Democrats one vote away from overriding stem cell veto

Last week, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow federal funding of embryonic stem cell research -- the kind that actor Michael J. Fox pressured candidates to take a stand on last campaign cycle.  President Bush is promising a veto if it passes the Senate.  In order to override the Bush veto, it will need to pass the House and Senate by a two-thirds majority.

Congressional sources have indicated to me that Senate Democrats need just one vote to override the veto and pass the stem cell legislation. 

The Democrats also have another option.  With the temporary vacancy of the Wyoming Senate seat, following the unfortunate death of Craig Thomas, the Democrats are now in a position to pass it by two-thirds majority.  Senator Thomas was a strong opponent of stem cell research, which means Republicans might raise a fuss if Harry Reid tries to force a vote.

We can debate the ethics of using stem cells that will be discarded anyway until we are blue in the face.  Though, strategically speaking, as political analyst Dan Gerstein points out, Democrats only gain from bills like this.  So they may ultimately try to push this through:

In particular, the Democrats have a chance to peel away a critical blocof independents and moderate Republicans who are growing more and moreuncomfortable with the anti-science, anti-tolerance, borderlineantediluvian agenda of today's conservative movement.

Look for this to be a hot topic in the coming weeks.

Comments

[FRG]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6FUrOodKbk&mode=related&search=

[Chief Editor: Todd]

Nice vid! I encourage everyone to watch it. Lewis Black is the man!

[Big M]

Embryonic stem cell research is a fraud, and this is why jerk-off celebrities like Michael J. Fox are pounding to get the taxpayers on the hook for it. I'm so fucking sick to death of people like Fox and Christopher Reeve, who never had a word to say or a dime to give for any of this shit, until it happened to them. Then, everybody needs to know, everybody needs to give a damn, and most importantly, everybody needs to cough up. Fuck him.

Here is a paragraph from an article on this subject, by Dr. Kelly Hollowell:

"First, use of human ES cells requires lifelong use of drugs to prevent tissue rejection. That's because the transplanted cells come from another person with another chemical make-up. Second, using ES cells can produce tumors. According to one report, 'transplanted ES cells spontaneously differentiate into any of cell types – sometimes into a disorganized mass of neurons, cartilage and muscle; sometimes into tumors containing an eye, hair or even teeth.' Third, injecting fetal brain cells (a precursor study to ESCR) into the brains of Parkinson's disease patients had devastating results on the participants in the study. Results included uncontrollable movements: writhing, twisting, head-jerking, arm-flailing and constant chewing. Fourth, mice cloned from ES cells were genetically defective. Fifth, many of the existing stem-cell lines are contaminated with mouse cells that could introduce animal diseases into humans if used as treatments."

They have been using adult stem cells in clinical applications since the 80's to treat numerous ailments, INCLUDING PARKINSON'S DISEASE, and quite successfully in many cases. There is no fear of rejection or tumor formation, and they can be harvested from an amazing number of places in your own body.

Recycling is another fraud. If recycling (and embryonic stem cell research) is such a goddamned wonderful idea, then why does the government feel the need to browbeat people over it, and subsidize it with taxpayer dollars? The answer is simple. Figure it out.

[J to the G]

I wonder how many of those who are against embryonic stem cell research would be willing to sign a pledge vowing that neither they, nor their loved ones, will ever personally benefit from any treatments derived from embryos. Big M? So if 25 years from now, you're a trembling half-crippled shell of your former self, and can be cured with a few shots thanks to human embryos, I guess you'll just turn the doctors away with all that outrage, huh?

[Big M]

J:

Apparently you don't read very well. If I can be cured with a few shots, it will probably be from my own adult stem cells. Got it? If adult stem cells are being used to treat all of these different ailments, then where is your case for something that has, to my knowledge, produced no notable results to date, and apparently can cause such horrific side effects? How many drugs, certified as safe by the FDA (which is nothing more than a pimping operation for big pharma), have been taken off the shelves after making people seriously ill or killing them? Last time I checked, prescription drugs were the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S.

I suppose that you also give money to the MDA, which has never cured one person of muscular dystrophy -- ever. In fact, considering the gravy train those people are riding, financed by dumbasses that don't even know what employees of the MDA do for certain, does the MDA actually have any motive to find a cure? If you were earning six or seven figures a year for working on a cure that never appears, would you release the cure, even if you had it? Think about it.

I am against embryonic stem cell research for a number of reasons. First off, it's little less than a ploy to keep the abortion holocaust running forever, since you need a constant supply of dead babies (maybe it might have been you, J?) to work on. I am also dead set against taxpayers being on the hook for this garbage. It's also completely unneccesary.

If you think this stuff is so wonderful, then abort every single developing human being gestating in your own relatives' wombs. But leave the rest of us out of your Dr. Mengele fantasies, OK?

[Dan Moran]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44847

In case anyone wants to know who the "Dr. Kelly Hollowell" is, this is a useful link. In the post above she's discovered the mechanism behind intelligent design.

[James]

Big M I can see that we are only 1 vote away from making you a sore loser I wonder what a poor lil rightwing christain supremist like you will do when ppl finally wake up and see that my imaginary invisible friend is not better than yours

[Project Vote Smart]

For more information on the Stem Cell Research Act of 2007, including a summary of the bill and a vote breakdown please visit Stem Cell Research Act of 2007 summary by Project Vote Smart or call our hotline at 1-888-VOTE-SMART.

[J to the G]

Big M...we'll never persuade one another. However:

What life-changing medicines were discovered on the first try? That's exactly what research is for.

Second, I'm all for trying adult stem cells too. But if a cure is developed specifically from embryos, I doubt you'd refuse it for yourself or your loved ones. People often change their tune when the chickens come home to roost. Just look at Cheney's conspicuous silence on the evils of gay marriage.

As far as abortion holocaust...yep, you figured us out: We're so desperate to keep killing babies at any cost that we're just trying to come up with new reasons to eliminate a few more of those vile fetuses. I shouldn't have to remind you that the only embryos anyone wants to use for research are embryos that have already been created and are already slated for destruction.

I can understand your queasiness about your tax dollars being spent on something you disagree with. I wish it weren't necessary. And if there was enough private money, it wouldn't be an issue. But there isn't enough private money.

And yep...it's exactly like a Nazi to want to improve the lives of millions of ill, horribly suffering people all over the world. Really accurate comparison.

If someone you love gets very sick (may it never happen), and embryonic research led to the cure, you may well have mixed feelings--but you would be grateful the research was done and could give them their life back, which is all any Progressive is after on this issue.

[granny]

Well, well, another big rumpus brewing. Funny, isn't it, how they always start with someone heaping invective and abuse on everyone in sight before the discussion even gets under way...

After you've visited Dan Moran's posted site (and I recommend it) try this one :
http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/k_hollowell.asp

(note name of site)
where you can read about the illustrious career of MS. Hollowell; who is NOT a doctor of medicine, but a Ph.D in PHARMACOLOGY! Which degree she received after getting her DJ at the now better known, Pat Robertson, Regent University (Remember Monica Goodling...?)

Her publications include :“Cloning: Exposing Flaws in the Preembryo-Embryo Distinction and Redefining When Life Begins, Regent University Law Rev. 11, 1998.” An abstract for the Institute for Creation Research, Impact Article 310, April 1999.

Do read on...

It casts a perspective on the very angry Mr. "Big M"