Wont Anyone Think About The Embryos?

Wont Anyone Think About The Embryos?

So yesterday a judge ruled against Obama's stem cell expansion in such a vague way that it's not actually more restrictive than Bush. The best part is that the suit was originally filed on behalf of "embryos."

See the worthless NYTimes article here.

With the case back in his court, Judge Lamberth ruled that the administration’s policy violated the clear language of the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, a law passed annually by Congress that bans federal financing for any “research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.”

Some change we can believe in. It's actually very funny that this ruling arose from a slap fight between the stem cell community. The case was brought to the judge by Scientist and not from the frothing moralists.

They were working on adult stem cell research and didn't want to compete with the embryonic stem cell community for funding and so they went ahead and got them shut down. Which is really surprising to me in a move to make.



I realize it's all part of our capitalistic society to crush the competition, but adult steam cell research in general is better because it goes around the touchy moral issues, but the results it generates are also far better. How did any of these places have trouble getting funding when there's a whole body of literature support them?

The judge is correct in his reasoning and shockingly, it's Congress and Adult Stem cell Researchers which are the piece of shit here. And as much as he was the president while I grew up more aware of the political system, Bill Clinton shares a bit of the blame here.

The Dickey Amendment (also known as the Dickey-Wicker Amendment) is the name of an appropriation's bill rider attached to a bill passed by United States Congress in 1995, and signed by former President Bill Clinton which prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from using appropriated funds for the creation of human embryos for research purposes or for research in which human embryos are destroyed. HHS funding includes the funding for National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. Technically the Dickey Amendment is a "rider" to other legislation, which amends the original legislation. The rider receives its name from the name of the Congressman that originally introduced the amendment, Representative Jay Dickey. The Dickey amendment language has been added to each of the Labor, HHS, and Education appropriations acts for FY1997 through FY2009.

And now I believe "Dickey-Wicker Amendment" is probably my new favorite amendment name. Because, really. It's just all sorts of kick ass.

Though what is real bullshit here is that the whole "On behalf of the Embryos" shit is just out there. Embryos aren't citizens until after birth. By no means should they have any legal standing. But I hope you noticed a key component there.. they're making a law on behalf of a citizen... the embryos. So does that mean that any embryo in the united states should be considered protected?

Just think about it.. We're now dealing with terror anchor embryos!



Maybe if we just use Mexican embryos nobody will care. Nobody important, at the very least. It's not like we need embryonic stem cell research anyway. Who cares about advancing modern medicine and improving the quality of life to those who suffer from some potentially curable sickness.

I just don't understand how abortion can be immoral and yet hormone based birth control is perfectly fine to the religious right. I guess it really isn't since birth control implies that sex is happening, which is icky and totally not what the church is down with.



You know, anything that implies sex for something other than having your 18th ignorant future Nascar watching child, which is kind of selfish when you think about it. Wanting so much of you around that you're willing to crank out DNA copies of yourself.

So anyhow, I do find it sort of ironic that the main backers of this is Alliance Defense fund being as they are a pro-christian-speech advocacy group funded primarily by Erik Prince. Yes, that's right kids, if you're not paying attention at home, that Erik Prince - of Blackwater.. Or as they like to avoid media attention now under the name XE.

I suppose it's okay to kill embryos if you kill the woman they're inside of too. You go ahead and sip your nutrients through that umbilical cord and be smug about winning this time, Embryo. Just you wait till the next time we meet on the field of science!