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The President's Stem Cell Theology (NY Times' ethical? cannibalism)
NY Times ^ | May 26, 2005

Posted on 05/25/2005 11:57:15 PM PDT by neverdem

President Bush seems determined to thwart any loosening of the restrictions he has imposed on federal financing of embryonic stem cell research, despite rising sentiment in Congress and the nation at large for greater federal support of this fast-emerging field. His actions are based on strong religious beliefs on the part of some conservative Christians, and presumably the president himself. Such convictions deserve respect, but it is wrong to impose them on this pluralistic nation.

Mr. Bush threatened this week to veto a modest research-expansion bill that was approved by the House and is likely to be passed by the Senate. The reason, he said, is that the measure would "take us across a critical ethical line" by encouraging the destruction of embryos from which the stem cells are extracted. Never mind that this particular ethical line looms large only for a narrow segment of the population. It is not deemed all that critical by most Americans or by most religious perspectives. Rather, the president's intransigence provided powerful proof of the dangers of letting one group's religious views dictate national policy.

The president's policy is based on the belief that all embryos, even the days-old, microscopic form used to derive stem cells in a laboratory dish, should be treated as emerging human life and protected from harm. This seems an extreme way to view tiny laboratory entities that are no larger than the period at the end of this sentence and are routinely flushed from the body by Mother Nature when created naturally.

These blastocysts, as they are called, bear none of the attributes we associate with humanity and, sitting outside the womb, have no chance of developing into babies. Some people consider them clumps of cells no different than other biological research materials. Others would grant them special respect...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: bush; cloning; dehumanization; georgewbush; stemcells
The ghouls pontificate.
1 posted on 05/25/2005 11:57:15 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: cpforlife.org; Coleus; Peach; Mr. Silverback; airborne; MHGinTN; hocndoc


2 posted on 05/25/2005 11:58:52 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem

Slimes indeed.


3 posted on 05/26/2005 12:01:30 AM PDT by cyborg (Serving fresh, hot Anti-opus since 18 April 2005)
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To: neverdem

These blastocysts, as they are called, bear none of the attributes we associate with humanity...
...EXCEPT UNIQUE HUMAN DNA and THE PROPENSITY TO DEVELOP INTO AN ADULT HUMAN PERSON IF NOT MAIMED OR KILLED.


4 posted on 05/26/2005 12:03:17 AM PDT by Notwithstanding
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To: Notwithstanding

This is what is so sad about the whole fertility clinic industry.


5 posted on 05/26/2005 12:05:52 AM PDT by cyborg (Serving fresh, hot Anti-opus since 18 April 2005)
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To: neverdem
These blastocysts, as they are called, bear none of the attributes we associate with humanity and, sitting outside the womb, have no chance of developing into babies.

Except for the part of not having attributes we associate with humanity, a baby at 20 weeks gestation would not have any chance outside it's mother's womb, if there were not human intervention.

They NYT has been trying to dehumanize unborn children since before Roe v Wade. I guess they'd hoped they wouldn't have to do this again, and are pretty pi$$ed at President Bush for making them have to work so hard at it again.

6 posted on 05/26/2005 12:11:05 AM PDT by SuziQ
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To: neverdem
neverdem, I understand the same results of the research can still be met with adult stem cells or even better, umbilical cord research. Why the silence?
7 posted on 05/26/2005 12:18:10 AM PDT by poobear
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To: neverdem
neverdem, I understand the same results of the research can still be met with adult stem cells or even better, umbilical cord research. Why the silence?
8 posted on 05/26/2005 12:18:40 AM PDT by poobear
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To: neverdem
"Such convictions deserve respect, but it is wrong to impose them on this pluralistic nation."

And we can rely on the N.Y. Slimes to tell us what is right or wrong? Since when do we need their misguided opinions and who are they to sit in judgment of our nation's traditional values?

9 posted on 05/26/2005 12:20:49 AM PDT by Rabble (Just When is John F sKerry going to submit SF 180?.......... Will we live long enough?)
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To: cyborg

blastocyst (blas·to·cyst) (blas¢to-sist) [blasto- + Gr. kystis bladder] the mammalian conceptus in the post-morula stage; it is like a blastula in having a fluid-filled cavity, unlike it in having the surface layer not exclusively embryoblast but mainly or entirely trophoblast, in having an eccentric embryoblast, and in not being limited to one germ layer.

If it's not being limited to one germ layer, I doubt that all of these cells are still totipotent.

10 posted on 05/26/2005 12:22:50 AM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem

It seems like the ghouls are everywhere these days, neverdem. I'm sickened by it all.


11 posted on 05/26/2005 12:29:31 AM PDT by Miss Behave (Do androids dream of electric sheep?)
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To: neverdem
Why doesn't the Times explain why with the so-called vast potentional, and dynamic emergence this type of research entails, federal funding is the key missing ingredient? By some estimations, more than half the country finds this research unacceptable when explained clearly, so why should our dollars pay for it? This administration has held the line on spending public money on it, not stopping private money from investing in it.
12 posted on 05/26/2005 12:40:04 AM PDT by SoDak
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To: neverdem
His actions are based on strong religious beliefs on the part of some conservative Christians, and presumably the president himself. Such convictions deserve respect, but it is wrong to impose them on this pluralistic nation.

Drink bleach whores. It's called principal, character, and integrity. The president doesn't give a damn about polls - thank God.
13 posted on 05/26/2005 1:55:49 AM PDT by Jaysun (No matter how hot she is, some man, somewhere, is tired of her sh*t)
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To: neverdem

Given their druthers the NYT crowd would use discarded embryos as caviar with their champagne breakfasts.


14 posted on 05/26/2005 2:13:14 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Future Useless Eater; EternalVigilance; Lesforlife; backhoe

Dehumanization ping.


15 posted on 05/26/2005 2:28:28 AM PDT by TheSarce (Liberalism: The irrational, intolerant cult that dare not speak its name.)
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To: neverdem
These blastocysts... bear none of the attributes we associate with humanity...

Kind of like New York Times reporters.

16 posted on 05/26/2005 2:39:37 AM PDT by TheSarce (Liberalism: The irrational, intolerant cult that dare not speak its name.)
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To: Rabble
No one is stopping the NYSlimes from using their own money to fund embryonic stem cell research.

Rather than forcing employees to donate to United Way the Slimes can force their employees to donate human embryos.

17 posted on 05/26/2005 3:34:44 AM PDT by OldFriend (MAJOR TAMMY DUCKWORTH.....INSPIRATIONAL)
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To: neverdem
We beat the babykillers up over Parial Birth Abortion for years. Now they are having their day in the sun beating up the President over life at the opposite end of the gestational spectrum.

What the New York Times studiously fails to recognize is that Roe vs. Wade did not make any utilitarian judgement on the value of human life. That decision was all about the right to privacy. We may not agree with the logic, but at least it has a basis in something that is not ghoulish.

This business about havesting embryos, however, is all about utility. "They are just going to be thrown away, after all, and the potential is so great" goes the argument. They are worth so much more dead than alive.

But that can be said about a lot of folks, can't it? The President is rightly holding the line against applying any utilitarian valuation of human life. He is right to do this, even if 90% of the people in the Coliseum give the embryo the old "thumbs down". We just don't decide matters of life and death that way in this country.

18 posted on 05/26/2005 3:51:41 AM PDT by gridlock (ELIMINATE PERVERSE INCENTIVES)
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To: neverdem
These blastocysts, as they are called, bear none of the attributes we associate with humanity and, sitting outside the womb, have no chance of developing into babies.

Only two bold-faced lies in this sentence. The Times must be slipping.

19 posted on 05/26/2005 3:55:32 AM PDT by Sloth (I don't post a lot of the threads you read; I make a lot of the threads you read better.)
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To: neverdem
I held my nose and bugmenotted over to the article (bugmenot87/bugmenot). The New York Times just can't help themselves. They are so convinced they are correct over embryo harvesting, they are already bitching about the lack of federal funding for theraputic cloning.

Theraputic cloning is when a genetic copy of an individual is created in order to provide stem cells or spare parts for the diseased individual. So, say, if Teddy Kennedy needs a new liver, doctors can grow a little Teddy foetus and kill it, extract the liver cells, and grow Teddy a new one. Of course, the question becomes one of how long the foetus is permitted to grow before transplantation. Three months? Up to gestational maturity? Until the child learns to express himself (as some so-called ethicists have proposed)? Where does one draw the line?

This is the House of Horrors that lies before us if we take this path, and the New York Times can hardly wait...

20 posted on 05/26/2005 4:03:59 AM PDT by gridlock (ELIMINATE PERVERSE INCENTIVES)
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To: Jaysun

I do wishbhe would listen to the hue and cry about imigration.


21 posted on 05/26/2005 4:05:20 AM PDT by sgtbono2002
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To: neverdem; MHGinTN

The "ethics" ghouls are doing the same:
http://blog.bioethics.net/


22 posted on 05/26/2005 5:13:49 AM PDT by hocndoc (Choice is the # 1 killer in the US)
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To: neverdem

letter to letters@nytimes already sent. Thanks for the early morning ping!

Have you noticed how often the "no bigger than the period at the end of this sentence" or similar phrases are popping up"


23 posted on 05/26/2005 5:32:43 AM PDT by hocndoc (Choice is the # 1 killer in the US)
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To: hocndoc

You could "push poll" the number of people opposed to this research to 70% with only three questions:

QUESTION #1: Do human beings have a soul?

QUESTION #2: At what point does the gift of the soul come to reside in the human being?

QUESTION #3: Are you sure about that answer to Question #2?


24 posted on 05/26/2005 5:35:21 AM PDT by gridlock (ELIMINATE PERVERSE INCENTIVES)
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To: neverdem

I'm sickened and disgusted.


25 posted on 05/26/2005 5:46:52 AM PDT by EternalVigilance ("We, the people, are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts..." -Abraham Lincoln)
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To: neverdem
These blastocysts, as they are called, bear none of the attributes we associate with humanity

Except for the fact that they have parents and a full human genetic code.

26 posted on 05/26/2005 7:07:32 AM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander-in-Chief)
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To: hocndoc
Have you noticed how often the "no bigger than the period at the end of this sentence" or similar phrases are popping up?

Distribution of talking points has been noted.

27 posted on 05/26/2005 9:50:35 AM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem

Never ceases to amaze me how the servants of Evil lie so blatantly: "These blastocysts, as they are called, bear none of the attributes we associate with humanity ..." Yet even the bastard ghoul who wrote the article was once the same age as these tiny beings ... and in fact the writer called them 'entities' in a previous paragraph! Cannibalism is now to be 'enlightened medical advancement'. And we of faith are not to 'impose our beliefs upon this secular (pluralist) nation? So Cannibalism is to be permitted so long as the elitists want it in one form or another ... yeah, this nation is on the rapid decline and it is ghouls such as the writer of the article who are greasing the skids down the slippery funnel.


28 posted on 05/26/2005 10:32:45 AM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: wideawake

Even a few days old embryo-aged human is building the first organ for his or her survival (yes, the sex of the little one can already be discerned), the placenta. THAT is the attribute of a living being, and since that being is of the human species, we may confidently call that 'entity' a human being at earliest age in a human lifetime.


29 posted on 05/26/2005 10:38:07 AM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: 2nd amendment mama; A2J; Agitate; Alouette; Annie03; aposiopetic; attagirl; axel f; Balto_Boy; ...
This NYT pontification is silly enough in and of itself, but consider this: There are 56 working treatments derived from adult stem cells. There are zero working treatments from embryonic stem cells. But if the President isn't interested in chasing this pipe dream, it must be because he is a Bible-thumping Neanderthal, right?

ProLife Ping!

If anyone wants on or off my ProLife Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

30 posted on 05/26/2005 2:56:25 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback (The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single cup of coffee.)
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To: sgtbono2002
I do wishbhe would listen to the hue and cry about imigration.

That would be nice. However, I should point out that his policy has never been a secret. He made it clear during the campaigns. If we want a change in immigration policy we should pressure Congress.
31 posted on 05/26/2005 3:30:11 PM PDT by Jaysun (No matter how hot she is, some man, somewhere, is tired of her sh*t)
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To: Notwithstanding

exactly! and not to mention the fact that this is the way that every single one of us started even the so called human that wrote this op piece


32 posted on 05/26/2005 3:40:34 PM PDT by socialismisinsidious ("A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away.")
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To: neverdem
"Mr. Bush threatened this week to veto a modest research-expansion bill that was approved by the House and is likely to be passed by the Senate."

A modest proposal: Perhaps science has caught up with the black arts. These unwanted embryos could be put to good use spread on a cracker and eaten to achieve extended life as is the case presented in the lore of the black arts. There is no law in existence to prevent such activity. Perhaps they have grown tired of their old fashioned technique of ceremonially sacrificing and consuming the fetus. This would be the real state of the matter. Demonic forces are seeking public funding for human sacrifice to achieve extended life. Certainly, government funding has no place in such matters. Black craft has beeen doing this for ages and now they demand it be legal and paid for by all, so that all may be damned. This is undoubtedly judgement day for this country. Each embryo has a distinctly differentiated genetic code. It is a unigue individual human life albeit in a vulnerable and dependant form. To sacrifice these humans to science, the god of the secular humanist, while ignoring the scientific fact of their humanity is simply insanity. Lusting for eternal or extended life these beasts would steal life from the most defenseless with no evidence, no promise, only a hope that they might achieve a goal which we are already promised by God.

33 posted on 05/26/2005 9:12:38 PM PDT by PaxMacian
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To: neverdem
From an email:

***ACTION ALERT*** Saturday, May 28, 2005



Romney delivers on promise to veto stem cell bill

By Theo Emery, Associated Press Writer | May 27, 2005

BOSTON -- Gov. Mitt Romney vetoed a bill Friday that would expand embryonic stem cell research in Massachusetts, but the measure has more than enough support in the Legislature to override the governor's veto.

The House and Senate passed the bill with veto-proof margins, and both chambers were expected to vote next week to override the veto.

Read full article...

You must encourage your fellow parishoners (family, friends) to contact their legislators by calling the State House switchboard at 617-722-2000 or by e-mailing your state senator (click here)and state representative (click here), urging them to support the Governor's final veto before a vote (likely Tuesday, May 31st) and this legislation becomes law!

To find your elected officials:
www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/myelectioninfo.php

See: Timeline (including Roll Call Votes) -- What's Happened So Far

FORWARD THIS E-MAIL ON TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN MASSACHUSETTS!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additional Resources:


34 posted on 05/28/2005 8:05:19 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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