John Kerry Won the Election... Or so Says Harvard UniversityWritten by Gary R. Hess
The elections in America have become a joke.For those of you who don't know, your vote may not actually count especially if you are from a county which is made up of minorities. The average percentage of vote not counted during each election year is 3% ranging from 1% in some states to 4% in others. A study in year 2002 by Harvard University shows that of top 100 Counties which held highest ‘spoilage’ 67 of those counties were made up more than 12% African American whereas lowest 100 Counties with spoilage were above 75% white. By mathematical standards this is a STRONG correlation of black votes being excluded. If votes had been counted in 2000 Al Gore won by a landslide. If they were counted in 2004, John Kerry wins New Mexico and Ohio very handily and becomes president in 2005. For more info on this: There are a total of 247,672 votes not counted in Ohio, if you add 92,672 discarded votes plus 155,000 provisional ballots (which happened to be predominantly Kerry votes).
| | Same Sex Marriage: Legislating MoralityWritten by Virginia Bola, PsyD
Biologically, a coupling between male and female (with some very rare exceptions like aphids, mites, and some lizards) is required for procreation, critical for survival of species. On other hand, marriage is a human social contract, historically accepted as optimum means of raising offspring who require years of care before they become independent. Divine blessing on union is important to many but marriage in eyes of religion is totally separate from civil contract of marriage itself. It is civil contract which has legal standing for government programs like social security and which can be severed by courts in divorce proceedings. As a social contract between two individuals, presumption that one must be male and one must be female is irrelevant. Marriage is certainly an emotional and legal commitment. Once two individuals make choice that they will spend rest of their lives together, society approves decision, notwithstanding fact that only half of us will be able to permanently remain in that relationship. It is approved because it is a force for stability and responsibility, both vital if a culture is to thrive. Most married couples have children; many do not. Child rearing is therefore only one aspect of state of matrimony, not sole reason for its existence. So why outcry against same-sex marriage which brings same forces of stability and responsibility to society as do heterosexual unions? I suggest that widespread movement against gay marriage is not really directed at marital vows at all but is a revolt against homosexuality itself. Rather than supporting gays by letting them receive legal sanction for their relationships, we want to punish them. They have stepped outside bounds of our experience. They make us feel uncomfortable. We see a young man and a girl kissing on street and smile. We see two young men kissing and emotionally recoil. Most heterosexuals cannot understand gays and unconsciously think that there is "something wrong" with them. (Until 20 years ago, homosexuality was listed as a mental disorder!) If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, gays are from another galaxy.
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