☆ TexasFreethinker ☆ Posted June 6, 2005 Share Posted June 6, 2005 Stem Cell Wedge? By David Corn, The Nation. Posted June 6, 2005. The stem cell controversy sets Republican against Republican and distances party leaders from popular sentiment. The ongoing fight over stem cells has divided the GOP. Fifty House Republicans disregarded party leaders and helped Democrats pass legislation to remove restrictions George W. Bush had imposed on the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, which scientists believe could lead to treatments and cures for many diseases. The intraparty debate was so impassioned that two Republican Congressmen on opposing sides engaged in a shoving match. Even though Bush called expanded stem cell research unethical and threatened to veto the legislation--which would be his first veto--antiabortion Republicans Orrin Hatch and Gordon Smith vowed to press ahead with a Senate version. Arlen Specter, another Republican senator championing this research, claimed his side could mobilize enough senators to defeat a filibuster threatened by GOP social conservatives and to reject Bush's veto. (The House majority was not veto-proof.) Meanwhile, the religious right--already furious that Republican senators had not nuked the judicial filibuster--accused antiabortion Republicans who advocate stem cell research of betraying the cause. Tom McClusky of the Family Research Council warned that his and other like-minded groups would no longer accord these Republicans 100 percent ratings. And the dust-up caused House majority leader Tom DeLay to return to Schiavo-style rhetoric. He called stem cell research--which uses cells extracted from leftover blastocysts (early embryos composed of 100 or so cells) stored in fertility clinics--"the dismemberment of living, distinct human beings." MORE HERE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
☆ TexasFreethinker ☆ Posted June 6, 2005 Author Share Posted June 6, 2005 Tom DeLay to return to Schiavo-style rhetoric. He called stem cell research--which uses cells extracted from leftover blastocysts (early embryos composed of 100 or so cells) stored in fertility clinics--"the dismemberment of living, distinct human beings." It seems to me that these blastocysts are potential persons in the same way that sperm or eggs are potential persons. Yet you don't hear Tom DeLay arguing that every egg that is not fertilized or every shot of cum that isn't used to fertilize an egg is the murder of a potential living human being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white_raven23 Posted June 6, 2005 Share Posted June 6, 2005 It seems to me that these blastocysts are potential persons in the same way that sperm or eggs are potential persons. Yet you don't hear Tom DeLay arguing that every egg that is not fertilized or every shot of cum that isn't used to fertilize an egg is the murder of a potential living human being. There are Jews in the world. There are Buddhists. There are Hindus and Mormons, and then There are those that follow Mohammed, but I've never been one of them. I'm a Roman Catholic, And have been since before I was born, And the one thing they say about Catholics is: They'll take you as soon as you're warm. You don't have to be a six-footer. You don't have to have a great brain. You don't have to have any clothes on. You're A Catholic the moment Dad came, Because Every sperm is sacred. Every sperm is great. If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate. CHILDREN: Every sperm is sacred. Every sperm is great. If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate. GIRL: Let the heathen spill theirs On the dusty ground. God shall make them pay for Each sperm that can't be found. CHILDREN: Every sperm is wanted. Every sperm is good. Every sperm is needed In your neighbourhood. MUM: Hindu, Taoist, Mormon, Spill theirs just anywhere, But God loves those who treat their Semen with more care. MEN: Every sperm is sacred. Every sperm is great. WOMEN: If a sperm is wasted,... CHILDREN: ...God get quite irate. PRIEST: Every sperm is sacred. BRIDE and GROOM: Every sperm is good. NANNIES: Every sperm is needed... CARDINALS: ...In your neighbourhood! CHILDREN: Every sperm is useful. Every sperm is fine. FUNERAL CORTEGE: God needs everybody's. MOURNER #1: Mine! MOURNER #2: And mine! CORPSE: And mine! NUN: Let the Pagan spill theirs O'er mountain, hill, and plain. HOLY STATUES: God shall strike them down for Each sperm that's spilt in vain. EVERYONE: Every sperm is sacred. Every sperm is good. Every sperm is needed In your neighbourhood. Every sperm is sacred. Every sperm is great. If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite iraaaaaate! Monty Python- Meaning of life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
☆ TexasFreethinker ☆ Posted June 6, 2005 Author Share Posted June 6, 2005 Every sperm is great. If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite iraaaaaate! Monty Python- Meaning of life How could I have forgotten this great Monty Python hymn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSpooky Posted June 7, 2005 Share Posted June 7, 2005 There really is a scale of how much of a human being you are. If you have a 95% chance of saving a life with a 50% chance of ending one there seems to be some utilitarian justification for the matter. Especially if the former life is a true biological and psychological being, wheras the latter is not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 I can not understand why fundies get so crazy over stem cell research. Because the not-yet-born are more important to them than the already living. Potential converts, you see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 They want more sinners in the world... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormwarden Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 *joins in the Monty Python Song* What can I say about the fools of the religious reich (what I call the religious right)? They are always on the lookout for potential converts, and if people use contraception or *gasp* elect not to have kids, it limits their pool of dupes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spamandham Posted June 16, 2005 Share Posted June 16, 2005 It seems to me that these blastocysts are potential persons in the same way that sperm or eggs are potential persons. I've gone around and around with that same argument. Those who say "life begins at conception" can not explain why an egg just prior to fertilization is not a person, while an egg right after fertilization magically is. I've even had this discussion with a pretty bright guy who claims he is a pro-life agnostic, and he can't see that his position is totally arbitrary. If you don't believe there is magic behind the biology, then "personhood" is not a binary function that happens at conception, but rather, a recognition of rights that emerges as consciousness emerges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts