So the village idiot finally veto a bill from congress.
And what was so important that he used his very first
veto on! One of the single most important issues of our
time. Stem cell research. The village idiot vetoed a bill
that could potentially cure millions of Americans (including me)
from a wide range of illnesses, diseases and injuries.
The village idiot did nothing more then suck up to the radical
religious right wing.
We have a myriad of serious issues that could use
leadership from the village idiot and he uses his
very first veto to prevent millions of Americans from leading
better and more productive lives.
There are simply not enough words in the English language
to state how terrible this president is.
If the amount of time spent bitching about Bush was put into researching adult or umbilical stem cells we would be just fine.
The veto only said that federal funding will not sponsor this research.
This doesn’t mean that private money can’t be used to sponsor research stem cells. If this is so wonderful, shouldn’t billions of dollars be pouring into research by private coorperations who are looking to earn a buck?
People say we have a moral obligation to those already alive. However, in order to save PART or these people we must destroy a WHOLE. If you make embryos just to grow a specific body part or cell for people it’s immoral because you are destroying something healthy that will turn into a healthy baby just to make a little part.
A people deserve the leader they choose, accept and tolerate.
In a world where quantity overpowers quality, the level of political discourse will steadily drop. Those in power, unbridled by criticism and thriving upon apathy and delusion, will overthrow themselves through decadence.
It’s the oldest story on Earth. The cycles of civilization.
In these worsening days a more clearer picture of what man truly is can be seen.
The need for more sophisticated facades subsides and the beast peers, more boldly, from behind the same mask which once fooled the naïve and over-optimistic into worship.
The question is:
What is the biggest threat, misguided, fanatical absolutists who are willing to kill and die for a belief they have taken up on faith and who call themselves the children of God, or the apathetic, misinformed, inebriated, fanatical, absolutists who thrive on stupidity and who call themselves free men and ‘civilized’?
One feeds off of the other; each needing the other to sell their wares and market their methods of salvation to fearful, desperate, ignorant mobs, high on hedonism and self-indulgence.
The stem cells from cord blood are adult stem cells.
sigh
And it is worth noting that most research is governmentally funded, so you cannot use any of the non-approved hESC lines if you want to keep funding. Given the nonsense that’s been going on in Korea lately (mislabeled lines being only a small fallout from Hwang), my lab has been forced to scrap some papers.
Also, there are no adult stem cells that have even a fraction of the potential that ESCs have. None. The evidence for plasticity is shakey at best and given epigenetic programming, I doubt we’ll ever be able to get very far with it.
Hehe, I was reading an article recently (from a more pop-science journal, I think it was “The Scientist”) and they were talking about a company that was using hematopoietic stem cells from cord blood to treat a variety of conditions, ranging from heart-disease to Parkinson’s. Bogus research, mostly. Now, what was funny was the ‘additional notes’ section on the company: Wanted by the FBI.
Also, embryonic stem cells are not derived from ripping a fetus or anything even resembling that from a woman. First off, those used in the bill would have been from IVF clinics, fertilized eggs that were already slated for destruction. Let me say that again: The eggs are going to be destroyed, regardless of the veto.
Next, there is a huge difference between an embryo and a fetus.
Here is a pretty good picture of the cell mass that could become an ESC line: images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= … l%26sa%3DN
See the inner cell mass, surrounded by the blastosphere. That is what makes ESCs.
Hardly a baby and a human in only the loosest sense of the word. Even Aquinas agrees with me here: that thing doesn’t have a soul.
You are a loose cannon but you slay me. I am on the fence because I would vote for saving lives through stem cell research. This research is about life - saving lives - which I would have to vote FOR… however, I personally could never have an abortion even though I am pro-choice. Weird, I know, but I couldn’t do it.
Does anyone have a link to educate me on exactly what they use in order for this research to continue? I was under the impression that they take the cells from an embryo that has no chance in hell of surviving. Am I wrong on this?
Bessy, it’s all very humane and sterile, I’m sure. But the point I am arguing has little to do with the methodology of collecting samples; rather it has to do with the notion that just because it is good for millions, it is good by default.
Thank you PK. It is taking me a bit to wade through it, but my question is this: if pro-lifers are all about “life” what about the lives of those people who need help? Are those lives disregarded or less important? Just a thought.
Or perhaps it is about those innocent cells who cannot think for themselves.
=D> I am glad to have read this, PK, so thank you.
Your welcome. I too, am one of those lives that
could be helped with stem cell research.
Is my life less important? Am I to be profoundly deaf
my whole life because of some misguided understanding
of life? Is millions of people who could be helped less important?
I wonder why pro-lifers value life not yet born, greater then the
life that exist now? Am I to be sacrificed at the alter of unborn life?
Kropotkin is exactly right. The issue is RIDICULOUS. These embryos are a) much more valuable to stem cell research than current OLD lines of crappy rehashed stem cells, and b) being flushed anyway - better to use them for science than to flush them!
We should respect our elected leader?? That makes NO sense. First, Bush wasn’t elected, either in '00 or in '04.
Even if he HAD been, just because we fairly elected someone doesn’t mean we should support bad decisions! How about Nixon? How about HITLER? That stance not only doesn’t make sense - but if you examined it you would find you don’t even believe it yourself. (At best you just believe that you believe it, because it sounds good.)
The role of government is to allocate funding in ways that free-market capitalism would make improbable, and to pass legislation that is in the best interest of all. Few people would find it in their selfish best interest to donate money to a “public roads” fund - their donation makes minimal effect in whether or not it happens, after all - so the government makes such funding mandatory so that the roads actually get built. Stem cell research has enormous potential to make our lives better, and since private funding really isn’t doing a good job of providing the scientists with the materials and funds they need, it’s the government’s job to NOT LEGISLATE ACCORDING TO RELIGIOUS MORALITY but rather to legislate according to the best interests of the people.
What an insane world - degenerating into voting for someone based on “who would I rather have a beer with”, accepting severely religious-based presidential actions without blinking, intrusions into personal privacy, evidence of conspiracy - I’m moving to New Zealand.
i was wondering what the bill included. i never got around to reading it. thats pretty god damn annoying to know this now though. i think i liked it better before i knew. jerk…
i cant believe people are still trying to prove that a blastocyst is human. it boggles my mind. boggles it.
