Have a great summer everyone!

It was a pleasure sharing this semester with all of you. Through your posts I got to know you a bit better and you taught me a lot.
I know that many of you are graduating and moving on to other universities, some close, some far away.
So, what I have to say to you is this:
Go! Do it! And do it well!

God bless you all!

OUR LAST POST FOR THIS SEMESTER

Suspects in video beating could get life in prison

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/10/girl.fights/

(CNN) -- Eight Florida teenagers -- six of them girls -- will be tried as adults and could be sentenced to life in prison for their alleged roles in the videotaped beating of another teen, the state attorney's office said Thursday.

You may read the whole story at

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/10/girl.fights/

Do you think girls' violent behavior is on the rise? And what are your thoughts on teens being tried as adults?

US high school dropout rate: high, but how high?

US high school dropout rate: high, but how high?


By Gail Russell Chaddock Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON






The national dropout rate is notoriously hard to pin down, and the latest effort to do so - showing alarmingly low graduation rates in some parts of America - is likely to intensify the statistics wars.
Nearly 1 in 3 high school students in the Class of 2006 will not graduate this year, the Editorial Projects in Education (EDE) Research Center reported Tuesday. ....

You may read the whole story at http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0621/p03s02-ussc.htm

What is the problem with our school system so that that one in every three students will drop out of high school?

Beyond America’s Original Sin

March 20, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Beyond America’s Original Sin
By ROGER COHEN

There are things you come to believe and things you carry in your blood. In my case, having spent part of my childhood in apartheid South Africa, I bear my measure of shame.
As a child, experience is wordless but no less powerful for that. How vast, how shimmering, was Muizenberg beach, near Cape Town, with all that glistening white skin spread across the golden sand!
The scrawny blacks were elsewhere, swimming off the rocks in a filthy harbor, and I watched from my grandfather’s house and I wondered.
Once, a black nanny took me out across the road to a parapet above a rail track beside that harbor. “You wouldn’t want me to drop you,” she said. ....

You may read the whole article at

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/opinion/20cohen.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Do you observe any types of segregation or discrimination on any of the following lines? Race, ethnicity,religion,age,sexuality,disabilities...?
Please share personal experiences if you wish.

Prozac, used by 40m people, does not work say scientists

Analysis of unseen trials and other data concludes it is no better than placebo

Full text: the PLoS paper

Sarah Boseley, health editor
The Guardian,
Tuesday February 26 2008

A single Prozac capsule. Photograph: Alamy

Prozac, the bestselling antidepressant taken by 40 million people worldwide, does not work and nor do similar drugs in the same class, according to a major review released today.

The study examined all available data on the drugs, including results from clinical trials that the manufacturers chose not to publish at the time. The trials compared the effect on patients taking the drugs with those given a placebo or sugar pill. ...

You may read the whole article at

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/feb/26/mentalhealth.medicalresearch

If a would-be drug dealer sells his customers what they think is ecstasy, but only gives them sugar pills will they still get high? And is such a "pusher" breaking the law?
Also, do you think that it is possible that other medications besides Prozac that are out in the market are ineffective? If so, please feel free to discuss your thought on the subject.

Prostitution

DO AS HE SAID

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

March 13, 2008

New York Times


The last time I saw Eliot Spitzer, he encouraged me to write about his work involving prostitution. So here goes.

The governor buttonholed me because he wanted credit for passage of a tough state law against sex trafficking. Frankly, he deserves credit, for the law took the innovative step of cracking down on johns by increasing penalties.

The big worry now among those working to stop trafficking is that the Spitzer scandal will add to perceptions of prostitution as a “victimless crime.” On my blog, www.nytimes.com/ontheground, one person named “Carmen” argued, “if a man can hire a pro to help improve his golf, why not let him hire a pro to help improve his sex?”

Another poster, who identified herself as a former prostitute in Australia, said she had “never felt exploited or trapped” and added, “It was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had.”

Yet the evidence is overwhelming that, in the United States, prostitution is only very rarely just another career choice. Studies suggest that up to two-thirds of prostitutes have been sexually abused as girls, a majority have drug dependencies or mental illnesses, one-third have been threatened with death by pimps, and almost half have attempted suicide.

Melissa Farley, a psychologist who has written extensively about the subject, says that girls typically become prostitutes at age 13 or 14. She conducted a study finding that 89 percent of prostitutes urgently wanted to escape the work, and that two-thirds have post-traumatic stress disorder — not a problem for even the most frustrated burger-flipper.

The mortality data for prostitutes is staggering. The American Journal of Epidemiology published a meticulous study finding that the “workplace homicide rate for prostitutes” is 51 times that of the next most dangerous occupation for women, working in a liquor store. The average age of death of the prostitutes in the study was 34.


......
You may read the whole article at
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/opinion/13kristof.html?hp

Which approach (if any) do you agree with the most?

Homeschool vs. Public Education

The advantages of home schooling versus public education have been debated for ages and have been a great cause of concern among parents. Parents keen on ascertaining a bright future for their children should dwell on the details of both home schooling and public education, scrutinize them thoroughly, before opting for any one of the two.



The Advantages Of Home Schooling


* The crucial advantage of home schooling is its flexibility. You can select the lessons to perfectly complement your child’s learning aptitude.

...
You may read the whole article at http://www.homeschoolinkwell.com/home-schooling-versus-public-education.html

Which method of education do you think is best and why?

Freedom of Ignorance

FREEDOM OF IGNORANCE

Steven Derocher, February 27, 2008

Tolerance seems to be losing its popularity. We see evidence of this in the acts of violence and hate toward religious institutions across the world. However, some still espouse this vanishing virtue. One such individual is Krister Stendahl. He is the dean of Harvard Divinity School. He also spent a few years as the Lutheran bishop of Stockholm. In a meeting with the press in Sweden, Stendahl outlined three principles that he thought should govern our discussions of the religious beliefs of other people:

“(1) If you want to know what others believe, ask them. Don't ask their critics or their enemies. (2) When looking at the religious faith of others, compare your best with their best, not their worst with your best. (3) Always leave room for ‘holy envy.’"

Krister Stendahl is not of my religion. In fact, Lutherans have a great many differences with my faith. However, he encourages understanding and open-mindedness. This non-judgmental attitude has helped me appreciate Lutherans’ beliefs, as well as the beliefs of others. When I want to know what Lutherans believe, I will ask a Lutheran. When I want to know what Jews believe, I will ask a Jew. If I want to know what a skeptic believes, I will ask a skeptic. And upon comparing doctrine, as Stendahl suggests, I will compare bests with bests. This leads to “holy envy,” or, in other words, sincere appreciation of another’s convictions.

François Voltaire taught, “Love truth, but pardon error.” I can appreciate this conviction, and it appears to be illustrative of Voltaire’s “best.” In my consideration of his life’s work, I choose ignore the fact that he was a known skeptic, often leaving little room for “holy envy.” He once said, “Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and bloody religion that has ever infected the world.” This is an obviously unfair statement. His biased, narrow-minded conclusion borders on absurdity. In this instance, Voltaire’s observation certainly could have been more generous.

According to a survey conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), 10 percent of Americans said they believe Muslims worship a moon god. CAIR also reported nearly 2,000 complaints of harassment, violence and discriminatory treatment in 2005, which was a 30 percent increase from incidents reported in the U.S. in 2004. This, says CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper, is largely due to a “negative and politically charged environment on the Internet and talk radio.” Keep in mind these statistics can only be gathered from the discriminatory acts that are reported. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/18/AR2006091800597.html)

Again, I am not Muslim. And again, their doctrine varies from that of my own religion. But I don’t have to be Muslim or even a member of CAIR to see the connection between false propaganda and discrimination.* I cannot understand how anyone would feel justified in believing things about a group they didn’t hear from one of its members. By this same gullible logic I would rather take my Suzuki to a Ford dealership for difficult repairs than I would to the Suzuki dealership. Perpetuating the intolerant ignorance would be just the same as then referring everyone else to the Ford dealership, trash talking the Suzuki dealership in the process.

I fear that too often we would rather agree with those most like us than think for ourselves. Such “mob mentality” is hardly ever founded on reality. When people look to popular opinion for accuracy, trustworthiness is weakened. James A. Haught wrote an essay entitled “Breaking the Last Taboo” over eleven years ago. He begins by citing numerous well-known writers and philosophers. All of the quotations are anti-religion in nature. It almost seems that he takes an innocent, neutral stand, as if to say, “Here is the evidence. I’m just giving you the impartial facts from society’s greatest minds.” As if this wasn’t enough to prove ignorant prejudice, he goes on to contrast these noble opinions with “Christianity’s” worst and darkest deeds. What a perfect example of “comparing bests with worsts!”
There is nothing to be gained from intolerance. Those who feel the need to circulate their opinions about the world should seek thorough understanding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uum0FUMdejE

Please watch the following before commenting on this article:

Both sides on gay adoption cite concern for children

By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY


When Harold Birtcher and his partner, Thom O'Reilly, decided to adopt a child three years ago, Ohio officials told the men only one of them could become the legal parent. In Ohio, same-sex partners are barred from joint adoption.


So the men, who have been together for 25 years, went to Oregon to jointly adopt Michael, now 10. The boy had been beaten and sexually abused, O'Reilly says, and refused to hug anyone for most of his four years in foster care.
....



You may read the whole article at
http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=USATODAY.com+-+Both+sides+on+gay+adoption+cite+concern+for+children&expire=&urlID=17284478&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fnation%2F2006-02-20-gay-adoption-foster_x.ht
Do you support or oppose gay adoption?

The immigrants they scorn

Feb. 13, 2008 12:00 AM

While some presidential candidates try to score political points by playing into apprehension about immigration, the immigrants they vilify are busy sustaining the American economy.Immigrants play a crucial role in our nation's academic, medical and high-tech sectors.
.......


You may read the whole article at
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0213pastor13.html
Should illegal immigrants be given an amnesty or should they be deported?

Link: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0213pastor13.html

Abortion rates same whether legal or not

Abortion rates same whether legal or not






Study: Rich, poor countries have equal statistics; half of procedures unsafe












LONDON - Women are just as likely to get an abortion in countries where it is outlawed as they are in countries where it is legal, according to research published Friday.
In a study examining abortion trends from 1995 to 2003, experts also found that abortion rates are virtually equal in rich and poor countries, and that half of all abortions worldwide are unsafe.
....
You may read the whole article at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21255186/

Are you pro-life or pro-choice and why?

The Fight For the Right to Die

Last Updated June 11, 2007
CBC News
Sue Rodriguez fought the law prohibiting assisted suicide all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, but lost. (CP Photo) In 1992, Sue Rodriguez forced the right-to-die debate into the spotlight in Canada. In a video statement played to members of Parliament, the Victoria woman, diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in 1991, asked lawmakers to change the law banning assisted suicide.
...

You may read the whole article at http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/assistedsuicide/




"Do you support legislation that legalizes assisted suicide or do you oppose it?"

Tampa Officer, Teen Helper Attacked During Investigation

Tampa Officer, Teen Helper Attacked During Investigation


By THOMAS W. KRAUSE and CLAUDIA DoCAMPO, The Tampa Tribune News Channel 8 Published: December 26, 2007



TAMPA - A Tampa police officer and a teenage member of the police Explorer program were attacked while investigating a possible burglary Monday night. Both were hit over the head with a police baton during a struggle outside a vacant house at 312 Floribraska Ave., according to police reports. Fernando Lopez, who lives next door to the vacant house, said he was cooking a holiday meal with his mother when he saw a young man and woman bend back some bars on the house and crawl in through a window. "I knocked on the window and said, 'Get out of there; I'm going to call the police,'" Lopez said Tuesday. .....

You may read the whole article at

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/dec/26/me-man-jailed-after-officer-hit-bitten/?news-breaking
What are your thoughts on the Police Explorer Program?

"Guarding Deaths Door"

On March 20, a man named Keith Clay died in Texas. His death was largely unremarkable except for one thing: he was the 300th person executed in Texas since the U.S. Supreme Court reauthorized capital punishment in 1976. One need not ignore the savagery of his crimes--prosecutors said Clay stood by while a friend murdered a father and his two kids on Christmas Eve 1993, 11 days before Clay himself butchered a store clerk--to pause at his execution. Three hundred is an impressive milestone, not only because it exceeds the number of executions in the next five top death-penalty states combined, but also because it was reached so quickly. It took nearly two decades for Texas to consummate its first 100 death sentences after 1976--but only five more years to pass 200 and just three after that to hit 300. (The total has since climbed to 306.)
.....

You may read the rest of this article at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1005201,00.html.

What do you think of the death penalty?

Intelligent Design vs. Evolution

Wednesday, Aug. 03, 2005
Fanning the Controversy Over 'Intelligent Design'
By Matthew Cooper/Washington

A light-hearted White House conversation with representatives of Texas newspapers may have opened a new controversy for President George W. Bush. The President laughed when Knight-Ridder�s Ron Hutcheson asked for Mr. Bush�s "personal views" about the theory of "intelligent design", which religious activists advocate should be taught in U.S. schools as an alternative to theories of evolution. After joking that the reporter was "doing a fine job of dragging me back to the past," to his days as governor of Texas, Bush said: "Then, I said that, first of all, that decision should be made to local school districts, but I felt like both sides ought to be properly taught...�
�

....

You may read the whole article at

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1089733,00.html

Do you think Intelligent Design should be taught in our schools?

Have a great Christmas and a terrific new year!

We'll be back mid January.

:)) A MUST READ ON THE BENEFITS OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM: Seeing the World from Iran's Point of View

:(( Judge Sarah Bradley decided not to jail nine men guilty of gang raping a 10-year-old girl in an Aboriginal community. In her ruling she told the rapists that the 10-year old "probably agreed to have sex with all of you".

Legal or Not, Abortion Rates Compare

New York Times
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: October 12, 2007

ROME, Oct. 11 — A comprehensive global study of abortion has concluded that abortion rates are similar in countries where it is legal and those where it is not, suggesting that outlawing the procedure does little to deter women seeking it.
Moreover, the researchers found that abortion was safe in countries where it was legal, but dangerous in countries where it was outlawed and performed clandestinely. Globally, abortion accounts for 13 percent of women’s deaths during pregnancy and childbirth, and there are 31 abortions for every 100 live births, the study said.
Read full article



Here in the U.S. laws have never stopped abortion, but only relegated it to back- alley butchers. Abortion was criminalized throughout the U.S. between the late 1800s and 1973.

In 1973 the our Supreme Court handed down Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion in all 50 states.

Laws have never stopped abortion, but only relegated it to back-alley butchers. Abortion was criminalized throughout the U.S. between the late 1800s and 1973. But during that time, millions of women sought and obtained abortions anyway. Illegal abortions were commonly performed in unsafe conditions, and maternal complications and death were common.



There are two sides to the issue here in the U.S.

Pro-Choice, which takes a legal stance that is is the right of a woman to make her own choice on this matter.
Pro-life, which takes a moral stance that it should be illegal based on personal religious beliefs.





What are your views on this highly debated emotional issue?

Illegal Immigration

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) estimates that in January of 2000 there were7 million illegal aliens living in the United States, a number that is growing by half a million a year. Thus, the illegal-alien population in 2003 stands at at least 8 million. Included in this estimate are approximately 78,000 illegal aliens from countries who are of special concern in the war on terror. It is important to note that the 500,000 annual increase is the net growth in the illegal-alien population (new illegal immigration minus deaths, legalizations, and out-migration).

You may read the whole article at

.http://www.cis.org/topics/illegalimmigration.html

What are your thoughts on illegal immigrants?

America’s Lagging Health Care System

Editorial in New York Times about this survey taken


America’s Lagging Health Care System

Published: November 1, 2007
Americans are increasingly frustrated about the sub par performance of this country’s fragmented health care system, and with good reason. A new survey of patients in seven industrialized nations underscores just how badly sick Americans fare compared with patients in other nations. One-third of the American respondents felt their system is so dysfunctional that it needs to be rebuilt completely — the highest rate in any country surveyed. The system was given poor scores both by low-income, uninsured patients and by many higher-income patients.

You may read the whole article at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/opinion/01thu3.html?ex=1351656000&en=e4fd61e785541332&ei=5124&partner=digg&exprod=digg

Do you agree or disagree that America should go to a more universal heath careprogram?

Thousands Rally Against Iraq War In S.F.

Thousands Rally Against Iraq War In S.F.
POSTED: 4:42 pm PDT October 27, 2007
UPDATED: 6:36 pm PDT October 27, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO -- Thousands of people called for a swift end to the war in Iraq as they marched through downtown on Saturday, chanting and carrying signs that read: "Wall Street Gets Rich, Iraqis and GIs Die" or "Drop Tuition Not Bombs."
...
You may read the whole article at http://www.ktvu.com/news/14439605/detail.html

What do you think about the war?