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Black Pundit
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Brief History: Here's a little bit about myself and my views. I was born and raised in Compton, California and moved to San Diego when I was 23yrs old. I have to admit, being raised in an ethnic poverty community, one can be limited on the amount of information one learns about politics, social issues and foreign policies. In high school, my only concerns were being cool, dressing nice, and just worrying about today. What can you expect when being surrounded by that kind of behavior every day? But it wasn't until I finished school, moved out of the hub city and started working with educated people of different races for me to see that there is more than what is inside of your own city. Who is to blame for this? That's a hard question for me to answer. I would like to blame my parents for not teaching me about strong education, politics, and the issues that are going on in the world. But I can't because of how they were raised and the era they were raised in. Evidently, their parents did not teach them the subjects they should have been taught. Regardless of who is to blame, every individual is responsible for their own fate, especially living in a democracy and/or free market.
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Previous Articles
Gun Control: I am a gun enthusiast. I believe every one should have the right to bear arms. It is our Second Amendment, but yet many liberals are trying to take these rights away from citizens, giving government full control. Many liberals believe that gun control lessens violence. Taking away guns from law abiding citizens actually promotes violence. The people who cause violence are criminals and criminals do not obey the law, so how would gun control lessen violence? The outcome of full gun control would be a society of law abiding citizens without guns and criminals with guns. So wouldn't you think a criminal is more likely to break into someone's home if they knew that person did not bare arms?
Social Security: I believe every citizen should have the option to invest some of their social security into stocks or mutual funds. Many liberals say that social security is not an investment program, but an insurance program. By 2016, social security will run a deficit, meaning more money will be spent on benefits then the amount of revenue coming in. What is so "insured" about that? Liberals do not support privatizing social security. If you do not privatize it, what are the choices for fixing the 2016 deficit problem? Either we have to raise taxes, cut promised benefits, or borrow money, or maybe all three. I don't think so! The conservative's approach is to privatize social security which can create higher returns. Some liberals may argue that stocks and mutual funds are risky. True, but what is more risky than a forecast of deficit in the near future?
Gay Marriage: The definition of marriage in the dictionary is, "the legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife." OK, lets not go changing words in the dictionary. If gay men and gay women want legal unions, then please call it something else. Give it another term or word. Maybe "garriage", hmm....
African American Culture: African Americans have a very strong and enjoyable culture. This culture is very strong in music (hip hop, R&B, rap), sports (football, basketball, track and field), and art (clothing, styles, setting trends). Also, it brings a lot of wealth to the few chosen blacks and many of the younger black generation look up to and are influenced by this culture. Many blacks look at these accomplishments as positive, but there is another perspective. Too much influence can hinder the future of African American generations. This influence comes from music, music videos, and the trend of African American culture. Many significant leaders in the black music industry I have seen interviewed believe that music and music videos do not have a negative effect on the younger black generation. They say that the younger black generation sees the black music industry as being entrepreneurs, and business owners. That is not true. The younger black generation sees the music industry for the music and music videos they put out. They see all the big expensive cars, the pretty girls with very little clothing, and all the flashy jewelry. Sports can also hinder the younger black generation. There are a lot of kids and teenagers with tremendous talents in basketball and football and many of them focus on pursuing a professional position in these sports. But the fact is there are only a small amount of these professional positions available. Therefore, only the elite are accepted. Many of the younger black generation that live in the ethnic communities are predominately interested only in playing sports or being in the entertainment industry and have no interest in other means of success. I notice that many African Americans have very little interest on anything outside of their culture. I have very few black friends that I can talk mathematics, physics, politics, or other abstract subjects with. These are very powerful subjects that change the world. One night I went to go see the second Matrix at a theatre near UCSD. I got there about 40 minutes early because it was the first night it came out. During that 40 minutes before the move, I looked around the theatre and all I saw was a lot of Asian and White college kids with there text books open, using their TI-89, or had their laptop open doing some type of school work. I was amazed (besides the fact I was the only black there). And I thought to myself, how come I never see this in the black community? How can we get African Americans to shift some of their interest into something outside of their own? Maybe making these other interests look cool or a focus on changing the views of our younger African American generation can make a difference. Whatever the answer is, we need to get back in the race! I also think African American parents need to become more of a role model to their children in the ethnic communities. Many of the younger black kids look up to the entertainers and sport players they see on TV, and even the big time drug dealers they see in the streets. African American parents have the responsibility to communicate with their children that there is a lot more than what they just see around them. For example, parents should talk to their kids about the stock market, or about how foreign governments work, to even about tensions between other countries. This might seem a bit boring to a child, but it is the responsibility of parents to make these things are interesting and to ensure children understand how important this information is.
Stem Cell Research: Currently, there are two types of stem cell research being tested. Adult stem cell which are stem cells that are derived from bone marrow, muscle, liver, blood, and umbilical cord, etc... And embryonic stem cell research (ESC) which are stem cells derived from fertilized embryos less than a week old. Both stem cell research has its pros and cons.
Embryonic stem cell research:
(pros) ESC have the ability to form any adult cell.
(cons) Controversy about abortion since they are derived from fertilized embryos. There is vitro fertilization which is a process that ESC are made in the labs and the embryos never see the inside of a woman's uterus. But the argument with this is anti-abortionist claims that life starts at conception. Therefore, the abortion issue still arises. Another con for ESC is that ESC from a donor introduced into a patient could cause transplant rejection from the immune system. There have been theories to clone stem cells to prevent the immune system rejection, but that is opening another can of worms.
Adult stem cell research:
(pros) No abortion issue. The use of the patient's own adult stem cells would mean that the cells would not be rejected by the immune system.
(cons) Adult cells are already specialized, their potential to regenerate damaged tissue is very limited. Stem cell derived from skin cells will only become skin cell, etc.. Also, there are not many stem cells in vital organs. Meaning, if you have any lung or heart diseases, stem cell will not help you much. And to close this con, adult stem cells are difficult to grow in the lab and their potential to reproduce diminishes with age.
Technically speaking, I do feel abortion is wrong, but the reality is abortion will be here for a very long time. Science has a chance to extremely prolong life, and find cures for diseases scientist haven't even came close to finding a cure. This will enable grand parents to see further down their generation line. Before cars or planes were invented, people lived without these concepts and was able to survive decently. Could you imagine not having a car or plane today? Do you see how advanced life is and how much better life is from having the inventions of cars and planes? Same for stem cell research. I'm pretty sure 20 to 50 years down the line after stem cell has been fully tested and used, people can not image living without it and its benefits. And I know someone out there is still yelling "abortion is wrong". What will it take from you to agree with embryonic stem cell research? Would it take for you to have Parkinson disease to agree? Would it take for you to have all of your hair falling out from chemotherapy? Or would it take for you to be on your death bed because of heart failure to agree with ESC research? I don't know what would it take for you to agree. You tell me!
Nanotechnology: I am a strong supporter for almost any technology that can revolutionize the future!
What is nanotechnology? Nanoscale technology enables controlled component design and fabrication on atomic and molecular scales. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, that is, about 1/80,000 of the diameter of a human hair, or 10 times the diameter of a hydrogen atom.
Potential of nanotechnology?
I have read a book called the Prey by Michael Crichton (Same guy who wrote Jurassic Park) which was about nanotechnology. Its a pretty cool novel if you wanted to learn more about nanotechnology.
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