Hamas and Israel political cartoon

The bloodbath continues... and continues... when will it end? Nobody knows. Who does any of this benefit? Nobody. Who will give in? Nobody. This is an age old tale of oil and vinegar, vehement hatred for another group of human beings. There is nothing off limits, child slaughter is even considered a necessary evil in this long-standing battle. This is done in the name of God, well I haven't personally met God, but I'd be willing to bet that he would retch at the sight of such savagery. How people justify this kind of behavior within themselves, I do not know, nor will I ever.

Where and how, if at all, should sex education be conducted?

  

   Sexual education is absolutely crucial. I think it should be taught at school and at home. If it's not taught at home at the very least taught in school starting in the pre-teenage years. There are people who think that teaching kids how to have safe sex will encourage them to partake in it. I absolutely disagree with that thought process. We're humans with human urges and if we're interested in sex we're going to find a way to make it happen. Sexual education class in my high school was quite the opposite of alluring. The teacher taught us about all of the risks involved in sex including sexually transmitted diseases and infections and even pregnancy. The bottom line though is that I was educated about how to be safe when and if I decided to have sex. I myself have never been pregnant because I have always exercised safe practices. The kids of the people who are against sexual education in my high school were the ones who were more likely to turn up pregnant at age sixteen and even fifteen in some cases. Statistics show that sexual education reduces the chance of accidental pregnancy . The proof is in the pudding!

Should parents and other interested citizens censor textbooks and other literature for children in schools?

   The big problem with parents and other parties censoring textbooks is the agenda behind it. The facts are the facts, people can teach their children their own opinion on why or how things happened in our history, but the truth needs to stay intact in order for us to learn from our past mistakes. A lot of what I've been hearing about the people who want to implement changes in history textbooks are people who want to all together remove historical milestones in black history or any history that paints the United states in a bad light. That sugarcoated lalaland idea of how we got to where we are now is the very thing that could digress our progress in this country right back to square one! Let our children form their minds and opinions without manipulation and censorship.

Should law or custom regarding American funeral practices be revised?

  The issue with this countries' funeral practices involve issues with available land and attitude. I feel that the practice of getting buried is a waste of space and irrelevant to honoring the memory of a loved one. I like the idea of scattering ashes in a meaningful location of your loved one's choice. With a soaring population, the amount of space and resources we have available to conduct our funerals in this manner will eventually make it a harder choice for people who want a traditional burial. 

  The other issue with the way we honor our departed is with our attitude about death. There are cultures that celebrate the life of their loved ones more than lament the tragedy of the loss. I wish that the norm for funerals in this country would involve singing, dancing, sharing memories and bonding instead of the cold silence of a formal American funeral. Whatever the tradition is though, I just have endless pity for all who have had a loss in their lives, which makes it hard to judge what tradition they follow in order to feel closure.

The impact of automation on American culture and lifestyles

The use of automation in the wave of the future, there is no denying it or fighting it. For every development there are downfalls of course, the increasing laziness and narcissism is a major downfall of our increased availability of technology. For example, nobody cares that you had a ham sandwich for lunch and there is no need to tweet, blog or post that on facebook! The benefit however out outnumbers the downfalls in my opinion. The further we develop automation the more likely that manual labor and grunt work will become obsolete, giving people a chance to put their efforts towards innovation and development of better, cleaner, more environmentally friendly products. Giving everyone the ability to put their brains to use and not have to scrape by on remedial, degrading tasks for a living, leaving the manual labor to automation.

Should newspaper reporters have to reveal their sources?

  I do not believe that journalists are in the position to reveal all of their sources. Part of getting sources requires getting information from an "inside" person revealing things which they would get fired for revealing. That is the job of the journalist to do the research to either back that information up, or debunk that information. Unfortunately in our world there is not as much transparency in our media as there should be and you can never trust what you read due to government interference and facts being manipulated for political reasons. This invisible fence that lies between fact and manipulation is not going to disappear anytime soon. I tend to find multiple sources on anything I read to get a more well-rounded view on the issue. The problem lays with the news sources that prey on people who get brainwashed by everything the media tell them to think *Fox news* cough cough, although there are equally slanted liberal counterparts to that.

Should pornography be restricted by law?

I believe that the only restrictions that should be put on pornography should be when the content is involving somebody underage, somebody being raped or maimed, or any other content that goes against human or animal rights. People very often try and seemingly never succeed to put restrictions on human nature and I feel like the back fire to that is worst than the act itself. There have been many examples of this that I have seen. One scenario that exemplifies this is when a very religious person such as a priest is suppressing his sexuality to such a degree and for such a long time that he RAPES or molests young alter boys. The question you have to ask is, "would him watching consensual sex via pornography or having consensual sex with an adult  really be worse than that?" My answer is absolutely and unequivocally NO.

"The man with the golden voice"

After reading articles and watching videos about Ted Williams The man with the golden voice, I started to think about the power of addiction. This is a very talented man with a seemingly gentle nature who could have been the most successful announcer or radio personality in the industry, but drugs and alcohol took that dream from him. In one of the videos he had gotten a second chance at making a life out of his talent, getting announcing opportunities and publicity .Slowly he succumbed to drugs and alcohol again, but fortunately he chose to get treatment and the saga continues. I do not have struggles with addiction, nor do I know anyone who does and the more i learn about it via this story or shows like Intervention, the more I wish that nobody has to experience that kind of demon. It trumps talent, it trumps family, addiction trumps all.