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Rick Santorum - A True Conservative?

Rick Santorum

There are a lot of things that bothers me about Mr. Santorum. Yes, his view on homosexuality and gay marriage are twisted, but that is not what I want to write about today. There is one other thing in particular that really bugs me, and that is his view on abortion, and therefor his view on women's rights. Rick Santorum says he believes in life and that it is very clear to him that life begins at conception, and accordingly he is against abortion. In the case of rape he thinks that woman should try to, "Make the best out of a bad situation". She should also, "accept this horribly created, but nevertheless, a gift...” regardless if it was given to her in a very "broken" way, as he put it. He has stated that the life that results from a rape is innocent and deserving of the protection of the constitution. I wonder what happens if you don't believe in God, and what about the protections of women's reproductive rights?

Santorum believe that Obama's support of women's reproductive rights are radical and extreme. He wants to see Roe vs Wade overturned. For those who don't know what Roe vs Wade is, it's a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion, saying that abortion is legal in the US. In 1973 the court declared that women's unrestricted access to abortion is part of the right to privacy guaranteed by the U.S Constitution. It also basically states that a woman should be able to control her own body.

Santorum has said that he would not try to take away contraception for women and men, but he believes that states should be free to ban them if they want. He thinks birth control, even within marriage, violates his believes as a Catholic. Santorum suggests we support healthier alternatives like abstinence. I suggest he should get over himself and face the unfortunate, “radical” reality that people are not going to stop having sex. He might be happy with having seven home schooled children, but that does not mean that everyone else wants the same. Someone should have told Santorum that the way into a woman’s pant’s should not be through regulating laws that take her rights away. This is not the right way to try to woo women voters. As I see it, Rick Santorum is a late gift for the America of 1692, and a perfectly wrapped present for Obama in the fall election.

Sanna

A Brief History of Capital Punishment - USA, Part I

Capital punishment go as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C.. Back then you could face the death penalty for 25 different crimes. Death sentences was carried out by such means as crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement.

In Great Britain during the 10 Century A.D., hanging was the new way to execute a person. In the following century it actually became forbidden, except in war times (Great Britain). This did not last very long. Capital punishment came back during the Sixteen Century, as well as some new methods to carry out the punishment. Boiling, burning at the stake, hanging, beheading and quartering was added to the options. Marrying a Jew or treason was enough to receive capital punishment. A bit later in the Seventeen Century cutting down a tree, or robbing a rabbit warren could be enough to get you executed.

Great Britain influenced the United States use of capital punishment. When European settlers came to the new world they brought the practice of capital punishment. The first documented execution in the new colonies was carried out in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608. A man was executed for being a spy from Spain. In 1612 Virginia Governor Sir Thomas Dale provided the death penalty for crimes as stealing grapes, killing chickens and trading with Indians. Laws regarding Capital punishment varied from colony to colony.

The abolitionist movement found it's roots in the writing of European theorists Montesquieu, Voltaire and Bentham. But the most important essay was Cesare Beccaria's essay “On Crimes and Punishment”. The essay theorized that there was no justification for the state's taking of a life. American intellectuals was influenced by this, Thomas Jefferson introduced a bill to revise Virginia's death penalty laws. The bill proposed that capital punishment should only be used for crimes as murder and treason. It was defeated by only one vote. In 1794 Pennsylvania, as the first state repealed the death penalty for all offenses except first degree murder. In 1834 Pennsylvania became the first state to move executions away from the public eye. State penitentiaries was built. In 1846 Michigan became the first state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes except for treason. Later Rhode Island and Wisconsin abolished it for all crimes. Some states followed, but most of them held onto capital punishment.

During the Civil War the opposition to the death penalty waned, as more attention was given to the anti-slavery movement. At the end of the century the electrical chair was introduced. The first chair was built in New York in 1888.

1907 – 1917, six states completely abolished capital punishment, and three limited it to first degree murder of a law enforcement official. Some states took this back when people started to panic about revolution. The US had just entered WW I, and there was an intense class conflict. Socialism posted a big threat.

In 1924 cyanide was introduced, this offered a more humane way to execute inmates. The state tried to pump in gas to an inmates cell, to kill him in his sleep, but this failed. The gas chamber was invented.

During the 1930s there were more executions in the US than during any other decade in US history. In the 50s executions began to drop. Many nations around the world abandoned capital punishment. By 1966 the support for capital punishment in the US was at an all time low.

Sanna

For more info please visit: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/books-death-penalty

A New Series of Articles

Hello!

As you might have noticed I have not been writing that much on my own blog. I've been very busy with my internship. The good news is, that I, for a very long time wanted to write a series of articles about capital punishment. I finally decided to do it. I will write about the history of capital punishment, different nations, ongoing debates, and I will also introduce you to a man who's on death row at San Quentin State Prison. This man's name is Darrell Lomax, he has been on death row for over 15 years. At the moment I am looking through his case. To me it is unbelievable that capital punishment was given to him since the evidences against him are very weak. I will tell you more about Mr Lomax later.

Peace,

Sanna

HIV/AIDS and Stigma

Hello!

As you know I write articles for an NGO based at the UN.

The last months I have been working on HIV/AIDS prevention and by now I have written quite a few pieces on it. Please take a look at hem here:

http://globalaging.blogspot.com/

Bad Short Term Memory

Today I read a story about a young man who has lived almost all his life in a refugee camp. He came there at the age of two, and is still living there at the age of 22.

This refugee camp is found in Kenya, close to the Somalian border. It's the largest of it's kind in the whole world, with about 440 000 refugees, (about 80 percent of those are women and children). Every day more and more people arrive, but the camp has reached it's capacity.

The man who has been living in this camp for 20 years has no homeland. He dreams about moving to either Sweden or the USA. If I was to give my advice, I would recommend the US. Why?, you ask, because at the moment Sweden is struggling with internal problems regarding immigration. I like to call this problem The Swedish Democrats. If I never made this statement before I will make it now. The fact that they got in to the Swedish Government during the last elections makes me ashamed of Sweden. A lot of people point out that this is an ongoing trend in all of Europe, racist parties getting a lot of votes. Okay, so what? It is still unexceptionable. This 'trend' brings one thing to my mind. The time before and after WW II. The world agreed; Never Again'!

Horrifying images from Concentration Camps made us promise ourselves that this cannot happen again. Together we now had a collective memory of perhaps the most darkest and cruelest act by humans. Human beings are certainly not perfect, neither are their memory.

Pictures from my Internship at the UN - New York City

UN

UN party.

High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS

Interns and Crew

Open- Ended Working Group meeting