To some he was Frank, to others Fran, but Francis R. McGovern (Francis Raymond Albert), owner/editor of the Minneapolis Daily American, was an icon when it came to old-time fiery newspaper editors, publishers and owners who believed in digging behind the scenes to report the news factually, with no holds barred. His drive to stop wasteful government spending and over-taxation never ended.

Even more important, Francis R. McGovern showed me how, rather than being objective, most newspapers have their own slant; their fill ideologies. By asking specific questions, reporters can gear their articles to reflect only what the paper’s owner wants the public to know, and only one side of an announce. (Read later about Minneapolis’ Metrodome costs and McGovern’s “MN Taxpayer PowerBloc.”) The Minneapolis Daily American’s purpose was to smash the newspaper monopoly in Minneapolis, MN and give “the other side of the story,” so readers could learn both sides of important issues, and thus make their own informed decisions.

Yet as I write this, Fran McGovern’s name doesn’t pop up on any search engines. Like many others who influenced the lives of multitudes besides making an impact on taxpayers, politicians and reporters, Francis McGovern, best known for his newspaper, the Minneapolis Daily American, died before computers became a news medium. So now there is only hard copy available of his publications and his history, mostly on microfilm and in a student term paper at the MN Historical Society.

As a reporter for the Mpls. Daily American from 1973 to McGovern’s death in 1990, I intend to rectify that. This historical/biographical article will include not only McGovern’s Mpls.Daily American, but other publications that relied on him, such as Air Scoop, the Minneapolis Annals, the East Minneapolis Argus, and the Minneapolis Daily Herald, besides some people featured in his paper, and some “name-dropping” throughout.

Perhaps it’s Francis R. McGovern’s life history that drove him to start the Daily American and persist in keeping it alive, because the writing bug struck him at an early age. Born in Watertown, Wisconsin, he originally studied to become a foreign missionary during high school and college. But during high school at St. Paul’s Mission House (now known as Divine Word Seminary) in Epworth, Iowa, he was their sports editor, and before graduating from Sacred Heart in Girard, Pennsylvania, he was the college’s news editor.

Because his father died when he was eight years old, McGovern was raised by his mother (Mary Elizabeth Weimer) along with siblings Hugh, Robert, Cletus and Gertrude. During the depression, McGovern’s uncommon jobs included working on a railroad section gang, being a bus boy, fry cook, selling Watkins products door-to-door, and selling newspapers.

World War II and Air Scoop: In 1943 Francis R. McGovern signed on as a naval air cadet, but in his own words, he “washed out.” But at this time he also started Air Scoop, a Naval Air Force paper. I recall McGovern telling me he taught himself the style of writing for newspapers, honing his skills by meticulously copying other newspaper articles longhand onto sheets of paper.

For the rest of his stint, McGovern served as a deep-sea diver aboard a sea-going rescue tug. (They disarmed mines and tugged disabled carriers and other ships to safety.) McGovern’s eldest daughter, Mary Helen, recalls him telling her that, “this little wooden tugboat was one of 80 that went out, and only five returned. At one time during an ordered blackout, while they were in mined waters, a school of dolphins appeared and led them through safely.” She also recalls that, “when the captain learned that my dad could cook, he made him head cook on the tugboat.”

Navy Days & Meeting Kaye: When McGovern was stationed in London, he had an internship with the London Times. According to Bill Hamm, who wrote a term paper in 1966 entitled “Francis McGovern and his struggles against a monopoly press,” McGovern also spent worthy time “conversing with Lord Beaverbrook, publisher of the Daily Express, the world’s largest newspaper.” Hamm wrote his term paper for Professor Edwin Emery’s History of Journalism class at the University of Minnesota. The MN Historical Society in St. Paul has a copy on file. http://www.mnhs.org/index.htm

While McGovern was on leave, he went to a USO dance in Washington, D.C., where citizen volunteers were teaching military personnel how to dance. McGovern became enamored with Kathryn, the young woman who paired with him. She had left her family’s farm when she was 18, and moved to the District to work as a secretary in the White House. Soon the two were inseparable.

The Annals and the Argus: Francis McGovern continued serving overseas, while Kathryn (Kaye) continued working in D.C., but they corresponded regularly, and he proposed to her by mail. After he returned to the U.S., they got married in 1945 in Minneapolis, MN, and that same year he published and edited the Minneapolis Annals, a weekly shopper on the East Side.

In 1950, McGovern was first a reporter, then was promoted to editor of the East Minneapolis Argus, a weekly community paper owned by Emmet Duemke. At the same time, McGovern’s brother Cletus, who worked there from 1950 to 1960, worked on circulation before being promoted to business manager. According to Bill Hamm’s paper, when Francis McGovern began at the Argus, its circulation was 2,000. When he resigned in 1960, not only had circulation risen to 27,000 during those ten years, but the Argus had become Minneapolis’ largest weekly newspaper.

Afterwards, during 1960 and 1962, McGovern published 13 Twin City neighborhood shoppers and two magazines. He also wrote freelance articles, for the Catholic Bulletin and national magazines, on two topics he knew first-hand: newspapers, and how to raise children. During this time, Fran and Kaye also ran their 450-acre riding ranch, Fort Cody, in Big Lake, MN, with help from their children. (Their nine children, beginning with their eldest, are Francis C., Mary Helen, Patrick, Theresa, Kathryn, Michelle, Debbie, Angela and Michael.) I unruffled remember Fran’s fond memories of how, when they had the ranch, they taught handicapped children how to ride horses. And McGovern’s daughter Kathryn says that charitable groups and Catholic nuns and priests regularly came to ride.

Minneapolis Daily Herald: All along, Francis McGovern had yearned to have his own paper in order to compete with Minneapolis’ only daily newspaper, the Minneapolis Star in the evening, and its morning companion paper, the MinneapolisTribune (they merged in 1982). Newspapers were basically the only way to procure the news in those days. There were no news stations like CNN on TV, radio news was limited, and there was no internet. But McGovern was financially strapped.

Then on April 12, 1962, opportunity arose when the presses for the two papers suddenly came to a screeching halt. According to Hamm’s term paper, “a strike was called by the fleet driver’s union, and they were joined on the picket lines by members of the mailers’ and typography union.” The combined circulation of both papers was 500,000 at this time, he wrote.

On April 27, 1962, McGovern presented a proposal for a recent Minneapolis paper to Mpls. businessman Maurice McCaffrey. Hamm explained that not only was McCaffrey the founder and director of a local ad agency, and formerly an advertising manager for the Dayton’s department store, but he was committee head of many civic organizations.

McCaffrey agreed to back the new paper, whose offices would be in the Delmac Building on 4^th St. and East Hennepin, and “…within 96 hours, the Minneapolis Daily Herald was rolling off the presses under the guidance of its publisher, McCaffrey, and its editor, McGovern,” Hamm wrote. “Front page congratulations appeared in the first issues from such political dignitaries as Mayor Naftalin, Congressman Walter H. Judd and Congressman Clark MacGregor.”

The Star and Tribune strike lasted 116 days. Meanwhile, Hamm said that after five months, the Mpls. Daily Herald, “…had managed to achieve a peak circulation of over 159,000. Both the New York Herald Tribune and the London Times labeled that feat ‘journalistic genius’.” (McGovern’s eldest son, Francis C., who was sports editor, also worked with the news division on rewrites, copy editing, headline writing, photo assignment and layout.)

“Nevertheless, rather than fighting the newly resumed Star and Tribune,” Hamm said, “publisher McCaffrey decided, against McGovern’s wishes, to close up shop; the combined payroll costs of the Star and Tribune amounted to over $15,000,000 yearly, a figure that the conservative McCaffrey did not, even if he could, want to compete with.”

Mpls. Daily American: McGovern’s daughter Mary Helen recalled that when the Herald was shut down, “My father cried. But he became determined never again to be anything but the full owner of his own paper.” As a result, McGovern again sold articles to national magazines, besides publishing travel guides and “shoppers” for Minneapolis and St. Paul, but now his focus was on organizing what he would eventually call—The Minneapolis Daily American. The Star and the Tribune monopoly, which had reigned since the 1940’s, would be broken. Minneapolis would no longer be a one-newspaper town.

According to Bill Hamm, “In November of 1964, McGovern began to make over 200 speeches in a six-month span in an attempt to sell charter subscriptions as a means of capitalizing his proposed” newspaper. The subscriptions were to be paid in advance of publication. Although McGovern raised extremely less than his desired goal, his dream became a reality. According to his notes and the MN Historical Society’s library catalog records, he set out four “preview issues” of the Minneapolis Daily American in 1964; during May, June and July. The first issue was on April 30, with the last on July 18.

By January of 1965, McGovern had acquired printing equipment and installed it at the worn Emrich Bakery Building at 26^th and Bloomington Ave. On Jan. 12, the Daily American resumed daily publication with a 24-page format, and was hailed with acclaim. Hamm wrote that McGovern received “letters of ‘well-wishes’ from such men as Wheelock Whitney and J. Edgar Hoover.” Publications such as “Editor & Publisher and Ad Age featured in their pages the Daily American’s climb to reality.”

Unfortunately, Minnesota suffered a record-breaking harsh winter in 1965, and on April 19 the paper was again forced to finish publication. Hamm wrote, “Out of 700 carriers recruited to disclose the Daily American, only 70 showed up on the first day; the temperature that day was -17 below zero. The Daily American had over 27,000 subscribers at its onset, but the distribution problem reduced that number to 12,000 by the time the paper was suspended.”

The McGovern children will never forget how their newsstands were knocked over, the papers yanked out and strewn along the streets, all in the name of competition. Daughter Mary Helen recalls, “The six unions bled us dry, and the theft from and desecration of the corner newspaper boxes…”

Furthermore, Francis McGovern was a man of principles, who refused to cater to causes he didn’t maintain in, and he forthrightly reported the news. According to daughter Kathryn, who was quoted in his obituary in the Dec. 26, 1990 issue of the Mpls. Star Tribune, “He ran into many problems—a monopoly press, union contracts, newsstands being ripped off, the worst weather in the set in years. But what really killed the newspaper was a story he ran about money passing hands between liquor lobbyists and manufacturers. After that, he kissed all of his liquor ads goodbye.”

McGovern went back to making speeches and sending out letters. When publication resumed on Jan. 1, 1966, it was as a four-page newsletter, until he could raise enough capital to return his paper to its 24-page format. In April of 1967, the Minneapolis Daily American was again full-sized. This time, according to Hamm, “the first four successive issues sold 24,000, 32,000, 40,000 and 76,000 issues respectively.”

But McGovern’s obstacles remained as tenacious as he was to overcome them. He originally had a three-year lease at the Emrich Building, and was actually able to stay there for six years, but then he was forced to leave, and that was disastrous. At this time the Daily American still had everything necessary for their major press operation, including their Linotype press, other machines, and tables for laying out the page plates. McGovern had to abandon his expansive printing equipment. It would have cost nearly $20,000 to move it, and he couldn’t raise the money. Therefore, in 1971, the Daily American’s offices moved to 2909 Nicollet Ave., where the paper was run off on a Gestetner mimeograph machine during various periods of time.

When I was hired on as a reporter in February of 1973 and joined the other staff members, the paper contained 24 pages, was being published weekly, and cost 50 cents a copy. Running it was still a concerted family grief, with Fran and Kaye at the helm. Kaye still primarily handled the bookkeeping and circulation, while other family members lent their fill particular capabilities.

Besides still being News Editor/Managing Editor, daughter Mary Helen had a column called “Minnesota Heartbeat,” which Fran described as, “a column that is supposed to catch the feelings and emotions of people in this state.” On the opposing destroy, there were McGovern’s probing editorials, later called “Editor’s Scratchpad.”

Staffer Cheryl Baker, who filled various capacities at the paper, also wrote a chatty yet insightful column called “Letter to: Cheryl.” Subscribers often called her “the blond bombshell.” She and McGovern used to intrigue me with stories about how, in the “broken-down days,” members of the Hell’s Angels would drop by the office, plop into our chairs, prop their legs up our desks and chat with them. Despite the outfit’s notoriousness, they had quite an amicable relationship with Fran.

Then there was the “Night Prowl” column by the ever-elusive Patrick Cunaard, who cruised the abet streets at night and insightfully reported both the gritty and heart-rendering night life that most of us never see.

We also ran a column, “Inside Pro Wrestling,” by a young wrestling reporter named Mick Karch, who went on to become an AWA Announcer. After 1992, Karch hosted the cable access show, “Slick Mick’s Bodyslam Revue,” for about seven years, and he has been known as “The Voice of Minnesota Wrestling” since 1988. I unexcited have a copy of the say sporting a picture of Mick Karch shaking hands with Prick Bockwinkel in 1973, when Mick was president of “The Bockwinkel Brigade” fan club.

In each issue, there also were hard-hitting “Letters to the Editor” from our subscribers, advertising, news and human interest articles, and then the grit. For instance, when attacks were made against public officials, the Minneapolis Daily American quickly investigated and uncovered the truth.

As an example, the Sept. 14, ‘73 issue of the Daily American reported how mayoral candidate Gladys Brooks, as a means of getting elected, was challenging then-Mayor Charles Stenvig’s yelp for re-election by criticizing his handling of the Mpls. Police Department. Calling the department inefficient, she basically accused Stenvig of letting it fall apart. In rebuttal, Stenvig clarified her accusation by pointing out that, “The FBI report on the seven major crime areas show we are 3 to 1 better than the national average this year.”

When Brooks charged that the public needed more visibility of police on the street, Stenvig again set the record straight: “The previous administration took foot officers off their beats before I came in. We put them succor into the loop area; we added the canine corps. Mrs. Brooks sat on the Ways and Means Committee…that refused to give us more manpower. She was in a place to help the police force, and she didn’t.”

The article, an exclusive to the Minneapolis Daily American, ran a small notation at the end: “When Mrs. Brooks made her charges, the Star-Trib said the Mayor was unavailable to comment. However, the Daily American experienced no problem in reaching the Mayor.”

Francis McGovern was a staid proponent for free enterprise, as shown in an Oct. 5, ‘74 article concerning George Holter, owner of the Richfield Bus Co. Because Holter had refused to comply with a Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) ruling that his company could not raise its bus fares, Henn. Co. Dist. Court Judge Donald Barbeau had ruled that Holter’s company was in contempt of court. Holter felt the authority to regulate such matters as bus fares should revert serve to the Public Service Commission, to give independent owners like him “a fairer shake.” Holter’s response was, “I don’t think a competitor should have the right to tell me how to operate. Where do they (the MTC) need justification for such a small fare increase (between 12 ½ cents and 30 cents)? ” According to Holter, the MTC had already reached the point where their taxes were higher than his fares.

“I could have raised my fares years ago, before the MTC came into power, but I didn’t because the government said that private enterprise had to wait on fight inflation. We’re guilty of saving the taxpayers money. And the MTC will still have to raise its fares, even if they are subsidized, if costs continue to go up.

“The MTC is saying they want to take us over,” Holter added. “But I can guarantee, if they took over, they might put on more buses, but they wouldn’t be nearly as dependable as we are. And that’s what people want, dependability.” The Richfield Bus Co. is still alive and living up to its dependability. http://www.richfieldbus.com

Francis McGovern’s features also covered the lives of many prominent Minnesotans. In an article about Bernard Casserly, dilapidated reward-winning editor of the renowned Catholic Bulletin, the Daily American’s June 29, ‘73 vow explains how, since grade school, Casserly’s life ambition had been to become a reporter. After graduating from the U of M in 1939, he spent five years as a merchant marine. In 1947 he became a reporter for the Mpls. Star, moved on to other newspapers, and then worked his way up from a reporter at the Catholic Bulletin. Twelve years later, he became their editor. Now known as the Catholic Spirit, there’s an online obituary about Casserly, who died Sept. 18, 2008.
http://thecatholicspirit.com/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=473&Itemid=27

As for human interest, the Mpls.Daily American ran articles on many “average” local folks who were just starting their mission in life, and have since “made it.” For example: Encourage in Feb. of ‘73, we ran a spread on 6-year-old Jeff Lee, who idolized Mark Spitz. Jeff’s story begins when he was two, flapping his arms in the family’s pool, determined to tread water like everyone else. By the time he was 4, he had developed his own overhand stroke. Admiring the success not only of Spitz, but of his sisters, who swam competitively with the Tonka Swim Club, self-taught Jeff joined the club when he was six so he could compete, too.

Shortly thereafter, a swimathon was held so club members could raise money to attend a meet in Indiana. The number of laps allowed was limited to 200, but 6-year-old Jeff blew it. Instead, he swam 3 miles, or 265 laps of the pool—65 additional laps—in 2 hours.

After that, Jeff swam competitively for 17 years. He was 1984’s Minnesota Swimmer of the Year, a 5-time All-American, State Portray holder and held every record at Richfield High when he graduated, besides winning titles from the U of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1987 he qualified for the USA Olympic Trials, and then coached competitive swimming for high schools such as Richfield High, Mpls. Southwest High (where he was voted Section 5AA Coach of the Year) and Bloomington Jefferson.

In 1998 he became head coach for the Barracuda Aquatics Club, a USA Swimming Club that trains and prepares beginning competitive swimmers to national qualifiers for competition. In 2007 he became president and head coach of the club, where he now devotes his time. http://www.offtheblocks.org/barracuda

Charlie Wiederholt, 22, from Miesville, MN, had already won various medals in bronco riding when the Daily American ran an article on him in 1973. Because his father had recently passed away, he stopped riding to wait on take over the family’s restaurant. Now Charlie not only is a heavily-medaled circuit rodeo champion, but he still owns Wiederholt’s Supper Club, in Hastings. http://www.equestrianmag.com/news/charlie-wiederholt-swrha-non-pro-10-08.html

That same year, Fran McGovern also ran a feature on young Minneapolitan Harold Berglund, who had cease his job in the U of M Wilson Library’s circulation department to become an artist, particularly to work on the surrealistic tradition. Berglund now lives in Sweden and is a highly-accomplished painter, mostly working on still-lifes. His website is at http://www.hberglund.com

Wasteful Spending: Examples of Francis McGovern’s articles on wasteful spending included: “Local freeway ramp built 16 years ago at cost of $185,000 never opened to traffic; rebuilt at cost of $480,000,” and “$151,000 of taxpayers’ money used to build fence around private junkyard.”

Finding enough space with affordable rent continued to challenge McGovern throughout the years. After 2 ½ years, the Minneapolis Daily American again had to fade, this time because McGovern’s rent had been raised for the third time during their short conclude, combined with a lack of air conditioning and vandalism.

Over time, the now-adult McGovern children left the paper to pursue their contain quests. Since my specialty was writing human interest articles, when daughter Mary Helen left in 1974, I took over her “Minnesota Heartbeat” column, too. Eventually, Cheryl Baker also left. We were then at 1513 E. Lake St.

Soon the grown children of unique subscribers were subscribing on their own. Members of the Armed Forces, such as Kevin Goplin, even subscribed while serving overseas. After Kevin returned, he eventually became our printer and mailer.

NEWSLETTER format: In Oct. of 1980, the Minneapolis Daily American switched to a 4-page newsletter format published five days a week. Francis R. McGovern was now 60-years-old.

METRODOME STADIUM (RealCost): The MN Vikings and MN Twins originally played outdoors at the Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington. In 1979, when proposals were underway to build a new, indoor domed stadium in downtown Minneapolis, Francis McGovern began warning taxpayers that the cost to build it would soar well over $100 million, rather than the $55 million authorized by the legislature.

To indicate this, McGovern kept a tally using two sets of books: the one publicized by the media, besides another one he kept that delineated additional expenses accrued in building the stadium that weren’t factored in as part of the stadium’s cost.

“No one has admitted that the cost of installing electricity, phones, plumbing, etc. will be borne by the taxpayers,” McGovern wrote. “And the cost of additional traffic control downtown will also come out of the taxpayers’ pockets.” He added that, “Everybody’s forgotten, but the taxpayers gave away 500 acres on a land deal for the stadium, and they’ll pay to build a new juvenile detention center to replace the one which now sits on the stadium site.”

McGovern’s forecast proved upright. As of April 21, 1981, the “Official Book” released to the public (covered by city bonds) totaled $55,400,000. Meanwhile, McGovern’s Second Book, the “staunch” tally in the Minneapolis Daily American showed, for example: an additional $16,400,000 paid by Mpls. property taxes for the Center Village Ramp (from Mpls. property taxes); $491,000 for sewers and water (from Mpls. taxpayers); and $12,100,000 for the Gateway Ramp, Bus Terminal and Skyways (from taxpayers and federal grants). Also, part of a 7-county area liquor tax and Mpls. liquor and hotel/motel tax went to cloak $8,601,072 for the Debt Service Fund.

“They never mention that the land on which the dome sits would be collecting $25 million a year if free-enterprisers were operating in the misnamed area—Industrial Square,” Fran McGovern wrote in Dec. ‘83. “They tore down the juvenile detention center. Now you’re spending $17 million to build another one. Yet that’s share of the cost of the stadium.” McGovern’s book showed $16,300,000 for the Juvenile Center ($12 million from businessmen, $6 million from Mpls. taxpayers, and $8.2 million from County taxpayers).

Construction of the Metrodome began in Dec. 1979 and it was completed in April 1982. According to the Daily American’s accounting, the final cost came to $166 million—not $55 million, as reported by the major media.

CHILDREN in the WORKPLACE: The McGoverns believed in children being raised by their parents during their formative years. In addition to theirs growing up at the Daily American, staffer Cheryl Baker’s delightful daughter, Shamara Baker, grew up there. And seven years after I was hired, my husband Impress and I had our daughter, Shira Ariel Levenson, who grew up there, too. At first, Shira relaxed on various staff-members’ desks in her infant seat and jabbered with them. Fran and Kaye helped change her diapers, and Kaye encouraged me to drape a blanket over one shoulder and discretely nurse Shira so I could stay in the office area instead of going into an empty room.

As a toddler, Shira sat on Fran McGovern’s knee, learning to spell short words besides beginning addition. Once she could mosey, she became our “copy girl.” Subscribers called her “the office baby,” and just before turning three, she began opening our MN Taxpayer PowerBloc conventions (covered below).

Occasionally Fran and Kaye left work early and brought Shira home with them so I could stay and work. Shira already loved musicals and plays from watching them with Mark and me, but the McGoverns sealed her love for the theater. At their house, the three often made up petite plays and performed them until I picked her up. Now she’s an actress, but like most creative people, still has her day job.

When Shira was 9, she had her hold column in the Daily American, called “Shira’s Scratchpad.” Subscriber Robert Stein, a cartoonist, did an illustrated rendition of one of her “stories” so she could see it in humorous form. It was printed in the Dec. 13, 1989 issue, and Mark and I unruffled have a framed copy hanging on our wall at home.

The MINNESOTA TAXPAYER POWERBLOC (a revolt against MN’s tax/spend politicians): In Sept. of 1983, Francis R. McGovern founded the non-partisan “MN Taxpayer PowerBloc” as a Mpls. Daily American promotion, in anticipation of the Nov. ‘84 elections to the MN House of Representatives. Because Minnesota was among the highest-taxed states in the U.S., the purpose of the PowerBloc was to enlighten taxpayers as to why and how they could vote only for State Representatives who vowed to “cut back and maintain Minnesotans’ taxes at the per capita average of all 50 states,” which included “meat-axing” reckless spending to the same extent.

To achieve this goal, McGovern held monthly PowerBloc Conventions, urging everyone throughout the residence to attend: DFL’ers and Independent Republicans, subscribers and non-subscribers; even House candidates and those up for re-election. Guest speakers showed taxpayers that, to quote McGovern, “they have the power to control their own income and paychecks, rather than to leave the control in the hands of arrogant politicians who have achieved and fill power by confiscation of taxes to pass around and buy their constituencies.”

Congressmen such as Vin Weber, Representatives including Dennis Schulstad (Minority Leader), David Jennings, Cal Ludeman, Don Valento, and Gaylin Den Ouden, and Senators such as Charlie Berg, Don Storm and Pat Kronebusch lent their advice and support.

Back in the 80’s, local precinct caucuses were held in March. Prior to the ‘84 elections, McGovern also urged everyone to benefit their caucuses so they could introduce and accelerate others to vote for a PowerBloc Resolution, and become a delegate or elect delegates who would support it.

To reach more taxpayers, Fran McGovern entailed a “pyramid affect,” urging everyone who attended his conventions to bring 2 or more people unacquainted with the PowerBloc with them, and in turn urging those people to bring 2 or more newcomers to the next convention, etc. The scheme worked.

After 200 people attended his initial convention in Sept. of ‘83, 600 gathered at his Oct. convention at the River Palace. One thousand taxpayers braved a sleeting blizzard to go to the Prom Ballroom in Nov., ‘83, and the audience reached over 2,000 at the Leamington Hotel in Jan. ‘84. As the crowds kept growing, they later packed into the Northrop and Mpls. Auditoriums, even coming from nearby states.

Francis McGovern’s PowerBloc Conventions were dynamic. Initially, audiences were entertained by the Dick Macko Orchestra. My daughter Shira became piece of the opening ceremonies just before her third birthday. McGovern introduced her as “Shira Levenson, the youngest member of the PowerBloc movement.” Standing on a chair onstage, she would rap a gavel on the lectern for attention before saying, “Everybody please stand up.” Then Richfield’s Fred Babcock VFWPost color guard would file in and present their flags. Once they were assembled, Shira announced, “We will now recite the Pledge of Allegiance,” and she led everyone in the Pledge. McGovern chose Rep. Kenneth (“K.J.”) McDonald, who set aside his heart into promoting the PowerBloc and its ideals, to be chairman and moderator of the conventions.

Speakers were tax victims, experts and legislators who gave cutting-edge testimony on the misuse and abuse of taxpayer money in Minnesota, showing how taxpayers could empower themselves to stop it. For example, Dr. Ken Snell, who was leading a assume tax revolt in Michigan, spoke at the Feb. ‘84 convention. In April ‘84, Jack Ardoyno’s topic was “A Better Education for Less Money,” while Sen. Marion “Mike” Menning explained his “Turn it Around 180 Degrees” drive, and Rep. McDonald spoke on “Accentuate the Positive.”

James Davidson, founder & chairman of the National Taxpayers Union, spoke on “The Taxing Tragedy” at McGovern’s May ‘84 convention, while MN Representatives James Heap, Ray Welker, and K.J. McDonald, along with editor Don Larson, from Don Larson’s Business Newsletter, covered “A Billion and a Half Spending Spree.” The evening concluded with various legislators signing a PowerBloc Declaration, in which they vowed to uphold the PowerBloc’s intent.

Allan Brownfield, who was the associate editor of the AIM Report, published by Washington, D.C.-based Accuracy in Media, also spoke at one of McGovern’s conventions. (AIM is a non-profit, grassroots citizens watchdog group that monitors the U.S. media for fairness, balance and accuracy in U.S. news reporting.)

Meanwhile, outlying cities such as St. Cloud, Bertha and Ham Lake held their own PowerBloc meetings. “People who were apathetic about politics; taxpayers who had never voted before…we brought them into the political process,” McGovern noted.

INSIDE SECRETS: Francis McGovern swore that no employees, his family included, worked as long and hard, and for as little pay, as his own. (He himself worked 16-20 hours a day putting out the paper.) Obviously, as our mentor, he was helping us advance in our careers, but the work was self-fulfilling. Also, we stayed because we admired Fran and the Minneapolis Daily American.

Every cent possible was used to keep the paper alive, and staunch subscribers often contributed. Meanwhile, Francis McGovern’s principles ruled. He couldn’t afford to repair his house’s exterior when his neighbors complained, yet later in life he refused to draw out Social Security, insisting the money should be there for those who truly needed it. When a prominent birth control organization approached him, he refused to run their ads because he was pro-life.

Despite our different religions, my daughter Shira often joined the McGovern clan to celebrate Christmas and Easter at Fran’s house. She never made it on Christmas Day in 1990. Fran McGovern died on Christmas Eve.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) brought a large wreath to McGovern’s funeral service. An attached note said they had lost a dear friend.

Francis R. McGovern always vowed that he would die before he stay, and he kept that promise. The last declare of the Minneapolis Daily American, dated Dec. 28, 1990, was compiled and published by his son Francis C. I did the typesetting, and Kevin Goplin printed it. The front page headline read:

PUBLICATION CEASES WITH THIS ISSUE
The Voice is Stilled

In Memoriam
Francis R. McGovern: Jan. 11, 1920-Dec. 25,1990
Kathryn McGovern: 1922-May 25, 2004
Cletus McGovern: 1923-Aug. 21, 2008
Mary Elizabeth McGovern: 1889-1973
Cheryl Baker: 1945-Aug. 10, 1982

Feel free to add your memories or comments in the comment area at the very bottom of the pages, and please forward this article to anyone you know who might be interested.

Several years ago I started searching for my family history. History was always my common subject in high school and I always jumped at the chance to interview older people around our small town for school projects. I was fascinated by their history and it seemed a natural extension for me to learn mine.

My first search was at the public library and I was surprised to learn that two very distant cousins, who were brothers, were both governor’s of the site of Tennessee. They were in opposing parties too. A few years later I joined Ancestry.com on a trial basis and then joined with a paid membership. It did become cost prohibitive for me after a couple of years, because the cost to subscribe kept going up. It is currently $155.00 for the year to search US records only, and $299.40 for world records and US records. They also offer one month and three month memberships, but the best deal is the annual membership once the cumulative cost is considered. I am at a point of needing world records but no longer have the time due to work constraints to use the membership to its fullest value. Before, I was a stay-at-home mom with a lot of time on my hands. Now the few hours I have at home is spent writing or doing the household chores that would have gotten done had I been home all day.

One side of my family is German and I have not had an easy time gathering information because I wasn’t raised by my father and did not get to know those in the family who could content me anything. Through Ancestry.com I was able to rep out that my father had passed away, but I was also able to win my relatives, including siblings who I did know about but had never met, and an uncle (and his wife) and an aunt (and her husband). The two direct siblings to my father have since passed away also, but I was able to exhaust the services of Ancestry.com to find out that in 1930 orphanages in Iowa served as homes for those who were displaced in the Depression, because my father, his brother and parents lived in one. I learned that with their help because I was having trouble finding them in the 1930 U S Census Database. One has to know something of where their relatives were in order to spend it.

I did find my mother’s parents in the Census Database and my step-father’s family. It was a lot of fun for me to derive that information.

My mother-in-law has family members (my father-in-law’s siblings) who have done extensive family tree searches and they were able to forward me a copy of the record that goes encourage to the starting of Harvard University and several generations prior. I found a site with her family by searching online with information she gave me and it led to a station from a distant of relative who had pictures of her family when she was very small. The information led back to France!

Several of my mother’s sisters have worked on their family tree and they sent me the ‘tree’ on my grandfather. My grandmother is part Cherokee and that has not been easy to track down, especially since I have been unable to gain to Tennessee to check the archives that the Cherokee Nation Cultural Center may have. I understand the tribes were not real big on keeping written records that long ago though so it may be pointless. I would love to collect hold of my grandmother’s family Bible to see what may be written in there. Family Bibles often have a section for one to write down the family tree and as it is handed down from generation to generation more are added to it as they are born.

To me a family tree is nothing but a graphic with everybody’s names on it. A family history, however, includes the family tree, but also has stories of the family handed down from generation to generation so that those in the future know where they came from and what type of people they are from. Those are not easy to come by either, especially since I grew up away from any extended family. I have been able to get quite a history on my father-in-law who recently passed away, and I have a great-uncle (my grandfather’s youngest brother) who is slowly feeding me stories on their family. My aunt forwarded to me something my mother wrote in 1954 the other day, in pencil. I immediately transcribed it to the computer and printed it off so the fading pencil marks wouldn’t be lost forever. It was only partially fictitious! They mumble me that is where I derive my care for for writing.

I am keeping the record for my kids in case they are interested or their kids are interested. Somewhere down the line my research will be wanted by family members and it will be available. Maybe they will be able to go further back than I was able to; at least they won’t have to start from scratch.

In this article we’ll continue with using state censuses for genealogy. I have lots of relatives in Iowa and Kansas and the dwelling censuses for these two states have given me many insights into these relatives.

Georgia has state censuses available for the years 1798, 1800, 1810, 1827, 1834, 1838, 145, 1852, 1853, 1859, 1865, and 1879. These usually just list head of household and some minor statistics. Unfortunately, most of these are not complete and the researcher should look at tax lists and other sources if they can’t find the county they are looking for. For censuses you can contact: Georgia Department of Archives and History, Office of Secretary of State, 330 Capitol Ave., SE, Atlanta, GA 30334.

Hawaii didn’t become a state until 1959 so no state censuses were taken. You can find Royal census enumerations for the Kingdom of Hawaii for 1866, 1878, and 1890 at Hawaii Vital Records, P.O. Box 3378, 1250 Punch Bowl Ave., Room 103, Honolulu, HI 96801.

There has been no state censuses found for the state of Idaho. Here again, tax lists and county histories will be of benefit to the researcher.

According to the Illinois State Archives, “the Illinois Constitution of 1818 required that a state census be taken in 1820 and every fifth year thereafter to resolve apportionment of representation in the General Assembly.” Although state censuses were taken in 1820, 1825, 1830, 1835, 1845, 1855, and 1865, only the 1820, 1855, and 1865 censuses survive today. These censuses only include head of household and tallies of other occupants of the house. A very good source of information about these censuses is http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/research_series/rseries5.html. Illinois is one of those states that have submitted several databases of vital information for the Internet. I have found them very accommodating when I have requested information from this source. There is a fee but it is a very small fee.

Indiana did assume some state censuses but they only contained head of household information much like Illinois. Some sources say these do not exist anymore but since some lists say that state censuses exist for the years 1807, 1853, 1857, 1871, 1877, 1883, 1889, 1901, 1913, 1919, and 1931 you might be able to find fragments of these years. For further information on these censuses contact: Indiana State Library, Genealogy Division, 315 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202 and http://www.in.gov/icpr/3017.htm.

Iowa is a very useful dwelling for state censuses, especially the 1925 state census which includes the person’s parents’ names along with mother’s maiden name and residence of marriage for parents. Check out http://iagenweb.org/census/ or http://iagenweb.org/census/priority.htm for lots of unknown information about Iowa state censuses. Iowa took state censuses for the years of 1836, 1838, 1840, 1841, 1844, 1846, 1847, 1849, 1850, 1851, 1852, 1853, 1854, 1856, 1859, 1875, 1881, 1885, 1888, 1889, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1905, 1915, and 1925. Not all counties are available for all years. As you can see, if you have relatives in Iowa in 1890, the state censuses can be a very valuable resource since the 1890 United States Federal census is not available. Iowa also has several vital records databases online so be sure to check them out. A good place to start looking for those state censuses, after checking out the two websites above, is the Iowa State Library, 1112 E. Grand Ave., Des Moines, IA. They have an extensive online library also.

State censuses for Kansas got better as the years went along. The 1865 census lists all members of the household by name, age, sex, run, and place of birth. The 1885 census lists all members of the household by name, age, sex, run, set of birth, and where they came from before Kansas. The 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915 census lists all members of the household by name, age, sex, race, and place of birth along with where they came from before Kansas and their military information. The 1925 census lists all of the above along with naturalization information. These records can be obtained from The Kansas Historical Society, 6425 SW 6^th Avenue, Topeka, KS 66615. This is a very nice facility and the people are very profitable. Any of the residence census microfilms are also available for interlibrary loan.

Kentucky has no record of any state censuses. Again, check those tax lists and land records instead.

Louisiana took state censuses in 1853 and 1858. There are census tables available for the French Colony of Louisiana from 1799 to 1732. Records can be obtained from Louisiana Vital Records Registry, P.O. Box 60630, New Orleans, LA 70160. Remember, Louisiana has parishes instead of counties.

Exhaust of state censuses can help when the Federal censuses are unavailable so be sure to check them out. Always do a search using a good search engine for “state censuses” using the name of the state you are researching. You will be amazed at what you can find to help in that next step in your genealogy. Good luck and happy hunting.

Living in central Virginia one has the choice of worlds, the mountains or the sea. On the one hand I can get on Interstate 64 and, in about an hour and a half, I can be at Virginia Beach and the Atlantic Ocean. On the other hand, I can drive for about an hour to an hour and a half and be at one of several points of the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP).

To the north I have Washington D.C. and to the south I have…did I mention that to the north I have Washington D.C.? Seriously, there is nothing wrong with the North Carolina-Virginia border area but there is just no gigantic tourist draws unless you just want to go down ad drive along U.S. Route 58 for a bit. At one time that would have been appealing but, with gas prices the draw they are, merely driving for the fun of it is out in my book.

The point is, if you live in central Virginia, you have a good choice of one day hurry options. I am here to help you select one.

Going to the beach is nice, if you like traffic, crowds and high prices. I do not. Don’t get me wrong, I like to go every now and then, say once every five years of so. Besides, the last time I went down there and lay on the beach Greenpeace showed up and kept trying to “roll me back in.” It was embarrassing so I will put off the next gallop as long as possible.

Washington has lots of museums and other attractions but “traffic” does not originate to describe what you will encounter anywhere north of Fredericksburg, Virginia. My job requires that I travel all over the Commonwealth and I cannot stand it if I have to pass the exit for US Route 17 at Fredericksburg on I-95 north. Additionally, the costs of food, fuel and anything else in D.C are astronomical. Again, I will pass.

So let us look west. The Blue Ridge Mountains. I must confess, I have always been more of the “mountain man” type. So, even though these are not the Rockies or the Chugach Mountains, along which I former to live in Alaska, they win my blood flowing.

Aside from my personal affinity for any bump in the ground there are some well-behaved reasons for folks from central Virginia to head for the hills for a day trip. While the northern tourist road, the Skyline drive, is a toll road and costs money to drive on, the mighty longer and less jammed up Blue Ridge Parkway is free. The BRP begins at Rockfish gap where I-64 crosses Afton Mountain. This is just east the city of Waynesboro, Virginia and west of Charlottesville.

I might mention that Charlottesville is a nice stop of point itself. The Downtown Mall is a very long pedestrian walkway with many shops and restaurants. I get a kick out of all the reasonably priced used book stores along this mall and, since I am there several times a year on business, my book collection grows regularly from my visits. Charlottesville is also the home of Monticello and the nearby Michie Tavern which make a dazzling day trip by themselves, though you will lay out a few dollars there.

Back to the BRP. Heading south from Mile Marker zero at Rockfish gap is a kindly method to start a trip on the Parkway. For a day trip you may simply drive down the parkway to anyone of several crossroad options for heading back towards central Virginia. Or you may opt to generally head down the Parkway but take side trips to other destinations such as Sherando Lake or down to Stuarts Draft, Virginia.

Sherando Lake, is located about five miles west, off the BRP down state route 814. The turn off is not too far south of Rockfish gap around mile marker 16. Sherando Lake has camping, fishing, picnicking and swimming (in the summer). It is just pretty there. Oh and, there is a great little country store on the left just past the entrance to the park. The store has all kinds of sodas that are hard to score anywhere around Richmond. Sundrop, Cheerwine, RC, ok, maybe you can find them around Richmond in plastic, 2-liter jugs but not in glass bottles. I always thought soda just tastes better out of a longneck glass bottle.

The Sherando Lake turn off, from the BRP, will take you down to Stuarts Draft. What is in Stuarts Draft you ask? Nothing much, at least nothing to draw big crowds but, if you know where to look there are some bright gems. Along U.S. Route 11, the “main drag, so to speak, there are several good antique malls. Just pick one. You can follow the tour busses to “The Cheese Shop.” This is a Mennonite owned bulk buy cheese and baking good store which also has a deli piece. It is worth a finish. As you head befriend toward town and improper Route 11 you will pass “The Old Schoolhouse Restaurant” on your left, a great place to have lunch or dinner. Further into town, make a left at the hardware store, just before you get to the railroad track and you will find a small Mennonite bakery. As I retract they are only initiate Wednesday through Saturday so it is worth planning your day sail accordingly. Do not be on a diet when you stop here.

If you are finished with Stuarts Draft and have made your way back to the parkway, or impartial did not want a side trip to start with, you can continue south. There are all sorts of overlooks and stops along the BRP and I will not try to detail them all. The National Park Service has an excellent website, http://www.nps.gov/blri/.

I will tell about some of the nearby off parkway sites and one of these is around milepost 27. You can get off the BRP onto county route 56 heading east. Go about three miles and you will come to a private campground/ general store/fishing pond. The general store is neat, my stepson gets a real kick out of it and the fishing pond is the perfect thing for microscopic kids, they are practically guaranteed to catch a fish without too much bother. I have never stayed at the campground but it looks nice.

If you want to wrap up your trip, this is a good opportunity to. You may continue east on 56 to 151. Take 151 to US 29 South. Take US 29 to US 60 wait on to the Richmond area. Or you may get back on the BRP and continue on. The next neat halt is where US 60 crosses the BRP just east of the town of Buena Vista.

If you are into fairly strenuous day hiking you can turn east on Route 60. You will come to a puny store with a small road beside it on the left. There will be a mark pointing to the “Henry Latham Trail.” Purchase this road until the pavement runs out. Have no scare, the road becomes gravel but does not get to rough. You will reach a parking plot with National Park Service Signs. The Henry Latham Trail, which used to be known as the Mt. Pleasant/ Mt Pompey Trail circles two peaks and is a fairly strenuous climb, for these parts anyway. I assume I need not name the two peaks. The top of Mt. Pleasant offers some good views. Since I suffered a permanent leg injury about eight years ago I have not been able to execute the climb but, at that time, you could backpack and overnight on the mountain. I used to take my daughter up there for a Friday night and then we would drive the BRP on Saturday and end up back in Chesterfield Saturday evening. I may not derive to hike anymore but I will still say, if you go please respect the land, if you bring it in, take it out with you. If you see something someone else left, please do us all a favor and take it down to the trail head, they have trash cans there and you may drop something off. Thank you if you do.

If you are not into day hiking, you can head west to Buena Vista if you like. I have not spent much time there but it is a cute town and you are move to find something interesting if you poke around.

If neither of these is to your liking and you are ready to head back to Richmond, the crossover of US Route 60 is a beneficial set to do it. Just leave the BRP and head east. Be prepared for a capable drive. You will pass through Forks of Buffalo, a beautiful residence, Amherst and several other small towns. Personally, I like driving 60 encourage to Richmond almost as much as driving on the BRP.

If you still have time and want to continue on, or if your “day trip” is actually a “two day trip,” you can continue on down to Peaks of Otter. Ok, I said I was not going to get into stuff on the BRP itself but I will accomplish an exception here because this is pretty distinguished as far south as I think you can hope to make in a day. Plus, Peaks of Otter is fair, well, it is a day trip in and of itself. I can and do take my family there just for the “Peaks.”

First there is the usual BRP stop off amenities. Campground, restaurant, gift shop, gas station (I tremble at the thought of what gas will be going for up there this year), and a wildlife center where they do “ranger programs” in the evening for the campers. Then there is the Peaks of Otter Lodge. Then there is the little hiking trail head behind the gift shop. The one which goes upwards.

Now, I have lived where there where MOUNTAINS and I had a job which required me to go up those mountains. The tallest of the Peaks of Otter peaks tops out at just less than 4,000 feet. They are no steady monsters compared to some I have been on or seen. But this is a Virginia Mountain and quite lovely. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson have climbed it. I have been around the world and seen a great many mountains, I will be content with Peaks of Otter from now on. I have even managed to make it up the mountain since I had my leg reconstructed. I have made it down the mountain twice, oh, I should mention that they have a bus you can take about two thirds of the way to the top if you are not up to the whole climb. The tickets are available in the gift shop. The bus drives along a very narrow road and the drive up and down can be quite exciting for the faint of heart. I have yet to hear of that bus falling of the mountain though.

Frankly, a camping trip to Peaks of Otter is a great family weekend. Here I am going to tell you how to obtain back to central Virginia from the BRP and wrap up our “day trip” but, for a weekend camping trip to Peaks of Otter you unprejudiced drive it in reverse.

To rep back to Central Virginia, from the BRP at Peaks of Otter, head east on Route 43 to Bedford, Virginia. By the way, Bedford is another town you could spend a day in. The National D-day Memorial is located there and everyone in driving range should try to make it there at least once. Also in Bedford, in the towns old train depot, next to the railroad tracks, is a restaurant called, “Liberty Station.” I have only been there for lunch but I will be back. It was good.

Once you get through Bedford you will hit US Route 460 heading east towards Lynchburg. 460 will take you through Appomattox, another potential “daytrip” destination, and past Farmville. You will turn off 460 onto county route 307, which is a shortcut to US Route 360. When you hit three 360 hang a left and head east towards Richmond. That is it.

Obviously, if you try to do everything I have mentioned, it will consume you longer than a day. Just making the round promenade drive, with no major stops can be done in a day but you will be defeating your purpose I assume. If you want to do the whole thing I recommend you do make it a weekend trip and find hotel or camp along the way. Also obviously, you can mix or match any of the information I have provided. I have mentioned three main routes to and from the Richmond area to the BRP, I-64, US 60, and the US 360-460-State 43 route. I-64 gets you up there and back the fastest but it is the least scenic. 460 and 60 and fun drives in and of themselves. My job requires me to drive up and back 460 frequently and I never tire of it. If you really want to spend some quality time going succor and forth and perceive some of the “off the beaten path” parts of the Commonwealth, then net a roadmap and drive some of the back roads between central Virginia and the mountains. It will buy longer but you may see something interesting. If you do, let me know.

If you ever want to vary this theme, you might do the same sort of thing as I have discussed except, instead of hitting the BRP, move down the eastern edge of the mountains on US 29. You could then visit the Walton’s Mountain museum in Schuyler, Virginia. Or you could drive down the western side of the Blue Ridge on route 11 down the Shenandoah Valley. This will grasp you through Stuarts Draft and a dozen other small towns. Just south of Stuarts Draft is the Edelweiss, a wonderful little German restaurant sitting on the left. Best German food I have had since I actually lived in Germany.

Play with it. Read over what I have found, get a map, don’t worry about your GPS system and see what you find. I know that gas prices are keeping most of us parked so real exploring is out. I have given you the key “points” where things are. The trick is seeing what you may see as you drive to these points, since none of consume can afford unbiased to go driving around anymore. Good luck and, if you find your self standing on top of Sharp Top mountain (the main peak at Peaks of Otter) looking back towards Richmond, give a wave because you know that somewhere back there I am wishing I could be there with you.

Southeastern Iowa appears to have won a small battle in the Iowa legislature as it appears that the funding a new prison appears to be going forward. The money appears to be available through a bond issue and will of course be a part of the infrastructure bill. This is quite possibly the most important issue that the legislature has to deal with as the session nears an end. Area Representative Phil Wise warned the crowd at a recent Chamber of Commerce meeting that obvious leaders in the western part of the state had been building the case to have the new prison project located elsewhere. They made the argument with the projected population decrease within Lee County that the prison would be better suited elsewhere. The Fort Madison prison is one of the oldest in the country and has been featured on a regular basis on MSNBC in re-runs of their exhibit lockdown. There had been much talk that higher ups in residence government were beginning to become convinced of the arguments against building the new prison in Fort Madison, but Governor Chet Culver reassured people who are dependent upon the prison as their plot of employment that it will be staying put.

The prison is an important source of revenue for a county where our board of supervisors is having a disagreement with one of the local mayors currently over a proposed shift in tax revenue. The proposed shift would allow more revenue to be allotted within the city budget as opposed to the county budget. The prison made headlines three years ago when two convicts escaped from the detention center and several employees were fired for their lack of oversight. According to the Daily Gate City it is projected to cost the state at 130.7 million dollars to build a new prison and that is a conservative estimate. The Fort Madison provides a total of 275 jobs according to the Iowa Department of Corrections. If you are looking to apply to work in a prison in Iowa typically all you have to do is apply, go in for an interview and then take the civil service exam. Of course you may have to go through special training in order to deal with inmates who have mental or physical disabilities. This may take some planning ahead and serious consideration.

The prison was first built in 1839 as noted by the Quad City Times. The new prison is expected to be finished by 2014. However, many have speculated that the budget allocation may be a little low logistically. Other improvements to prisons around the state that are supposed to come out of this bill include the women’s facility in Mitchellville.

Sources:

Steve Dunn. “New prison on track in legislature.” Daily Gate City.

http://www.dailygate.com/articles/2008/04/14/news/02.txt

Charlotte Eby. “Iowa prison upgrades to be debated” Quad City Times.

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2008/02/04/news/local/doc47a6a920338ac183376137.txt

As we approach the end of another year, we all need to focus on the single most IMPORTANT disclose facing our country today. If you truly are a real patriot, whether Republican, Democrat or whatever; it is extremely considerable for the American people to obtain leisurely Electoral Reform now. If you care about the future of our nation’s children, then you will understand that nothing is more important than your vote being counted as a real vote. Yes, the accuracy of the vote count during elections is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE today. What is at stake here is our entire election system. The system we have is based on consent of the governed. If the government operates without our consent, or if people are falsely elected, we have NO country, we have no consent, we have no freedom, we have absolutely nothing. If 3.4 million more Americans claim that they voted than the proper total of voters — this is what the Census Bureau told us last May – then this is grounds alone for serious investigation.

The fact that our voting machines don’t give us a receipt of what our votes were, that can be compared to the results later, is an abomination of our liberty! Not only that but the fact the our future lies in the hands of electronic voting machines that cannot verify your vote, and that the totals shown on them can be easily manipulated is a total FARCE against ALL American citizens! How can people sit there and not give a shit about something so incredibly fucked up that it calls into put a question to all that it means to be an FREE American citizen! The essence of our Democracy is at stake here.

We need an government agency with subpoena power to truly investigate the situation. Take the Ohio results during the last 2004 election, for instance. Why should the companies that made the electronic voting machines be able to legally not answer an investigators questions like they have done. Only someone with something to hide would refuse to retort any questions. John Conyers tried to do his own investigation, but he was stonewalled by Ken Blackwell, the Secretary of Region of Ohio and other officials, including the Triad Computer Company, who basically refused to acknowledge his questions. What accurate have they to refuse to answer questions when something so well-known as our elections are at stake. How can anyone anywhere in the USA trust the election results? We deserve to have a persuasive retort to what happened in 2004.

The Democrats wouldn’t contest the 2000 theft of the election. The only thing they could bring themselves to do was sort of whine about electoral reform. ‘We have to have electoral reform.’ So, what the White House did was very cleverly say, ‘Yes, electoral reform. We’re very interested in electoral reform,’ and on that basis, they shoved through the Help America Vote Act. Now, there are some decent provisions in that act, but it’s that act that mandates the consume of touch screen voting machines throughout the entire country eventually. That’s already a serious problem. Those private vendors should be outlawed. We shouldn’t be using them at all. THE VOTES TALLIED ON THEM ARE UNVERIFIABLE. COMMON SENSE dictates that there should be paper ballots that are hand counted. Guess how many counties of the hundreds of counties in the 50 United States do this? ONLY approximately 1% of these counties are there are paper ballots — and these are hand counted properly — the way all of our counties should be counting our ballots! ONLY 1%!

One of President George W. Bush’s major donors was Diebold’s CEO Walden “Wally” O’Dell, of Ohio. O’Dell was on record stating that he was “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President” that year. On September 26, 2003, he hosted an Ohio Republican Party fundraiser for Bush’s re-election at his Cotswold Manor mansion. Diebold made the electronic voting machines extinct in Ohio in 2004. Conflict of interest? None of these Diebold machines provided a paper receipt of the vote. Why not? Why would these machines be made this way, against common sense. Diebold, located in North Canton, Ohio, does its famous business in ATM and ticket-vending machines. Critics of Diebold point out that virtually every other machine the company makes provides a paper creep to verify the machine’s calculations. Oddly, only the voting machines lack this essential function. Why? State Senator Teresa Fedor of Toledo introduced Senate Bill 167 unhurried last year mandating that every voting machine in Ohio generate a “voter verified paper audit traipse.” Secretary of State Blackwell has denounced any attempt to require a paper trail as an effort to “derail” election reform. What sense does that make?

A joint study by the California and Massachusetts Institutes of Technology following the 2000 election determined that between 1.5 and 2 million votes were not counted due to confusing paper ballots or nasty equipment. The federal government’s solution to the problem was to pass the Assist America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002. One of the law’s stated goals was “Replacement of punch card and lever voting machines.” The new voting machines would be high-tech touch screen computers, but if there’s no paper trail, how do you know if there’s been a computer glitch? How can the results be trusted? And how do you recount to see if the accurate votes match the computer’s tally? Bait and switch or what! Bev Harris, author of “Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century”, argues that without a paper trip, these machines are open to massive voter fraud. Diebold has already placed some 50,000 machines in 37 states and their track relate is causing Harris, Johns Hopkins University professors and others great concern. Johns Hopkins researchers at the Information Security Institute issued a report declaring that Diebold’s electronic voting software contained “resplendent flaws.” The researchers concluded that vote totals could be altered at the voting machines and by remote access.

Harris writes that hacked documents taken from Diebold’s website expose how the mainstream media reversed their call projecting Al Gore as winner of Florida after someone “subtracted 16,022 votes from Al Gore, and in tranquil some undefined way, added 4000 erroneous votes to George W. Bush.” Hours later, the votes were returned. One memo from Lana Hires of Global Election Systems, now Diebold, reads: “I need some answers! Our department is being audited by the County. I have been waiting for someone to give me an explanation as to why Precinct 216 gave Al Gore a minus 16,022 [votes] when it was uploaded.” Another hacked internal memo, written by Talbot Iredale, Senior VP of Research and Development for Diebold Election Systems, documents “unauthorized” replacement votes in Volusia County. This is trustworthy system for counting our votes? In an 87-page CBS news report, it was celebrated that “According to CBS documents, the fallacious 20,000 votes in Volusia was directly responsible to calling the election for Bush.” The first person to call the election for Bush was Fox election analyst John Ellis, who had the advantage of conferring with his prominent cousins George W. Bush and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Coincidence?

The electronic voting industry is dominated by only a few corporations – Diebold, Election Systems & Software (ES&S) and Sequoia. Diebold and ES&S combined count an estimated 80% of U.S. black box electronic votes. The far-right Ahmanson family sold their shares in American Information Systems (AIS) to the McCarthy Group and the World Herald Company, Inc. Recently, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel disclosed in public documents that he was the Chairman of American Information Systems and claimed between a $1 to 5 million investment in the McCarthy Group. In 1997, American Information Systems purchased Business Records Corp. (BRC), formerly Texas-based election company Cronus Industries, to become ES&S. One of the BRC owners was Carolyn Hunt of the right-wing Hunt oil family, which supplied great of the original money for the Council on National Policy. In 1996, Hagel became the first elected Republican Nebraska senator in 24 years when he did surprisingly well in an election where the votes were verified by the company he served as chairman and maintained a financial investment. In both the 1996 and 2002 elections, Hagel’s ES&S counted an estimated 80% of his winning votes. Due to the contracting out of services, confidentiality agreements between the State of Nebraska and the company kept this matter out of the public eye. Hagel’s first election victory was described as a “attractive upset” by one Nebraska newspaper. VERY INTERESTING! He owned the companies that made the voting machines, and then somehow won in an area where Republican’s have never won before. Wonder how that miracle happened? Maybe it was the testing ground for stealing the 2000 and 2004 national elections? Worked gigantic on the local level, why not do it for the big election?

Bob Urosevich was the Programmer and CEO at AIS, before being replaced by Hagel. Bob now heads Diebold Election Systems and his brother Todd is a top executive at ES&S. Bob created Diebold’s original electronic voting machine software. Thus, the brothers Urosevich, originally funded by the far Proper, figure in the counting of approximately 80% of electronic voting in the United States. Like Ohio, the State of Maryland was disturbed by the potential for massive electronic voter fraud. The voters of that state were reassured when the state hired SAIC to monitor Diebold’s system. SAIC’s former CEO is Admiral Bill Owens. Owens served as a military aide to both Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci, who now works with George H.W. Bush at the controversial Carlyle Group. Robert Gates, former CIA Director and close friend of the Bush family, also served on the SAIC Board. Oh, how CONVENIENT!

Why are these CRIMINALS getting away with stealing our very DEMOCRACY from the nation? CAUSE WE ALL do nothing but watch TV and wait for “someone” to do something about things. If these crooks are putting us into a huge cage, in a virtual prison box, it is our own fault for not educating ourselves and getting involved. If you care about the future of America, check out: http://www.votefraud.org/ and then go out and do something! Complain to your local congressman, petition for vote reform, do something. DEMAND that your local polling places must hand count ever vote coming in. “Computer scientist Peter Neumann spent two decades looking into computer software security. He’s big on computers, it’s safe to say, but when it comes to computers and elections he says “paper” is the way to go; pointing out computerized touch-screen voting machines can provide no assurance our votes have been recorded. Neuman is, like hundreds of his colleagues, a proponent of paper ballots despite the advent of high tech voting options.”

Wherever Diebold and ES&S go, irregularities and historic Republican upsets follow. Alastair Thompson, writing for scoop.co of New Zealand, explored whether or not the 2002 U.S. mid-term elections were “fixed by electronic voting machines supplied by Republican-affiliated companies.” The scoop investigation concluded that: “The state where the biggest upset occurred, Georgia, is also the state that ran its election with the most electronic voting machines.” Those machines were supplied by Diebold. IS THIS THE KIND OF COUNTRY WE WANT? We might as well be a one of those small third world countries that only hold fixed elections for the gangsters that rush their country and steal them blind. Wired News reported that “. . . a ancient worker in Diebold’s Georgia warehouse says the company installed patches on its machine before the state’s 2002 gubernatorial election that were never certified by independent testing authorities or cleared with Georgia election officials.” Great, isn’t that vast?

Also, questions were raised in Texas when three Republican candidates in Comal County each received exactly the same number of votes – 18,181. Why, it must have been the HAND OF GOD THAT DID THIS MIRACLE! PRAISE THE LORD! Why even vote anymore then? Just let the electronic voting machines pick our next president, that way we don’t have to miss any TV shows during the elections! We are all gutless for letting this happen without question, without research, without investigations. Sure, FOX news made fun of people questioning vote results, “crazy conspiracy buffs, hah, hah, hah!”. So, everyone sighed with relief and went back to their TV shows. Gutless! The American people have become GUTLESS! We are one step from being burned alive in ovens. Following the 2003 California election, an audit of the company revealed that Diebold Election Systems voting machines installed UNCERTIFIED software in all 17 counties using its equipment. Why would you buy a voting machine from a company like Diebold which provides a paper trail for every single machine it makes except its voting machines? And then, when you ask it to verify its numbers, it hides behind ‘trade secrets’. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as consultants and developers to abet write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states. It is UNREAL that criminals can get away from stealing our own country right from under us like that.

Before the 2004 election, Ohio Senator Fedor pushed for Senate Bill 167 and the “voter verified paper audit trail.” Athan Gibbs, President and CEO of TruVote International, demonstrated a voting machine at a vendor’s fair in Columbus that provides two separate voting receipts. The first paper receipt displays the voter’s touch screen selection under plexiglass that falls into a lockbox after the voter approves. Also, the TruVote system provides the voter with a receipt that includes a unique voter ID and pin number which can be used to call in to a voter audit internet connection to make obvious the vote cast was actually counted. Brooks Thomas, Coordinator of Elections in Tennessee, stated, “I’ve not seen anything that compares to the Gibbs’ TruVote validation system.” The Assistant Secretary of State of Georgia, Terrel L. Slayton, Jr., claimed Gibbs had come up with the “perfect solution.” DID ANYONE USE IT? NO! U.S. Representative Run Holt introduced HR 2239, The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003, that would require electronic voting machines to produce a paper trail so that voters may verify that their screen touches match their sincere vote. Election officials would also have a paper trail for recounts. DID ANYTHING COME OF IT? NO! What was the result of the 2004 election? Republican upsets all over the country. Recently, executives and owners of the two largest private “vote counting” companies, ES &S and Sequoia, have been convicted of bribery and suborning public officials in more than a dozen states. These two companies were delegated the power to count 60%+ of the USA vote in secret in Presidential Election 2004. It’s not impartial votes for Kerry or Gore that were “lost”, but also other people that have rush, like Buchanon, etc. How exactly is this voter fraud done? Check out (read it and weep): http://www.votefraud.org/every_american_needs_to_study.htm

For example, the day after elections, numerous tests were performed and videotaped by losing Council Member candidate Susan Bernecker in New Orleans in 1994 that clearly demonstrated that votes she cast for herself were electronically recorded for her opponent. This test was repeated multiple times with the same result, thus confirming that the machine had been fraudulently altered to influence the outcome of the election. Three times she keyed in her own name on the voting machines, and three times a vote for her opponent was registered. After these proceedings she perhaps justly feared for her life if she kept the secret to herself. She convened a hastily-called press conference, and then retired from public life. Welcome to America! If this was done an a local level, why not the national level? Would you put it past them to do this? I don’t. All — not some — but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates. Golly gee! How did that happen? Ohio’s infamous Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell clearly and vehemently denied poll access to teams of international observers from the United Nations and other international election observers. Since the election, he has effectively stonewalled and sabotaged all recount attempts, to the point that no credible accounting of the Ohio election has ever been done. To this day, at least 100,000 votes remain uncounted, electronic voting machines remain unaudited, key hardware and data files have been trashed, paper ballots have sat unguarded for anyone to pilfer and tallies in dozens of key counties remain filled with statistical impossibilities.

“some of [the] concerns about electronic voting machines have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes.” Some electronic voting machines “did not encrypt cast ballots or system audit logs, and it was possible to alter both without being detected.” And, “It was possible to alter the files that define how a ballot looks and works so that the votes for one candidate could be recorded for a different candidate.” Numerous sworn statements and affidavits shriek that this did happen in Ohio 2004. The GAO also confirms that access to the voting network was easily compromised because not all digital recording electronic voting systems (DREs) had supervisory functions password-protected, so access to one machine provided access to the whole network. Which means that you only needed a few people to tap into the networked machines and thus change large numbers of votes at will. With 800,000 votes cast on electronic machines in Ohio, flipping the number needed to give Bush 118,775 could be easily done by just one programmer. He exit polls showed Kerry winning in Ohio, until an unexplained last minute shift gave the election to Bush. Similar definitive shifts also occurred in Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico, a virtual statistical impossibility. Election officials in Mahoning County now concede that at least 18 machines visibly transferred votes for Kerry to Bush. Voters who pushed Kerry’s name saw Bush’s name light up, again and again, all day long. Officials claim the problems were quickly solved, but sworn statements and affidavits say otherwise. They confirm similar problems in Franklin County (Columbus). Kerry’s margins in both counties were suspiciously obscene. In some precincts, there were more votes for Bush than there were registered voters there! In Miami County, at 1:43am after Election Day, with the county’s central tabulator reporting 100% of the vote – 19,000 more votes mysteriously arrived; 13,000 were for Bush at the same percentage as prior to the additional votes, a virtual statistical impossibility. In Cleveland, large, entirely implausible vote totals turned up for obscure third party candidates in traditional Democratic African-American wards. Vote counts in neighboring wards showed virtually no votes for those candidates, with 90% going instead for Kerry. Furthermore: John Kerry lost in every precinct in Recent Mexico that had a touchscreen voting machine. The losses had no correlation with ethnicity, social class or traditional party affiliation—only with the fact that touchscreen machines were used. Oh, there is a LOT more, for the whole report check out: http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1529 and http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102105Q.shtml . The GAO report now confirms that electronic voting machines as deployed in 2004 were in fact perfectly engineered to allow a very small number of partisans with minimal computer skills and equipment to shift enough votes to establish George W. Bush back in the White House. So, not only is this “war” in Iraq based on illegitimate evidence, so it Bush’s (election and) re-election itself!

The SAD TRUTH is that we no longer have a democracy, it is all a farce. Isn’t it definite by now that we must have machine free elections, with all computers and mechanical devices rigorously outlawed and excluded from the election process? In 99% of all the counties in this country, the machine count votes without a receipt. In these 99% of counties that use either computer or machine methods of casting a ballot — the Democratic and Republican parties at the county level delegate the “counting” to one of a few mega-companies which allegedly count over 90% of the US vote IN SECRET; in election 2004 the four companies which were delegated the power to count 90%+ of the votes in the USA were Election Systems & Software (aka ES & S), Diebold, Triad, and Sequoia; the local county election boards use armed guards to construct obvious the citizens, candidates, and reporters cannot see what these private companies are doing to the ballots in the “counting room”. WHY? Then, these private companies controlling the ballots next give a direct feed to a team of manipulators which represent a pool of the AP wire service and the 5 Big TV Networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, & FOX)! Can you believe that the people of the United States of America fall for this obvious total MOCKERY of the American people! WISE UP AMERICA! What’s there to stop them from changing the vote count if someone doesn’t like the way they came out? Since the counting is done in secret by private companies, how does anyone know for sure that the real voter counts are given to the local election boards? An election result can not be disputed, a recount can not be made because THERE ARE NO PAPER BALLOTS, there is NOTHING TO COUNT, LET ALONE Picture! There is ONLY ONE solution: We print the ballot on paper, with a box next to each candidate’s name. We jabber a voter to achieve an X in their candidate’s box. Then we have human beings count the Xs. Otherwise, Goodbye, America the free! You have only yourself to blame, our forefathers that started this country said that we must be ever vigilant of our liberty, are you? The spineless Democrat party has proven itself to be a punch of pussies posthaste willing to concede to the equally evil Republican party machine. Again, it is time for Americans to stand up for America and wipe Congress clean of the scurge of the country club politicians /crooks that eat all our hard earned tax payer money. Let’s get rid of every long time Congress member and bring in fresh blood. Or someone like Jeb Bush will somehow wind up our next president in 2008 and if that happens it is clear proof that we are no longer in the United States of America, but back under Nazi power. Can we afford to lose our Democracy?

For the real Americans who aren’t too busy watching TV, please check out:
http://www.blackboxvoting.com
http://www.votefraud.org
http://nightweed.com/usavotefacts.html
http://www.votefraud.org/how_a_private_company_counts_our_votes.htm
http://www.networkamerica.org/yes_there_is_a_plan_for_2004.htm
http://www.votefraud.org/how_our_votes_should_be_counted.htm
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/archives/cat_vote_fraud.html
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102105Q.shtml
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1018-22.htm

QUESTION:

Is state law failing when one must fight to preserve definite rights attributed to married people, when marriage is not offered to same-sex couples and one dies without a will?

STATUTE:

California Probate Code §6401-6455. “the intestate share of the surviving spouse is the one-half of the community property that belongs to the decedent … As to quasi-community property, the intestate allotment of the surviving spouse is the one-half of the quasi-community property that belongs to the decedent …As to separate property, the intestate share of the surviving spouse or surviving domestic partner …
(1) The entire intestate estate if the decedent did not leave any surviving assure, parent, brother, sister, or issue of a deceased brother or sister. (2) One-half of the intestate state in the following cases: (A) Where the decedent leaves only one child or the issue of one

deceased child. (B) Where the decedent leaves no issue but leaves a parent or parents or their issue or the philosophize of either of them. (3) One-third of the intestate estate in the following cases: (A) Where the decedent leaves more than one child. (B) Where the decedent leaves one child and the issue of one or more deceased children. (C) Where the decedent leaves swear of two or more deceased children…”

I. PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS:

Our Constitution of the United States of America requires our States to honor another State’s public laws authorized by the following provision: “Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each Area to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other Spot. Congress may by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.” (The Constitution of the United States, Article 4, § I). Our country is built upon liberty and justice. The gay and lesbian community does not derive conditions for more controversy, and the fight for basic rights must persevere. The California Constitution, § 1 and 7, Article 1, promises not to take away inalienable rights, thus supporting the role of this narrate.

Author Rose-Marie Chaperon, blogs “At its heart, bias behaviors, stereotyping and discrimination towards anyone or any group all stem from a lack of understanding or an unwillingness to address how the words and actions of one person can be offensive for another.” Chaperon, http://searchwarp.com/swa457780-The-Fear-Of-The-Unknown.htm, (March 31, 2009). And President Franklin D. Roosevelt acknowledges the articulate during Inaugural Address March 4, 1933, and communicates to the American Public “the only thing we have to dread is fear itself.” Later, also quoted by President John F. Kennedy.

Americans have experienced a legacy of fighting to preserve life, liberty and equality. Discrimination coupled with racism fuels the world’s fear-based values and conscious image of what should be. Given American’s have the Freedom to Speak what they wish, creating a bubble of what the general public will believe to be the truth, we must offer another view. While addressing these issues at the grass roots level often contributes to an immediate community awareness[1], it is also important to address these issues with legislation making resolution to conflict a regulated, mandated and therefore, supported by our Government.

Racism, by its simplest definition “is the belief that race is the valuable determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial difference produce an inherent superiority of a particular speed.” Reverend Raymond J. Boland, Racism in Our Society, Diocese Kansas City March (2001)[2]. People with racist beliefs exhibit stereotype-based prejudices towards individuals and groups of people according to their race. When racism comes to mind, one must think of cultural discrimination, xenophobia, last but not least age, gender and sexual orientation discrimination. We have historically witnessed civil rights violations rooted by disfavor and discrimination. Organizations like the Ku Klux Klan dehumanize classes in order to near their genocidal intent. Old Germany used differences in others as a crutch supporting dislike and killing millions of jews and other social groups that did not fit Hitler’s perception of the perfect run. Diversity enriches our lives and should be famous, not condemned. When we attack a person’s difference as a political and religious stand; the disparate impact is undeniable and then justifiable to Americans.

Marriage

Unfortunately same-sex couples face discrimination and moral scrutiny as they ask for the identical rights given to a wedded man and woman. Our dwelling laws fail when we must fight with differing plot laws on same-sex marriage in order to secure our estates and ourselves. A marriage recognized in every state traditionally has preserved certain rights on the spouse (just to inheritance, tax benefits, property rights, medical decision rights etc.)[3] This is where a couple of the same gender run into issues. Marriage should be treated as the universal moral we as human beings and United States residents and citizens fundamentally comprise. (See Moran v. Moran, 188 Ariz. 139, 933 P.2d 1207, 1996 Ariz. App. LEXIS 167, 222 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 5, 116 No. 33 Ariz. Bus. Gaz. 31 (Ariz. Ct. App. 1996; www.originalintent.org). The OriginalIntent.org advocacy group fights for bringing Republicans back to grass roots—Republican roots. So far, most republican organizations fight heavily against same-sex marriage and believe these kinds of marriages are voidable and invalid; even though they concede marriage is a basic right protected without interference. Moran explains the 1877 Meister v. Moore Supreme Court Case where the court decided when there is no statute voiding certain kinds of marriages, statutes requiring a marriage licenses in order for a marriage to be generous, should just stay a prescribed process and not a required procedure. (see Moran, at 144; Meister v. Moore, 96 U.S. 76, 1877).

The meaning of marriage has long been supported by national religious affiliations often quoting the passage in Matthew 19:4-6, quoting Genesis, “marriage is to be one man for one woman for life”. California Family Code §300 (a) states “[m]arriage is a personal relation arising out of a civil contract between a man and a woman, to which the consent of the parties capable of making that contract is primary.” Since then, California has enacted registered Domestic Partner laws (Stats. 2003, ch. 421, § 15), however, the benefits gained are level-headed unmatched by a legal marriage and the definition including language is that between a woman and man has not changed. (See In re Marriage Cases, 43 Cal. 4th 757, 793 (Cal. 2008)).

Marriage, in the eyes of the law is an establishment that provides special privileges and benefits; (i.e.) like a wedded couple’s monetary affairs is often seen bounded together. Since 2004, being married, which is useful when it comes to granting taxation and inheritance for same sex couples, provided they have applied to obtain their domestic partnership recognized by the registration authority. Today, same-sex couples cannot rely on their own state’s marriage and civil union laws to preserve their lives and legacies, but must also make certain to register in whatever place they may be in, if they want to cover their six. Without registering in every state, same-sex marriages are not recognized. In some cases, like divorce and re-marriage, couples should be fully knowledgeable of laws on Inheritance Tax as Estate and Gift Tax exempted in a spouse to spouse transaction.In this report, I will refer to the meaning of spouse as “one’s husband or a wife by lawful marriage; a married person.” (Black’s Law Dictionary 1438, Deluxe 8th Ed. Thompson-West (2004)). Another important definition to highlight is a putative spouse; which is one “who has a first-rate faith belief of the validity of [4].

In order for the husband or wife privilege, a legal marriage license must be provided, not a domestic partnership registration, according to California Statutory law.

Velez v. Smith offers facts where two women sustaining a long-term relationship, registered as domestic partners with the city and county of San Francisco. After several years together, Velez fell sick with Muscular Sclerosis. After two years of her illness, Smith (Velez’s domestic partner), filed a notice to terminate the domestic partnership. Since Velez and Smith shared joint accounts, health care benefits where Velez was under Smith’s, and pension benefits Velez would befall the party harmed in this deal. Velez countered Smith’s complaint with a motion to strike on the basis Velez detrimentally relied on Smith’s partnership. The courts granted the motion on the basis Smith had no legal true to terminate a partnership that did not exist since Smith and Velez never registered with the Dwelling of California, a requirement under the Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act of 2003. Local rules and registration does not imply registration with the State, therefore their registration in the city and county of San Francisco did not satisfy State requirements. Because the court determined they were not in compliance, the court did not entertain other spousal complaints (Velez also requested standing as a putative spouse in order to preserve the fresh benefits she was receiving).

The gap here is Velez receives healthcare and other benefits because she is registered with Smith in their local county, but neither can exercise or enforce any power to maintain or to delete. This case supports the plot, unless same-sex couples know and register with the requisite authority, even if they are registered with their local government, their registration is moot.

A 2005 California Supreme Court decision highlights “Section 15 of the California Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act of 2003 (CDPRRA) requires that the act be construed liberally in order to accumulate to eligible couples who register as domestic partners the complete range of legal rights, protections and benefits, as easily as all of the responsibilities, obligations, and duties to each other, to their children, to third parties and to the station, as the laws of California extend to and impose upon spouses. Stats. 2003, ch. 421, § 15.” Koebke v. Bernardo Heights Country Club, 36 Cal. 4th 824, *; 115 P.3d 1212, **; 31 Cal. Rptr. 3d 565, ***; 2005 Cal. LEXIS 8359. I am not positive in Velez, this concept applied. Had the law been applied liberally, courts could have found compliance in registration and could have at least been discussed.

Koebke fought against the Bernardo Heights Country Club for the identical rights the Country Club offered its heterosexual members – allowing member’s spouses to golf and unrestricted access to the club. Koebke and her spouse (a woman) were denied this befriend even though they were registered with the State of California in compliance with the CDPRRA. Discrimination based on marital situation, the principal complaint here, created a conflict since domestic partnership is not an expressed term listed in the Civil Rights Act and thus suspect. The action is implied, however, since the CDPRRA was created with intent domestic partners would maintain all the benefits married persons have. Judge Moreno ruled to permit the introduction of a discriminatory action because facts were found that the Country Club inconsistently applied the spousal privilege and allowed partners of unmarried to golf there regularly, but denied this right to Koebke analogous to the African American “cut-in-line case” (Koebke quoting from Everett v. Superior Court, 104 Cal.App.4th 388 (2002)). Consider Werdegar concurred in part (agreeing with domestic partnership is not an observed class for discrimination under the Civil Rights Act), and dissented in allotment (that the Country Club discriminated under the earlier Act and the modern revised one, which warranted a sexual orientation discrimination claim rather than a marital discrimination claim).

Without expressed terms and unambiguous meaning, our courts will freely elaborate whatever just cause they can think up. While California statutes seemingly embraces the same-sex couple, you can see, even California laws do not bear the highest requirement same-sex couples desire, and that is to have the aforementioned rights and duties applied to married persons.

It is no wonder we have such high divorce rates, as how can Americans take Marriage seriously? Many can deem of reasons why we rep divorce, just as it is natural to realize the flaws in others. When Marriage is only offered under certain circumstances and upheld on the status of the institution and tradition, rather than love; why would even the most reasonable person see the significance and value Marriage brings? Because what we see in America today are Marriages of convenience, Marriages of money, Leave-It-To-Beaver-unrealistic and truly inauthentic unhurried the scenes. We are missing a spectrum of relationships built on love and examples of what Marriage is really about when we tighten constraints about who should be married and who should not. When the net is cast widely, we tend to catch more colorful fish and a wide variety that gives us a clearer picture of the world. We must allow people to marry who they wish, without constraint, and that should be the public idea.

Wills and Intestate Succession applied to Unmarried Persons

Wills have long served a resolution to specify a distribution of assets a deceased person intends, ((i.e.) when I die, my car goes to Iliana and her children, etc.). Most states have statutes defining and codifying Intestate Succession; determining distribution of a deceased person’s assets should they die without a will or trust. It is in this scenario, same-sex couples also have serious concerns.

Wills (view Appendix B for sample) have long served a resolution to specify a distribution of assets a deceased person intends, ((i.e.) when I die, my car goes to Iliana and her children, etc.).

In a recent California case, a party, denied his spousal property because his marriage was considered null and void, filed a claim reviewed in the Appellate Court. (Estate of DePasse, 97 Cal. App. 4th 92; 118 Cal. Rptr. 2d 143; 2002 Cal. App. LEXIS 3287; 2002 Cal. Daily Op. Service 2762; 2002 Daily Journal DAR 3343). The facts here are a common and frequent scenario in comparable situations with same-sex couples. Ms. DePasse was very sick and hospitalized when she and Jack Harris married. Depasse and Harris lived together and when DePasse became terminally ill and hospitalized, through a holographic will[5] make her brother Executor of her Estate and donated her assets (about 4.5 million dollars, plus other expensive art and furniture pieces) to diverse organizations. DePasse did not mention Harris in her holographic will (handwritten by the testator, and unwitnessed will). The day before she died, the hospital chaplain performed the Harris-DePasse marriage ceremony, which they wanted since they had planned to marry anyway. The two never had a license issued since DePasse’s illness was imminent; however facts seem distinct of the couple’s intent. After DePasse’s death, Harris claimed one-half interest in DePasse’s estate through a property petition, as a surviving spouse. DePasse’s brother challenged the petition claiming their marriage was not righteous because the two did not have a marriage license. The court ruled a properly registered license “was a prerequisite for a valid marriage in California and that Harris was not entitled to inherit as a putative spouse. Harris was not a putative spouse because he did not have an objectively reasonable, good faith notion that he was lawfully married.” Judges Mihara, and O’Farrell agreed and affirmed the lower court’s ruling.

Harris claimed to bear several items given to him as a gift. These categorized items listed as DePasse’s items and were taken away. Again, another sad but normal occurrence among same-sex couples. A Judge and Court may yet gain some resolve, excuse, whatever you like to call it, to refute someone’s marriage, unless the language of the law is changed. Moreover, without same-sex right to Marriage, a same-sex couple does not have the same expressed rights due to a Putative Spouse or Common Law Spouse.

The sole purpose we have litigation within the area of Wills and Intestacy is to respect a person’s asset allocation and intent for those she left behind. In a grass roots case, the court decided in Estate of Russell v. Russell, 43 Cal. App. 2d 319; 110 P.2d 718; 1941 Cal. App. LEXIS 659 (1941), “the surviving wife shall be entitled to her share of her deceased husband’s estate as fully and completely as though he had died intestate.” I believe facts were persuasive of DePasse’s intent, otherwise why bag married at the final moment before death? I believe we should be looking to the Four Corners Doctrine supported by articulable facts, much like what happens in the Criminal Law case, in order to attach reasonable intentions. Laws today does not complete the gap of the deceased desired intent and therefore leaves those who have not registered a will, updated their will or provided some other form of verifiable intentions inaugurate to strangers interpretations. As applied to all persons, having an updated-detailed will is always the best option, in order to eliminate doubt.

No Express Terms in the Statute Lead to a Court’s Interpretation of Whatever They Want it to Be.

Only a few states have excluded the term marriage is ‘between man and woman’, allowing for all persons to marry, regardless if they are heterosexual or homosexual.[6] A statute codified for some intent our legislation needed to keep in force may have ambiguous terms. “A court begins by examining the language of the initiative statute, giving the words their usual and ordinary meaning, viewed in the context of the statute as a whole and the overall statutory scheme. If the terms of the statute are unambiguous, the court presumes the lawmakers meant what they said, and the plain meaning of the language governs.” Knight v. Superior Court, 128 Cal. App. 4th 14; 26 Cal. Rptr. 3d 687; 2005 Cal. App. LEXIS 521; 2005 Cal. Daily Op. Service 2894; 2005 Daily Journal DAR 3889.

In this case, California citizens refuted the existence of the Domestic Partnership Act and ask it be voided and the words relating to ‘one man and one woman’ be removed as the definition of marriage in Cal. Fam. Code 308.5. Without this expressed term the courts are left to interpret and add to the meaning excluding same-sex partnerships; even with the Domestic Partnership Act. Plaintiffs in Knight say when there is no expressed term allowing for same-sex persons included in the definition of marriage, there is ambiguity and left to interpretation which disparately impacts the gay and lesbian community. They rely on the Code of Civil Procedure §1858 “prohibited a court from interpreting an unambiguous statute in such a way as to cause it to conform to a presumed intent that was not expressed.” Id. The court here acknowledged that the Domestic Partnership Act was not an amendment to the Cal. Fam. Code and provides Domestic Partners the same benefits as married persons. Since there is no adverse execute of this act, the court denied the claim.

California is the most liberal state and still has yet to re-write the definition of marriage.

III. RIGHTS BEFORE DEATH.

When a person cannot make medical decisions, an issue arises as to who has a obliging authorization to make life-ending decisions without a power of attorney or Living Will. A Living Will (see Appendix A for sample) is “an instrument, signed with the formalities statutorily required for a will, by which a person directs that his or her life not be artificially prolonged by extraordinary measures when there is no reasonable expectation for recovery from extreme physical or mental disability.” Black’s Law Dictionary 653, Deluxe 8th Ed. Thompson-West (2004). This is also called a Durable Power of Attorney, or Medical Directive (see Appendix C for sample.) Deciding if one shall be allowed to die should be very personal, made by someone who is very halt and dear, and someone who will reach that determination with the greatest interest in that person or to what that individual would want for themselves. More oft than not, in a same-sex couple, if one becomes ill, family only, is allowed to make medical decisions in general, unless a Medical Directive is in place. Thus, excluding the partner altogether. Even a spouse succumbs to a conflict against the family in the event there is no Medical Directive to accumulate someone off life-support. (See Terry Schiavo Supreme Court case decision (04A825 Schiavo) Ex Rel. Schindler v. Schiavo, 544 U.S ___ (2005).[7]

The very-visible Sciavo case, in the year 2004, health care professionals, spouses and families argued over this issue that they may require a document directing those in the health care profession should a time come where they could not advocate for themselves. Terry Sciavo collapsed with a heart effect at a remarkably young age. Due to the lack of oxygen to her brain, Terry lost brain activity and had to undergo feeding tubes. Terry’s husband was placed as guardian. Terry’s husband and parents were in an endless battle of whether Terry should remain on feeding tube or not. Terry’s parents believed her husband was abusive and consequently should not stay in control of making those decisions. Since Terry had no Medical Directive, her husband could legally decide to withdraw the feeding tube, allowing Terry to die. The conflict between parents and husband went all the way to the Supreme Court, expending even more resources.[8] The Florida Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s decision to allow legislators to intervene in such a scenario, whereby Terry’s feeding tube was re-inserted, keeping her alive.

A Living Will is a good idea in order to list directions for what to do when you cannot speak for yourself or end up in a place like Terry Sciavo. At a minimum you will have some say-so should you not be able to talk or communicate. In the event this advise arises when you are in your young twenties, it maybe difficult to actually realize this Directive is available, but a prolonged life may indicate a whole lot more than if maybe you are Eighty years old. These kinds of decisions, whether you want certain directives to occur if you are 20, versus 50 versus 80 years old; different care maybe desired, i.e the sum of funds spent by your family. Or, you may need to modify your directive every decade depending on your life changes. Significant issues like this should be looked at and resolved in reference to the Medical Directive, thus having secured your intentions for yourself. (See Sample Living Will at then ruin of this report – Appendix A).

Domestic Partners and same-sex partners will not have access to essential healthcare information without a properly executed medical directive or durable power of attorney. The last thing a person wants to face when their partner is sick or incapacitated, is that they cannot derive their health status or communicate their true intentions on their life. Another spot resolved should Marriage laws are expressly changed to include all persons.

IV. RIGHTS AFTER DEATH.

Inheritance.

An inheritance is the “property received from an ancestor under the laws of intestancy.” Black’s Law Dictionary 799, Deluxe 8th Edition Thompson-West (2004). Inheritances occur usually via a trust or will. Absent a will or trust, intestacy statutes in your state determines the deceased asset distribution. Cal. Prob. Code § 6214. In contrast, a gift[9] given inter vivos can cost you a lot of money if you give more than the annual exemption (as of 2008, $1,000,000) and file a Gift Tax Return with the IRS. (Stare IRS Effect Attached – Appendix D.)

Sometimes a couple has been together for a long while. Many believe if a couple has domiciled together for a specific amount of time, they can enjoy all the benefits of a lawful marriage, including in respect to inheritance tax; as Common-Law marriage provides. This does not pertain to same-sex couples. If one lives with a long term partner they have no moral to the decedent’s estate unless you specify in your will that they receive some, part or all of the decedent’s estate.

The Federal Estate Tax is “a tax on your right to transfer property at your death. It consists of an accounting of everything you own or have certain interests in at the date of death.” United States Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, www.irs.gov.

When you die, you may gift your estate to your heirs and earn a tax, but transfers to spouses are exempt. Under present law, the federal estate tax will be repealed as of January 1, 2010. Today’s law outlines exclusion amounts per Estate up to year 2010. Today’s law outlines exclusion amounts per Estate up to year 2010.[10] President Obama’s plan is to abolish the Estate Tax measures extending it beyond year 2010.[11]

Married persons and Civil Partners are free from Inheritance Tax. A person’s Estate passes with no tax to their wife, spouse upon their death in the location of California. (See Estate of Carl Heim v. Commission of Internal Revenue, 914 F.2d 1322 (1990) “The marital deduction permits transfer of property within the marital unit, and thus avoidance of taxation of that property in the estate of the decedent, only if the property passes outright to the surviving or donee spouse.”) Also, any gifts they make to their marriage or domestic partner will be free from tax. Id. But in the event that partner dies, the gifts passing to your partner can incur more tax than it would if passing on the matching gifts your children. “In community property states, each spouse is deemed to own one-half of the community property. Therefore, one-half of the community property generally is taxed in the estate of the first to die …; the remaining one-half is taxed when transferred … by the surviving spouse.” Id. Thus, property is then double-taxed.[12]

Estateof Bond v. Commissioner[13]quotes 26 U.S.C.S 2056 “As place forth in the statute, a terminable interest exists if three conditions are met. First, the interest must be one that will lapse or terminate upon the occurrence or nonoccurrence of an event, or upon the lapse of time; second, upon the failure of the interest of the surviving spouse.” Therefore, in a same-sex relationship, if they are not obvious as spouses and not within a ‘marital unit’ as Heim suggests, the surviving partner will be tax blasted.

We deliver another reason here same-sex couples must go above and beyond what a married person must do in order to avoid a pitfall. Same-sex couples must know every state’s policy to be certain they are registered appropriately, whereas a married couple simply enjoys the benefit that because they are married in Texas, no matter where they may move to, their marriage benefits proceed with them and are honored by every situation.

Non- Common-Law States.

Texas, California and other states have a common-law marriage system. Other non-community property states, it’s usually simple to choose which spouse owns what. Non-community states division laws determine if only your name is in the deed, registration certificate or alternative title paper, it’s yours. You can leave your possessions to whoever you want, provided your spouse has a right to claim a certain share after your death.

The non-common law states say there is no requirement that property, acquired during marriage, owned by both spouses. To protect spouses from being disinherited, most of these states provide a surviving spouse the right to claim one-fourth to one-third of the late spouse’s estate, no matter what the will provides. Cal. Prob. Code §142. As discussed earlier, whether the surviving spouse can claim property will depend on whether a suitable marriage exists, and sometimes how long the marriage lasted. These requirements can be enforced when the survivor goes to court and claims the percentage allowed by law. The surviving spouse can elect to use the widow’s election or what is devised in the will.

Example: Husband’s leaves $580,000 in his will, to his fourth wife, Sally, then divides the remainder of his property, equaling $900,000, to his three sons from a previous marriage. If Sally is pleased with her inheritance, then no issues arise. If Sally wants more, she can determine to claim a portion of Husband’s estate instead, and get more than $580,000. If she does, Husband’s three sons will take what’s left.

If the title contains you and your spouse’s names, each of you will own a half interest. Your can give away or leave that half-interest depends on how you and your spouse share ownership. “The most primary disagreement between a tenancy by the entirety and a joint tenancy or tenancy in popular is that a tenant by the entirety may not sell or give away his interest in the property without the consent of the other tenant. Upon the death of one of the spouses, the deceased spouse’s interest in the property devolves to the surviving spouse, and not to other heirs of the deceased spouse. This is called the right of survivorship. Tenants in common do not have a right of survivorship. In a tenancy in accepted, persons may sell or give away their ownership interest. Joint tenants do have a apt of survivorship, but a joint tenant may sell or give away her interest in the property. If a joint tenant sells her interest in a joint tenancy, the tenancy becomes a tenancy in favorite, and no tenant has a right of survivorship.” West Encyclopedia of American Law, 2nd Edition, Thomson Gale (2005).[14]

Only at a date of separation will you know for certain your property does not pass to the spouse. If one chooses to marry again, it is probably prudent to develop a new will as normally a couple will acquire lots of property between each other which can constitute great value. A will ensures the allocation of your property is the direction you like it to go. The same-sex couple will not encourage in most states today, however. The majority do not recognize same-sex unions as a marriage and therefore the couple is not considered a spouse – who would benefit.

Community Property States.

Rules are a relatively more fervent in a Community Property State. Generally, in community property states, money earned by a spouse during marriage, and all property bought or acquired during marriage, with those earnings, are considered community property and owned 50/50% husband and wife. Debts acquired during marriage are generally debts of the couple. Cal. Prob. Code §13560. At the death of one spouse, the community property goes to the surviving spouse unless there is a will laying out the allocation of property.

The same issue arises here as mentioned before with same-sex couples. Until all States recognize a same-sex union as a marriage, same-sex couples will not be protected and witness the same aid in a community property state that does not recognize the marriage.

Intestate Succession according to California Probate Code.

When a person dies without a will or trust, they die intestate and the laws of intestate succession apply to who will inherit the estate. Usually the division is as follows:

1. a. Is the decedent married?

If NO:

To the decedent’s children, who seize in equal shares if they are in the same generation.

b. Is the decedent a California registered domestic partner? [15]

If NO: decedent’s partners children acquire nothing.

2. If no children or other issue (grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc.) living, the estate goes

To the decedent’s parents.

3. If no parents living,

To the estate is distributed to the issue of the parents (decedent’s brothers/sisters).

5. If there no brothers or sisters,

To the decedent’s grandparents will inherit the estate.

6. If no grandparents, then

To the declare of the grandparents will inherit the estate (aunts, uncles, cousins).

7. If there are no cousins

To next of kin in equal degree, usually 2nd and 3rd cousins.

In summary of the Intestate succession laws, a same-sex couple hits another brick wall, even if they are registered or legally married in another state. California law specifically mentions being registered in the state of California.(Cal. Prob. §37 (a)), thus is not encompassing in any other state’s acknowledgements.

V. CONSTRUCTIVE TRUST AS A REMEDY.

A constructive trust is a “trust by operation of law which arises contrary to intention and against the will, declared against one who, by fraud, actual or constructive, by duress or abuse of confidence, by commission of wrong, or by any form of unconscionable conduct, artifice, concealment, or questionable means, either has obtained or holds the true right to property which he ought not, in equity and good conscience, hold and enjoy.”Ballentine’s Law Dictionary, 3rd Edition; 54 Am J1st Trusts 218. The harmful effects applying Family Law Code in a contractual manner deems intimate situations of a lesser good. Not only is inheritance impacted, but also adoption, child custody, disability reliances and medical decision-making. Since in most cases, same-sex relationships in dissolution will not have remedies and rights available as married couples have, courts are looking to apply Constructive Trust law to alleviate unjust enrichment factors. A 1976 case involved a married couple who decided to separate, but still live together which raised the issue of how property should be distributed thereafter. Marvin v. Marvin, 18 Cal. 3d 660; 557 P.2d 106; 134 Cal. Rptr. 815; 1976 Cal. LEXIS 377. After seven years of living together, the couple accumulated property. Upon separation, plaintiff asked for half the property. Agreements involving living expenses and other services provided they are not sexual should be upheld. The court’s decision stated “In the absence of an express contract, the courts should inquire into the conduct of the parties to determine whether that conduct demonstrates an implied contract, agreement of partnership or joint venture, or some other tacit understanding between the parties. The courts may also employ the doctrine of quantum meruit, or equitable remedies such as constructive or resulting trusts, when warranted by the facts of the case.” Id at 686.

“Parties seeking to enforce a ‘Marvin’ contract can only do so in a regular civil proceeding because, by definition, the Family Law Act does not apply to unmarried persons.” In re Marriage of Gagne.[16] Here it is distinguished a Marvin contract does not apply to a pre-marital agreement to payback.a loan. Marvin also does not apply to the period couples lived together before marriage. In re Marriage of Hebbring.[17]

Supporting the equitable remedy Harvard Law Review member writes “Given the true refusal to recognize same-sex marriage, there is no mechanism whereby lesbian and gay can subject themselves to equitable judicial determination of their rights at dissolution.” Laura Reinreb, Reconstructing Family: Constructive Trust at Relational Dissolution, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Rights Law Review (1998).[18] Rienreb offers a new and alternate way to close the gaping gap lying between same-sex dissolved relationships and divorce.

While this remedy tries to contain the gap so non-marital relationships are not left unjustly enriched, the solution is still left to the courts to interpret. “The provisions of the Family Law Act … do not govern the distribution of property acquired during a non-marital relationship. Such a relationship remains subject solely to judicial decision.” Again, leaving wiggle room for a decision to go either device.

CONCLUSION

Today, the gay and lesbian fight for equality gains momentum and the pendulum is steadily swinging our way. The stride has been a long road of hard work, courage and hope. “It does not come with a bull whip; it is not persuaded with your hand son your hips…”[19] The fight takes individual encourage, community attend and great leaders. State laws without expressed terms as to who can legally marry should be stricken or altered. Status laws without expressed terms to include same-sex couples under the definition of marriage is unconstitutional and prohibited by the Constitution’s Chunky Faith and Credit Provision recognizing each state’s laws.

I respect and appreciate attempts made to circumvent these laws with constructive trust remedies and domestic partner acts, however I stand for full Constitutional rights we all deserve. What does discrimination teach our children? Behaviors and how we treat others are all learned. If we tell our children to behave differently or treat certain groups differently, the legacy of hate and discrimination will only grow and develop. I have a ten-year old little girl depending on me to teach her the world. We’ve overcome society’s degrading of the American Indian, slaves and women. The time is now for change and I will not stand for anything but what is right; even if it is not so favorite – there is too much at stake.

Appendix A.Living Will SampleThis is only a suggested format for a Living Will. (Survey Good Forms at forms.FindLaw.com).DECLARATION

I, name of declarant , being of sound mind, willfully and voluntarily make this declaration to be followed if I become incompetent. This declaration reflects my firm and settled commitment to refuse life-sustaining treatment under the circumstances indicated below.

I direct my attending physician to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment that serves only to prolong the process of my dying, if I should be in a terminal condition or in a state of permanent unconsciousness.

I direct that treatment be tiny to measures to retain me comfortable and to relieve pain, including any pain that might occur by withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.

In addition, if I am in the condition described above, I feel especially strongly about the following forms of treatment:

I ( )do ( )do not want cardiac resuscitation.

I ( )do ( )do not want mechanical respiration.

I ( )do ( )do not want tube feeding or any other artificial or invasive develop of nutrition (food) or hydration (water).

I ( )do ( )do not want blood or blood products.

I ( )do ( )do not want any form of surgery or invasive diagnostic tests.

I ( )do ( )do not want kidney dialysis.

I ( )do ( )do not want antibiotics.

I realize that if I do not specifically indicate my preference regarding any of the forms of treatment listed previously, I may receive that form of treatment.

Other instructions:

I ( )do ( )do not want to designate another person as my surrogate to make medical treatment decisions for me if I should be incompetent and in a terminal condition or in a state of permanent unconsciousness.

Name and address of surrogate (if applicable):

Name and address of substitute surrogate (if surrogate designated above is unable to serve):

I made this declaration on the day of (month, year).

Declarant’s signature:

Declarant’s address:

The declarant or the person on behalf of and at the direction of the declarant knowingly and voluntarily signed this writing by signature or mark in my presence.

Witness’ signature:

Witness’ address:

Witness’ signature:

Witness’ address:

Appendix B.

Will SampleThis is only a suggested format for a Basic Will. (See Factual Forms at forms.FindLaw.com).

I, Tess Tatrix, residing at 1 Wilthereza Way, any town, any station, assert this to be my Will, and I revoke any and all wills and codicils I previously made.

The opening sentence should acquire it clear that this document is intended to be your will, give your name, place of residence and revoke any previous wills and codicils (amendments to previous wills). This can help avoid a court battle if someone should produce an earlier will.ARTICLE I: Funeral expenses & payment of debt

I direct my executors to pay my enforceable unsecured debts and funeral expenses, the expenses of my last illness, and the expenses of administering my estate.

By law, debts must be paid before other assets are distributed. This clause gives your executor authority to pay the funeral home, court costs, and hospital expenses. Using the term “enforceable” prevents creditors from reviving debts you are no longer obliged to pay, usually those discharged in bankruptcy. And the term “unsecured” prevents a court from interpreting this clause to mean that your estate must pay off your mortgage or other secured debts that you probably don’t want immediately paid off. Note: in some states, the executor is required by law to pay enforceable unsecured debts. In these states, this clause is unnecessary and may create problems.ARTICLE II: Money & Personal Property

I give all my tangible personal property and all policies and proceeds of insurance covering such property, to my husband, Tex. If he does not survive me, I give that property to those of my children who survive me, in equal shares, to be divided among them by my executors in their absolute discretion after consultation with my children. My executors may pay out of my estate the expenses of delivering tangible personal property to beneficiaries.

This gives your personal property to your spouse. If there are particular items that you want to go to other people (such as heirlooms, jewelry, professional equipment, and so on) you should enumerate them and the person you want them to go to in a separate clause (e.g., “I give my Beatles albums to my friend William Shears”), and note that Article II excludes those items. Some people will use separate clauses for legacies (disposition of money) and bequests (disposition of tangible personal property). Sign the famous clause that accounts for the possibility that your spouse will die first. The clause on insurance means that if some property you owned was destroyed (perhaps in the event that caused your death, like a car wreck), your heirs will receive the insurance proceeds, not the mangled car.ARTICLE III: Real Estate

I give all my residences, subject to any mortgages or encumbrances thereon, and all policies and proceeds of insurance covering such property, to my husband, Tex. If he does not survive me, I give that property to __________________.

Most people want their spouse to keep the family home. In some states, particularly community property states, it’s sometimes preferable to leave your residence to your spouse in a marital trust.ARTICLE IV: Residuary Clause

I give the rest of my estate (called my residuary estate) to my husband, Tex. If he does not survive me, I give my residuary estate to those of my children who survive me, in equal shares, to be divided among them and the descendants of a deceased child of mine, to grasp their ancestor’s share per stirpes.

Usually, the residuary clause begins “I give all the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate….” because lawyers are afraid to change tried-and-true formulas, and for decades, legal documents never used one word when a half-dozen would do. However, this plain-English form will also work. This clause covers any property you hold or are entitled to that somehow wasn’t covered by the preceding clauses.ARTICLE V: Taxes

I direct my executors, without apportionment against any beneficiary or other person, to pay all estate, inheritance and succession taxes (including any interest and penalties thereon) payable by reason of my death.

One common mistake by people who utilize a living trust as well as a will is to make the beneficiary of the estate different from the people benefiting from the trust. The same problem exists when there are significant specific gifts and the residuary beneficiaries are different from the recipients of the specific gifts. In such cases those paying the taxes are not those who receive the most property, an arrangement that can unfairly saddle some beneficiaries with the whole tax bill, and at worst can even bankrupt the estate. The goal should be to see that the taxes are paid by those who benefit from gifts. Often, a provision apportioning taxes to taxable transfers is used to make sure that each recipient of a taxable gift pays his or her fair share. Additional language is sometimes ancient to apportion credits.ARTICLE VI: Minors

If under this will any property shall be payable outright to a person who is a minor, my executors may, without court approval, pay all or part of such property to a parent or guardian of that minor, to a custodian under the Uniform Transfers to Minors act, or may defer payment of such property until the minor reaches the age of majority, as defined by his or her state of residence. No bond shall be required for such payments.

This clause gives your executors discretion to make determined any gift to a minor will be given in a arrangement that’s appropriate to his or her age. The “no-bond” language is intended to save the estate money.ARTICLE VII: Fiduciaries

I appoint my spouse, Tex, as Executor of this will. If he is unable or unwilling to act, or resigns, I appoint my daughter, Ellie Mae, and my son, Jethro, as successor co-executors. If either co-executor also predeceases me or is unable or unwilling to act, the survivor shall serve as executor. My executor shall have all the powers allowable to executors under the laws of this state. I direct that no bond or security of any kind shall be required of any executor.

If you area up a trust in the will, you could name the trustees in this clause as well. The “bond or security” clause is designed to keep the estate money.ARTICLE VIII: Simultaneous Death Clause

If my spouse and I shall die under such circumstances that the order of our deaths cannot be readily ascertained, my spouse shall be deemed to have predeceased me. No person, other than my spouse, shall be deemed to have survived me if such person dies within 30 days after my death. This article modifies all provisions of this will accordingly.

This clause helps avoid the sometimes time-consuming problems that occur if you and your spouse die together in an accident. Your spouse’s will should own an identical clause; even though it seems contradictory to have two wills each directing that the other spouse died first, since each will is probated by itself, this allows the estate plan set up in each will to go forward as you planned. The second sentence exists to prevent the awkward legal complications that can ensue if someone dies between the time you die and the time the estate is divided up. Instead of passing through two probate processes, your gift to a beneficiary who dies shortly after you do would go to whomever you would have wanted it to go had the intended beneficiary died before you did. Most such gifts go into the residuary estate.ARTICLE IX: Guardian

If my husband does not survive me and I leave minor children surviving me, I appoint as guardian of the person and property of my minor children my uncle Ernest Entwistle. He shall have custody of my minor children, and shall serve without bond. If he does not qualify or for any reason ceases to serve as guardian, I appoint as successor guardian my cousin Kevin Moon.

I have signed this will this ____ day of ____, 20___ .

Appendix C.

Medical Directive Sample**this is only a sample format. Your medical directive should be detailed with your specific personal wishes.

Directive to Physicians

Directive made this __th day of ____ in the year ____.

I,_____, being of sound mind, willfully and voluntarily do known my desire that my life shall not be artificially prolonged under the circumstances set forth in this directive.

1. If at any time I should have an incurable or irreversible condition caused by injury, disease, or illness certified to be a terminal condition by two physicians, and if the application of life-sustaining procedures would attend only to artificially postpone the moment of my death, and if my attending physician determines that my death is imminent or will result within a relatively short time without the application of life-sustaining procedures. I direct that those procedures be withheld or withdrawn, and that I be permitted to die naturally.
2. In the absence of my ability to give directions regarding the use of those life-sustaining procedures, it is my intention that this directive be honored by my family and physicians as the final expression of my legal correct to refuse medical or surgical treatment and accumulate the consequences form that refusal.
3. If I have been diagnosed as pregnant and that diagnosis is known to my physician, this directive has no effect during my pregnancy.
4. This directive is in effect until it is revoked.
5. I understand the full import of this directive and I am emotionally and mentally competent to make this directive.
6. I understand that I may revoke this directive as any time.
7. I request that only comfort care be provided to me, no antibiotics, no artificial nutrition, no mechanical ventilation, and no hydration. It is my strong preference to be allowed to die outside of a care facility if possible, even if that preference is determined by my physician to shorten my period of dying. The only condition under which I desire these preferences for slay of life care to be altered is in the case of possible organ and tissue donation. I query that any and all organs and tissue that may be salvaged be provided for transplant. My remains may then be cremated.

Signed ______________ in the City of ____________etc.

I am not a person designated by the declarant to make a treatment decision. I am not related to the declarant by blood or marriage. I would not be entitled to any portion of the declarant’s estate on the declarant’s death. I am not the attending physician of the declarant or an employee of the attending physician. I have no claim in against any piece of the declarant’s estate on the declarant’s death. Furthermore, if I am an employee of the health care facility in which the declarant is a patient, I am not involved in providing advise patient care to the declarant and am not an officer, director, partner, or business office employee of the heath care facility or of any parent organization of the health care facility.

Witness ______________

Search For ______________

Appendix D. IRS Gift Tax Return.

[1] The Tribal Institute works for the Native American Indian offering education, research and justice in American Native Communities. http://www.tribal-institute.org/; Civil Rights Activists Ella Baker, Clara Barton, Pop Musicians Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls, Alice Stone Blackwell, Lisa Bloom and her mother Gloria Allred and many others fiercly stand for the protection and movement of women’s rights; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is dedicated to support African Americans civil liberties and education; the Human Rights Campaign Fund raises awareness within Gay communities.

[2] http://www.diocese-kcsj.org/_docs/Racism_In_Our_Society.pdf

[3] “On the order of 1,400 upright rights are conferred upon married couples in the U.S. Typically these are composed of about 400 state benefits and over 1,000 federal benefits. Among them are the rights to:

1. joint parenting;
2. joint adoption;
3. joint foster care, custody, and visitation (including non-biological parents);
4. status as next-of-kin for hospital visits and medical decisions where one partner is too ill to be competent;
5. joint insurance policies for home, auto and health;
6. dissolution and divorce protections such as community property and child support;
7. immigration and residency for partners from other countries;
8. inheritance automatically in the absence of a will;
9. joint leases with automatic renewal rights in the event one partner dies or leaves the house or apartment;
10. inheritance of jointly-owned real and personal property through the right of survivorship (which avoids the time and expense and taxes in probate);
11. benefits such as annuities, pension plans, Social Security, and Medicare;
12. spousal exemptions to property tax increases upon the death of one partner who is a co-owner of the home;
13. veterans’ discounts on medical care, education, and home loans; joint filing of tax returns;
14. joint filing of customs claims when traveling;
15. wrongful death benefits for a surviving partner and children;
16. bereavement or sick leave to care for a partner or child;
17. decision-making power with respect to whether a deceased partner will be cremated or not and where to bury him or her;
18. crime victims’ recovery benefits;
19. loss of consortium tort benefits;
20. domestic violence protection orders;
21. judicial protections and evidentiary immunity;
22. and more…”

(Hyde, Henry J., House Committee on the Judiciary, General Accounting Office report identifying rights and privileges based on marriage, 1996; Lamda Legal Defense and Education Fund, http://www.gao.gov/archive/1997/og97016.pdf)

[4] Cal. Fam. Code §2251; Velez v. Smith, 142 Cal. App. 4th 1154, *; 48 Cal. Rptr. 3d 642, **; 2006 Cal. App. LEXIS 1375, ***; 2006 Cal. Daily Op. Service 8631.

[5] A holographic will is “a will that is handwritten by the testator.” Blacks Law Dictionary, Deluxe 8th Edition Thompson-West (2004).

[6] Today Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut and Vermont recognize same-sex unions (inspect Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, 798 N.E.2d 941 (Mass. 2003); Varnum v. Brien, WL 874044 (Iowa 2009))

[7] www.http://news.findlaw.om/legalnews/lit/schiavo

[8] A reflect ordered Sciavo’s attorney’s fees to Attorneys were to “George Felos, paid fees totaling $358,434. A second attorney, Deborah Bushnell was paid $80,309″ allegedly paid by Medicare and Indigent Funds. (Hicks, Perry, Death by Government, GulfCoastNews.com, March 26, 2005).

8″The voluntary transfer of property to another without compensation.” Black’s Law Dictionary 709, Deluxe 8^th Thompson-West (2004).

[10] IRS Chart:

The exclusion amounts are as follows:

“Year of Death Exemption

2002 $1,000,000

2003 $1,000,000

2004 $1,500,000

2005 $1,500,000

2006 $2,000,000

2007 $2,000,000

2008 $2,000,000

2009 $3,500,000

2010 Repealed

2011 $1,000,000

The maximum rates for the federal estate tax are as follows:

Year of Death Maximum Tax Rate

2001 55 %

2002 50 %

2003 49 %

2004 48 %

2005 47 %

2006 46 %

2007 45 %

2008 45 %

2009 45 %

2010 0%

2011 55%”

(ttp://www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html)

[11] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123172020818472279.html

[12] See also Tax Aspects of Divorce and Separation, Robert S. Taft, Law Journal Press (1983).

[13] 104 T.C. 652

[14] www.enotes.com/wests-law-encyclopedia; http://www.answers.com/topic/tenancy-by-the-entirety-2

[15] California Probate Code § 37 states

“a) Domestic partner means one of two persons who have filed a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Secretary of State pursuant to Division 2.5 (commencing with Section 297) of the Family Code, provided that the domestic partnership has not been terminated pursuant to Share 299 of the Family Code.

(b) Notwithstanding Section 299 of the Family Code, if a domestic partnership is terminated by the death of one of the parties and Inspect of Termination was not filed by either party prior to the date of death of the decedent, the domestic partner who survives the deceased is a surviving domestic partner, and shall be entitled to the rights of a surviving domestic partner as provided in this code.”

[16] 225 Cal. App. 3d 277

[17] 207 Cal. App. 3d 1260

[18] http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/crcl/vol37_1/weinrib.pdf.

[19] Lyrics from Pendulum Swinger, Indigo Girls (2007).

Everyone has had the hiccups, and almost all of us have had them at inopportune times, causing embarrassment and laughter. Hiccups are not serious, unless they persist for long periods of time, and even then they are usually just an inconvenience. The remedies for hiccups are never guaranteed to work, and they vary from the proverbial teaspoon of sugar to being frightened!

Hiccups are caused by the diaphragm, which is a muscle located at the base of the lungs. A hiccup is an unintentional movement of the diaphragm. This spasm is then followed by a quick closing of your vocal cords, which causes the hiccup sound, which can range from almost inaudible in some people to very loud in others. There are many conditions that are associated with hiccups, but there are none have that have been shown to be the obvious cause of them. But unborn fetuses experience hiccups, as shown on ultrasound machines, and some scientists are of the belief that hiccups are a leftover bodily function that has been made irrelevant by evolution. There is also a theory that hiccups are a muscle exercise that you initiate in the womb, and that they may help keep amniotic fluid out of the child’s lungs during birth. There appears that there are no benefits to hiccups, no matter what the reason for them are.

When you eat too fast, you often swallow amounts of air with your food, resulting in hiccups. I know that when I eat certain types of bread, like rolls or buns, I almost always fabricate a brief bout of hiccups. Other activities that irritate the diaphragm, like eating or drinking too much, can precipitate a case of hiccups; the thinking here is that the stomach sits on top of the diaphragm and becomes stretched, causing the hiccups as a reflex to insure that you don’t choke. Taking a cool drink during a hot meal, ingesting spicy or hot foods, drinking carbonated beverages, and laughing or coughing heartily are other hiccup causes. The irritation of the nerves that extend from your neck to your chest can beget hiccups, but again, there is no distinct slit trigger for this condition.

If hiccups last for more than three hours or begin to interfere with your ability to eat or sleep, you should consult your doctor. A physician will try to determine first what may have started the hiccups, and will ask you questions about possible causes, the frequency of the hiccups, and what works for you in stopping them, if anything does. There are several home remedies for hiccups, for which the medical term is singultus. These remedies work for people in varying degrees of success, and there is no surefire way to get rid of hiccups. The hiccup “cures” include holding your breath for a short period of time, taking deep breaths, breathing into a paper bag, eating a spoonful of sugar, eating ice, gargling, sitting down and leaning forward over your knees, being frightened, and sucking on a lemon slit. Most of these cures are based on the belief that a build up of carbon dioxide in the blood will put an end to the hiccups. Also, if you can stimulate the vagus nerve that runs from your brain to your stomach, you may stop hiccupping. Pulling on your tongue is one diagram to this.

There are prescription drugs for those of us unfortunate enough to have hiccups that simply won’t stop. There are surgical procedures that can alleviate hiccupping as a last resort. The longest bout on record, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was suffered by Charles Osborne from Iowa, who supposedly had the hiccups for 68 years! That’s one standard that nobody would want to attempt to beat.

In the past decade, information technology has not only aided the diagram we live as a society, but also invaded almost every aspect of our lives as individuals. From the evolution of the telephone to cell phones into text, picture, and video messaging, Americans are able to remove their entire lives in an instant and transfer them just as quickly to share their daily lives with the world. It would seem no aspect of American society is immune from viral internet blogging or candid streaming videos, so it should not come as a surprise that even America’s oldest and most sacred tradition of voting and public representation should be affected by the perfunctory trend towards incorporating information technology. The downsides to the introduction of technology into the voting process are the inevitable accusations of machine error or purposeful manipulation of complex, proprietary systems, resulting in voter disenfranchisement. However, the true victory of technology in elections, results from the introduction of personal blog-sites and streaming, amateur video reporting, in that that democracy seems to be veritably returned to the hands of the people. Ordinary individuals with home computers and video cell-phone are able to affect the map that America think about its politics and votes on its leaders.

In the most modern elections of 2008, the technology drove the campaigns of all the candidates, most notably the three major electoral front-runners. Hillary Clinton, the democratic runner- up candidate now State Department head, veritably initiated her campaign through her website. Then, widely unknown Illinois Junior Senator, now 43rd U.S. President Barack Obama used both blogging and electronic donations to thrust himself into the minds of voters, who just a year before would have readily identified his more well-known competitors over him. On the Republican half of the table, Arizona Senator John McCain sought to increase his credibility amongst young voters and those usually marginalized by his party, by becoming more in touch with the digital world. Senator McCain attempted to do this by tailoring a video campaign specifically for an online, digital audience. Not to be bested, Casey O’Shea, national field director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), pledged that the next election would flood the digital media with streaming audio and video, which would not only be accessible, but very specialized towards specific market groups.

Perhaps the most empowering aspect of surge of digital technology into political campaigning is that political candidates, once considered to playing the dual pedestal balancing act of inaccessible and unreceptive, must now meet voters on their terms. It is the candidates and the political campaigns, who are struggling to catch up to soccer moms on Blackberry’s juggling work and family life with only brief moments to avail themselves of political news during the day or young 20-somethings who would rather click over the news than sit down to watch it preached to them by a nouveau-Cronkite figure on the television. Candidates must meet us where we stand, and with miniature time to for refresher courses in uploading and streaming, campaigns must switch gears to meet the demand for digital sound-bytes as rapid as we can download them to our note-books and iPods. Conceivably, one of the most obliging uses of digital technology by a national political figure was the means by which then President-Elect Barack Obama announced his pick for Vice-President: through text message. Campaign subscribers were privy to the news of Obama’s choice as soon as he had mind to announce it. There is no stretch to say the bloggers broke the news story editing their personal websites as quickly as the Associated Press Wire could upload it onto their servers for mass distribution. The disconnect between campaign and voter has been so capably sutured by the implementation of digital technology that the separation is healing at a rate proportional to the bustle at which the information is able to be distributed. During the 2008 presidential election season, Barack Obama’s podcast ranks higher than that of the British Broadcasting Company, New York Times, and National Public Radio and was the only podcast from a politician to ever reach a Top-100 Ranking.

However much humbling the digital age has caused for politicians, the converse of the equation still holds true: political campaigns now have much more access to individuals Americans more of the time. Come 2012, election officials and technology experts agree that the digital aspect of elections will transition onto mobile and hand-held devices as one of the primary means of communications between campaigns and voters. Soon, political supporters will be able to donate financially and show relieve for their campaigns purely through their handheld devices, with donations being charged to credit cards or even phone bills. The advantages of mobile devices however, extend far beyond the ease of accessibility. Logistically, the expenses associated with sending text messages on a large scale to voters require only a fraction of the man-power and cost than with feeble cold calling and telephonic communication. According to a study conducted by MobileFuture, a coalition of organizations advocating for the wireless industry, even the response rates for political campaigning through text messaging are higher, often about 80 – 90% more effective than traditional methods of voter communication, even besting telephone and e-mail by similar numbers.

Taking a closer look at the numbers, one can note that “all-digital Americans” are no longer the fringe or marginalized station. The polling agency Peter D. Hart Research Associates, who frequently works with NBC News and the Wall Street Journal, reported recently that around 16 percent of American homes no longer have wired/land-based phone lines and in fact their polling agency must take into the mobile census methods in order to accurately reflect the attitudes and opinions of the nation. Furthermore during the 2006 mid-term elections, somewhere around 18 percent of Americans, as reported by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, received a majority of their political news from the digitally, up from about 9 percent in 2002 midterm elections. Not surprisingly, when surveying voters under the age of 36, around 35% of this pool reported than they relied primarily on the Internet and digital technology as their primary news source during the 2006 midterm elections. Exploring the numbers with respect to an even younger generation, the Pew Internet & American Life Project studied what they termed to be “The Net Generation” a term for what they refer to as term for “voters between the ages of 18 and 27 who grew up with e-mail accounts, instant messaging buddies, cell phones and Google.” Amongst this group of voters what the studies concluded was that the net generation required a collaborative relationship with their politics through use of digital mediums that connected them to the issues, such as blogs, streaming videos, and social networking. If we give credence to tested saying “follow the money,” one may note that campaigns are not only hiring press secretaries and legal advisors, but also actively recruiting online communications advisors and online campaign strategists. Moreover, Online NewsHour reported in 2007 that presidential campaigns spent close to $2.5 million on staffing for internet related projects and spending. However the more staggering corollary number to this million dollar spending is that candidates in 2007 received between $25 and $30 million dollars in online fundraising, which resulted from this spending.

So, if the spending is there and the politicians are reaching out with their digital arms to new generations of voters, the question to ask is: what is the response and how are voters reacting to the digitalization of democracy? The response by voters has been an overwhelming consensus in the need to take back the reigns of politics in order to accomplish a change in American society. Politics and elections have become less of a one way relationship diffusing from a central political figure outward towards the masses, but rather a networking of ideas and opinions where rapid-scale social evolution favors those ideas which are more widely accepted. In her post 2004 election article appearing in The Nation, Micah Sifry described this trend as the “opening up participation in planning and implementation to the community, letting competing actors evaluate the value of your plans and actions, being able to shift resources away from bad plans and bad planners and toward better ones, and expecting more of participants in return. It would mean moving away from egocentric organizations and toward network-centric organizing.” The mediums by which digitalized political consumers are pushing the transition towards network-centric organizing include such popular viral networking web entities as MySpace, YouTube, Second Life and Wikipedia.

Not only does instant technology return democracy into the hands of individual Americans, it also sheds light on and provides increased openness to the going on and day-to-day events within the nation’s politics. One such group working to clear the mist around politics has been The Sunlight Foundation who petitioned that U.S. Congresspersons publish their schedules online, although as of yet eight of the 535 have agreed to do so. Not only this but lobbying firms operating in the nation’s capitol should publish the details of their meetings with public officials instantly through employ of advances information technology. However, transparency in government comes not only through mass-instant dissemination of information but also through the archiving and proper record keeping of government actions. A project underway at the University of California at Santa Cruz known as MetaVid, funded by The Sunlight Foundation, has taken it upon itself to archive for public record video proceedings of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate. Furthermore, upon accessing this virtual video repository users are able to search for key words and phrases through means of closed captioning. Moreover, users are also able to discuss videos with each other and highlight points of interest to share, even allowing for transferring these videos onto personal websites and blogs. Another website which attempts to add clarity not only to Congresspersons and proceedings but also to the legislation itself is OpenCongress.org, which combines in an integrated search engine the details about proposed legislation with a systematic organization method by bill number. When exploring the archives and accessing information on a specific bills, users are afforded the entire text of the bill, its legislative status, current sponsors, votes which have already been undertaken, in addition to external links to discussions, blogs, websites, and news articles concerning the specific bill. The site is operated by David Moore, who is the executive director of the Participatory Politics Foundation, the digital archive’s company sponsor, who constantly calls on both public and private sectors to allow access to information on legislation more accessible to the public, especially a cyber-audience.

As technology advances and continues to invade the surreptitious corners of Washington, Americans are granted more unfettered access and real dialogue with the decision makers in public policy. In fact, the unusual administration under Barack Obama has added to the executive website, WhiteHouse.gov, a public comment page wherein Americans can virtually voice their opinions to President Obama on legislation, which is up for his approval up to five days before he is due to sign it. Initially the White House website only allotted space for a 500 character entries, however requests by cyber-participants have caused the comments section to be increased to 5,000 characters. The result is a veritable step forward in utilizing digital technology towards improving the conversations between citizens and government.

In order to better understand the device that technology has changed not only politics, but also elections, on may refer to case of Cheyenne, Wyoming, where in just a few years an entire electoral system was digitally revitalized. Cheyenne just a few years back was held hostage by outdate paper balloting and human counting errors in courthouses and city halls where inadequately trained volunteers would gather to rifle through thousands of erroneous, illegible paper votes. Rural districts in Cheyenne were even more backwards which cause the turnaround in voting to slow to a trickle during national and congressional election seasons. Cheyenne suffered from both propagated human error and a lack of standardization which conflated its electoral system unbearably. In recent years Cheyenne has overhauled its system introducing modern electronic and digital election equipment, such as touch-screen voting. Today, Cheyenne districts, no longer report the results of hand counted paper ballots, but have transitioned to the utilizations of district and county websites for voter reporting. Journalist Joan Barron of the Casper-Star Tribune highlighted the extent to which the voting system in Cheyenne has rapidly transformed in recent years. Barron cites a recent the myth of Laramie County Commissioner Jayne Mockler, who ran in 2008 for Mayor of Cheyenne. The campaign was an upstart effort of local Cheyenne residents who chiefly customary e-mails and text messaging to push Mockler through the Democratic primaries as a write-in candidate. Barron notes how in the past it took weeks or campaigning and preparation to put forth a write-in candidate, but these local Cheyenne residents were able to conclude the same feat digitally with no veritable political training in a matter of days. Barron also notes the case of the vacant Niobrara County Board of County Commissioners seat, which was filled through write in votes passed along through text messages by a group of local supporters raising a current digital campaign for a local rancher named Greg Starck.

However, though the strides and stories of promise in Cheyenne highlight the positive attributes of the introduction of fresh technology into the electoral system, digitalization is not without its flaws. Perhaps, the three most outstanding problems with electronic voting are equipment malfunctions, the requirements for recent means of voter identification, and errors in voter registration records. A closer spy into the widespread advance of technology in current voting systems across the nation, one may note just how important it is for the new electronic voting systems to hold their weight against traditional paper balloting. The most essential locations where the electronic voting systems need to prove themselves are in the swing states where terminate elections put their reliability to the test. One such case is the space of Florida, wherein about one third of the ballots will be cast electronic in districts across the state. Florida has been the subject of numerous voting blunders and its electoral system is in a set of transition. Not only are new electronic systems being put into plot for voting, but also new legislation has been passed to safeguard and ensure their accuracy in addition to laws concerning the registration of voters electronically across the state. Another such case is found in Ohio, another titanic and influential swing state, which has been integrating electronic voting into its electoral system since 2000 in order to ensure accuracy in voting and ballot tallies. Electronic voting in place such as Cleveland has however led the debates as to the increased eased of voting and same-day voter registration especially amongst Republicans in the districts who typically suffer from new voters.

Although in politics the message remains the same or near constant, the influx and influence of innovative technologies has transformed our system of government entirely. Citizens have now more than ever insightful and immediate access to their civic leaders at all levels and in all branches of government. On Tuesday, February 24, 2009, President Barack Obama addressed for the first time in his Presidency a joint session of Congress, throughout the address senators and congresspersons kept in contact with their constituents digitally through their Blackberry devices using a recent digital application know as Twitter, recently developed social networking and micro-blogging tool which allows people instant access to each other in less than seconds. The application is being used by many national political figures in order to stay in constant communication with their constituents and the American people, such as Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, South Carolina Republican Senator James DeMint, Oklahoma Republican Senator James Inhofe, and Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who constantly release messages and updates via Twitter. According to a February 2009 portray by Compete.com, Twitter is the third largest social network behind Facebook and MySpace with around 6 million users and 55 million monthly visitors. The scope of new technologies such as these are indeed awe-inspiring, wherein citizens are not provided with daily coverage of political figures, but instead hourly personal reports, even minute by cramped updates.

The State of Iowa regulates the owning or possessing of exotic or dangerous animals by anyone in the state as per a bill signed on the 25th of May, 2007. This bill covers any of the exotic or dangerous animals that are already in possession by any person on the date bill became effective and also covers any future ownership or possession of exotic or dangerous animals within the State of Iowa.

According to the Iowa Exotic Animal Laws, no one can fill or own a uncertain animal or allow a dangerous animal owned or possessed by an individual to breed in the Area of Iowa. Transporting a dangerous animal into the State of Iowa is also prohibited according to 717F.3, the Iowa Exotic Animal Law.

Since this law did not come into effect until it was signed by the Governor of Iowa on May 25, 2007, there were already exotic or dangerous animals in the possession of individuals in the state. The new exotic animal law covers these animals as well by stating that these animals must be owned or possessed by a person who is at least eighteen years of age, that the person in possession or who owns the dangerous or exotic animal must have no convictions of abuse or neglect offenses in any state, city or county. This person can also not been convicted and committed of a felony within the past ten years by any station or federally or been convicted of an offense, be it a misdemeanor or felony, for a controlled substance within the past ten years, either in any state or federally. The owner or the person who possesses a unsafe or exotic animal before this bill was put into place must also have never had a permit or licensed needed for a commercial establishment that breeds and or sales exotic animals suspended.

Owners or individuals who own these animals must also have them implanted with an electric identification device within sixty days of this Act and no later than December 31,2007, must they have registered with the appropriate department with information including the name, address and telephone number of the responsible person, they should include a sworn affidavit that states that they have met all requirements needed to properly own or possess uncertain or exotic animals and they must submit an complete inventory of all the dangerous or exotic animals that they believe or possess. This inventory must include how many animals are included, the electronic device they possess along with the manufacturer’s name and number and the location where the animals are housed.

Other information to be included is the vital statistics of the animals, such as their age, sex, color, identifying marks or scars and their color. The veterinarian who is responsible for the care of these animals must also be named along with contact information for said veterinarian and a signature from the veterinarian along with a statement that says the animal is in good health. A color picture of each dangerous or exotic animal is to be attached to the file along with a copy of the owners current liability insurance policy. After all this paperwork is complete, the owner must submit a registration fee to finish the process. This owner of a dangerous or exotic animal must preserve all health and ownership records for the life of the animal and they must keep the animal in an enclosure that is current by the department. The animal must stay in this enclosure at all times unless they are need to receive veterinary care, if the department has ordered a move or if they have been sold to another owner. There must be a minumum of one sign stating the dangerous animal is on the premises and this sign must have a symbol to warn children of the animal. Should this animal escape, the proper authorities must be notified immediately, this would include the local game warden and the local law enforcement agency.

http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp? Category=BillInfo&Service=Billbook&hbill=SF564