Archive for 2010
Solving Illegal Immigration
Posted on: July 3rd, 2010
As Mexican and other Hispanic people continue to enter the country illegally, a solution to illegal immigration is becoming more important than ever. The border states in particular are becoming increasingly agitated, which is to say, the people who live near the border are becoming increasingly agitated, and often for legitimate reasons. Let there be no confusion about it: illegal immigrants are coming here illegally, and in doing so, they’re disrespecting our sovereignty. More pragmatically, they’re obtaining our benefits illegally, and some are even bringing drug activity with them, or else stealing people’s identities. This state of affairs should not be allowed to continue. However, despite calls for mass deportation, deporting every illegal immigrant is not the answer, and nor is taking any measure meant to force them out voluntarily. The fact is, illegal immigrants wouldn’t be here had we been regulating our border properly for the past several decades, and further, many are just trying to better themselves, and are contributing to our economy in the process. Thus the solution is not to deport, but rather to secure the border once and for all; deport just the criminals; and provide everyone else with permanent resident status, subject only to the usual conditions that such status brings.
In Appreciation of the King
Posted on: April 23rd, 2010
Mention the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll to anyone at all, and chances are they’ll know right away who you’re talking about. For of all the popular musical performers we’ve seen over the decades, perhaps Elvis Presley was and remains the most famous and beloved of them all. He absolutely captivated young audiences back then with his provocative performing style and amazing voice, and even now, thirty plus years after his death, people still visit his old home as if expecting to catch a glimpse of him there, while Elvis impersonators abound in both number and popularity. Yet alongside this public phenomenon was once a very different and personal one in the life of someone who was simply a man before he was a famous singer, a man who likely never imagined the unprecedented status he would achieve, or the prices that would accompany it. For all the obsessive fame and that which sustained it took Elvis from humble and simple beginnings through nothing less, ultimately, than substantially declining health and prescription drug abuse, culminating in his untimely death long before his time. Such is the other side of the Elvis phenomenon, the personal one concerning all the hardship he had to endure in his famous lifetime, and one people might think about just a little more if they’re to truly appreciate all that the King left behind.
What God Would Never Ask
Posted on: March 19th, 2010
A belief closely linked to belief in God is that He requires your obedience and conformance to His wishes, lest you be eternally condemned. Of course, these wishes are commonly believed to be in books such as the Bible and the Qur’an, and they’re amply supplemented with teachings either laid down very early on, or else articulated over the centuries by religious authority. Yet if the universe was created by God, then all its many wonders are obviously of His creation, and this includes the awesome potential of the human mind, and what human beings could conceivably accomplish, intellectually or otherwise. Simply put then, if God exists and is really God, the only embodiment of pure goodness and wisdom, He would never ask for so much of the potential He gave us to be wasted, as by asking us to limit our beliefs and actions to accord with specific wishes of His. Rather, He would desire to see us develop our potential to its fullest, in the process developing a myriad of views beyond accepted religious dogma, for only then could He see His Creation truly enacted.
Assortments of Thought 