What's thr right age for a child to be put on birth control?

As most people know, the school board in Portland Maine has decided to provide birth control to middle school students. The school itself will have an on campus clinic, where teens and preteens can go and pick up birth control pills without parental consent. This is a huge ordeal across the nation as people argue about what is the right decision. The truth is 17 middle schooler's did get pregnant in only a 64,000 person city. So is it right to allow all the teens access to receiving birth control?... In all honesty, I do not know where I stand on this issue, however, I do know the way most teens operate. If there is unlimited access to birth control students will find it easier to be sexually active without the risk of pregnancy. Kid's fall into a trap of being "trendy" and although they may not be physically or emotionally ready they too might engage in sex. Also, birth control does not protect against STD's, another major factor which MUST be considered if engaging in sexual activities. It is one thing to provide adequate education at a young age and even condoms, but birth control stands on a whole new level. The other factor which must be considered is that a lot of these teens are not physically ready to handle the chemicals which come in birth control. There are many risk factors which comes with being on the pill and I think this is a reason why the parents must make the decision to put their child on such a "drug" and not the school board. A lot of these girls have not even entered puberty or have just began menstruation, and with the pill also comes an upset in the natural cycle and process to aging. However, even though it should be up to the parent most teens do not notify their parents of their sexual history or what they plan on engaging in. Parents must take the step in being open with their children and allowing them to feel comfortable coming to them if it really is necessary. Truthfully, I do not 11-13 girls or boys for that matter should engage in sexual activities. They are too young and cannot handle the mental or emotional pains which comes from having sex at such a young age.

Immigration Nation

This week I have decided to bring up the much debated issue on immigration. The United States was formed on a nation of immigrants and now all we can do is pass judgment and offend new immigrants coming in. I understand the two stand points and see where both sides are coming from. However, I think immigration is a necessary implement to our society. Without immigrants, low skill jobs would go to American citizens and inflation would occur nearly everywhere. Although it is unfair to the immigrants to receive much lower wages than citizens it is what must be done, unless taxes are raised substantially, an option Americans so not even consider. The problem with illegal immigration, mostly stemming from Mexico, is what a lot of Americans are at odds with. We must put aside our own selfish concerns and look at the reasons unto why they feel the need to escape their own country and come to ours. They are usually not gang bangers or bad drivers who refuse to learn our language, but they are people with humanity, like us, looking to improve their own and a lot of times their families lives. Over the summer I went on the Mexico House Build and got a chance to visit with and learn more about the Mexican culture. Driving through Mexico you notice the poverty and the soldiers situated all along the country with weapons. I don't know about you, but I would want to escape from this too. On an experience like this, you get to know the people and see how they look up and long to be Americans like us, a commodity we often take for granted. Now hear me out I am not saying there should be open borders and America should be a free for all nation. However, the immigrants in America who have abandoned their lives and risked everything to come here should not have to be deported back to their country. We must come up with a better plan and system for immigration which can look out for both the American citizens and the immigrants. Americans claim illegal immigrants are taking "their" jobs and raising their taxes, but a large majority of illegal immigrants find ways to pay taxes and contribute to society. I also believe we almost make people have to be illegal immigrants since legal immigration is so difficult. Instead we should just come up with a better process for people to become legal immigrants. We also have a problem with illegal immigrants having children who are American citizens. We cannot argue with the fact that they were born in the United States, however we do argue about the resources they can use. Children of immigrants need education, need basic health care, and need basic resources. If we do not let these children take advantage of these public organizations we are just hurting our own country more. These children will grow up to be American adults and will have the opportunity to vote and make a difference. If we do not allow them to use public education we are assisting to a less educated society. As much as people do not like paying taxes to benefit children of illegal immigrants, we must realize if we take away these rights we are only hurting our own nation. Now, I am going to give you my own personal experience with immigration. Since I was born I had a babysitter/house cleaner who is an illegal immigrant from Honduras, her name is Maria. Maria refers to me as her "1st daughter" and was around just as much as or maybe more than my working parents when I was young. She is married to an illegal immigrant and has two children. When she first started watching me I helped diffuse her into the American culture by teaching her English. She has an employment card and her husband and her have been here for 20 years. Her children are bright "American" children who some day will be American citizens. A few months ago, her husband was taken from hislow class apartment at 6 am and put into jail. They kept him in harsh conditions for a few days until finally they returned him to Mexico. Maria still came to work that day to clean my house! Does this display laziness as Mexicans are seen to be? I thought about how her children, who also went to school that day after seeing their father be taken away. Villy, her husband, was back within a week due to a "coyote" taking him across the border. I know a lot of people would hear this and become angry with the fact that he could just as easily get back across as the police brought him back home. However, look into the humanity they have worked in America for 20 years. Also, I know for a fact that they find their own way to pay taxes. All they want is to be an American citizen and are willing to fight to remain here. How many of us take this for granted? How often do we go to the negative rather than be positive that our situation could be much worse? Maria, Villy, and her children are the happiest most positive people I know and that is because they never take for granted being here in America. The truth is honestly how many of us want to be house cleaners, Villy's job as well, when we grow up? I am pretty sure none of us at least at Chaminade... and if by some chance we don't make it and are stuck with a low class job how many of us would be positive and look to the light in this situation? I believe immigrants are a natural aspect to our society and without them our lives would be much more difficult and expensive.

Should a Politician Have the Right to Lie?

The Supreme Court made it unconstitutional to pass a law saying that politicians cannot lie about their opponents. In Adam Luptik’s article, “Law on Lies by Politicians Found Unconstitutional”, he emphasizes how politicians now have the authority to use lying in their benefit. Many states have laws which make it unlawful to say false things about their opponents. However, in a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that this law is unconstitutional. The justices in favor of the new law stated that it should not be up to the government, but instead the people should have a right to exercise their freedom of speech. However, the justices against the argument felt as though “the majority’s decision is an invitation to lie with impunity.” The case aroused in 2002 when Marilou Rickert lied about her opponent Tim Sheldon. Mr. Sheldon was still re-elected and decided to sue Rickert for violating a state law that made it unlawful to publish a false statement about your opponent with reckless disregard to its truth or falsity. The commission ruled against Ms. Rickert and fined her $1,000. Now the Supreme Court is saying this is “a censorship scheme” and that the government should not be able to assume fact and opinion in political speech. They believe he could have responded in better ways and turned the tables around to make it in his favor. The other justices felt that that the First Amendment said nothing about false campaign statements and the malice standard is necessary to regulate false campaign speech. I believe if we allow our political candidates to lie to the American public in order to get ahead we then do not really know the type of people we were electing. The honest and right candidate may not be able to win whereas the ones which can come up with the most deceitful lie will take the lead. It should not be legal for the people leading our government to be able to lie and cheat to get ahead.

Senator Craig Reverses His Decision

Originally, Senator Craig had decided to resign from office after pleading guilty for a sexual offense. However, although his plea still remains guilty he has decided to reverse his original decision and states he will remain Senator until the end of his term. Republicans and other officials have criticized his decision and made it clear that they want nothing more than him to be out of his position. Although it should not matter what his sexual orientation is, it does now since the whole nation knows and views his as a sex offender. Senator Craig is now looked down upon and people will find it very hard to take him seriously in his profession. The Republicans are afraid he will embarrass their party and extend the ridicule of Senator Craig to all of them. Honestly, I feel bad for the guy, but do not think he can remain Senator without being seen as the laughing stock of Republicans. People do not want to follow someone who they themselves do not respect...

On September 1st Senator Craig had announced his resignation for the end of the month, but now he has made it apparent that he intends to stay in his position as Senator. Craig confesses that he answered too rashly to try and keep the titles of homosexual sex offender out of the news. There still are some people who sympathize with Senator Craig and continue to stand behind him as Senator. We will continue to see how things play out and if after all the statements and criticism Senator Craig receives if he then will truly remain in office.