Vote NO on Prop 8!

Friends and Family,

I hope you are all doing well. I am writing to you to vote YES ON 8. Voting yes on 8 will protect the institution of marriage between a man and a woman. Every vote is important. Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,

Brian Chang




Brian,

What are you talking about? Marriage is a civic contract between two people who wish to share their assets and obligations. It affords them valuable legal protection in case one of the partners dies or gets really sick. It enables them to share health benefits and attend teacher parent conferences and lower their tax burden. This has nothing to do with forcing the church to endorse gay unions or marry them under their religious customs. Gays have been getting married for 6 months now and from what I can see, the fabric of our society appears to be in tact.

Are you really telling me that you support writing discrimination into our state constitution and denying people the right to all of these legal protections that heterosexual couples have access too? Constitutional amendments have historically been about granting more rights and obliterating discrimination as our society evolves in their attitudes and acceptance of individuality.

Less than 50 years ago it was illegal for people to marry if they were not the same race. The same argument was used then, that the sanctity of marriage would be destroyed if blacks and whites were allowed to marry. If you fell in love with a white woman 40 or 50 years ago, you would not have been allowed to marry her. Are you telling me that was a good law?

We need to evolve past all this nonsense. Gay members of the community do not deserve this hatred and discrimination. That want the same things as everyone else: a family, the right to be married to the person they love, the right to celebrate their feelings and their commitment to one another in front of their friends and family, and the right to all the same legal and tax rights as anyone else. If they have to pay taxes, they should have the exact same tax shelters as heterosexuals.

I must say, I am disappointed in you for encouraging prejudice and support treating a minority group differently. I hope you reconsider your vote on Prop 8. I'm sorry for dressing you down, but it had to be done. If you really feel like something would be fundamentally different about your own marriage because a gay couple can get married too, you might want to ask yourself why.

Jacqueline

Waiting to exhale....

At present I am sitting here contemplating what will happen 5 days from now...and I can't breathe. So very much is at stake, that I feel, divided as we are, that the entire nation understands this. We are standing at the edge of a precipice. We have a choice now, we can let our fear cloud our judgment as it has done so often in the past, or we can be brave, close our eyes and step forward with a new leader, a new vision, and try a new way of doing things with the part of us that wants to be afraid no longer.

As Micheal Moore quoted George Orwell at the end of his film Fahrenheit 9/11, there was never meant to be a victory with the war, that it needs to go on perpetually to keep the body politic (that's us) frightened, desperate, and distracted.

I think of my favorite poem by Dylan Thomas:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

So what will our choice be? Will we decide to wipe the cobweb from our eyes? Have we lost enough, suffered enough, that we can no longer turn the other cheek and tell ourselves what happens doesn't affect us? There is no way to know. All I can for the time being is wait to exhale.

How do you feel in the days leading up to this historic election? How does the War on Terror affect who you will vote for?

What will it take to address global warming?

Global warming is a unique challenge that must be dealt with by the current generations, all of them. The predictions of scientists and have consistently been shortened from 200 years from now, to 100 - 150 years from now, to a mere 50-70 years from now. That means that many of the horrible predictions will come true before my life comes to an end (assuming I don't drink myself to death at some wine bar first) and it will definitely come to pass in the prime of my student's lives and the prime of my generation's children's lives. This calamity cannot be ignored and the predictions are to life altering to "wait and see if it's true". Furthermore, many of the "canary in the coal mines" that scientists have recommended we watch out for are starting to die right now.

For this assignment, I would like you to consider the information you were exposed to in "An Inconvenient Truth" with President Al Gore and "The Eleventh Hour" produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, including interviews from my personal hero Thom Hartmann. Also, watch the Frontline Episode called "Heat" online and think about the issues that derailed real change and actually dealing with this problem for the last 50 years. Finally, review your chapter on Leadership in your textbook and reflect on what we discussed about types of leadership and what leader fits what type of task or situation best.

For your post, please respond to the following:

What type of leader it will take to get us out of this mess? Apply the principles of a transformational leader and analyze the three essential skills a transformational leaders must possess and explain why they are needed. What specifically does that mean a transformational leader needs to do to get people to change and stop the personal behavior and lifestyle that is killing our planet?

Start by looking at what actually needs to happen, then look at specifically what the leader needs to do to motivate the masses. The consider what does the community need to do to function as team to address this massive issue?

Your post must include citations of where you got your information in order to be graded. I will not accept posts without them.

Please post your response to this question no later than October 31st, 2008.