Research? We Don't Need No Stinking...
Jason Evans
I had high hopes that the First Lady of the United States of America was slightly better educated than her husband. She is poised, polite, and pretty. She articulates her thoughts into actual sentences, unlike her husband. She has dodged the press on some of her husband's less-than brilliant comments and policies with deftness and grace.
Now, however, her roots are starting to show. When pressed to defend her husband's policy on stem cell research, Mrs. Bush says: ``We don't even know that stem cell research will provide cures for anything - much less that it's very close'' to yielding major advances.
Yes, Mrs. Bush, we don't know that stem cell research will provide cures for anything...because we NEED MORE RESEARCH.
Keeping in step with her fundamental Christian base, Mrs. Bush has made it clear that things which we don't understand need not be understood. Embryonic stem cell research? If you're not sure what it is, then you better get rid of it completely. Ban it.
Of course, she also says that the President's policy isn't a ban on stem cell research at all. "I hope that stem cell research will yield cures," the first lady told the Pennsylvania Medical Society. "But I know that embryonic stem cell research is very preliminary right now and the implication that cures for Alzheimer's are around the corner is just not right and it's really not fair to people who are watching a loved one suffer with this disease."
However, the executive order signed by President Bush in August of 2001 limits research to stock on hand and prevents research on new lines. According to The Oregonian this morning, there are about 21 lines left that are legal for use in the U.S., and those are quickly deteriorating. If that isn't a "ban", I don't know what is.
If the First Lady feels it isn't "fair" to people watching Alzheimer's take it's told on people, she needs to realize that imposing her own ethics and morals on an entire nation of people is not fair, especially when a very clear majority of Americans (64%), including members of her own party, support stem cell research. Interestingly, only 28% feel that it is "wrong" to continue research. She surely does not represent the majority of America.
Whether the issue is stem cell research, war in Iraq, a woman's right to chose, marriage equality, Enron, judicial nominations, or vacations in Texas, this President and his administration have voiced disdain and contempt for the opinion of the Nation and the welfare of its people. If the President feels strongly about something he follows that feeling, no matter what facts or logic there may be to counter him. Now, his wife has joined his side as the voice of unreason.
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Aug 10, '04
One fallacy in Laura Bush's statement is that nobody has implied that a cure for Alzheimer's is right around the corner. In an interview before the Democratic Convention, Ron Reagan Jr. said that Alzheimer's isn't even on the top ten list of diseases for which stem cell research may be promising. Rather, he lists diabetes, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, and spinal cord injuries as promising research areas. So it is misleading to focus criticisms of stem cell research on Alzheimer's alone.
9:41 a.m.
Aug 10, '04
This is turning out to be the biggest surprise of the election. Who knew that wedge politics worked both ways?
Aug 10, '04
The sad part is that important medical research of any kind has become part of the partisan debate.
Aug 10, '04
...and yet, come November, they might win in Oregon and the entire country...
I'm dumbfounded.
Aug 10, '04
I don't think there is someone who is both educated and fundamentalist, I really don't -- nor do I mean this as a snotty remark. "Educated," yes, but not educated. One cancels out the other.
Aug 10, '04
What's even more disturbing is that she's a librarian. There are some days I just want to bag the whole research thing too, but I signed in blood when I graduated from library school. Apparently she's not quite as dedicated . . .
1:13 p.m.
Aug 10, '04
Well said Jason. It's interesting to see how the administration is sacrificing science at the altar of conservative politics. From stem cell research to fundamentalists trying to introduce creationism as "science" to dismissal of evidence of global warming, it's amazing how some people are twisting science to serve their own ends.
Aug 11, '04