That Red Dot On My Driver's License

There are a few people living better lives because of my brother's death several years ago.  One family still has their father because he has my brother's heart.

Sometimes, though, people donate their bodies to science after they die.  Dissecting cadavers has been, and continues to be, a valuable training exercise.  I can't imagine that a future doctor could get equivalent experience in a simulation (at least, not until Star Trek-like holodecks are created).

Do we want students to learn biology, or do we want them to learn about biology?  There's more than just a subtle difference between the two, and the line is being crossed by the Idiots In The Big White Building Downtown:

Dissecting frogs and cats — a common assignment for kids in California biology classes — could soon be a thing of the past.

A bill from Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, would prohibit animal dissections in K-12 schools, both public and private.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is a strong supporter of the bill. The animal rights organization has documented methods used by companies that supply schools with birds, cats and amphibians for classroom dissections. PETA argues the practice is “miserably cruel.”

Cats used for dissection tend to be euthanized animals acquired from shelters; frogs and other amphibians are often gathered in the wild.

Students (or their parents) can already request alternate assignment if they don't want to participate in dissection.  This bill proves that satisfying one person's personal political belief is worth sacrificing the science education of an entire state's worth of students.

But you can still donate your body to science if you want.  But cats or frogs?  No way, dude.  Not in Cali-unicornia.