Stem Cells

Stem cells have been researched for years now and one thing that is for certain is that it hasn't slowed down. Something else that hasn't slowed down with the involvement of stem cells and its research is the controversy and the ethical issues that surround it.

Some of the excitement and interest that stem cell research garners is from their ability or at least their potential to cure human disease. On the opposite side of the coin it also garners negative interest because of the way they are used. You'd have to remove the cell mass of a human embryo and put it into a dish in order to utilize it. With that being said a plethora of questions now rise with it such as "Does human life begin at fertilization or in the womb?". "Does an embryo have any human rights?". "Is a human embryo the equivalent of a human child?" and so on and so forth. Similar to the topic of abortion it asks the question of what do we define as a human child and do we have the right to carry on with doing what we wish with it?

One of the biggest supporters of stem cell research was Christopher Reeve whom we may not know by name, but we all will recognize him as the original Superman in the 1970's. He injured himself horse back riding and became paralyzed from the neck down. His dream was to be able to walk again and he tried his best to obtain that the dream by starting his own foundation to raise as much money as possible. Reeve died in 2004, but his foundation still continues to thrive today in hopes to keep making money for advances in the world of science to give other people the hope to walk again.

In 2009 President Obama lifted the ban on stem cell research that was in place by the previous president George W. Bush and was quoted as saying "Medical miracles do not happen simply by accident". This all really plays into how you as a person feel about the measures that should be taken. Should we take a life that may or may not even be considered as a human being and use it to POTENTIALLY give someone a better quality of life, or should we all just live and let live? Its all a matter of perspective.

Government Secercy

One of the biggest issues I have with the government is the amount of secrecy that surrounds it. The government is by the people, for the people so why can't they keep the public more informed about their doings? Plain and simple the government should be much more open about it's endeavors in order to give the people much more security because if you ask the question "Do you trust the government?" more than half of the people asked will say no they do not and its with good reason.

During President Obama's time in office, something the Obama administration likes to do is withhold or censor information, materials, records or files. Last year alone the government was cited to withhold information 8,496 times which more than doubles the amount of times he withheld information in his first year of office, in that time it was 3,568. This shows that things are growing increasingly more private and protected and for what reason is still to be unknown, but it also raises the question "What is the government hiding from us?"

Now it's not like we're not wanting this information from the government because that's far from the truth. Last year there was an eight percent increase for the request of information from journalists, businesses etc., and the government responded to those requests and made an increase of their own in responses by two percent. The thing still  remains that the information given out was censored or just flat out denied. Once again the government finds some sort of loophole to get out of a certain situation that could be potentially detrimental to them.

As unrealistic as it seems, the government should flat out give us the information we ask for. It's our right to know what goes on in our country and what direction we are headed in. The hypocrisy that surrounds this nation is appalling and it is time for a move in the right direction and why not start with the simplest form or honesty? I can't speak for everyone, but when I hear that the government does this sort of thing it makes me thing of how much of the story do we really get and how much of it is true? 9/11, aliens, area 51, chem-trails, the illuminati, global warming, fema camps, under ground societies and the list goes on of things they could be lying or covering up to this nation. As stated earlier we have a right to know.

Views on Texas from the Big Apple

In an article written by Gail Collins from the New York Times , she speaks about how Texas' decisions and choices somehow come back and bite the rest of the nation in the behind or how crazy and outlandish the things Texas chooses to do are perceived by her. In the early paragraphs she talks about George Prescott Bush running for land commissioner and how the world doesn't need any more "George Bush's from Texas" in the political field anymore. She then goes on to speak about some of Texas' short comings or closed mindedness on the views of immigration (something most Texans would vote against without thinking twice about the subject) and Ted Nugents remarks about President Obama, calling him a "subhuman mongrel". Collins then caps off the article by stating how Bush can win the republican primary by bad mouthing immigration and getting a rise out of the Texan republican voters. To me she is very accurate about Texas republicans in my eyes. They are seen often as beer drinking, rednecks yahoo's who don't care about anything but keeping Texas the way it is and how Bush can win in the eyes of Texas people. I feel she is credible in this sense because living and breathing Texas day in and day out, you do run into these kinds of people and I felt as if she was spot on in her assumption of republican Texas.

Obamacare

In an article published by MSNBC, the subject of Obamacare is spoken about how it is considered a "poverty trap" and it entices people who work to work fewer hours in order to be eligible for subsidized insurance. This is exactly what it sounds like that people are choosing to have a lesser salary or not as highly paid salary, in order to have cheaper health care. Some people who don't even get health care from their employers  will work lesser hours in order to get a larger subsidy. Paul Ryan the writer of this article says that Obamacare is turning more people into "takers" rather than them being "makers" which if you look at the fabric of our country, goes against every thing we stand for as a nation.