Issues surrounding genetics

There's plenty of issues surrounding genetics today, but 2 of the biggest ones are cloning (which includes tissue restoration) and incest. These issues of genetics challenge us heavily in our modern-day society to ask ourselves what is right and what is wrong. Some say such things are just "cultural taboos" and nothing more, but I ask you, are they really just that? We'll take a look at some of the reasoning behind the dislike towards such things.

Firstly, we'll start off with cloning and tissue restoration. There's a few ways that you can get the stem cells needed to go through the process necessary to provide the proper results. The first is destroying an embryo, the second is taking stem cells from an adult's bone marrow, and the third is taking the stem cells from fetal tissue (stem cells are very prevalent here because the fetus required many stem cells to develop, but things got kind of "half-way" since they were aborted during their most important period of growth). When Clem Persaud came to St. Jean De Brebeuf Catholic Secondary School (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) in 2008, he discussed the differences between these different methods of extracting stem cells.

The first method of extracting stem cells, according to Clem, is the most unethical at all for these reasons: if women are creating these embryos just to be destroyed for medical purposes, they will be thought of as "egg carriers," which is demeaning. Furthermore, stem cells extracted from embryos can be cancerous.

The second method of extraction is very ethical, because you can take the cells from an adult, have them divide and divide, and give back the necessary amount of cells to the adult. These cells taken from the adult can help repair an injury in one month rather than several months. It's also key to note that they are not cancerous at all.

The last method is moderate; in between the ethical levels of the second and first methods mentioned. The reason being is that there's the possibility that some women will abort their babies due to bribes for the baby's stem cells. However, if there's sufficient enough evidence that this wasn't why the abortion was finalized, then taking the stem cells would be ethical, though some would find it debateably unethical.

Now, onto incest.

Sometimes, 2 people from the same family have sex. Let's say they had a child together, just for the sake of this explanation. Within families, there is usually a few diseases that are recessive, meaning that those people don't suffer from the disease but carry it, and will send it to their future children if their partner carries the recessive gene as well. It actually doubles the chance that their offspring will develop these genetic weaknesses, such as cancer, diabetes, etc... and also, quite early.

I've just provided you with a bit of background on some of the reasoning behind the anti-incest and general genetic ethics. I would love to hear what you say, but don't provide me with irrelevent crap.

Bush's medicare cuts delayed

(RE: "Bush's Newly-Proposed Budget Plan That Contains Medicare Cuts")

That's right, they've been delayed. That's the good news. The bad news is, now you have to wait until July 1st to see if the plans will be terminated entirely. Thanks to all the petitioners and those who have signed petitions. You've made the delay possible. No, that wasn't sarcasm, either.

Bush's Newly-Proposed Budget Plan That Contains Medicare Cuts

President Bush plans (work in progress) on proposing a bill to Congress that will become part of his budget plan to reduce large costs and federal spending if he can get Congress to accept his initiative. Bush believes there is unnecessary spending in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, yet he still wants to follow through with a 3 trillion dollar spending request. Bush's primary reason for saving on public health care is to create a surplus in the economy's long run, but his plan to cut health care spending will create still even higher deficits in the coming years. I see some fairly good intentions and possibly positive effects of his budget plan. He is trying to address the issue of unnecessary spending, but what Bush views as "unnecessary", I see as misdirected and inefficient in the context of the health care program's funding and how money is appropriated within the system. I strongly believe that Bush's spending cuts should have been more directed at the insurance companies rather than focused on taking money away from Medicaid (for low-income families), nursing homes, home care agencies, and ambulances. Bush's decision to propose this bill (or rather, more clearly, to advocate for this bill) that will cut off money for health insurance programs only reinstates how weak our economy has become relative to previous years and how costly it will be to maintain this current health care system in this fledgling economy.

What especially saddens me is that it takes money away from teaching programs for prospective nurses and doctors who want to be involved in internships before becoming a full-time professional. This takes away even more potential medical specialists from the American workforce, when these highly-qualified people are already in such high demand.

As you may guess, with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, this is a very unpopular cut, but the Bush administration saw that about one-fourth of federal spending was on Medicare and Medicaid. They decided to diminish costs instead of reapportioning the funds, and avoided reducing costs that would, even in the slightest, have impact on the economy. I am relieved that Bush chose to decrease spending on the War in Iraq, and that the bill was created so that new regulations assigned to the two health insurance programs could be heavily revised by Congress.

In the end, this discussion will most likely not even matter. This bill will be dead before it is even discussed on the floor or put up for a vote. ;) Whad'ya think?

The Roaming Buffalo

Meet Buffalo Brown, "a proud native son of the USA accepting the hospitality of Canada; a Nam Vet who is a capitalist, socialistic, Libertarian" who also describes himself as an Atheist and hedonist. He's the 2nd interviewee on ATWKS' interviews with me. Below, his answers are formatted in italics, and my questions in bold.

What state did you formerly live in the USA? How was your transition from said place to Manitoba, Quebec?
When did you become an Atheist, and why? Why did you realize yourself as a "hedonist"?

Please tell us about some of your experiences in Vietnam, seeing as you're a 'nam vet.

In your blogger profile, you wrote "above all else I value freedom. Freedom is a delicate flower that is difficult to cultivate and so very easy to destroy." Can you expand on this, regarding how you've seen freedom being cultivated and destroyed relevant to something that heavily impacted you?

You asked a few tough questions there, young lady.
1) My last state-side home was in Missouri - Kansas City to be exact. I have lived ever where from California to Massachusetts.
2) The transition to Manitoba is far from complete. I can only tell you that the summers are too short and the winters too long and cold. I hate cold.
3) The journey from believer to Atheist took a number of years to travel. After years of studying religion and philosophy, after years of thinking about what I had read, I found it impossible to believe in a deity. It wasn't a choice. One doesn't choose to believe or disbelieve.
4) I believe that life is about living. We truly live by experiencing all life has to offer - the pleasures, the pains, the sorrow, the joys, the work, the learning. That is the GP-rated version. 5) Vietnam was a life-altering experience. It was endless hours of hard work, lonliness and boredom juxtaposed with periods of mind numbing, adrenalin-charged danger. It is something that stays with you forever.
6) Unfortunately I don't see freedom being cultivated. I see it only being taken away. I believe very strongly that every adult should be free to do exactly what they want to do as long as it does not physically interfere with someone else enjoying those same freedoms.

Missouri sounds familiar. If you could describe it in 1 word, apart from home, what would it be and why?

I don't think of Missouri as home. I've lived in far too many places to consider any one of as my home.

Well I was asking you, sir, if you could describe Missouri in one word and why, hah.

I am well aware of that, ma'am. How do you describe the ever changing beauty of the Ozark Hills in one word? Have you ever sat on a bluff over looking the convergence of two very different rivers, one clear, shallow and fast moving and the other deep, slow and muddy, while a full summer moon casts its magic? How does one describe the beauty, the aromas, the kiss of a night breeze and the sounds of night creatures moving through the woods in one word. How does one adequately describe love with one word and one word only?

Well, there are broad terms you can use, but I sort of get ya. I tell you, if I had to describe my current town in 1 word, it would be quite hard, and not for positive reasons. *laughs*

One word descriptions are very limiting as the image that is conjured in the mind of the reader is often quite different from what the writer meant.

You're still getting adjusted to Manitoba, eh? What do you think of the culture and the people of Manitoba? How does it differ from that of your other homes, such as Missouri?

I don't judge all of Manitoba based on my observations of this small section where we live. It is a heavily Mennonite area. I have not been able to engage any of them in conversation. I get the impression that if you're not Mennonite you are not only an outsider, but for all intents and purposes you don't exist. I have never lived anywhere that I could not get people to talk to me.

What are some other things about Manitoba that really turn you off? And no, not in a sexual way. Though I highly doubt that a city would be able to sexually turn anyone on sexually, unless you were sadistic... sorry, I got caught in the moment there. Also, do you have anything good to say about Manitoba? Because if you do, do tell us.

This part of Manitoba is a very peaceful place. The threat level is virtually zero. I am not uncomfortable with leaving the house unlocked. I feel no need to have a pistol within easy reach. (I sent it home before I crossed the border. A good thing since they searched our saddlebags when we crossed.)
The medical system here seems to work fairly well. The cleanliness of the environment blows me away.
Other than the cold of winter and the lack of social contact it isn't a bad place.

What was the most significant piece that you've read which helped you build a strong lead toward Atheism?

It would have to be the Bible - specifically the King James version of the Bible.

Why was it specifically the King James version that impacted you in a negative manner?

That was the version of the bible we used. The outcome would have been the same if I had read a Catholic bible or any of the newer translations they offer now days.

I'll say, you've got some very interesting views on life. Must be the "with age comes wisdom factor." Hah, you must be OLD. Errr..... okay, let's get back to the questions.

Yes, I'm old. By your standards I'm ancient.

The wisdom factor that is supposed to come with age is highly overrated. More often than not that much vaunted wisdom translates into the knowledge that doing something you really want to do is going to hurt like hell.

So, in short, 'nam was like many moments of boredom, with intervals of life-threatening danger in between?

Yeah, kind of/sort of, but not exactly. It was what it was. It isn't something I'm terribly comfortable talking about.

Okay, if talking about 'nam makes you this uncomfortable, some things must have shocked you horribly. I promise not to talk about 'nam again in this interview.

There are things about the Nam that do cause an emotional reaction when I think or talk about them. More importantly, unless a person has been to war they have a tendancy to judge based on their particular sense of reality which has been cultivated by their culture, the movies they watch and the books or texts they read. A couple of years ago I was listening to an extremely liberal talk show down home. The moderator, one of those I'm so damned smart folk, was making statements about combat and the military that were absolutely wrong. I called in and told her a truth. (No, I didn't get ugly or smart.) She cut me off and told her listeners that I need to check into a mental ward. Her words to me aren't the issue. I told her an absolute truth. Her reality made her dismiss it without thought.
That's life though. Everyone judges through the filters of their own existence. More often than not their existences are extremely narrow.

Referring to your "Nam experience".... That's really true. For example, most people who were denying the Armenian genocide of 1915 didn't look at the obvious effects of the incident. Some who even recognized the situation took it for nothing.
That's a very common thing. The writers of history rarely lived it, have only second and third hand knowledge of it, and filter it through the supposed reality of their experience. No two people see something the same way. Ask any cop that questions witnesses to an accident or a crime.

That last thing you said about being able to be free without restricting anyone else's freedom reminds me of something my brother said about freedom of health. He made a comparison of fat people to smokers. He said that fat people are an endangerment to society, so why are they more socially acceptable than smokers? I would've said that it's because one person's weight doesn't affect anyone else's health, and smoking affects other people's health, but there has been some evidence that fat people, because of their high influential power within their kids at a young age, make their kids imitate their bad eating habits. How do you feel about all this?

Well, I'm fat and I smoke and, though admitedly biased, I think your brother is wrong for a lot of reasons. Check this out.

Of course parents influence their children. Peers influence peers. Entertainment icons influence fans. Poverty breeds improper nutrition and poor eating habits. Ignorance breeds poor eating habits. Two job families breed poor eating habits. Junk food and candy company advertising promotes poor eating habits. There is a lot more that I could say about both weight and smoking. It is all pretty futile though. It seems to be an unfortunate truth that there is a concentrated effort to engineer society into a place where individuality, free thought and simple freedom doesn't exist. It makes me almost happy that I am no longer young.

Thanks for the interview, Buffalo!

My pleasure, Flora. Thanks for asking.

10 years for 100 kills

Seven French medics have gone on trial in Paris, France, for supposedly breeding CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease), the human form of Mad Cow Disease, into over 100 children. Why they did this, I would not know. Apparently, in the 1980's, the extraction of hormones from the putuitary glands (glands that are pea-sized and located at the base of the brain) has been banned in 14 countries, but the French defence lawyers of said medics argue that they were only going along with the French medical conventions that they were taught.

Do you feel that these medics should go to jail for practicing what was taught as appropriate medical conventions?

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7230067.stm

Blue eyes proven to be a common ancestral mutation

That's right - all people with blue eyes can be linked to 1 common ancestor, from which a mutation occurred in the eyes where there was an underproduction of melanin. This lack of melanin is what turns traditionally brown-eye genetics to blue eyes, and to an extent, affects the hair colour of said individual. The colour of hair, for example, is determined by the amount of melanin contained within in; the more melanin, the darker the colour. This also applies to skin.

The complete lack of melanin is known as Albinism.

For more information, please click here.

The female penis

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What exactly are your rights?

I recently got into a nice little heated discussion at work with a couple of my co-workers/friends. It was very interesting.

Here is some background: In October of this year, a Maine school board approved a plan to make a full range of birth control fully accessible to a certain middle school. This made contraceptives readily available to students in grades 6-8.

Some of my friends were beyond appalled. One of them said, "So they have to get parental consent to get an aspirin, but they can walk out with the pill in their pocket and not even have to tell a parent? That is ridiculous."

When I asked them what they thought should be done someone brought up the abstinence angle. Basically, no sex-ed. No birth control. Just tell them not to have sex.

All of this brought us straight to a Californian law that was enacted last year.
Under this law, minors do not need parental consent to receive abortion services. The same people that were against the middle school birth control were openly against the abortion rule.

What it all came down to was that they all believed that all of those types of decisions should be made aware to parents. Minors, teenagers, children, etc - none of them should not be allowed to make those decisions.

So I am bringing this question to you: is it ok to be in charge of your sexual decisions as a minor? As a teenager? As a middle schooler? As a child? Are you the only one who should be responsible for your actions and decisions?

Or is this really something that should only be discussed and decided with parents?
Perhaps minors are too young, immature, and just plain not ready to be making these kinds of decisions?

What do YOU think?

NOTE: Please DO NOT turn this into a pro-life vs pro-choice discussion.

Cosmetic Surgery - Yay, Nay, or Don't Care?

Personally, I don't believe in cosmetic surgery, but I make a case for a few exceptions: burn victims, those who were in some accident that altered the way they looked (and that accident can't be unnecessary forms of cosmetic surgery causing them harm), or for health reasons.

To begin, plastic surgery (a form of cosmetic surgery, as you know) was first made to help restore the look of Russians after the cold war, since many of them attained really bad facial injuries including burns. That explains why I made burns and accidents not created by cosmetic surgery an exception.

Another reason why I make an exception to cosmetic surgery is for health reasons. Some people have problems where the air canals in their noses are deformed, and thus, that needs to be fixed so they can breathe properly. Also, big breasts can cause serious back problems (like they've caused me in the past), so a breast reduction is a good option in that case.

How do you guys feel about cosmetic surgery?

The First Flurries

It happened.

Today, as I was was cleaning off the boards in accounting class, my teacher looked out the window and announced the official first flurries of the year. You couldn't see them well from the boards, but when you got to the exit door and looked decently enough, you could see them.

Winter is a season that marks quite a few changes. First, there's the obvious winter blues, where our depletion of seratonin causes us to be less peppy than if it were spring, summer, or fall. Second, there's the big cold at the beginning, obviously due to the quick shift of weather that occurs here in Canada. I'm not sure about where you live, but Canada's environment is certainly one of contrasts and quick transitions into new seasons, and commonly, drastic weather changes throughout each day.

How do we fight the winter blues? The answer may or may not surprise you. Though tanning beds are notorious for their cancer-spreading ways, in moderation, they can be good. The heat given off while you're "being baked" contains seratonin, which is an anti-depressant that is great for fighting off any anxiety or sadness you may possess.

Warm up your heart! Canada's "surprise-attack" winters often leaves us very ill at the beginning (and less-so throughout the season), but there are many ways to fight it:

1. Whenever you're feeling even the slightest bit sick, take medicine immediately.
2. Immunity support herbs like Echinacea are a must. Last I checked, it's a popular Swiss herb that you should be able to buy at your local drug store.
3. Drink plenty of hot liquids. I know this sounds like common sense, but as a wise man once said, common sense is not so common.
4. Warm up your heart! Chicken noodle soup has been scientifically proven to help ward off colds.
5. Make sure your hair is always dry whenever you go outside. This also ensures that your hair won't freeze.
6. Instead of getting a regular jacket, invest your money in a coat that goes down to your knees. You'll be glad you did!

More winter tips to come!

Ciao