Obama's Blundering Morality - Stem Cells

On this day, Monday, March 09, 2009, President Obama will be keeping one of his campaign promises, it is the promise to reverse President George W. Bush’s executive order to stiffly limit the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Congratulations Mr. Obama, like King David in the case of Uriah, you have just carefully orchestrated murder. The main difference being that King David was a man after God’s own heart and repented, where Mr. Obama will most likely sleep just fine tonight.
In contrast to President Bush, I do not even condone the research be done on already aborted embryos, as I believe that abortion is immoral. But, to produce embryos solely for research is just wrong. It is argued by myself as well as millions of other morally correct citizens, that abortion and the production of embryos for research is ethically wrong. However, it is argued on the other side that it is morally wrong, for the sake of cures of Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries and other diseases, to not utilize this research. Ironically, the best research and only really successful research has come from the study of adult stem cells. And the lives of the adults do not need to be taken for the research to take place. http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/winter01/stem_cell.html
I have seen beloved relatives suffer through Parkinson’s and yes I prayed that the disease would be eased, but neither them nor I would have wanted the death of millions of fetuses for this gain.
Obama stated before signing the order, “It is about letting scientists like those here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it’s inconvenient – especially when it’s inconvenient.” That is easy to say when you have been given a chance to live outside of a lab dish, a chance to become someone and something, not just produced as a means to an end.
THE END NEVER JUSTIFIES THE MEANS IF THE MEANS IS IMMORAL!
Obama then stated, “ …In recent years, when it comes to stem cell research, rather than furthering discovery, our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values. In this case, I believe the two are not inconsistent.” It becomes pretty clear that when it comes to morality and truth, President Obama God have two pretty contrasting views.

The “Stars”, Like Sergeant Schultz, “know nothing”

The economy is dropping and looking bleak, let’s ask Lindsey Lohan what she thinks, that will make things better. The United States is in an energy crisis; let’s call Tom Cruise, because he spent many years getting multiple degrees in the sciences (for the record Scientology is not a true science.) We are going to war again, let’s quickly contact Pitt and Jolie, perhaps their experience in violent films will help me sleep at night.
Why do we care what the stars are thinking? Many of them are not thinking at all. It has always stopped me in my tracks. We go to war, we hear from military analysts who have spent their lives actually in the military and studying the same. We hear the opinion of new broadcasters who have great research teams and years of experience in research; we listen to politicians who also have background and some understanding, and then we spend time hearing from the stars. As if Sean Penn’s opinion will place people at ease. I would glean better information from my horoscope as it deals with the heavenly stars. (I do not endorse this course of research either.)
Don’t get me wrong, next to the brilliant soldiers, analysts, reporters and politicians; there are plenty of idiots within their ranks. But what qualifies a movie or music icon to give expert opinion on the major issues that our great country faces? I will tell you, the fans, that’s who. The fans cannot wait to hear what their favorite rocker has to say about the latest crisis. It is the fan, the general public that has elevated the stars to a status of all wisdom. It is all of the masses that can no longer think for themselves because they have been spoon fed shallow scripts that cause them not to think, video games with reset buttons and “music” with lyrics that would drown in a thimble.
I would become a big fan of the Hollywood icon or the Stadium performer who just simply told the truth and said, “I know nothing.”

John Adams – The Unsung President

President Adams was not just a one term President who should be skipped by in history books and great discussions on our way from Washington to Jefferson. I do not always agree with Adam’s view of the role of government, but he was a true patriot and statesman as well as a loving husband and father and should be memorialized in grand fashion.
John Adams was very instrumental in the birth of our nation. He was a bright mind and a loyal diplomat to France and the Netherlands. At the early tension prior to the Revolution, Adams successfully defended the British soldiers that were involved in the “Boston Massacre” (as it was called by Samuel Adams.) John Adams did what was right rather than what was popular and that is reflected time and time again in the course of his service to his country and during his presidency. He was successful in keeping our newly born country out of a war between France and England, which I argue may have torn our young country apart. His actions were not rewarded because the votes for his second term were already cast when the news of the treaty was announced in the states. By that time Mr. Adams had been told that he would retire as a private citizen to his home, Peace Field in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Adams, more often than not, placed duty before his family. He spent many years away from both his wife and children and yet to read his letters, one learns that he loved them all dearly and they were never far from his thoughts. Adams wrote regularly and in more than one letter to his “Dearest Friend” Abigail, he lamented that he had not the time to write more. He was in fact a harsh taskmaster to his children, but it was out of love and a desire to see them come to be their best. He had very high aspirations for each of them. In today’s society children are often raised at the other end of the spectrum, coddled to a fault.
It is time that President John Adams was recognized with a memorial the likes of Washington and Jefferson. It must be on a grand scale as we seek to celebrate the life and service of an ardent patriot.

"Our obligations to our country never ceases but with our lives."
John Adams, Letter to Benjamin Rush, 18 April 1808

Robert E. Lee - Virginian First?

I have come to have great respect for the leadership and the man Robert E. Lee. So many Americans are quick to judge the man because he led the southern army during the War Between the States, but there is so much more to the General Lee. He was a God-fearing Christian who was apposed to slavery. He believed in a gradual emancipation, but emancipation none-the-less. So why did he fight for the south? He was loyal to his state or “country” of Virginia. Virginians all the way back to Washington and Jefferson were devoted to Virginia first. Our Virginian forefathers thought of her as a country, their mother country. Yes, other colonists thought of their particular states as individual countries as well, but like Massachusetts citizens, Virginians had a certain zest for being a born and bred member of their “country”. This carried on and when Lee was asked by Lincoln to lead the Union forces, Lee put Virginia before the United States. So let me now ask, if Virginia had not seceded and had stayed with the Union, would Robert E. Lee have still been loyal to his state? Since he was apposed to slavery and still fought for Virginia, was he so much for states rights, as was the Confederacy or would he have fought to preserve the Union as, in this instance, would have been the desire of his beloved Virginia?

To Miss W (and Ebeth)

I am friend to a young lady who is a former student of mine. She is now twenty and I have been acquainted with her since she was very young and have had the privilege of watching her grow into a woman of God. She comes from a wonderful Christian home and it is a joy to know them.
I had the opportunity to chat with her for a few minutes yesterday. I relish all of our conversations because she loves the Lord and she is a thought provoking young lady. As we talked she expressed the fact that she had been going through some times of discontentment recently in the area of marriage and the fact that she is not and not really moving in that direction at this time. You see, since I can remember, she has had the desire to become a wife and a mom. As we talked it became clear that she felt embarrassed and sinful for her lack of contentment in the place in which God has placed her and she is now content once again. So, being a bit of a thinker myself, I began to pray and ponder her situation.
I now have a few thoughts to share with you Miss W. It is so important to be joyful in each situation in which you are placed, but I believe that does not mean you cannot carry some sorrow in a situation or even a desire for change. For instance: my dad recently passed away. I find great joy that he is with the Lord and am thrilled that God answered my prayers of healing. (Not as I would have done it, but he healed him just the same.) I find great peace and yet I am taking the time for mourning as scripture teaches. (Ecclesiastes 3:4) Perhaps there is a bit of mourning in a young lady in yet unfulfilled dreams?
Secondly, there are many examples from scripture in which God places an individual or individuals in situations and they are joyful and obedient in those situations and yet they pray and even work (with God’s guidance) to change those circumstances. I first give you Paul. As Paul is writing to the church at Philippi in Chapter 1 verse 21-26 he discusses the fact that he is content to stay here on earth and do God’s will for the furthering of the Kingdom of God, but he states in verse 22 that his “desire is to depart” that is be with God and reunited with Jesus.) This in no way means we should seek our desires over the Lord’s will, but it does mean that we can have other desires. In the garden of Gethsemane, Christ prayed for God the Father to take the cup of suffering and crucifixion from Him, (that was the wholly human side of Christ.) But the wholly God side then prayed “not my will but thine be done.”
In closing, Miss W, continue to dream, continue to aspire toward a husband and children, and by all means pray for these things, but moreover continue to pray that God’s will and not yours be done.

The A.C.L.U. - A Contradiction

The American Civil Liberties Union or A.C.L.U. is suppose to be an organization who sole purpose is to protect and preserve the rights of all citizens of the United States as found in the Constitution. So why is it that they work so hard to trample on the very rights they strive to preserve while attempting to protect the same?
I give you school prayer. Now, as a Christian I do not condone teacher led prayer in schools. I do not want a person who may not be a Bible believing Christian leading my children in prayer, but let us use this example to see a clear contradiction that is the A.C.L.U. This organization claimed that to have prayer in school infringes on the rights of those who do not want to pray or practice religion. But what about the rights of those who do? I believe that they are stomping on the First Amendment rights of those who have a desire to have free speech and expression of religion.
How about Affirmative Action and other such regulations? In making sure you have just the right number of minorities employed at a workplace or enrolled at a college or university, are we not infringing on the rights of the Caucasian? I do not care what color you skin might be, I want the right person for the job. I want the he or she that has the best training, experience and/or personality to fill the niche.
A.C.L.U. if you have to exist, please exist for all people and not just those who make more of a statement and get you more press, not just the left, but the right.

The Orthodontist is Open After Three

I have been a schoolteacher now since 1995. I have spent my time teaching middle school and a little high school. What never ceases to amaze me is the casual way parents, who are paying for private education, take the responsibility that their children have to be at school. No, do not get me wrong, I want it noted that there are many families who hold school sacred, right below church, and to them I tip my hat. But, there are an increasing number of parents who are passing the bad habit of making attendance a low priority on to their children.
I am constantly asking students if they know that the orthodontist is open after three. I went through the entire brace routine when I was I high school and yet I did not miss a bit of school to do so. O.K. so it may be harder to get an appointment, but what about other activities or events? I have students in my classes who are consistently missing school days for other activities. I fully support these other areas of these students' lives, but to place them above an education is skewed. These events or activities should not infringe on the preciousness of education. Seriously, students will have the rest of their lives to do most of these activities. School is a student’s career and should be treated thus.
Finally, families that go on trips during the school year, what is that all about? We are required to be in school 180 days each year, leaving 185 days for trips. I had a family go to Disneyland the first week of school this year. You might as well wait and come back next year if you miss the important bulk of training that takes place the first week of school. I had one family that would go on a cruise every year during school days. The student missed 7 school days on the cruise and later in the year got very sick and missed more than the allotted days. When the child was assigned Saturday School, to make up for the excessive absences, the family cried foul and whined that it was not their fault. My administrator simply told them that he understood the illness, but it would not have been a problem if they had not made the decision to go on the cruise earlier in the year. The boy did Saturday School.
Education is key. Maybe it is just because I am a teacher that I am so passionate about this, but really. Are we preparing our youth for the real world?

The Anti-Social Society Deteriorating Facebook

I have been faced with a dilemma. Is Facebook something that all people should have? Is it really a good social tool? At 1.5 million users, it will soon become standard for everyone to have one, so why don’t I endorse Facebook?
Well, I just can’t bring myself to jump on the wagon. I recently read an article by Farhad Manjoo, who compared Facebook growth with the escalation of the cell phone in our society to the point that you need to have one. Manjoo states, “…and then one day enough people had cell phones that everyone began to assume that you did, too.” He then went on to say, “they’d [cell phones] grown so deeply entwined with modern life that the only reason to be without one was to make a statement by abstaining.” I cannot think of a better way of making a statement than abstention. This philosophy of doing something because everyone else is doing it and because it has become commonplace, is frightening. In the United states there are approximately 1 million divorces a year. By the time teenagers turn 18 in the United States, somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-60 percent of them have had sexual intercourse. Adolph Hitler came to power and reeked havoc on our world because a bunch of young people who were following the crowd. The anti-christ will have everyone marked because it is the thing to do.
A young friend of mine is struggling with peer pressure due to the fact that she does not have a Facebook and all of her friends do. The friends say that they could keep up with her more often and better if she had one. The irony is that most of those people live on the same college campus with her and she would end up seeing them less and talking to them less if she signed up for Facebook. Our society is becoming more and more isolated in the name of being more social. Students are texting and Facebooking rather than calling or visiting, they are walking in packs down the mall texting the friends that they are not with, while each one is listening to different music on their ipods.
If you want to be a true friend, make an effort to call or go see, or invite your friends over. I am guessing that if Christ were incarnate today, He would not be interacting with people through a text and I am betting He would not have a Facebook. He was about up close personal relationships. That is how He still wins hearts.