AIG Bailout, Bonuses, and Business As Usual

I've been trying to follow the latest events on the bonus debacle with AIG and our Treasury Department. With each new update, I try to glean accurate information and form an opinion that isn't based on utter rage. No luck there.

I really don't understand how AIG executives can accept these tax-payer provided bonuses and not feel a twinge of embarrassment. Oh, yea, I forgot, these guys are greedy pigs - they don't know how to feel shame.

My understanding of the purpose of a bonus is to reward an executive for doing a good job. For instance, if the company makes greater than X% profit for the year, you get a portion of it. That makes sense - reward for a good job.

Now these yahoos nearly drove the company into the ground and they are being rewarded for it! If we are rewarding incompetence, then sign me up to run GM or Chrysler. I'll be the first to tell you I haven't the faintest idea how to run any sized company, so it's a sure bet that I will make a mess of it. Make my bazillion dollar bonus check payable to me, Elizabeth Alexander, thank you.

Cars, Babes, and Prom Night

While cruising around on MSN's web site, I came across their article on the 2009 Geneva car show. Now, I'm not a car buff, but these vehicles looked pretty cool. Of course, my 17-year-old son was hovering over my shoulder drooling over the pictures. Here is our take on some of the cars we saw.

I thought the KTM X-Bow looked awesome, but Jack said it really looked like a pimped out go-cart. I didn't think the girls would really care, but what do I know?

Too bad this car won't be out until after Jack starts college. He said college girls are hotter anyway. (Note to self: Jack is NOT going away to college.)

I can easily see Jack cruising in this convertible, and it comes in blue! I think the lead cheerleader at Ritenour might like to be seen in this car on prom night and with Jack in a tuxedo, it's too perfect.

Last, but not least, if Jack wants to leave a little 007 mystique behind, he really needs this ride. James would be so proud.

It's fun to plan ahead for prom night, even if some of it is just a fantasy. Jack said he is definitely going to the prom. Unfortunately his hot wheels will consist of a chauffeur (aka Mom) driven minivan, a rented tux and no hot looking babes.

At Issue - Stem Cell Research

President Obama will announce on Monday that he will be reversing former President Bush's mandate of no federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Thus, begins, or continues, an interesting discussion in America.

As most of us know, stem cells hold incredible potential for cures for diseases such as MS, diabetes, spinal cord injuries, and the like. So far, this sounds like a wonderful breakthrough. However, depending on where the stem cells come from, this also creates a moral issue.

Researchers have found that embryonic stem cells have a longer lifespan and are more adaptive to regeneration of damaged cells. However, once experimented on lab mice, they found that the older embryonic stem cells pretty much created cancer cells. Embryonic stem cells are extracted from blastocysts, which is the early form of an embryo. All of us began this way. Here is the moral problem - these embryos must be destroyed to extract the stem cells. Advocates say that these embryos would be discarded anyway because they were the result of in vitro fertilization. The thinking is pretty much, "might as well use them - they're here anyway." A little cold to my way of thinking.

Further research has found that adult skin cells and umbilical cord cells are every bit as promising as embryonic stem cells. And just recently, I read (I can't find the article anymore) that these cells don't grow into cancer cells like the old embryonic cells do. This is a fantastic development and really removes the ethical and moral issues associated with the research.

One would be hard pressed to find anyone opposed to finding a cure to severe diseases and injuries. But I beg the question, should a human being die so another can live? Especially if that human being hasn't had a chance to speak for him/herself? Proponents of the embryonic stem cell research argue that politics should stay out of the science labs. To a degree, they are right. Scientific breakthroughs that could cure deadly diseases and heal injuries need to be discovered without interference with the federal government. But, we have a moral and ethical obligation to our society. Scientists must be responsible in their research. We are not trying to construct a Frankenstein's monster, but we as a free people must make sure that no scientist or laboratory ever tries to do something that would be questionable.

I praise our scientists for finding better resources for stem cells, and I hope they find these non-objectionable sources to be more successful than the embryonic stem cells.

Barbie is Just a Doll, People!

A West Virginia state lawmaker hasn't got enough to think about. Democratic Delegate Jeff Eldridge of Lincoln County wants to ban Barbie. He says the 50-year-old doll is too much of an influence on young girls and stresses too much on physical beauty and fashion.

OH PLEASE!!!!

Where, oh, where are the similar complaints about GI Joe and his influence on boys? Big beefy he-men who walk around in camo and sling rifles across their backs!

Really, people. These are just toys. Don't we have enough to worry about that is way more serious than dolls? Hell0? The economy? Climate change? Life without ER?

Yes, Barbie is truly anatomically impossible. So is GI Joe, I think. (I haven't looked at him lately.) I seem to remember the manufacturers tried to make Barbie's figure more realistic and it didn't seem to fly.

I grew up with Barbie and while I loved her outfits (my mom made a few of them), I wasn't heavily influenced by her appearance. I knew she was a doll and the product of someone else's imagination. What is wrong with parents telling their kids that dolls don't represent real people? How easy is that?

The fun with Barbie is dressing her up in these fantastic clothes. I remember my aunt would make wedding dresses for Barbie every year to sell at the church festival. She would have an entire bridal party - it was incredible! The dresses all had hand-sewn beads, silk flowers, lace - everything! She even made one for my doll and gave it to me for Christmas. Believe it or not, I still have the dress. I think the doll is long gone, though.

Barbie is part of being an American girl. Leave her alone!