Stem-cell Breakthrough

With the latest breakthrough in stem-cell research the question now is: "How will Dubya try an' f*#% this up?"

Remember, his first ever presidential veto was of legislation expanding stem cell research. With the 'morality' question out of play, will stem cell research move forward (with government funding) -- or will the president try and come up with a new excuse if legislation expanding stem-cell research comes up again?

The New York Times reports:

If stem cell researchers were oil prospectors, it could be said that they struck a gusher last week. But to realize the potential boundless riches they now must figure out how to build refineries, pipelines and gas stations.

Biologists were electrified on Tuesday, when scientists in Japan and Wisconsin reported that they could turn human skin cells into cells that behave like embryonic stem cells, able to grow indefinitely and to potentially turn into any type of tissue in the body.

The discovery, if it holds up, would decisively solve the raw material problem. It should provide an unlimited supply of stem cells without the ethically controversial embryo destruction and the restrictions on federal financing that have impeded work on human embryonic cells.

But scientists still face the challenge of taking that abundant raw material and turning it into useful medical treatments, like replacement tissue for damaged hearts and brains. And that challenge will be roughly as daunting for the new cells as it has been for the embryonic stem cells.

The possibilities are endless ... as long as we can keep the president out of the picture.

Tax freeze, a church-state issue?

Have you ever uttered the phrase 'sometimes you've just gotta laugh, 'cause it beats crying?' Well, the majority of Americans who support stem cell research certainly wanted to cry when the president once again vetoed bipartisan stem cell legislatoin that would have eased limitations on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research.

If you were as crazed about this as I was it's important that you contact your members of Congress and urge them to schedule a vote to override the president's veto. And while you have them on the phone you might want to remind them that our Constitution does include a separation of church and state, and that the President doesn't have a right to impose his religious views on everyone.

Now, about the 'laugh' part I mentioned above. Comedian Lewis Black, appearing on CNN's Larry King Live, had this to say about frozen embryos:

"It's unbelievable, that frozen embryo thing. Now, how can you say that’s religious? You can't! It's not a religious issue. In what book of the Bible was anything frozen? ... Is there any mention in the Bible of refrigeration? No! So you can't possibly at any time say, 'Oh, y'know, God says...' No, God doesn't say. God, in the Old Testament ... he didn't even see freezers coming!

And you know what I did? Since the president thinks they're alive, I've adopted three frozen embryos and I put them in my freezer. And every time when I open it up I go, "You kids stop it!" Because I want to be a good father, but I'm actually going to take them as a tax write-off. And if it works -- if I can get it by the Feds the first time -- I'm going to adopt hundreds of them. You remember the old Amana freezer where you could buy a cow and dump it in? Well, I'm going to have a billion of 'em in there!"

Black gives a whole new meaning to "tax freeze!"

TAKE ACTION: Urge Senate to override veto!

The president used his veto power to stop important stem cell legislation that could impact hundreds of thousands of people's lives. More than 70% of Americans support expanded stem cell research, and the Congress responded with a bipartisan bill.

Email or call your Senators now!

Urge them now to OVERRIDE the presidents veto.

Bush Veto's Stem Cell bill, again!

Again choosing his personal ideology over sound science, Bush today vetoed a bipartisan Stem Cell bill. The Associated Press reports:

Pushing back against the Democratic-led Congress, President Bush vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have eased restraints on federally funded embryonic stem cell research.

Democrats, who had made the stem cell legislation a top priority when they took control of the House and Senate in January, were quick to denounce the president's decision.

"This is just one example of how the president puts ideology before science, politics before the needs of our families, just one more example of how out of touch with reality he and his party have become," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., told the Take Back America conference of liberal activists Wednesday.

Clearly Americans support expanding stem cell research. Every poll and every vote (in MO and CA) by the pubic on the subject indicates support. So what we have is a president who -- in an effort to "push back" against Democrats -- is blocking Americans from access to scientific research that could lead to potential life saving and life enhancing results.

Bush is imposing his religious views on everyone in a feeble attempt to hold onto his low 20's-percent religious right base. What a pathetic man.

This was the third veto of Bush's presidency. His first occurred last year when he rejected legislation to allow funding of additional lines of embryonic stem cells -- a measure that passed over the objections of Republicans then in control. The second legislation he vetoed would have set timetables for U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq.

So there you have it. Bush's legacy will be that of the Death President. Causing the quick deaths of thousands in an unpopular war, and the slow, torturous deaths of hundreds of thousands afflicted with terrible diseases. What should we expect from the "Executioner in Chief" from Texas.

States right on stem cell research

Two Democrats and one Republican governor are leading the way for stem cell research in the US. The New York Times reports that Massachusetts "Gov. Deval Patrick on Tuesday unveiled a $1.25 billion proposal intended to help the state maintain its status as a pre-eminent place for stem cell research and other life sciences."

The money would provide grants for university and hospital scientists, establish special research centers to make their work faster and more efficient, and train workers for biotechnology businesses.

It would also establish the first stem cell bank, a repository of all the stem cell lines created in Massachusetts laboratories, which would serve as a kind of stem cell lending library to scientists around the world.

“In many ways the health of this industry and the health of our society are very closely linked,” Mr. Patrick said at an international biotechnology convention here, where he announced the plan, which involves $1 billion in state money over 10 years, some borrowed through bond issues, plus $250 million in matching money from private business. “That’s why we will not rest on our laurels.”

Massachusetts is home to some of the most advanced research in stem cells and other life sciences, including the work of Craig C. Mello, a University of Massachusetts scientist who shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on silencing the effect of certain genes, which could lead to treatment of diabetes, AIDS and Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists at Harvard and other Massachusetts research centers have created more than 30 new lines of embryonic stem cells, more than researchers in other states.

Other states have proposed committing money to the field. Among them are California, which approved a $3 billion program; New Jersey, which has proposed $270 million; and New York, where Gov. Eliot Spitzer has proposed $1 billion for stem cell research.

Bone-head Bush is the reason we must depend on the states to take up this important work. Bush objects to embryonic stem cell research for religious reasons. It seems our president doesn't acknowledge our First Amendment separation of church and state. Someone please ... get him a copy of the Constitution.