define: Jared Barden

It is election time, and it wouldn’t be like me to not talk about something politically related. Today’s hot button issue - abortion.

Let’s start off with some “facts”. I use the quotes, because you never know how much of what you read online you can trust. That being said, here are the following facts I discovered over the last few days.

Fact #1: According to the Guttmacher Institute, 1.29 Million abortions were performed in 2002. It seems they don’t have the most recent data, but that will suffice. This comes out to an average of 3,534 abortions PER DAY for each day of 2002. Projecting those numbers of a period of 3 years, and you get somewhere around 3.25 to 3.75 million abortions.
Fact #2: According to Iraq Coalition Casualties, 2816 U.S. soldiers have been killed during the war in Iraq since 2003. This averages out to roughly 2 deaths per day during that timespan.

Combining Fact 1 and Fact 2, we have a ratio of 1767 to 1 for abortions per day vs. U.S. military deaths per day in the war in Iraq.

First of all, let that statement sink in for a moment.

I think abortion is wrong. Period. End of story. No room for debate. You will have a hard time convincing me otherwise. Danielle and I talked about it the other day. We went through the typical scenarios. What if you were raped? What if your life was in danger?, etc., etc. We came up with the conclusion that we still wouldn’t opt for an abortion. Of course this is only hypothetical and circumstances sometimes effect decisions, but we still reached the same conclusion.

It makes me so angry to think that people can justify the killing of unborn children. Please tell me how to rationalize that decision. Why is it illegal to kill a child the moment after it’s born, but you can abort a baby in a horrific fashion during the actual delivery process (aka Partial Birth Abortion)?

Sometimes the whole issue makes me so angry I can’t even think straight. I know it is an emotional issue for many people, and I do not judge people that have the decision one way or another.

I guess the point of this post is this: put some thought into why you believe what you believe? Is it because your parents do? Is it because it’s the right thing to do? Why do you believe it?

The second point is, get out and vote, but before voting, do some research at places like Project Vote Smart. This site has lots of useful information, including voting records of just about any candidate you can imagine.

Use your vote to voice your opinion. It’s pretty much the most effective tool we have to get our voice heard. Don’t become one of the people who says, “my vote doesn’t count.” If everyone thought that way, our country would be a much different place.

Will there ever be peace in the Middle East? In a word - no.

Well, let me clarify that answer. There will be peace in the Middle East, but only after Jesus returns. Don’t believe me, check the Bible - it’s all there.

Israel has been promised certain land by God. They are God’s chosen people. I take the Bible very literally, and when I read that they are God’s chosen people - I believe it. Working under this understanding, then the land God has given them, He has given them. It WILL be theirs’ - someday. There are no 2 ways around that.

It’s kind of comical to watch all these Arab nations complain about Israel inhabiting, “their land.” Right, the land given to you by the United Nations. We all know what a wonderful, well-run organization that is. If I were in charge the United Nations would need to change drastically, but that’s another story.

The Middle East appears on the verge of a meltdown due to hostilities STARTED BY the terrorist group Hezbollah, which receives help from both Iran and Syria. Who started the mess - Hezbollah. Let’s remember that. It would be not unlike Al Qaeda coming in to America, capturing our soldiers from say Texas, and then attempting to smuggle them through Mexico. We would not stand for it, and neither should Israel. Has Israel done some wrong things? Certainly. But they come under attack almost constantly. Why?

Because they exist. Plain and simple. They exist and are a “thorn in the side” of the other Arab nations. It’s been a struggle ever since Isaac and Ishmael. It will always be a struggle, plain and simple.

God help us if we ever turn our back on Israel. Also, we should not blindly support any wrongdoing by either side. It’s a tough issue.

Today I read that a proposed Constitutional Ammendment preventing burning and/or desecration of the American flag failed to make it through the Senate by 1 vote.

Now, I don’t know how I feel on if there should be a law or not, but if you are a citizen of this great country, why on Earth would you want to burn the flag? If a flag is a symbol of the, “republic for which it stands,” does that mean you want to destroy the United States? I would certainly hope not. And I doubt most people that burn the flag really want serious harm to come to our country, but come on people, show at least a little respect for our country. I know you have your freedom of speech, and I respect that, but I would think this would be a no-brainer issue.

It reminds me of another pet peeve of mine - people talking and/or doing other things during the National Anthem. I really cannot stand that. Danielle has learned this over the course of the last couple of years.

I guess you would say I’m a super patriot or something like that, but I always think back to what it must have been like for the men and women that experienced that song first hand, or those who are experiencing that song now. It bothers me that people can’t take their hat off for about a minute and at least stand their quietly if nothing else, but that’s just me, right?