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Show iiwyf 10A Emery County Progress i Castle Dale, Utah Tuesday December 31, 2002 Commentary What is The Meaning of New Years? Twas the Day After Christmas... By SCOTT A. McCONNELL The meaning of most holidays is clear: Valentine's Day celebrates romance; July Fourth, independence; Thanksgiving, productivity, Christmas, good will toward men. The meaningof New Years Day the world's most celebrated holiday is not so clear. On this day, many people remember last year's achievements and failures and look forward to the promise of a new year, of a new beginning. But this celebration and reflection is the result of more than an accident of the calendar. New Years has a deeper significance. What is it? On New Years Day, when the singing, fireworks and champagne toasts are over, many of us become more serious about life. We take stock and plan new courses of action to better our lives. This is best seen in one of the most popular customs and the key to the meaningof New Years: making resolutions. On average each American makes 1.8 New Years resolutions. When the rest of the world is taken into account, the number of people making resolutions skyrockets to hundreds of millions. From New York to Baris to Sydney, interesting similarities arise as shown in two very common resolutions: people wanting to be more attractive by losing weight, and to be healthier by exercising more and smoking less. They want to do things better, become better people. New Years Day is the most active-mindholiday, because it is the one where people evaluate their lives and plan and resolve to take action. One dramatic example of taking resolutions seriously is the old European custom of: What one does on this day one will do for the rest of the year. What ed unites this custom and the more common type of resolutions is that on the first day of the year people take their values more seriously. Values are not only physical and external. They also can be psychological. Many New Years resolutions reveal that people want to better themselves by improving psychologically. For example, look at your own resolutions over the years. Havent they included such vows as: be more patient with your children, improve your selfesteem, be more emotionally open with your wife? Such resolutions express the moral ambitiousness of a person wanting to improve his self and life. What then is the philosophic meaning of New Years resolutions? Every resolution you make on this day implies that you are in control of your self, that you are not a victim fated by shyness, search for that marriage partner. Your life is in your own hands. But what is the purpose of making such goals and resolutions? Why bother? Making New Years resolutions (and doing so even after failing last years) stresses that people want to be happy. On New Years Day many people accept, often more implicitly than explicitly, that happiness comes from the achievement of values. That is why you resolve to be healthier, more ambitious, more confident. You want to enjoy that sense of purpose, accomplishment and pleasure that one feels when achieving values. It is happiness that is the motor and purpose of ones life. It is New Years, more than any other day, that makes the attainment of happiness more real and possible. This is the meaning of New Years Day and why it is so psychologically important and significant to people throughout the world. If people were to apply the meaning of New Years Day explicitly and consistently 365 days each year, they would be happier. By HARRIET BISHOP Well here it is. Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring , not even a mouse. The presents are broken and scattered I fear and St. Nicholas wont come again for year. I dont know about you people but I find myself in a bit of a dilemma. Three days ago I was sitting, waiting with bated breath for my children and grandchildren to come and spend Christmas with me. I was exhausted from preparation. They walked through the door and we had the best Christmas ever, (I say that every year). On the first day all was well. The second day was Christmas and we were tripping over each other. I have a small house and with two extra adults and three children under foot the house was getting smaller and smaller. Youve all been there on Christmas day. No matter how hard you work at it, chaos abounds. You can pick up your wrapping paper and keep it in a trash bag and try your hardest to keep things down to a low roar but somehow or other you look around and wonder what in the world happened? The floor is scattered with toys and boxes and you cant walk for the stuff on the floor. The cat and dog are smack dab in the middle of all the frenzy and happiness abounds from all parts of your exist- value-achieveme- nt So day, fill every your champagne glass of life to the brim with values and drink deep to your life and the joy that it can and should be. circumstance, controlled by stars, owned by luck, but that you are an inHappy New Year. Happy life. dividual who can make choices to McConnell is from, the Ayn Rand change your life. You can learn statistics, ask for that promotion, fight your Institute. ence. Then somewhere in the middle of Christmas day a strange thing starts to happen. I call it exhaustion setting in. By the time Christmas night is here and you have had your Christmas dinner and you are all sitting around discussing the days events you decide that maybe the day wasnt so chaotic after all. Then the third day after Christmas Judge Reinhardts Ricochet Regardless of how we feel about religion and politics, we must agree that we are entitled to certain rights by our Constitution. Some in the Ninth Circuit Court disagree... By ERIC SCHIPPERS Having ruled the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution forbids the words under God" in the Fledge of Allegiance, the San Francisco-base- d U.S. Court of Appeals for the Oth Circuit recently focused its sites" on the Second Amendment, declaring there is no individual right to keep and bear arms. In u sweeping opinion penned by niter liberal Judge Stephen Reinhardt for whom the U.S. Supreme Court developed its patented Reinhardt Ree versal Stamp a panel of the Oth Circuit unanimously upheld the bun on semiautomatic weapons in three-judg- California. The historical record makes it ... plain that the (Second) Amendment was not udopted in order to afford rights to individuals with respect to private gun ownership or possession," Reinhardt proclaimed in Silveria v. Lockycr. Historical record...? Makes it lain...? According to whom, Judge? The very first footnote in the opinion summons up none other than historian" Michael disgraced anti-gu- n Bellesiles. lYrhaps Judge Reinhardt was living in an cave while an army of prominent academics and historians shot down Bellesiless much politicized and trumped-u- p research on guns and he was forced to resign from Emory University. If Bellesiles stands as the best witness forjudge Reinhardt and the antigun lobbys interpretation of the Second Amendment, America's gun owners will gleefully urge the U.S. Su70-pa- preme Court to start inking its Why Reinhardt stamp. Judge Reinhardt is no stranger to High Court spankings, holding the ignominious record of having five decisions unanimously reversed by the Supreme Court in a single Term. According to Reinhardt: We deal with a lot of important cases. Some of them may get reversed, others dont, and we cant worry about that." Of course, there is the small matter of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution to worry about. That states all executive and judicial officers must consider the constitutionality of their proposed actions, which includes being bound by U.S. Supreme Court precedent. Judge Reinhardt was appointed to the bench in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter. Having joined in the controversial Pledge of Allegiance ruling, Judge Reinhardt is proud to call himself a liberal judge, which he defines as the belief in a generous or expansive interpretation of the Bill of Rights." In a 1996 speech to law students at George Washington University, Reinhardt explained that liberal judges believe that the meaningof the Constitution was not frozen in 1789. That as society develops and evolves, its understanding of constitutional principles also grows. It is ironic, then, that Judge Reinhardt would so strictly interpret the Second Amendment as an archaic right that applies only to state militias. How come the Constitution hasn't evolved" on the issue of guns, Judge? We have no militias" anymore, except perhaps those that are hiding in the woods from the FBI, and yet the Second Amend By RENEE HAWKLEY didnt used to love computers. I was afraid of the onoff switch. I thought computers would go by the wayside like a truckload of Cabbage Ihtch dolls. But I was wrong, and for once, being wrong feels good. The transformation hasnt been easy because my brain doesnt move in the direction of bells, whistles and the world of logical apparatus without a fight. Still, I keep trudging upw ard on the stairway to improved computer I skills w hile others seem to glide up as escalator. Fbr one thing, I love computers because of email. if on some magical I can talk to my upscale friend from Tennessee who has a karaoke room in one of her houses and loves music as much as I do. Even though her favorite kind of music is, well . . . country music . . . and I think Im on record as not likingcountry music. I can click on a small icon that has the word Send" on it and connect with over five hundred of my other best friends w ho live all over America . . . and even some in other countries ... in the time it takes to brush my teeth. All .'crs to tho c r '.'.nh-'- i ;or s ho r . ;! 1 f r;-:,- '. ooon c ; its time for your beloved family to leave and you start to count the hours. Now dont tell me I am wrong. You grand-.-ma- s and grandpas know exactly what I am talking about. You stand in the and doorway and you wave good-by- e you wish you could run after the car and yell dont leave, dont leave. Then , I turn around and look at my sweet little , house and I yell, Yes! Hello house. -- you back. Thank goodness! ;I . thought they would never leave. I won-- , der how in the world I could ever feel that way about my beloved family. Then I feel guilty but it feels so good to have! my beloved house back to myself. The cat is stretched out on the floor taking back his domain and the dog is stretched out in her special place on the couch and nothing is going to move her. In five minutes Im thinking how ; quiet it is. As a matter of fact it's tod quiet and Im already missing them and by the time I am stretched out in. my lazy boy Im already counting thq. days till I will see them again. Oh wellv 7 life is funny and sometimes too com- -, plex to figure out. Ill work on it tomor-- j row after Ive rested. Now please remember those infamous words of Andy Rooney, at his best, when he says, Ive learned . . . That having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world. I agree , .. . -- Andy. o From everyone at the Emery County Progress C Were Snipers Homegrown or arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic." Judge Reinhardts decision in Silveria v. Lockyer provides just such an opportunity, and like a ricochet in a crowded room, lawyers on both sides of the debate are jumpipg about wondering which side is going to get hit if and when the Supreme Court takes it al-Qaed- V k P J a? II By DOUG PATTON C Ever since the capture of suspected snipers John Allen Mohammad and John Lee Malvo, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. law enforcement Jc authorities and the national media have gone out of their way to assure the public that the pair has no known association with or any other ter- rorist organization." That may be true, but I doubt it, and up. so does the Rev. A1 Archer, Director of One thing s for certain, gun owners should take solace in the fact that it is the Lighthouse Mission in Bellingham, where Mohammad stayed for a the Reinhardt who fired Wash.,Rev. time. Archer thought that it was the shot. rather suspicious for a homeless man Eric Schippers is from the Center staying in a mission to receive phone calls from travel agents and then forlndi vidual Freedom, take off on flights to places like Denver, New Orleans and the Cayman Islands. At the mission, not many airline agents call and ask for residents," Rev. Archer said after Mohammad was arrested. I felt like he was part of an organization. I felt like he had some conwithout spending one thin dime. nection with terrorists. I said, hes got I can talk heart to heart to very imconnections somewhere with someportant people . . . like the national body whos got money." How was John Mohammad, homepresident of American Mothers, Inc. . . without putting on makeup. And she can less and with no visible means of suptalk to me without putting on hers. port, able to be so mobile? Who was he And most of all ... I dont have to get visiting and why? Who was financing or dressed out of my plaid flannel night- his little junkets? Was it wras it someone in Louis Farrakhans gown to go visit my kids who live all Nation of Islam, where John Allen Wiover the place. lliams heard the doctrine that turned All this in spite of my brains him into John Allen Mohammad? built-i- n objection to bells, whistles and Let us suppose for a moment that the world of logic. Yes, I have fallen in Mohammad was not associated with love with the world of computers. Beany terrorist organization. Let us supcause, as the beautiful women say in pose that he and his young accomplice the commercials, Im worth it." were, in fact, working alone. Is America supposed to be encouraged by that news? Anyone paying any attention for the last year knows that there are cells among us. We have an enemy living in our midst, capable of killing Americans at any moment. That fact is frightening enough. But if, as we are beingtold, these two snipers are not working for or with any other person or organization, then the only alternative is that they are a new, homegrown variety of terrorist. That . ... da V -. Happy New Year! ment clearly states that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Funny how liberal judges can so easily morph into when it fits their political agendas. Judge Reinhardts decision offers a stinging rebuke of last years 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in United States v. Emerson. In that Texas case, the court ruled that the Second Amendment preserves an individuals right to keep and bear arms whether or not they are in a militia or active military service or training. The U.S. Supreme Court has never squarely ruled on the issue of an individuals right to bear arms. As Supreme Court Justice Thomas has written: Perhaps, at some future date, this Court will have the opportunity to determine whether Justice Story was correct when he wrote that the right to bear Love Computers I rolls around and that strange thing, starts to happen. You begin to tell your-- . . self that you are absolutely going to , buy a new house for next year. It is impossible to house all these people into , such a tiny little place. Your going to , have to build on another room. Then, is an infinitely more frightening possi-bilitbecause it means that extremist's : espousing the tenets of this peaceful religion have so inspired an American veteran of the Persian Gulf War that he has turned against his own country. And if WilliamsMohammad can be so inspired to hate, then how many others are there, disgruntled, unbalanced, sitting in jail or being trained within our own military, filling their lives with loathing toward their country, waiting -for the opportunity to strike out at in- -' nocent Americans? If I were charged with the task of ter-y, rorizing Americans and simulta--neousl- y ai D K C Lc th L av ro Vi creating an environment that restricts their Constitutional rights, I can think of nothing more effective than the disruption caused by these snipers; ' Because of these shootings, people re- -' oriented their lives over the last sev- -' eral months. At the same time, a clamor is being heard in Washington for more gun con- trol. It comes from the same demagogues who seize every conceivable opportunity to restrict our 2nd Amend- ment rights while ignoring the fact that this happened in the area of the coun-tr-y with the most stringent gun laws.. , Consider that when the snipers , showed up in the D.C. area, they were . toi alreadyarmedandreadytostrike. The innocent citizens of the area, to - ; however, could not have bought a gun for without first jumping through a whole lot of government hoops. In fact, within the Washington, D.C. I city limits, it is illegal to even own a handgun. or home grown? Inspired ' by extremists or sprung from the de--' pravity of the human condition? Neither is an encouraging thought. Once, the doctrine of International ' Communism was the connecting force for a network of ideological misfits around the world. Today, it is extremist Islam that in- self-defen- se spires them, and their target is the same: America. 4 It: M Ri wc m fai thi va La Nc lie Ch lui Vc 19 19' m So. vai Th enj sor pqt gat Lai gra the rea ter. dai lud ter !gre, i'ISti |