Posted on 06/09/2004 6:27:12 PM PDT by Not gonna take it anymore
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Laura Bush, whose father died from Alzheimer's, said on Wednesday she admired Nancy Reagan's devotion to former President Ronald Reagan until his death but could not back her call for relaxation of stem cell research restrictions.
Reagan, the 40th U.S. president, died on Saturday at 93 of pneumonia after a long battle with the brain-wasting disease. His wife, Nancy, and children were at his bedside.
Mrs. Bush, whose father died in 1997, said she had great respect for the former first lady and that she was an excellent role model for families struggling to cope with the illness.
"I know how very difficult it is for the patient, obviously, but also for the caregiver. It requires unbelievable strength of character to take care of the person you love as you see them slip away like that -- 'the long goodbye' they call Alzheimer's," the first lady told the CBS "Early Show" from Sea Island, Georgia, where leaders of the Group of Eight countries are meeting.
But Mrs. Bush said she did not endorse Nancy Reagan's call, already rebuffed by the White House, to allow greater stem cell research to proceed in the hope it would provide some answers to the disease or possibly a cure.
The Bush administration has placed restrictions on embryonic stem cell research and opposes using stem cells from most embryos, a stand Mrs. Bush said she supported.
"There are stem cells to do research on and ... we have to be really careful between what we want to do for science and what we should do ethically," the first lady said. "Stem cell ... is certainly one of those issues that we need to treat very carefully."
Pressed on whether she was prepared to endorse Mrs. Reagan's impassioned call for restrictions to be lifted, she replied, "No."
More than 200 members of the U.S. Senate and House (of Representatives have also urged Bush to allow researchers to use embryonic stem cells to eventually provide brain cell transplants to Alzheimer's patients. They also hope to use embryonic stem cells to treat Parkinson's, spinal cord injuries, heart disease, diabetes and a range of other illnesses.
Reagan had a decade-long battle with Alzheimer's, which affects the brain, causing memory loss, confusion, mood changes, hallucinations, speech problems and incontinence.
Like I said, it's not about me and it would have been different if it were my dad.
My family is cruelly realistic. (Not.) Grandama went to be cared for. We didn't pretend she was confused.
I never once said I agreed with abortion, I am against it.
There is a vast difference between murdering an unborn baby, and saying that the sun is in the center of the universe. The first is doctrinal, the second is not.
It's too bad that Galileo was persecuted. It's also too bad that the Church suffers today, due to liberal clergy. The Church is perfect, individuals within the Church are not. But neither situation negates the Truth.
Whatever way you want to slice it, it's still a moral evil of the worst kind to murder a baby, from conception onward.
Liberals usually use the word "sanctimonious" to intimidate a person who holds that there is an objective source of Truth.
...and it won't change the fact the abortions are legal and happen.
Making a moral declaration, has nothing to do with the fact that abortion is legal, and women are obtaining abortions. Or, that abortion is linked with breast cancer, for that matter.
That you didn't have a nervous breakdown was quite a miracle!
Believe me, if I wanted to intimidate someone, it would get a lot uglier than what I wrote. I have no desire to do that, nor am I a liberal, nor do I believe in abortion. On top of that, truth shouldn't have been capitalized. This isn't a Baptist sect, it's a political forum.
Making a moral declaration, has nothing to do with the fact that abortion is legal, and women are obtaining abortions. Or, that abortion is linked with breast cancer, for that matter.
I never said it did.
I spent last weekend burying my 60 yo cousin who contracted the disease six years ago.
We grew up together and went through Little League, Pony League, high school sports, etc. together. An awful way to go, watching a big, healthy, active man waste away to a bag of bones, while his mind is still active and sharp.
We oppose the use of embryonic stem cells.
I thought Mrs. Bush supports abortion, if so, why not stem cell research?
I'm glad to discover that you're not a liberal. :o) Very glad you're opposed to abortion.
I'm not a Baptist, and Truth deserves to be capitalized.
The way your sentence was structured, the moral declaration phrase was linked with the legal abortion fact phrase.
What are you saying?
We oppose the use of embryonic stem cells.
Courageous.
Maybe the answer is that Laura believes in "a woman's right to choose," which is irrelevant to the stem cell debate.
The far left exposes their deceitfulness on this issue by abandoning their "choice" argument and openly admitting that they consider human life disposable so long as it serves their interests. It was never really about "choice."
May that day come quickly.
We're Right.
Yeah.
We're Free.
We'll Fight.
Yeah.
You'll See! Whoa!
Check out new web site "www.nationalmorality.com."
What does religion have to do with opposition to killing human embryos?
You have no idea what I do or don't do. I oppose abortion actively with money and time. I oppose embryonic stem cell research the same way.
And whether you like it or not, I could give a crap.
Oh and one other thing I'm a Catholic, not a BAptist and a sinner at that.
You do not know that embryonic stem cells are without limit, any more than we know that adult stem cells are limited. That is all hype, unproven. We have not been able to induce any embryonic stem cells to differentiate into the 3 different cell groups, but we have been able to induce multipotent adult cells to do so.
http://www.insightmag.com/news/2004/05/16/National/The-Stem.Cell.CoverUp-682587.shtml
The unethical act is the killing of innocent humans. But, you're probably right about the money incentive.
Thanks for this article! Excellent! I sent the link to a friend who has MS, and is pro life.
Yes, abortion and ESC research industries are ALL about the money. And those who lie to the public regarding adult stem cells, are accomplices to murder.
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