Fred and Heath

Today is a sad day for Fred Thompson as he withdrew from the presidential election. A strong conservative and eager candidate had to say "no more." Scott Miller seems to be quite upset about this due to Fred's position on many issues. He felt that Fred would make a fine president because of his conservative view, which are supposedly the most right winged compared to the other candidates. He then went on to post some of Fred's responses to important issues. This was interesting for me to read because it gave me much insight- I would like to do this for all the candidates!

Although this wasn't on either of my blogs, I thought it would be relevant to talk about Heath Ledger's recent death. I find it quite ironic that today we were just talking about obituaries and the media. He died today, and the whole world has been informed through vast amounts of media coverage. He has filled the t.v. screens, internet sites, and radio talkshows. His death seems to be the most important news we can talk about, when yet there are thousands of people dying all over the world. But, we have one death here and since he is a celebrity, he gets headlines and press like none other. This just seems odd to me! However, I am sad that he died and I will be praying for his family who will miss him dearly!

Communicating and Immigrants

I have to say that I am getting quite annoyed with both of my posts. For one, God's Politics fails to update regularly, and when they do, they are often filled with information of little relevance. I am also annoyed because Scott Miller in The Conservative Post is extremely opinionated, to the point of ridiculousness. Whenever he writes, he does it in way and tone that is degrading to all other opinions and arguments. He stands firm on his opinions and becomes very upset when others disagree-such as liberals. I believe his arguments would be much more effective if he wrote in a more calm and informative way. Instead, he sounds crude and uneducated at times; for example he states: 

"Yet another preventable death. The blood of this agent is on the hands of all these politicians who have refused to secure our borders. The whole damn bunch of them should be brought up on negligent homicide charges in this case. Maybe then, just maybe, we might get thier attention."

 

Isn't this a little crude?? While I can see his argument, I think it could be stated a bit differently....but maybe that is just me!

Anyways, in this todays blog, Scott Miller focuses on our borders and illegal immigrants. He finds it very frustrating that considerable changes have not been made regarding our borders. People continue to get in and as a result, are harming Americans. Scott gave two examples of this: 

1. A 39 year old male who is an illegal immigrant was recently found. He had committed 25 crimes of kidnapping, sexual assault, and trespassing.

2. A Border Patrol Agent was recently killed while trying to stop an illegal immigrant from driving into the U.S.

I too agree that these crimes are horrible and need to be handled. It is sad to think that Americans are being harmed from people who are sneaking into our country. However, I do think Scott Miller does neglect the fact that all illegal immigrants are NOT awful people, many of which just want a better life!

Confusion...

According to Scott Miller, the republicans need to get their acts together if America wants to have a good president. He feels that we are currently splitting too many of our votes for each candidate; for example, Mitt Romney had 15% Fred Thompson had 16%, Mike Huckabee had 30%, and John McCain had 33%. He also expresses his feelings of disgust towards McCain. He continually explains that he should not be considered a conservative, but instead a strong liberal. 

First of all, I too agree that right now many Republicans are split on who they should vote for. There seems to be many mixed feelings towards each candidate, which causes such a split. This might be a result of confusion on voters side, or just many differernt opinions for each candidate. However, I don't think we have to worry; sooner or later Republicans will come together and there will be more unity. Regarding McCain, I have to admit that I am quite confused on what Scott Miller is getting at.  I don't understand what he means when he says McCain should be a liberal. I have tried to find information regarding his position on things, and haven't found him to sound too liberal. If there are, please let me know because I am quite confused. 

Ashley

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the January Series. Douglas Diekema spoke about a very controversial case regarding a girl named "Ashley." In 2004, Ashley was six years old and extremely disabled. Her parents wanted her to become intentionally shortened (keep her height like that of a child) and have her sterilized. Mr. Diekema, who is a primary ethics consultant and a member of the ethics committee in Seattle, WA, presented this information and the reasoning behind it all throughout his talk. 

I believe I found this talk so interesting because it was so debatable. It balances on a fine line between what is okay and absurd. Personally, I believe this case was handled very well and the right thing was done. All of these treatments were done out of love and care for Ashley. Her parents wanted what was best for her and chose to have such drastic changes done in order for her to have a more enjoyable life. 

I appreciated Mr. Diekema's analysis and explanation of the case. He also did a good job of bringing in opposing viewpoints to the case and giving answers to these. After listening to him, I felt that it would almost be impossible to disagree with him; not because he was so persuasive, but because it looks like this case had Ashley's best interests and health concerns in mind, and as a result, the right thing was done. 

I really enjoyed yesterdays lecture and greatly appreciated it!

Why? How could one do such a thing?

Wow, so I just got done reading an article on abortion, and I have to say I am quite shocked with some of the things I just learned. Maybe you will find this crazy or interesting as well.

I have always had the notion (as well as a majority of the public) that most people who get abortions are teenagers. Teens who have accidentally gotten pregnant, want to hide their mistake, or put it behind them. Then, they often live with extreme guilt and a sense of loss for their action. Well, according to this article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22689931/, only 17% percent of abortions are from teens. Each year, there are roughly 1.2 million abortions and around half of them are from women 25 or older. Also, about 60% of these women already have a child before receiving an abortion. Sadly, there have been roughly 50 million abortions in the U.S. since 1973 when the Supreme Court passed the Roe v. Wade decision (allowing someone to choose to  have an abortion.)

It is believed that a majority of abortions are related to financial pressures. Couples can become pregnant and believe that they don't have enough to provide for their baby, so they decide to abort. Also, unborn babies can become a concern for single mothers when trying to decide custody. An example of this is a woman who thought she might lose custody of her daughter by a law suit from her ex husband. This woman then became pregnant and chose to have an abortion because she was afraid of jeopardizing the prospects for keeping her daughter. 

I have to admit, that while I read this article I was completely disgusted. This is an issue on which I have a strong opinion on and have a hard time understanding the other side. I do not agree with abortions in any way. I struggle to make sense with how someone would be willing to kill their child. Even if it was conceived by an accident or force (such as rape), I think this helpless child should be spared. If one doesn't want to raise it, then they should give it up for adoption-there are many loving families and couples who struggle to have kids and would be thrilled to raise a child. This article also made me quite sad when reading about some of the women's experiences. Some regret it horribly, and some brush it off their shoulder like it was an everyday decision. Pleas tell me, how can one feel okay about killing a child? I just don't understand this.  How can one live without guilt, sadness, or wonder at what they did?

Currently, statistics state that abortions have slightly decreased within the last ten years. It is my hope that soon this rate will drastically change and drop-I would love to see abortions become illegal! This article opened my eyes to how prevalent abortions are and who the “average person” is to get one. Although there a large amount of teens who receive abortions (which is horrid to think about), the majority of them come from mothers past the age of 25!

Since reading this blog, my hope is that your eyes and heart are also opened. Please pray for these people who are making such rash decisions. Pray that a change will occur and that some good can come out of this-however this may be!

Going to Mexico

Lately, I have had the urge to look at some sites for updates on daily news. The article titled U.S. Fugitives in Mexico Spared Death Penalty caught my attention. It goes on to explain horrific crimes that people commit and the ways in which they try to avoid punishment. For example, a man who suffocated his baby daughter and left her body in a toolbag on an expressway, will not receive the death penalty. While such a crime is normally punished by receiving the death penalty, this man has avoided such a sentence. This is because he fled to Mexico after his act, knowing that once he was there he was safe. 

One thing that distinguishes Mexico from the U.S. is its position on the death penalty. While we accept it and use it for many crimes, Mexico does not. This is why many criminals travel to Mexico. Once they cross the borders the U.S. does not have the right to ever give them the death penalty. Instead, Mexico will only hand them over (criminal) to face justice. 

When I read this, I have to admit that I was a bit shocked. I have always known that people flee to Mexico after committing a crime; however, I suppose I was unaware on their reasoning. I know that if my family was a victim to such a person and their punishment was reduced, I would be quite upset. I feel like something must be done, otherwise criminals will continue to flee to Mexico and hide, while families struggle to cope with their losses. 

Bush and Saudi Arabia

In my blog tonight, the news continued to remain quite slow. In My Conservative Post, Scott Miller talks about President Bush and Saudi Arabia. Earlier this evening, Bush met with the Saudi King and other cartel members to discuss the production of more oil. This is because Saudi Arabia has the most oil preserves in the world. Gas prices are above three dollars a gallon and the U.S. economy is struggling. 

Throughout his blog, Scott Miller bashes the President and his actions. He believes that Bush is "on his knees, begging a third world half-a-terrorist for oil." He then goes on to say that this problem is actually Americans fault and we don't have anyone to blame but ourselves. I do agree with this latter statement. This is because I feel like we are often wasteful and take for granted what we have. Now that gas prices are continuing to rise, people are nervous.  However, do you ever notice that the majority of people continue to do the same amount of driving as they did before, when prices were lower?  All in all, I find this quite interesting and weird!!

I do have to admit though, I don't really know what we should do. To be honest, I am ignorant on much of this topic. Therefore, besides being wise with what we have and trying to actually come up with healthy alternatives for our environment, I do not know what kind of quick fix could happen. I will be interested to see what Saudi Arabia says and how it all turns out.