riots and fights in the streets all across this nation. There will be fires and vandalism and chaos. And there will be hate run rampant. There will be hate and there will be no such thing as being too naive to see it. It will be like the red koolaid stain on your new white carpet. Not only is there no possible way of missing it when you walk into the room, but when you close your eyes and try to pretend it's not there, you still see it, etched in your mind's eye. Even when you blot it up, soak the carpet in club soda and stain remover and everything else that you can think of, the stain remains. There is no way of going back to the pre-koolaid stain days...your carpet is forever changed. And so will be our country. No missing it, no ignoring it, no fantasy worlds. That's change alright, but not the type of change I wanted to see.

All I have left to say at this point is that I sincerely hope that I am wrong...REALLY wrong.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Is Michelle Bachmann Anti-American?

Okay, so it's taken me awhile to get around to writing this...BUT...on October 17, 2008, Michelle Bachmann (a Republican representing Minnesota in the US House of Representatives) was interviewed by Chris Matthews on Hardball and she word vomited all over the place on national television. Filthy, nasty words continually spewed forth from her mouth.

She set out to attack Barack Obama; she called him anti-American, and as she began to explain her reasoning, she dug herself into a deeper and deeper hole, which ultimately resulted in the NRCC (National Republican Congressional Committee) pulling all their funds from her campaign for re-election. Anyhow, her argument was based on a "guilty by association" theory. She says Obama is anti-American because of his close associations with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers whom she called radical leftists with anti-American views. She went on to imply that all leftists are anti-American. But let's back up just a second here...Jeremiah Wright may have some views that are a little twisted, he may have said some things that weren't right and even offensive, but first, if you sit in any church long enough, you'll hear the Pastor say something you don't agree with or something that offends you; Pastors are human, too. Secondly, this man served in the US Marine Corps and Naval Academy and was entrusted with the care of post-operative then-President of the US, Lyndon B. Johnson. This is a man who has served our country and important people to our country; no matter what things he may have said, we should never call him anti-American. He put his life on the line for the United States...that sounds pretty pro-American to me. Bill Ayers, on the other hand, I think we can call anti-American.

So back to lefties and righties. If we viewed all possible political beliefs on a spectrum, as most do, we will have a far left being as liberal as it gets, and a far right being as conservative as it gets, and every point in between. Every point along this spectrum is American no matter where it falls because it is built upon the foundation that we have the right, as Americans, to decide on our own where our personal views will fall. It seems anti-American to me to call another American anti-American because they hold views that differ from your own. HELLO!! Amendment numero uno! I've got to take it back to the tried and true. The First Amendment tells me that I can believe whatever I want. If this is part of the US Constitution, that which provides the basic framework for the organization of the US government, then it is an American concept to think for yourself and to hold any view you see fit. I take serious issue with her implication that all liberals or leftists are anti-American. Leftists can be called anti...well, a lot of things, just as rightists can be called anti a lot of other things, but not one of those options should ever be anti-American.

So, when is it okay to call an American "anti-American"? Well, when they hatefully terrorize and/or kill other Americans who are working to ensure the successful management of this country or destroy buildings, files or other intelligence used for the same purposes...Would you like an example? Bill Ayers. He bombed the New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, the US Capitol in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972.

Even though I think it is wrong to call another American anti-American because you disagree with their views, and the whole idea of it sounds pretty anti-American in itself, I am not going to go as far as to call Michelle Bachmann anti-American. During the infamous Hardball interview, Chris Matthews asked her how many people in the Congress she suspected of being anti-American and she responded with this: "The news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look...at the views of the people in Congress and find out, 'Are they pro-American or anti-American?' " So, based on my previous explanation of the 1st Amendment, what is it about her that makes her so profoundly pro-American?

Why would she even want to sit in Congress to serve alongside and "pal around with" so many she believes to be anti-American? If she were on the outside looking in, she'd label herself guilty by association much like what she has done to others. She obviously doesn't seem to respect the authority of the US Constitution in its entirety. Is that pro-American? In fact, it seems as if she would prefer it to be revised regarding freedom of belief...while we're at it, why don't we start convicting people for the crimes of the people they know?

Well, I was planning on going in a slightly different direction with this topic, but this is where I wound up. This is blog #2 that talks about the 1st Amendment, I guess I'm a little more passionate about it than I thought. Below I have pasted a link from YouTube of the interview. It cuts off the first few minutes, but it contains the "meat" of the interview; I'm sure you can find the full length version on there if you haven't seen it, yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESdA52S4Dbg

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Sarah Palin and the Women of America

I debated long and hard whether or not I would even bring up the subject. I've wrestled with a lot of thoughts about what is going on in the political arena regarding Sarah Palin and after so much has taken place, I think it's time to say something. First, I have to say that it is amazing to watch this election transpire. I am honored as an America citizen to be able to watch history be made no matter who wins this election. I am so proud to see America move forward and look past race and gender to place those they feel are most qualified into office. Which leads me to why I started writing this in the first place...

When John McCain first announced his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, I thought, "Wow, he's just trying to pick up all the Hilary supporters that just jumped on the bandwagon because she is a woman." Then I listened to Sarah's speech at the convention and loved her, I felt like I understood why he chose her. Nobody knew who the heck she was, unless they were from Alaska or visited there often, but that didn't matter, she really seemed to win over the hearts of many, at least me, I know that for sure. But as she started to do interviews and speak with the press, when a speech wasn't written out for her, when she had to think for herself, I began to feel embarrassed, as a woman, which I'll get back to later. She doesn't possess a working knowledge of what is necessary to run this country if John McCain died. All she knows is what has been drilled into her brain by others. She has no opinions of her own because she doesn't understand what is going on. I am not saying she is stupid, I don't believe that, she has obviously done a wonderful job governing Alaska, I just think that she never cared enough to know what is going on with America as a whole, and you can't just learn it all in 6 weeks. Even if you could, do we really want someone who hasn't cared all this time to be in charge of it all?

Woman have come so far, especially in these past few generations, and I felt like she was giving women a bad name, like she was making us all look bad. Women were given the right to vote only 88 years ago, and now we have women running this country along side the men who have been running it for the past 225 years (the sovereignty of the United States was recognized in 1783, not in 1776 when we declared our Independence). That is so hard to believe! 88 years is not a long time to make that much progress. Women have struggled to gain acceptance and equality in the workplace and everywhere else in this country and as soon as we are really beginning to see a commitment to change, she goes and, well...does what she did.

As I listened to more and more people talk about her, ones that have known about her for years, they all say she is competent, intelligent, a great politician and that we just need to give her a chance and let her be herself, then everyone will fall in love with her...again, in cases like my own. I still really like her...as a person, not necessarily as a politician or Vice President, specifically. Maybe she's just been nervous all this time because she's being watched by all of America, maybe she just needs some time to get used to celebrity on such a large scale and all the scrutiny in the press. So I thought I'd give her one more chance to prove herself to me and all the others who are skeptical...the Vice Presidential Debate. And that was it for me. She, at this point in time, is incapable of the job for which she is aspiring.

Before the Vice Presidential debate, Joe Biden had been discouraged (at least indirectly) from full on attacking her on the issues because she is a woman; he was supposed to take it easy on her because she is a woman, which he did, but that should have never been suggested. Gender should not be an issue. If she is competent, give her a chance to prove herself so we can all be confident that she is qualified; if she is not, we deserve to know. Don't protect her, don't let her hide, treat her as an equal. Treat her how she deserves to be treated. The suggestion alone about going easy on her tells me that we, as a country, have not progressed as far as I had hoped. How do I know that the next time I walk into a business meeting that I am not going to be more heavily scrutinized and have to put forth even more effort to prove my competence and intelligence to the men sitting across the desk from me, because if a woman can be considered as qualified to run for the Vice Presidency of the United States and not know what the heck is going on and people are okay with that, then how can they (the men sitting across the desk) be confident that I know what I am doing. How can they know that I have gotten where I am because I am capable and not because I've been given privilege because of my gender. And that goes for all women.

If you muted the television and just watched the debate, she looked amazing. Do I really need to say anything else? No, but I will, of course. If you are one of those people who don't really get into politics or follow what is going on, or if you do, but don't really understand it all and how it works, you will probably think she did a fabulous job, even if the television wasn't muted. She didn't do any of the oohs or uhhs or let's sees, there weren't any awkward moments of silence as she flipped through the files of her brain to find what she was programmed to say; she spoke in a way that made you FEEL like she knew what she was talking about. Which is pretty good for the Republican ticket because a lot of Americans don't really understand how it all works, anyway; it's complicated and confusing and people would rather just vote for whoever they like as a person. But for those who follow and understand, she hasn't made any progress from the days of the Katie Couric interview, and I think I'll leave it at that.

I have pasted a link below from YouTube that is the first part in a series of 11 segments that make up the debate in its entirety. Please watch it for yourself if you haven't already. Disregard any opinions written on the pages, along with mine, and form your own opinions. Don't be a robot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTC55Wv9paw

The Katie Couric interview can be found in segments on YouTube as well, although I have not linked it here.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

An Inconvenient Truth and the Desert Tortoise

In the documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore presents his audience with a chart that shows the relationship between CO2 levels and atmospheric temperature through history. As CO2 levels increase, temperature increases. Now, due to all the ways we've managed to pollute our atmosphere, the CO2 levels are higher than ever before and increasing at a faster rate. His graph extended many years into the future to show the results we'd have if we stayed on the same pace and didn't implement procedures for decreasing those CO2 levels. He never labeled the corresponding temperature, I don't know why, but I would say that it was high enough that humans would not be capable of living. There is merit in this information, otherwise he and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change never would have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their research. That documentary has helped shape the way we think. People are taking measures to "go green," companies are reformulating their products to be more environmentally friendly, we are all working diligently to obtain our energy from renewable resources, et cetra, et cetra. All things we SHOULD have been concerned with long before we were faced with the problem we have today.

This leads me to a rather promising, yet quite disturbing, article I read. Dozens of companies, from Goldman Sachs to small Silicon Valley startups, are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to apply to the US Bureau of Land Management for leases on land in the Mojave Desert. Why would companies pay a minimum of $100,000 in application fees alone for land in the Mojave, you ask? Because a land that has been all but barren is now the perfect place to erect solar panels to collect that good 'ol renewable energy from the sun that the good God gave us. There are 3.5 million acres of the Mojave Desert that people are interested in for their solar companies. To put it all into perspective, 1 million acres can produce 66 gigawatts of electricity each year; the entire state of California currently consumes 33 gigawatts of electricity annually. And the largest solar power plant in operation today produces a meager 15 megawatts annually (that's mega, not giga; a megawatt is 1/1000 of a gigawatt). It's about freakin' time, right!?

But there's a catch...there's always a catch. 80% of that land has been designated as federally protected wilderness or wildlife species habitat. That leaves only 700,000 acres to be used. Land leases are already being denied because they lie in areas protected as habitat for the desert tortoise. I want to preface my opinion with the fact that I am all about preserving wildlife. When God created the universe and everything that goes along with it He gave humans dominion over the earth and all its inhabitants. That means that we are in charge of ensuring its health and prosperity, that is, of the earth, all living creatures and all human beings. Animals are living creatures that deserve our respect and care. The preservation of each species is vital, not only to the species itself, but to the ecosystem it is a part of; extinction could result in any number of minimal to vast consequences. But it is also our duty as human beings to preserve the earth and the human race so future generations can not only exist, but thrive.

There comes a time when we must weigh the importance of issues and prioritize. We must do what we can, while we can, to preserve the earth so we can have a tomorrow. Is it wise to place the needs and future existence of an animal above that of humans? Afterall, without a habitable earth, there will not be a place for the desert tortoise to live anyway.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Promise Rings

I thought it fitting that my first post have to do with what initially inspired me to post a comment in a forum. Earlier this month, the host at the 2008 Mtv VMAs, Russell Brand, bashed our country and our citizens, among many other things, and the buzz the next day focused on his attacks of the Jonas Brothers for wearing promise rings and Jordin Sparks' reaction to it, but somehow no one was upset with Russell Brand. I was appalled by many things that were said that night and many things that were said the next day; I will explore two areas of my disgust. First, who does Russell Brand think he is getting up on an American stage and bashing our country, our President, our citizens, our role models, our Vice Presidential candidates, et cetra, et cetra...and he isn't even an American. He is fortunate that he chose to pull those stunts in a country where we have freedom of speech; a place where speaking your mind is not only okay, but encouraged. But he was so utterly disrespectful that I couldn't even listen to him anymore! What would make a person think that it is acceptable to be invited to host an event in a country that is foreign to you, then proceed to use that platform to talk about what an awful place you think it is and what awful people we have here? If that is the way he feels, he should just stay home. Secondly, the whole promise ring ordeal. All the talk show and news hosts, or whatever other names they may go by, are making the concept of a promise ring out to be a bad thing. It is a beautiful thing that some people choose to remain abstinent until marriage and it is an even more beautiful thing that people like the Jonas Brothers and Jordin Sparks are coming out and telling the world that they are choosing abstinence. They are role models for millions of young Americans and it is about time that they have a positive image to look up to in the media. And somehow, nobody can think of anything good to say about that; they are all treating them as if they have committed some sort of crime. About Jordin Sparks' reaction to Russell Brand's comments: she wasn't very tactful, I agree, but she was offended and she stood up for what she believed in. She spoke her mind...she has freedom of speech just like Russell Brand and the rest of us, but they are killing her in the media for it. So, let me take this last moment to rewrite a piece of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as I believe the media would see fit: Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, UNLESS you want to wait until marriage to have sex.

http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1593808&vid=272743 (Russell Brand)

http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1593808&vid=272768 (Jordin Sparks)

(Evidently, Mtv didn't like all the positive comments people were leaving about Jordin Sparks in response to this video because they have all been erased)

 
Creative Commons License
Denise's Pieces for Scrutiny by Denise D. West is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.