Dear Bush:
Dear Bush:
I see you there with your pen in your hand, ready to issue your first Veto. And what a wonderful issue on which to use your veto power. I mean, Stem Cell research really is an evil that should be contained and restricted. Heaven forbid we make advances in curing diseases, with all possible resources at our disposal. No, no, no. You're right. Amorphous clusters of cells are more of a priority to protect than, say, a single mother with kids, or a family patriarch, suffering from a now incurable disease, but one that COULD be cured by virtue of expanded stem cell research. You're right. We shouldn't use Federal Funds to actually make ANY ADVANCES TO BETTER THE WORLD OR HUMANKIND. Instead, we should drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and Nuke North Koreaa.
Asshole.
Your stance is completely unfathomable to me. Fuck you, you stupid bag of shit.
While Jews don't believe in Hell, I sincerely hope and pray with all of my heart that you end up there by virtue of this Veto. But before you get there, I hope you are stricken down with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease.) I hope that your body withers, and you gradually become paralyzed, like my grandfather did. I hope your hands and feet become claws, that you lose control of your bowels and your bladder, and that towards the end, you lose your ability to swallow your own saliva. And when this happens, I will rest, comfortable in the fact that your mind is completely unaffected, and you become a prisoner in your worthless shell of a body.
And I hope that it's then, when you aspirate on your own saliva, and choke to death, that you have your final epiphany, that you shouldn't have vetoed this bill. As you're gasping and wracking internally, unable to cough effectively because your diaphragm and stomach muscles have paralyzed and atrophied, I hope the clarity sets in that maybe, just maybe that little lump of cells that you fought so hard to protect, may have been an okay sacrifice, if it would have spared you this agonizing decline and death.
Am I a bad person for wishing this on you? For anyone else, I would emphatically say yes. Not for you.
So, rest on your Laurels and your "High moral principles," which came so easy to you after your hard drinkin' coke snortin' days, once you wanted to get into politics. Go ahead, and invoke God when convenient. Your putty-thick veneer of religious conviction is what got you elected, after all. But for all the money and the power you have, it's nothing if you don't have your health. It's been proven that prayer doesn't cure disease. So that leaves you with your doctors. And if you don't have your health, there's really not much the doctors can do for you, if, say, you get ALS, no matter how much you can pay. And you're about to re-seal doors that Congress is trying to open, so that Doctors can continue to research and develop cures for diseases. May God Damn You to Hell for what you're about to do to Millions of People.
Me.
posted by SuperBee at 7:48 AM
17 Comments:
O.K. give us a link to something showing how this research really has potential other than that supposed by the drive by media.
11:33 AM
Feel good post of the year!
11:50 AM
I don't understand your post. However, your phraseology makes me think that your prime News source is Fox News, and we all know how I feel about them.
Secondly, it's impossible to know the extent of the potential, given the current restrictions on this field of study. So, no, no one can give you "a link" to anything because the full range of the potential is currently stunted by Federal restrictions. Catch-22, you see?
Is it a given that this WILL cure all disease? Of course not. Could it cure some? Most probably. If your mother was dying from something and could be cured as a result of stem cell research, would you want her to be cured? I know I'd want mine to be cured.
And the "life is precious! life is precious! boo! hoo! hoo! Fetus Farm!" arguers out there, I find it's helpful to imagine the two possibilities for these stem cells: 1) a cure for a disease or 2) some retard in Spandex yakking on a cellphone in the middle of a movie theater, or blocking an aisle in the supermarket, farting and yelling at future stupid kids. Which is the better outcome?
Used as stem cells, those masses of humanity will probably contribute far more to the world than any resource-consuming human being would. "But those embryos could become the future Lincoln, yhadda, yhadda, yhadda." Maybe. But they probably won't. Hell, most of the population of my high school's AP classes are now general managers at a Staples, or head frycook at Applebee's... and we were kids with everything offered to us. In all likelihood, those future human beings are going to become another slow dimwit, mindlessly consuming American Idol and Hamburger Helper and shopping at the Fashion Bug.
Has Miami cheapened my opinion of human life and human potential? Probably.
I guess it's unfortunate, then, that I'm one of the future policymakers of America...
Cuz when it's up to me, there's gonna be a babyfarm in every town!
12:02 PM
Oh, and by the way, the post above was directed to Post "Anonymous" not to Vidas' post.
Vidas, I'm going to miss you on Hiatus! KICK THEM BARS' ASSES! :) I'm rootin' for ya, cowboy!
12:03 PM
sweet rush limbaugh usage of "drive by media".
Let's go here for survey showing 2/3 public support for stem cell research
Let's go here for Nancy Reagan's support for stem cell research
Let's go here for just a good general column on the subject
And if you wanted some research, here is a report from the National Acadamies Press
This article from Reuters also provides accounts of research studies, but doesn't provide the links to the sites - i suppose if you could turn down Rush and surf away from freerepublic.com for a bit, you could call and get the reports
12:07 PM
And I can always count on TheBrewerPatriot as my source for Leftist research. Thanks! I like having smart friends.
12:22 PM
hells yes. i mean, even though I can't stand Bill "I Can Wrongly Diagnose People Via Video When It Is Politically Expediant" Frist said that "Stem cells offer hope for treatment that other lines of research cannot offer," said Frist, who has rescinded his earlier support for the Bush policy. "The current policy unduly restricts the number of cell lines."
And from my home state, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, on the Senate floor yesterday compared the president's position to those who opposed Columbus, locked up Galileo, and rejected anesthesia, electricity, vaccines and rail travel. Such attitudes "in retrospect look foolish, look absolutely ridiculous," said Specter, daring Bush to join them.
Quotes courtesy of here
12:38 PM
do you really think that prayer doesn't cure disease? i think that it can if it is god's will. i am a little sad that you don't think prayer can cure diseases. :( sniff, sniff.
2:46 PM
Here are some good scientific articles regarding prayer's null effect on disease and recovery. If you have contrary ones that were published in peer-reviewed, non-biased journals, I would certainly be interested in seeing them:
Aviles JM, Whelan SE, Hernke DA, Williams BA, Kenny KE, O'Fallon WM, Kopecky SL. Intercessory prayer and cardiovascular disease progression in a coronary care unit population: a randomized controlled trial. Mayo Clin Proc 2001;76:1192-8.
Krucoff MW, Crater SW, Gallup D, Blankenship JC, Cuffe M, Guarneri M, Krieger RA, Kshettry VR, Morris K, Oz M, Pichard A, Sketch MH Jr, Koenig HG, Mark D, Lee KL. Music, imagery, touch, and prayer as adjuncts to interventional cardiac care: the Monitoring and Actualisation of Noetic Trainings (MANTRA) II randomised study. Lancet 2005;366:211-7.
Benson H, Dusek JA et al. "Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in cardiac bypass patients: a multicenter randomized trial of uncertainty and certainty of receiving intercessory prayer." American Heart Journal. 2006 April; 151(4): p. 762-4.
3:25 PM
To Brewer Patriot:
So public opinion matters that much. Look at your history and you will find that about 2/3 of Germans supported "the final solution". I guess that legitimizes the holocaust in your mind? Not mine.
The National Academies Press article is interesting, but still offers only anecdotal evidence.
My father underwent stem cell therapy for lymphoma in a clinic in Seattle 8 years ago and accomplished nothing. We could not see any benefit of the therapy prior to his death.
All right SuperBee- go ahead and start your own babyfarm. Might I recommend you try using unwanted embryos from developing countries since poor people really exists at the whim of the elite anyway. I would think a person of Hebrew origin might be more sensitive to research utilizing human tissue from sub-human sources. Oh wait, I guess that was so long ago it doesn't really matter.
3:31 PM
if it is God's will to cure the disease, then he will cure it. i don't think prayer has anything to do with it.
what's really sad is not superbee not believing that prayer doesn't cure disease, it is millions of people praying for diseases that God will never cure.
3:35 PM
original anon: to take your argument to the other extreme - 100% percent of people would support helping old women cross the street - does public support for this legitimize the holocaust too? thanks for the mock moral superiority lecture. of course, it goes without saying that public opinion can be wrong and misguided. but, fortunately or unfortunately, that is what the country is based on. the country was wrong in the 50s to support segregation, and maybe they are wrong here. but to discount public support for stem cell research because the German public supported the holocaust in the 1930s seems a bit extreme.
although it sounds like you speak from the heart because of a difficult family situation, what if stem cell research worked for someone else's dad? isn't that chance worth a shot?
wow, i am really posting a lot of comments on this today. i will stop now.
3:54 PM
i don't think prayer and scientific articles mesh well together. it's not about that, it's about faith. to each his own. i just thought superbee would believe in the power of prayer, even though i don't know him (save from his blog, which i luv).
yes, i think that if it's god's will, he will cure disease(s). i also beleieve in the power of prayer because i have seen it in my life and for my life, prayer has had everything to do with it. just what i think. you don't have to think it too. i am not trying to change anyone's mind, just throwing out how i was sad that superbee didn't believe that prayer can cure disease.
-the second anonymous
3:59 PM
I suppose I'm last getting in on this, but I have to state my support of "Superbee" here. His isn't a leftist argument. It's realist and humanist. I'm fuming over this one too. Watching a loved one suffer will do that to you.
I challenge anonymous to give me a reason to NOT support stem cell research that doesn't have a source in religion.
...separation of church and state my ass...
5:10 PM
i think everyone is confused that there are 2 anonymous writers. there is the original one and then there is me (the one that said that i am sad (still) that superbee doesn't believe in the power of religion. i (second anonymous)have not said anything about whether i support/don't support stem cell research. to be honest with you, i don't really know anything about it to have an opinion either way. i didn't realize that posting a comment on here that i was sad that superbee didn't believe that prayer could cure disease would result in all of this...
6:21 AM
It is indeed a slippery slope. Once we have reconciled our minds to the fact that it's just a lump of cells that could be a person, we then move on over to judging the quality of other's lives and deciding whether or not they desrve to live if their death could help others. I hope Superbee was just being extreme to make a point with his "retard in yellow spandex" comment. If he really feels that way then we are in trouble as his way of thinking pollutes future generations.
I hate having to use the Nazi reference (it is after all the final act of desperation for Democrats/leftist to call conservatives Nazis in an argument) but my point is, I believe, significant. The doctors doing research on these people/bodies in Germany during that time did not recognize them as human. Not just Jews, but handicapped and retarded people from all conquered lands. If I think a fertilized egg is life and you do not, that is fine. You might not see the parrallel but I do.
If a society does not have a moral foundation which values human life it is doomed. Regardless of your religious affiliation, or lack thereof, human life should be valued and respected. I acknowledge your argument that the research is there to prolong human life. There may well be some good come of it and quite frankly my problem is less with the current research than where it will eventually culminate. It's just human nature. Once we justify something in our minds we creep a little further, and a little further, and so on. If someone doesn't take a stand it happens quicker.
I also don't have confidence it will lead to anything, but that is a seperate argument. I have yet to see any firm evidence. I am a scientist and know the difference between anecdotal evidence and real evidence.
We do in fact live in a republic and public opinion matters. But we as a country elected Bush knowing he stands by his principles, whether we agree with them or not. Believe it or not, I respect the hell out of Joe Lieberman and late Paul Wellstone because they stand by their principles and practice what they preach. I do not feel the same way about some Republicans. We as a country can express our opinions at the ballot box. Rally your troops and get them to the polls this fall, I'll do the same.
6:27 AM
I believe in the power of religion.
The power of religion is driving the strife in the Middle-East. The power of religion lead to the Crusades and the Holocaust. And here, at home, the power of religion leads people to shoot abortion doctors, and protest funerals of soldiers with "Thank God For Dead Soldiers" posters. That's powerful stuff.
I don't believe in its inherent power for good. I think that's a convenient result and necessary mask for an underlying purpose of population control and regulation. I truly believe in religion's power to motivate masses of people to do evil, in the name of religion.
As for my own religion, I pick and choose what I believe. A religion has to adapt to the times, or it will become extinct. We are arrogant to believe that ours are the true and only religions of the world, and that we have the true word of God. They're the fashions of the times, and convenient comfort for now, until they become outmoded and archaic. You think that the polytheistic peoples that were around 7,000 years ago didn't think their religion was the one true and everlasting religion? Please.
As for the "Slippery Slope" argument, if I learned anything in law school, it was that the "Slippery Slope" argument is, in general, a tool of someone who throws it on the table as an, "I'm done," copout. I used it many times when I had run out of good arguments. And every time, the professor would roll their eyes, and move on to someone with something intelligent to say. The slope down Everest is indeed long, and slippery, but dotted with inconvenient rock outcroppings.
Using the anti-stem cell research, "all life is precious stance," and that it's a "slippery slope," if we're in the business of protecting all life, all the time, it follows that ultimately, people should get their energy purely from the sun, eat no meat, and kill no head of lettuce, no weed, or no germ, never stepping on an ant or killing a cockroach. After all, if all "life is precious" from conception, then it follows that human life is equal to all other life forms in the eyes of God, and that the spiders crawling on you, or the ear infection bacteria/sinus infection causing so much pain is also precious life, which should be preserved, and has just as much right to exist. So everything everywhere has as much right to exist without being prematurely terminated, as a clump of cells at the end of this sentence.
I mean, that's just non-sensical.
The slippery slope argument is bullshit.
But of course, it's easy to differentiate and ignore the realities of the moral right stance arguments when they're taken to their extremes. And we've built a culture that's really good at distinguishing inconvenient conclusions that come from disturbing information. Like global warming which is "not happening," because it's just a "warm year."
The anti-stem cell research argument flies in the face of American culture. Afterall, Amurricans like their meat. Which is grown. In farms. To eat. For the good of the rest of the population. And yet, we have few complaints about that. Why?
Now, it's not that I'm unsympathetic to the fact that a cancer treatment didn't work. And it's not that I'm unsympathetic to prayer. I prayed my little heart out for my grandmother who ultimately succumbed to an unsuccessful cancer treatment.
But knowing how I felt when she died, and knowing that research could possibly cure the disease that made her lose her ability to speak or realize that the last time she saw me would be the last time she would ever see me...
I see the "opposite side" of this debate as morally wrong, and clouding a black-and-white issue for political gain; yet another powerplay in the name of religion.
8:05 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home