Post the Seventeenth

A depressing thought about this blog has just dawned on me.

I have no focus. There is nothing quirky about this blog that could possibly appeal to the masses that lurk the internet each moment of the day. I need a focus. What can I direct my writing to? What is it that I am passionate about? Well, I thought about that.

I would like to write about science. However, seeing that I don't even have a scrawny B.S. degree in Biochemistry, I have no credibility whatsoever! I am not a researcher with a doctorate degree in anything to be able to write important anythings. I am merely a college kid who loves science-y stuff. I think I want to start writing about Darwinism, Christianity, Evolution, Naturalism, Christian theology, and scientific findings that support the Christian worldview.

The idea is still brewing. I hope I can come across something interesting for this blog. I really want to be challenged to write stuff like this, too, even if it's difficult.

No more rambling on this blog about unimportant anythings! (Well, maybe once in a great while.)

Post the Sixteenth

Generally consuming thought of the day: Boredom is killing me.

I wish I had a ceiling fan so I can race it with my head. You may think that is quite possibly the least entertaining thing I can do. However, at this point in time, I can't think of anything else I'd want to do more than to race a ceiling fan with my head.

Conclusion: I wish I had a ceiling fan so I can race it with my head.

Post the Fifteenth

I want to write more in my blog but I'm completely embarrassed of my previous posts. They are so petty and stupid, but instead of indulging my urge to go and delete them, I will push forward and try to write better from now on. I suppose it'll be nice to look back and see how I've developed and grown in my thought process.

At this very moment, I'm videochatting with Shawn and he hasn't a clue what I am doing right now. He is quite busy singing "Fly Me To The Moon" by Frank Sinatra. We don't always engage in steamy debates or dense conversation every time we videochat, but sometimes we just do whatever we normally would do, but we see each other. It's nice because it's each other's presence that we enjoy. It seems like he's right here in front of me. I like it. Of course this doesn't replace actually having him here but it's pretty nice to be able to do even this.

I don't really have a thesis or argument for this post. I just want to get back into writing, and I hope this gives me a little motivation to write about something cool next time, maybe something science-y, since I tend to really dig that kind of stuff.

Back to staring at Shawn while he serenades the screen, and perhaps quite possibly even me,

Michelle

Post the Fourteenth

i'm listening to
enya - only time
whos that haha
DUDE
listen to it
lol why
i like it hahah
it's soothing..
i dont know much about the lyrics
but the music is soothing
one you'd listen to in a bath..
it's the one
they played
in friends
when chandler takes a bath
lol ok
lol
ok
do you know what episode i'm talking about
lol i dont want friends 
you dont want friends???
lol
watch
AHAPDFSlkjas;lkdjf;laksdjflkajsdf

Post the Thirteenth

I

Post the Twelfth - Abortion

From Brian McClaren’s blog: Why I am voting for Barack Obama Reason #5

Some of my friends and relatives have been reading my reasons for voting for Barack Obama, but the issue of abortion is a major roadblock for them. They believe that a vote for Obama is a vote for abortion, and a vote for McCain is a vote against abortion. They are surprised to learn that I believe an Obama presidency could actually take us farther in reducing abortion than a McCain presidency, and it could do so through a wiser, less-divisive, more effective strategy. Here’s why.

Again and again over the last 30 years, Republican presidents and other politicians have used the issue of abortion to get elected and raise funds, but then, once in office, they have said little about abortion and done even less. Some say that their silence doesn’t matter, because the only way abortion can be reduced is by electing presidents who will appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe vs. Wade. This strategy is being quietly pursued, they say, so the plan is working. But there are good reasons to question this logic.

First, even if McCain were to win the election and appoint Supreme Court justices who would in fact overturn Roe vs. Wade, this move will not outlaw abortion, contrary to what many believe. It will only return the decision to the states, which raises this question: how many states lean toward criminalization? The answer: only sixteen states have at least 45% support for criminalizing abortion.

What would the impact of criminalization be in these sixteen states? Only ten percent of abortions occur in these states, and women desiring abortions would still be able to travel easily to a nearby state for an abortion. So even with a best-case scenario, there would be less than a ten percent reduction in abortions nationwide, not counting the likelihood of abortions still being performed illegally in the sixteen states in question.

Would sincere and intelligent Evangelical and Catholic Christians have given such extraordinary and largely uncritical political loyalty to Religious Right/Republican leaders for all these years if they had been told from the start that their efforts would eventually achieve only a ten percent reduction in abortion? How would they respond to the knowledge that we could likely achieve more than a ten percent reduction in abortions by providing increased economic assistance and social support for pregnant women who are poor, since women in poverty have abortions at four times the rate of higher-income women?

The chosen strategy of the anti-abortion movement, in this light, depends on an untested assumption: that criminalizing abortion is the best way to reduce abortion rates. If we look at other nations, this assumption is highly questionable.

For example, Western European nations, where abortion is legal and available, have the lowest abortion rates in the free world, with less than 10 abortions per 1000 women of reproductive age. In contrast, in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, there are between 29 and 31 abortions per 1000 women of reproductive age – in spite of the fact that abortion laws are highly restrictive there. So it’s clear that in free societies, poverty and a lack of services are more likely to lead to high abortion rates than whether or not abortion is legal.

The issue isn’t simply whether people are for or against abortion, because even among people labeled “pro-choice,” most would agree that abortion is a sad, even tragic, moral choice. The real issue is whether criminalization is the best way to reduce the number of abortions.

When I share these facts and reflections with my friends, many are surprised. For over thirty years, they’ve been told that voting Republican means voting out abortion. Many begin to wonder if we Christians have been manipulated by clever but cynical political operatives who have used the issue of abortion to win elections, without ever really intending to make a significant difference.

Some anti-abortion voters have told me that they agree with me in this diagnosis, but they feel their vote for McCain is a symbolic protest against the generally low moral conditions in our society. I respect their desire to cast their vote on the side of morality and family values. But it's clear - from both positive and negative examples in both parties - that neither party can lay claim to being the exclusive champion of strong marriages and dedicated parenting. In this election, voters have in Barack Obama and Joe Biden faithful husbands and dedicated fathers who exemplify in their marriages and families exactly the personal family values we hope more people will follow. If voters are truly looking for a symbolic affirmation of strong families, Obama and Biden can't be eliminated for partisan reasons.

In my book Everything Must Change, I shared my personal belief that a high abortion rate is a symptom of a deeper and complex societal disease. It is one expression of what I call the "covert curriculum" - a "framing story" that also fuels the current economic crisis, environmental crisis, and security crisis that together threaten our future. Until we unite to acknowledge and address that deeper disease and dysfunction, thus dealing with our symptoms in a systemic way, we will stay stuck in polarized paralysis, fighting divisive and ineffective culture wars while our moral health continues to deteriorate.

In this light, if we really care about seeing fewer pregnancies ending in abortion, a greater concern for "the least of these" - demonstrated through better health care, more vigorous job creation, better education, and other needed initiatives for people in poverty - could bring us greater results than a strategy of criminalization. And Senator Obama is the stronger candidate in these areas.

During this election, more and more of us who consider life sacred are losing confidence in the simplistic one-or-two issue voting habits that some vocal religious leaders and broadcasters have urged upon us for decades. We are beginning to see through the unhelpfully-framed arguments that have dominated both our religious and political discourse for too long. We’re looking for wiser and better means to wiser and better ends.

We aren’t so naïve as to believe that electing Barack Obama will solve all of our problems. But in regards to abortion along with many other issues, we are convinced – firmly, thoughtfully, and enthusiastically convinced – that casting our vote for Obama is a step in the right direction, fully consistent with our desire to celebrate the sacredness of life and improve the moral health of our nation and world.

[For more information, see Matthew 25.org. See the Guttmacher Institute, "An Overview of Abortion in The United States" and "An Overview of Abortion in The United States." See also the Catholics United study "Reducing Abortion in America: Beyond Roe v. Wade,” and Joseph Wright and Michael Bailey, "Reducing Abortion in America : The Effect of Economic and Social Supports."]
catholics-united.org

Post the Eleventh

http://www.newsweek.com/id/180037

A Fence Can’t Stop the Future

America can either flourish or fade in the new global economy. It all depends on what we do about the fastest-growing segment of the country's population.

By Henry Cisneros | NEWSWEEK

Published Jan 17, 2009

From the magazine issue dated Jan 26, 2009

America has long been the envy of the rest of the world, and for good reason. Over the past century, the United States has harnessed its economic, scientific, cultural and educational resources to produce remarkable achievements in every field of human endeavor. But with nations like China and India emerging as major powers, many argue that U.S. dominance will soon be eclipsed, and what is known as the American Century will soon be over. Our fate is far from sealed, though. Whether America surmounts its challenges or slides to the middle of the pack will likely depend on its fastest-growing segment: the Latino community.

If demographics is destiny, consider this: there are roughly eight Latino births for every death, whereas white births and deaths are nearly even. While more-homogenous developed countries like Japan, Italy, France and Germany are aging rapidly, this Latino baby boom could be a major engine of growth for the United States. Young Latinos could bolster our workforce, increase the size of our markets, support Social Security and revitalize our communities. According to the most recent Census Bureau projections, about 60 percent of total U.S. growth will come from the Latino population — that's almost 100 million additional people. One in four Americans will be Latino. This holds true even if the border fence that Congress and the Bush administration authorized proves impenetrable—which is highly unlikely.

The law of large numbers guarantees that Latinos will move the national averages in almost every measurable area of American life. The question is how. If current trends continue, Latino growthcould actually speed our national decline. Need a cautionary tale? In California, the underperformance of Latino students has pushed the state to the bottom of the heap—45th among 50 states in educational attainment. On the other hand, if we investin services that lift Latinos into the middle class, they could become the dynamic heart of a continuing American success story.

Even during the 1950s, when U.S. industry was a powerhouse, progressive policies were what spurred the expansion of the middle class—through the GI Bill, commitment to homeownership and the passage of the minimum wage. Those same initiatives created a more just society, which in turn helped foster the civil-rights movement, the women's movement and the environmental movement. America's future vibrancy depends on renewing those commitments for Latinos.

There's much work to be done. Adult Latinos often wait years to be admitted to English classes. Services in America's cities—where the bulk of Latinos live, work and spend their money—have deteriorated over the past eight years. Local governments will be even more hamstrung by the current economic crisis. The new administration will need to focus on chipping away at these roadblocks to the middle class.

Of course, Latinos must also take advantage of the opportunities that do exist, and invest in American society. Immigrants must do whatever they can to master English. They must prepare themselves to succeed in the workplace, and to guide their children through the school system. They must save to buy their own homes, and work to provide their families with a health plan, retirement plan and savings account. They should participate enthusiastically in civic, community and religious activities. And they should strive for full citizenship.

It's important to remember we can do all this without losing our heritage. We can learn English without forgetting Spanish, adopt American social practices in the workplace without having to denigrate our native traditions, and follow American laws without ignoring our obligations to family and community. In fact, being bilingual and bicultural are competitive advantages that will only be more important in the future.

America's Latinos on the whole are a community of strivers. We understand that striving is at the core of American culture. And we know that the American Dream, while far from foolproof, represents the right to strive with the best chance of reward. This is the basis for a hopeful America whose best days are still ahead. If Latinos succeed, so will America.

Cisneros, Former secretary of Housing and Urban Development and mayor of San Antonio, is editor of “Latinos and the Nation’s Future,” published this month by Arte Público Press of the University of Houston.

© 2009