Robert’s Ramblings for 29 June 2008

Yes, I have been that busy since the last time I posted. I have more or less been working 5 hours per day, 6 days per week on top of taking a couple of classes. I should be fortunate that I get one day off per week because I honestly need it. That said, there are a lot of things that I feel I need to comment on, so this may be a long post.

TEEN PREGNANCY

As you may have heard about, 17 girls in a small Massachusetts high school have become pregnant in the past year. For more details, read this article: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1815845,00.html?cnn=yes. In the previous year, there were only 4. I personally believe the principal on the idea of a pregnancy pact. Given the increase in pregnancies, the reactions of the females, and who they had sex with, there is plenty of evidence. It is not helping that Hollywood is making it sound acceptable. Movies like Juno and teen role models like Jamie Lynn Spears getting pregnant make females think that it is okay to do such a thing. It is not. Teens are not ready to be responsible parents. They don't know the first thing about raising a child and they will regret their decision once the children are born.

This case isn't the only reason I am talking about this. A little while ago, my 16 year old brother got a girl pregnant. Now I never envisioned him thinking about having sex at this point, let alone handle a child. I already had my words with him about making this "18 year mistake". On top of this, their plans for taking care of the baby are disturbing. They actually plan on trusting my "mother" with the baby over the day. If she couldn't raise all eight of her own children properly, if at all, what makes her think she can take care of her first grandchild? I know I should be a supportive uncle, but I didn't think I would be an uncle this soon. If I were older, I would take custody of the child myself. I don't know if I should get involved or stay out of it. Getting involved would mean dealing with my "mother" though and that is one thing I don't want to do. I should probably have a heart-to-heart talk with my brother at some point.

We have to do a better job of convincing teens not to have sex and if they do to at least have protection. Birth control, condoms, whatever it takes. If you cannot afford condoms, you cannot afford a child. I have said this time and time again, if you are not ready for a child, having sex, especially unprotected, can, and will eventually, lead to an 18 year mistake. To be honest, my "father" made that mistake five times and my "mother" an additional 3 times. Proof: My "father" skipped town on us and my "mother" doesn't have custody of any of the kids and hasn't gotten any back that she has lost. The last 4 children have been adopted. Granted there wasn't too much of a choice on the first one, but the other three is due to her reckless lifestyle and who she trusts her children with. With most of these teen mothers, they either don't know who the father is or the father is in and out of jail. Taking care of a child is a full time job and I am impressed that Barack Obama has agreed with me on that. (see below…) I don't think that these children are ready to have children and we need to stop endorsing it.

OBAMA VS. MCCAIN VS. OTHER…

I have no idea who I am going to vote for in November, if I vote in November. Neither candidate has swayed me one way or the other. I also feel that I shouldn't have to comprise my views for anyone. Between Iraq, their views on gay "marriage", and border security, I feel as though I cannot go for any Democrat. However, I agree a little more with Barack Obama than I do with Hillary. I was also impressed with the speech he gave on Father's Day: http://youtube.com/watch?v=DaRXa9crAx0. I feel that Obama may actually have a better chance to help the African-American community, which is something that most presidents and candidates have done or even thought about. He is also young and hasn't been too influenced by politics.

That said, I don't think McCain is enough of a conservative for me to vote for him. To define what a conservative is, please read this article: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/25/beck.conservatives/index.html. While McCain does support staying in Iraq for as long as necessary and in strong border security, he leaves much to be desired. A conservative believes in family. A family includes a husband, wife, and children. A child needs a mother and father, not two mothers or two fathers. However, John McCain has not come out and publicly opposed gay marriage. For me and many other Christians, that is a MAJOR turnoff. I personally have no tolerance for homosexuality whatsoever. McCain is not a true conservative but a centrist. While it is not a bad idea to reach across the aisle, you have to do it on the right issues and this is not one of them.

The article mentions a major point. People sacrifice their values in order to vote for a certain party. And there is no guarantee that the people who we elect are going to do their job. "The "R" and the "D" don't matter if the people we elect don't follow through on their promises." I refuse to compromise on my values as a conservative. I believe in picking the person who is the best for the job and to vote for "None of the above" if any of the above don't fit the bill. So I will vote for "None of the above" in November.

TUNE OF THE MONTH: Headstrong by Trapt

QUOTES OF THE MONTH:

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." -Rick Cook

"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." -Galileo Galilei

"Nothing is as simple as we hope it will be." -Jim Horning

"An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex." -Aldous Huxley

"People often say that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves." -Salam Hayek

PLANS, PLANS, AND MORE PLANS

Yes, I am getting a well deserved vacation this weekend. I will be spending the entire Fourth of July weekend in the city of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. I am actually going to get a chance to relax so I probably won't post a new blog next week. Then again, I have posted a blog in a long time.

I have actually managed to create a website and I will try to update that as soon as possible if I don't get caught up in game playing. It is at http://andrew.cmu.edu/user/rlu. If anyone has any ideas on what I should put on there, please let me know.

Right now is the time to start thinking about what I am going to do after I get out of here. And when I say think, I actually mean do something about immediately. I don't want to get caught sitting on the sideline when an opportunity arises. Don't wait for something to happen to do; make something happen (I think I had this as a quote of the week at some point.). I need to be aggressive about going out and doing the things I need to do because right now, I am not. I really need to go back to the attitude I had in high school. "Screw everyone else. The only one I need to get a damn about is me." I know it sounds a little selfish and mean, but you don't argue with results.

C'est la vie.