Free Speech...Ann Coulter

The Free Speech Blurb


Canada is a so-called supporter of free speech.  Well, that's what the majority of society seems to think.  What people seems to often forget is the true meaning of free speech.  The Canadian charter of rights and freedoms dictates that every individual is entitled to a set of rights including safety, equality, and free speech, amongst several others. Individuals are entitled to use, or abuse if I must, these rights as long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others.  Keep this fundamental understanding of the charter in mind throughout the following discussion.


The Incident


Ann Coulter, an outspoken so-called conservative, was scheduled to make a speech at the University of Ottawa as part of a 3-university tour in Canada.  Prior to her speech, the vice president of the University of Ottawa sent an e-mail to Ms. Coulter indicating that she should curb her conservative opinions because Canada differs from the US.  Ann Coulter and the media fired back stating that the liberal university administration are revoking her right to free speech.  The day that the speech was scheduled to take place, a peaceful demonstration of students, proponents and opponents to Ms. Coulter's opinions, took place.  Ottawa police were called for the sake of security of all parties involved.  Ms. Coulter's entourage decided to cancel the appearance the University of Ottawa and informed police to advertise this fact.  As a result, many people, including Americans and Canadians, blamed the university and students of curbing conservative free speech.


My Assessment


I'm always open to hearing different view-points and draw my conclusions based on facts, ethics, and logical deduction.  Thus, I do not identify with any political party simply because they are liberals or conservatives.  Nevertheless, people would characterize my opinions as leaning liberal.  Regardless, I had to hear and analyze Ms. Coulter's speeches for myself in order to form an opinion.


In some circumstances, I found that Ms. Coulter's ideas and opinions are valid.  However, out of the many opinions that I disagreed with, there was one thing that resonated with me.  When a muslim student asked Ann "what should a muslim do since Ann suggests that muslims shouldn't be allowed on planes."  Ms. Coulter replied "take a camel".  I didn't realize that free speech entitled people to emotionally and verbal abuse others, nor to suggest that people should not be treated equally due to their religious beliefs.  That being said, I don't believe Ms. Coulter should have "the right" to express these extremist views because she's infringing on the rights of others.  As a hypothetical, it would be ridiculous for me to publicly suggest that "blonde women should abstain from speaking because they are dumb".  This is exactly what Ann is doing...and she often gets away with it.  To stoop down to her level, it seems that being having blond hair, a thin figure, and a nice pair of legs lets you get away with anything.  


The Conclusion


We must make one thing very clear, Ann Coulter's opinions do not represent conservative ideals.  This woman is a fanatic and parallels terrorist extremists; terrorists attempt to polarize people against other groups of people based on ill-founded beliefs.  I am glad that she didn't get to promote her moronic ideology at the University of Ottawa.  Free speech does NOT suggest that people are allowed to promote hatred, racism, etc.

Health Insurance for all Americans!

How cliché of me to write about the passage of health insurance reform in the USA.  For the record, I am Canadian.  So why do I care about bills being passed in the US?  The answer is simple:  every person in the world deserves the basics such as food, water, electricity, access to healthcare, etc.

Unfortunately, over 30 million people in the world's most developed nation did not have health insurance.  And for tens of millions more, their health insurance would be dropped due to "pre-existing conditions".  Can you imagine finding out you have cancer and require aggressive treatment.  Then, you lose your job because you can't work, which causes you to lose your health insurance?  What kind of people would allow this to exist?  A country where the rich are in power and dictate the life of the poor.

Obama has delivered on the promise of health insurance reform.  He did so in the spirit of compromise by integrating republican ideas in the process.  I think both political parties play too much politics and don't care about the american people.  However, the republicans were absolutely ridiculous this time around.  Republicans will say that this bill adds to the deficit.  According to independent analysts, the bill reduces the deficit by cutting costs in one area and using a portion of that money to pay for new measures.  Ok, don't believe everything you read because theory and implementation are two different things.  So let's assume that this bill increases the deficit in the US.  All of a sudden, republicans are against increasing the deficit but they'll spend trillions on wars and ruin the US economy when they are in power.  Remember the bush years that led to the economic "crisis"?  OHHHH YEAHHH, that reign of terror ended just 1 year ago and we're still feeling its effect.  Is good health insurance coverage for all not worth the money?  Are people that selfish and self-centered.

What kills me is that republicans will go to no end to stop a bill.  They started claiming that federal funds will pay for abortions.  Republicans will lie to recruit any extremist Americans and stir up rage in the people.  Seriously?  Are these the kind of people you want to represent you?  Everyone needs to balance the pros and cons of the bill because it will never be perfect.  In the end, this bill is of net benefit to the american people.  It's far from perfect, but people need to stop forming an opinion based on their political association.  It is for the benefit of ALL PEOPLE.  Just remember: Help your neighbor today so that he can help you tomorrow.

Sometimes I can't stand my family...

For the most part, I love my family.  My parents have given me everything I've wanted within their capacity; and I mean everything!  They even went as far as moving from their mother country, leaving everything behind so that their children can have a better life.  For that, I'm always grateful... But today, my hormones are raging over some of the things they do!

A common occurence in my household, I go looking for things where I expect them to be but they are no longer there.  My mom is to blame for that.  I can't figure out why my mom loves moving my stuff around and not tell me where she placed them.  I ask her where she put them, she either claims that she's never touched or seen them.  AHHHHHHHHHHHH!  The best part about all this is that she moves things around in the name of "cleaning".  I love living in a clean house, but piling garbage high to make the rest of the house look clean isn't exactly my definition of cleaning.  Oh good, I found my scale... I don't know why it was moved out of the bathroom in the first place.  Isn't that where a scale belongs?

Better yet, my hormones boil when my family "half-asses" just about everything.  I'm no role model, but there are some things that I expect to be done right.  Example 1: Any repairs that my dad does feels like they were "half assed".  He was my role model when I was growing up because he can build and fix many things.  He's a civil/environmental engineering; so, he's well educated.  But as I acquired the knowledge and skills from him, I started realizing that he does what so many other people do!  He'll fix something or do something, and it's good by him as long as it works - even if it's not done right.  Example: plug cables anywhere until the sound system outputs sound!  Cables are running all over the place.  Sound is only coming out of 2 of the 5 speakers.  From all that, I've made it a priority to do things according to some basic standard.  I don't expect perfection, but doing something according to some "good" guidelines is my standard.

I'm dying to move out so that I can do things my way.  Then again, that's easier said than done.

Wow, I forgot where my roots lie...

A few day ago, I looked in the mirror and I wasn't happy.  Haha no, I still have a pretty-boy face...  But, I realized that my body is no longer what it was just one year ago.  I've put on about 10 pounds of fat and lost a bit of muscle.  To some people, that's no big deal but it is to me.  It destroys your mental state slowly!  Clearly, I was at fault because I stopped exercising and started eating poorly.  Well in my defense, I was very "busy" and I had to eat to upkeep the muscles.  I fooled myself with that for a while.
Something clicked a few days ago.  I don't know what, but I started working out and watching what I eat again. I don't know what got to me, but I'm glad that I decided to put aside the time to count every gram-every calorie and to train systematically.  After all, I was a natural at that just 1 year earlier.  Working out reminded me of who I once was.  Not only does a healthy life style improve my physique, but it helps me mentally.  Not only do I feel more confident but it also improves my mood overall.
Some people say that it's too much work to track my food intake and to work out.  Others say it's not a "lifestyle" change that you can upkeep.  They're probably right.  Then again, I could be wasting my time with other "activities" or hobbies.  The time I spend upkeeping my health will hopefully help reduce the time I spend in a hospital bed.

People are monopolizing my time...

Sometimes I feel like people are monopolize my time.  Although it's unintentional, I'm starting to get sick of it.  I don't want to do any more "favours" for people nor do I want to go over and have dinner.  I don't owe anyone anything and my brain isn't open for free picking.  I guess I'm just too passive and I should start telling people "NO" straight up.

These days, I feel like sitting around and doing nothing.  I've done too much over the last 5 years.  A year off to do whatever I want would be nice...

How did I get myself into this $#@%

Yesterday was a disaster... My thesis supervisor told me that he can't pay me anymore because he has no funds left.  I can summarize my last year of my Master degree with him as follows: 1 year of doing stupid work for him like writing grants, "review papers", and abstracts, which were never good enough without receiving constructive criticism on how to improve them.  I'm no closer to writing a thesis than I was when I applied for this program.  To be honest, I got tired of the BS towards the end and my effort was showing the results of having to rewrite the same abstract 20 times and always being told that "it's no good" for no reason.

I have a scholarship that pays for my full tuition and I've finished all 6 courses required by my degree.  But now, I'm approaching the end of my tuition scholarship (6 months from now) and I won't be getting paid at the end of this month.  What to do?  He says to apply for scholarships but all the major scholarships had deadlines 4 months ago.  Do I find a new supervisor that pays me and I finish my thesis in 8 months?  Do I look for a part time job and continue with this supervisor?  This is rediculous to say the least

Learning things too many times over...

So I'm in class right now and we're learning about action potentials, again.  Well, we only learn it once in this class but this must be my 5th or 6th time in university.  It seems like there's too much overlap amongst courses that should be vastly different.  I just hate the fact that every course wants to cover this concept in detail.  Oh well, it's one less thing I have to memorize for the exam, but I'm damn bored right now.