Pro-Choice

Having the right to choose is one of the great things about being born in the United States. Other countries aren't as lucky and some people have no choice throughout their lives. One view of the Democratic party is that they are pro-choice, meaning they support the idea that the woman should have the right whether to have an abortion if she feels she needs to. I agree with this because some people aren't fit to have a baby. Most people getting abortions are likely to be young and not wealthy. Yes I do believe that everyone should have an equal opportunity to have a chance at life but sometimes it's just for the better. Young teens don't want the feelings of regret giving away a baby they spent nine months carrying. It would be very hard for that teen to live a normal life after having a baby, because they must spend every waking minute caring for it. Sometimes it's not reasonable for a young teen to have a baby so that's why I think pro-choice is a good thing.

Obama is pro-choice but he isn't pro-abortion. I agree with this totally. I'm not in favor of abortion but I am in favor of choice.

Yes, you must look at both sides of this issue. The interesting question about this debate is whether it should be in politics or not. Why should the government have control on whether you have an abortion or not? Isn't this a discussion between a male and a female? It's hard to say whether the government should have control on this issue, since it is such a big issue. I think if a girl wants to have an abortion, it is much better that she goes to the doctor and get it done right, rather than doing it themselves.

Where I stand

PoliticsMatch Your Political Philosophy The below is a way of thinking about your political philosophy by dividing your PoliticsMatch answers into "personal" and "economic" questions.  It is only a theory - please take it with a grain of salt! Personal Questions:  Liberals and libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while conservatives and authoritarians agree in choosing the more-restrictions answers. Economic Questions:  Conservatives and libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while liberals and authoritarians agree in choosing the more-restrictions answers.   Your Score You scored the following on the PoliticsMatch questions:
Personal Score	45%
Economic Score	35%

Where You Fit In Where your Personal score meets your Economic score on the grid below is your political philosophy.  Based on the above score, you are a Moderate Liberal Populist .

Republicans

One of the strengths of the Republican party is their ability to push parts of legislation that they agree totally with. One of their views, cut spending, is getting viewed more as the right way. Because of Obama's success, or lack of, republicans are viewing the option of cutting spending as the right choice.

The major weakness of the Republican party is how they are turning into extremists with their sub party, the Tea Party. People are getting turned off by all of the Tea Party views so more people are turning toward Democratic views. Even people in the center are turning toward the left because the right is becoming discombobulated. They see that in the right, the people are becoming less and less "one" and breaking off into Tea Party or not.

All of these issues are making the Republicans strong and weak at the same time. The reason they are strong is to fix the economy but they are weak in the sense that they have lost their identity. Their identity has changed into Tea Party extremists which isn't what every Republican stands for.

Democrats

The biggest strengths in my eyes of the Democrats is their view on abortion. I agree totally with the right that a woman has a choice whether to have an abortion or not. Yes, it is very sad that an innocent unborn baby will have its life cut very short, but I do believe that some people cannot handle a baby and it's life would be a lot worse. I believe that abortions should be rare and adoption is a much better option but I think if worse comes to worse the women should have a decision that she has thought through and wants to make.

Another strength I view of the democrats is their position of gay marriage. Obama doesn't exactly support gay marriage but he does support civil unions. I think they get a whole division of people following them just for their views on this topic.

Some weaknesses for the Democrats are that they seem to push bills that are unfavorable for the public. Also the public seems to be more for cutting taxes but Obama is increasing taxes and spending more to stimulate the economy. Obama is trying more and more to stimulate the economy by spending more which is seeming ineffective which is letting bills that deal with cuts pass more.

Hard to move on

They are probably all thinking; why us? Of all the schools, of all the teams that could be cut, why them? Well the truth is someone had to lose. And for Davis sports, the story was sad for some and brighter for others. Some teams got to live to see another season, other teams did not.

UC Davis decided to close four intercollegiate sports teams in trying to address an existing $1.4 million budget deficit and an additional $2.4 million fiscal hole for 2009 to 2010.

Money has always been an issue with everyone. But for money to be a problem at a collegiate level I just don't understand. These schools make tons of money off of their students that I don't see why it is so expensive to have sports. I understand all of the payments involved but still don't get it. It must be hard to know that your season this year will be your last and it must be harder to deal with the problem of what to do next. Some student athletes must face problems not being able to transfer schools to play. So for some, this is it.

Youth sports is preparing young kids to deal with these type of struggles. Youth sports teaches kids that not everything will go as the way you planned. No matter how hard you practice, you still might not win. But youth sports is teaching kids to go 100% on everything so that they have a  chance to win. Also sports is teaching kids to have fun. Everyone wants to have fun so why not try and use your talents as a way to fulfill that goal?

What now?

What do they do now? They were just told that their future with Cal baseball is done, so why try? These kids have a passion and the need to succeed to prove everybody wrong. when faced with adversity some kids may not know what to do. Teaching kids at a young age that losing is a part of life, when faced with real life problems they will understand it better. These kids obviously don't want to be playing their last season as a Cal baseball player. It is very sad to know that these kids will now have to make a choice; either to find a new school to play at or quit their passion. No one would one want be the reason a young man has to loose everything he has worked for since he was in elementary school. It was probably just as hard on the staff to cut the sports as well on the team. This is truly a sad story.

Christmas without presents?

During winter break, my fellow teammates and I went to place where they collected Christmas presents for the less fortunate. There was a whole gymnasium filled with donations of new and slightly used items. There were tons of toys, clothes and miscellaneous items stacked up in huge barrels. It was ran by an organization that was using what looked like a church and Sunday school to help people in need during the holidays.

The picture to the right shows Sohraab and I helping out by sorting, organizing, and moving the toys. It was really fun to join together as a group and help out. I know I wouldn't enjoy Christmas as much if there wasn't a single present under the tree. It made me feel good inside to know what I was doing, was lighting up a kids day. Looking through the toys, even I wanted to play with them. I knew that these toys and clothes were going to make little kids Christmas wishes come true.

The other great thing about this event was that they were collecting food. They were collecting food so families could have a nice family dinner and not have to stress about coming up with the money to pay for it. It was nice to know that people still cared for other people. We need to have more organizations like this so people can help others. A lot of people are more well off than others so I think that those people should give back. Not everyone can be successful, it's hard to make a lot of money. But we can't as a race not help out the needy. It felt good knowing what we were doing was for a great cause. I am also glad to see that there were so many people there helping out. Every one could use a helping hand, and for that Christmas it was our hands.

You can't put a price on dreams

University of California was faced with tragic news when they learned they had to cut some sports teams. The final decision was that women's lacrosse, men's rugby, and women's gymnastics got to have the feeling that they would play another day. Other teams weren't as fortunate. Men's gymnastics and baseball were cut, sending all of its players into shock not knowing what to do next.

The reaction was as varied and muddled as the decision itself. The survivors are joyous. The losers are livid. And Cal's administration looks incompetent. How did we come to this?

It is very sad to think of all the people that lost their opportunity of their dreams because of money. those players could have had other options of schools to choose where they wouldn't have lost their chance of playing because of money. No young adult should face these tragedies for they are only doing what they've ever known; play. These student athletes deserve a lot of credit for fundraising and trying to save their only passion. If only their hard work was rewarded by saving their sport, the story would have been a lot better.

Teaching these young kids to be involved in a sport and be apart of something will  give them lessons throughout life. I pray that budget cuts won't affect high school sports or anymore college sports because for some kids that is all they have. I  wouldn't know what I would have done with out sports throughout my life. It has taught me tons of lessons so I think if we take away sports from kids, it will be a bleak future.

Sad story, hopefully a good ending

This video shows a strong man dealing with a difficult situation. These players were dealt a bad hand but they are playing it anyways. I really do hope that they do make it to the College World Series. It would be a great story, not just for baseball, but for people. It would inspire tons of people. Knowing that a bunch of teens could make it through the hardships and still come out on top would make a story heard round the world. Knowing that these kids have nothing left to play for why should they even play? Well it's beacuse they have a love for the game.

These players must have been playing for a long time. They might have learned these lessons as a young kid dealing with losing the game.They have been set up for dealing with these kind of bad breaks. Teaching these kids at a young age that life isn't always going to go the way as you planned is important for them to deal with the realization that nothing is prefect. That is why I feel that it is important to teach kids sports so they know how to deal with future problems that can occur throughout their lives