I can't wait to hear this discussion in class today. Personally, I think Daniel handed this topic very well. Abortion is a very tricky subject to argue and I think he did really good. I also loved how he added about how he acts towards the girls in the class, it made me laugh, but none the less abortion is a serious topic. Daniel pointed out a good statistic and its really scary to be. Between 1973-2011 57 million abortions occurred. Those babies could of done something great but never had the chance to, which is really sad. But its the women's choice. Daniel talks about equality in this matter, and everyone has the right to do whatever they want to their own body so women can get abortions. I personally believe if people get abortions, they should be done fast. If people wait to long to get an abortion thats when I think its wrong, but once again the women has the right to do whatever she wants to her body. Unfortunately, rape and incest do occur so having an abortion after these horrific things I agree with, and with people in low income families. Having a baby is expensive. Paying for doctor visits, pre-natal care, these things all add up and some people can't afford it. If people can afford this but don't have money to raise a baby then maybe adoption should be considered, but once again it boils down to be women's choice and sometimes people will agree or disagree. Like I said I can't wait to hear this discussion in class, it should be interesting.

     Coming up with this blog has stressed me out, so I have put it off till 11 pm to write it. Everyone has picked really good controversial topics to write about and have grabbed interests of other students. I know I talk about random topics in class but coming up with a topic to blog is extremely difficult and I don't know why. All I know is a blog is place to express ones opinion in hope of finding someone who shares the same thoughts. 

     I love talking about my childhood because I had an amazing childhood. Growing was so much fun. I'm the oldest child and have two younger siblings, one brother is 16 and the other is 10. My family was  extremely close and my father basically raised us all while my mom was at work. The other day I started to talk about how my father would discipline us. While this isn't probably acceptable to do anymore, my father would spank us. I rarely got spanked as a kid but my brothers got spanked countless times. Now that I look back on it, I think its hysterical that my brothers would try to test my dads patience, but his patience never changed. They both knew what was going to happen but kept egging him on. Soon enough my dad was up and spanking my brothers then sending them to their rooms.

   I don't find anything wrong with this type of punishment at all, maybe because I raised this way, but I would discipline my children the same way I was raised. It's not abuse, but a way to teach our kids who is in charge. I wouldn't want my children to talk back to me. I would want them to show me respect and learn nothing in life comes without some sort of punishment. I was never allowed to curse as a kid, the one time I did I called my nanny "stupid" and got my mouth washed out with soap. I never cursed again until about middle school. The message got across clear for me. I also learned never to talk back to adults or there would be a consequence waiting for me when I get home. I have no complaints about how I was raised or discipline. Personally I think it was effective on me and taught me things that are useful today. 

   How you discipline your kids is all personal preference but talking about it or deciding to spank your kids or wash their mouth out with soap shouldn't bother people I think. I learned my lessons and never cursed at an adult again. Like I said its all personal preference but I have nothing wrong with spanking kids.

    Like I stated in my introduction, Im blogging about this topic to see if I share any of the same opinions with anyone else, and the fact I stressed about this and for some reason spanking children came to my mind as a controversial topic.

There isn't any professional woman's lacrosse team, besides the united states team. This means after college I enter the real world, and playing the game I love ends. Personally I think its awesome that pro athletes get payed to do what they love, and the amount they get payed is just icing on the cake. If I ever had the chance to play lacrosse professionally and get payed to do it, I would. Its something I have been doing all my life and have worked extremely hard to get where I am. The amount of time and money people put in to become great athletes, in a way all the time and effort that was put in is being payed back to them in professional leagues. I do agree though sometimes the amount they get payed is extreme, but wouldn't want all that money, I know I would. I do agree with Jack that baseball and basketball should educate their players about how to handle money. Its an important life lesson to have and after sports end, the real life kicks in hard and doesn't care if you were an important athlete or not.

Last week in class I talked dolphin hunting in Japan. According to CNN dolphin hunting has been going on since the 16th contrary, and has become the town of Taiji economic and food source. With technology and the academy award winning documentary, The Cove, Taiji has been put on the map. The brutal killing of dolphins, and capturing them for marine parks is inhumane. The fishermen use the technique called drive hunting. First part of this is that the fishermen bang metal rods to defen the dolphins, then drive them into a shallow cove. Once that happens they put a net trapping them there, and finally stab them in the spinal cord. The killing isn't eh only thing that happens in that cove, the fishermen look for cute dolphins to be sold around Asia and Europe at parks. Cute baby dolphins are ripped away from their mothers and have to their whole family die. Fishermen came across a rare baby albino dolphin named Angel, she lives in the Taiji aquarium, the story of how she got there is just terrible. Fishermen pulled her apart from her mother and then backed the boat into the babies mother, Angel watched her mother die, and now according to several sources such as OPS, Angel just sits in the tank depressed. According to Ric O'berry the dolphins smilie is the most deceiving thing.
        While doing research on this topic I happened to take a break and wound up on netflix. I came across a documentary similar to the dolphin subject. Over the weekend I watched the documentary Blackfish. Blackfish is about the captivity and training of orcas. It shows the dark side of sea world and other marine parks. Like the dolphin hunt, Orcas have been hunted through history and devised a way to escape being killed. They separate. Half of the pod goes one way, while the other half consists of mother and babies go the other way. In the 1980's when orca became in demand, people used helicopters to find the Orcas after they split up. The orcas have no chance unfortunately and the baby orcas become attractions in parks such as Sea World.
        Being held in captivity is no way to live for any sort of animal. Eventually we all go get depressed and go crazy. Thats what happened to an Orca at Sea World. The Orca attacked a trainer and she died. These creatures are wild animals, not meant for captivity. Shows such "wild and untamed" makes zero sense. They are animals they aren't going to be tamed. Wild are scary yes but I wonder if animals could speak would they say we are the crazy species? are we the one ruining their lives? We've lost respect for our planet and forgot we aren't the only species on Earth.

Personally being accused of something I didn't do always made me angry and I usually put a target on the back of the person who accused me. I never respected that person again. Being accused of rape however is a serious accusation and should never be taken likely. Unfortunately we live in an era where everybody wants to be famous and have their names on everybody's tongues. Accusing someone famous of rape like in that article you shared with us is absolutely disgusting. Being accused can turn public opinion on you and make you look like a disgusting human being when your not. The lady who accused this man has no self respect at all. Why try to ruin someone else's life just to have your name in the paper? This is why I think humans are just dumb, selfish animals who only have interest in themselves and money. Thats it.
        Women are crazy. You mentioned in your post about this lady possibly doing it for the money. Well I know of a women who turned a families life upside down all for the money. My friends mother from back home chose money over three children. As of what I know right now they don't talk, but she has given her several chances and still has picked money over her kids. There are better ways to earn money than accusing someone falsely or just taking everything away from a once happy family. There just needs to be better people in the world, ones who are trustworthy and honorable. Not crazy people who do dumb things for their own selfish reasons with ought giving a damn who gets hurt in the process.

I think thats an excellent question to ask, what is wrong with being right? Honestly I don't think anything is wrong with it. Every one in this country has the right to follow different political parties, after all America is the land of the free and home of the brave. Personally, deciding what political party to join seems stressful. Good for you in knowing what you believe and can strongly support the party, but its also scary to me. Politics still seems so off towards the future for me, but I'm 19. I have been legally an adult now for over a year and still haven't registered to vote or decide what party I should join. So my question for you is, how do you know what party do you belong to? I feel bad that I have the power to possibly make a change in this country, but don't actually use it. We as Americans are blessed to be able to have a voice, but whether we are strong enough to use that voice and announce what we believe will make a difference in the future. There isn't anything wrong with being young and supporting a party that typical young adults don't follow. I Just talked to my friend about the blog and she asked me if I'm a democrat since I'm from New York. My answer was "I don't know." New York is usually always blue when in comes to elections, but it doesn't make me a democrat. I haven't figured out yet if where I'm from should influence me or my beliefs. Like I said it seems so far into the future for me. I have democratic views and republican views, I just don't know. I'd rather be certain about my political beliefs, rather than being iffy and following the masses. Being right isn't wrong, not knowing is wrong.

I never really thought of this topic in much detail. Growing up, I was put on a path to go to college and graduate in a degree that would make me happy in my future job. To me it just seems so far away and possibly to out of reach for some people in this country to understand. I also think going to college is a period where young adults can learn to live on their own and make new friends that can last a lifetime. However people who never went to college have made their lives comfortable for themselves and their family's. Not everyone needs a degree to be successful in life. Like I said, this topic never really crossed my mind so my thoughts might not really have a true stance or even make any sense.