Start treating Obama like a politician

On Tuesday morning, the world came to a grinding halt as billions of people stopped to watch the inarguably historic inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th president of the United States of America. The world witnessed as he became the first black leader of the free world.

At this point, I'm sick of hearing about Obama. Yes - I realize that he is now the president and will make news for the next four years.

But it isn't his politics I'm sick of hearing and seeing - it's his image. I'm sick of Barack Obama the celebrity, and with the recent passing of the inauguration, the Hollywood glamour will hopefully dissipate.

I am happy that he is our president, but this is precisely what I expect - President Barack Obama - not Obama-rama Spectacular Blowout Bash Supreme.

Supporting a candidate is a necessary aspect of political life. Creating a "rock star" persona and marketing him as a god that excrements rainbows and unicorns only sets up his presidency for failure. It sets the standards bar impossibly high.

He will not make money grow on trees.

He will not smash poverty and successfully enact universal healthcare.

He will not save all failing industries in America or return homes lost due to faulty advice from greedy bankers.

And he will certainly not make all of his supporters happy.

If Obama manages to successfully end the Iraq conflict, set our economy on a track to recovery and still have a little time to nurture the areas of education, healthcare and international relations, I think his term will be quite successful.

The problem is that many hardcore Obama-rama supporters act no better than concert groupies - sporting fashion buttons, bumper stickers and gaudy t-shirts in lieu of actual awareness. For some reason, the new fad seems to be being politically "active" via star-worship.

Not all Obama supporters have this attitude, but there are definitely those who only have a copy of Shepard Fairey's portrait of Obama because they think it's cool.

The attitude of Obama's supporters, however, was significantly more bearable than hardcore John McCain supporters who thought it cute to show off Curious George plushies with Obama buttons and yell obscenities about Obama during McCain's concession speech.

But once again, the same rule applies. Not all McCain supporters were like this, but I'm sure that the majority of the ones that were only acted like idiots because it was the "popular" way to show support for McCain. This includes Facebookers with "NObama," monkey-themed profile pictures.

The atmosphere surrounding the election proves that the celebrity cloud wasn't limited to just Obama but engulfed McCain as well. His supporters were just as eager and willing to turn their presidential candidate into an entertaining commodity rather than promoting his political platforms. Both are guilty of parading around shows like Saturday Night Live with about as much dignity as a state fair sideshow.

About the only performer in the 2008 political drama that wasn't backstage-pass worthy was Joe Biden. But then again, look who his competition was - Sarah Palin. How do you compete with someone who would probably do just about anything for green-room access?

Despite the better efforts of starry-eyed fans and media outlets obsessed with image over issues, Obama did reasonably well Tuesday, covering his overall goals in the inauguration speech, although the speech itself was somewhat dismal as he meticulously outlined the stormy skies ahead.

"That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet."

In summary: we're screwed.

So in the wake of these crises, the American people need someone to look to. It should be our president, whose duty it is to lead us through our dark times. My fear is that people expect an entertaining celebrity and will be sorely disappointed with the result.

Barack is a pop idol, but President Obama is not a superstar - only a man with a mission to make our lives better.

And that should be enough for the American people.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.mtsusidelines.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=b3f0770c-d7d4-4202-9f1d-c9cae7613730

© Copyright 2009 The Sidelines - Posted 01/22/09

Video games do not equal combat

I love video games.

I got my first console when I was in elementary school - a Super Nintendo. In middle school I received a Playstation for Christmas. And finally, after a long wait similar to Cartman and the Wii, I got my Playstation 2 as a junior in high school.

The world of interactive entertainment has definitely evolved from the heydays of killing brain cells in shady arcades. Video games help to develop hand-eye coordination, logic and puzzle-solving skills, and continue to turn entire generations into tech-savvy beings. And despite limited time to play, I still engage in video games as often as possible.

So I was very disturbed to hear a CNN report yesterday about a new military recruitment facility in a Philadelphia shopping mall.

According to the report, the $12 million facility "has 60 personal computers loaded with military video games, 19 Xbox 360 video game controllers and a series of interactive screens describing military bases and career options in great detail."

Jesse Hamilton, a recent veteran of Iraq, spoke out against the new recruitment effort and said, "[The Army Experience Center is] very deceiving and very far from realistic. You can't simulate the loss when you see people getting killed. It's not very likely you are going to get into a firefight. The only way to simulate the heat is holding a blow dryer to your face."

The fact that the military might be trying to make a vague connection between actual warfare and a video game like Call of Duty 4 is utterly insulting to all active and veteran soldiers. It's almost saying their job was and is no harder than pushing a few buttons.

Comparing warfare to simulated combat is like seeing "Schindler's List" and proclaiming you can sympathize with Holocaust survivors.

To clarify, this topic has nothing to do with the military overall. I'm not up for writing much about whether I support or disapprove of the war or my opinion on our outgoing and incoming presidents' foreign policies.

What I do find interesting, however, is the area of military recruitment. I constantly refer to the recruitment mall next to Hobby Lobby off of Old Fort Parkway as "piranha row."

I call it piranha row because recruiters will try to get as many bites at a potential recruit as possible - anything to boost the Army's ever dropping enlistment rate.

To be fair, I am an Army brat via my father, so my dislike of recruitment officers started at a very young age. By the age of 12, I was receiving US Army paraphernalia - bags, visors, Frisbees, sunglasses.

When I was 14, I joined my high school's JROTC program. This was mostly out of respect for my father, who was, at the time, the executive officer of the program.

When I was 15, a sophomore, the Army recruiter came to visit.

I, along with my fellow classmates, were told to come to school in dress uniform and give up our lunch periods to stand with the Army recruiter to talk with our fellow, non-JROTC peers.   We were supposed to sell the army life, despite the fact that we hadn't lived it. I just found it to be useful excuse not to be forced to find a seat in our already over-crowded cafeteria.

I ditched JROTC my sophomore year and refused to sign-up or respond to any postcards, letters or e-mails I had, and do still occasionally, receive.

But after reading another recruitment-themed story on Dec. 22, 2008 at Comcast.net, I'm actually starting to feel like recent recruiters are little more than Uncle Sam's punching bags.   The story talks about the multiple suicides that have plagued the Houston Recruiting Battalion over the past three years. All soldiers served combat tours before becoming recruiters.

One death in particular, Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Henderson, is the main focus since his widow, Staff Sgt. Amanda Henderson, and Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) have pressed the state senate for an investigation into Patrick's suicide.

According to Amanda, her husband worked "13-hour days, six days a week, often encountering abuse from young people and their parents… When he [Patrick] and other recruiters would gripe about their pressure to meet their quotas, their supervisors would snarl that they ought to be grateful they were not in Iraq."

Barely a year after taking the recruiting position, 35-year-old Patrick hanged himself in his backyard shed with a dog chain.

Wretched isn't strong enough to describe Patrick's last year of life and tragic isn't nearly appropriate enough to describe his death.

Whatever causes these soldiers' distress, the added pressures of creating a magical illusion of play fighting through entertainment and promising real-life, video game glory at the potential cost of young Americans' lives is more than enough to cause any human being distress - especially when that person knows the truth.

At this point, I'm not sure what's worse: asking soldiers to out-right fabricate combat situations to boost enlistment numbers or being the person who has to lie to unsuspecting young men and women?

I just hope we don't start opening martial arts studios asking kids to train with Mortal Kombat and then turn around, expecting them to break cement blocks with their bare foreheads.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 01/15/09

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

 http://media.www.mtsusidelines.com/media/storage/paper202/news/2009/01/15/Opinions/Video.Games.Do.Not.Equal.Combat-3586507.shtml

© Copyright 2009 The Sidelines

"Baby Daddy" rises with the surrogacy trend

Tina Fey's fictional, single-parent, baby-proofing days may be over after her release of "Baby Mama" earlier this year, but the parental adventure is just beginning for many people who decided to conceive via surrogacy.

An interesting fact in the growing trend of surrogacy is that many parents are single, and some are actually men.

According to CNN, two surrogacy agencies have seen a significant growth in the number of single men wanting to have children.

This is absolutely amazing. Men are finally starting to be respected as caregivers.

As a feminist, I believe equality is the ultimate goal. But it seems that as women have gain momentum in becoming "providers," men have made very little progress in the area of "care giving."

Women can now bring home the bacon, but men still can't use a skillet.

Men have begun to take a more proactive role within families, helping partners (both gay and straight) raise children. But single parents experience the biggest hardships. Unfortunately, the only single parents we ever seem to hear about are single women.

But single men are doing the exact same thing as single women when it comes to parenting. Both must generate a steady revenue to support their family; foster a safe and nurturing environment for the growth and development of their prodigy; and both have to deal with the social stigma that come with being single parent.

The root of the problem for both men and women who are single parents lies in the fact that they are single. Single-ness is an unspoken unacceptability within our society. Because, for whatever reason, we believe that we can't love ourselves enough to lead a productive and healthy life.

So we look for another to support us and we pity those who have not found someone. But what about children?

These men and women - these single parents - aren't really single or alone. They have families, children who love and support them. And if love and support is the only thing needed to form a wholly functional family, I'd say these parents are doing a pretty good job.

---------------------

Single men turning to surrogates

By Ronni Berke - CNN Senior Producer

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Jeff Walker says from as far back as he can remember, he always wanted to be a father.

"It was always something I knew, from the time I was a child." Just like his 3-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, who says she wants to be a mommy someday, Jeff says, "I knew I wanted to be a daddy."

Walker, a Manhattan music executive, says he and his partner had talked about adopting a baby years ago. But after three emotionally draining, failed attempts at adoption, they decided to turn to surrogacy. They contacted Circle Surrogacy, a Boston agency that specializes in gay clients. Their child was conceived with a donor egg, and then the embryo implanted in the surrogate, or carrier.

After Elizabeth was born, Walker and his partner separated. He then made a critical decision -- to become a dad again, single, and by choice.

"I realized my family, my two-dad family was going to look different than I thought it was going to look," he said. Without a partner, he would face even steeper challenges raising Elizabeth and a sibling alone. Walker says he gave the decision a lot of thought.

"That was the only part that was really controversial, because I do think there are a lot of challenges that single parents face, but at the same time I felt I was capable of handling those challenges," he said.

His second daughter, Alexandra, was born two years ago to the same surrogate, implanted with an egg from a different donor.

Walker, 45, is one of a growing number of single men -- both gay and straight -- who are opting to become fathers alone, with the help of gestational surrogacy.

Surrogacy experts say because the practice is not regulated, many surrogacy arrangements are handled privately by individuals. Precise figures are hard to come by, but experts say there's no doubt the United States is experiencing a surrogacy baby boom.

Celebrities like Ricky Martin and Clay Aiken announced this year they had had babies with the help of surrogates and the the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, representing scores of reproductive clinics, reports that the number of gestational surrogate births in the country quadrupled between 1996 and 2006.

Surrogacy experts say gestational surrogacy has increased steadily since the advent of in vitro fertilization in the early 1980s, because it provides an extra layer of emotional and legal protection for the client. The egg donor usually does not even know the client, and unlike the legally contentious "Baby M" case from the 1980s, the surrogate is not giving birth to her genetic child.

"It rises as an issue far less frequently with gestational surrogacy, because women never see it as their child to begin with," said John Weltman, president of Circle Surrogacy.

His agency, which expects more than 70 babies to be born in 2009, has seen a 50 percent growth in the number of single male clients over the past year.

Walker and other men are willing to pay well over $100,000 to have a baby through surrogacy -- the final cost depending on the number of IVF treatments necessary and how much is paid by insurance.

Circle is not the only major surrogacy provider experiencing a single-dad surge. At Growing Generations, a Los Angeles, California, agency that facilitates about 100 births a year, the number of single men seeking surrogates has doubled in the past three years, spokeswoman Erica Bowers said.

Although most of their single male clients are gay, surrogacy providers say a smaller but growing number are straight. Steven Harris, a New York malpractice and personal-injury attorney, says he gave up trying to get married when he realized his primary motive was to start a family.

Harris, 54, says he knew he made the right decision after 21-month old Ben was born.

"I thought getting married was the only way to go, because I did want a family. But having Ben, I feel complete now," Harris says.

Original Article:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/12/23/single.men.parenting/index.html

Score one more racism point for the South

I am a Southerner, whether I like it or not.

I was born in the South, raised in the South, attend school in the South and will probably stay in the South for a while.

Despite my frequent gripes about the narrow-minded bigots and unintelligent rednecks I occasionally encounter, I really think it is an amazing place to live. It feels like home.

But living inside the South and looking at it from the outside are two very different things.

INSIDE: warm, friendly, down-to-earth and helpful.

OUTSIDE: bigoted, unintelligent, dirty and backwards.

Anytime I encounter someone outside of the South, the conversation usually begins as follows:

Them: "Oh wow, what a cute accent you have. You're not from around here are you?"

Me: "No, I'm from Tennessee."

*At this point, there is usually a reference to Nashville (and country music), Jack Daniels or Orange.*

Me: "Yes, I live outside of Nashville; No, I don't like country music; No, I've never been to the distillery; No, I don't go to UTK or watch their football games."

And this is usually where the conversation comes to a screeching halt - due to the fact that I am not, what they consider, a "Southerner."

I don't want to sound hypocritical, so I should probably denote that not all non-Southerners think like this. There are probably about as many non-Southerners who think we are dirty mouth-breathers as there are Southerners who think Northerners are uppity carpetbaggers.

Regardless, assumptions run amok through both cultures. So when something like what happened in High Point, North Carolina (see story below) makes the news, it comes as no shock that another point is scored in favor of the Southern stereotype.

First and foremost, any racial slurs or gestures are absolutely unacceptable in any manner and in any part of the country. However, because this happened in a southern state, the implications of the message are far more severe.

It's bad enough that we're looked at as having a foundation of racism thanks to slavery and resistance to the Civil Rights Movement (in various areas of the South). But times are changing, attitudes are improving, and the people who originally held degrading and oppressive thoughts are steadily dying out, leaving behind a generation of more accepting and open-minded individuals - with the exception of a few.

Honestly, I don't think that the South has any more racists-minded residents than any other region in our country. Once again, the stereotype just lends itself to the assumption that we do. I've definitely run into a few people who assume we all run around barefooted and sleep with a shotgun under our pillow.

If anything, one of the most predominate qualities of the Southern culture is the concept of respect and honor.

I just wish that people, like the two teens from High Point, had enough respect for the honor and dignity of our region.

-----------------

2 charged after Klan-like hoods found outside school

By J. Brian Ewing, Staff Writer (News and Record)

HIGH POINT - Two teens were charged with hanging four Klan-like hoods around the campus of High Point Central this morning.

David Lee Hughes, 16, and Mitchell James Dawkins, 16, were both charged with placing an exhibit with the intention of intimidating and misdemeanor larceny.

Police Capt. Tony Hamrick said the hoods are made of white vinyl and had holes cut in them. They were actually traffic cones turned inside out. The cones had recently been stolen, and other traffic cones were found in a vehicle near the school, according to a news release.

Three of the hoods were hung near the bus parking lot at the school, and the fourth was hung from the school's flagpole.

The hoods were found about 5:30 a.m. today by a school custodian.

No nooses were found, Hamrick said, despite earlier reports from school system officials stating there were.

Hamrick said there have been no recent race-related issues at the school that he is aware of. The incident does not represent the atmosphere at the school, he said.

"This is an irresponsible prank we take seriously," he said.

Two officers will remain on the campus for the remainder of the school day.

Hughes and Dawkins, who are both white, were released to the custody of their parents.

ORIGINAL STORY:

http://www.news-record.com/content/2008/12/15/article/2_in_custody_after_klan_like_hoods_found_outside_school

Military recruiters double as Uncle Sam's punching bags

Right next to Hobby Lobby, off of Old Fort Parkway, sits the Murfreesboro military recruitment offices - or as I call it, "piranha row."

I have never liked military recruiters. My father was in the military and since the day I was born, I've apparently been on their "must have" list.

By the age of 12, I was receiving US Army paraphernalia - bags, visors, Frisbees, sunglasses.

When I was 14, I joined my high school's JROTC program. This was mostly out of respect for my father, who was, at the time, the executive officer of the program.

I may not like the military, but I will respect the fact that my father served our country and the military has provided him and my family a stable living for the better part of my life.

When I was 15, a sophomore, the Army recruiter came to visit.

I, along with my fellow classmates, were told to come to school in dress uniform and give up our lunch periods to stand with the Army recruiter to talk with our fellow, non-JROTC peers.

We were supposed to sell the army life, despite the fact that we hadn't lived it. I just found it a useful excuse not to be forced to find a seat in our already over-crowded cafeteria.

After my sophomore year, I quit the JROTC program and devoted myself to the school paper. The "liberal" media was, and still is, the best way I have found to serve our citizens, because a well-informed community makes for a stronger country.

But even though I ditched JROTC and refused to sign-up or respond to any postcards, letters or e-mails I have (and still do on occasion) receive, I still held somewhat of a grudge against the recruiters that went after me and my high school friends with promises of money, fame, glory and candy.

After reading the article posted below, I feel sorry for military recruiters. With two wars, the majority of the world against us, the switching of executive administrations and the ever-mounting pressure felt by our armed forces, I'm honestly shocked that the suicide count isn't higher.

It makes me wonder how many attempted suicides aren't known to the public.

It makes me think about the lies the military executives tell recruiters.

It makes me question whether these people we ask to protect us feel like they are treated with any scrap of dignity - particularly by their superiors.

It makes me sad that our country has gotten to this point.

It's shameful.

___

By: The Associated Press

Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Henderson, a strapping Iraq combat veteran, spent the last, miserable months of his life as an Army recruiter, cold-calling dozens of people a day from his strip-mall office and sitting in strangers' living rooms, trying to sign up their sons and daughters for an unpopular war.

He put in 13-hour days, six days a week, often encountering abuse from young people or their parents. When he and other recruiters would gripe about the pressure to meet their quotas, their superiors would snarl that they ought to be grateful they were not in Iraq, according to his widow.

Less than a year into the job, Henderson — afflicted by flashbacks and sleeplessness after his tour of battle in Iraq — went into his backyard shed, slid the chain lock in place, and hanged himself with a dog chain.

He became, at age 35, the fourth member of the Army's Houston Recruiting Battalion to commit suicide in the past three years — something Henderson's widow and others blame on the psychological scars of combat, combined with the pressure-cooker job of trying to sell the war.

"Over there in Iraq, you're doing this high-intensive job you are recognized for. Then, you come back here, and one month you're a hero, one month you're a loser because you didn't put anyone in," said Staff Sgt. Amanda Henderson, herself an Iraq veteran and a former recruiter in the battalion.

The Army has 38 recruiting battalions in the United States. Patrick Henderson's is the only one to report more than one suicide in the past six years.

The Army began an investigation after being prodded by Amanda Henderson and Texas Sen. John Cornyn. Cornyn, a Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he will press for Senate hearings.

"We need to get to the bottom of this as soon as we can," he said.
The all-volunteer military is under heavy pressure to sign up recruits and retain soldiers while it wages two wars.

Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the Army Recruiting Command, acknowledged that recruiting is a demanding job but said counseling and other support are available.

"I don't have an answer to why these suicides in Houston Recruiting Battalion occurred, but perhaps the investigation that is under way may shed some light on that question," he said.
In all, 15 of the Army's 8,400 recruiters have committed suicide since 2003. During that period, more than 540 of the Army's half-million active-duty soldiers killed themselves.

The 266-member Houston battalion covers a huge swath of East Texas, from Houston to the Arkansas line. Henderson committed suicide Sept. 20. Another battalion member, Staff Sgt. Larry Flores Jr., hanged himself in August at age 26; Sgt. Nils "Aron" Andersson, 25, shot himself to death in March 2007; and in 2005, a captain at battalion headquarters took his life, though the military has not disclosed any details. All served combat tours before their recruiting assignments.

Charlotte Porter, Andersson's mother, said her son — who served two tours in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne and earned a Bronze Star — couldn't lie to recruits about the war and felt an enormous burden to ensure they could become the kind of soldiers he would want watching his back.

"He wasn't a complainer. He just said it really sucked," said his 51-year-old mother, who is from Eugene, Ore. "He felt like a failure."

___

On the Net:

Complete Original Article: http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20081222/Recruiter.Suicides/

Army Recruiting Command: http://www.usarec.army.mil/

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Obama is the new President - Westboro is scared

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't excited about Barack Obama being our 44th President of the United States of America.

It's an understandable occurrence that not everyone is thrilled with the president elect. Not everybody has to be happy about it.

And just because I like Obama, doesn't mean I support everything he believes. I definitely do not subscribe to the thought pattern that this guy will crap rainbows and bleed miracles.

But then there are the people who are going to go to the extremes - like the Westboro Baptist Church. These people are certifiable, but at least they are equal opportunity haters. Like Obama, they hated George W. Bush, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, victims of Katrina, teenagers killed in car accidents, soldiers who die overseas and the occasional state or two.

No kidding, these people claim to hate Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Kooky right?

Their Web site - godhatesfags.com - gets a pretty fair share of hits. I personally frequent their site to keep tabs on whether they will be paying a visit to Tennessee. At the very least, it would make for a great news story.

But I digress. They recently posted a "news release" about president-elect Barack and notes how he is the "Antichrist." Personally, if these people ever truly wanted to see the Antichrist, all they would have to do is look in a mirror.

The following is their "news release." Enjoy.

BARACK OBAMA IS ANTICHRIST

GOD IS PUNISHING AMERICA BY MAKING HIM
PRESIDENT TO FURTHER CURSE THIS EVIL NATION

Antichrist fit Obama like a glove; to wit: The Man of Sin, the Beast, the Son of Perdition, That Wicked One (i.e., That Lawless One), who wrests, or twists, the Scripture to his own destruction. 2 Pet. 3:16.

By his own pronouncements, and by the events as they have miraculously developed on the ground, presidential candidate - Sen. Barack Obama - is the Antichrist. The word Antichrist means "he that openly withstands Christ, being diametrically opposed to Christ."

Sodomite America deserves Antichrist as her president.

This evil, black Nimrod is on record as supporting same-sex marriage and the wholesale murder of babies; and, his basic theology is pure Arminian heresy, consisting of two Satanic lies:

1) God loves everybody; and,

2) Man has a free will.

He has shredded every part of the Bible which proves him and his sycophants - (i.e., his worshipers) - to be lying murderers and blaspheming hypocrites.

All the Bible aliases for "But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." 1 Pet. 1:25.

"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of Gods pake as they were loved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Pet. 1:20,21.

Thus Antichrist Obama has committed blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, Mat . 12:31,32. And Antichrist Obama is bound for Hell for his sins against the Holy Ghost, "cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone." Rev. 19:20.

Amen.

Problem: If this is such an "evil nation," why are the Westboro followers still here?

Answer: If they went anywhere else in this world, they would probably be killed.

Problem: When did Obama openly withstand Christ? It's not like he's declared Mortal Kombat against God.

Answer: Obama is a Christian - just not a WESTBORO Christian. Which means he's really not a Christian to the Westborians.

(Side note: I always find it amusing when Christians hate other Christians. It's like the deaf hating the deaf for being deaf. Now THAT'S hypocrisy at its best Westboro.)

Problem: There is no scripture presented to support the notion that Obama is the Antichrist.

Answer: The Westboro Baptist Church consists of inbred, knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, narrow-minded, unhappy-with-their-own-pathetic-existences hillbillies led by a senile, perverted, closeted homosexual named Fred Phelps. Sun rise, sun set.

Obama isn't perfect, but McCain was farther from. I know that everyone can't wait to see what Obama will do, but I really don't expect him to do a lot. Mostly I'm just curious to see how he helps our country's current situations.

In fact, I don't even expect him to get to do or "change" anything that he really wants to in his four years. All I really expect of Obama is for him to work his hardest to clean up the mess we are currently in.

War, economic chaos, social injustice, primitive educational standards. If he can just begin to heal any of these things, I will consider his time in office a success.

So congratulations Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America. I wish you the best of luck in leading and representing me, my family, my friends, my country.

And please don't screw up. I really can't stand when the Westborians think they have the right to gloat.

Judgment shouldn't be marginalized

This past Saturday, a few friends and I attended the Family Worship Center's presentation of "Judgment: Death Row" in Murfreesboro.

The presentation was a variation of a traditional Hell House - a haunted house with a Christian theme designed to lead viewers to a relationship with Jesus in order to save their eternal souls from the fires of hell.

The concept for the original Hell House was "Scaremare" and was pioneered by Jerry Falwell in the 1970s. Scaremare still runs to this day.

Since its development, multiple churches, usually denoting themselves as fundamentalists, have emulated this Halloween pastime, including Trinity Church of Cedar Hill, Texas - whose hellish production was documented by director George Ratliff in the movie Hell House.

It was very obvious that the Family Worship Center spent top dollar on its faithful interpretation of salvation through the intricacy of its set, the man-power it took to run the production and the oh-so-subtle advertisement spots on Comcast.

But even with a decently- sized budget, the overall message delivered by the church left much to be desired - specifically accountability.

The play is set up to take the audience through the lives of several death row inmates, including murderers, rapists and child abusers. It displays scenes of drug use, domestic abuse, suicide, assault, molestation, drinking and death.

Each prisoner has a different backstory.

One was molested as a child. This led him to become addicted to pornography and eventually kidnap, rape and kill children.

Another was unprepared for the burden of motherhood, what with her addiction to an unnamed drug demon. Her baby wouldn't stop crying so she shook it to death.

The crimes of the inmates can go on and on, but the one running commonality among them was their lack of faith in the Family Worship Center's opinion of God.

I say the Family Worship Center's opinion of God because not every sect of Christianity believes exactly what this specific church does. However, through its hell house presentation, the FWC made perfectly clear what will and will not get you into its Heaven.

Suicide and the rejection of God is an automatic admission ticket to become Satan's little errand boy.

The only way to get into Heaven - or have your name recorded in the "Book of Life" - was to ask Jesus to forgive you of all your Earthly sins. But unawareness with the Christian faith was not covered. If you are not aware of the concept of Christianity, do you also go to Hell?

The biggest problem with their version of ultimate forgiveness was there is no accountability for Earthly actions.

For example, the aforementioned child-shaking mother asked the religious figure present at her lethal injection if God could forgive her. He replied the mandatory "yes," because really, let's face it, he doesn't know for sure. She then asked Jesus to forgive her, they injected her with a dose of deadly narcotics, and she dies but then awakens moments later - in Heaven.

Every other non-murderous individual should be outraged at this. This woman is allotted the same reward for living a terrible life that a person who works very hard to remain virtuous gets.

It is true that forgiveness is not fair. But forgiveness should not come without retribution. People should be made to be accountable for their actions and not receive a free ride to a blissful eternity.

In a technical sense, Person A and Person B are both given the same opportunity - life.

Person A spends his life obeying laws, caring for others and trying his hardest to be an overall good person.

Person B, given the same opportunity of life, squanders his life selfishly, harming other people.

Both people ask Jesus to forgive their sins. According to the FWC, both will get into Heaven.

Person A should be pissed. Luckily for him, he gets to spend eternity enjoying being pissed off.

The fact of the matter is the Family Worship Center has no idea what the requirements are for entry into either Heaven or Hell. Like many other sects of Christianity and other religions, they think they know, but they don't.

And that, above all else, is the concept that terrifies us as humans. The answer to all the "big" questions is very simple - we don't know.

The FWC would like to think that, after we die, we go to either Heaven or Hell. They like to think that the requirement for entry into Heaven is to "confess Christ openly, follow Christ in baptism, be faithful in going to a Bible-believing church, read the Bible, pray daily, give your time, talent and tithes, and be a witness for Christ."

Those are all very nice goals and decent standards to live by. But once again, these are just theories - not guarantees.

Yes, the answer is scary. We will all die one day. Not knowing what will happen to us after we die is absolutely petrifying.

But it isn't a bad thing. We have the fear, so we should use it. The only thing we can do is blindly prepare for what lies after life.

So we help out others in need, love our fellow humans, whether we agree with them or not, and try to maintain a progressive, safe world for ourselves and our posterity. Doing these things is not always easy, and many people mess up. But it's okay because, after all, we are only human.

The FWC message that left much to be desired was that we need to stay out of Hell.

Swing and a miss.

What their message should have been is that we should be good people because it is the right thing to do.

Andy Harper is a senior journalism major

Originally posted on 10/27/08 at www.mtsusidelines.com