I’m sorry to leave this site hanging. I’m having a crazy day, with things getting published and unpublished. I may have more to say later.
I will only comment briefly on Steve Benen’s post on the Right’s outraged surprise at President Obama’s stem cell decision. The Right is acting as if Obama had promised not to mess with Bush’s stem cell policy, but as Steve says, Obama clearly said during the campaign that he would change it just as he did change it.
I don’t think they are really surprised. I think it’s just part of their feigned outrage shtick. Utterly phony.
Update: I’ve written in the past about why I think embryonic stem cell research is moral and stopping it out of some rigid absolutist position is immoral. But if you want to see what is self-evidently wrong with it, see “Vetoing Henry” by Laurie Strongin in the July 23, 2006 Washington Post.
“The absolute position, when isolated, omits human details completely. Doctrines, including Buddhism, are meant to be used. Beware of them taking life of their own, for then they use us.” — Robert Aitken Roshi, The Mind of Clover
B.
The last poll on the subject I saw – showed that over 60% of the people support embryonic stem cell research. This is due in part to celebrities like Nancy Reagan & Michael J. Fox who have been vocal supporters because they are intimate with the diseases that stem cell research may provide treatment for.
At the risk of being banashed for life, I wanted to suggest a review of what Obama has done in the first 50 days. So far, I haven’t seen a bullet list, but for a president who ‘lacked executive experience’, he’s managed a lot in a very short time. Refresh my memory – did anyone EVER accuse Bush or the GOP Congress of trying to do too much at one time? What party was in control of Congress when the phrase ‘do-nothing Congress’ was coined?