The truth of the matter of male pregnancy

I was watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart at a friend's house the other night. Naturally, there are a few tidbits that catch your eye.

One of these was a pregnant man. Of course, I was curious. How can a man possibly be pregnant? I was told, not by the host of the show, but by my friend that the man had gotten pregnant after his wife couldn't have children. This made me curious since my friend proceeded to tell me the "man" had once been a woman and was married to a woman. Now, my question was: where did the sperm come from? We all know that two naturally born women cannot have a child. Needless to say, I didn't get the whole story.

At work the next day, I hear another version of the story. The man is indeed a man and is carrying the child for his wife who is unable to have children due to having a hysterectomy. So, they gave the man all the women parts needed to carry a child and did artificial insemination on him, which made him pregnant.

Now, here I am at 4 a.m. looking up internet sources on this article. I have no idea what the guy's name is, but I keep coming up with Thomas Beatie. Beatie was a woman once and has had a full sex change except he still has a uterus and a womb, which allows him to carry a child.

Still, the question remains. Where did the sperm to create this child come from? If it came from someone other than Beatie, then obviously he is not the biological father and never can be due to his original sex.

My opinion on this is, while it might be nice for a man to carry a child for us women, it is not biologically possible. Though men do have nipples, they were not created to care and nurture a child inside their bodies. If they were, then they would also have wombs. Messing with science and the way the world works is dangerous business. And although transsexuals can have both female and male organs, one is going to dominate the other. That's the way of life, people.

It's one of those days

I wrote this at the job on Monday. This was one of the bad days. Here's how it went:

I have had the day from hell. I get up this morning after a decent night's sleep and I feel like crap. Yes, I feel like a truck has run over my head. My wisdom teeth on the bottom are coming in and the one on the right wants to give me problems. Those problems are pain on that side to my ear and right at my cheek. Lovely, right? The one on the left is already poking through the gum because I can feel the tooth. Okay, no problem, I have my trusty Oragel rip off from Wal-Mart and I'm ready to go to work though I feel like crap.

I get to work early and as I get out of my car, a co-worker pulls up and I start talking to her about her "new" car. Three hours later, another co-worker informs me I have left my lights on. I feel my pockets for my keys. Not there. Crap. I've locked the keys in the car with the ignition on so the lights are on AGAIN. And stupid me hasn't put the spare key under the car yet or whatever. So I'm going crazy. I'm losing it. I'm seriously not feeling good at this point and I just want to go home, but I have to stay at work. Because my job sucks and I'm nearly the only one who can do it.

I call my "mom" and get no answer at either number. I take a chance and call her at work. She's the store manager at the Burger King in Opp, which is only a 20 minute drive. Turns out she's at the grand opening of the new BK in Elba this week, so I had to call her there and ask her to bring me the spare set that she has. And since the lights are on, I know it's going to kill my battery by the time she gets to bring them to me at around 7:30. Great.

Chad, one of the press guys, tells me he can get my keys out with a coat hanger, which they actually have some in the mens' bathroom right now. Okay! Great! Do it! After a few tries, we finally get it unlocked using the window in the back driver's side by pushing down the button to get it to go down. Well, the battery was pretty much dead, so I start asking people if they have jumper cables. No one had any! None of the guys! How crazy is that?

I decide, hey I can't lose anything by texting a friend of mine who lives nearby, so I send her a text asking if she has some jumper cables. Yay! She does and she comes to the rescue in like 15 minutes! A true friend will get off their ass, get dressed and come rescue in your time of need!

This has made me learn an important lesson. I need a spare key at work or duct taped to my car somewhere. Or I just need to tape one to my head and hope I don't forget it either. I should just get a hoop and put it on there and wear it as an earring. Hey, Janet Jackson used to do it! Why not!

Know where you live

It came to my attention as I was pasting in the letters to the editor last night that most young people today do not know where they come from or anything about the town they live in.

This letter was written by my great uncle, who is the historian for our family.

It's amazing to see that the truth of a city can get buried in legend or in what others would want the history of a town to be. It has to be exciting and fascinating, but not always true.

Some people find history boring, but in truth, it should be the focal point of our lives. To know where we came from so we can tell the next generation about it. Our heritage is something to be proud of. It is something we can pass on and something that time cannot erase.

I’m proud of our town, but I’m not proud of those who seek to make a fantasy of how our town came to be.

The main reason I am writing this is because of the letter above. I feel strongly about truth and a fantasy will now be forever marked on the side of a building in mural form. I suppose it is just that, a mural, but if it is to be about our city, then why not let it be true?

We could all use some truth in our lives, couldn’t we?

Health care reform for everyone

This letter was rather disturbing to me.

Reading about how today's veterans are treated when they go in to VA hospitals for health care, was an eyeopening experience.

I had read other letters and several articles on the subject before, but the letter above published in the Andalusia Star-News from a veteran, put things in prospective.

Our veterans deserve better health care! They've served our country, given their time away from their families to help keep our country free. They deserve to be treated with respect and not have to deal with all the rules and paperwork that seems to have taken over their health care plans.

The same goes for health care for any American.

Canadians have free health care, why shouldn't we? Sure they have to pay for a few of the more expensive things, but all in all, seeing a doctor when you're sick doesn't cost an arm and a leg there. Here, it's around $50 to see a doctor or a nurse practitioner. And even with insurance, which costs at least $150 a month, you still have to make a co-pay. Granted, it's only around $15 or less, but still, that's money we could use for prescriptions. Prescriptions aren't cheep either and most health care plans don't cover that either.

In short, all Americans deserve something better. Especially our veterans.

More refunds: Are they going to help the economy?

The president signed a bill, giving all those who draw a paycheck, a $300 refund at the least.

The real question is: will this help or harm the recession of the economy.

Most people tend to think, if you have more money, then you'll spend more. But if you save it and get a good interest rate on it, then it'll be more beneficial in the future, right?

With interest rates not being so good, that's a hard thing to answer. For the economy, it's not going to get any better since we're already owning ourselves about 30 grand a piece from a recent commentary I read today.

With all this money, we're not helping the economy by getting all of our paid in taxes back, are we? The national debt will more than likely go up several billion dollars in order for every working person in the United States to get back more money.

Personally, I think this is a great thing for Americans. If most of them are like me, they work in a low paying job that barely pays the rent, let alone all the bills that pile up. But with the economy and the national debt, it's not such a great thing, is it? Our generation will be the ones who are having to fix all of the problems that we started with the Baby Boom of the 1980s. We're workers now and we're going to have to take care of our parents in another 20 years or so when they retire.

What kind of world will we have then? It takes years to come back from an economic depression. The world has seen it before...but could we come out of another one? Would we be stronger for it? Or just more naive?

Celebrities and the media: How far is too far?

(note: this will be one of those "I" blogs)

Celebrities live a very public life once they're in front of the camera. One box office hit and they're followed around every where they go. One hit record and they're branded for life even if they don't put out another one for years.

I am sick of hearing about Britney Spears! Give the girl a rest! I'm sick of hearing about Anna Nicole too. It's been over a year. Find something new to talk about and let her daughter have a normal life. It's one thing to talk about them occasionally, but it's entirely another thing to have them bashed every day or have their private lives put out there for everyone to see. They deserve the same rights we have. The rights to privacy, being the most important.

Another thing that I cannot get over is how the media can be so self serving. When a family is in morning over the loss of a loved one, that is NOT the time to go snapping pictures. It is not the time when the body is rolled out to be taking them either. Things like that are in poor taste. And if there are those who don't agree with me, I think you should have a lesson in respect.

Sure there are famous pictures of things like that, such as John F. Kennedy, Jr. saluting his father's coffin as it passes by. And of course, as a nation we watched as former First Lady, Nancy Reagan kissed her husband's coffin.

I have the personal belief that things like that should be private no matter who the person is. And let me just say that all these reports of how the person died should not be made public. Sure, we're all curious, but is it really our business to know? No. It's not.

The paparazzi are all about getting the one shot that no one else can get. They hound celebrities and follow them around. They cause accidents and find Britney without her underwear again. Or take pictures of Heath Ledger as his body's wheeled out of his NYC apartment. They try to dig up things, such as the video that's been passed around where Ledger is clearly doing drugs.

Being naturally curious is not a crime, but seriously think about it, how would you like to be followed around all day, every day?

Elections: Are they getting too personal?

As everyone is well aware, Super Tuesday was a big deal here in the south. Those running for president have outdone themselves this year. They started campaigning early for one and visited states they were sure they could swing the vote on.

The top runners here were Huckabee and Obama. Though Clinton won the county, it was not enough to win the state. Obama has big numbers with young and first time voters. What is the big deal about voting for him? Does he really stand for the important issues? Health care for everyone and making the economy better? These are the main focuses on Clinton's agenda, which seem to make her a front runner for the Democratic party.

Huckabee has the Bible Belt in the palm of his hand from the background he brings to the race. With Alabama being a mostly Republican state, it's hard to understand how Obama would win the state.

Huckabee has movie stars on his side as do all the other candidates. Huckabee has Chuck Norris, which Obama has Oprah and George Clooney. Are voters going to look at who their favorite star is voting for when they chose a candidate to support? It is doubtful. One would hope they look at the issues and those that they agree on with the candidates.

Will the one we vote for win the race? No one knows. It is time for a change. The current president is at the end of his term and Americans are looking at what was done during his two terms. Change needs to happen for us to move into the future. The only question remains is: which of these forerunners will bring about the much needed change Americans deserve?