Why Abortion and Gay Rights Debates Last Forever

The social issue such as abortion and gay marriage have existed for a while in America. Some people argue that the issues exist because of different political belief in the term of Conservatism and Liberalism. The team play that exists within American political party is troublesome; yet, that is the political system that American Founding Fathers have envisioned.

Even though the general Americans are educated with American political system, many people lack the knowledge on our criminal justice system. There are two main model: conflicting model and consensus model. Each system is defined as following,

• Conflicting Model - System conflict theory argues that worries over fame, promotions, wages, and success cause the criminal justice system to conflict with itself.

• Consensus Model - the organizations of a criminal justice system either do, or should, work cooperatively to produce justice, as opposed to competitively.

American government is based on conflicting model, which is why the debates on gay marriage and abortion still exists today. However, the mentality of Americans are working in the sense of consensus model. Which means American are unintentionally believing in consensus model to solve social issues in conflicting model justice system.

In the case of abortion, conservatives believe liberals to cooperate with them on abortion issue and accept that all life are sacred. On other hand, the liberals believe conservatives should accept no one should not impose one belief to other.

Obviously, there are more into this issue. But the point is, whether if the government is going by consensus model or conflict model, compromise is essential political action that everyone tends to forget. Instead of compromising, the general American public is constantly attacking each other. The proof of uncompromising action can be found anywhere today, especially with words. Here are the lists of some offensive words by pro and anti- gay marriage.

Anti -Gay Marriage toward Pro-Gay:

• Unamerican (used by conservatives on almost every issue)
• Anti-Christ
• Faggot

Pro-Gay Marriage toward Anti-Gay:

• Zealot
• Bigot
• Hater

I listed only three words from many that the activists from each side uses. Realistically, both side would not win the battle with this kind of attitude.

America is definitely heading toward equality for gay couples, and that would be historical. However, it will keep America divided on the issue.

This might be destiny of America.

Other Related Posts on Gay Marriage:

• California Court Upheld Prop 8
• Bush vs Gore Lawyer Challenge Prop 8
  
• Cheney Reveals His View on Gay Marriage
• Gay Right Activists Won New Hampshire Battle
  

Get Involved:

• Overturn Prop 8 Campaign
• Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance

Gay Right Activists Won New Hampshire Battle

Alright, before I start, I decided to completely abandon news paper summary since you guys can just click the link to read the actual source. I am definitely testing out many blogging strategy. If any of you have any suggestion, feel free to tell me.

The gay marriage bill has passed got signed earlier than I have expected. After Vermont legalized the gay marriage bill, my prediction was that New York will legalize gay marriage before New Hampshire. Obviously, I was wrong.

Now, there are total of 6 states that have legalized gay marriage:

• Massachusetts
• Connecticut
• Iowa
• Vermont
• Maine
• New Hampshire

Knowing how gay-right activists are concentrating their campaign on New England area, the next state to legalize gay marriage is most likely to be New York after the current governor leave the office.

At the Western front, the gay right activists lost the battle against Prop 8, and the California Supreme Court has recently upheld the ban on gay marriage.

However, according to my observation, these following states will be the next battle ground in the West:

• Oregon
• Washington
• Nevada (For Economic Reason)
• California (to overturn Prop 8)

Nevada gains substantial amounts of revenue from drive through marriage and so on. It makes sense for Nevada government to legalize gay marriage, especially since gay marriage isn't exactly secure at any states.

source: nytimes

Other Related Posts on Gay Marriage:

• California Court Upheld Prop 8
• Bush vs Gore Lawyer Challenge Prop 8
  
• Cheney Reveals His View on Gay Marriage

Get Involved:

• Overturn Prop 8 Campaign
• Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance
  

Democrats To Face Series of Challenges

Even during the Bush Administration, the Democratic controlled Congress had lower approval rating than the former President Bush. Now after President Obama has campaigned for series of promise during the General Election, the Congress expects busy summer this year to improve American people's life.

The upcoming challenges are health care reform, immigration policy, the two wars, Sotomayor's nomination, and the financial crisis.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/us/politics/01cong.html?hpw

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Comment By Taka Laka:

Before I start my commenting, I would like to tell you guys that I've cut my news summary short because I figured that you guy don't want read the summary when there is actual source.

Anyway, I think the House Democrats will succeed in passing many bills over this summer. Strategically, the Democrats only have convince their follow colleague to pass any bills, and the House Democratic Senates only have too convince one or two Republicans to pass the bills.

However, just because they passed the bill doesn't mean President Obama's promises to the fellow Americans are fulfilled. The point is, no one knows if the Democrat's plan to improve American life would actually succeed. Despite whether they fail or not, President Obama will most likely maintain his popularity among Americans, especially the Democrats.

Here are some of my views on issues.

Sotomayor: I was very skeptical about her personality, but I will trust my instinct that she will not judge in the court based on her own personal belief, ethnicity, and religious background.

Previous posts on Sotomayor:
Obama Nominates Sotomayor As Supreme Court's Justice
Sotomayor Expects Opposition
Abortion Right Activists Finds Sotomayor Suspicious
Republicans Attack Sotomayor on Race

Healthcare Reform: I am in middle ground for this proposal. The proposal will raise Americans standard of living, and so on. But it has it's own downside. Anyway, I would have totally went for the Universal Healthcare back in the year 2000 when our economy was a lot stronger. But this shouldn't be the main issue when the global economy is falling apart. Yes, it is terrible that we can't help everyone in healthcare, but when economy is down, everyone has to make their own sacrifice.

Immigration Policy: There is definitely some unfairness in my opinion, but I believe these millions of illegal immigrants should receive the U.S. citizenship. For it's exchange, the government should tighten the border security to lower the rate of illegal immigrations. By giving the illegal immigrants their legal status as the U.S. citizens, the states that articulating with Mexican border will benefits because these people have to pay taxes in order to stay in America. After all, many tax payers are getting ripped off because they are paying for school fees for these immigrants who are not paying their taxes. But, if the government gives out the citizenship, the government will most likely have to deal with welfare reform since many of these illegal immigrants will most likely qualify for welfare. Which is not good for our economy.

The Two Wars: I opposed the U.S. invasion to Iraq, but I am in middle ground for Afghan War. The Arts of War, written by Sun Tzu specifically states that long war should be avoided because it will most likely strain it's own economy. Irony into this statement is that the U.S. economy is heavily based on wars since the World War II. So U.S. is constantly strengthening and weakening it's own economy. Either way, U.S. needs to work on gaining the international support that Bush Administration has ignored. Otherwise, we will be in this war for a long time.

Related Post to the Wars:
Alliance Formed In Middle East
North Korea Conducts Nuclear Test

Financial Crisis: There are too many elements in this issue to cover in this post. So I will most likely write a post, specifically for financial crisis.

Related Post to Financial Crisis:
Schwarzenegger Cuts Billions of Dollars in Spending

Schwarzenegger Cuts Billions of Dollars In Spending

“the people have spoken”

Sounds familiar? On May 19th, California held the Special Election on how the California government should mandate its budget problems. Before the election, and even right now, California is expecting 20billion dollars budget shortfall. Governor Schwarzenegger warned California that he would cut billions of dollars in public spending if California voters don't pass the budget propositions.

Now, after only one out of 6 propositions has passed, Governor Schwarzenegger began to cut California's public spending. The cuts will hit the hardest in public schools, poor children and disabled people of California, and California state workers. The total cut of spending is estimated to be around 2 billion dollars.

If all the propositions have passed, the shortfall would have been estimated to be around 15 billion dollars instead of 20billion dollars. Even though there would have been a large budget shortfall, it would have been better than nothing.

But again, the people of California has decided to not pass the propositions.
“the people have spoken”


source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/us/31calif.html?hp

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Comment By Taka Laka:

Alright, even though I am a liberal resident of California, and I personally approve Governor Schwarzenegger. Whether you are Democrats or Republicans, the budget cuts are unavoidable.

Other Californian might argue that California should raise its tax rates instead of cutting public funds. If that is an argument, why didn't people vote "yes" on every propositions during the Special Election? One of the prop specifically stated that it will extends the temporary tax hike in California for additional two years.

Only suggestion that I have for Governor Schwarzenegger is to actually look into how each program is using its money. Currently, major portion of California budget is going toward the education. The education program is definitely important; however, the government should look into how the money is spent in public schools. Only required materials for public school is books, teachers, and some administrators. Currently, our school is spending millions of dollars towards junk like LCD monitors for what god knows, digital school board display, random ugly statue, and etc. Most of these stuffs costs millions of dollars of tax payers money. For this reason, if there are 1,000 schools spending millions dollars on craps, the total will add up to billions.

California has Silicon Valley and Hollywood. This budget shortfall shouldn't be this bad.

Abortion Right Activists Annoyed By Sotomayor

Judge Sotomayor has received skepticism from liberal activists days after President Barack Obama nominated her for U.S. Supreme Court Justice. The skepticism toward Sotomayor grew from her judicial records toward abortion rights. According to the activists, there are numbers of court cases where Sotomayor took stand against abortions. Hence, the activists are worried about whether the decision of Roe vs Wade will be upheld or not.

In addition, the evidence of Sotomayor's stance against abortion can be drawn from her criticism toward China enhancing forced abortion for population control. Furthermore, the skepticism grew from her cultural background too since Latinos are largest anti-abortion group in Democratic Party.




However, some Conservatives and Republicans disagree with the activists since even the most radical feminists can oppose forced abortion. Also, the public needs to be aware about the possibility of her being "stealth judge", where Judge Souter was one of them. Judge Souter, who was appointed by the first George W. Bush, believed to be Conservatives who opposed abortion. However, Souter became a swing voter who upheld Roe vs Wade landmark decision. Hence, Sotomayor might be in same category.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/us/politics/28abortion.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hpw

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Comment by Taka Laka:

I will admit, I thought Sotomayor will not face any major opposition except from Republican Party, but I was wrong. I probably should have been skeptical toward Sotomayor during my first post about Sotomayor's nomination after she said.

“our experiences as women and people of color affect our decisions.” - Sotomayor

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” - Sotomayor

Now, just read Sotomayor's quotes, there are possibility that she has her own bias towards some issue, especially the social issues like abortion and gay marriage.

However, we also have to keep in mind that Sotomayor is not campaigning for the General Election. Sotomayor was nominated to become Supreme Court Justice. For this reason, Sotomayor might have been showing off her personality aside from her professional life as a judge. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Sotomayor doesn't know any political strategy on what people can say on media.

For President Obama, like I said in previous posts on Sotomayor, I am certainly unsure on why he chose Sotomayor as a nominee. If Sotomayor is indeed, against abortion, there are high chance that some Senators from Democratic Party will side with Republicans. Which means if Sotomayor's nomination get blocked by the Senates, the vote will hurt the Democrats in the next election since they might lose Latinos support. For this reason, again, I am not sure whether President Obama nominated Sotomayor to gain support from Latinos and make it historical, or he actually made a decision through series of interviews.

Sotomayor Expects Opposition To Her Nomination

Just as expected, Judge Sotomayor will face political opposition from Republican Party.

Yesterday, Sotomayor got nominated by President Barack Obama to become first latina Supreme Court's Justice. Most of the Democrats and some Republicans were thrilled with her nomination. However, the good portion of Republican Party opposes her nomination because they claim that Sotomayor is a liberal activist who is pushing for a liberal agenda. Also, her political views on abortion and gun laws are major concerns for those who oppose her nomination.

For the next few days, the opponents to Sotomayor's nomination will search for any dispute records that she has to prevent the nomination. So far, the opponent can point out her "reverse racism" attitude where she might be biased toward whites. The one incident is when Sotomayor struck down white firefighter's claim of reverse discrimination. No one knows the detail of the ruling yet, but some finds the ruling to be awkward. In addition, they will try to find any information regarding to her tax records or any federal dispute.

Even if Republican shows efforts to stop the nomination, they are still in disadvantage due to their low numbers of seating. Democrats have nearly 60 seats in Senates where Republicans have about 40. Hence, there is a high chance that Sotomayor may win the nomination without the Republican's support. Even among the Republicans, some supports the nomination of Sotomayor. For this reason, the opponents have to convince it fellow Republicans first.

On other hand, the supporters of Sotomayor's nomination is keeping quite so she will maintain her spotlight in media.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/us/politics/28web-court.html?hp

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Taka Laka's Comment:
I am not surprised by the opposition, but seriously, the Republicans need to come up with better strategy to win the support. Yes, searching for her tax record may help to hurt her image as a justice, but it barely means anything. This is not a general election where politicians need to convince general populations through political propaganda or false ads. Only possible way to block her nomination is to convince the Democratic Senators.

Also, I read the article that said Republicans will bring full out opposition to Sotomayor. First of all, what kind of strategists will go head to head against with the opponents with advantage in numbers and supports? In fact, their opposition may well hurt the chance to win the upcoming General Election because the latinos will have an impression that Republicans doesn't like them. President Obama can just state that he nominated the first latina Supreme Court's Justice. Even worse, if the Republicans loses the battle, they have will have an impression of weak party.

I repetitively stated that Republican Party needs to change their political approach and strategy.

Obama Nomiates Sotomayor as a Supreme Court's Justice

For the first time in our nation's history, Hispanic judge might get appointed to the high court. After careful review, President Obama has chosen Judge Sotomayor as a Supreme Court's Justice. The President calls her qualifying and fair, and other Senates said that the diversity in the U.S. Supreme Court is important.

The nomination is indeed historical, but there will be unlikely any shift in power since the previous Jusice, Souter, because even though Souter was nominated by the first George W Bush, he was leaning more toward the Democarts.




Sotomayor grew up in comfortable household, but she also went through hardship as a child when her father died when she was 9 years old. After the death, her mother took care of her until she graduated high school. Later on, she went to Princeton University to study laws.

As expected, there were Conservatives and Republicans opposition to her nomination claiming that her judge is based on her liberal activist belief. But they have little hope to block her nomination since Democrats have near 60 seats in Senates. In addition, moderate Republican like Olympia J. Snowe of Maine is enthusiastic about Sotomayor's nomination. Hence, the Republicans also need to work on to persuade their own party member to block the nomination even before persuading the Democrats.

Sources and picture : http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/us/politics/27court.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

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TAKA LAKA's Comment:
The nomination is indeed, historical; however, there is one thing that bothers me. Does President Obama choosing Sotomayor because of her qualification, or is he preparing himself for the next Presidential Election to win the Hispanic voters? Or maybe he is trying to do both at same time. Since I haven't looked into Sotomayor's background and political belief, I can't really tell if she is qualified or not, but she is definitely in bystander's position to get both Democrats and Republican's voters.

On other hand, the Republicans need to step themselves up. But they are still going with their old political tactics to attack the nominee's personal life. The last time they did that against President Obama in the General Election for his connection with William Ayers, they miserably failed. They need to realize that time has changed. With this Internet based society, people are caring less about the nominee's personal life.

This Guy Never Gets Boring

This is just a clip that I stumbled across.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Obviously some people wouldn't find this clip as funny, but at same time, this shows us how the American culture. After all, the U.S. is one of the few nations that allow people to bash each other politically to each other or to the government.

Thanks to the first Amendment.

Personally, I prefer Colbert Report or Daily Show since I am liberal.
What is your guys' favorite political shows?