Category: take action

politics, social justice and ways you can make a difference in the world around you.

Susan Combs interview

I just finished an interview with state comptroller candidate and current Ag Commissioner Susan Combs. I like her. She’s smart, sounds like she knows what’s going on — and I agree with (what I feel is) her belief in the role of the state comptroller.

The comptroller shouldn’t set the state’s budget rules and legislation, but give the executive and legislative branch the most complete and accurate information possible.

I’m afraid our current Comptroller Carole Strayhorn hasn’t done that.

Strayhorn is too interested in setting policy and deciding how the state should run the budget, rather than getting complete acurate information to the people who were elected to make those decisions.

And about that “steamy romance book…” she said it was just genre fiction that she had an opportunity to write and joked that she was dissapointed now that her current opponent has brought it up and its getting tons of free publicity, the publisher has closed and she’s not getting a dime from new books sales.

The book was written in 1987 and was brought up in her 92 and 97 elections and no one cared. I think she’s surprised it’s in any way an issue now.

Doctors grow new bladders

I don’t know how or why I missed this, but I found a very interesting report from the Washington Post from April of this year.

Researchers said yesterday that they have grown complete urinary bladders in a laboratory and transplanted them into patients, improving their health and achieving a Holy Grail of medicine: the first cultivation of working replacements for failing solid organs in people.
The “neo-bladders,” each one grown in a small laboratory container from a pinch of a patient’s own cells, have been working in seven young patients for an average of almost four years, according to a report released yesterday by the British journal the Lancet. The organs have remained free of the many complications that bedevil the conventional practice of surgically constructing bladders from other tissues.

According to the article, no embryonic stem cells were used in growing the new bladders. That’s great information for possible future health issues.
My decision is still out on embryonic stem cell research. I don’t know enough about the issue to decide. On one hand, I believe we should be looking to cure every and all conditions and diseases we can and I have a hard time believing that it’s OK to flush embryos from fertility clinics down the drain, rather than use them for research. It seems a bit hypocritical to me.
I have a hard time believing its OK to kill anyone, embryo, fetus, newborn or a 115 year old senior living in a nursing home.
On the other hand, I have no issue with adult stem cell research, or umbilical cord stem cells, or even fetus stem cells if the cells can be taken without harming life.
But depending on which report you read, the research seems to go both ways on how much advantage embryonic stem cells might have over other stem cells.
I would love to see the conservatives (or anyone else) stand up and say “While we realize there may be ethical issues involved with embryonic stem cells, we’ll fund research of umbilical cord stem cells, adult stem cells and others.”
Quit arguing over embryonic stem cells and lets find a common ground with other cells that we know will not harm a life.

In contrast to research on embryonic stem cells, non-embryonic stem cell research has already resulted in numerous instances of actual clinical benefit to patients. For example, patients suffering from a whole host of afflictions — including (but not limited to) Parkinson’s disease, autoimmune diseases, stroke, anemia, cancer, immunodeficiency, corneal damage, blood and liver diseases, heart attack, and diabetes — have experienced improved function following administration of therapies derived from adult or umbilical cord blood stem cells. The long-held belief that non-embryonic stem cells are less able to differentiate into multiple cell types or be sustained in the laboratory over an extended period of time –rendering them less medically-promising than embryonic stem cells — has been repeatedly challenged by experimental results that have suggested otherwise.

If this is true, why are we not funding more research on adult stem cells? Chris Bell said in a phone interview last week that he would propose spending $30 million on stem cell research if elected. He didn’t clarify if that was for embryonic or all stem cell research – but given the context of the interview, I would guess it would go towards embryonic.
If I were Gov. “McDreamy” I’d propose spending $30 million on adult and umbilical cord stem cell research in Texas right away. Show the supporters of embryonic stem cell research that there are other options. Prove it to us.
For more articles and information on other stem cell options, visit The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics

I’m not a coward

According to DallasBlog.com, Gov. “McDreamy” has agreed to join the Oct. 5 debate hosted by local PBS affiliate KERA Channel 13.

Apparently Perry stood up to the challenge after being called out by a former wrestler.

Perry’s announcement comes after former Minnesota Gov. Jesse “The Body” Ventura, a Friedman supporter (and former WWF/WWE Superstar), denounced as “cowardly” any candidate who refuses to debate.

I guess Perry was afraid Ventura might pull out his signature Body Breaker move.

Here’s a breakdown on a Ventura v. Perry matchup:

Jesse “The Body” Ventura:
1-Time AWA World Tag Team Champion (with Adrian Adonis)
2-Time National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion
5-Time NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Champion (with Bull Ramos twice, Buddy Rose twice and Jerry Oates)
1-Time NWA World Tag Team Champion (Central States version) (with Tank Patton)
2-Time Mid-Southern Heavyweight Champion
WWE Hall of Fame inductee; class of 2004.
1-Time Governor of Minnesota
Height & Weight: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 245 lb (110 kg)
Trained by: Eddie Sharkey

Gov. “McDreamy” “The Pit Bull” Perry:
3-Time State Legislature
2-Time Agricultural Commissioner
1-Time Lt. Governor
2-Time Governor of Texas (after the title was vacated by George W. Bush when he won the Leader of the Free World title belt)
Height & Weight: unknown
Trained by: Politicians

Boy if we could just throw politicians into a wrestling ring, I’m sure we could get rid of voter apathy. At least in the 18-30 male demographic.

Profoundly Disturbed on The Fourth of July (redux): God, The Flag, and the End of America

Ever wonder if all those patriotic songs on the 4th of July might be a little out of place in our worship services?

Our call to worship that 4th of July weekend was This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land.

After the Color Guard presented the flag, we stood, said the Pledge of Allegiance and then sang The Star-Spangled Banner.

Our worship set included The Battle Hymn of the Republic, My Country ‘Tis of Thee, America the Beautiful and God Bless America. We even finished the service by asking the congregation to sing along with Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA (“I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free”).

And through the whole thing I couldn’t help but think how moving it was with flags draped from the ceiling, how well-done the music sounded with the drums beating a military cadence throughout and how incredibly wrong that we were doing any of it.

You voted for them

From email:

A Washington, DC airport ticket agent offers some examples of why our country is in trouble.
1. I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat so that her hair wouldn’t get messed up by being near the window.

2. I got a call from a candidate’s staffer, who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the passport information, then he interrupted me with, “I’m not trying to make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts,” Without trying to make him look stupid, I calmly explained, “Cape Cod is in Massachusetts, Capetown is in Africa,” His response click.

3. A senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that’s not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, “Don’t lie to me, I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state!”

4. I got a call from a lawmaker’s wife who asked, “Is it possible to see England from Canada?” I said, “No.” She said, “But they look so close on the map.”

5. An aide for a cabinet member once called and asked if he could rent a car in Dallas. When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he had only a 1-hour layover in Dallas. When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car, he said, “I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will need a car to drive between gates to save time”

6. An Illinois Congresswoman called last week She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 am and got to Chicago at 8:33 am. I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she couldn’t understand the concept of time zones. Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she bought that.

7. A New York lawmaker called and asked, “Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?” I said, “No, why do you ask?” She replied, “Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said (FAT), and I’m overweight. I think that’s very rude!” After putting her on hold for a minute while I looked into it (I was laughing) I came back and explained the city code for Fresno, CA is (FAT),and the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage.

8. A Senator’s aide called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info, he asked, “Would it be cheaper to fly to California, and then take the train to Hawaii?”

9. I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who asked, “How do I know which plane to get on?” I asked him what exactly he meant, to which he replied, “I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these planes have numbers on them.”

10. A lady Senator called and said, “I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola, Florida. Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?” I asked if she meant fly to Pensacola, Fl. on a commuter plane. She said, “Yeah, whatever, smarty!”

11. A Senior Senator called and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him that he needed a visa. “Oh, no I don’t. I’ve been to China many times and never had to have one of those.” I double checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him this he said, “Look, I’ve been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express!”

12. A New Mexico Congresswoman called to make reservations, “I want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York.” I was at a loss for words. Finally, I said, “Are you sure that’s the name of the town?” Yes, what flights do you have?”replied the lady. After some searching, I came back with, “I’m sorry, ma’am, I’ve looked up every airport code in the country and can’t find a Rhino anywhere.” The lady retorted, “Oh, don’t be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!” So I scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, “You don’t mean Buffalo, do you?” The reply? “Whatever! I knew it was a big animal.”

Makes you really wonder about the people we’ve elected to represent us.