Enough With Me, The White House on Gun Control

The White House is deciding to broaden the gun control bans. Instead of just reinstating a ban on assault riffles, it's being discussed to take it much further. The law would include background checks and tracking of weapons and sales of weapons through a national database, also if you brought a gun near a school the penalties would be much higher, and giving a gun to a minor would have much greater penalties. President Obama has given the job of designing this strategy after Sandy Hook. Many are saying that this plan is too extreme and will never pass. The NRA has been successful with federal lawmakers and the ban on bans on guns since 1994 (when a ban on assault weapons was made, but expired in 2004).
Personally, I think this plan is headed in the right direction. it has the steps that should at least be thought over. Being fined when bringing a gun near a school I think is a great direction to be heading in. The laws are finely being looked over and refined the way they should've been years ago. I am very happy.

The Stem Cell Divide post #2

There is a lot of controversy surrounding Stem Cell research and the use of Stem Cells (well durr) But one that I haven't really even thought of has just become the biggest issue, for me, surrounding stem cells.
And that is the fact that those stem cells have the genes that were going to form a child, which means that it could carry a potentially active and harmful disease or mutation that could then become present in the person making use of the stem cells. Or could lie dormant for the rest of their lives.
The only way that we can really know what is inside the embryos is if we inspect and test each embryo. And that would take major amounts of time and money. And is that really worth it?
And I guess that's always the question- is it worth it? Unfortunetly, there are many times where you can have this really great discovery and it could help a lot of people, but half the population is against it and half the population is undecided. And on top of that, Americans aren't too keen on the idea of the government spending more money (especially when they're unsure of whether or not they actually like it) And everyone had to ask themselves- is it worth it?
I guess we'll have to see.

My argument against your argument against changing gun control

Some people have brought up (Not only in school but, also my dad) that even if you change gun control, people will find ways to get guns anyway. And to that I have to say: So we're not even supposed to try? We couldn't try to make it a little harder to get a gun that for the most part, you don'te even need unless your intending to kill or seriously injure someone? We can't try?
It's just really aggravating to me that there are some people who actually just think "what's the point?" that just doesn't seem fair.
What if we didn't make heroin illegal just because people would do it anyway? That doesn't make it any less dangerous. It doesn't make it any better. It's just legal. Legality doesn't count for everything.
Here are my basic points:
1) Just because people would try to get guns anyway doesn't mean that the government shouldn't try to make it harder.
2) Maybe the fact that its illegal will turn some people away from even trying to get one (extra jail time, any jail time at all)
3) I'm not saying all guns should be illegal, but the assualt riffles and machine guns... certainly uneeded.

The Stem Cell Divide post #1

I have been reading The Stem Cell Divide by Michael Bellomo  for 45 pages and so far... eh. I feel like the book hasn't really started yet so, I don't know how to have an opinion on it yet. The first thing you read is a story of a girl who was in a horrific car accident and used stem cells to replace her pancreas. And although stem cells saved her life, she still doesn't know how she feels about them. And Bellomo says that this how much of the nation feels. They want to be OK with stem cells because they can save peoples lives quicker and easier than ever before but, you feel like you shouldn't be OK with the use of them because, as many of us know, stem cells come from unborn fetus'. This is where the problem lies. This is where the whole debate is. Everyone recognizes that stem calls are safe and effective, but, they come from babies that just didn't make it. Weather or not this is a result of an abortion is another issue entirely. So, for the sake of argument, lets say that all fetus' used for stem cell research and development come from miscarriages or ectopic pregnancy. Would it be OK then? I think so.

In response to the Sandy Hook shooting.

I work at a children's store (The Land of Nod, to be exact) and I worked all weekend. When I was working the cash register on Friday, a woman came in with her son. As he played around with all the over priced toys we offer, she stood back smiling. My manager was also at the counter with me and she leaned over and said "It's so nice that you have a place to play, here" and my boss said "Yea, the kids love it" And she was just silent for a moment than looked over at her son-still smiling- and said "After what happened today... it's just nice to have this moment." I guess that's when it became real to me. My 35 year old, aggressive looking, manager and a stranger were just staring at this kid enjoy life. He didn't know what had happened, all he knew what that he had a toy truck and he was happy. Sometimes that's all you need. As the woman left, my manager (also a father of two beautiful little ones) looked over at me and said "I don't want to even begin to imagine what those parents feel like. For the life of me, I have to stay away from that thought" He than started his walk to the back to start counting the reserve.
As for me, not being a parent but, way to empathetic to even know how to handle it, couldn't stay away from that thought when I got home at 10pm. I sat in my bed reading things on the Internet about how parents would have to bury their kids over Christmas and saying that this has to be the final straw in finally getting to change our gun control laws.
Then on Sunday, before I left for another day at work, I saw president Obama's speech. When he named all the children, and teachers, and addressed our country- that's when I finally lost it. I couldn't help but shed a tear (or a couple dozen tears) for those that had to deal with the pain that seemed so far away from me.
I know that when I have kids of my own, I'll understand more why my mom wanted me to stay home from work and just be with her. Or why on Friday my dad called me kiddo again (after 9 years) and told me he loved me as I walked out the door. But, right now, even the possibility of having to ever feel that, was terrifying enough.

I wish I knew what to say.

So many things have happened. So many things that could've or should've been avoided. I'm talking about the shooting at the elementary school in Connecticut. I don't even know how to handle that. It's the second worse school shooting in America (behind Virgina Tech and before Columbine).
It amazes me how one moment I'm sitting in sociology, passing notes and goofing off, and another moment I realize that as I was sitting in school all day, people were dying. It's crazy to me.
I just wish that I had something to say.

How much say should the government have in our lives?

I don't really have an answer. My head starts many unneeded conflicts with itself. On one hand I think that we are the land of the free, so how come the government has the right to tell us what we can and cannot do (in regards to abortion, religion, marriage)? But than I start to think of all the laws that I'm glad are in place. The laws that send people to jail when they harm another human beings or put others in danger. So is it possible to weave out all the bad and keep the good?
Honestly, no. Because everybody has an opinion. And thats not a bad thing. There's just a lot of them. Everybody has an opinion on what the good and the bad mean. And it is impossible to keep everyone happy. There has never been a president of the United States where every single person in the country went "Alright. I'm OK with this. I can live with this." That has never happened, and that will never happen.  Everybody has there own thing that they want to the president to focus on. And honestly, 4 years isn't that long. When Obama got elected the first time- I was in 8th grade. Now, I'm graduating High School. But, if I look at everything that happened in those 4 years, I realize that it's not as long as I thought. In fact, it went a lot faster than I was initally expecting.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that you can't please the whole population in 4 years. Or even 8. Because there are so many conflicting sides that if you tried, I'm pretty sure you'd be unfit to rule, and would go insane.
Obviously I'm great with words and I really know how to get points across. So, I'm gunna try this one more time: Everyone is different. But you can lump people into groups based on they want to be able to do, and what they want (or do not want) others to do, in accordance to the law. And which people are you supposed to go with? Which people do you support or think you should support? Which people are right? this is where things get foggy.