Kecz Notes--in case my computer betrays me

MEXICAN WAR

Viewing Polk's victory as a public mandate for Texas annexation, President Tyler recommended that the "lame duck" Congress by joint resolution offer to annex Texas. A joint resolution requested only a majority vote of both Houses, while a treaty could be ratified only by a two-thirds vote of the Senate. Congress passed the resolution in February, and President Tyler signed it on March 1, 1845, three days before Polk's inauguration. Mexico then broke off diplomatic relations with the United States.
1845
In June, Polk ordered Brigadier General Zachary Taylor to move his forces into the disputed area (Rio Grande), and by July, Taylor had established a base on the south bank of the Nueces near Corpus Christi. In November, upon receiving confirmation that the Mexican government was prepared to receive a commissioner to discuss the boundary issue, Polk dispatched John Slidell, a Louisiana politician, to Mexico as Minister Plenipotentiary. He instructed Slidell to discuss three other outstanding issues: the purchase of California, the purchase of New Mexico, and the payment of damages to American nationals for losses incurred in Mexican revolutions. Slidell was authorized to offer twenty-five million dollars for California and five million dollars for New Mexico, and to propose United States assumption of American damage claims against the Mexican government in return for its recognition of the Rio Grande boundary.
Slidell reached Mexico City on December 6. The government of President José Joaquín Herrera, however, in response to growing domestic opposition to negotiations, refused to receive him. On January 13, 1846, the day after Slidell's report of the refusal reached him, Polk ordered Taylor to advance through the disputed territory to the Rio Grande. Meanwhile, in late December, the Herrera government was overthrown, in part because of its alleged lack of firmness toward the United States. The new President, General Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga, reaffirmed Mexico's claim to Texas and pledged himself to defend Mexican territory. On March 12, 1846, replying to Slidell's final inquiry, Paredes, too, refused to receive the American minister.
Slidell reported to Polk in Washington on May 8. During the Saturday morning of May 9, the Cabinet met and approved Polk's recommendation to ask Congress on Tuesday for a declaration of war. In the afternoon, news arrived from Taylor that on April 25 a large Mexican force had crossed the Rio Grande and surrounded a smaller American reconnaissance party; when it attempted to break out of the encirclement, eleven Americans were killed and the rest wounded or captured. The Cabinet reconvened and endorsed an immediate request for a declaration of war.
Polk's strategy was to occupy Mexico's northern provinces, blockade Mexican ports, and conquer New Mexico and California. By September, Taylor's army had taken Monterrey in northern Mexico, and by January, 1847, American forces in the West had secured New Mexico and California. Although successful militarily, the strategy failed to bring Mexico to terms; in order to do so, Polk decided to shift the major military effort from the northern periphery to the heart of the country. The plan called for Major General Winfield Scott to take Vera Cruz, march through the mountains, and capture Mexico City.

Mexico City had been captured, and President Santa Anna had abdicated. Fearing anarchy and the need for further campaigns, Scott and Trist hoped to secure an immediate peace. Because of the exigencies of the situation, Trist ignored his recall and negotiated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ratified by the Senate on March 10, 1848. By the treaty, Mexico relinquished New Mexico and California; in return the United States paid Mexico fifteen million dollars and assumed the claims of its citizens.
Source Citation:"The Mexican War, 1846-1848." DISCovering World History. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Discovering Collection. Thomson Gale. Joplin High School (MO). 15 Dec. 2007
"The slave-based cotton production boomed as the number of slaves in Texas increased from 12,500 in 1840 to almost 170,000 in 1860."
Source Citation:"Texas Annexation." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Ed. Thomas Carson and Mary Bonk. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Discovering Collection. Thomson Gale. Joplin High School (MO). 16 Dec. 2007


OREGON


Wilmot Proviso
David Wilmot introduced an amendment to the bill stipulating that none of the territory acquired in the Mexican War should be open to slavery

Author not available, WILMOT PROVISO., The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2007
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2007 Columbia University Press


In 1827 the two powers reconfirmed arrangements made in 1818 which provided for joint occupation of the territory and free entry of American and British subjects into Oregon without prejudice to the claims of either power.
Although immigration of Americans was not to become large until after 1841 (when great numbers of pioneers, possessed by "Oregon fever", came plodding west over the Oregon Trail), the stage was set in the 1830's by the missionary activities of Jason Lee, Marcus Whitman, and others who spread tales of Oregon's rich soil and mild climate. In 1845 alone, some three thousand immigrants reached this promised land, and by the end of that year there were about five thousand Americans in the region south of the Columbia river compared with some seven hundred British (almost all fur trappers and traders) north of the river.
the President privately approached Richard Pakenham, British Minister to the United States, with an offer to divide Oregon at latitude 49°. Though hardly a great step toward compromise, 49° was much less threatening than 54° 40′, since previous administrations had proposed a similar settlement on three occasions. Pakenham committed the grievous error of rejecting the proposal upon his own initiative. Polk now could portray himself as the injured party, and abruptly withdrew the 49° compromise.
----Bowing to the sentiments of his cabinet, Polk authorized Buchanan in May 1845 to offer the British ----negotiator Richard Pakenham a compromise agreement at the 49th parallel, allowing the British free ----use of ports south of that line. For reasons that are still not fully understood, Pakenham rejected ----Buchanan's offer without submitting it to London for consideration and issued a scathing retort.
----Source Citation:"The James K. Polk Administration." Presidential Administration Profiles for Students. Ed. Kelle S. Sisung and Gerda-Ann Raffaelle. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Discovering Collection. Thomson Gale. Joplin High School (MO). 16 Dec. 2007

Lord Aberdeen, Foreign Secretary of Great Britain, drew up a treaty proposal which reflected almost total acceptance of American demands and suggested a boundary of 49° to the Strait of Juan de Fuca if Great Britain could be guaranteed free navigation of the Columbia river. Polk received this proposal officially on June 6, 1846, almost a month after the United States' declaration of war against Mexico. On June 10, he sent the treaty without change to the Senate. The Senate approved it two days later.
The Oregon settlement was a great diplomatic success for the United States. By more than balancing the concessions offered to the British in the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, the United States gained rich and strategically situated land to which Great Britain possessed stronger claims. This favorable outcome was not primarily Polk's achievement; to a greater extent it was a victory of time and circumstance.
Source Citation:"Oregon Claimed by United States and Great Britain, 1823-1846." DISCovering U.S. History. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Discovering Collection. Thomson Gale. Joplin High School (MO). 16 Dec. 2007

----Providing for an extension of the 49th parallel to the Pacific coast with Vancouver Island granted in its entirety to the British, the Buchanan-Pakenham Treaty of 1846 was essentially the same as the proposal initially considered, and rejected, in 1843. It is still in force today as the boundary between the United States and Canada.

Empty

That's what I am.
I can't remember anything anymore; I forget really fast.
I haven't felt creative in a really long time.
I don't have any motivation.
I don't care about much of anything.
I just want to sleep.
I'm really disappointed in myself.
But I don't do anything about it.
I think about doing something about it
But I don't care enough to actually do anything
at all
ever.
I really don't like myself right now.


But I'm not going to do anything about it.


"Help!
I need somebody
Help!
Not just anybody
HELP!"

Bagism

"What’s Bagism? It’s like... a tag for what we all do, we’re all in a bag ya know, and we realised that we came from two bags, I was in this pop bag going round and round in my little clique, and she was in her little avant-garde clique going round and round, and you’re in your little tele clique and they’re in their...ya know? and we all sort of come out and look at each other every now and then, but we don’t communicate. And we all intellectualize about how there is no barrier between art, music, poetry... but we’re still all 'I’m a rock and roller, he’s a poet' ... so we just came up with the word so you would ask us what bagism is, and we’d say 'WE’RE ALL IN A BAG BABY!'"
--John Lennon

I'm in a bag.

Sorry

about my posts lately.

I can be an angsty, overly emotional teenager sometimes.

I need something to care about.

I'm

going to kill myself


and if you think I'm serious and want to alert the authorites or some shit, go jump off a tall bridge.

But really
this day
has been shit

And not just like kinda
But REALLY

"And in the middle of the celebrations
I break down..."
-Beatles


AAAAAAAAAHHHH
I want to scream and cry and
paint?

what?

Jesus.

Anyway

Across the Universe was ignorant.


I'm fucking stupid.


Who flushed the toilet?

I don't know

Don't ask

You probably weren't going to anyway

Actually "you" aren't a person.

Unless I'm talking to myself.

What's he got in his pocketsessss, Precious?

Yeah.
Okay.
Whatever.

Everything is stupid anymore.

Including this blog.

Okay

So Across the Universe didn't come out today
Maybe next Friday?

Future Tattoo Ideas:
http://i3.tinypic.com/6cowjo5.jpg

http://i3.tinypic.com/4v4fawx.jpg

http://i13.tinypic.com/4lhauzp.jpg

http://i18.tinypic.com/5y8jrc7.jpg

http://i1.tinypic.com/4mlovw0.png

http://i4.tinypic.com/4zlau7c.gif

[something written in Elvish]

and possibly http://i1.tinypic.com/4hm0io0.jpg

Also,

a blackbird--reference to The Beatles' song, "Blackbird"

and an eye with a strawberry for the pupil--"Strawberry Fields Forever"

Hey

Across the Universe (movie) comes out Friday.

Some bands that sound nice:

Colour Revolt
Oh No! Oh My!
The Deadly Syndrome
Tacks, the boy disaster

Love

I don't think I've ever really been to keen on the idea of "love."
Of course, I love my family and my friends, but the whole "falling in love" with someone has always seemed quite silly to me. As if, we are depending on someone else for our happiness. Or fooling ourselves to think that we need to have a significant other, like that's how things are supposed to be. I guess that's how I felt about it. I mean, it's still pretty stupid when kids my age think they are in love, but what I'm talking about right now is the "real" thing. I mean, how could you ever really know what that is anyway? There are so many people in this world, how can you know that so-and-so is destined to be with you? You don't.
But, I've been thinking.
Now, as I said in my last post, I feel like there's a part of me missing. Something I need to find. Not that I'm unwhole, just there's a final part that I have not yet found yet. I don't know if any of that makes sense to you, but still, I've been thinking.
I suppose that when people get married most times and are in "love", that other person, the one they are marrying, is their missing piece.
But, I don't really think that a person like that will be mine.
I think everyone has their own special piece to find.
Maybe it's an action like traveling or saving people or something
Maybe it's their job
Maybe it's a loved one
Maybe it a house or home or...just, whatever.
But all I'm really saying is that maybe love isn't so stupid.
Maybe it's just the glue that puts together two pieces of the whole.

"Before Yoko and I met, we were half a person. You know there's an old myth about people being half and the other half being in the sky, or in heaven or on the other side of the universe or a mirror image. But we are two halves, and together we're whole."--John Lennon

"In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the valley of fear
To a river so deep
And I've been searching for something
Taken out of my soul
Something I would never lose
Something somebody stole

I don't know why I go walking at night
But now I'm tired and I don't want to walk anymore
I hope it doesn't take the rest of my life
Until I find what it is that I've been looking for"
--Billy Joel

Sometimes

I can't shake the feeling that nobody really knows or understands me.
I guess this is understandable, because nobody can really know anybody for certain.
But still, there are some illusions I wouldn't mind believing. (Like, feeling as if there is someone you know that really understands.)
It's a shame really.
I don't know if there is anybody like me.
And if there is, I don't know them.
But there has to be, right? I mean, there are so many people out there... Wouldn't it be a bit ridiculous to think that there is no one like myself?
Yet...what if I never come across this person/these people? What if I just wander feeling quite alone. Not alone as in without friends or people I like, but alone as in all of my friends don't really see me; they don't see all of me. I'm only partially there; here; anywhere. They only see so much and even if they think it's all of me, it isn't. There's something about me no one else sees, or if one person does, another person doesn't. So I am incomplete. I feel whole except there seems to be a gap somewhere. So close yet so far away. I don't know if I'm making any sense to you. I don't even think anyone is reading this.
I think the rest of my life will be made up of waiting and searching. Possibly for someone that doesn't exist. Possibly for the rest of myself. Maybe they are the same thing. Like how John felt he was only half a person till he met Yoko. Maybe my other piece is something else.

The Search Continues...

PUPPY

So, this puppy just showed at at my house a few weeks ago
and my mom didn't want to keep it
BUT NOW WE ARE
And I'm happy.

And last night I think, he got bitten by a snake
and his face and neck were really swollen.
It freaked me out.

But we took him to the vet this morning.
And he's going to be alright.

Necesito

I
Need
To
Get
It
Together

a)Finish reading Harry Potter
b)write script for "Pretty Plain"
c)somehow film it
d)not get (too) stressed out


Ok.

I can do it.
Right?

17

years of life.


Well, officially at like...6:28? a.m.
but until then it's pretty much my birthday

my best friend/cousin =]]
took me out on a day of awesome on the 2nd, which feels like "today" to me, but it's not anymore by a few hours.

I've got Harry Potter on the brain.

My mom let me open a present early, and it's a really sweet camera
YESS!!
I'll make use of that baby.
haha

Until then,
Xxxxx

July, July, July! Never seemed so strange...

This July is going to be the most...eventful of the summer, I think.

First, this Tuesday, I'm turning 17.

On July 11th, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie is coming out, which I hope to see both at the midnight showing and in 3-D.

And on July 20th, I will be attending Books-A-Million's party for the release of the 7th and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Also, I plan on writing/filming a movie of my own creation. (More on this at a later time.)

Here's to tomorrow!
Xxxxx

Threadless tee

Spoilt

1.Star Wars--Luke's Father
2.Planet of the Apes--It Was Earth All Along
3.Wickerman--The Villagers Sacrifice the policeman
4.The Crying Game--Dil is Actually A Man
5.The Sixth Sense--The Kid's Therapist is a Ghost
6.Harry Potter--Snape Kills Dumbledore
7.Dallas--Kristin Shot J.R.
8.Fight Club--Tyler Durden isn't Real
9.300--299 Die
10.The Matrix--Neo is the one
11.Citizen Kane--Rosebud was the name of his sled
12.Psycho--The killer's mother is a part of his split personality
13.The Village--The Village is Part of a Modern Nature Reserve
14.Donnie Darko--Donnie Dies
15.Beautiful Mind--His Friends are all a part of his Beautiful Mind
16.The Others--The protagonists are the others
17.The Usual Suspects--Verbal is Keyser Soze
18.Soylent Green--Soylent Green is made of people

BLOG!!!!!!!

I think that I have grown as a blogger and as a person
since I first started this blog.


Don't you?


Oh, that's right!
Nobody reads this.

=/


*sigh*

I wish

...that some people read this.

A group of people I don't know
that are not pedophiles.

That would be good.

But, alas, "wantin' ain't gettin'."

I want

to make a difference
to feel like I mean something
to be somebody
to stand out
to be like nobody else
to be truly happy
to be inspired
to feel something
to make a movie
to write something
to get a hair cut
to have an adventure
to drive
to be alone
to be with people
to not...be confused
to know how to get what I want
to be remembered

And so on and so forth...

Xxxxx

The Worst

Thursday I found out, but I believe the actual event happened this past Wednesday night (May 16th, 2007).

Patches has passed away.

I cannot express to you through words that sadness that has filled my heart.

She was 18, which would be about 126 for a dog. She would've been 19 in August.

I love her so much.

Patches: I miss you already. I love you. As does everyone that knew you. You are beautiful. "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again." I wish I could've kept you forever, but all good things come to an end, except my love for you. R.I.P. [1988-2007]

The end is near!

The end of another school year, anyway--which I am quite happy about.
(I can't wait to catch up on some Z's.)

I've been feeling very tired lately. Which is probably due to a combination of things: stress, not enough sleep, and whatever.

Okay, basically I have nothing meaningful to say whatsoever and I'm just putting off my Geometry homework.

And my head hurts (and has been hurting lately).
I need sleep! I want this week to hurry up and be other with, then, what? 2 days? 3 days left?

Everything is so boring and lame lately.
I want to go to Tulsa and that AMC theater again!
I need a little adventure...or something. I'm not sure.
Maybe just a month long nap. =]

Well, before you know it yours truly is going to be a junior.
You know what that means?
2. more. years. of. high school.
!!!!!!!!!!!


Wow. This is pointless.
Like I said, Just another Blog on the Web.
Good thing nobody reads this anyway!

I need a zombie

To eat my brains out
So I'll stop thinking about it.
I hate it.
Why do I think so much?
Why am I such a @!#@!$ teenager?

I was just fine. I was quite content with how my life was, everything was going according to plan, in the right direction. And then BAM, I happen to meet someone who just makes it all...topsy turvy. AH! Frustration!

It's even more stupid because I haven't even talked to him in quite some time.
Hm...
Why do I let these things happen?
I need to be more of an asshole.
[insert slew of curse words]

I
Want
Out

First impressions

can be decieving.

An update on the Edmundo situation:
Forget it.

I'll explain:

The Friday before the Sunday he was supposed to come over to my house, meet my mom, hang out and such, my cousin and I went to the movies, where he works. Everything was fine. I stopped and talked to him on the way in. My cousin wanted free food, so I went and talked to him again--even though he wouldn't give me anything free.
Then, half way through Hot Fuzz, he comes in and sits next to me and starts holding my hand. God, was that awkward! So I start getting as nervous as ever because I'm with my cousin. (Afterward she was angry as I'd feared about being a third wheel.)
Well anyway, after the movie he went off to his car and he didn't call me all weekend.
No sign of him at all Sunday. No call, nothing.
And I don't hear from him at all through the whole week.
By this point, I'm annoyed and kind of angry at him, but not too much.
Then, Thursday night/Friday morning at midnight, my cousin, her friend, her friend's boyfriend, another friend, and I go to see the midnight showing of Spiderman 3. And, of course, Edmundo is working.
I didn't say anything to him the whole time I was there. But Brittany, my cousin's friend, went over and talked to him. I'm assuming she asked him if he liked me or something because she comes back saying he said, "I like her but there's a problem, I have a girlfriend."
WHAT???
O.K., so Now I'm really pissed off. Apparently, he got a girlfriend around Monday or so. WTF???
So much for NOT being a jerk, huh?

And I'm not so happy.
I really liked this kid for whatever reason.
I'm stupid, I know.
Oh well. Forget it
I will
eventually.

PEACE

Dreaming?

Okay, so you know how I mentioned that guy? Edmundo? =]
Well, he told Matt, who told Victoria, who told me that he liked me last week. And he wanted to hang out with me. How insane is that? An actually (super) attractive guy likes me??? I must be dreaming!
Anyway, I finally get my mom to agree to let me go (complications arose due to the fact he is 18, doesn't live with his parents, and because he goes to Carthage [high school].) So, the next Saturday night (2 nights ago) he, Victoria, Matt, and some other guy (?) came and picked me up at my house.
We went to their apartment and just, well, hung out. Haha. Seriously, all we did was sit around and talk. Well, eventually I ended up just talking to Edmundo. That's why I was there in the first place, anyway. Even though we didn't really do anything, I think I had a good time. Just lounging around talking and, though a bit awkward at first, I didn't feel as strange as I thought I would in that situation. He held my hand almost the entire time. :D
Later, when it was closing in on the time I had to be home, he drove me home. Again, he held my hand the whole way and we talked. And, the funny thing is, we didn't really talk about much. Just whatever. I feel pretty comfortable around him. And he's really sweet and nice and funny and, you know, really hot. (I don't mean to sound superficial or anything, but it doesn't hurt, eh?)
When we got to my house, we sat on the front steps and talked some more and just looked up at the stars and such. I think he might like to be my boyfriend. And I've only seen him 2 times, ever! Wowza. He said things about how he didn't know what I was looking for, but that he would treat me nice (or maybe he said right?) and that he wasn't a jerk. It was so cute. Everything about that whole night was cute. I'm really excited.
Next, actually this weekend, he's coming over to hang at my house and my mom is going to meet him. I'm kinda nervous, but I hope she likes him. I think I like him. As my mom said, "So far, so good."
He called me yesterday, too. I love listening to him talk. He has a slight accent, since he's from Mexico. He really does seem very nice.

Peace & Love,
Xxxxx

(p.s. when we were talking, we talked about the saturday we met. neither of us thought we had noticed each other, until our friends said something to us. funny how things work out, huh?)

Normalmente I don't do anything

Tonight...you
Haha.
Tonight was a lot of fun. I got to hang out with Amanda and Victoria, which was fun. And then Amanda introduced us to her friends, Rachel and Shannon, and they were cool, which was fun. Then Victoria's boyfriend, Matt, and his gorgeous friend, Edmundo, showed up and that made it fun also. =]]]
I want to do it again.
Not IT, but tonight.
What did we do?
Well, Amanda and Victoria found the house and picked me up. Then we met up with Rachel and Shannon [aka Punky]. We all headed to the Cesspool--which is really just a basement. We stayed and listened to a crappy band, Taner's band, then this stupid emo band. Haha. Then Matt and Edmundo showed up. We all went to Taco Bell [on Rangeline] and talked and some of us ate. Oh! And Azaria and some of her friends had been at the show and came to Taco Bell, too. So, that was fun. Then me, Victoria, Matt, and Edmundo piled into Amanda's car to take me home. =D That was a cute little adventure. When we got to my house, they all got out to use the bathroom and Edmundo wanted some fragrance free lotion for his tattoos. [He is really good-looking.]

It was a good night.

Good-night,
Xxxxx

Tomorrow is another day

So, I decided that I'd just write a normal blog.

I'm just sitting here at the computer, when I should probably be getting ready for bed. But I decided to chillax to Billy Joel instead.
Andrew was over here not too long ago. That was...interesting. Ha. We finished watching Children of Men. I like that movie.
I believe I'm hanging out with my "Journalism posse" tomorrow: Carly, Elise, and Alex(andra). That should also be...interesting. In theory, it sounds like a good idea, but...well, we'll see.
Tomorrow is the last day of MAP testing. "I do not like them, Sam-I-am. " Even though I do not like the tests, I do enjoy the week of MAP testing because our schedules change and teachers are much easier on us (a.k.a. no work!). And that's always good, right?
Ah, here's my song: "Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)", by Billy Joel. It makes me think of my daddy.
I wonder...what my life would be like, how different it would be...if...
"Someday we'll all be gone
But lullabyes go on and on...
They never die
That's how you
And I
Will be"

Well, I guess it's time for sleep.
Xxxxx

I just want to go home

I don't care what she said
I don't care you've done
I don't care that they say I shouldn't look back
It's too late for that
I don't care what happens between now and then
I just want to go home again
Born and raised, I hate Joplin but I love my home
All the love in those walls
Between the paint
She says we still have our memories
But I know memories fade
I don't know why, but I won't let it be just a house
Yes, mom, I want to be with you
But I want us to just go home
We don't need anyone else
It can be just us
Again
I know I'm growing up, but I don't want to move out
If I could just go home
We don't need anyone else
That place is not just a house
Can we please go home?

I don't care what it takes
I'd do most anything
If we could just. go home.


2811
64801
East side of town

infinitive

To a Christian: I am just another soul to save
To a scientist: I am a Homo sapien
To the government: I am not really anybody, but I will be someone to tax and vote and to keep the country alive
To the media: I am nobody
To the world: I am just a number
To the universe: I am just a tiny, microscopic piece of the puzzle that makes up...everything
To my family: I am someone to worry about and care for
To my friends: I can be someone to confide in or to laugh with. Someone who isn't perfect, but not a bad person either
To my 'enemies': I am a bitch
To the school: I am a student that makes them look good because I don't get into trouble and I make good grades

to be continued?
Possibly.

I think we have an emergency: Ice ice, baby

Hey! Missouri is covered in ice and tons of people have lost power. I hear that it is a "national emergency". How interesting. But not really. We have the strangest weather.
Warm. Snow. Warm. Ice/snow.
"Don't like the weather? Wait five minutes."
Indeed.

So, everyone's been stuck in their houses. Or, somebody else's house, if theirs doesn't have power. And everyone's bored. It's very boring. Haha
Man. I guess I ran out of meaningful blogs?
dang.

Until then,
Xxxxx