Interesting Judge

Hang 'em first, try 'em later.
~Roy Bean~

I know the law... I am it's greatest transgressor.

You have been tried by twelve good men and true, not of your peers but as high above you as heaven is of hell, and they have said you are guilty.

~Roy Bean~

Judge Roy Bean rivals the reputations of Southwest bench and bar famous judges even more so then the famous "hanging judge" of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Isaac C. Parker.

A man who pretty much practiced a civil law form of justice being, "judge, jury, and executioner" all in one and who dispensed rulings between games of poker and drinking bouts. His only law book was the Revised Statutes of Texas for 1876 of which he ignored the laws he did not like.

But, he inspired respect for the law with his two six-shooters and creative punishments and sentencing such as the use of the bear-and-stake method for sobering up drunks.

Some legends cite Bean as being a "hanging" judge, but there is no record that he ever sentenced a man to be hanged.

A typical start out in his barroom court went, "Hear ye! Hear ye! This honorable court is now in session, and if anybody wants a snort before we start, step up to the bar and name your poison."

"It is the judgment of this court that you are hereby tried and convicted of illegally and unlawfully committing certain grave offenses against the peace and dignity of the State of Texas, particularly in my bailiwick, to wit: drunk and disorderly, and being Law West of the Pecos, I fine you two dollars; then get the hell out of here and never show yourself in this court again."

The Right to Privacy, To Be Let Alone

The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedom.

The Fifth Amendment is an old friend and a good friend. It is one of the great landmarks in men’s struggle to be free of tyranny, to be decent and civilized.
~United States Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas~

Hmmmm? . . .

Why doesn't everybody leave everybody else the hell alone?
~Jimmy Durante~

The right to be let alone is the underlying principle of the Constitution's Bill of Rights.
~Erwin N. Griswold~


The things most people want to know about are usually none of their business.
~George Bernard Shaw~


Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint; the more restraint on others to keep off from us, the more liberty we have.
~Daniel Webster~

William Pitt the Elder

“Don't talk to me about a man being able to talk sense; everyone can talk sense. Can he talk nonsense?”
~William Pitt the Elder~

(1708 – 1778)

The father of William Pitt the Younger, William Pitt the Elder was also Prime Minister of England from 1766 – 1768 . He was a commanding man and a natural orator having that gift of speech that great speakers have who are compelling and passionate, coupling their speeches with intense convictions able to sway their audience. He unfortunately suffered from gout early in his life, halting his career on and off, until his death at the age of sixty-nine.

He was an opponent of large and bloated governments like his son, (William Pitt the Younger), and understood America's war of resistance to England, stating,

“I rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of people, so dead to all the feelings of liberty, as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of the rest.”

“If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms -- never! never! never!”


Here are a few more of our favorite quotes by him.


"The poorest man may in his cottage, bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail, its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may enter; but the King of England may not enter; all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement." This sounds like our Fourth Amendment – The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects . . . equaling the right to privacy, to be let alone.


“So as this only point among the rest remaineth sure and certain, namely, that nothing is certain. . .”

“Let honor be to us as strong an obligation as necessity is to others.”

Springtime . . .

. . . Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves is heard in our land . . .

A Few Of Our Favorite Poems

Dad quotes to us two poems. He always mixes them up. We don't know how he does it but we love it. We cannot duplicate it so we will just post both of them whole.

They are both by Robert W. Service

The Quitter

When you're lost in the Wild, and you're scared as a child,
And Death looks you bang in the eye,
And you're sore as a boil, it’s according to Hoyle
To cock your revolver and . . . die.
But the Code of a Man says: "Fight all you can,"
And self-dissolution is barred.
In hunger and woe, oh, it’s easy to blow . . .
It’s the hell-served-for-breakfast that’s hard.


"You're sick of the game!" Well, now that’s a shame.
You're young and you're brave and you're bright.
"You've had a raw deal!" I know — but don't squeal,
Buck up, do your damnedest, and fight.
It’s the plugging away that will win you the day,
So don't be a piker, old pard!
Just draw on your grit, it’s so easy to quit.
It’s the keeping-your chin-up that’s hard.


It’s easy to cry that you're beaten — and die;
It’s easy to crawfish and crawl;
But to fight and to fight when hope’s out of sight —
Why that’s the best game of them all!
And though you come out of each gruelling bout,
All broken and battered and scarred,
Just have one more try — it’s dead easy to die,
It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard.




Carry On!

It’s easy to fight when everything’s right,
And you're mad with the thrill and the glory;
It’s easy to cheer when victory’s near,
And wallow in fields that are gory.
It’s a different song when everything’s wrong.
When you're feeling infernally mortal;
When it’s ten against one, and hope there is none,
Buck up, little soldier, and chortle;

Carry on! Carry on!
There isn't much punch in your blow.
You're glaring and staring and hitting out blind;
You're muddy and bloody, but never you mind.
Carry on! Carry on!
You haven't the ghost of a show.
It’s looking like death, but while you've a breath,
Carry on, my son! Carry on!

And so in the strife of the battle of life
It’s easy to fight when you're winning;
It’s easy to slave, and starve and be brave,
When the dawn of success is beginning.
But the man who can meet despair and defeat
With a cheer, there’s the man of God’s choosing;
The man who can fight to Heaven’s own height
Is the man who can fight when he’s losing.

Carry on! Carry on!
Things never were looking so black.
But show that you haven't a cowardly streak,
And though you're unlucky you never are weak.
Carry on! Carry on!
Brace up for another attack.
It’s looking like hell, but -- you never can tell:
Carry on, old man! Carry on!

There are some who drift out in the deserts of doubt,
And some who in brutishness wallow;
There are others, I know, who in piety go
Because of a Heaven to follow.
But to labour with zest, and to give of your best,
For the sweetness and joy of the giving;
To help folks along with a hand and a song;
Why, there’s the real sunshine of living.

Carry on! Carry on!
Fight the good fight and true;
Believe in your mission, greet life with a cheer;
There’s big work to do, and that’s why you are here.
Carry on! Carry on!
Let the world be better for you;
And at last when you die, let this be your cry:
Carry on, my soul! Carry on!

Who Is The Greatest In The Kingdom Of Heaven?

And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, (the disciples)
And said,

Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea . . .


Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

~Matthew 17~

Dictionary Note: The definition of despise used in this parable is to, loathe, to scorn, to look down upon with contempt, to sniff, to turn the nose up at, etc.

William Pitt the Younger

"Where law ends, tyranny begins."

~William Pitt the Younger~

William Pitt the Younger who lived from 1759-1806 is an interesting man and the youngest-ever Prime Minister of England, at the age of twenty-four. He is the often overlooked life long friend of William Wilberforce whom he befriended while attending Cambridge.

He was educated at home until he was fourteen when he went to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge and graduated at the age of seventeen and was called to the Bar in 1780. At Pembroke Hall he became ill and his doctors prescribed a bottle of port wine each day which caused him to become an alcoholic and created in him a taste for drink that would eventually kill him at the age of forty-seven.

Here are some of our favorite quotes by him . . .


"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." (In a speech on November 18, 1783)


“Poverty of course is no disgrace, but it is damned annoying.”

If You Lie . . .

No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.

~Abraham Lincoln~

A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself as a liar.
~Mark Twain~


A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth.
~Aesop~

Pictures From Last Evening

We had some nice friends over and enjoyed eating and talking for awhile . . .

Jenny
- you know those kind of pictures where you smile because you were caught?

Christy on her 17th birthday

Cacey

Somone Turned Seventeen Today

Everyone told me that I had to do my own birthday post so I am very sad...( not really:)

So here's to me, I am seventeen-years-old today...
I am having my party tomorrow and hopefully we will remember to take pictures.

([We]) Jenny and Cacey will add things later . . :)