Breaking....BUSH SAYS HE WILL VETO STEM CELL LEGISLATION

[pbartch]

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050519182609990007&ncid=NWS00010000000001

Bush Vows Veto on Stem Cell Legislation
White House Condemns South Korean Human Embryo Research
By TERENCE HUNT, AP

WASHINGTON (May 20) - President Bush on Friday said he would veto legislation that would loosen restrictions on embryonic stem cell research and expressed deep concern about human cloning research in South Korea.

<SNIP>

The president also threatened a veto of legislation that would clear the way for taxpayer money to be spent on embryonic stem cell research.

A measure by Reps. Mike Castle, R-Del., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., would lift Bush's 2001 ban on the use of federal dollars for research using any new embryonic stem cell lines.

"I made very clear to Congress that the use of federal money, taxpayer's money, to promote science which destroys life in order to save life - I'm against that," Bush said. "Therefore, if the bill does that, I would veto it."

[maveric]

1. I beleive that the bu$h/neocon agenda is to "Thin out the herd"!

Less of "Us", more of "Them"!
"Decrease the surplus population".

[Junkdrawer]

8. That thought occurred to me earlier this week....

not as ridiculous as it first sounds.

[proud patriot]

2. Well California is going to study stem cells Anyway

I thumb my nose in bush's general direction :P

[DinahMoeHum]

11. If not for California's initiative here, most of their scientists would

now be working in the UK and the Netherlands. THEY have no such qualms about stem-cell research.


:think:

[gratuitous]

3. George W. Bush is not the President of the United States

He is the president for a small and shrinking segment of the population that he likes to pander to, as well as the gullible scaredy cats who can be buffaloed by fake terror alerts.

The rest of us are simply waiting out this pretender's term.

[RethugAssKicker]

4. isnt that what hes doing in IRAQ

destroying lives in order to save them?..

What a dumb asshole!!

[Arugula Latte]

5. I got an odd feeling reading the paper this morning.

It was the feeling of "whoosh!" -- there goes the rest of the world passing us by at a swift clip. Meanwhile, we turn and face backwards, plodding back into the Dark Ages.

I guess I should get used to that feeling.

[fob]

6. Let's recap

bush*s vetoes (actually pending vetoes since he hasn't met a horrible bill/budget/policy yet he's disagreed with)

Highway Bill - Means jobs (HERE in the US) and critical infrastructure improvements (HERE in the US) and will be a positive impact for the people (HERE in the US)

Stem Cell Bill - Means jobs (HERE in the US) and critical infrastructure improvements (HERE in the US) and will be a positive impact for the people (HERE in the US)


Makes sense since Halliburton is cut off from getting 100% of no-bid contracts on any of this.

[Lannes]

7. Save the stem cells

Fuck everyone else.Right chimpie?

[pbartch]

9. Are there enough votes to over-ride his veto???

[mmonk]

10. I guess at some point

Americans can benefit from foreign medical advances.

[Lost-in-FL]

12. So much for "the CULTURE of LIFE"

Being that he's the product of a cloning gone very bad he's afraid of competition. It seems that when it comes to technology, we are going backwards instead of forward

[LynnTheDem]

13. Good.

The majority of Americans, the majority of both Houses, the majority of republicans, including their darling, Nancy Reagan, WANT stem cell research.

So bush's veto ought to be good for another 3-4 point drop to his already-negative approval ratings, dropping him into the 30s percentage.

[w13rd0]

14. Is it wise for him to remind people...

...that in August of 2001, rather than pay attention to the threat of Al Queada, he spent the entire month on his ranch trying to make up a position to oppose stem cells to appease the religious right?

[Sapphire Blue]

15. So he's okay with throwing 'excess' IVF embryos in the garbage rather than

approving legislation allowing them to be used in stem cell research? Destroying life is okay with him as long as the destruction doesn't save another life?

A couple of interesting articles...

The forgotten embryo
Fertility clinics must store or destroy the surplus that is part of the process

excerpt...

Despite the national soul-searching stirred up by stem cell research, human embryos are discarded all the time in fertility clinics - and hardly anyone seems to mind.

At one Bay Area clinic, they are flushed down the drain in a metal sink. At another, a technician drops them into a medical waste bin, to be picked up and incinerated by hospital staff.

At still another, a "quiet area" is set aside in the lab, where frozen embryos are thawed and allowed to live out their last days - usually no more than three or four at most.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2001/08/20/MN58092.DTL


Stem Cell Foes Answering The Wrong Question

excerpt...

Nonetheless, stem cell research has nothing to do with abortion. The question in the abortion debate is, do we destroy an embryo or not? The moral complications enter because, if the embryo qualifies as a person, destroying it qualifies as murder and should therefore be prevented if possible.

But in stem cell research, that decision has already been made. Stem cells are taken from spare embryos created during in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments. IVF requires the production of more embryos than the parents will ever use. These embryos are ultimately discarded. So the choice to destroy or not to destroy has already been made. The only question that remains is whether or not to waste the embryos' stem cells. I fail to see how placing stem cells in a petri dish is morally reprehensible, but placing them in a medical waste disposal container is acceptable. I also fail to see how benefiting from destruction that happened before August 9 is any different from benefiting from destruction that happens after that date. Bush's distinction makes sense only if blocking funding would prevent further destruction of embryos, which is clearly not the case.

<snip>

Bush's decision was not about IVF. It is a basic fact of the matter that IVF is legal, and no decision on stem cell research will change that. It is worthwhile to ask, should IVF continue? However, given that IVF is occurring, and stem cells are being created and discarded, we must ask, should we use those stem cells or allow them to go to waste?

If stem cell research is morally wrong because it involves the destruction of embryos, then IVF is equally repugnant. But blocking stem cell research will do nothing to address this problem. The only way to prevent the destruction of the embryos is to ban IVF. But as long as IVF remains legal, it would be morally repugnant to waste the resource that embryonic stem cells represent.

http://www.brunchma.com/users/acsumama/com/com083101.html


And info on The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act - H.R. 810


Momentum to Expand Stem Cell Research Continues to Build: 200 Cosponsors, Over 200 Groups back Castle-DeGette

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/co01_degette/050516.html


The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act - H.R. 810

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/co01_degette/050516.html

[Nite Owl]

16. There's a poll on that page

And it looks like this is not the popular position

What do you think of President Bush's position on stem cell research?
I disagree with it 71%
I agree with it 24%
Undecided 6%
Total Votes: 13,871
Note on Poll Results

That 30% are the only ones he cares about it seems.

[pbartch]

17. NY Times article also. here is the URL

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/20/politics/20cnd-bush.html?hp&ex=1116648000&en=95e130247f8aa7be&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[spindoctor]

18. May Parkinsons come upon him

I have yet to met the first stem cell research objector who knows what a stem cell is.

[im10ashus]

19. He's pandering.

Everyone, including *, know that this is the new frontier in combating serious illness. He is pandering to his ever-dwindling supporters and he is treading on thin ice in doing so. The ENTIRE medical community, right-wing fundies aside, know this is an important step. If the European and Asian communities are pushing forward and making giant strides in cures, American's won't be complacent in being outdone. After all, we are a better-than-thou society, are we not? At least according to the fundies.

[Jacobin]

20. It's back to the Dark Ages, we go

Science and progress? Naaah, fuck it.

Fundamentalism and mystic bullshit? Yeah, Now that's the ticket!!

Maybe the mainstream will begin to see what a nitwit they've got in the WH and maybe it will blow up Frist's chances for a prez run.

[sinkingfeeling]

21. "Destroys life to save life.."?? Too bad he'll veto it...he could

certainly use some new brain cells!!

[Raksha]

22. Let him veto it if he's that stupid.

It will just drive his approval rating further down than it is already. This has all the makings of another Terry Schiavo fiasco (or worse), so if Shrub wants to shoot himself in the foot, why stop him?

[Avalux]

23. Dumb move idiot

telling people they can't use stem cells for MS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, etc. isn't very bright. Once again, he's siding with the fundamentalist right, not the majority of the public.

[spanone]

24. Bush* is too fucking stupid to understand science; so we get the bogeyman.