Free Republic

The ad in the back pages of the free Washington, D.C., news weekly was curious enough, warning women that they or their loved ones could suffer from debilitating diseases like Parkinson's or cancer and inviting them to let their eggs "be part of the cure." But it's had reverberations 2,500 miles away where a debate in California is raging over how scientists can acquire the human eggs critical to stem cell research -- specifically, whether it is ethical or even legal to pay women thousands of dollars to provide them. The ad in the Jan. 3 issue of The Washington...

The unwelcome but indisputable revelation that some of the most exciting biomedical claims of the past few years were the product of scientific fraud settled like a cloud over the American scientific community yesterday. Stem cell researchers said they were depressed and discouraged to learn that an investigatory panel at Seoul National University had found that most of the precious human embryonic stem cell colonies that its scientists had touted were fakes. The star scientist at the heart of that deception -- Hwang Woo Suk -- resigned yesterday from his university post, his meteoric rise to fame coming to a...

Medicine: Cell oversell November was not a good month for embryonic stem-cell research | by Lynde Langdon As editor Glenn McGee lamented on the American Journal of Bioethics weblog, November was not a good month for embryonic stem-cell research. An ethical breach tripped up the field's leading researcher while an embarrassed international scientific community watched. Meanwhile, research in ethical realms of science—those that do not depend on cloning and embryo destruction—continues to deliver groundbreaking therapies and offer further proof that you just don't have to kill embryos to save lives. Here are the latest developments: •The ethical depths to which...

HITLER’S HOLOCAUST How can the legalized murder of America's unborn infants, who according to America's Supreme Court have no worth or value, be any different in the eyes of God then the legalized murder that occurred in Hitler’s death camps? There is a glaring comparison between Hitler's Holocaust versus the entire arena of abortion and embryonic stem-cell research. To suggest otherwise is to refuse to see reality. As extreme as it sounds this is amazingly relevant. When you consider the commonalities between Hitler’s Nazi regime that “targeted and murdered over 6,000,000 mostly Jewish men, women and children” and compare that...

A friend of mine has completed the second part of a very worthwhile project, one that every Catholic voter should be made aware of: ". . . I have put together a report on how the 131 Catholics in the U.S. House of Representatives AND Senate, voted/acted on the non-negotiable issues of abortion, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, and torture. I looked at 14 different actions (votes, co-sponsorship status, co-signing of letters of support). An introduction and links to the report in Excel and HTML formats can be found here. I hope it generates discussion and thought....

Whereas, liberal Senator Arlen Specter is in line to be Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Whereas, liberal Arlen Specter has a stated litmus test against pro-abortion judges. Whereas, liberal Arlen Specter has stated he will fight against conservative judges Whereas, in the past liberal Arlen Specter has helped defeat great judges like Robert Bork, Whereas, the Democrats have loaded the Judiciary Committee with extreme liberals such as Kennedy, Feinstein, Leahy, and Schumer. Whereas, liberal Arlen Specter is in a position to turn our huge and historic election victory into a defeat by killing the nomination of all decent judges, Be...

Confusion and distortion of the Embryonic Stem Cell Debate. Dear Sirs. I am a senior research scientist and physician who is a tenured Professor at the University of Pittsburgh who has given major presentations on stem cell research and cloning. I can give you volumes of details, but think that it is important to pass on these points to the people helping develop the Republican response strategy. 1) Human embryonic stem sells are WORSE than adult stem cells a. They must be differentiated before they are of any clinical value (e.g. forced to move toward adult stem cells). IF this...

by Craig E. Richardson U.S. Senate Majority Hangs in Balance The Republicans currently control the Senate by a margin of 51-49 and issues such as abortion, embryonic stem cell research, gay “marriage,” and judicial nominations are key factors in many races. As a result, Catholic voters will play an important role in settling which party controls the Senate for the next two years. South Dakota tops the list of senate races to watch and it represents one the Republican’s best opportunities to pick-up a seat held by a Democrat. Minority Leader Tom Daschle, the top Democrat in the Senate, is...

Today: June 09, 2004 at 5:46:55 PDT Bush Opposes Using Embryos for ResearchASSOCIATED PRESS SEA ISLAND, Ga. (AP) - Ronald Reagan's death from complications of Alzheimer's disease has not changed President Bush's stand against using embryos for stem-cell research, Laura Bush said Wednesday. Former first lady Nancy Reagan and others believe the use of stem cells from embryos could lead to cures for such illnesses as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Bush's executive order in August 2001, however, limited federal research funding for stem cell research to 78 embryonic stem cell lines then in existence. "We need to balance the interest in...

here was much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the media over the Pentagon's proposal to establish a disinformation center. Journalists, editorial writers, and talking heads waxed self-righteously eloquent, warning that truth must not become a casualty of the war on terror. Would that they were as adamant about resisting the disinformation campaign still being waged by supporters of embryonic-stem-cell research (ESCR) and human cloning. Rarely has so much disinformation been peddled by so many as in this all-important moral and political struggle. But rather than insisting on being told the truth, the media, patient-advocacy groups, and many politicians have...