Stem Cell Mania

Yup, that thing pictured above is what is causing all these divisiveness and argument. It is a human embryonic stem cell. During his eight years in office, President Bush took a hard line on the stem cell issue, eventually banning the use of federal monies in research using these guys. Now President Obama has opened to door for money to flow into this research once again.

This is sure to whip up a frenzy on both sides. The problem that the right has in trying to argue their side is that they somehow try to attach this issue to the abortion one, when it is not really that intertwined. To give you an example, this is a quote from Representative Christopher Smith (R) of New Jersey “I don’t think it will fly, because the movement in the country is in favor of life." He said this right after calling President Obama "The Abortion President."

Now correct me if I am wrong, but the goal of embryonic stem cell research is to save lives. Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and diabetes are all within the cross hairs of this research. You cannot use the life argument against something that will save lives, it makes you sound highly hypocritical. Most of the embryonic stem cells that will be used will come from fertility clinics, where they would otherwise be thrown away, literally thrown away. Many states, like my home state of Michigan, have passed laws which restrict the source of embryonic stem cells and also strictly ban any form of human cloning or research into that field. With some common sense legislation like Michigan's, you cannot tell a person with Parkinson's that you are defending life by forbidding research that could save his or her life.

It is my opinion that we can find a middle ground on this issue. Life is worth preserving, both in the womb and when threatened by a debilitating disease. Put into effect some commonsense legislation to restrict the source and guide the research, and there should be NO ethical concerns regarding stem cells. I invite thoughtful comments and criticisms to my thoughts.

Democrats in Congress...Step Up or Get Out The Way

So, as a Democrat in this resurgent age of liberalism, I thought it might be a good idea to take stock of how things have gone in the Obama administration so far. In general, I like what I see so far. I think the stimulus is a bit unruly, and could get out of hand, but in general I like the direction the new administration is heading. BTW, all of you who thought that line item for the Coast Guard Ice Breaker was obnoxious... here is an article to the tangible side effects of canceling that out of the stimulus. Crazy idea - replacing almost 40 year old ice breakers on the Great Lakes so 1 billion in freight can be moved around...nutso liberal idea.

My main beef since Obama took office lies not with him, or strangely enough, the opposition party, but with Congressional Democrats. Pelosi, Ried and the like. They have been nothing but a thorn in the side of progress and bipartisanship since Obama took office. They have stuck to their narrow idelogical viewpoints and refused to see the middle road that I believe Obama is trying to go down. I believe that is why he was elected, to move us into a post-partisan age. Ideologies do not matter so much as effectiveness.

To cite an example, I will use the announcement by the President that he will be bringing the troops home from Iraq, and will have combat troops home in 18 months. This is of course 3 months longer then promised during his campaign, but shockingly he talked to the generals on the ground and decided that an extra three months was worth the security. Sounds logical to me. Republicans generally agreed, McCain signed on board, calling the plan "significantly different" the one he saw during the campaign and a responsible way to draw down troop levels. Sounds like this thing is something everyone can agree on. Oh, I forgot about the Congressional Dems, who decided that this plan was just NOT accpetable. Neither fast enough or complete enough to suit them, they wallowed out to the microphones and stated that more was needed. Harry Ried was complaining that the 50,000 troops left over was too many. Can't these people see something that is a good thing, and just get out of the way? Who would have thought a year ago we would have President Obama and Sen McCain and Republican Congressional leadership agreeing on Iraq?

Progress can include the Democrats in Congress, or it can happen without them. Clearly voters are not tied to party affiliation when giving someone a job approval rating. Obama is at 65% and Ried is at 15%. Maybe Harry should take a page out of Obama's book and adapt to the situation on the ground instead of relying on rigid ideology. The President is going to move this country forward, Congressional Dems can come kicking and screaming, and possibly lose their jobs in the process, or they can learn to get along with their wildly popular President, and even, gasp, work with the opposition.

NASA Tries to Remain Relevant

This is a great picture. I almost don't even have to explain it. It looks as if it could come from the Onion, everyone's favorite satirical newspaper. But of course it is a real picture, of an Astronaut named Rex Walheim modeling NASA's next generation space suit for the new President during the inaugural parade. I believe that if you look close at the picture you will see that President Obama has a sly smirk on his face, which means: "I cannot believe they put a guy marching in a spacesuit in the parade just to get a photo op." Of course that is exactly what they did.

So here is my question, is NASA still relevant? Does NASA still produce enough new scientific information to warrant the governments expense? Don't get me wrong, I love space and other planets and all the jazz. I WANT to live on a moonbase, so I do think that it is essential that we continue to explore space. My question is whether NASA is still a relevant organization for doing so.

There are people in the private sector that are pushing the envelope when it comes to manned space flight. You have Virgin Galactic, and you know when Richard Branson and his billions get behind something, it gets dome. About the only thing NASA has gotten right recently were the Mars Rovers, which admittedly were an amazing success. The designer of those things gets an American Life Gold Star. So is this something that we should had off to the private sector? Maybe we should just use NASA to maintain our military hardware in space. Any thoughts?

Someone Smack Around Ty Corporation For Me

Honestly. It has been less then a week into the new administration, when we already have a corporation exploiting the first family for all it's cuteness. It turns out that Ty Corporation, maker of the infamous Beanie Baby line of stuffed toys, has released a "Marvelous Malia" and "Sweet Sasha" set of dolls. Now of course Ty claims that it is just coincidence, but who are they fooling? The timing and names could not make it more clear that this is just a timing gimmick to sell as many dolls as possible. As if that were not enough, just look at the picture above. it is clear to me who they are trying to portray.

Hopefully Americans of all political stripes can see this as a blatant money grab. I hope that this is not a portent of things to come for this family. I know that it is not possible to live a "normal" life and be a daughter of a President, but hopefully we can make sure it is as "normal" as possible.

Election Redux

I wanted to wait a few days to post me election reaction, just to make sure that it had officially sunk in. I think the best way to describe my experiance is to take you through my election day.

It began at 8:30 in the morning when I showed up at the local Obama office here in Plymouth to help with the GOTV (Get Out The Vote) effort. With a quick training they put me on my turf and let me go to work. To give you an idea of how advanced the Obama ground game was, we were only targeting sporadic voters who tend to LEAN democrat. That meant that out of my local precinct we were targeting 47 homes.

I wandered around and knocked on peoples doors, more reminding them to vote then anything else. I did have two particularly memorable experiences. The first was when canvassing a 19yo woman. She came to the door and was AMAZINGLY excited to vote. This being her first election, she was almost shaking she was so excited. It was very refreshing to see someone woo fired up about democracy. The second encounter was when I stopped into a party store to buy a pop. The guy behind the counter asked who I was canvassing for, and after I said Obama he told me "You must have drank the jungle juice", and that "If you vote for Obama you are going to hell." Now for a Christian that is a hard thing to hear, but knowing that it comes from a probable racist, I think God is on my side...ya know that whole love your neighbor thing.

So I wrapped up canvassing and went and voted and then headed home to eat some lunch and generally relax. This was definitely the hardest part of the day. From about 2pm until 5pm I just bounced back and forth between CNN and my computer. The Wife got home from voting and we ordered some pizza (from a new place that gave us very mediocre pizza) and sat down to watch the returns start to come in. At first we were slightly nervous because they were not calling any of the big states. I know that CNN was just being cautious, but it was nerve wracking.

At 8:30 I was meeting up with a friend to head over to the local Obama worker party in downtown Plymouth. The funny part about this is that the party was at a pretty swanky place, and our table was initially next to a bunch of McCain supporters. As more and more Obama people got there, I am pretty sure they decided to watch returns somewhere else. As the returns started rolling in the cheers got louder and louder. When Ohio was called we all got really excited. At this time my friend and I decided to head over the a larger party put on by the Democratic Party in Livonia.

This party was pretty nice as there was food and beverages and band. Hardly anyone was paying any attention to that though, we were all looking at the giant screens showing the coverage of the presidential election. At just before 11pm, when CNN called Virginia, I knew that the math was impossible for McCain, as long as the West coast did it's thing. The entire room, probably 500 people counted down till 11pm second by second. When CNN called the election at 11pm, the entire room went crazy, and I felt a sensation I have only felt a few times in my life. That immeasurable pride in being part of something that is truly historic. I hugged a lady behind me stood up on a chair, raised my fists in the air and cried. It was truly one of the great moments of my life.

Now I know that not everyone out there voted for Obama or even thinks he is a decent guy. Even if that is descries you, the historic nature of the election must be recognized. The old black lady sitting at the party just balling her eyes out and telling her son standing next to her that "he can do anything, just like Barack" should move any soul in America. For that alone I am proud of my country.

After this I hightailed it home to watch Barack's speech on TV. I also heard John McCain's concession speech was masterful, and completely appropriate. I bet a lot of McCain supporters were asking themselves where was that John McCain over the course of the campaign. I was also impressed with Barack's speech not because of it's grandeur or boastfulness; but rather because of it's humility and call to service. It is easy to gloat in victory, but hard to be humble and I thought he did that sincerely.

So congrats to America, land of the free and home of the brave; the place where truly anyone can grow up to be President if they just work hard enough and are bold enough.

Obama's Economic Plan

Mike Thompson at the Detroit Free Press hit the nail on the head with this one.

Between Debates

We are at a precarious time in the election cycle. We have already witnessed the first Presidential Debate, which almost did not happen (I tend to think it was going to happen all along). We are also at the cusp of the only Vice-Presidential Debate. I feel the need to talk a little bit about both.

The first debate was pretty interesting, and I am of the opinion that it was a tie. Both men looked Presidential and had that certain gravitas that is associated with the office. I tend to think that Obama won the portion where they talked about economics, and McCain slightly won the foreign policy section. I did not like how Sen. McCain kept talking down to Obama, saying "he just does not understand". If that is his strategy, he needs to rethink it. It comes off as condescending and cold, and may play to his base, but probably alienates those critical swing voters. For his part, Obama could have hit back a little harder, and also could have taken the chance to step up and claim leadership on the economic crises. I really think his campaign is scared to turn him loose, they are afraid of the "angry black man" characterization.

Most of the public opinion has called the debate for Barack. I can see this, as this was supposed to be McCain's home turf. By holding his own, Obama essentially won. The polls have trended for Obama since the debate, but I personally think that is just a general trend is his direction with the current focus on the economy.

Onto the VP Debate. I am VERY interested in watching this tomorrow. There are all kinds of subplots here. Is Sarah Palin really a ditz, as evidenced by her previous interviews? View the videos here. Is it all a ruse, and she is going to kick some Biden butt? Conventional wisdom has Biden rolling in this one... but I have two questions: Does anyone besides me care? Should anyone care at all? I mean this is the VP debate, and we are voting for the President. I will be sure to write a post-op on this one.

The Campaign Suspension and Letterman

So the news today is that John McCain is going to be suspending his campaign to take care of the economic crises. Personally I see this as a desperate ploy by someone who is trailing in the polls and whose campaign loses momentum seemingly every day. Some will argue that this is bold leadership, but really, this problem is getting "solved" one way or another, with or without McCain. Remember this guy just said two weeks ago that "the fundamentals of the economy are strong," and now he wants to suspend his campaign to address the economic crisis. Also, no one has mentioned this, but could this be a cash saving measure??

The pressure he is applying to switch the debate day is also a desperate move. He comes off as whining and unprepared. Why suspend a debate, is that not the exact kind of forum to discuss these matters? He is the one who wanted more debates and forums, and now he wants to rearrange the schedule.

Beyond all that McCain apparently stiffed Letterman last night, but found time for Katie Couric. The LA Times has a great article on that blow up, and Letterman's response. It has got to be one of the greatest responses ever to being stood up.

Let's Get Ready To Rumble

I thoroughly enjoy this time in an election year. This post-convention, lets actually talk about the issues, debate filled few months. Up until now, despite all the coverage and the bantering, it was the preseason. If the conventions this year proved anything, it is that the conventions themselves are still very relevant. On the Republican side we had the surprise VP pick, and subsequent speech that has everyone talking about the future of the GOP. On the Democratic side, we saw a historic moment, as an African-American accepted the nomination at an open convention on the anniversary of MLK's famous speech. (I am positive that just an accidental coincidence...HA).

There are still questions on both the candidates; is Obama experianced enough and not just talk, and will McCain just bring us 4 more years of Bush? Does Palin have the experience to step in as President is what is arguably the best chance of that happening in a long time? Is Joe Biden just another Washington insider? All of these questions will be mulled over and we get to watch several debates. I am particularly interested in watching the VP debate. I am also excited because as a Michigander, the candidates seem to be spending a lot of time here. Maybe I will be able to catch them in person.

Let the fun begin!

Obama and McCain Rally Differences

I was watching the Potomac Primaries this Tuesday, and both Barack Obama and John McCain swept all the contests. If you want my opinion, John McCain needs to work on his rally set up, because after the contests, both he and Obama had a victory rally. Let me give you a photographic representation of both their rallies:

1st John McCain:



2nd: Barack Obama:



Now of course this is a gross graphic misrepresentation, except for the Obama rally because that is a real picture of his. I am serious about the feel though. Standing behind McCain at his rally were 25 of his closest white buddies who are over 70. The guy immediately to his left almost looked DEAD. Now maybe that is his core constituency, but if he hopes to win the general, he might want to get the support of some non-white people who are not already collecting social security. This is a diverse country. Just a thought.