The Lesson Of A Dying Baby Boy

"Your daughter is so beautiful! How old is she?" My wife and I were at the grocery store, where I ran into the lady who was the nurse at the school where I used to work. She had delivered what seems to be the mandatory greeting for anyone with a baby. "Thank you," I responded. "She's seven months old." That's when a voice from behind me interrupted the now-familiar dialogue. "Seven months? Do you mind if I look at her? My son is seven months and I would like to know what that's supposed to look like." I turned to find a young woman holding...

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Is America Really a Democracy?

Ask the average person on the street what form of government is utilized by the United States Of America and they will most likely tell you it's a democracy. We The People, in order to form a more perfect union . . . and all that. Of the people, by the people, for the people . . .we can all remember, if not quote verbatim, all of those great lessons we learned in elementary school history classes. But is America truly a democracy? Let's take a look at a couple of definitions: Government Type 1: A government in which the supreme power is vested...

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Prison: The Texas Education Solution?

In Texas, we have a funny way of looking at children who can't read on grade level at the end of third grade. We decide they're going to jail. Crazy, you say? I completely agree. But that doesn't make it any less true. The story has gone viral now, but in case you've missed it, Texas and California are among the states who begin planning the need for more prison cells based on the number of third graders - specifically, third grade boys of color - who are unable to read on grade level at the end of third grade. You see, statistics show that...

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Pro-Life, Or Pro-Quality-Of-Life?

I consider myself to be a pro-life person. By that I mean I am basically against war, especially since they are usually fought over natural resources instead of human rights violations, which would make more sense. I tend to be a live-and-let-live type of person, understanding that the things that divide most people - religion, power, money - are all somewhat arbitrary, and only hold the value we decide to bestow upon them anyway. Why fight over them? At the end of the day, we all want basically the same things. Christians, Muslims, Jews, agnostics...

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