Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Injunction Against Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Congratulations!

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67M4HA20100824

To all those behind the case against President Obama's new guidelines for embryonic stem cell research: Congratulations!

To those members who claim to support the free market: You have supported another attempt by a company to use the courts to stifle competition. Congratulations!

To those members who claim to believe in the sanctity of life: You have delayed the fates of embryos, but have not changed them.  The "life" you claim to cherish will still be frozen, NEVER to be implanted in a uterus.  Instead of being used for stem cell research using Federal funds, they might still be used for the same research, but using funds from a different source.  Then again, they might just be thrown into an incinerator with other biological waste. Congratulations!

To those claiming to be motivated by their religion: You have once again answered those with questions that the suffering of the sick and infirm is not as important as adherence to your dogma. In fact, your implicit message that suffering is necessary to be a "true believer" may help in driving many more away from your sick, masochistic, belief systems. Congratulations!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Defending the Electoral College

I've never really considered the Electoral College to be anything but a relic of a time where only free, landowning, white males could cast votes.  The fiasco of the 2000 Florida vote only reinforced my belief in dismantling the old system.  After reading the following article, I'm forced to re-evaluate that idea.  My gut still says "get rid of it" but there are some good points raised in its defense:

Bypass the Electoral College? Careful what you wish for.