Current Electoral Vote Predictor 2004

Current Electoral Vote Predictor 2004

Another Friday

Dad's in the hospital getting his first dose of chemo infusion. He will have to do this every two weeks for two months. So far he says he hasn't had any side effects. Praise God for that!

The weather today was very warm, it reached 80 degrees. I don't know if that set a record but I think it had to close.

New Plan for Chemo

Dad has to go into the hospital tomorrow until Sunday for his chemo because Medicare is not paying for the home health care aide to do the chemo at home like they had originally planned. I still don't understand why they can't start the chemo at the hospital send him home and then go back to the hospital to disconnect the pump. It doesn't make sense and seems like a waste of money to keep him in the hospital for 3 days.

Lunar Eclipse

Last night's lunar eclipse was not visible from my location due to rain. I had to watch it on the Web from Switzerland. Ya gotta love the Internet!

Politics

First off I just have to say, I am so sick of these political ads! If you were to believe everything they say neither candidate should be in office, and probably should be in prison. I am voting Republican because of many issues, among them taxes, pro-life, social security, and defence. I actually think we should have a national sales tax. If it were an accross-the-board 1 cent tax we would have more money for the government because everyone, regardless of income or loopholes, would pay the tax.

I agree with President Bush and his stance on stem cell research. Fetal stem cells are not needed for research. Adult stem cells have proven to be more effective at treating disease than embryonic cells. This is a link to a Web site called Do No Harm: The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics http://www.stemcellresearch.org/

This is from Forbes.com:

Steve Forbes, 09.06.04, 12:00 AM ET

Celling Out the Truth

John Kerry is making a big issue of stem cell research, claiming the Bush Administration's restrictions are cruelly delaying cures for Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries and other afflictions. This is misleading and dishonest. No one questions the use of adult, or nonembryonic, stem cells for medical research and cures. There is no moral issue here. Stem cells are relatively easy to obtain, one of the biggest sources being umbilical cords. The debate is over those harvested by killing embryos. Three years ago the President rightly banned the destruction of new embryos for stem cell research, believing that creating a life for the purpose of destroying it for therapeutic ends is profoundly wrong. But he opened the door for federal funding to projects using already harvested stem cells. And there is no ban on privately funded efforts. It is an unquestionable scientific fact that human beings begin life as embryos; that's the first stage in our development. From there, we grow to fetus, to infant, to child, to adolescent, to adult. We wouldn't tolerate the idea of killing children or adults to obtain various body parts for medical purposes. So--morally, philosophically--why should a human at the very start of life be treated like a pig raised for insulin? (Listening to his opponents, you'd never know that the President already crossed that line.) While Britain is now granting licenses to use cloning techniques to create embryos for "harvesting," other nations, including France, Germany, Austria and Ireland, have totally banned the creation of embryos for stem cell research. Stem cells derived from nonembryonic sources have already produced heartening medical advances and have saved thousands of lives. So why the focus on embryonic stem cells? Good question. Results from embryonic stem cell experiments have often been disastrous, which is why private research money is overwhelmingly going to areas involving nonembryonic stem cells. It may be that embryonic researchers want to use a little demagoguery to get their hands on more federal funds. Or perhaps certain pro-choice advocates figure their cause would be buttressed if someday we became dependent on harvesting stem cells from embryos for medical purposes. No matter the rationale, the issue, as advanced by the Democrats, is disquietingly, ethically off-base.

Weekend Plans

Tomorrow a group of ladies from church are going to the tearoom in Perry to celebrate Cheryl's birthday. Cheryl is the pastor's wife and her birthday is September 11. We normally celebrate her birthday closer to the actual day but this year September had too many events planned. We went to the tearom last year and it was fun. When I get home I plan on baking a cake for Dad's birthday on Sunday. If I feel like it I also will bake chocolate chip cookies. I might just make them as bars, that would be the easiest way to go. I'll have to see how I feel tomorrow. My belly and lower back have been really sore the last couple of days and I'm not sure why.

New Job?

Yesterday afternoon I had a job interview at Jordan Creek Mall with The Three Dog Bakery. They have a kiosk there. I was offered the job if I wanted it. The pay is not very good, they are only offering $8 an hour. That is $2 less an hour than I have been making. I came home and discussed it with my parents. I went to work today and found out my assignment was originally for at least a month which means there are two weeks left. All day I was thinking I should take the job and then thinking it would be too expensive to get out there for $8 an hour. When I got home today I called Adecco and told them that the assignment was for another two weeks and that I was staying there. I called the 3 Dog Bakery and told them that i was not going to take the job and she said that if I changed my mind to let her know. So the door there is not totally shut.

Dad's Cancer Part 2

Dad had his surgery this morning. He seems to be doing fine tonight. He will have to wait until next Tuesday for the first chemo treatment.

Today at work all of the temps in the area were I am working were fingerprinted. I really don't know why they did it now, my assignment is supposed to end on Friday. I hope it does get extended though. The work is boring but it is a paycheck I'm sorely needing. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Dad's Cancer

After the CT scan and blood work, Dad's oncologist told him that the chemo isn't working anymore and the cancer is growing again. Monday morning Dad will have a port implanted for chemo infusion directly into his liver. A nurse will have to come and do the chemo and it will be there for 48 hours. I just pray that this chemo will work.

Good news on the job front!

When I got home this afternoon my mom told me to call Adecco, so I called and they just wanted to know if I could go to full-time hours starting tomorrow! Now I just have to pray that it will go longer than a couple of weeks. Several months would be nice.

What the? . . .

I got a recruitment letter the other day from a group called End-of-Life Choices. This group used to go by the name of The Hemlock Society. They advocate human euthanasia and assisted suicide. I was appalled when I opened it and ssaw what it was about. I am a strong pro-life supporter. As far as I am concerned no one has the right to decide when a life is over. I firmly believe that while there's breathe there's life. I am not sure what my response should be to this letter. Should i ignore it, write to them and ask them to take my name off their mailing list, or just what. They call the right to kill ones self the next civil rights struggle. I think they are just using buzz words to stir up emotions.

Work at Last

I finally got an assignment! It is only part-time but it is better than nothing. There is possibility of more hours from day to day but I only worked 4 today because I was hungry and didn't bring anything for lunch. I am getting $10 an hour for this assignment. I think it is for 2 weeks. Maybe it will go longer.

BBC - Science & Nature - Human Body and Mind - Mind - What Am I Like?

BBC - Science & Nature - Human Body and Mind - Mind - What Am I Like?

SpaceShipOne

History was made this morning when SpaceShipOne flew for the second time in four days, it also won the ten million dollar Ansari X prize. The maximum altitude, or apogee, was measured at 368,000 feet, 11,000 feet greater than the record of 357,00 feet set in the 1960s for a plane launched craft. I watched it on TV live and felt just like I did in 1969 when the US landed on the moon. My first thought today was "We have got to keep doing this!" The whole purpose of the Ansari X prize is to encourage further development of civilian space flight. NASA has become too cautious because society has become too cautious. We gain nothing when we risk nothing. The old adage of "nothing ventured, nothing gained" really does apply in this case. During the 1960s when NASA was working to reach the moon everyone involved knew there was a chance someone could die and accepted the risk. Nowadays it seems the last thing the general public wants is any risk. It almost seem they think the knowledge we would gain from space exploration is not worth the risk to anyone. I guess it all depends on ones perspective.

Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam - Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

This is a Web site run by the USDA. Pretty cool site.

Winter's Coming

Today's weather was crappy! The sun shone for about five minutes this afternoon. Late this afternoon it rained like it was coming out of a bucket. The low temperature tonight is going to be below freezing.

We had some excitement at the local newspaper this morning. Apparently someone mailed an envelope full of some kind of powder to the paper with a three or four page letter. The latest reports claim the brown granular substance is metaldehyde, a component of snail poison. The Iowa Department of Health said late Friday that metaldehyde is not dangerous "if handled properly". The substance can be dangerous if inhaled or ingested, which did not happen at the Register. It also could cause skin irritation if left on the skin for a long enough time. A hazardous materials crew, FBI agents, Iowa National Guard troops, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, a Secret Service agent and U.S. Postal Inspectors responded to the scene. The Secret Service was involved because President Bush will be in town on Monday to campaign and they checked to make sure there was no threat to the president.

In other news, Mount St. Helens erupted after 24 years of silence. It was a very mild eruption, there were no lava flows and ash only drifted a few miles down range. The ash plume reached 16,000 feet. Compared to the 1980 eruption this time was mostly steam. There might be more in the coming days but for now that all.