4 AM now and still not asleep The new schedule is messin' with my rhythm

Shot over to YOUTUBE.com for a bit just a while ago. I'd never been there even though I've heard so much about it.

They had the Katie Couric interview with Michael J. Fox on so I watched it.

Anyone who's been here for any length of time has probably heard me talk about how much the TV show "Family Ties" meant to me growing up. I don't think any show brings back warmer memories for me. I wanted to BE Alex P. Keaton and Michael J. Fox was by far my favorite actor during my early teens.

Everything I've ever heard or read about Fox suggests he's a wonderful guy. Very down to earth. Very unaffected by his stardom.

He even married Tracy Pollen, the girl that played one of his serious girlfriends on the show (and my favorite by the way). Their marriage has lasted all this time, through all his troubles. Rare enough in Hollywood, but even rarer when you consider what he's been through.

Even now his attitude is amazing. No self-pity. Very Christopher Reeves like. He seems to feel genuinely blessed for what he's already had in life and thinks that if this is what his purpose is now, to raise awareness of Parkinsons disease then so be it, whatever the outcome.

I had started to lose a little respect for him recently though, over his stand on stem cell research. Not so much because he's for embryonic stem cell research and I'm generally against it, after all we're all entitled to our views and reasonable people can disagree.

But rather, because I felt he was using his celebrity for a selfish cause and because politically he's backed some candidates that are pretty questionable ethically (including our own corrupt Governer Jim Doyle here in Wisconsin) based seeming solely on the fact that they are in favor of stem cell research. That seems incredibly selfish and short-sighted to me.

But after watching him on the Katie Couric show. Shaking uncontrollably. Still staying strong and taking the high road even when answering questions about the comment Rush Limbaugh made this week, I have to admit I'm impressed.

I hope that if faced with a serious illness in my life I can meet it with the courage and dignity that this guy has met Parkinsons with. I don't think he's selfish at all. I think he's truly of the opinion that he has a resonsibility to help the millions of people with diseases similar to his that don't have the opportunity to be heard in the public arena the way he can.

The entire stem cell issue is a very complicated one and I've never known exactly where I stand on it. But it's one of those issues where I find myself hoping I lose and wind up in the minority.

I'm still going to vote against that crooked bas*ard Jim Doyle on November 7'th. But when the time comes to mark the ballot Michael J. Fox is going to be on my mind, and on this one issue I will feel some regret over choosing against helping him. If Doyle should somehow manage to pay off enough unions and bring in enough homeless people to swing the vote his way I guess atleast I'll be able to take a little comfort in the fact that Michael J. Fox will have a reason to be happy that day.