I read every reply in this and I was so interested, that I had to sign up and respond. I am on neither side completely on this issue, for I am moderate, and don't view either side to be completely correct. I believe that the idea of liberals being pinko commies is just as false as conservatives being evangelical prodistant hicks. I have a father who is conservative and does not go to church very often, and a mother who is liberal and devout to her faith. BOTH catholic. I will say that I do at this point in time consider myself a democrat if anything, but definitely not a liberal, not to put down liberals, but even though I do believe in many things that most liberals believe in such as being pro choice, I also believe in a lot of policies that the republicans have supported such as the recent social security reform bill. I believe in the social security reform bill being of the post baby boomer generation (better known as generation X) and believing that this bill after looking through it (and writing ten pages about it for my presidency class last semester), is the best possible way we have at this time to keep social security as at least a possibility for those of my generation. If those of you who object..that's the great part of the deal, the social security reform bill gives you a CHOICE whether to participate or not. One could still keep all their social security in the old plan, but they would have to deal with the fact that they might...or might not get it back when they really need it. As for the religious issue, I like the one who started this blog...am catholic, and I just like her, do not go to church. The thing about the catholic religion is, to be honest....the faith is pure...at least..mine is... I have a very close and loving relationship with God, but I am often turned off from the church (church meaning the heirarchy) for it's teachings. The problem is that the people who are running it are old. The pope if you've ever seen him speak, can barely carry out a sentence without gasping for air in between. How is he supposed to know if gays and lesbians are accepted into heaven, or whether pro choice is a sin or not. He doesn't, anymore than you and I do. The only one who knows this is God, therefore nobody will know the real truth until we all meet with him in the end. But honestly..that gay and lesbian thing...I don't see it going away anytime soon within the catholic church...maybe not until someone in my generation becomes pope...or maybe even later...who knows. As for abortion...I am pro choice as I said before, but not pro abortion. There can be a distinct difference. I am against abortion, not because of my heirarchy of a church....not because of my deeply spiritual faith, but because of my personal belief that if I was given a choice at conception, to get rid of the kid, or keep it...I would keep it. I don't hate people who do it, but I dislike the act that is done. However, I also believe that within the first and maybe even the second trimester, women do have a right to choose in certain circumstances on what to do with their body. I don't like the idea of using it for birth control, but if we make this illegal....there WILL be backdoor abortions, whcih can further spread various diseases such as AIDS. Also, I understand that when a woman is raped, she does have facilities such as planned paranthood, where she can receive the morning after pill, to prevent conception from occuring within the first 70 hours. On the other hand however, lets consider a circumstance that many may not have thought of. A teenager is at a party that she probably shouldn't have been to. She is invited into a back room by a much older and stronger man, whom essentially tries to rape her through the means of illegal substances. The girl becomes weak and is essentially by the end of the night raped, but the next day, she feels tired, and worn out. She gets up, goes home (in this rare case, nobody could find her that night, or she doesn't have anyone who would want to find her) and tries to remember what happened. She has no clue that a sexual encounter even happened, or even a recollection of meeting that man who raped her. Three months later, she notices that she's pregnant. What does she do? She could put the baby up for adoption, not knowing even how it got there, and be forever reminded that there is someone out there who looks like her, and is half biologically identical to her, and regret ever giving her up. Or she could keep the baby, being forever reminded that she was probably raped, has no idea who the father is, and thsu this might psychologically mess with the girl and her ways of raising this child forever. OR she could abord the child, and get some help and possibly get through this and move on with her life. Although, there is a possibility that she could regret aborting the child as well. All I can say is, that this situation is very tough and there is not a clear answer for it. I guarantee that the abortion issue will NOT be solved in my generation, nor anytime soon, therefore steriotyping one with a certain political stance is not necessarily the smartest idea when concerning such a controversial issue.