Two things that as I sit here thinking about, don’t really make sense to me:
1) Why Bush (or anyone) is so opposed to stem cell research, especially because of the amazing benefits that it can bring in curing many different incurable diseases, like cancer and Alzheimer’s. More importantly, why Bush should be the final say in the decision for the stem cell bill that passed recently with a vast majority.
Okay, so you don’t agree with abortion. Fine. I get it. It may mean you are a little narrow-minded, but you don’t like it, I understand that. I still stand by the position of, “if you don’t like abortion, don’t have one”, but I understand that doesn’t work for everyone. But why attack stem cells? First of all, these cells are not the reason people get abortions. The source of stem cells may come from aborted fetuses, but they also come from embryos that were slated for in vitro fertilization; that is, eggs that were fertilized outside of the body for later transplantation, that for whatever reason, were not used. Now, the only other option, is to throw these cells away. You can also clone these cells, but I can see where some are against cloning too; but if it is only for the purpose of research, and the cells are going to be destroyed anyway, why not? Especially when the benefits are so potentially great? That doesn’t make sense. Think of what the world would be like without surgery. They had to practice it and try new things when it was first developed; do you think people didn’t die? At least in this circumstance, people wouldn’t be dieing; it would be cells slated for destruction, cells that could potentially allow someone who is paralyzed be able to walk again. Making this decision as one man, is completely selfish and unrepresentative of the people that live in this country, and those that will be living here and affected by this narrow-minded decision in the future. I just don’t understand that, especially because, hey, don’t we have 3 arms of government? The two should keep the third in check, right? So why does he just get come in and veto it? It just doesn’t work for me.
2) How people can be saying that Jimmy Carter is anti-Semitic with his book, and why 14 people decided that he is so “evil” that they resigned from the board of the Carter center.
First of all, it is pretty clear that anyone that calls Jimmy Carter an evil man is a pretty delusional person. The man won the Nobel Peace Prize, is an amazing diplomat, and possibly most contradictory thing to the “evil” label, is the fact that he is a renowned humanitarian. Jimmy Carter is not anti-Semitic, in fact, he isn’t anti-anyone; which is why he wants peace in Palestine, and not apartheid, which is basically enforced discrimination and separatism resulting in the denial of human rights. The statements he has made in favor of peace for Palestine (and Israel) make complete sense if you look at them in context. People have said that he is anti-Israeli because of his stance against bombing Lebanon and Palestine; but he is against this because he is against war and killing. He stated that Israel has no right to destroy and reclaim Palestine, because, well, they don’t. Just because you believe “God” ordained something for you to have, doesn’t mean that you can take it by force. Sure, Palestine doesn’t have a spotless history, but when do you stop and say, “let’s think about our future?” A great man once said, “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.”, and you know what, Gandhi was right. Continued fighting over the right to this tiny piece of land will bring about nothing but death and destruction in both places, and what Jimmy Carter is highlighting with his book, is that it doesn’t have to be like that. A call for piece is a call for survival. It is a call for humanitarianism, and should never been seen as anything but civil and just. People have got to stop hiding behind religion and killing each other over land and differences of opinion… and that is what Jimmy Carter sees. We as a nation have no right to stand on either side of that fence and state “we agree” with either side; it is not our place. But if we have any involvement in the region or the discord between these two nations, it should be one of peace making and diplomacy; something that Jimmy Carter knows a lot about. That is why I wonder how people can still think he is anti anything, other than anti war, anti death, and anti hate. I don’t know about you, but he sounds like a pretty good guy to me. UPDATE: After several conversations, I feel the need to follow up on these statements I made about Jimmy Carter, and have done so in this blog post. Please check it out.
Man, I have been thinking way too much lately. A nice 3 day weekend is just what the doctor ordered. Hope everyone has a great weekend, and a great Monday remembering such a wonderful man, Martin Luther King, Jr.!
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