Head Start Fails Kids and Taxpayers
(World Service News) - Head Start, the federally funded education program for low-income children, doesn't give participants the developmental boost it's supposed to offer. According to a study released last month by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Head Start students aren't any farther along than students in the same demographic who didn't attend the program. Head Start offers traditional classroom education and in-home learning opportunities for children from birth to five years old. The program's apparent failure comes at a high cost. Taxpayers give Head Start $8 billion a year, roughly $7,000 for each of the 900,000 low-income children it serves. "There is little to no academic benefit," said Lindsey Burke, a fellow at The Heritage Foundation. "As far as a preschool, Head Start fails. The kids are no better off than those who didn't go."
Americans Views of Homosexuality and Sin Changing
(World News Service) - According to a survey from LifeWay Research and first reported by Religion News Service, 37 percent of Americans view homosexuality as a sin, down from 44 percent a year earlier. "The culture is clearly shifting on homosexuality and this creates a whole new issue: How will America deal with a minority view, strongly held by evangelicals, Catholics, Mormons, Muslims, and so many others?" said Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research. The number of Americans who do not believe homosexuality is a sin remained nearly the same, at 43 percent in September 2011 and 45 percent in November 2012. There was an increase in the percentage of those who said they were unsure of what they believe. Those who identify as "born-again, evangelical, or fundamentalist Christian" are most likely to say that homosexual behavior is a sin (73 percent). Conversely, those who never attend religious services are the most likely to say they do not believe homosexual behavior is a sin (71 percent).
Same Sex "Marriage" Protest Surges Through Paris
(World News Service) - In a country known for its secularism, hundreds of thousands of people converged Jan. 13 on the Eiffel Tower to protest the French president's plan to legalize gay "marriage" and allow same-sex couples to adopt and conceive children. The opposition to President Francois Hollande's proposal highlights divisions among the secular-but-Catholic French, particularly between more traditional rural areas and urban regions. But while polls show the majority of French still support legalizing same-sex "marriage," the backing tapers off when children come into play.
Demonstrators rallied at three points across Paris, and filled boulevards throughout the city as they walked three miles to the grounds of France's most recognizable monument. Paris police estimated the crowd at 340,000, making this demonstration against marriage, adoption, and assisted reproduction for same-sex couples one of the largest in Paris since an education protest in 1984.
"This law is going to lead to a change of civilization that we don't want," said Philippe Javaloyes, a literature teacher who traveled by bus with 300 others from Franche Comte in the far east. "We have nothing against different ways of living, but we think that a child must grow up with a mother and a father." Spearheaded by religious leaders, public opposition has chipped away at the popularity of Hollande's plan in recent months. Just since August, support for same-sex "marriage " dropped from as high as 65 percent to 52 percent, according to a survey released in January. France has allowed civil unions since 1999, but gay and lesbian couples say the unions are not enough. current law, they argue, has no provisions for adoption or assisted reproduction, which are at the center of the latest debate.
"They're talking about putting into national identity cards Parent 1, Parent 2, Parent 3, Parent 4," said Melissa Michel, a Franco-American mother of five who was among a group from the south of France on a train reserved specifically for the protest. "Mom, dad and the kids are going to be wiped off the map, and that's going to be bad for any country, any civilization." If the French parliament approves the plan, France would become the 12th country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, and the biggest so far in terms of economic and diplomatic influence.
Guns, Abortion, and Tyrants
(World News Service) - Guns and abortion. One is an ennumerated, constitutional right, and the other is not. The Second Amendment guarantees the right of the people of the United States to keep and bear ar ms. It's not a government-given right; it's a natural right - the right to defend yourself, your family, and your freedom. In rare circumstances, abortion might be necessary to preserave the mother's life. But there is no right to kill unborn babies in the U.S. Constitution. But 40 years ago the U.S. Supreme Court contended that abortion is an implied "right of privacy," one that previously had lain hidden in our founding document.
I made the point on social media that conservatives should tie any talk of gun restrictions to abortion restrictions. You want to infringe on an enumerated right? Do the same for an implied right that results in the death of an unborn baby. You want to rid the country of guns? Then rid the country of abortion. Gun control? Then abortion control. Do you seek to reduce gun violence? Then reduce abortion violence.
Imagine the worldwide uproar if a conservative American president began issuing executive orders restricting the "right" of women to kill their unborn babies. If anti-gun types had their wah, I'd be allowed to kill my baby for the sake of convenience (and for free if I can't "afford" it), but I would not be allowed to shoot a thug who breaks into my house or assaults me on the street. I guess I could stab or stun him if I survive long enough. Or perhaps I can ask him if poverty or some chidhood trauma is the root cause of his criminal activity.
People will always manage to get their hands on guns, just as women will always manage to kill babies they don't want, regardless of any laws on the books against it. That's what's known as fallen human nature. As long as there is sin in the world, there will be a need to protect ourselves from those who seek to do us and our loved ones harm. Self-defense, even to the death, is a natural right. I oppose restrictions on the types of guns we can own and the amount of ammunition we can have. It's only the beginning of a cascade of infringement that would hamstring those who seek to preserve themselves.
In the minds of some liberals, unborn children don't count. Non-viable, developing little humans are defenseless against assault. Law-abiding citizens also will be defenseless if only criminals have guns. The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms also protects us in the face of government tyranny.
For the record, tyranny - arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power, despotic abuse of authority - cloaked in socialist sentiment is still tyranny. The Obama administration is considering 19 "executive actions" against our right to keep and bear arms. So-called assault weapons bans, universal background checks,and ammunition restrictions move us that much closer to a kingly denial of a guaranteed right. Meanwhile, how many unborn babies have died today?
(LaShawn Barber writes for www.worldmag.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment