The Death Penalty

Many people are opposed to the death penalty, while some people like it, and others just don't care about it, or don't know about it. (The death penalty is called Capital punishment, and this is when a person is sentences to death for capital offences, like crimes involving planned murder, multiple murders, repeated crimes, rape and murder etc). There are values at stake weather a person is for or against the death penalty. Values at stake for people who oppose the death penalty are Human dignity, something that every human is born with. Who gives another human the right and power to kill another human being? No one. People that are innocent can be killed too. People are not perfect, ergo the supposed justice system is not perfect or without flaw. When a person tells you not to hurt someone by hurting you, it's wrong, its retribution. That's exactly what the death penalty does.

The death penalty is cruel since any person can be put to death at the word of some people. Life in prison is cheaper than the medical costs and legal costs of execution too. The money that goes to execution is money of tax payers! Everyone that pays taxes, which is the majority of people in America should have a say on this.The people who are for the death penalty are saying that justice is better served, the victim's families that are suffering finally have closure, and it helps stop over crowding and over populating the jails and prisons.Although those things are true, there is also morals in this! The person getting that death sentence could be anyone in the world...Violent crimes should be punished, but not with something that would be considered a crime if someone else did it, like killing. The word CORRECTIONAL in correctional facilities is there for a reason, to help people get better. People should not be killed. The worst that should be done is to indefinitely detain someone. The death penalty does not rehabilitate, so when people commit crimes now they just have a much more violent state of mind, like they might as well cause as much chaos as possible because the government is going to kill them anyways; Because of that crime isn't deterred, people are just tougher. Killing is unChristian like. Christians are supposed to forgive, not kill. There are better ways to combat violence than killing. If a person is so bad that they cannot be around other persons then put them in an environment that is that way, but do not kill them. The human life must be respected because God created everything and ultimately he has the power. No one person has the right to say 'I don't like that you did this or that, so I'm going to kill you'. It is not good to let 100 guilty people go free rather than convict one guilty person, unless their conviction includes the death penalty because that person just needs to be helped and not killed. It is not acceptable to keep killing people especially since some of the people are found innocent after they are dead. That's just plain rude, discouraging, enraging, and not nice. The Catholic teaching says that “bloodless means should be used wherever they are enough to protect the common good. “ I completely agree with this teaching, and i feel like it needs to be expressed in many more places. With the death penalty this teaching definitely needs to be applied because there is no need to kill and take away lives of people when other things can be done to handle the situation in a better ethical manner.

The "R" word...

Okay so a mother who has a 9 year old that has cerebral palsy( a group of disorders that can involve brain and nervous system functions such as movement, learning, hearing, seeing, and thinking). So yeah he does have a few disabilities, as many others in the world do too. Some people do not realize the impact of saying that he is "retarded" or a "retard". It's painful, especially for parents. I know that tons of people do say R word constantly and do not even thinking about it. I know that I used to... Until my mother got very involved in working in the medical field and she told me about Rosa's Law in 2010. Rosa's law basically eliminates the use of the word retarded in any federal health, education and labor law.I believe that the R word should stop being used.

But what would make people conscious of the pain that they are causing people. Many people are jerks though and could care less, especially young people. I mean there is no way of making people for sure stop, but we can let them know how much damage they are really causing. Using the R word is just like using any other derogatory word though. I have been called many deragotory names, unfortunately, and although many people do group together to stop and ban these things from happening there is noting that people really do to get people to stop.There will always be those people who do not care who or what they are hurting, so the best bet would to be to ignore the shenanigans.

I know that I do not pay attention when people say such things to me because I just don't care much for dumb people. If i do see a person though that is getting called the R word I do try and help because they might not have the same 'i-don't-care' attitude as me. I sound a bit negative, I don't mean to, but in reality it is that negative because certain people just don't care because they do not have someone in their life that deals with a mental or physical disability. Banning the word is out of the question. People need to understand it and be informed and taught why it is not nice to use the word. With no information on why people are being told not to use it, then they'll use it anyways.


Here's The story of the mother:

Religion and Politics

Okay, so some people say that religion and politics do not mix, but they very much do. When a candidate is running for a certain position they says where they stand on certain issues, and they are saying this to get voters. Certain issues like abortion, euthanasia, energy and many other things are some of these issues. Many religious leaders have discussed these issues as well, ergo there is more than just politics that matter when talking about these issues.

Well, the US Catholic Bishops have discussed what it is that they are trying to do, and it is not forcing Catholics to vote for certain candidates. There is a document titled "The Challenge of Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship" In this document it says that Catholics should take what they already do, and apply it, EVERYWHERE. This is what is supposed to be done, because as Christians there are certain things that are just wrong like controlling one of God's children lives. No person has any right to do that, and abortion does just that. There are other issues that do that too, like the death penalty. Who are we to decide when someone needs to be killed? This document talks about all of this and how people should vote based on thier Catholic beliefs and values. It also says that catholic a person should be involved in the politics by either working, or volunteering. Catholics can always talk to running candidates to be involved too. This will keep people actively embracing God and certain morals in politics.

As a Christian I completely agree with everything that was said in that document. I have grown up with values and morals that I sometimes do take for granted but when it comes to me voting in November, they will play a large role. Christians should always be honest and true to their faith because God sees all. All that the bishops were saying is that as a Christian there is a role that is there and that is influential. If a person votes based on a political party, okay, but it should be kept in mind where these parties stand when it comes to morals and right and wrong. Over all religion and politics do definitely mix and when it comes to voting people need to remember this!


Link to "The Challenge of Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship": http://usccb.org/issues-and-action/faithful-citizenship/upload/Forming-Consciences-Faithful-Citizenship-bulletin-insert.pdf

What is Solidarity?

Solidarity is a unity or agreement of feeling or action, among individuals with a common interest. This provides mutual support within a group. Today in the world there are many examples of solidarity, and how it is and is not working.

So an organization called Catholic relief services is greatly demonstrating solidarity. They help over 40 different counties. They are all dedicated to increasing food security around the world and supporting hunger and poverty. Over 13,000 different faith communities are involved with this. They are all working together to achieve and make progress in something that they believe in.

A lady faked having cancer to raise money... This is definitely an example of how solidarity does not exist everywhere. To her instead of helping people that really do have breast cancer she wanted to be selfish, and very not nice i might add, and hurt people that tried to help her. She angered and enraged many people by doing what she did. But the damage is done and cannot be undone.



Even though all people do not display solidarity, many do. This is a good thing too because its good for people to work together towards something, rather than be lonely and selfish.

Website that goes with first of example: http://orb.crs.org

Website that goes with the second example of not having solidarity: http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story/Cancer-Survivors-Outraged-Over-Cancer-Scammer/fmqOmY9FeEOoSlha7lFOdw.cspx

The execution of Troy Davis.

Troy Davis, a 42 man, was executed around 11pm, September 21st, 2011.
He was on death row in Georgia for being accused of killing a police officer, with no evidence... NO EVIDENCE!
Many people believe that he is not guilty, nor should he have been executed.
The jurors did not even want to deal with this case, and they felt like they pretty much had no choice but to.
So basically Davis was prosecuted and executed based on what two people said.
This is wrong...

I thought America had a good government... apparently its not so good, when it comes to some things.

Fight against the death penalty.
Links:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/cases/usa-troy-davis
http://www.talkradionews.com/news/2011/9/22/opinion-why-is-troy-davis-dead.html
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/215441/20110917/troy-davis-case-thousands-people-protested-in-georgia-to-oppose-troy-s-execution-murdered-arrested-p.htm