Thursday, 20th July, 2006
First Post
Hey there, and welcome to Bunny's Blog! After years of just having a traditional website and never actually taking the time to update it, I finally decided to give the whole blog idea a try. We'll see how well it works out...
From time to time (probably more often than not) I'll go off on spiritual/philosophical/political thoughts. I think it's important to state that I am both a Christian and a progressive Democrat. I know most modern conservatives think that's a contradiction, but I assure you it's not. As a Christian citizen of the most powerful country in the world, I believe that we have an obligation to live out the gospel of love and peace and to exhibit those ideals in our relationships with other people in our country and throughout the world. For me, the Democratic party best exemplifies this desire.
I will however try to remain as open-minded as I can.
Friday, 21st July, 2006
Stem Cells Stiffled
President Bush's veto of the popular bill for federal funding of expanding embryonic stem cell research is yet another example of his desire to force his skewed sense of morality on others. "This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others. It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect." And later, while holding a baby born from an adopted embryo: "These boys and girls are not spare parts. They remind us of what is lost when embryos are destroyed in the name of research. They remind us that we all begin our lives as a small collection of cells." How convenient.
Let's take a closer look at what this bill would have accomplished. Currently stem cell research is limited to existing stem cell lines, many of which have been contaminated and are no longer suitable for research. This bill would expand stem cell research by allowing the use of a small portion of frozen and unused embryos. An estimated 2% of these embryos wind up being given to other families who desire children, so even if 10% were used for research, there would be almost 30 times the number of embryos required to meet current demand. What happens to the rest of these embryos? They are destroyed. That's right, approximately 98% of frozen and unused embryos are destroyed. The president's claim that this bill would introduce the destruction of embryos simply isn't true; rather, it would provide a good use for embryos that are already going to be destroyed.
What I find incredibly disturbing is that while this president strongly opposes using unused embryos for research because it is "unethical", he has no problem enacting war and placing the lives of American troops, let alone people in other countries, in danger. I have to wonder which is more ethical: using unused embryos to research cures for devastating diseases, or choosing war over peace.
Unfortunately, the real victims of Bush's skewed view of morality this time are the millions of Americans who suffer from such diseases as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and diabetes, among others. My heart and prayers go out to them.
Monday, 24th July, 2006
Big Screen TV!
Well I finally did what I've been wanting to do for the past 2 years. I ordered a big screen TV! It's a 46" Samsung DLP (linked below), and I got a great deal on it from Amazon. All the reviews I've read seem to indicate it's one of the best DLPs on the market. Once it comes in I'll have to subscribe to HD as well, as I'm sure it makes a big difference on a larger screen.
Samsung HL-S4666W 46" DLP HDTV
Tuesday, 25th July, 2006
Hell's Kitchen
Alright, so if you haven't seen this week's episode of Hell's Kitchen yet, stop reading. Unless you want to be spoiled of course.
SPOILER ALERT
I'm honestly surprised that Ramsey considered this week's decision difficult. Don't get me wrong, I like Garrett, and I have a lot of respect for the hard work he's done to reform himself. But how can you claim to be a professional chef of any kind and try to serve undercooked chicken? Hell I'm an amateur chef (if that), and I know better than to do that. If it had been me, I would have fired him right there on the spot. That's just completely unacceptable.
On another topic, how is Sara still there? Not only is she mediocre at best as far as her cooking skills are concerned, but she's so obnoxious and dishonest it's disgusting. I just can't stand people who cheat and lie to get to where they are - I believe in old-fashioned honest and hard work. Ah well, maybe I'm just getting old.
Monday, 31st July, 2006
Freaking Delta
Alright, so I've had an American Express Delta SkyMiles credit card for a little over three years now. Basically I use it for all monthly expenses and then pay it off every month. Needless to say, I've accumulated quite a few SkyMiles by doing this. Well, with Delta's recent financial troubles and the uncertainty of their future, we decided to use these SkyMiles in our upcoming trip to San Francisco in October. We bought 2 first class round trip tickets to San Francisco using SkyMiles, and paid a total of $10. Pretty cool...
...until the crap began. Since purchasing the tickets 6 weeks ago, Delta has changed our schedule three times. At first it was just equipment changes. However, this last time, they actually moved us to a completely different flight at a completely different time. And we're still not confirmed on that flight, so it's entirely possible that our schedule will change yet again.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind having to go through a change in flights. Granted it would suck if I were on a particular schedule, but I'm not so it really doesn't matter that much to me. I just don't understand how, after 6 weeks, I still don't know what flight we're going to be on. I've contacted Delta twice regarding this, and both times they have basically said that they cannot predict schedule changes, and when they do happen they have to go through a process to reissue every single ticket. I can understand that, but why keep bouncing people around? It's just not a very good way to treat your customers in my opinion.
What I do know is that if Delta doesn't get their act together quickly, they will lose a very loyal customer. This is just absolutely ridiculous.