One of the things I always liked about the high school was that they did make it so easy for teen mothers to stay in school. But this coupled with girls not seeing the opportunities that await them out there, they begin to think that they just want to stay in town and raise kids like their parents did before them. They aren’t able to see that there is another option.

One of the sad things over the years has been the decline of the fishing industry and as a result many families have had a hard time keeping their heads above water. This can lead to the lack of ability for parents to stay focused on what there kids are doing and often times kids are being raised in single parent households, where the parent is literally spending most of their time working and just trying to provide for their family.

Also, I do respect your point about there needing to be more than just birth control, but birth control itself should be more readily available. Many girls that need to get birth control without their parents knowing, are unable to from their normal doctors because of the nature of the community, everyone is in everyone else’s business most of the time. This means they have to travel all the way to the women’s health clinic in Beverly, which is a good 20-30 minutes by car, if they have a car. Access to free, anonymous birth control should be mad more available to these girls.

I also think that some serious talks need to be happening with the student body about what it means to be a parent. Movies like Juno and Knocked Up are great for removing the stigma around unexpected pregnancy. Don’t get me wrong, not the best idea for a 16 year old to be pregnant but she shouldn’t be made to feel like an outcast either, plus the fact that a new life coming into the world should always be something to be celebrated (its not the poor kids fault their idiot mother got pregnant.)

These girls do need to be shown what a child really means in their life. Unconditional love? Have these girls every been around kids? They go through some significant periods of time just being little assholes. No one explains that to you. Movies, TV, Hallmark card, and other idiot parents all perpetuate the myth that kids are all fine and dandy and a joy to have in your life, etc. Sure, in the big scheme of things having a kid is great, but it also really really sucks sometimes. Its the same thing that gets me mad when women say “when I have kids”, like everyone should be having them, like something will be missing from you if you don’t. Not everyone can handle children. They don’t complete you as a person.

Plus, a lot of the girls in Gloucester are just plain old fucking stupid. I don’t feel bad about saying this. Everyone is capable of reason and logic and the fact that these girls think its okay to all have babies is just plain old stupid. The only thing that makes them think its okay is that they’re doing it together. Again, that same old stupid community mentality. Sure you can talk to them, give them birth control, keep them from the homeless men impregnating them, but some of them will still stay stupid and continue thinking that what they did was right. The least we can do is help these girls provide for these kids, so that the kids themselves don’t grow up to be as fucking retarded as their parents seem to be…….

You can say I’m a bitch or being an elitist but I got off the island, I suggest anyone from there do the same before they start defending anyone…….

First, the American flag. It has always been something important to me. Growing up my mother always made us stand for the national anthem and put our hands over our hearts even though she is what I would qualify as a stereotypical child of the seventies that is super critical and cynical about how this country is run. She still felt it important to treat the flag as a symbol that deserves respect. Also, in high school I was a member of the Marine Corps JROTC program and a member of the drill team. I served on the color guard for 3 years and in my senior year got the honor of carrying the American flag myself. Some may find it silly that a flag should never touch the ground, be folded in a certain way, or that you should stand when it passes you by. But these things are all signs of respect, that should still be shown.

My quasi-military experience in high school trained me to stand and salute when ever I passed the flag or heard the national anthem. I still get the urge to do it today. People against JROTC programs in high schools would say that they were effective at “brain washing” me but I disagree. What is so wrong about doing any of those thing? The are signs of respect. There is nothing wrong with teaching students to be patriots and respect what their country stands for. And it is certainly not disgraceful to teach high school aged kids what it means to serve in the military.

You want to see some people who hold up the ideals of this nation? Check out the members of our armed forces. They are good people and work hard. It always frustrated me that only the shitty stories about the military get heard. They do good things too. The real disgrace is that our armed services get used to fulfill the petty needs of an elite class in this country. Conspiracy theories aside, it is an absolute truth that there are people that are profiting from this war. Certain members of government do not want to leave Iraq because they have the select interests of the few in mind, instead of the citizens of this country as a whole.

I almost went into the military myself but this country went to war with Iraq during my senior year. I decided to decline military scholarship and academy opportunities. And trust me, they wanted me bad. Recruiters even got in touch with me while I was in college, but I persisted in the fact that I cannot serve this country in that way because the government was using an honorable ideal to pursue dishonorable interests. Sometimes I feel guilty about this. I feel like I should be there fighting along side my peers, regardless of what the goal of the higher ups may be. I know I would have been good at it. I would have been an asset. I feel guilty that I am ignoring my sense of duty. Since college though, and my subsequent year off, I have realized that it is time to serve in another way. There is much work to be done in this country, and those most educated and enthusiastic about it should be involved, which means I need to get my sh*t together and dig in.

This leads me to my next point: working towards a better America. I’ll start off by saying that I 100% agree with you. One of the things I simply hate about elections is the fact that candidates are so concerned about sticking to party lines that the voters are not able to see what they really stand for. I use McCain as an example here. He was one of my favorite political figures of our day. He is an honorable guy who always did what he thought was right and wasn’t afraid to stand alone on issues. His reputation as a “maverick” was one of the reasons why he was unable to secure the nomination against Bush in the past. The republicans didn’t trust him to always stick to their interests. Today I am sad to see McCain surrender so much of what made him a great politician in the first place. He’s sold out. He learned his original mistake and now he wants to gain the presidency at any cost. I’m sure if you were able to sit down and talk privately to him one on one that he would disagree with half of the shit he has to say and do right now.

As for changing the way Washington works, I honestly don’t see too much happening. If Obama does become president he has his work cut out for him and he will most likely fail. Our form of government was designed to be stable, and therefore not able to easily change. Back in the day that was a value that the founding fathers thought important to preserve. That is why we have a constitution. It outlines basic freedoms that will alway remain valid and important so that there is no need to be changing them all the time (yes I include the right to bear arms as still important to this day, one of the things that make me an “impure” democrat). Even adding to that list takes a tremendous amount of support, which ensures that nothing will change unless we really really really want and need it to.

This is one of the reasons I got so sick of politics. After studying it seriously for 4 years, most of my classmates and I wanted nothing to do with it. We learn that things don’t change, that the same group tends to come out on top. We learn about foreign systems that seem to work better, that would never be able to be implemented here. This is why I work at an engraving company now and not in Washington where I should be.

So I would suggest a clarification of your point to maybe state that instead of straight out change of the system itself that we can only hope for and never accomplish, maybe we should use our current system to fix what’s wrong right now. We absolutely have the means to investigate why gas is so friggin’ high. We can give healthcare to all our citizens, and not healthcare that is just ‘affordable’, but free. Our public education system can be fixed, and we can offer students free access to college.

The means to do these things cannot be found in politicians. They are all ego. That is how they get to be politicians in the first place. It’s why I should be one some day (haha). The means to do these things lies in the people. We should be more pissed off that gas is over 4 dollars. Why aren’t we protesting in the streets? Why aren’t we demanding more from our government? Why are we letting them help special interest groups like tobacco, pharmaceutical, and military contractors and ignore the people who have to foot the bill? WE need to take a stand and do something about it. WE need to be more pissed off. WE need to take a lesson from the French and learn how to protest properly so that our government actually has to listen to us.

I have hope, not that our system will change, but that it will become more honest. People like you give me hope. You have gone from someone who didn’t see the importance of politics, to someone who has become a decent amateur political analyst!! You know more about what is going on in this election than I do. That is what gives me hope. That the average American can start to pay attention, that they can begin to demand more from their government, that they can demand to be heard.

Obama has been inspiring people across the nation to start paying attention. Lets not let that attention fade!!! Let him inspire US to wake up and do something. We have all the power, but the people in charge don’t want us to know that. Lets finally demand that they listen!! Lets not let those colors be used to gain a profit for the privileged few anymore. Lets stand up when that flag passes us by! Let us think of those who have died so that we may still stand. Lets not just put those flags on our cars and outside our houses, but let what that flag stands for get into our hearts and realize what makes us American!!! Lets allow ourselves to remember what it stands for and make our government remember too!!!

long enough comment for you? I have more to say but I have my own blog to write nowadays

Anyway, I wish you luck on your exploration of religion (or faith as I would rather call it, religion in today’s context is far too political for its own good).

<3