June 21, 2007
RIGHT IN HIS WHEELHOUSE:
Bush vetoes stem-cell bill, urges other research (Los Angeles Times, 6/21/07)
President Bush vetoed legislation Wednesday that would have allowed the use of federal funds to support embryonic stem-cell research, the second consecutive year he has blocked such a bill. [...]Posted by Orrin Judd at June 21, 2007 7:03 AM"Destroying human life in the hopes of saving human life is not ethical, and it is not the only option before us," said Bush, who issued an executive order to the National Institutes of Health asking scientists to pursue research on stem cells that "are derived without creating a human embryo for research purposes or destroying, discarding, or subjecting to harm a human embryo or fetus." [...]
The stem-cell bill passed both houses of Congress with strong majorities, but a veto override would require a two-thirds vote in each chamber. The Senate appears to be one vote shy, and the House is about 35 votes short.
I fully expect John Edwards to make a statement this week saying "When I am President, we are going to support stem-cell research that will allow Christopher Reeve to rise from the dead."
Posted by: b at June 21, 2007 11:53 AMOnce again, the WH PR machine is as timely as Daschle was as Sen Head, if they had read Instapundit that morning, W would have handed the dems their head on a platter:
Only a few days ago an article in the leading journal Nature brought amazing news. A Japanese team at Kyoto University has discovered how to reprogram skin cells so that they "dedifferentiate" into the equivalent of an embryonic stem cell. From this they can be morphed, theoretically, into any cell in the body, a property called pluripotency. It could be the Holy Grail of stem cell science: a technique that is both feasible and unambiguously ethical. . . .
This is mainstream research, not an eccentric theory from a Romanian naturopathy journal. Yamanaka's work has been confirmed by two other teams affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and the University of California, Los Angeles -- both of them headed by ardent supporters of embryonic stem cell research.
They say that the reprogrammed cells meet all the tests of pluripotent cells -- they form colonies, propagate continuously and form cancerous growths called teratomas, as well as producing chimaeras. "Its unbelievable, just amazing," says Hans Schöler, a German stem cell expert. "For me, it's like Dolly. It's that type of an accomplishment."
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I'll be happy to sign the bill if embryonic stem cell provisions are removed, we can afford to wait a little and give this new technology time to prove itself. There's no need to divide the country over this matter.
But no, he had to harp. Could have let the dems justify why this new process had to be ignored and use embryonic stem cells NOW!
Posted by: Sandy P at June 21, 2007 12:36 PMSandy: And if you'd read the news this morning, you'd know that since >>90% of the press is in the pocket of the Dems, it just plain don't matter. In fact, the Dems WANT "to divide the country over this matter" and the media is happy to play their part.
Posted by: b at June 21, 2007 12:49 PMThat's why I said dumb, dumb, dumb.
Would have taken the issue away.
Or you wouldn't have heard about it at all.....
Posted by: Sandy P at June 21, 2007 3:43 PMWith the new technique voiding the need to destroy embryos, remember the politicians that stabbed pro-lifers in the back with such glee.
Posted by: Brian at June 22, 2007 3:47 AM