The Holocaust

A short timeline...

• January 30th, 1933- Hitler comes to power and becomes the Chancellor with the Enabling Act of 1933. This allowed him complete and total control
• September 15th, 1935- Nuremburg Laws passed. These laws severely limited Jewish civil rights and business abilities
• September 1st, 1939- Germany invades Poland, starting World War II. 
• 1940- Nazis begin constructing ghettos for the Jews of Poland. Jews were forcibly removed from their homes and put in these ghettos
• June 1941- Germany invades Russia
• "Final Solution" begins with the Einsatzgruppen, four mobile commando teams that operated in Russia, eastern Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. They lined up Jews and shot them, estimating around 1.3 million killed by 1942
• January 20th, 1942- Wannsee Conference begins the full-scale extermination of Jews
• Spring of 1942- 6 killing-camps had been established in Polan
• July 1944- Maidanek camp liberated by Russians
• April 1945- Dachau liberated by American
  
  Anti-Semitism- This is the believe that all Jewish peoples are inferior and are not as worthy to live in our world as are other peoples
  Concentration camp- Camps set up for the imprisonment and mistreatment of enemies of the Nazis, mainly Jews
  Deportation- Jews were forcibly removed from their homes and towns to be moved into ghettos and concentration camps
  Genocide- the systematic killing of an entire race
  Ghetto- Places many Jews were forced to live in before concentration camps. Extremely cramped conditions, and food was usually scarce
  Holocaust- Period between 1933-1945 when Nazis systematically killed 6 million Jews because they felt they were inferior
  Kristallnacht- "Night of broken glass." On November 9,10, 1938 Nazis inspired attacks nation-wide against Jews. Jewish stores and homes were looted and burned. 91 Jews were killed
  
  A number of commandments were broken by Nazis in the Holocaust. 
• Do not make any idols before me; During the time of the Holocaust, Hitler became something of a demi-god to the Nazi people. He was practically worshipped by the Nazis and Nazi collaborators and it can clearly be seen that his morals were placed above that of our own God.
• Do not murder; this commandment is clearly broken. Over 12 million people died as a result of German aggression, around 6 million Jewish. So many lives wasted over a pointless ideal
• Do not steal; not only did Nazis steal the lives of millions of people, they stole possessions as well. After Jews had been deported from their areas, Nazis would come in and clean up any remaining possessions they had for themselves.

Fifth Commandment beliefs

The fifth commandment has more meaning tan just "Thou Must Not Kill." It actually has many facets and applications that do not deal directly with murder. It can span all the way from stem research to weapons races to racism. These are all actions against the fifth commandment.
Stem cell research is the scientific study of human embryos (technically live children) to see what uses they have to the medical community. This entails the killing of a potential life. These embryos do not even receive a chance to live out their lives and this upsets me greatly. Our desire for knowledge has surpassed our morals, and no longer does the value for human life exist. The possibility of finding knowledge never should trump the value of a human life. never.
Weapons races are another violation of the fifth commandment, but in a different sense. This buildup of weapons that began after the second world war was meant to withhold the peace of the world. All that it has done is made mutually assured destruction  (mass death). If these weapons are ever put to use there will be no victor; just many lost. These weapons not only endanger humankind as a whole, they have also plagued us in many different ways. The spending funding this build up of weapons has contributed to the economic miseries that afflict the modern world.
Racism, in my belief, is the worst violation of the fifth commandment. It is a sin against the human value of life because it is the belief that one person is completely better than another person, solely based on their race or where they hail from. This could not be any more of a wrong thought, because we are all created in God's image. We are all created equal. Inherently, no one can be outright better just for their skin color or region of decent. We are all equal human beings, and the value of human life is equal among all people

Response to Trayvon Martin Case

The tragedy of the Trayvon Martin case has been gaining both national and international recognition and awareness. Millions are up in outrage about the lack of arrest of the murderer George Zimmerman. Petitions are being spread throughout the country for his arrest. There are even bounties from the "New Black Panthers" for his capture, reaching into $10,000. Many citizens are participating in marches across the country, many donning the hoodie as the symbol of Trayvon's death. There have been marches in Washington, Florida, Philly, Arizona... all around the country. But this case spreads out beyond the public. many statements have been made by celebrities, politicians, and big public figures. Obama himself has commented on the incident, saying he can only imagine what the family is going through and how if he had a son, he would look just like Trayvon. It has also reached the national sports-level. Many NBA players are clamoring for justice in the case, taking photos in hoodies and scribing "RIP Trayvon Martin" and "We want justice" scrawled on their sneakers during games. This case must be brought to just to justice.

What really happened: Trayvon Martin

In today's society, apparently wearing a hood up is cause for violence. Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old, 150 pound African American, was shot and killed on February 26th in Sanford, Florida. He was walking back to his Father's girlfriend's house during a break in the NBA game he was watching with his younger brother. Martin had just gone out to get an Iced-Tea and a bag of Skittles. While walking down the street of the gated community he was in, a man (George Zimmerman), began to follow him. He also was making calls to the police saying Martin was "just walking around looking about" in the rain, and that "This guy looks like he is up to no good. He is on drugs or something." The police told him that maintaining pursuit of Martin was not necessary, to which Zimmerman replied okay. Moments later, neighbors reported hearing screams of a young, whining voice yelling for help which was immediately silenced by a single report of a 9mm firearm in Zimmerman's possession. A number of witnesses reported seeing Zimmerman pinning down Martin. When the police arrived, Zimmerman was questioned and released with little care or even a toxicity test. Martin's body was taken in as "John Doe" and was given a toxicity test that turned up negative for everything. Besides and injustice, and the public clamoring for arrest, nothing else has happened as of yet.

Get rid of the "R" word.

In the past decade or so, the word retarded has started to take a negative meaning. The word is supposed to describe a mental setback or difficulty, but in today's society it has come to mean someone stupid or incapable of doing high-level activities. This could not be more far from the truth. Just because a kid has a learning disability, does not make him any less of a person. It does not make them any less human.
Using the word to describe someone who has a mentally disability is perfectly okay, and that is what the word is meant to be used for. It is when the word starts to be used in a derogatory fashion to describe someone who is supposedly "dumb" or "stupid" that the word picks up a negative meaning. This is extremely offensive and just flat out wrong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObkxEXKoklI

 We need to stop saying the word retarded, as a society. There have been many movements, both in legal action and societal action to stop this. The word retarded is no longer legally able to be used in healthcare, federal education, and labor. Also, there have been movements and organizations devoted to this effort, such as http://therword.org/. They have organized against this hateful word, and encourage others to do the same. Do the same: spread the word to not say the word.

My Teacher Doesn't Let Me Swear On the Internet

Over the past few weeks, it has become aware to my majestic professor of the wonderful arts of religion that the profanity on social media sites such as Twitter has been elevated to a point of past toleration. Students have been abusing their freedom on such sites by flooding their profiles with vulgarity, and my teacher has decided to take disciplinary action against it.. But is it really such a big deal? Yes, I do agree that profanity towards other students in a bullying-type fashion is wrong and should be banned. And obviously sexual profanity should also be kept off profiles as well. But other than these two styles, is all profanity really that bad? In today's society, the use of swear words and cussing has become much less of a moral issue, and has become a lot less, for lack of a better word, "bad." It is also a great way to get rid of the stress gathered up throughout the day, and it also is actually proven to be a pain killer. Numerous scientific studies have shown that swearing is actually a very effective pain reliever. A study was done wear participants were to hold their hands in ice water for as long as possible, and those who swore were able to hold their hands in for an average of 40 seconds longer. So swearing, in moderation, can actually be beneficial to a person. So I guess what I am saying is, I agree that the profanity should be restricted to appropriate things on sites such as Twitter: but not restricted.
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/health/9405589-423/a-great-pain-reliever-swearing-but-just-a-little-bit.html

10 Resolutions for the World

1. No more prejudice
2. No more hate
3. More generosity
4. More talking, less violence
5. More focus on medicine than weapons
6. More environmentally-friendly action
7. No more deception/lying in politics
8. More focus on energy crisis
9. More focus on making the world a better place
10. A better sense of community