I’d like to hear a rational argument against healthcare reform

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past week or so you are surely aware of the passage of the vaunted healthcare bill. Equally prominent in this debate is the response from conservatives, fueled by such “amazing leaders” as Sarah Palin. Throngs of angry tea-partiers recently flocked to tiny Searchlight, Nevada, home of Senate Majority leader Harry Ried in an act of protest. My question for them is, what are they protesting against?

What these protestors don’t seem to realize is that this bill does not hurt them in the slightest. All it does, in effect, is take some of the power away from the insurance companies so they can’t drop you once you get sick or deny you coverage for a preexisting condition. What these protestors are speaking out against is a bill that is a shadow of its former self. America has the most inefficient healthcare system on the planet, and this bill won’t fix it, but it is a step in he right direction.

What we should be working towards is a system like Canada‘s, a government run plan. However, change that productive will be precluded by so much political red tape that it won’t get passed in the foreseeable future. But at least we got something….

Healthcare got Passed!!!

xD for healthcare!  Its still not as good as it could have been, but at least it got passed!  I’m not going to analyze this right now, I’m just emoting my excitment!

Texas School Board Approves Radical Curriculum Changes

Texas: the state in which 23% of the citizens believe that Obama is a secret communist.  If that doesn’t make you feel unsettled, I hope that the following blog/wall-o-text rant will.  The mega-conservative Texas Board of Education just approved new changes to the curriculum that will change the way that history class is taught.  Among the most radical changes:  Thomas Jefferson will no longer be in the curriculum (replaced by religious leader John Calvin), Reagan will be taught in-depth, McCarthyism and the Red Scare will sound justified, and the “Conservative resurgance of the 80′s and 90′s” will be covered, leaving out studies of Liberal or minority groups.  The omissions: Hip-Hop and sexuality will no longer be cited as cultural movements, the students will not be taught of the seperation of church and state or that the constitution prevents the government from promoting one religion over all others, and a refusal to acknowledge that Tejanos were among those that died defending the Alamo.

I shouldn’t have to break this down for you to form this conclusion: the Texas Board of Education has completely and utterly lost its mind!  Thomas Jefferson, our founding father, our 3rd President, is being replaced by some religious nutcase from France?!  Did they have some problem with the fact that he supported Dieism and challenged the existence of a God?  So now instead of free thought, they’ll be getting Calvinism and Christianity shoved down their throats!  These changes will be churning out evangelical, theocratic religious crazies by the hundreds!  This kind of censorship is exactly what the founding fathers came to America to avoid. Now our religious freedom is being challenged and the principles of the 1st amendment are being trampled!  All of these changes conviently leave out any viewpoint other than the conservative one.  On a particularly ironic note, the bit in this proposal about the promoting of the glories of McCarthyism seems kind of ironic, doesn’t it?  They talk of the evils of Communism and they’re the ones censoring books.  Before you know it, this kind of thing will infect the other states of the deep south, and may somehow creep elsewhere.  Will this cause a theocratic resurgance if this truly comes to pass in a big way?  Probably, and I sorely hope that it doesn’t adversly effect our nation.

Leaving out Hip-Hop and sexuality as major cultual movements is simply denying reality.  These kind of uber-conservates think that they can hide in their world of religion and faith, and all of these so called “evil” movements will just go away.  They’d rather push away those of other faiths and beliefs, and those who don’t conform to their religious ideal of a “good person”, and not let all of our wonderful differences unite us.  If you agree with what the Texas Board of Education has done, I beg you, open your hearts to those around you and open your minds to reality.  In a country as diverse as the USA, you must embrace those different than you; praying to God won’t make it go away.

I sorely hope that all of you reading this will be inspired to speak out against this atrocity as I have been.  I’m done ranting (for now).  KC98, out.

Why James Cameron’s “Avatar” sucked

About a month or so ago, I saw Avatar.  This movie was supposed to be one of the greatest movies of all time, a movie that would “redifine movie making forever”.  I thought just the opposite.

First off, Avatar is completely mindless.  The story is painfully simplistic, revolving around a simple “Army bad, Na’vi good” formula with no ambiguity on the topic whatsoever.  The 3 or 4 protaginists are the only humans who aren’t portrayed as mindless, evil drones.  The Na’vi (the indiginous inhabitants of the planet “Pandora” where the movie takes place) bear a none-too-suttle resembelance to the Indians of North America.  The story isn’t worth explaining in full, but basically, its the battle of Little Bighorn except this time, the Indians win.  The ending is perhaps the biggest copout, none of the protaginists die execpt for Sigourney Weaver’s character (who was minor at best).  You would think that the director who let Jack die at the end of “Titanic” might make a movie with a little less predictable of an ending.

I will grant “Avatar” that it does look good, but all it comes out in being a cacophony of explosions and sexuality.  If those are the reasons for which you watch these kinds of movies, why don’t you go for the best of both worlds and buy firecrackers and porn?  I don’t really mind the tree-hugging message of the movie, but it hardly adds to it.

I put this movie in the same abysmal class as Transformers 2.  The movie can’t accomplish anthing beyond looking good.  This movie didn’t revolutionize movie making, it set it back.

Can We At Least Agree On When A Human Life Starts… PLEASE!?

When does life begin?  Is it upon conception?  Is it when the entity becomes aware?  Is it when the entity can function on its own without needing the nourishment from the parent?  All of these questions must be answered in order to discuss abortion.

1) Does life begin when the entity can function on its own without needing nourishment from the parent?  Believe it or not I have heard this argument before.  The answer is no.  Why you ask?  That would mean human babies and infants, not just the embryo, could be murdered and it would be legal.  Babies nor infants are smart enough to distinguish food from toys.  Therefore, if this is the case, it would be legal to murder an already living child.  We all can agree that it just isn’t right to murder a child.

2)Does life begin when the entity becomes aware?  If the argument is made that life begins only when the entity becomes aware, over 3/4 of life on earth would no longer be classified as life.  Does a plant know the surroundings around it?  Do bacteria specifically target human beings because they are aware we exist?  Can plants or bacteria even understand the concept of existing?  Can they even understand at all!?  Yet we still consider both plants and bacteria forms of life.   Using this logic that would mean a baby’s life must start before any neurological system is formed.

3)Does life begin upon conception?  Yes and here is the SCIENCE behind it all.  Not speculation.  Not theories.  Not ethics or morals.  Only Fact.  SCIENTIFIC FACT!  Remember back to biology class in high school when your teacher taught you about the seven characteristics of life? No? You and your friends were playing hangman and passing notes?  Shame!  At least you have come to your senses and found the spark of learning and self-education.  To bring you up to speed, the 7 characteristics are:

1) Cells and organization
Part A:  The Cell –  Cells are the most basic building blocks of all life and there are indeed things called “single-cell organisms.”  Upon conception, a cell is already there.  Check.
Part B: Organization – A cell is very organized.  Every part of a cell has a very specific function to do a very specific task.  Check.

2)Metabolism – A cell requires energy to function properly.  Upon conception, the cell immediately begins to acquire and use energy.

3)Environmental Adaptation – Upon conception the cell is already adapted to the environment it is in.  It must have the correct Ph level to be able to survive in the Fallopian tube (oviduct).  If it does not have the genetic code to be able to do this from the start, it just dies, plain and simple.  The cell also continues to adapt throughout the time it is in the uterus.

4)Homeostasis – Upon conception the cell can maintain itself from the inside by regulating different factors needed to survive.

5)Growth and Development – This is the cell of a baby.  Need I say more?

6)Reproduction – The initial cell begins to multiply and reproduce itself as soon as it is formed.

7)Evolution – It is impossible for any single living organism to undergo evolution.  This is because the definition of evolution is the change in genetic material over a population.  As I said before this is impossible for any single living organism, but since the cell in question is a human cell and humans do and have undergone evolution over millions of years, this point can be checked off as well.

Well would you look at that…. All 7 characteristics are fulfilled for a single cell!  Who would have guessed?  But wait, all that I’ve done is proven that this “thing” is alive.  I haven’t proven it is a human… yet!  That is actually the SIMPLEST part of this entire article.  Every species has a different number of chromosomes and a different genetic code.  Every cell in the human body, including the cell that starts at conception, also has the genetic code of a human.  Although each individuals code is different in itself, the genetic code is still uniquely human as opposed to a fly or chimpanzee.

This evidence proves that the one-celled form of a human at conception is indeed a human life.    Whatever your view is on abortion, this is something everyone should agree upon because it is SCIENTIFIC FACT!

Shock Topic Rules for Posting

Rules for posting a comment.  If any of the rules are broken your comment WILL NOT BE POSTED!  It is true that I do filter the comments but only so spam is not published.  Any other comments that do not break the rules below will be published no matter whether it opposes the views of the article or not.

1) Absolutely do not spam your point of view over and over again.  If you are in the middle of an argument then adding to your argument is A. O.K. but don’t spam the same point over and over.

2)Keep it clean!  No profanity AND NO INSULTING!  We may not agree with each other but lets be civilized about this people.  We are all inhabitants of this great planet we call earth.  Lets try to get a long for at least a few short moments.

3)This rule will be added when I think of something else or somebody does something that forces me to add another rule.

The Political and Moral Discussions

In this category I will post my 2-cents about political and moral topics.  Whether you agree with them or not, I really don’t care! It’s true.  However, it would be FANTASTIC if you could give your opinions as well!  Please don’t feel shy or bashful if what you have to say contradicts my point of view and if you have the same point of view, then feel free to please either agree or add something that I have missed.

If any facts are wrong in my article then I BEG YOU! Make myself and the rest of the internet community aware!  I will verify what you said is true and then make sure to change the article.

If you have posted a comment that I believe is very beneficial then I will make it known and insert it into the article, making sure to give you credit.  I only do this because I know some people don’t read the comments below the initial post.  If you have a problem with that please let me know and I will make the necessary changes.

Hello world!

Welcome to my NEW BLOG! This will be one of the most interesting you’ve seen so STAY CONNECTED! Keep on coming back for more, cause right now… I have no idea how to work this thing xD