Governments do infrastructure—from roads, to security, to disease control—that the capital markets aren’t effective at funding. Some infrastructure investments are foolish boondoggles and some greatly improve our quality of life and provide the foundation for private investment. I’m particularly grateful for some of the work that DARPA did in the 1960’s which laid the ground work for me to watch videos on Hot Air four decades later.

President Bush has made a principled (rather than a scientific) argument against embryonic stem cell research. You correctly call out the Dems for wildly hyping the near-term applications of embryonic stem cell research, but President Bush in his veto called the work done by scientists in this field “unethical”. If he genuinely believes that shouldn’t he more tightly regulate the destruction of zygotes and blastocysts during IVF? Perhaps enforce the continued cryopreservation of the 400,000 embryos that are currently frozen?

Last I checked, the commercial biotech industry in the US is quite healthy, and (by any indication from the investment $$$ poured into that sector from venture capitalists) very lucrative.

Yet this research dog, embryonic stem cell research, can only survive if the US Government funds it, according to your side of the political aisle.

Silly.

67% of Americans support research. (not true – the question is loaded – makes no mention that human life is destroyed as a result of the reseach)

Dems weren’t twisting words – they were flat out lying.

The fact is there has not been any plausible scientific evidence that shows that the use of ESC lines is beneficial. John Edwards, however, calls ESC research

responsible, life-saving medical research.

On the contrary, ESCs have been shown to cause tumors, uncontrollable proliferation, and are genetically unstable. What’s responsible and lifesaving about that? You also won’t hear proponents of ESC research talk about how ESCs have to be genetically altered to have any chance of working, even in mice (this is called therapeutic cloning and is actually one step removed from reproductive cloning). That’s almost 10 years of scientific study with no results.

On the other hand, ASCs have been shown to produce nerve cells, skeletal muscle, and cardiac muscle when harvested from bone marrow. Also, the federal government currently provides funding for ASC research.

But I applaud your style, “never let the facts get in the way of a good argument.”

The BLuR

Apparently, you’re only “pro-science” if you feel Hitler’s experiments on human beings were not ethically challenged.

More chilling still is that there are a lot of “bioethicists” that have no problem with cloning, embryonic stem cell research, or any other experiment where human beings are killed for “the greater good(TM).”

“It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” We may someday have the ability to figure out how to use embryonic stem cells, but what does the choice to use embryos in the first place say about us?

“Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy” That is what it comes down to…what is right? As the sister of a brother who was brain damaged by a virus and lived almost 5 years after, I know what these illnesses can do to a family, but to abuse the lives of our pre-born to me would be as bad as saying my brother was a useless, non-productive, medical-resource-wasting non-entity. Oh, where have I heard that before…Terri Schindler Schiavo? Some lives are not worth respecting and protecting?

#7 – Embryonic stem cell research is of dubious value. After 20 or so years, there is nothing to show for it. Not only that, as others have mentioned if embryonic stem cell research contains so much benefit, why isn’t there private investment into this area? Why do they need federal funding? That’s because business savvy people see no future in the area.

And in my viewpoint, unused embryos should be buried or cremated as the human beings they are, not treated as research material.