It is pretty messed up for Obama to have voted NO on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions.

Reasons to agree:

1. This bill deals with how young girls are being secretly taken across State lines for the purpose of abortion, without the consent of their parents or even the knowledge of their parents, in violation of the laws of the State in which they live. 45 states have enacted some sort of parental consent laws or parental notification law. By simply secreting a child across State lines, one can frustrate the State legislature's rules. It is subverting and defeating valid, constitutionally approved rights parents have.


2. Getting pregnant takes a series of choices. If you get pregnant, and you are a child, you are not providing for your own food, or shelter, if you get these things from your parents, these parents who are providing for you, and you live in a state that requires their knowledge of an abortion, it should be wrong for someone who is not caring for the pregnant child, for someone who is not providing food, shelter, to take these children, and assume they know what is better for someone whom they haven't raised from when they were children, and perform an abortion on them without even telling their parents.

This is very difficult stuff to discuss, and I think I could make people hate me for bringing up either side, but I want to word stuff better, and need your help in explaining both sides.

Webpages that agree:

1. http://www.moralaccountability.com/obama-on-abortion/

This bill prohibits taking minors across State lines in circumvention of laws requiring the involvement of parents in abortion decisions (how messed-up is it that you can take someone else's kids across state lines to get an abortion, so you can BREAK the law, and it is not against the law?). Makes an exception for an abortion necessary to save the life of the minor. Authorizes any parent to sue unless such parent committed an act of incest with the minor. Imposes a fine and/or prison term of up to one year on a physician who performs an abortion on an out-of-state minor in violation of parental notification requirements in their home state.

Interest of those who agree (that Obama is wrong):

1. Promoting the Republican Party by attacking a democrat.
   
2. The desire to criticize something that a minority has said, no matter if it is right or not. Racisms. Attacking a minority because he is a minority.
3. Making themselves feel better about decisions they might have made.
4. Protecting the rights of parents.
5. Limiting the rights of the government to do bad.

Interest of those who disagree (that Obama is wrong):

1. Promoting the Democratic Party by defending a democrat.
   
2. The desire to defend something that a minority has said, no matter if it is right or not. Liberal guilt (defending a minority because he is a minority)
3. Making themselves feel better about decisions they might have made.
4. Weakening the rights of parents.
5. Expanding the rights of the government to do good.

Obama is wrong on abortion, but takes a good approach

 

Reasons to agree:

1. [An abortion protester at a campaign event] handed me a pamphlet. “Mr. Obama, I know you’re a Christian, with a family of your own. So how can you support murdering babies?”
   I told him I understood his position but had to disagree with it. I explained my belief that few women made the decision to terminate a pregnancy casually; that any pregnant woman felt the full force of the moral issues involved when making that decision; that I feared a ban on abortion would force women to seek unsafe abortions, as they had once done in this country. I suggested that perhaps we could agree on ways to reduce the number of women who felt the need to have abortions in the first place.
   “I will pray for you,” the protester said. “I pray that you have a change of heart.” Neither my mind nor my heart changed that day, nor did they in the days to come. But that night, before I went to bed, I said a prayer of my own-that I might extend the same presumption of good faith to others that had been extended to me.
   Source: The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p.197-8 Oct 1, 2006
2. Obama is right to reach across the isle for common ground on abortion
3. Obama was wrong to have voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act
4. Obama is wrong on embryonic stem cell research

Webpages that agree:

1. http://www.moralaccountability.com/obama-on-abortion/

Obama is a good dad

 

Reasons to agree:

1. "It's not good enough for you to say to your child, 'Do good in school,' and then when that child comes home, you got the TV set on, you got the radio on, you don't check their homework, there is not a book in the house, you've got the video game playing... So turn off the TV set, put the video game away. Buy a little desk or put that child by the kitchen table. Watch them do their homework. If they don't know how to do it, give them help. If you don't know how to do it, call the teacher. Make them go to bed at a reasonable time. Keep them off the streets. Give 'em some breakfast... I also know that if folks letting our children drink eight sodas a day, which some parents do, or, you know, eat a bag of potato chips for lunch, or Popeyes for breakfast [...] You can't do that. Children have to have proper nutrition. That affects also how they study, how they learn in school."

Reasons to disagree:

1. Its easy to say that you should be a good parent, when he got to ignore the kids all day, and be a senator, a state senator, and president. It is a lot harder when you actually have to watch the kids, change the diapers, 24x7.

Obama was right to o ensure that only those embryos that would otherwise be discarded could be used for Stem Cell Research

Obama introduced legislation in the Illinois Senate to ensure that only those embryos that would otherwise be discarded could be used and that donors would have to provide written consent for the use of the embryos.Source: Campaign website, BarackObama.com, “Resource Flyers” Aug 26, 2007Reasons to agree:

Obama Backs Off Campaign Promise to Rapidly Withdraw from Iraq

This is my initial blog here at Mike's new site and I wanted to start off my segment by saying that I agree with Obama's decision to go slow on the troop withdrawals from Iraq.

During the campaign I visibly winced every time Obama would promise his minions on the left to precipitously yank the troops out of Iraq, thereby snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory.

His decision to slow the troop withdrawals has no doubt caused untold anguish in the precincts of the left, but much relief amongst those of us who believe that it would be a tragedy to have invested so much blood, so much human suffering and exhausted so much treasure, just to see victory slip through our fingers at the last moment!

Now, on the points where I disagree with Obama............just about everything else! Wait, I have to be more open minded that that. Well, I'll have to spend some time on that one. When I think of something, I promise that you, the faithful readers of this blog, will be the first to know.

~~John Cronin~~

Obama was right when he challenged "so-called leaders of the Christian Right" for being "all too eager to exploit what divides us."

 

Reasons to agree:

1. Sometimes it seems like some pro-life republicans don't really care about life, but they care about using life as a wedge issue to get themselves elected. For instance they keep sending up all these bills that don't have any provisions for rape, or the parents life. They don't reach out for compromise. They take an absolute position, and demand their way or nothing. It is better to agree on those things that we agree on, and then make arguments to go further... Even though I disagree with Obama on many life issues, I greatly appreciate the respect that he shows my side, and his willingness to move forward on such things as restricting late term abortions.
   

Obama is right to supports civil unions

Reasons to agree:

1. Governor Romney agrees with Obama and said, “Preserving the definition of marriage should not infringe on the right of individuals to live in the manner of their choosing. One person may choose to live as a single, even to have and raise her own child. Others may choose to live in same sex partnerships or civil arrangements. There is an unshakeable majority of opinion in this country that we should cherish and protect individual rights with tolerance and understanding.“ Governor Mitt Romney, 06-22-2004 Press Release