The Final Post

This will be my final post on this blog, i find that there are too few stories for me to cover with the distinction of being at least partially unbiased. I admit, some of my posts have had bias in them which was against my original ideas of what this blog was going to be about, but as I progressed I noticed that more and more of my beliefs were getting involved with my posts which is something that I hadn't wanted to happen. I will be blogging elsewhere, mainly about tutorials for video games, tech., etc., if this interests you at all I recommend that you go to it superstrats.blogspot.com will be the new address, if you've read this blog at all I thank you, I will still keep this blog open and maybe come back to it if I feel an issue needs to be discussed, and so that if anyone comments on this that I can respond to them promptly.

Texas School Boards Do It Again

Ok, I’m not going to go soft on this next topic, to put it bluntly, the not only disturbs, but it outrages me, and almost pushes my tolerance of things of this nature to the limit. As you can see in this article from time (will post url at the end), there was just a resolution passed by the Texas Board of Education that their social studies books (in particular, world history books), teach more about Islam and it’s practices then Christian studies. I find this down right disgusting, first thing, why does it matter? I’m sure that if the students were as conservative as the majority of the board, they would know more about Christianity then they would about Islam, and it should be more important that they learn about other cultures and their practices then ones that they are already familiar with. For two, I think it ridiculous that this type of thing isn’t getting more coverage on the news, I found it on the US section of Time at the very bottom with a one sentence link and no other information about it, and it would have been easy to miss if you were just checking for daily news stories like I usually do. I think that the word about this type of ignorance should be brought to the light, and hopefully put to an end (however it most likely will not) if you agree with me that this type of thing should be going on, type to me in the comments. This has once again been Toshi.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2021277,00.html

Stem Cell Money Cut Off

I was reading in the newspaper the other day, and I saw an article about a judge who deemed that Stem Cell research was illegal because of a law saying no government funded research projects should destroy human embryos. Later in the article it names certain pro-life people who have agreed with this ruling, and who are saying that we should use left-over umbilical cords and after birth materials to study because it wouldn’t “destroy” the embryo’s life, and it would be a better research tool. First off, in my personal opinion, I find nothing wrong with using cells from aborted fetuses to study, since the abortion already occurred, and at least it will now be put to good use instead of just being discarded. (Side note, I’m not going to go into why or why not abortion should be allowed to happen, if I was going to, I would create an entire new post for it as there are multiple viewpoint and a lot of evidence for both sides) Secondly, using embryos that are in the middle of development is a much better research tool, as they have a much higher percentage of cells that haven’t been designated into their future states like umbilical cords and such already have. As you may or may not know, a stem cell is a cell that hasn’t been designated as to if it will be a heart cell, a nerve cell, etc. While there are ways that we now know (thanks to stem cell research) about how to convert cells that have already been designated into their final states, it is a very long and difficult process, that takes a substantial amount of money and time that could instead be used for actual research into the multiple fields of research being done on stem cells.

Going off from my first point in the paragraph above, there is actually an extremely small number of fetuses actually being “destroyed” by the stem cell process, almost 95% of samples they use are from aborted fetuses that would have just been discarded, and the rest are from artificially inseminated embryos that are becoming even less and less common as public outrage about them has increased. This basically denies the claim that stem cell research is bad because of its “destroying” of life, and I think we can all agree that the potentials for stem cell research are so great that we shouldn’t completely ignore it. With the potential to heal diseases such as Alzheimer’s, muscular dystrophy, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), and even the chance that it may be used to treat cancer, I think that it would be reckless, no idiotic, not to look into it at all, especially if there isn’t any actual embryos being specifically created to “kill” am I saying that the stigma about this topic will ever go away? It probably won’t, but it’s not like this is the only topic that this is true about, I can think of several off the top of my head. All I’m saying is, get your facts straight before you try to combat an issue, and don’t rush to conclusions because of one single source telling you something, do your own research about the topic, and don’t be rushed by people to change your viewpoints, or to create yours based on there’s.

-Toshi

GOP's Plan for Future of the Health Care Bill

As we all know, this November brings drastic change to Washington. It's the midterm elections and there are already some astonishing upsets with many incumbants of the GOP losing to members of the Tea Party. This leads some people to assume that come Election Day, the support for Tea party members that are now their party's candidates, will be able to replace the Democrats in their Majority of either the House or the Senate, if not both. If this does happen, members of the GOP have already stated many of theri ideas of what they will do regarding the healthcare reform bill that was passed several months ago.

These ideas involve everything from changing minute details inside the bill, such as how it currently states all employers must offer health insurance or be fined for not offering it, which many Republicans think is going against both the business' consitutional rights and their well-being in the sense that many smaller businesses may not be able to handle the financial stress it may impress upon them in such a weak economy. But, there is the other side, in which some candidates are saying that they want to revoke the bill all together because having a system in which every must have health care, and that businesses must provide it for them is unconstitutional and that by forcing all to have some sort of government provided health care will somehow turn us into either a socialist or even a communist society.

Personally i see nothing wrong with us have a government provided or government supplemental health care system, because in my mind, I think that everyone should be able to get the same amount of care that everyone else can, and that just because some people don't have an employer that offers it, or don't have the money to purchase it themselves that they shouldn't be forced to have to pay the full bill and then not be able to, and then see themselves spiral into a circle of perpetual debt.

Upcoming independence for Southern Sudan? Freedom or a death sentence?

                On a much different note, it has been announced recently that the Southern Region of Sudan may get it independence in a UN vote in January of 2011. Whether this will be a change for the better, or a change for the worse has still yet to be shown, as there are clear and concise arguments for both side. While I’m sure that nearly everyone in Southern Sudan has been waiting there entire life for the freedom of their region because of the oppression on their people by the government in the north, there are clear and obvious repercussions if this were to happen.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1994209,00.html

                While the government may not have acted in the South’s favor, the north is still the economic center of the country, with the south having little to no income what so ever. This for one, would raise poverty in this already extremely poor region, but it could also promote more violence, as people are already going to extremes, (such as having to patrol with their cattle while wielding weapons so thieves won’t come and take their cattle), but if the economic situation didn’t improve, people would go to further lengths to make a living for their families and children, which could cause even more violence in this war and genocide torn country, a factor that could push a new sovereign state of south Sudan to the breaking point. If we don’t wish for this to occur, it will be extremely important that other countries help the region begin to (hopefully) thrive, so that it doesn’t start out as a country that has no legs to stand on, and has pressure from all sides to succeed, which may cause the new state to crumble quickly. 

Bigotry

   Ever since my last post, I have been thinking more and more about the topic of bigotry, and how it is becoming even more blatantly obvious in our daily lives. I began reading several articles on time, newsweek, the associated press, etc. on the New York mosque, and the consequences/protests that have started because of the plan to build it.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2016795,00.html

   If you read this you'll understand what I mean. Some of these are completely unrelated to the New York mosque, but some are directly caused by it. In this article it names several examples of attacks on Islamic groups, everything from burning mosques, to slicing up a cab drivers neck and face because he was Muslim. These anti-Muslim sentiments aren't only being made by anonymous, little known people, there are actually people with (technical) political power. Sarah Palin can be seen here saying "Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate." on her twitter page. http://www.time.com/time/quotes/0,26174,2004752,00.html While refudiate isn't technically a legitimate word, Sarah has used it many times before, as a sort of combination of refute and repudiate, and the underlying meaning of this statement is pretty clear if you read it even once. They are saying that Muslims aren't equal and that they're somehow lesser beings/humans for following this "evil" religion ("evil" because it doesn't fit into their "all knowing and always truthful" religion of "peace") 

   As you can tell, I feel quite strongly about this topic. Not that I feel that Muslims are more important then any other group of people, or that Christians are lesser or anything, just that this type of hate is going on for no reason what so ever. I find it infuriating that these people can bad-mouth an entire religion when their only evidence is fear and ignorance. For those that don't know, the Muslim God, (Allah in Arabic) is in fact that same god as that of the Christians, and of the Jews. (that's right the Christian God, is the same as the Islamic Allah and the Jewish Yahweh) And because of this, this type of ignorance and hatred is even more ridiculous.

   Now, not all bigotry comes in the form of religious persecution, there is also anti-black sentiments being thrown around like it's nothing by groups of people who feel that they are some how lesser for being black. I think that we cannot stop until we have stopped all bigotry, and that it should be considered a major social issue until we at least get some type of control over it. I know I'm not the only one that feels this way, and I think that we shouldn't let this type of behavior spread, it only makes the rest of us look bad for having to deal with these scoundrels. 

NYC mosque

                This is an extremely sensitive topic, and I’ll attempt to put this in terms that aren’t too severe of either party involved. While still realizing this, you have to keep in mind that the importance of this topic shouldn’t be overlooked and we shouldn’t have to be silenced about this topic just because some people may get offended.

                As we all know, there are plans to build a mosque inside of New York City two blocks away from the site where the twin towers once stood. This has created a public outcry from both conservative Christians, and those who had family members whom died in the 9/11 attacks calling it distasteful and insensitive. There is a plethora of articles of this around the internet, talking about why we should or shouldn’t allow this mosque to be built. Personally I fell there is nothing wrong with building this mosque here. The last time I checked we still had the first amendment which guarantees ourselves a right to freedom of religion, and I don’t feel that we should try to force groups of people to give up this right, because if we do, this country will become less of a cultural melting pot, and more of a; these are my views, and since I’m in power, you have to have these views too, type of society. The argument for the side saying that we shouldn’t let this mosque be built is in two different sub-groups. There’s the one that we mainly hear about, and is shown on the majority of the news channels, online news articles, etc. that building it this close would be wrong because the country still has “fresh wounds” from when the twin towers were destroyed. This argument however brings up several thoughts however. For one, how far away would it have to be until they are happy? As some do and do not know, there is in fact already a mosque just a few blocks away from the site of this new mosque, around 4 ½ blocks from the ground-zero site. If this hasn’t caused any type of public outcry, why would this one be any different? Some say it’s because this building was hit by debris as well as the landing gear from one of the planes actually crashed through the roof of the building currently standing on the lot that they’re planning on building on. But still, I don’t think this is enough to cause them to move it to a different location. After the” it’s to close” argument, there’s also a, it’s too soon argument as well. Too soon after what exactly? I understand that the tragedy of 9/11 will always live on in our minds, but, it wasn’t an entire religion that destroyed the towers, it was a small group of radicals, and every single religion has radicals, so should we take away their ability to have worshiping grounds where ever they please as well?

                Lastly, there is the side to their arguments that you don’t see or hear that much, the fact that the majority of them are driven by hate and fear instead of reason, legitimate facts, and knowledge. As can surely be seen, the amount of anti-muslim sentiment shown in the news these days have been growing tremendously, from the groups saying we should move the mosque, to the small church in Florida that was planning to have a quran burning in order to “honor” those that lost their lives in the world trade centers. I think that this type of bigotry and obligatory racism is one of the most disgusting things in the world. Our fore-fathers didn’t create this as a Christian state, or a white-christian state, they created it as a state that would be a land of opportunity for all, and a state where all could have religious freedom, and I think that we should let these people have the same amount of religious freedom that the rest of us sometimes so gladly take for granted.

                I’m sure that this will not be my last entry about this topic or topics similar to it, and if your reading this, I would love your feed back, and I would love to discuss this with you via another means.

-Toshi

Synopsis

I guess I'll begin in a non-formal fashion. I'm a well diversified person in my thoughts, opinions, and daily life activities. I'm extremely strongly opinionated, I’ll say that right now, and I hate it when people let their emotions about a subject get in the way of a logical solution/answer. Not everyone may agree with my viewpoints, and I like that. I’d rather keep my own personal beliefs and have to defend them against people, than I would like to lose my ability to think for myself and bend to the ideals of society.


Above all else, I love discussing that which keeps me up at night, whether it’s religion, politics, etc, as well as things that are close to me in my personal life, like my music, technology, and views on things that come to my mind. So I guess this will be what my blog posts will primarily be about, religion, politics, music, technology, and any other important topics that may come into the light in the news that I would like to share my opinions on.

Just to let you all know, I’m not affiliated with any party, religion, company, etc, and I like to imagine that my views aren’t biased in any exorbitant ways. I admit, I may have my correlations with the Democratic Party, but I also agree with the Republican Party in some ways. I will try to express myself as fluently and as accurately as I can, while still giving my personal opinion on the topic. If you wish to leave me a comment go ahead, I won’t delete anything that gets posted, or argue with you because of your beliefs is you contradict my ideas in your post, and I will be willing to discuss such disagreements if you wish. Have a nice day, this has been Toshi.