This is why I no longer post pictures of my kids online....though my husband does but only shares with friends on Facebook. However, if you want true privacy and security don't share anything online that you don't want to become public, this should apply to what you say and what you share as far as pictures go. I'd even go so far as to say not to share anything by email that you don't want seen/shared publicly because email isn't always 100% secure.


©2008-2011 Patricia Garza

 

©2008 Patricia Garza

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This couple's story is one of the greatest love stories I have seen and heard in my lifetime since the story of Romeo&Juliet. They lived a long and happy life together,raised a family and sadly, died together holding hands while in ICU after a recent car accident. Their story also reminds me why the sanctity of marriage must be protected.

The Yeagers' children told KCCI.com that their parents never liked being apart ever since Norma Stock married Gordon Yeager on May 26, 1939, in State Center. And they were relieved that the couple was able to spend their last moments together at the intensive care unit of the Marshalltown hospital.

The Yeager's

"They brought them in the same room in intensive care and put them together — and they were holding hands in ICU. They were not really responsive," Dennis Yeager told KCCI.com.
Gordon died at 3:38 p.m. surrounded by their family and holding hands with Norma.

"It was really strange, they were holding hands, and dad stopped breathing but I couldn't figure out what was going on because the heart monitor was still going," said Dennis Yeager. "But we were like, he isn't breathing. How does he still have a heart beat? The nurse checked and said that's because they were holding hands and it's going through them. Her heart was beating through him and picking it up."

Norma died at 4:48 p.m., according to KCCI.com.
"Neither one of them would've wanted to be without each other. I couldn't figure out how it was going to work," the Yeagers' daughter Donna Sheets told KCCI.com. "We were very blessed, honestly, that they went this way."

Anyone who thinks marriage is just a piece of paper or a verse which proclaims 'til death do us part' is mistaken. True love, everlasting love, is a commitment to unconditional love and a life of giving, forgiving and living together with an unconditional commitment to your spouse,and your children and God. When I hear people wanting to turn marriage into a social issue they are entitled to I have to disagree. Marriage is not a social issue anyone is entitled the right to have,but a commitment and sacrifice to each other under God that you will love and abide by the other person, respect them and care for them through the good,the bad and the ugly under God's wishes.

Marriage is a sacrament;a civil union is not&therefore should not be called marriage. Marriage is a bond you make between your spouse&God;a civil union is not between God but between the couple&the court,which often ends up in divorce much sooner. There is not a true bond&commitment unless you marry through the blessings of God and the Church. This is why marriage is a sacrament between a man and a woman. Only men and woman are recognized as married couples under the law&under God otherwise the sanctity of marriage becomes open to polygamy,incestual marriage and other abominations that do not allow for the blessings of God&humanity.

Marriage is not a commitment to take lightly,despite this, too many believe they can easily get a divorce if things don't work out. Nobody should go into marriage thinking that they can always get out of it, but should go into it planning how to make it last. [Of course I draw the line on infidelity and abuse]. But anyone who goes into marriage thinking, "oh we'll see how it goes and let's give it a try for a couple years" or "let's live together first and then later we can get married" is missing the main point of what marriage is about. Not to mention,those who cohabitate often end up separating and never getting married, and/or not having children and lack any commitment to one another,thus the reason their relationships often fail.

Marriage is a lifetime commitment and sacrament to not only each other, but our Creator. It is a promise to stick together and do all you can to show compassion and love for another human being while welcoming children into your life. The bond that keeps you together is the bond that makes the sanctity of marriage one worth fighting for. Nobody should abuse their spouse and their vows to marriage. Finally,in defense of marriage between a man and a woman, we must protect this covenant to protect the nuclear family and the continuation of a moral&stable society.

This couple from Iowa is the perfect example of what true love,marriage and commitment really is about. Their love and commitment is evident in the pictures and the stories told by their children, and by the grace of God they were able to live a long happy life&legacy behind and leave this world while holding one another's hands.

Read their story here:
Couple Married 72 Years Dies Holding Hands - Des Moines News Story - KCCI Des Moines

©2008-2011 Patricia Garza

 

©2008 Patricia Garza

Posted by Patty Littlebytesnews at 9:18 PM 0 comments blog comments powered by Disqus Links to this post    

Labels: children, DOMA, marriage, parents

Tonight the world mourns the loss of a visionary...a legend in the field of technology, but how many knew he was adopted?? Imagine if Steve Jobs hadn't been given the chance at life, imagine the loss of innovation and technology we would have in the world today. I do not own any Apple products,wish I could afford one, but a majority of people have used an Apple product or own one and the world knows of Apple products. Today we lost a man who changed the world for the better and made it easier to communicate and work.



Bound for Life has a great post in memorial,but also highlights the importance of each life and the decisions we make in our lives.Here is a clip from the post,which includes a quote from one of Jobs commencement speeches:

What will probably be talked about in coming days is Jobs’ adoption story. A choice his mother made for his life changed the way we live now. Called the Thomas Edison of this age, and sure to be studied in classes on creative genius, like the ones I took in graduate school, Jobs’ life was one made possible by adoption, the thing we know is the solution to abortion. Jobs told his story in a commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005:

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

Of course, Jobs’ success would have made any parent proud, but as the story points out, in today’s society, he would have been considered an inconvenience, perhaps not worthy of being born in the name of the mother’s choice:

The moral of the story is,we should not panic and choose abortion but should always consider adoption if we are unable to parent a child and raise them. For those who say, adoption is only an option for parenting but not for pregnancy and therefore choose to abort, you are acting selfishly. You are proabortion and not prochoice, because if you were truly prochoice you would choose the humane option and give your offspring a chance at life and a chance to succeed. Pregnancy is not a disease and the majority of women survive childbirth and have healthy babies. The sad thing is that 98% of those aborted are healthy fetus and the mothers are healthy,but just don't feel like being pregnant or raising a child. I hope you will remember the story of Steve Jobs and others who were adopted and went on to change the world for the better.

©2008-2011 Patricia Garza

 

©2008 Patricia Garza

Posted by Patty Littlebytesnews at 8:51 PM 0 comments blog comments powered by Disqus Links to this post    

Labels: abortion, adoption, life, parenting, pro-life, prochoice, prolife

According to a new report,known as the 2011 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, Yemen is set to receive $35 million from the United States in foreign military financing;even though the US doesn't know who is actually in control of the military. In the mean time, the US is waiving penalties on countries such as Yemen,Sudan and others who use child soldiers and violate the Child Soldier Prevention Act.


 According to the progressive site,Common Dreams, NGO's and other Obama supporters, are not happy with the administrations decision to waive penalties against these countries for a second year. It could be another thorn in the Obama side while campaigning for re-election in 2012.

President Barack Obama has decided to waive almost all the legally mandated penalties for countries that use child soldiers and provide those countries U.S. military assistance, just like he did last year.
The Obama Administration has laid out a range of justifications for waiving penalties on Yemen, South Sudan, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, all of which amount to a gutting of the law for the second year in a row. The White House is expected to soon announce its decision to issue a series of waivers for the Child Soldiers Protection Act, a 2008 law that is meant to stop the United States from giving military aid to countries that recruit soldiers under the age of 15 and use them to fight wars. The administration has laid out a range of justifications for waiving penalties on Yemen, South Sudan, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, all of which amount to a gutting of the law for the second year in a row.

Last year, the White House didn't even tell Congress or the NGO community when it decided to do away with the Child Soldiers Prevention Act penalties. Most had to read about it first on The Cable. Aid workers, human rights activists, and even congressional offices were shocked that the administration had gutted the law without consulting them.

The White House argued at the time that because the law was new, the offending countries didn't have time to comply. As part of their damage control effort, they put National Security Council Senior Director Samantha Power on a private conference call with NGO workers (that we eavesdropped on) to explain that these waivers would only be for one year -- but that in the second year, the administration was going to enforce the law in full.
"Our judgment was to brand them, name them, shame them, and then try to leverage assistance in a fashion to make this work," Power said at the time. "Our judgment is we'll work from inside the tent."
Apparently that plan was scuttled, because the administration has decided to waive almost all the penalties again, despite the fact that little progress has been made in any of the offender countries.
In a meeting with NGO representatives on Tuesday afternoon at the White House, State Department officials, led by Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Dan Baer, explained this year's reasons why the White House will continue to give military funding to countries that use child soldiers.

For South Sudan, State Department officials argued that since the country didn't exist when the latest report on child soldier abuse came out, that country doesn't fall under the law. Their reasoning is that the report in question, known as the 2011 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, came out June 27. South Sudan was declared independent 12 days later on July 9. They will receive $100 million in U.S. military aid this year.
"South Sudan may be a new country, but it's not a blank slate here," one attendee at the White House meeting told The Cable. "There's been two decades of child soldier use and unfulfilled promises by the [Sudan People's Liberation Army]."
For Yemen, the administration's argument is simply that counter terrorism cooperation with that country is too important to suspend. Yemen is set to receive $35 million from the United States in foreign military financing. What stunned activists in the room, however, was State Department officials' admission that they don't know who actually controls the Yemeni military these days.
"The officials said, ‘We don't even know day by day who we're even talking to,'" one attendee reported.

.....snip

 Does the Obama administration not care about children being used&abused as child soldiers? It doesn't surprise me considering this administration is so willing to fund Planned Parenthood with US taxpayer money to perform over 300K abortions per year. According to Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE),  vice chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights the US is violating the US Child Soldiers Prevention Act:

To the human rights community, today's action by the White House represents both an abandonment of efforts to protect children, and a betrayal of the NGO community, which had been promised that this year would be different from last year.

"The White House said last year that they were putting these countries on notice but now it's a year later and the U.S. is still handing over taxpayer money to countries that use child soldiers with no strings attached," said Jo Becker, advocacy director for the children's rights division at Human Rights Watch.

"President Obama's decision today to provide taxpayer funded military assistance to countries that use children as soldiers is an assault on human dignity," said Rep. Jeff Fortenberry

"Our law states that America does not fund the use of child soldiers," he said. "Any exceptions must be temporary and intended to help stop this pernicious practice."
The White House's justification memo can be found here.
The White House and State Department did not respond to requests for comment.

Read More:Common Dreams
©2008-2011 Patricia Garza

 

©2008 Patricia Garza

Posted by Patty Littlebytesnews at 10:18 AM 0 comments blog comments powered by Disqus Links to this post    

Labels: abortion, child abuse, human rights, human trafficking, humane, humanity, parents, politics

I responded yesterday on twitter to @bronwynvavugt regarding her question regarding abortion and what does a vote to end abortion mean? See her blog response below:

How do you end abortion without criminalizing it? Posted on October 3, 2011 That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? But if you think the way to end abortion is to make it illegal and walk away, then may I ask you: did the Prohibition work? I recently tweeted about the amazing 180 video. Well worth the watch. I had a question, however: What does “vote to end abortion” mean? Will a vote to make abortion illegal actually “end abortion”? A fellow tweeter responded: “It might not stop women from getting an abortion, but it will make it criminal and punishable by law.”

Well, yee-haw! Crime and punishment, oh boy! So I asked: “What is it you want, to end abortion, or to make criminals and punish them?” To all politically right-wing pro-lifers, I ask you the same question. Which do you want? They are two totally different things. She responded by asking what I want–fair enough–and how I think abortion can be ended without criminalizing it. As inconvenient as it may be, the answer to that question simpy cannot be contained in 140 characters, nor can it be contained in a blog post. It is, however, a good question, and so, I share my preliminary thoughts. Ending abortion must begin by creating a society that supports women in the act of bearing children. This means everything from providing basic healthcare (both to the mother and to the child) to monetary and social support for raising a child, to making sure that women will have equal opportunities in their career whether or not they choose to have a child.

Read more at her blog:
How do you end abortion without criminalizing it?
Today she responded to me via twitter with the above post. We are both on the side of protecting human life,however she seems to believe it is an extremist view to criminalize abortion. I responded with the following and am awaiting her approval on her blog, but thought I would go ahead and post this topic here since it is a worthwhile question and discussion. This also leads me to also ask, after abortion is criminalized; will abortion end?
Here is my response:
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and views. Sadly, the only way to ensure we are a country of law and order is to make laws against killing other human beings. Sure, some women might still risk their lives&self abort,but as before Roe v Wade many women chose to abstain. Birth control pills and abortions have made it easier for women to say yes to sex and no to motherhood. Over half of abortions occur because the woman's birth control failed and because she consented to sex. 98% of abortions,according to the CDC and Guttmacher statistics, show that the majority of women because they don't feel like giving birth,raising a child yet,etc choose abortion. Therefore, the abortions are not medically necessary,but elective and intentional killing. Sadly, 60% of women/teens are coerced into abortion by family,friends,boyfriends,husbands,etc. [according to statistics found at http://unchoice.org]
I think we won't end abortion until everyone learns to respect human life and is educated in the scientific fact that human life begins at conception and that the abortion issue is a human rights issue. Without the right to life we do not have any human rights. Once a woman conceives she is pregnant,told to take care of herself,take prenatal vitamins,get regular prenatal checkups,eat well, etc for the health of the mother and the baby. Yet, too many women who resort to abortion are lied to by abortionists like Planned Parenthood who tells them abortion is simply a medical procedure that terminates a pregnancy,removes a blob of cells and empties their uterus. Many women have been lied to and continue to be lied to and come to regret their abortion because they know they have ended another human beings life.
I would not say 'right wing extremists' are the only ones who believe abortion should be made illegal and criminalized but many believe that when someone takes the life of another human being,such as murder,feticide,etc. the person or accomplice in the taking of that life should be charged with a crime. If you don't criminalize unjust and inhumane behavior you are allowing it to go unpunished and without consequence and enable it. Sure, people might still abort,just as people still kill others and abuse their children,but we must have laws to protect all human life and defend their right to exist. The unborn,disabled,children,the elderly are most vulnerable in society,yet we are allowing them to be killed because their mother doesn't feel like having a child yet.[see my recent post on this topic here:http://bit.ly/mZmG5F ]
People need to be held accountable for their actions,especially when 98% of abortions are elective and due to consensual sex. Children are not mistakes, planned or unplanned, they must all be protected by law from the moment of conception.
Criminalizing abortion has nothing to do with being 'righteous' nor wanting to control someone's life,but about human rights and allowing everyone the right to be born&protecting that life. I agree we need to support programs that try to help women provide for their child and support crisis pregnancy centers,etc and make more women aware of the help that is available, especially when women often feel like they have no other choice. Parents of teens need to teach self respect and personal responsibility,handing out condoms and telling them to be safe is not enough. They need to teach abstinence,personal responsibility and respect for human life from womb to tomb because we all started out in our mother's womb.
Finally,women are given more opportunities to work and raise children. More women are actually making more than men in many positions in society. [see this link:http://bit.ly/oP4427] Women are no longer the ones who stay home and raise the kids, men are taking a more active role and are more involved with child rearing. Women are not just 'incubators' like the prochoice movement likes to describe those who choose life,but we are able to have careers or stay at home and raise our children. It is a fallacy to think otherwise. Sorry for such a long reply..but as you said 140 wasn't enough to discuss this topic&there never will be a one size fits all solution, but we must protect all life even if we have to criminalize those who should be nurturing life.

 

©2008 Patricia Garza

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Labels: human rights

Dennis Prager has a great article that describes how secularism is taking morality out of society and replacing what's right and wrong with how someone feels about a situation. While some may think doing drugs is ok for them or getting an abortion is ok for them,it is considered morally wrong for a majority of people, especially those with a sense of right and wrong. Often our sense of right and wrong is based on the laws of our judicial system, which had long been based on Judeo-Christian values and morals, such as those stated in the Ten Commandments. However, as our society drifts from these morals and values, we have drifted into secularism and have legalized such things as abortion and same sex marriage to using drugs to cure our ailments,such as "medical marijuana".

While the United States is not a theocracy, we are a nation of laws and we are a nation founded on the values and morals of Judaism and Christianity, despite what some may say or think, including our so called 'Christian' President. However, regardless of laws&religion, those with common sense should know right from wrong without having a judicial system,religion or the government telling them what is right and wrong. For example,we should all have the common sense&decency to know that killing another human being is wrong, even though it is also one of the Ten Commandments. This is a law in most countries,unless they enforce the death penalty against those who are a danger to society&others and have harmed/killed another human being. Even though 'thou shall not kill' is one of the Ten Commandments, it doesn't mean societies who oppose murder are practicing Christianity nor enforcing a theocracy on the people, but it is enforcing law and order in a civilized society.

If we don't respect the life of another human being, who has committed no crime against another whether born or not yet born, then our society will be no better than an uncivilized society that savagely kills and abuses other human beings and denies them their life,liberty and happiness. Such human rights violations occur daily in third world countries such as Somalia,Sudan,Iran,North Korea and others where people are denied the simple freedom and right to eat, live and prosper. Sadly, it also happens daily in the United States and other developed countries such as the UK, Australia, and Canada, where prenatal humans are denied the basic right to live because the mother didn't feel like having a baby and doesn't feel like raising a child. This is another example where morals,what's right&wrong, have been replaced by how someone feels and secularism.

Today's liberals, feminists, abortionists, prochoice movement and children of these secularists are not learning what's right and wrong,but whether something feels right to them,then it is acceptable to them. This is a dangerous precedent to base human rights on because there are some people,such as Peter Singer, who feel that infanticide is right or that killing disabled,adults who are incapacitated,elderly and infirm are of less value than other human beings and can be aborted or euthanized. Therefore, basing our morals on how something feels is an easy way to discriminate and deny human rights to others. The inalienable right to life,liberty and the pursuit of happiness we are all entitled to in a free country should never be based on how someone feels. What is legal is not always right, as we have learned by the atrocities of slavery and segregation and the Holocaust. We must base our laws and morals on what is morally right and wrong and the compass for what is right and wrong should be based on common sense which respects basic human rights such as life and liberty,not on how someone feels about a situation.

You can read Dennis Prager's article here,Why Young Americans Can’t Think Morally to get his view on how secularism is replacing moral standards in society. In the end,if we are to become a better country and nation of true freedom with respect to all human rights, we would follow the Golden Rule, 'do unto others as you would have done unto you'...and religious or not,use common sense:don't steal, cheat, kill, disobey your parents, talk back, lie etc because you would not want to be mistreated and denied your basic human rights and dignity.

©2008-2011 Patricia Garza

 

©2008 Patricia Garza

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Labels: abortion, human rights, humanity, Kids and Teens, morals, prochoice, prolife, religion, secularism