Cape Karen
With the war in Israel and the Middle East dominating our headlines, an important matter, that will affect millions of people for decades to come, has pretty much been ignored by the press this week instead of getting the attention it deserves. HR 810, a vital stem cell research bill, has been quietly dealt a death-knell by President Bush. He exercised his veto power for the first time in five years, sending HR 810, and the hopes of millions, right onto the trash heap.
And this has been done by him all in the name of "principle."
President Bush is a very stubborn man and no amount of scholarship or science will ever convince him that he is dead wrong here. (And, even if he did come to his senses, he would never admit it.) Obtaining stem cells from frozen embryos for medical research, embryos that are destined for destruction, would be a life-giving endeavor, not a life-taking one; but, somehow, that truth seems to have escaped him. Just as his refusal to accept the science that told us global warming was a reality, and that it was being caused to a large degree by our own man-made pollutants, has left us all in a frighteningly vulnerable position for the future ~ his ignorance on this matter has stopped another important truth from one day being of benefit to mankind, as well.
Stem cell research holds the promise of one day curing diseases like alzheimers, Parkinson's disease, cancer, heart disease, spinal injuries and cerebal palsy ~ just to name a few. It is considered the 'medical breakthrough of the century' and yet, the future of this medical science has been denounced and derailed by just one man with veto power - one man who believes it's immoral, and who says it's against his religion. That couldn't be further from the truth. Even the most devoted pro-life advocate realizes that long-frozen embryos aren't going to benefit mankind once they are destroyed. Even they realize that using those now-useless embryos, to extend and save lives, is better than just tossing them away. (Perhaps they see it as the lesser of two evils, but at least they see it.)
President Bush has some fatal flaws, and they will follow him into the history books. He isn't terribly bright, but he thinks he knows it all; he can't admit it when he is wrong, and he has 20-10 tunnel-vision. He grabs onto something 'he thinks' is best, and like a dog with a bone, you can't get his teeth off of it. He hangs onto his lies, his mistakes, his bad judgements and his poor leadership - as if his opinions were the holy truth; his mistakes, divine correctness; his bad judgement, immortal goodness; and his poor leadership, The Only Way. No-one and no-thing can sway him from going his own way; not solid, proven scientific studies, not the views and desires of the majority of the people, and not even the blatantly obvious.
There was another event in our past - that was treated like stem cell research is being treated today by Mr. Bush. Galileo said the earth was round, not flat, and he was considered to be an 'evil man speaking a terrible heresy.' Time has proven that Galileo was speaking the truth, and that his science was correct. Hopefully, time will do the same when it comes to allowing the life-giving benefits of stem cell research to move forward.
The sad thing is, the potential cures that could come from this research have now been set-back many decades - all by this stubborn man tenaciously clinging to his own ignorance. A two-thirds vote in Congress could undo his veto - but I'm not hearing anything being said about that. All of our news sources are focusing their attention these days on the "Crisis in the Middle East," and on the "evil of Hezbollah" - which makes me think, with Dubya still at the helm, that a full-scale war with Iran is probably in our near future.
And he calls himself. . . pro-life.
Posted by Karen at July 23, 2006 10:12 AM