(no subject)

Blarg. Furnace is the broked, and the weather has decided to get cold and wet. Thus, the house is fucking freezing... Except for my room. For some reason, it's the only place in the house getting warmth. Probably because it's above the furnace, and while the thing is still working and on, it isn't blowing air.

So I have to shiver my buns off to do anything but laze in bed, and then it's too goddamn hot. Bah.

Work's been going pretty good. Got pulled aside by the boss today for an impromptu meeting session with a few of the full-time folks... Lately, I've been working wherever they've needed to stick me. Second proofing for the past few days, typed a giant order, first proofed all today... And all of that interspersed with proofing backs. Yay fun.
So today I find out that why I've been doing that, instead of doing two typing/two first proofing like we're supposed to, is because I'm the most efficient out of the temp folks, out of every one of the tasks we're supposed to do. XD Not too surprised - the other ladies are, well, older, and not quite as quick on the computer as I am (I think I've figured out every shortcut for that program by now).
And probably not quite as quick at scan-reading.
Or scribbling.
So uh. They've been using me to pick up the slack and keep the numbers even, for the most part, and they just wanted me to know this for whatever reason.
Then they offered me a full-time position for after the busy season. Not for the typing/proofing stuff, but for desktop publishing (because apparently my saying that I have a bit of knowledge of Corel and image manip programs is enough to make me better than the other girl who's currently doing that stuff, or something? Or maybe she's leaving after this season. I dunno.). Working with the advertisements that go on the calendars, anyways.
So I could have steady, non-minimum wage work, if I didn't want to go back to school next semester... Or any time within the next while. >.> I do want to get a degree, but I guess it's nice to know I have a potential backup plan if that doesn't end up working out for whatever reason.


While reading over Google News yesterday, I noticed a few articles about Michael J. Fox speaking on behalf of some candidate in some election somewhere in the US (yeah, you can tell I pay attention to that sorta stuff, eh?). Well, whatever, this would hardly catch my attention normally.
But he was speaking in favour of stem cell research, something that this candidate apparently supports and whoever is running against her does not.
And this caused an instant flurry of debate amongst bloggers and newsfolk. "ZOMG HE CAN'T TALK ABOUT THAT STUFF IT'S MORALLY WRONG AND STUFF"

Bull. Shit. He has Parkinson's, for crying out loud! I know it doesn't automatically make you an expert on the disease to have it, but it's the best example you could make on why stem cell research is necessary. But, oh no, it's morally debatable. Sacred ground. Or something.

Because they use the ZOMG HOLY EMBRYOS! in some cases.

Really, they're the best thing to use, scientifically proven, for this research. Yeah, you can use things other than embryonic cells (the ad itself, incidentally, never mentioned embryonic research, just research in general), but they don't work near as well (not mutable enough, or something; I attended a presentation on it once, but I find myself forgetting a little now).

((EDIT: Trav fills in the hole in my memory with 'Embryonic stem cells are better because they have more divisions left in their life and their possibility tree is compreshensive while adult stem cells have limited options.'))

Honestly. These embryos would probably never be used to do anything else otherwise. It's okay to these folks if they 'die' just sitting around in a fertility clinic, old and unused, or otherwise unable to be stored any more. It's okay if they're one of the ones that don't make it, upon being used to make some whiny infertile couple with too much money and not enough brains who want to pass on their RICH AND FERTILE (or not) genetic material a fetus. Hey, it's even okay if they're the fetus and the woman miscarriages for whatever reason! It's NATCHURAL (since when was IVF natural?).

But chopping up the tiny, unused and unloved buggers to save the lives of hundreds of thousands to millions of already-existing people from debilitating disease and unwanton suffering? WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG MORALLY OFFENSIVE A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY AND IMAGINARY FLOATING MAN IN TEH SKY OMG.

I've got type-I diabetes. It's an autoimmune disease, there's no preventative, you can't bring it on yourself, and unlike someone with type-II, I've got no islet cells (that's the insulin-producing cells) left. None. My body ate them all because it thought they were bad. Bad body.
I require at least two injections of insulin daily, as well as three-to-four finger pokings. Every three months, need blood drawn for tests. Have to keep my diet balanced, with a minimum of sugar. And even if I keep myself in good limits, I'm probably still going to end up with a shitload of complications (that could include blindness, heart disease, liver disease, higher susceptibility to illness and infection, loss of sensation, loss of limbs, and finally death from one of those probably) because the longer the blood sugar remains higher than normal limits (which is always, it's just a matter of degrees), the greater chance that one of those things will happen.
There is no cure. Treatment that is more than thrice-boiled cabbage three times a week, yes, but no cure. I'm stuck with shots (most type IIs get off easy with oral medicants) for the rest of my life, and have been on them since I was four. Oh, sure, there was some hubbub a year or two ago about islet cell transplants into the liver, but I think all of the people it was tested on had it fail within a year, if not sooner.

Embryonic stem cell research could help people like me. That's not to mention folks with Parkinson's, Alzheimer’s, cancer, spinal problems, etc. Research with that sort of tool available could lead to making millions of lives so much better, if not outright saving them.

Yet the religious and morally-concerned idiots out there oppose it, because an embryo, a tiny little thing that's just begun cell division and MAY one day, with one chance out of a million, become a person, is more important than the living, breathing people who've been through hell already to get here and have been, for whatever reason, been incapacitated and are suffering.

An embryo is not a person.

I am.

You can not support the research, sure. That's your right. But, if you try to prevent it from happening...

Tell me straight to my face that an embryo is more important than me.

Or, if I'm not exactly accesible, tell your grandma or grandpa with Alzheimer's. They might forgive you for it; they can't even remember who you are.
Tell your uncle or auntie with Parkinson's, whilst watching them having horrific tremors or alternatively freezing up, slowly, slowly.
Tell the quadriplegic kid who lives next door, who was injured and won't move anything more than his head and maybe a finger or two for the rest of his life because some drunken fool ran him over.

Go on. Do it and see how you feel. It's what you're already doing, anyways. Let's just make it a little more personal, shall we? Most of you already argue using emotions instead of logic, anyways. Well, I'm throwing down the towel. Here. Have at me. Tell me. Tell them. We're not fucking important, you fucks!



And to those of you who do support embryonic stem cell research, I thank you. I'm certain that all of the people who could stand to benefit from such research do, too.

I think I'm going to go find a few petitions to sign right now.