Westboro Baptist Church – Show Some Respect

Information & Education, Life & Living
I used to be a devout Catholic who regularly attended religious services on any given Sunday. But once I became a freethinking adult, I found that many of my beliefs about religion stemmed more from my parent’s views than from my own. I see religion as a very private matter, up to the individual, and something that shouldn’t be forced upon anyone by radical groups looking for allies. I’ve also discovered there’s a lot of hypocrites out there - who preach the word of their God of choice, but do little to practice its beliefs in their every day lives. I’m not sure if that makes them any more religious than I am, but I’m sure in their own minds it does. As I understand it, the purpose of religion…
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Driving Drunk – Another Sad Truth in the World We Live In

Information & Education, Life & Living, Youth
It was around 8:05 pm on April 20, 2008, when 17-year-old Mathew Bray was struck and killed by someone driving drunk as he rode his bike home from a friend’s house. “Mathew was a special kid. He would bend over backwards to do anything for anybody," his mother Mary said of her son. And though almost three years have passed since the tragedy, my thoughts and prayers still go out to his family and friends - as I’m sure such a loss is not easily forgotten. Regardless of how many innocent people die every year, Americans continue their abuse of alcohol – many times for its impairing nature, which allows one to temporarily forget their own reality. But what happens when that denial of self collides with the innocence of…
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Blaming Unions is Unfair is Not as Black and White as it sounds

Information & Education, Life & Living
Regardless of my or anyone’s affiliation to union workers, the current regime of politicians in the spotlight are really no different than any of their predecessors – regardless of what they might say. They’re out to make a name for themselves, in a crowded political arena, and what better way to do so than to make headlines with dirty politics by blaming unions. What concerns me more however is the naivety of the human race. Instead of demanding facts, we listen to just about anyone who’s persuasive enough to convince us that somehow we’ve been wronged – oftentimes fictitious propaganda to further one’s agenda. But isn’t that politics in a nutshell or maybe a religious cult in which followers go along blindly with no opinion of their own? Fine, the…
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Athlete Salaries are Disrespectful to Hard Working Americans

Information & Education, Life & Living
Recently, I stumbled upon an interesting fact about baseball great Babe Ruth and other athlete salaries. It’s been reported that Ruth earned a higher salary during the Great Depression of the 1930’s then President Hoover - publicly defending his $75,000 earnings by saying, “Why not? I had a better year than President Hoover did.” While professional baseball players are skilled at the game they’re playing, I’m not sure their salaries should be more than someone guiding our country through one of the most difficult times in history. Think about this – our current president earns some $400,000 a year - seems like a lot of money, right? Hold on to your hats folks. In 2010, Derek Jeter of the Yankees earned almost $23 million, the average player’s salary among the…
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Supporting children’s dreams is part of being a good parent

Information & Education, Youth
When a parent says, “That’s a waste of time. My money is not paying for that. You’ll go to a regular college and that’s good enough.” Are they really supporting children's dreams? Here's an example. My main complaint with people talking on their cell phones in common areas such as supermarkets, coffee shops and even at work is that many times you have no choice but to become a part of their personal, and often, vocal conversations. Like the other day when I was forced to listen to a mother deflating her child’s self-esteem over the phone. Talk about feeling uncomfortable. I mean seriously, wouldn’t you rather have that conversation in the privacy of your car, or here’s a thought, at home face to face? Surprised by what I was…
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