Comment on Justin Staub's "Why Gay Marriage is Unconstitutional".

Hey Justin, I found your article interesting to discuss about. I want to start off by saying that I have my own beliefs like everyone else does. I have nothing against people that are homosexual. But honestly, regarding to your topic, I believe that whether someone is gay or not, should have the right to their own decision. I don't believe that one person should make the decision for another. Yes our founding fathers derived from the religion of Christianity but when we compare the past to the present, things have drastically changed. Isn't it in the declaration of independence that we are entitled to the pursuit of happiness? Yes, religions will always disapprove of gay marriage but isn't freedom something that we fought for in this country? To me, gay marriage isn't a sin. They're causing of no harm towards anyone. Gay marriage shouldn't be seen as a sin like stealing or killing. I myself am catholic and I don't necessarily believe what my religion says and I asked myself if whether any religion is more right than any other; which I don't believe as well. But the question that I'm getting across is, if two people are happy with each other, should we take that away from them? I found this article to be very helpful to myself: Some Things To Consider If You Think Being Gay Is A Sin.

Marijuana. Yay or Nay?

Should marijuana be legalized? Today, we have to two health hazard substances that are legal. It seems to be a relevant question to ask why marijuana is illegal. For starters, if it was legal, it would save our government lots of money. In the United States, all levels of government federal, state, and local authorities participate in the war on drugs. Marijuana’s illegality makes foreign cultivation and smuggling to the United States extremely profitable, sending billions of dollars overseas in an underground economy while diverting funds from productive economic development. We currently spend billions of dollars every year to chase peaceful people who happen to like to get high. These people get locked up in prison and the taxpayers have to foot the bill. We have to pay for food, housing, health care, attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses to lock these people up. This is extremely expensive. It is established scientific fact that marijuana is not toxic to humans; marijuana overdoses are nearly impossible, and marijuana is not nearly as addictive as alcohol or tobacco. It is unfair and unjust to treat marijuana users more harshly under the law than the users of alcohol or tobacco. Many people use marijuana because they have made an informed decision that it is good for them, especially Americans suffering from a variety of serious ailments. Marijuana provides relief from pain, nausea, spasticity, and other symptoms for many individuals who have not been treated successfully with conventional medications. I also can see the point though of keeping it illegal though. Marijuana is the most commonly abused illegal drug in the U.S. and around the world. Those who support its legalization, for medical or for general use, fail to recognize that the greatest costs of marijuana are not related to its prohibition; they are the costs resulting from marijuana use itself. I don't personally use marijuana but I find myself believing that marijuana should stay the same but the problems that we're dealing with will only continue.

Airstrikes on Ebola?

For years we've used the Air Force as strategic bombers to either neutralize a threat or to simply aid the military troops in conflicts but, the idea of bombing Ebola is something that I find irrelevant to solving solutions of preventing Ebola to spread. On Friday Oct. 17, 2014, Obama Orders Airstrikes on Ebola, written by Peter Van Buren, discussed how President Obama decided to act on the situation of Ebola. He had the order of airstrikes to be made. I honestly don't see how airstrikes could help destroy the threat of Ebola in the US. Maybe if certain chemicals or treatments were used like agent orange during the Vietnam war would be used but that still would cause illnesses such as cancer, for the near future of citizens. He also states that when someone opposed a white house spokesperson of a question regarding of how the airstrike would help, the spokesperson responded with a question asking if they supported their troops instead of an answer. I find it to be funny that we can't even ask a questions of how situations will be solved. Also in the reading, they stated that since day one, we've always used airstrikes with every crisis such as Libya, Iraq, and Syria. I don't see how Ebola is considered as an attack of terrorism and how would that prevent a virus from spreading within America. We're dealing with a situation that's within OUR own country. What's needed to be done is to have people learn how to prevent the virus with basic medical procedures such as proper hand cleansing and educating ourselves about the virus. I agree with Peter about the situation of Ebola.

ISIS and Education

The fight in the Islamic state with the US isn't the only thing that they're concerned or worried about. On Wednesday, October 1, 2014, The New York Times published an article titled What ISIS Could Teach the West. They seem to feel threatened by western education and women's empowerment. When they're not concerned if whether a predator drone is above them, they're battling women with an education by kidnapping, torturing, and executing or assassinating them. A while back, Islamic militants invaded and attacked a school in Nigeria to kidnap more than 250 females. The battle between both countries is also causing money to be spent. Yes, we will use arms but not to only depend on bullets or explosives but to become more strategic. Women's education has a bigger impact than men's education due to statistics of low birth rates and a decline in population. After reading this commentary, I am inclined to find myself agreeing with this 100 percent. I find that not only are Islamic women fighting for an education but the US is also going through a struggle with more people walking away from public schools without obtaining most of what they were taught. Down the road, we should be able to situate things out rationally rather than irrationally and go through wars or battles and spend a lot of money. Not only is it problematic for women (or people in general), but those that were kidnapped can easily be brought into the war for generations to come. We can help save those or others from having to deal with violence or kidnappings.

Act Now

Immigration is still one of the biggest problems in the US though it's slowly decreasing in percentage. We've been dealing with immigration for quite a few years now and it needs to be dealt with.On Friday, Septermber19, 2014, Fox News published an article titled Congressional Hispanic Caucus comes under fire after it backs Obama's delay on immigration,  President Obama was asked to finalize an answer solving our homeland security crisis but instead delayed the situation until after the midterm election because Democrats in Congress expressed concern that executive action would hurt their re-election chances. It shows a lack of weakness to me. These immigrants continue to flee into our country and illegals cost US taxpayers in excess of $100 billion per year in healthcare services, to education and welfare benefits.