Voter disatisfaction

So, last night was election night, and most everything turned out the way that I hoped...Democrats lost the majority in the house, so Pelosi is no longer the speaker, which is the best politcal news I have heard in awhile. I am not here to speak my political views though, but what I am here about is how frustrated I am with politicians that try to trick Americans into thinking an amendment is for a purpose other than what it is really for, and Americans that are too lazy to take the time to really understand what the amendment is about. Last night there were 4 amendments on the ballot, all of which were phrased in a sneaky way to confuse the general public about what they were really approving. While some of the amendments could go either way based on whether you approve large government, the amendment I am most upset about, is the passing of water rights. The water rights amendment was written so cleverly that I had to read it a few times to understand what it was really changing, but I was determined to grasp the concept before casting my ballot. Basically, the amendment allows more tax breaks to individuals and businesses, and not just non-profits, which it tried to highlight. What upset me the most is that this amendment now will give a tax break to people just because they share a common border with non-profit land, or land that was awarded the tax bread. I could be cynical, but this sound like large business paying off a politician for a tax break. Thus, we, as Utahn's just allowed more rich people to pay less tax on their land for providing no benefit to society. Way to go Utah!

Are you a bigot?

Imagine this...thousands of people are on "The Oasis of the Seas", which is currently the largest cruise ship. On board there are eight men wearing traditional clerical garb, so the passengers assume there must be a Catholic meeting taking place. However, these eight men ultimately blow up the ship and kill most of the passengers on board. Wow...what a depressing way to initiate a post. Now ponder this, if you were getting on a cruise ship after this event and saw men who appeared to be priests, would you be apprehensive?

The reason posed this example is because a political commentator, Juan Williams, was fired by NPR because he stated that he still feels uneasy when he gets on a plane and sees people wearing the traditional muslim clothing. The rationale behind his firing is that his comments were offensive. Thus, this got me thinking. Is it irrational to be nervous or apprehensive because something or someone reminds you of an extremely traumatic event? Juan did not state that muslim made him apprehensive or that he had any problem with muslims, just merely that he felt uneasy in the abovementioned situation. Now, I am not sure if many/any of my 2 readers know who Juan Williams is, but he is a left leaning commentator who also appears on Foxnews, primarily on the O'Reilly Factor. If you have any history of watching him, you would realize that he is about as open-minded as a person could be. So, my question to you, was NPR justified in firing Juan? Were his comments hateful and inappropriate? Or, was he putting forth an opinion that millions of people share, but are not willing to admit?

Voting Season

Well, we are less than one week from voting again, and I have an ambivalent attitude toward most of the candidates. I do know that I will vote for Prop. 1, which will provide funding to the Utah Museum of Natural History. The family and I went there last weekend and saw how run-down the building is, and Stacy and I would like to see an upgrade for our children. I am not here to discuss my polictical view, but would like to bring up a topic that could be viewed quite differently in our kids' generation, depending how voting goes next week in California.

In California Prop. 19 has been introduce, which will legalize marijuana for the state. I was reading an article last night from Newsweek that discusses how more conservatives are jumping onboard its legalization. The article discusses a devote Catholic woman who was a strong opponent against legalization, until her son suffered a severe spinal injury, and marijuana was one of the only drugs that helped him function. Well, her son ultimately started a school in California, "Oaksterdam University", that is devoted to studying pot, and is now a millionaire. Anyhow, I just thought I would bring up the topic and find out people's opinions on the subject of legalization because I am curious to see what unfolds in our lifetime and be able to look back on this post and see if any thoughts come to fruition.

Right to Life

So, I am in my final quarter of graduate school. For a class I am currently taking I have been given a writing assignment of advocating for the Governer of Nebraska in an on-going debate about whether to provide prenatal healthcare to undocumented immigrants. The governer is taking the position that all illegal immegrants should not have access to any resources since they are in the country illegally. Conversely, the pro-life advocates are taking the stance that a child born in the U.S. is considered a legal citizen regardless of his/her parent's status, and thus prenatal care should be provided to decrease costs associated with premature births and other varing ailments. Well, the intent of my post is not to discuss my assignment, but to put forth the question of, how can someone not be pro-life? Here is a brief description of what is done to an unborn child..."second and third trimester abortions utilize an instrument with sharp metal jaws to grasp parts of the child's body, tear it away from the uterine wall, and the child's head must be crushed." This is of course from an article from someone taking a biased pro-life stance. However, having two children of my own, I cannot fathom doing this to what I consider to be a living person. Maybe may view is obscure, however, if you have been to any doctor's appointments and seen your child's heartbeat, could you envision doing those things to said child? I doubt not. Anyway, this is my rant for the day because I could not stop thinking about the article.