Pro Gay Marriage Ban Governor Says He Would Attend Gay Wedding

In a recent interview with CNN, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal, told reporters that if he were ever invited to the marriage of  a gay couple he would surely attend it. This is to the contrary ideal of the past  legislation that Jindal proposed.  In his last few years as governor, Jindal has proposed laws that protect people who refuse to participate in gay weddings and ban gay marriage in Louisiana. In the past, Jindal has spoken out heartily against corporations that have tried to pressure him into lifting the gay marriage ban that was and still is present in Louisiana at this time. Jindal also has condemned the Supreme Court for trying to legislate gay marriage laws through trials over the issue. But despite his opposition to any law, lobbyist,etc... trying to remove the gay marriage ban in Louisiana, Jindal stands strong to attending the weddings of those close to him that are gay.

I found this article to be very heartwarming. All political and religious beliefs aside, Jindal has the kind heart to attend the wedding of a gay friend. He shows us a trait that what seems to be almost lost in our modern world, trust of conscience. The church, media and government are always telling us what is right and wrong, and many people are so caught up in doctrine and teaching that they forget to see what their heart says about something. Very few of us have Huckleberry Finn moments anymore where we decide that what everyone else's beliefs are wrong and what our heart tells us is right. Jindal does this though. While his political agenda and religious beliefs might go along with the majority of his home state, when it comes down to the important things in life, like weddings, he will defy the crowd and support a gay person when it matters most. Im not saying that he turns pro gay marriage every time he goes to a gay wedding. I am saying that Bobby Jindal is an example for all of us because even though we might not agree with someone we still should support them because we know it is the right thing to do.

Maternal Leave for Dads

Sweden has been known throughout the years for its generous time handed out to mothers for maternity leave. A woman gets 480 days off of work with 360 of them paid at 80% of her normal salary, every time she has a baby. But it's not only the mothers that get 480 days leave from work. The father does too. While very few men actually use all of the days and  only 12% of them use half of the days, Sweden has made it so that the dad must spend 60 days with the baby and his wife or else the 60 are lost from the 480 days of leave given to them. Some Swedish fathers were interviewed about the numerous days of leave they receive to take care of their children, and most of them agreed that they felt that it was good for the Dad to be involved in the full time job of caring for children. They also felt that it is good for all men to sit back and think about their direction in life while taking care of children instead of quickly returning back to the hustle and bustle of work life.

A common scene in the American media is dad coming home from a long day of work and flipping on the television after mom has taken care of the kids all day and taken them to school soccer and everything in between. The father of the family is not very involved in these scenes. He might go out and play catch with the kids or mow the lawn with his son but really there isn't a lot of contact between the father and his family portrayed in our modern society. The father is very important to the family dynamic, and provides a male influence that is lacking in many young people today. But instead of being taken seriously now a days we see the goofy dad, like Phil Dunphy from Modern Family. Dads are great for their humor but they have a lot more to offer than their comical presence but they have more important duties. The first step we need to take to instilling the serious father role is creating a system that is conducive for the father to be close to his children. And one way we could do this is to give American fathers just as much maternity leave as mothers get. This way from the point of birth the dad and mom are equally viewed as caretakers of the children instead of the mom being the caretaker of the children and the dad the provider for the family. The father and child will be closer than they could have been before. A child might call for its dad as much as his mom. The dad might become more involved in what his child is involved in throughout his childhood. And hopefully the family will become closer because of the time spent together between mom, dad, and child in the infant years. It's time we take some notes from Sweden on what to do with our dads when they have newborns.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/05/living/cnnphotos-swedish-dads-parental-leave/index.html

Marrying your Rapist?!?!- How we Can Stop Prejudice in Afghanistan

In life, your environment is who you are and what you do. It is written in our very human nature; adapt to survive. Sometimes, our environments are very rough and we have to be extremely mentally tough to survive. A key example of this mental toughness is a 20 year old Afghan girl named Gulnaz.When Gulnaz was 16, she was raped by her cousin’s husband, Asadullah. When this was discovered, they were both sent to jail and Asadullah got less time in prison for rape than Gulnaz did for "adultery!" After Gulnaz got out of jail, she was lost with no one to turn to. Her family and the rest of society had disowned her and women have few job opportunities in Afghanistan. The only ways that she could create a solid life for herself were to leave the country or to get married. But since the government wouldn't let her leave and no man would marry her because of her status, she was stumped. Her only option was to accept the offer of marriage from her rapist and she did so. It was the only way for her to make it in the world. She now lives a fairly steady lifestyle with Asadullah and his other wife (her cousin) and she accepts her situation very well. She says she has a "good life" and that she is "happy." I really hope what she says is true because someone who has lived through all of that deserves a happy life.

The first thing that came to my mind when I read this was anger. I was angry at Asadullah, I was angry at the Afghan government and mostly I was angry at Gulnaz’s Afghan piers. But as I stepped back a little bit, I started to develop some more complex thoughts about the issue. Obviously, the life and rigorous trials brought upon Gulnaz are absolutely heartbreaking and hard to see. But when you think about it, is it fair to be angered with the people around her who shunned her? If all you were ever raised to think your whole life that shunning her is OK, is it really your fault? I say no. The problem here is the social constructs that have been built up in Afghan culture. Many people blindly follow the mob mentality no matter what the issue is. The only way to stop the mob is to get the organization that is controlling it to change. In the case of Afghanistan the head of the mob dragon are the Islamic leaders there. Cultural orthodoxies arise very frequently in heavily religious areas due to the preaching of the religious oligarchy. And knowing that Afghanistan is very religious, we can infer that the problem with women’s rights is deeply seated in religious teaching there.So the only way for cultural prejudices to stop is for some brave souls to rise up in the ranks of Islam and once they near the top they should speak out against what is wrong and try to commence change. Someone could rise up and make a difference in the way that Pope Francis has in the Catholic church with his stance on gays, for example. The road to the top is dangerous and possibly life threatening for anyone who wants to try, but in the end if successful an end can be brought to the horrors that haunt people like Gulnaz every day.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/07/asia/afghanistan-gulnaz-rape-marriage/index.html

An Atheists Side of the Story

Atheists are on what some could call shaky terms with most of society today. Many people think that atheists are young troubled white males who hate everything about society and many religions are known for viewing them as "lost" and "without purpose." The atheist community though, feels that all of these accusations are false and they wish to share what they really think they are with the world. CNN partook in one on one interviews with several lead spokespeople of the atheist movement. In general, their views on things were the same. They agree that atheists are all kinds of people: parents, children, ex- minsters, etc... They also say that its very hard to tell people about how they feel because of the love and companionship they feel from friends and family. And they all said too that atheists are very active and have many new emerging groups that participate in different activities to help humanity. Overall, atheists want us to know that they are just like the rest of us. They like to be a part of a community, they love their families dearly, and they try their best to have a good life. They're not all angry young males with hatred of institutions and religion in their hearts.

I found this news report to be very heartwarming as I read it on CNN. Personally, I am a Catholic and feel a very strong presence of God in my life but one thing that I find important is fair treatment for all. And personally, I think atheists aren't the most fairly treated out there. Many people associate them with people that are very depressed and without purpose in life because of their lack of belief in God. I think this is totally unfair to think of atheists in this way. If you aren't an atheists then you don't know what makes one happy or sad, so its not fair to say atheists are sad because they don't believe in God. I think the fact that they are starting to get a voice to show how they are simply humans like the rest is vital and this article was a reassurance of that. In the future, I think atheists need to really start to focus on the organizational aspect of their group. By doing this, they can become involved in the community and do good deeds that will earn them respect in the eyes of outsiders. They will also be able to communicate their genuine message to the general public and they wont be tainted nearly as bad as they have been by extremists as they have been as of recently. Overall, I really liked hearing what atheists have to say and I wish them luck in the future.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/28/opinions/atheists-q-and-a/index.html

About Me

Hello fellow bloggers, my name is Jake Stahlnecker. I am new to the blogging world and am very excited to get involved. So a little bit about me. I am currently a sophomore at Creighton Prep where I participate in Mock Trial, Student Council, Plays, Freshman Retreat, and Rugby. For fun I like to read, mountain bike, lift weights and listen to music. On the weekends I like to eat food at greasy restaurants around Omaha, hang out with friends, and work on projects in my garage workshop. I also like to do all things outdoors and I hope to buy a canoe and drift down the length of the Missouri River some day. I also hope to hike the PCT in the future also. I have one sibling. She is my older sister, Meg, who is 18 and currently attends Marian and plans on attending the University of Kansas next year. My mom, Katie Hupp, is currently an English teacher at Metro Community College and my dad John Stahlnecker is a general contractor/ real estate entrepreneur. I was born in Omaha Nebraska and I still live in Omaha today. Omaha is a great town and I enjoy living here but I do love to travel to all kinds of places. I hate tourism with a burning passion and it has never crossed my mind once to go to Cabo or Cancun.I enjoy vacationing in weird places like Portland Oregon, Truckee California, and Drasco Arkansas. My love of strange small towns comes from a plan that my Mom and I  made where we chose a random small town from every state in the country and we plan to visit all of them. We have only seen 2 in Kansas and Arkansas so far and it truly has been a great experience.

When it comes down to it, I am here on this planet to take it all in and to have good family, friends, and times along the way. I hope you guys enjoyed learning about me, and I look forward to blogging in the future. Thank you all.


Jake