State of the Union Address
So...Bush's speech was, admittedly, one of the better ones he has given. But...
Dear Mr. Bush:
A few important points:
1. If you would like to help keep the teen pregnancy rate down, Plan B needs to be over-the-counter and accessible to all ages. Also, sex education that involves more than abstinence-only topics would not only keep the pregnancy rate down, it might also decrease STDs...such as HIV.
2. If you would like to keep having brilliant scientific discoveries to stay at the forefront of the science world:
a. Keep funding science both at the research level and lower. You cannot hope to keep developing great scientists when elementary school children are spending maybe 40 minutes a day on science. If they are not given a proper introduction to science at an early age, it is much harder to get them interested and then get them to be successful in science in the later years. You must build a foundation. You want more AP science courses, thus you must give kids a good science foundation or else they will most likely be not-so-successful at the AP level. What you're doing now is like telling a pre-algebra student to go take the AP calculus course.
b. Allow development of NEW stem cell lines. Since you've frozen the number of embryonic stem cell lines at the level they are now, there is only a limited set of cell lines to use in research. Research and perhaps treatment options would be progressing faster were the lines not limited. If you want to keep the U.S. at the forefront of science, then you should allow embryonic stem cell research. If not, it's probable that someone else will create a new line and come up with a Nobel Prize breakthrough because they were working with the cells they wanted, not the cells that they were given. And ethically, just think about it. If one were using leftover embryos from IVF treatment that were no longer wanted by their donors, at least those embryos would be put to some use in "life" i.e. someone's blood vessels, etc. instead of ending up in the dumpster at the end of the day. That is a true waste that policy dictates that they be dumped instead of being put to use.
Thanks Mr. Bush!!
Dear Mr. Bush:
A few important points:
1. If you would like to help keep the teen pregnancy rate down, Plan B needs to be over-the-counter and accessible to all ages. Also, sex education that involves more than abstinence-only topics would not only keep the pregnancy rate down, it might also decrease STDs...such as HIV.
2. If you would like to keep having brilliant scientific discoveries to stay at the forefront of the science world:
a. Keep funding science both at the research level and lower. You cannot hope to keep developing great scientists when elementary school children are spending maybe 40 minutes a day on science. If they are not given a proper introduction to science at an early age, it is much harder to get them interested and then get them to be successful in science in the later years. You must build a foundation. You want more AP science courses, thus you must give kids a good science foundation or else they will most likely be not-so-successful at the AP level. What you're doing now is like telling a pre-algebra student to go take the AP calculus course.
b. Allow development of NEW stem cell lines. Since you've frozen the number of embryonic stem cell lines at the level they are now, there is only a limited set of cell lines to use in research. Research and perhaps treatment options would be progressing faster were the lines not limited. If you want to keep the U.S. at the forefront of science, then you should allow embryonic stem cell research. If not, it's probable that someone else will create a new line and come up with a Nobel Prize breakthrough because they were working with the cells they wanted, not the cells that they were given. And ethically, just think about it. If one were using leftover embryos from IVF treatment that were no longer wanted by their donors, at least those embryos would be put to some use in "life" i.e. someone's blood vessels, etc. instead of ending up in the dumpster at the end of the day. That is a true waste that policy dictates that they be dumped instead of being put to use.
Thanks Mr. Bush!!