Man Befriends His Brother's Killer

                Just over 20 years ago, Anthony Colon’s brother was shot and killed by three men.  Unarmed and unable to defend himself, he was shot thirteen times.  Colon and his brother had a very close relationship.  He remembers always being protected by his brother and never having to fight his battles alone, if at all.  Therefore, after his brother’s death, Colon experienced extreme grief, which mainly manifested itself in a great anger.  This rage slowly began to consume his entire life, until he decided that he had let this event control him for long enough, turned to religion, and transformed that anger into love and forgiveness. 

            Due to a stroke of immense luck, while visiting a friend in prison, Anthony Colon saw one of his brother’s murderers.  He quickly approached this man, Michael Rowe, and forgave him.  Rowe showed his extreme remorse for the murder and the two men became friends.  Colon visited Rowe regularly, and Colon even attended Rowe’s parole hearing, vouching for him along the way.  Rowe was recently released from prison and the men work together at Exodus Transitional Community, an organization that helps people returning from prison reenter society. 

            In my opinion the amount of openness and acceptance that both men showed is astounding.  The fact that these two could work together for the common goal of helping people is truly inspiring.

            In New York City, twenty-two years ago, the most serious mistake the United States justice system can make became a reality.  A man was falsely convicted of murder.  After spending much of his life in prison, on Thursday, David Ranta walked out of a New York City courthouse as a free man. 

In an attempted diamond heist, a rabbi was shot and killed.  The original target, a jewelry courier, escaped unscathed.  Ranta was charged with second-degree murder and later sentenced to 37 ½ years to life in prison.

Since Ranta’s trial, multiple pieces of evidence and information have come to light.  A widow accused her late husband, who was a suspect early in the investigation, of committing the murder.  In addition, a major component of the prosecutor’s case, Ranta being picked out of a lineup by a 13 year old boy, turned out to be a fraud.  Recently this individual came forward, stating that he was told to “pick the guy with the big nose.”  Finally, an inmate that gave his testimony at the trial and provided evidence against Ranta admitted that he fabricated his statement in order to appear cooperative to aid with his own case. 

In my opinion the rush to judgment and deception shown by the detectives that handled this case is terrible.  It is inexcusable and cost 22 years of a man’s life.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/21/justice/new-york-conviction-overturned/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1

Fish in Pacific Ocean Can Change Sex

A small fish in the Pacific Ocean has developed an extremely interesting adaptation.  When beneficial, bluebanded goby fish can change their sex. These fish grow from about 2 to 2.5 inches in length and are orange and luminescent blue in appearance.  They usually live around, and feed on, grayish-green algae.  The evolutionary advantage to their unique ability derives from the social structure of these fish.  Bluebanded gobies live in groups called harems consisting of a dominant male and 4-5 females.  If this male dies, one female physically changes into a male to lead the harem and reproduce with the remaining females. 

Recently, at a lab at Georgia State University, Matthew Grober has very closely studied the behavior of bluebanded gobies.  Along with physical indication of a fish’s sex, he observed behaviors, such as the tendency for males to move in rapid zig-zag movements referred to as “jerks” and for females to be less active and more submissive.  Grober stated that within minutes he is aware of sex-change, but that the process takes 1-2 weeks to be finished. 

Grober designed an experiment in which a group of males was in its own tank.  He discovered that in this type of environment, all but one of the gobies would change their sex to female to restore the social order and allow for the opportunity to reproduce.  This remaining male was the sole dominant fish in the group, while the rest of the group showed submissive behaviors.  This showed that the behavior of the fish was determined by the social hierarchy. 

I believe that these fish provide parallels to human society.  People are greatly shaped by the social hierarchy surrounding them, just as these fish are, which illustrates the importance of having a positive environment for as many children and adolescents as possible.

Just as in the United States, France has had a political dialogue regarding the rights of gay citizens in recent years.  During President Francois Hollande’s campaign, he made promises to entitle all of the same rights afforded to heterosexual couples to same-sex couples. Shortly after his election, a bill was drafted that if passed, would provide a huge push towards rights for the homosexual community.  Inter-LGBT, a gay, lesbian, and transgender rights organization in France declared that legislators had a “unique opportunity” to grant long overdue rights to homosexuals. 
            This campaign has been met with intense resistance, primarily from the French Catholic Church, but also from other religious groups and unassociated conservative citizens.  In an attempt to garner support against gay marriage, on January 13, hundreds of thousands of people marched through the streets of Paris.  A CNN iReporter Oluwasegun Olowu-Davies who attended the march (and shot video of it) stated "I do not personally agree with gay marriage as I am a Christian and believe what the Bible says about marriage being between one woman and one man for a life time."  He went on to say "If your lifestyle doesn't allow you to conceive, there is a reason.”
            The fact that President Obama mentioned gay’s rights in his inauguration address parallels this issue.  In my opinion, it is highly discriminatory to keep rights from homosexuals.  Also, to Oluwasegun Olowu-Davies’s point, I would argue that a barren heterosexual would not be able to conceive either, but obviously they should not be discriminated against. 

Rick Santorum Blames Gay Marriage, Abortion, And Pornography Ideals On College Indoctrination

      In a shocking statement on January 15, Rick Santorum declared that he believed the nation’s colleges were responsible for a “sea of antagonism towards Christianity” and “indoctrinating” more liberal ideas such as the legality of gay marriage, abortion, and pornography.  Santorum, a former republican United States Senator from Pennsylvania and presidential candidate, stated that gay marriage, abortion and pornography are “symptoms to the fundamental issue that we've gotten away from the truth and the 'Truth-Giver.'”  He said that these symptoms derived from the culture presented by Hollywood and the schools in the United States, especially colleges.
            Despite receiving an undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University, an M. B. A. from the University of Pittsburgh, and a J. D. from the Dickinson School of Law, Santorum downplayed the importance of receiving a college education. Last February he said, "President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob!"  Santorum described President Obama’s goal for all of the United States to attend college as an attempt to push the liberal agenda saying, "There are good, decent men and women who go out and work hard every day and put their skills to the test that aren't taught by some liberal college professor trying to indoctrinate him. I understand why he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image."
            In my opinion, for a person in power such as Mr. Santorum to so irrationally push people against education is utterly despicable.  As a 2008 study shows, college students are no more likely to accept liberal ideas than any member of their age group that does not attend college.  Based on the blatant hypocrisy shown by Mr. Santorum’s three college degrees,  I believe that the motives of his statements and ideals should be called into question.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/rick-santorum-blames-gay-marriage-abortion-porn-college-indoctrination_n_2501970.html

            Lance Armstrong was considered one of the greatest cyclists of all time.  With an unprecedented 7 Tour de France wins, he was the most famous cyclist of our era with an amazing story of success when the odds were against him.  He had overcome testicular cancer and became a symbol of hope for many cancer patients.  Throughout his career, there was another story forming, however.

 Despite consistently denying doping allegations, many critics remained skeptical.  These allegations were never conclusive, until earlier this week.  On a shocking interview with Oprah Winfrey, Lance Armstrong admitted to using multiple illicit performance enhancing substances.  Armstrong stated that his “cocktail of choice” was EPO, blood transfusions, and testosterone.  Armstrong thought that he could at least justify the testosterone considering he had a testicle removed and figured he must have some sort of deficiency.

Although he put all of the blame on himself, he believed that he needed to dope in order to win.   He went on to say that in his opinion, he felt it was impossible for a person to accumulate 7 tour de France victories without doping. 

There are extreme overreactions to this scandal.  In the interview, Lance Armstrong says, “I didn’t invent the culture, but I didn’t do anything to stop it either,” which is a very good point.  Almost every major competitor in cycling dopes and he does not deserve the insane amount of bad press that he gets. 

My parents are both from small towns.  My mom grew up in Atkinson, Nebraska, and my dad lived in Savannah, Missouri.  A year before I was born, my parents moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where I was born and spent my early childhood.  I moved to Omaha when I was one year old and have lived here since. I play lacrosse and run cross country.  My favorite sports teams are Nebraska football, Creighton basketball, Duke basketball, and Kansas City Chiefs football (sadly).   My grandparents have a cabin at Lake of the Ozarks that I go to each year to wakeboard, tube, ski, and fish.  I would say that this is my favorite place to be.