A Bush Isn't Just Shrubbery, It's Also a Nut.

"This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others," Bush said Wednesday afternoon. "It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect. So I vetoed it." - President Bush on vetoing the stem cell bill.

Does not.

Bush is one of the most ignorant presidents we have ever had. And if that hasn't already been proven many many times over already, this certainly clinches it. See, Bush is under the mistaken impression that using embroyonic stem cells involves killing people. Babies. But he's wrong. Just look at that picture up there on the left? That's a Blastocyst. Otherwise known as a couple days old embryo. That's where they get embryonic stem cells from (the tiny group of cells on the bottom corner). Does that look like any sort of human being to you? Well no, of course not. It's cellular goo. It's entire size is smaller then the tip of a needle. You need a microscope just to see it. But that's what the big controversy is over. That's what Bush and the stem cell opponents consider a human life. If you were to wait a few weeks longer, you might have an argument, but at that stage, you don't. Because the simple truth is, harvesting stem cells can't kill someone, when no one exists yet to kill.

Now, take a look at the picture on the right. That's what a real human life looks like. In fact, that's my dad. He has Parkinsons disease. And if you don't know what Parkinsons is exactly, do this; take your hand and put it out in front of you. Just put it in the air out in front of you and hold it still. Okay, now, shake it. Wobble it back and forth quickly like you've had way too much caffeine. Doing that? Okay, now stop shaking your hand. So here's the thing, if you had Parkinsons, you wouldn't have been able to stop your hand from shaking. They just shake all the time. Doesn't sound so bad? Well here's the thing, as the disease progresses, it spreads. My grandfather had it before my dad, and I watched it spread from his one hand, to both hands, to his legs, to the rest of his body, all the way up to his head where eventually, it got to the muscles in his neck and he could no longer hold his head up. It could only lay to the side resting on his shoulder and shake. At this point, most of grandpa's body was shaking. He couldn't eat by himself anymore, he couldn't go to the bathroom by himself because his body was out of control shaking all the time. Grandma had to help him do all those things. This is currently starting to happen to my dad. And, being that it's hereditary, may end up happenning to me or my sister as well.

Currently, there is no cure. But the good news is that embryonic stem cells could hold the cure we're looking for. And not just for Parkinsons either. It could be the cure for spinal injuries, Alzeheimers, and any other number of degenerative and/or incapacitating diseases that people get. But ignorant morons like Bush believe that that microscopic clump of cells is more important then a real human being. That those cells are an actual person with rights. All I say to that is look again at the pictures above and decide for yourself which is the real human being. My dad, and millions of people like him, are actually living a life. He has raised children, made a lifetime of friends, worked hard his entire life and then gets to retire, and now has to spend the rest of his life shaking 24/7. Is that what we all deserve in the end? We work our asses off, develop relationships, build our lives, and for what? To suffer with some horrifying ailment at the end of it? That's not right.

If we're sitting on the potential cure for horrible diseases, we have an obligation to each other as human beings to use it. We're not talking about taking innocent life to save life. We're talking about using tiny microscopic cells to create more microscopic cells that could develop into what the body requires to cure itself. Oh sure, there are other stem cell options, adult stem cells for example, but they aren't Pluripotent. Which means they are limited in what they are capable of, compared to embryonic stem cells which could develop into virtually anything the body needs. That's why this is so important. The potential is astounding. People with Parkinsons or Alzeheimers don't do anything to deserve it. It just happens to good people. Anyone. But we could be sitting on the cure. So when the president says that using these microscopic cells to cure an actual human being is a moral boundry that a decent society shouldn't cross...

Yeah, it makes me a bit pissy.

I'm Your Ice Cream Man, Stop Me When I'm Passing By.. (or not)

So we bought our house a little over a year ago, and it's been many years since i've lived in a house. Our neighborhood is your average middle class American suburban neighborhood. Not the bad part of town, not the rich part of town.

When we were kids, the "Joe's" Ice cream truck would come around playing "The Entertainer" all ready to sell ice cream to us. We'd quickly beg our parents for change, run out to catch him, buy some ice cream, and it was the highlight of our day. He drove a white mail jeep type vehicle, or those smaller 3 wheel truck things, but they were always white, and unmistakable with all the popsicle brands and prices plastered all over the side of the vehicle.

Fast-forward to 2006. Our neighborhood (apparant) ice cream man drives a regular candy red minivan. Ayep, that's it pictured above. It's just your typical soccer-mom style mini van. It plays the jingly ice cream man music, but has no markings on the vehicle whatsoever, no popsicle stickers, no prices, nothing. The only way it's identifiable as the ice cream man is with the jingly music.

Now maybe it's just me, but I find this a bit creepy. An unmarked van driving through the neighborhood playing music to attract the kiddies.. I mean, what conclusion is a person supposed to jump too? Would you let your kids go out to it? I wouldn't. Now, i'm sure it's all perfectly innocent, but that doesn't matter, because the image just *screams* pedophile. I mean, what the hell are people thinking these days doing creepy stuff like that? Don't they *know* what it looks like?