Christopher Reeve

Current Event: This is sad. Christopher Reeve died on Sunday. Well the good news he's not suffering anymore. Living on tubes and getting infections from bedsores isn't any way to live. How admirable and courageous is he to have put up with all of that?

He was a big advocate for stem cell research and was even mentioned by Kerry during the Presidential debate. I support stem cell research all the way. I however, am pro-choice. I don't see a zygote as marking the advent of a human life. I don't think there's anything wrong with using embryos as a result of miscarriage, in vitro or abortion. Embryos from in vitro clinics would otherwise be discarded and could be used instead to benefit people suffering from disease and injury. Of course, there a lot of moral and ethical issues associated with stem cell research, but medicine is a practice, and without practice we would have never been able to get to the medical advances we have today. Since we've come this far, stem cell research should be considered the next step in medical history. Even with the risks, there can be no progress without them.

.....So while we as a society continue to grapple with the moral and ethical concerns, and scientists try to work out matter of safety and efficacy, many people who might be helped by stem cell therapy have to wait. Unfortunately, for many suffering Americans their window of opportunity to stabilize and even reverse or cure their medical challenges will pass them by like Christopher Reeve. It would be best to start as soon as possible.

Anyway, I'm writing a paper on this in my ethics class, so I'm sort of brainstorming. Oh yeah, this topic is another reason I hate Bush. -_-

Criticism

When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical.

If you attend a gathering and listen to all the criticism that is typically levied against others, and then go home and consider how much good all that criticism actually does to make our world a better place, you'll probably come up with the same answer that I do: Zero! It does no good. But that's not all. Being critical not only solves nothing; it contributes to the anger and distrust in the world. After all, none of us likes to be criticized. Our reaction to criticism is usually to become defensive and/or withdrawn. A person who feels attacked is likely to do one of the two things: he will either retreat in fear or shame, or he will attack or lash out in anger. How many times have you criticized someone and had them respond by saying, "Thank you so much for pointing out my flaws. I really appreciate it"?

Criticism, like swearing, is actually nothing more than a bad habit. It's something we get used to doing; we're familiar with how it feels. It keeps us busy and gives us something to talk about.If, however, you take a moment to observe how you actually feel immediately after you criticize someone, you'll notice that you will feel a little deflated and ashamed, almost like you're the one who has been attacked. The reason this is true is that when we criticize, it's a statement to the world and to ourselves, "I have a need to be critical." This isn't something we are usually proud to admit.

The solution is to catch yourself in the act of being critical. Notice how often you do it and how bad it makes you feel or makes others feel. Maybe we should just turn it into a game. We'll still catch ourselves being critical, but as our need to criticize arises, you try to remember to say to yourself, "There I go again." Hopefully, more often than not, you can turn your criticism into tolerance and respect.

Resist the urge to criticize, and the world will be a happier place. =)

I started those new chewable Viactiv calcium supplements. They are awesome! Tastes like chocolate and it's not nasty with an aftertaste. 2 a day and I'll get 1000mg of calcium, the amount every one of you girls should be getting! I do not want osteoporosis when I'm older and I don't want to crumble to the ground thank you very much.

I was at the dentist yesterday in Santa Clara & I was supposed to meet a friend of mine named Flora but turns out one of her friends was going to go kill her boyfriend, literally, so she had to attend to that. Oh yeah and on the way back from the dentist I was thinking of visiting my friend Erin at Stanford but I couldn't find her phone number. Missed out on two friends in one day. =/

Last night Joyce invited me to go to City Nights, but me not being the clubber type and not wanting to spend 20 bucks to get into a stupid club that's probably going to be too crowded and loud anyway, I decided to stay here and study. What a nerd.Okay I'm starving. I'm going to eat my organic noodles now. =)

Why Do We Hate Bush?

I watched the second presidential debate today and it made me wonder about a certain topic.

Any democrat will give you the same answer when asked any question regarding our President Bush, "he's stupid." I mean, you might get Nazi, Hitler, murderer, religious freak, or even daddy's boy. No matter what the conversation is about, it almost always ends up with, "he's stupid."

Pres. Bush has as much of an education than a lot of our other Presidents in the past, if not more. I grant you he wasn't a Rhode Scholar that spent a good part of the Vietnam War protesting the USA at home and overseas, nor did he have the battlefield experience of a former Vice President who photographed real soldiers hundreds of miles from actual combat. All President Bush did was graduate from Harvard with a MBA, fly fighter jets in the Texas Air National Guard and work in the real world of business. Talk about under achieving!!

Other things you hear about Bush is that he's a rich frat boy and/or he's a hillbilly from Texas -that accent of his doesn't really help with the idea that he may not be. So which is it? When discussing the economy he's a wealthy kid with no understanding of how hard Americans work for their money. On the other hand, if the talk's about international matters, he's a "cowboy" a.k.a hillbilly with no ability or understanding of how to make friends with those who hate us, you know, "building an international coalition." It's really time to come to a consensus on exactly why we hate Bush.

Well, since he was elected, or selected depending on the level of hate, this guy has managed to give us Americans a tax cut. Whoop-di-friggin-doo. "Like wow! I got like 30 bucks back! That's 5 more dollars than last year! Our country MUST be changing! Gotta love that Bush!" Yeah, right. He also passed an education bill and somehow has reformed Medicare. In the midst of all this he has successfully executed two wars and captured or killed more than half of the top terrorist leaders while capturing one of the world's most brutal dictators. Oh yeah, and through the actions of this war on terror he's persuaded another rogue dictator with WMD to give up his brutal dictatorship without a shot being fired, all this from a monkey looking guy who takes the "little blue bus" to and from the Oval Office everyday.

When Bush does something wrong he never takes the blame. Those damn excuses: "The CIA made a mistake", "The intelligence was in error", "We got wrong information", "It was the State Dept's fault.", etc. Now when we talk about Saddam Hussein, we never hear, the "Baath parliament made a mistake", The Prime Minister gave out the wrong information", or "It was the fault of a few". Jesus!Saddam Hussein is blamed for everything! Bush doesn't want to accept blame for anything that happens in his administration, which to him means he does nothing wrong. So I guess he's not human because he's THAT perfect. He's good at beating around the bush - no pun intended.

Facts are facts you guys, and this guy, who was designated as the leader of our country 4 years ago, has no friggin idea what's he's doing in that West Wing. I mean, look at the way he talks on TV. I swear that man has dyslexia or something. He always seems to lose battles with the English language every time a word comes out of his mouth, or doesn't, which is always funny, haha. I know what you're thinking, tons of people killed, Halliburton, WMD, war for oil, these are the logical reasons to hate Bush, but I ask you, do you even know what Halliburton does? I know the news, media, and the liberal elements in colleges are convinced we should hate Bush. The problem is, we're still trying to figure out why.

A few other facts...
All of Bush's businesses failed.
He got into YALE with a C average grade because of his father.
He was suspended from the Texas Air National Guard because of refusing to comply with a physical (drugs).
He didnt capture 1/2 of the world's top terrorists. =/ He let Osama get away by leaving his capture to Afghan warlord when US troops had him cornered.

Some of you may run with this but I really don't care. Contrary view more than welcome.

Happy voting!

49ers

I realized that the 49ers really do suck.