Taking your balls and going home
President Bush exercised his very first veto this week.
The bill that he vetoed would have allowed the federal government to fund stem-cell research on frozen embryos that would otherwise be destroyed.
"That would be immoral,'' says the president.
I just don't get that. Let's assume, just for the sake of argument, that frozen embryos are full-fledged human beings just shy of being able to vote, drink and fight in a desert a world away.
They are going down one way or another. The fertility treatments worked. These embryos are not going to be used and are scheduled for demolition, whatever that means in terms of a test tube.
The president seems to be saying that if the fertility clinic patients don't want the extras, then ain't nobody gonna use them.
That's fine and dandy for folks who are quick to point out that embryonic stem cell research hasn't led anywhere or gotten anybody up and walking.
That greenish bread mold was around a long time, too, before somebody figured out that penicillin was a pretty good thing to have around.
Nobody wants embryonic spare parts factories, for God's sake. But embryonic stem cell research deserves more of a chance than these forsaken frozen petrie dish dwellers.
The bill that he vetoed would have allowed the federal government to fund stem-cell research on frozen embryos that would otherwise be destroyed.
"That would be immoral,'' says the president.
I just don't get that. Let's assume, just for the sake of argument, that frozen embryos are full-fledged human beings just shy of being able to vote, drink and fight in a desert a world away.
They are going down one way or another. The fertility treatments worked. These embryos are not going to be used and are scheduled for demolition, whatever that means in terms of a test tube.
The president seems to be saying that if the fertility clinic patients don't want the extras, then ain't nobody gonna use them.
That's fine and dandy for folks who are quick to point out that embryonic stem cell research hasn't led anywhere or gotten anybody up and walking.
That greenish bread mold was around a long time, too, before somebody figured out that penicillin was a pretty good thing to have around.
Nobody wants embryonic spare parts factories, for God's sake. But embryonic stem cell research deserves more of a chance than these forsaken frozen petrie dish dwellers.
posted by Michael Riley at 2:23 PM
14 Comments:
The concern of those opposed is that using existing embryos would put us on a "slippery slope." They wonder what would be next. However, life itself is lived on a slippery slope, and we seem to manage OK without falling into utter lawlessness or immorality. We seem, through collective good judgement, to be able to set standards and limits for other things as we go along. So let's use those cells to see if we can save lives, and let's take it one step at a time.
So you "don't get it," Riley? No surprise there. What exactly do they teach at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary anyway?
even for sake of opponents' argument that using an embryo for research is still "killing', I still say is better to "kill" one thing/person/whatever it is defined by whomever, to save potentially millions!
So you are going to kill "just one" baby, huh?
anon (other), is not a baby, is unused embryo, why not save others? would just get discarded anyway..just like organ donations..get off your moral high horse, save people! when U.S. dropped A-bomb hiroshima/nagasaki wwII, was to save hundreds of thousands in the end...sorry, life not always clear cut, always filled with moral dilemmas..can only pray the lesser of two evils is choice that ultimately does more good than more harm...
If an embryo is not a baby, then when, pray tell, does human life begin? When you decide?
I think it is ironic that you mention WW2 when condoning the massive slaughter of innocent human life. It was then, after all, that the laws of Germany decreed that Jews, for one, were legally viewed as something less than human and, as such, were not at all entitled to the protections of the law. I imagine there were quite a few Nazis back then that told those who opposed the Holocaust to "get off their moral high horse" as well. Congratulations on being in such great company.
not condoning holocaust, anon,
said if not for A-bomb, thousands if not millions more would've perished..you missed my point and not making any moral judgment, just factual one...
Embryonic stem cell research is a holocaust.
obviously, you do not have parkinson's, ms, or paralyis or have a loved one with these dreadful afflictions or you'd condone the research in a second if you knew it could lessen the pain, suffering and prolong their lives! if you were any kind of sensitive, caring person that is!
obviously, you do not have parkinson's, ms, or paralyis or have a loved one with these dreadful afflictions or you'd condone the research in a second if you knew it could lessen the pain, suffering and prolong their lives! if you were any kind of sensitive, caring person that is!
Killing innocent babies isn't kind, sensitive or caring. It's murder.
those "babies' were slated for the trash heap anyway..why not do environmental correct thing and "recycle' to save lives at least?
May God have mercy on your soul.
"Anonymous said...
obviously, you do not have parkinson's, ms, or paralyis or have a loved one with these dreadful afflictions or you'd condone the research in a second if you knew it could lessen the pain, suffering and prolong their lives! if you were any kind of sensitive, caring person that is!"
No, I don't, thank God, have any of the diseases or afflictions that you mentioned. That said, even if I did suffer from that of which you speak, I certainly wouldn't look to murder another human in the hopes that in doing so, I would somehow alleviate that suffering. I was, after all, an embryo once -- an embryo with a soul, incidentally -- as were both you and this self-effacing clown (Riley) that has the unmitigated gall to call himself a part-time preacher of the Gospel. Please forgive me while I pray for the suffering that you mentioned and whilst still defending the innocent human life that Riley deems "forsaken petrie dish dwellers."
"But embryonic stem cell research deserves more of a chance than these forsaken frozen petrie dish dwellers." -- Quoting this so-called "Reverend" Michael Riley
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