Letters to the Editor
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Another one for the chimp-o-meter!
"Destroying human life in the hopes of saving human life is not ethical."
So by his own admission, the death penalty is not ethical.
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Respect
We "respect life" by not benefiting from its end. So, to its logical conclusion: 1) no cadaver organ donations and 2) no inheritances. Hey, conclusion two doesn’t sound so bad!
As for "Destroying human life in the hopes of saving human life is not ethical.” Uh, so what’s war?
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can we capitalize on public sentiment?
Could congress draft legislation giving parents the option to donate unused embryos to research (like we already do with organ donation)? Maybe that would be veto-proof.
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George Dubya Bush don't need no stem cell treatments...
...so ya'll don't get none neither!
Even Nancy Reagan weeps over this one. How weird is that?
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Better Title: Imbroglio over the Embryo!
That's all.
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What you're missing
Yes, the embryos are destroyed anyway. Do you really think the fundies are ignoring that or blind to it? No! They understand. Given a chance, they will force very one of those embryos to be brought full term. Just because fundamentalists believe different things does not necessarily make them stupid. They have a core belief about human life. The stem cell bill wouldn't even be a news item if they didn't have the brains and energy to impose their belief on others.
Meanwhile. most pro choice advocates can't wrap their heads around the concept that they are in favor of destroying life. Is it human life? Dunno. Probably. What else can it be? A DNA test will prove that abortion is quite different from a woman flushing an unfertilized egg or a man masturbating into the toilet. It is a separate living creature. Maybe we can define it as an expendable human parasite because it can't live without parental/governmental support.
This particular battle may harmonize the abortion laws. We may finally have to admit, as a nation, that life begins at conception and that we are willing to destroy that life. Then we can clarify when. Roe v Wade did that based on what is now some pretty old medical technology. The scale slides all the way from the death penalty to assisted suicide to the morning after pill.
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Proliferators
The proliferators would probably like to take every frozen embryo and force someone to carry it to term.
They'd like to outlaw abortions so as many women as possible are killed or crippled by unlicensed doctors or DiY abortions.
They'd like to deny sex education and contraceptives to make sure there are a maximum of unwanted, hungry, abused children and desperate families.
They're against welfare and assistance for the poor.
They would like every person in agony from a terminal disease to live until their insurance companies have drained their entire family dry. Then they might support assisted suicide, if the cost of care started coming from their pockets.
But they do support our occupation and destruction of Iraq. Life is sacred if it is white, American, life. (But not the lives of pregnant women.)
Also - the "morning after pill," AKA Plan B is not an abortificant. Plan B is not RU-486 (the abortion pill). Because Plan B is used to prevent pregnancy, it will not work if you are already pregnant, and it will not affect an existing pregnancy.
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Bush has no appreciation for deep irony,
...obviously, or he would not have signed this bill during the same week when a study was published showing that illegal abortions have increased in Iraq... not for anything "trivial"
...but because the process of childbirth is too dangerous in Iraq right now.
There is an earlier story on Broadsheet about this report and some related stories for anyone who is interested.
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George better find him some women
Ok George. Since you vetoed the bill, those embryos are going to be thrown away. Wait... that would mean destroying human life! Hmm... you're in danger of being a hypocrite, here. George. You'd better start making some phone calls, or send some FBI agents to round up as many fertile women as their are embryos and have those pre-born humans carried to term. (That, of course, would mean that those women would have to raise those children until at least the age of 18. Would you supply the single women with partners to make things easier?)
As a start, why don't you persuade Jenna and Barbara to kick things off. They could be such good role models...
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Stem-cell research
Nineteen months. That's how long Bush/Cheney have to go. Can we hold out that long? Too bad the Dems didn't find a way to impeach Bush when they had the chance; but then, we'd end up with Cheney.
For some of us, time is a vital factor in our survival. I have diabetes and my father has Alzheimers. He will hit 90 this year, so his chances are not good even if we were to get underway with serious stem-cell research today. Listening to Bush's tired rhetoric about morals and sanctity of life -- this from the man who is responsible for 3,500 American deaths in Iraq -- makes me realize that I'm probably out of luck too (I'm 65).
Okay, so my generation is out of luck, but let's try to save some in the next generation. The maladies are many, but the potenial solution is one. I live in Texas, where our Senators and Reps are mostly in hock to the religious right. I plan to find as many ways as I can to pressure them, in hopes that one or two will come around to the human side of the debate. One or two here and there can eventually give is a veto-proof bill, and get the research in gear.
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Respect for life??!
Respect for life my @$$!. If Bush and Co. genuinely respected life, they would:
- rethink their zealous support of the death penalty
- do more to stop the humanitarian crises in Africa
- not advocate torture that they conveniently rename "aggressive interrogation"
- not have gotten us into this disaster of a war that has cost thousands and thousands of American and Iraqi lives
- do more to help the poor and the sick who are already here
- make an effort to protect the environment and get their buddies to stop polluting the environment
- make an effort to protect wildlife
- make use of embryos that *are going to be otherwise destroyed*
Seems like they only respect the lives of *some* humans, and those are only humans whom they find to be sympathetic characters.
a little disingenuous, don't you think?