HOPE?

One of my classmates recently shared his opinion on the war in Iraq. He explains that he does believe we should stay in Iraq. Issues like safety of Iraqi people came up and I do agree that we should make sure the citizens are safe but there's only so much we can do. I mean, we are getting into another country's business and how many of our people are worth loosing to another country's safety? I don't mean to sound self centered when I say things like that but most soldiers now a days have families, they have kids! Do you ever think of their perspective on things like this? In their eyes their dad is away fighting for the country they live in but when they loose their dad what are they supposed to do? In their eyes they just lost their father! He also brings up issues like advancing our weapons, but can't we do that somewhere else? We own so much land, there has to be somewhere else we can do experiments with weapons. The issue about the Iraqi people not being safe and that another country will take their land, well, we could help them set up a way that they wont have their land taken from them and then we could leave. I mean I personally don't really know what to do to make sure of their land but I know we could figure out ideas as a country. I mean aren't our soldiers important? As the author wrote, he was a soldier himself. So wouldn't you be scared? Wouldn't you just want to be back with your family? Most of the soldiers over in Iraq have families with kids! So think of other people than yourself. Think of the Americans that have only lost. Lost their family and their hope.

Marriage or cohabitation?

Many people believe that a couple should live together before they get married. Studies show that people that live together before marriage actually are at a higher divorce rate than those who don't live together before they get married. Cohabitation has become the ultimate alternative for marriage. Which isn't exactly a good thing. In fact, its quite a bad thing. People who cohabit often end up having little or no intention of getting married. People often cohabit with multiple people at different times, which sends the rate of people who will never get married through the roof. Multiple cohabitation s often lead to a failure in marriage once someone actually gets married and often are more aggressive spouses. Children almost always have the worst outcome from cohabited families. So couples who do move in together should have a high intention of getting married or should already be engaged or else the couple is in a very bad position of working out. Living together without being married can also lead to depression. Depression rates among couples who are not married is triple that of married couples. I believe that couples should get married before they move in together. Cohabiting used to be just for the poverty stricken and minorities of the country but in the past thirty years it has become more and more common among young adults. Its amazing to think about what used to be illegal in most of the US is now so common that no one thinks a thing of it anymore. In fact, its still illegal in some states but almost no one enforces the law. So in the end, is it better to cohabit or to get married? Well the decision is yours.

Love is love

Gay marriages are becoming more and more common in today's society. There are laws being passed in the New England states now that allow gay marriages.
Some people believe that more "non-religious" or "none" states will accept gay marriage easier. As USA TODAY explains, in New Hampshire the "nones" average is 29% of the population. The House of Representatives is to vote on whether or not to legalize the bill this week. Most people believe that it will pass because they have more nones.
Many other states are to follow including Rhode Island and Maine. In New York it is expected for the bill to pass by the Forth of July.
Many states have more religious identifications and are more likely to ban gay marriage rights.
Indeed, the more religious the states the less likely it is for them to pass the bill accepting gay marriage rights.
Even in New Mexico, the governor accepted the bill, yet the charge led by the catholics was enough to overturn the bill and get it denied.
Although the surveys conducted are based on religion, I believe the final say on a vote lies in the hands of the opions of the population, even if they are religious. Many religious people accept it as well.
Religion teaches the society or population to oppose the thoughts of two of the same sex. What if religion had no say in sexuality? It would completely be a person's own decision whether or not to accept a couple of the same sex. Although the opinions of peers would be a big influence on the person.
In a world without influences of religion I believe people would have more of a self opinion on things. But if your taught from a kid to disagree with something then you normally don't grow out of your opinion.

Be smart or get out of America!

In Obama's speech he says that Americans must educate themselves on a higher level of education than just a high school diploma. As oaktownadam from the dailykos argues, Americans should have their own freedom to choose whether or not they drop out of high school or if they go to college or not.
He was mainly aiming at the people of today. What about the people of the past, the parents of the future generation? What about them? Not all of them completed college and not all of them even finished high school. What should Obama say about them? What if he was talking about just our generation?
Indeed we do only have Obama's words, and I sure don't trust those words either, but I don't trust half of the things people tell me now a days. Sometimes you just have to take into consideration what people say, even if it does sound insane.
The constitution was built on our own freedoms and right to express those freedoms. One way to express some people's freedoms is the freedom of deciding whether or not they finish high school or decide to go onto higher education. Obama should not be able to force education on people that don't want to higher their education. It would be violating our rights as Americans to pursue our rights under the constitution.
As oaktownadam argues that even though some people do not have higher education or even a high school diploma, it is not always impossible for people to succeed in life without one or both of them. I, myself, do know many people that have dropped out of high school yet still succeed in life. They still can get quite good jobs and have a life and family. Sometimes whats most important in someone's life is not always an education. Like what about the people that get pregnant and have kids in high school? What are they supposed to do? Some can't deal with the trouble of having a kid and completing high school at the same time.
Either way people should have their own individual freedoms and rights to choose whether or not they complete high school and decide to go to college.

Danger!

Austin American Statesman

There are many serious issues facing Americans in the United States but one of the major ones is that of hazardous waste disposal. Disposal has become a major issue for West Texans.
Rocky West Texas makes the perfect dump for the contaminated Hudson River bottom waste.
Tons of toxic waste from upper New York is due as early as May in West Texas. Waste control specialists, that own land about 30 miles north of Odessa, will be the ones to receive the first shipment.
Between the years of 1947 to 1977 1.3 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCB's were discharged into the Hudson. This will be the toxic soil that will be transported to Texas.
An 81 car train will deport from New York and head for Texas starting this spring. After the evaluation of the process by GE and EPA, there may be a train leaving every 2 1/2 days, from 2010 to 2015.
According to 2007 EPA data records, Texas ranks 10th in hazardous waste importers. If agreements continue as they are going Texas is on the way up the list quickly.
Neil Carmen, the clean air director for the Lone Star chapter of the Sierra club, points out an excellent statement.
Many people believe that its dangerous to have so much waste imported into Texas. There are so many other disposal ways to get rid of hazardous waste.