Rage - and I'm not even American
Now I'm Canadian, but those of you that know me will know that I take politics VERY seriously. This might have come from growing up in a country where politics involved tyranny with a thin sheen of democracy put on to cover up the ugly voting schemes and nefarious crap "voter intimidators" got up to during elections.
Right, so Canada has had their election (and just to be clear, I didn't grow up in Canada, so I'm not referring to it in the above statements)... and now I have time to look at the election drama, process and progress down in the US. I guess I'm what Americans would call an Independent voter and I'll vote with my head and not my heart, religion, skin or netherparts (love that word).
So while I don't fully support all of what Obama has to say and I think Biden puts his foot in his mouth more times than he puts it in his shoe, I CANNOT support the Republicans.
First, McCain is too old for the job. He's not in good health for what I understand and I seriously think the job would hurt him. Every president that has entered the White House with colour in their hair comes out white-haired or VERY grey... and McCain's hair is already as white as I think it can get.
This is not to mention his policies are quite scary. I don't want to go into all of them because I'm going to talk about one tidbit that has come up recently that is VERY close to me (and my pocketbook) below. Now like I said, some Obama ideas are ... questionable but McCain's policies are truly scary.
Particularly when they come out of the mouth of his Number 2 - that's right, Ms. Palin herself. I really shouldn't get into it but she is frightening. In reference to her newest policy speech (which was my main point for this post), I have to put my say out there.
I am a scientist - a biologist - geneticist - developmental biologist - in particular, I am using Drosophila (those are fruit flies) in my current project to create a model of Down Syndrome that can be used to investigate the development of the syndrome and quite possibly, develop treatments to alleveate symptoms. So when a person who is running for vice president of one of the most scientifically advanced countries in the world gets up and says they want to take away funding from projects that supposedly have "little or nothing to do with the public good" (i.e. fruit fly research into genetic syndromes, like the one her son has been diagnosed with) - it boggles my mind. I also can't believe that she (or the people that write her speeches apparently) haven't read enough on the subject to know that without model organisms, like the fruit fly, C. elegans and various other organisms, we might not know as much as we do about many, MANY diseases, disorders, or even basic functions of human hormones, proteins etc. She advocates teaching creationism and "intelligent design" in public schools, which I'm not 100% against, as long as it's shored up with teaching evolution, big bang theory and not mention the creation stories of how many other religions in the world. To be honest, I think knowing all that creates a more whole individual (and yes, pun FULLY intended!).
My main purpose of this post was to give out the youtube link (and there are many other youtube videos about this issue) but it turned into a mini rant. Ah well.
Comment as you like. Intelligent debate is very welcome.
Right, so Canada has had their election (and just to be clear, I didn't grow up in Canada, so I'm not referring to it in the above statements)... and now I have time to look at the election drama, process and progress down in the US. I guess I'm what Americans would call an Independent voter and I'll vote with my head and not my heart, religion, skin or netherparts (love that word).
So while I don't fully support all of what Obama has to say and I think Biden puts his foot in his mouth more times than he puts it in his shoe, I CANNOT support the Republicans.
First, McCain is too old for the job. He's not in good health for what I understand and I seriously think the job would hurt him. Every president that has entered the White House with colour in their hair comes out white-haired or VERY grey... and McCain's hair is already as white as I think it can get.
This is not to mention his policies are quite scary. I don't want to go into all of them because I'm going to talk about one tidbit that has come up recently that is VERY close to me (and my pocketbook) below. Now like I said, some Obama ideas are ... questionable but McCain's policies are truly scary.
Particularly when they come out of the mouth of his Number 2 - that's right, Ms. Palin herself. I really shouldn't get into it but she is frightening. In reference to her newest policy speech (which was my main point for this post), I have to put my say out there.
I am a scientist - a biologist - geneticist - developmental biologist - in particular, I am using Drosophila (those are fruit flies) in my current project to create a model of Down Syndrome that can be used to investigate the development of the syndrome and quite possibly, develop treatments to alleveate symptoms. So when a person who is running for vice president of one of the most scientifically advanced countries in the world gets up and says they want to take away funding from projects that supposedly have "little or nothing to do with the public good" (i.e. fruit fly research into genetic syndromes, like the one her son has been diagnosed with) - it boggles my mind. I also can't believe that she (or the people that write her speeches apparently) haven't read enough on the subject to know that without model organisms, like the fruit fly, C. elegans and various other organisms, we might not know as much as we do about many, MANY diseases, disorders, or even basic functions of human hormones, proteins etc. She advocates teaching creationism and "intelligent design" in public schools, which I'm not 100% against, as long as it's shored up with teaching evolution, big bang theory and not mention the creation stories of how many other religions in the world. To be honest, I think knowing all that creates a more whole individual (and yes, pun FULLY intended!).
My main purpose of this post was to give out the youtube link (and there are many other youtube videos about this issue) but it turned into a mini rant. Ah well.
Comment as you like. Intelligent debate is very welcome.