Invisible Children

In 2003, A group of three boys went to Africa, just in search of adventure to film.

Africa would never be the same.

Jason Russell, Laren Poole, and Bobby Bailey went on a summer trip to Africa, and realized how bad the people had it. Many children were abducted, and used as soldiers to fight in the Lord's Resistance Army, the LRA. Their villages were burned, their people killed. Something had to be done. 

They have worked to make the citizens in Uganda and the surrounding areas safe. 

They have created radio towers, 

Crisis trackers,

Rehabilitation Centers,

Reunited families, 

Created Schools,

and worked with politicians in trying to end Joseph Kony's power, the leader of the LRA.

  

This year, Invisible Children has a thing called the Front Line Tour. They are going to many schools, and showing them videos about the struggle in Northern Africa. Then, the staff of Invisible Children asks them to raise money so that they can help the situation. Their goal is to bring these children home, end the violence, and end the terror that is Joseph Kony.

Joseph Kony

To help, all you have to do is visit their website. They have a plethora of information.

Home Page

Also, I recommend you visit their store. All the stuff is really cool, and the money raised from this goes to help their cause. 

The online store

 

If you have a heart, you will at least visit their site, and read about them.

thanks to google for images and the invisible children site for all the information

 

Westboro Baptist Church

Westboro Baptist Church

The Westboro Baptist Church is a bunch of people who go to soldiers funerals and protest.

They also believe that God "hates fags"

They think that God killed the soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq.

They think that they are the only people who are correct about God.

 

Westboro's home page has this blurb on it :
      "Since 1955, WBC has taken forth the precious from the vile, and so is as the mouth of God (Jer. 15:19). In 1991, WBC began conducting peaceful demonstrations opposing the fag lifestyle of soul-damning, nation-destroying filth.
        In response, america bombed WBC, sued WBC, prosecuted WBC, burned WBC. God is now america's enemy: 6287 dead soldiers; 218,400,000+ gals. of oil in the Gulf; $14.88 trillion+ national debt. "Arise, O LORD, in thine anger...because of the rage of mine enemies..." (Ps 7:6)
america crossed the line on June 26, 2003, when the Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that we must respect sodomy. WBC's gospel message is your last hope."

Unfortunately, the people at Westboro are idiots.

Many examples of how stupid they are are on the site:

"WBC engages in daily peaceful sidewalk demonstrations opposing the homosexual lifestyle of soul-damning, nation-destroying filth. We display large, colorful signs containing Bible words and sentiments, including: GOD HATES FAGS, FAGS HATE GOD, AIDS CURES FAGS, THANK GOD FOR AIDS, FAGS BURN IN HELL, GOD IS NOT MOCKED, FAGS ARE NATURE FREAKS, GOD GAVE FAGS UP, NO SPECIAL LAWS FOR FAGS, FAGS DOOM NATIONS, THANK GOD FOR DEAD SOLDIERS, FAG TROOPS, GOD BLEW UP THE TROOPS, GOD HATES AMERICA, AMERICA IS DOOMED, THE WORLD IS DOOMED, etc."

The sad thing is, these people think that they are being holy and with God. Personally, I do not really believe in God. But I know for a fact, that if there is a God, he is loving of all people, and certainly does not hate "fags" or kill soldiers. If God hates anyone, it is definitely these disgusting, hateful, spiteful, stupid, ignorant lunatics. 

Have I said it enough? These people are IDIOTS. I HATE them. 

Do they think what they are doing is MORAL? Because I am pretty sure that hate crimes are IMMORAL, and that is exactly what they are doing. God said to have Love (charity) for all your neighbors. Christianity teaches that God is a loving being, and forgives all. These people have no respect for human dignity. 

I do not know what God this "Westboro Baptist Church" is worshiping, but didn't God create all beings? SO God created all those "fags" and soldiers, right?

Guess what Westboro, you are going to hell. Each and every one of you.

Sites to visit so you can see what UNGODLY people these are:

Westboro's Twitter 

Westboro's Homepage 

Apparently, God hates the world 

Other Twitters Accociated with Westboro 

Foo Fighters agains Westboro 

GOD HATES WESTBORO.... and so does everyone else.

 

 

Cyberbullying

No Escape

     For most high school students, bullying is not a problem they have to deal with directly. Most teenagers do not meet up outside of school to fight or give wedgies like in the movies. However, cyberbullying is an extremely common form of bullying that is found all around our country. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter give students a chance to interact. This also gives them a chance to call people names and spread rumors at an alarming rate. Some of these cases are minor, such as a teen being called a name once or twice. Sometimes, however, there are major cases of cyber bullying such as making a fake Facebook page for someone, and pretending to be them.

    An example of extreme cyberbullying was with a boy named David. One of his classmates made a website about him. Everyone knew about it and went online and posted really mean things about him, such as he was a pedophile and participated in a date rape. He knew that none of this was true, but this severely damaged his self esteem. After he saw this web-page, he also began receiving emails telling him that no one liked him.

     Cyberbullying is a problem. We need to work to stop this. For some teens, there is no escape. 

Bullying will continue until we take actions! Why do people do it in the first place? There are many reasons. These include; anger, revenge, frustration,entertainment, boredom, to be funny, for power and a bigger ego, to be tough, or to make people think they are cool. These are not good reasons for bullying. We should work together to stop it, and talk out our problems instead of spreading rumors, fighting, making fake websites, etc.

some helpful and informative websites:

http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/libr500/04-05-wt2/www/D_Jackson/examples.htm 

http://www.childline.org.uk/Videos/Pages/Cyberbullying.aspx 
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/why_do_kids_cyberbully_each_other.html 

{thank you Google for the images}

    

Bullying

Apparently, bullying has become a big problem in schools all around the United States.

All around the news, you hear stories about people getting bullied. It usually does not end well. People are committing suicide, dropping out of school, or taking up drugs and alcohol. Bullying is something that is a problem that people are trying to fix. However, how realistic is it that you will be able to stop all bullying in all schools? We need to figure out a practical way to take care of this, without going overboard.

Recently, the Democrat and Chronicle has covered a lot of bullying stories. See the following pages for full stories:

link1

link2

 link3

             One girl did not invite some people to a get together. This angered them to the point of angry hate texts. They did not care that this severely damaged her life. Also, some people made a fake face book profile, claiming it was hers, and said really damaging things.

            Another story includes a young girl who was bullied on the bus. She did not want to go on a date with a boy, because she was not allowed to date. Him and his friends decided to physically bully her. She had bruises and actually split her chin.

            One more instance of bullying in school included a older teenage girl who was in high school. People would say awful things about her, and she just had to deal with it. She was also physically bullied, but the school did nothing about it. They claimed there was not enough evidence. This drove her to drinking and drugs.

 

These are only three examples of bullying.

This happens everyday, all over the USA.

     Here at Bishop Kearney, we do not have a lot of bullying. When Mr. Miller, our Dean of Students, was asked what he saw here at Kearney, he had an interesting response. 

  "...Think back 20 to 30 years ago...bullies did things like take your lunch money...we don't have that here. Bullying has changed to cyber bullying, emotional bullying, and verbal bullying..."

     This can be seen on things like face book, text messages, voice mails, emails, etc.

Here is a quote taken from Bishop Kearney's site that talks about bullying.

"Bishop Kearney prohibits reprisal or retaliation against any person who reports an act of harassment or bullying. The consequences and appropriate remedial action for a person who engages in reprisal or retaliation shall be determined by the administrator after consideration of the nature, severity, and circumstances of the act."
"Bishop Kearney prohibits any person from falsely accusing another as a means of harassment or bullying. The consequences and appropriate remedial action for a person found to have falsely accused another as a means of harassment or bullying may range from positive behavioral interventions up to and including suspension or expulsion."

Bullying should not, and is not, be tolerated in a learning environment.

Recently, Lady Gaga has been FREAKING OUT about bullying. It is nice to see that celebrities that do not have many problems in their life are caring about today's youth and well-being. 

One of her main focuses is on a child named Jamey Rodemeyer, a young student who took his own life due to bullying. See this page to watch some videos about Jamey. 

Jamey was a boy who was bullied for being Gay. For some reason, people do not understand that being gay is alright. Why dis they have to bully him? Why did they push him to the point of killing himself? Personally, I think Jamey could have gotten help. He did not have to take his life. There are many options of counseling, switching schools, etc.

Lady Gaga also met with the president to talk about how bullying should be illegal. She also dedicated a song to him during a concert. She was his favorite artist. "...You're not a victim..." she announced.

 

Quotes about bullying from fellow classmates:
"If hurtful words or hurtful fists are coming at you everyday, it is bullying."- Zondra A.

"Love lights more fires then hate can extinguish"- Ella Wheeler-Eilcox (Quoted by Linzey Z.)

"nbd? Lol calling somebody a bully isn't nbd! Read the discussion board on turnitin! Words hurt… lol ;)" -Cam B.

"like people bully to make themselves feel better. they put others down to boost their confidence" - Anna B.




 

Interracial Adoption

"Transracial or transcultural adoption means placing a child who is of one race or ethnic group with adoptive parents of another race or ethnic group. In the United States these terms usually refer to the placement of children of color or children from another country with Caucasian adoptive parents."

-Source

Interracial adoption should be no different than adopting withing one's race. All people are equal. When a child is in need, a family, or one person, should not feel differently about helping them whether they are American, African, European, Asian, or any other race. 

I agree 100% with Interracial Adoption. 

Genetic Engineering

"Today, 45 percent of U.S. corn and 85 percent of U.S. soybeans are genetically engineered, and it’s estimated that 70 to 75 percent of processed foods on grocery store shelves contain genetically engineered ingredients." 
-http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/photos/12-bizarre-examples-of-genetic-engineering/mad-science
Genetic Engineering is a modern tool that scientists have uncovered to make the world a better place. I completely believe that genetic engineering is a useful thing in today's world. This can be used to make bigger fruits and vegetables, and stronger animals. This can be so helpful in today's world. There are starving people all over the world. Genetic Engineering can change the world. There is nothing morally wrong with it.
However, if people use it the wrong way, it can be immoral. If they use it in a way that could harm the environment, or people, then it is immoral. 

There are also a lot of interesting examples of this I thought you would enjoy. 

• Glow in the dark cats; South Korea (See bottom for picture)
• Trees that absorb polluted water; U of Washington
• Venomous Cabbage
• Web-spinning goats
• Faster and Larger growing Salmon
• Banana Vaccines
• Cancer-fighting eggs

More sites to check out: 
http://www.udel.edu/physics/scen103/CGZ/examples.html
http://www.biofact.com/cloning/


Thank you (: