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Lifting Limits on Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Politics over Science and Ethics March 09, 2009 In a column to be published in the March 12 Catholic Standard newspaper, Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl called the decision by President Barack Obama to void restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research “disheartening.” He went on to explain the Church’s support for ethical scientific research, such as adult stem cell research, noting its success over the past decades in addressing disease and illness. The column follows. Lifting Limits on Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Politics over Science and Ethics The announcement that...

President Obama has issued waivers allowing two appointees who were formally registered lobbyists to work for his administration. The waivers ensure the two appointees can work for the administration under his executive order on ethics, which was intended to reform the revolving door between K Street and the government. The waivers were provided for Jocelyn Frye, director of policy and projects in the Office of the First Lady, and Cecilia Munoz, director of intergovernmental affairs in the executive office of the president. The two waivers were announced on the White House blog Tuesday evening, which said the exceptions were granted...

President Barack Obama Deceives Media, Public on Opposition to Human Cloning by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com Editor March 10, 2009 Email RSSPrint Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- While most media reports were focused on President Barack Obama's decision to roll back protections limiting taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research, little attention was paid to Obama's ingenuous method of supposedly opposing human cloning.During his speech in the East Room of the White House, Obama told supporters and the media that human cloning is "dangerous, profoundly wrong."Obama said he would never open the door to using human cloning for reproductive purposes. However, he...

The White House Tuesday evening disclosed that almost three weeks ago the Obama administration granted ethics wavers for two additional officials who had previously worked as lobbyists. On February 20 the administration signed waivers for Jocelyn Frye, former general counsel at the National Partnership for Women & Families, and Cecilia Muñoz, the former senior vice president for the National Council of La Raza, allowing them to work on issues for which they lobbied. These two are in addition to deputy Defense Secretary Bill Lynn, a former Raytheon lobbyist whose waiver was granted two days after President Obama announced on...

Gov. Bobby Jindal says he disagrees with President Obama on stem cell research. The president Monday cleared the way for increases in federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, arguing in the interests of scientific and medical advances. Obama lifted funding restrictions on the research imposed by former President George W. Bush. Jindal told reporters he saw it as an issue akin to abortion. He said he supported the Bush administration's restrictions, which blocked some funding because embryos are destroyed to create the cell lines.

One of the most outspoken abortion opponents in Congress labeled President Obama the "abortion president" on Friday in response to news that Obama intended to sign an executive order Monday lifting restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., accused Obama of launching two attacks on pro-life measures. In addition to lifting President Bush's stem cell restrictions, Obama intends to lift regulations from the Bush administration that allow health care providers and institutions to refuse to participate in abortions on grounds of conscience. Smith labeled Obama's stem cell policy an expansion of "human embryo experimentation."...

Sen. Warner calls for discussion of end-of-life treatment WASHINGTON Two months into his term, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner has marched into the policy thicket that is health-care reform, urging a national discussion on the touchy question of how best to treat terminally ill people.In a speech to hospital executives this week, Warner called for intensified efforts to educate individuals and families in advance about end-of-life care. With better information, many people would forgo expensive and almost-always-futile treatment for patients near death, he said.Such measures account for more than one-fourth of Medicare payments and 10 to 12 percent of all health...

Just days after we hear about functioning induced Pluripotent stem cells from adult skin cells, cells that can produce dopamine, the proteins missing in Parkinson's disease, we read that President Obama is going to overturn the limits on funding for embryonic stem cell research. Despite the fact that these cells match the patient because they come from the patient, that they will be cheaper, more accessible and we believe have less risk of causing cancer, this Monday morning, the 9th of March, 2009, the White House plans a quiet ceremony to sign the Executive Order. Follow the Yellow Brick Road,...

Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, who President Obama appointed as director of the White House Office of Health Care Reform on Monday, took home at least $2.4 million in 2006 and 2007 from serving on the corporate boards of health-care companies whose businesses she would be in a position to affect in her new position. Since leaving the Clinton administration in 2001, DeParle has made a fortune by serving on 10 boards in the health-care industry in addition to her lucrative career as a managing director at private equity firm CCMP Capital and a senior adviser at JP Morgan Partners. Her journey...

Add former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk to the list of Obama Cabinet picks with tax problems. The Senate Finance Committee says he underpaid by $9,975 in the last three years. Senate aides uncovered the shortfall during weeks of vetting, and Kirk – the administration’s designated point person on trade -- has promised to pay the Internal Revenue Service in full. The problems: Kirk deducted too much for season tickets to the Dallas Mavericks and too much for tax preparation fees, and failed to report as income speaking fees that he donated to his alma mater, Austin College. The full political...

Washington– Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) today continued to back-track on his empty promises to clean up corruption in Congress when he voted to kill a resolution introduced by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) that would “investigate the relationship between earmark requests already made by Members and the source and timing of past contributions.” The resolution came after a series of reports in the media indicated there was a vast network of corrupt Democratic lawmakers engaging in pay-to-play schemes on behalf of the PMA Group. As indicated in the resolution, the Washington Post reported on February 14, 2009 that they “examined contributions...

White House general counsel Gregory Craig has seized control of Obama's vetting process after a series of nominees with unpaid taxes. But his wife's business may also have avoided taxes. Who vets the vetter? Derry Noyes, Craig's wife, runs Noyes Graphics, a design business, out of the couple's home in northwest Washington. Between Craig's work and hers, they've been on Washington's A-list for a decade. PBS's American Stamps aired a profile of her two days ago. She designs specialty postage for the U.S. Postal Service, including a number of notable stamps. One recent series celebrating the work of famous architect...

The ethics section is currently being revised to reflect President Obama's Executive Order concerning Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel, issued on January 21, 2009. Please check back soon.

The Chinagate/Buddhist temple cash skeletons in Gary Locke’s closet By Michelle Malkin  •  February 24, 2009 09:53 AM Is it possible for Barack Obama to pick a Commerce Secretary nominee who’ll actually make it past first base? Bill Richardson withdrew in the midst of a pay-for-play scandal. Judd Gregg withdrew in the midst of a humiliating power play over the Census and porkulus bill.Now, former Democrat Gov. Gary Locke — a lawyer for international firm Davis, Wright, and Tremaine who specializes in China — is rumored to be the next nominee for the post. The MSM is pulling for him. WaPo...

President Obama on Monday vowed to reel in wasteful Washington spending and blasted deceptive "accounting tricks" used by the Bush administration to fund the Iraq war even as House Democrats released a $410 billion stopgap spending bill studded with thousands of pork-barrel projects. The 1,000-plus-page spending bill provides a fat target for deficit hawks. It includes hundreds of pages of earmarks - pet spending projects inserted by lawmakers, ranging from $185,000 for coral reef research and preservation in Maui County, Hawaii, to $55,000 in meteorological equipment for Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., to $9.9 million for science enhancement at...

Santelli did not like the remarks by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and even pondered if it was a ‘Veiled Threat’ by making a bizarre reference to "not knowing where Mr. Santelli lives, or in what house he lives." Listen here...

published by:Public Discourse: Ethics, Law and the Common Goodhttp://www.thepublicdiscourse.com view article in original form David Ogden and the New Pornographers: Why the Senate Should Reject His Nominationby Matthew Schmitz February 12, 2009 David Ogden has impressive legal credentials, but his long career as a pornography-industry attorney casts doubt on his ability to enforce laws meant to protect children. David Ogden graduated from Harvard Law School, clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, and worked in the Justice Department under President Bill Clinton. He brings to his Senate confirmation hearings a long résumé that shows him to be an effective and...

Somehow, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been able to keep a straight face while decrying the “culture of corruption” among Republicans. In retrospect, the nature of the infractions on which she based the accusation seem almost quaint in comparison to the unfathomable abuses of federal monies and power now occurring under a Democrat controlled Congress and Executive Branch. For starters, she was forced to misapply the term to what were, in reality, only scandals, such as the sordid e-mails and text messages of Congressman Mark Foley (R-Fla.) to congressional pages, or the amorous toe-tapping, apparently intended to incite interest...

Barack Obama has been embroiled in a cronyism row after reports that he intends to make Louis Susman, one of his biggest fundraisers, the new US ambassador in London. The selection of Louis Susman, a lawyer and banker from the president's hometown of Chicago, rather than an experienced diplomat, raises new questions about Mr Obama's commitment to the special relationship with Britain. American commentators denounced the selection of a rich friend to the plumb post, regarded as one of the most prestigious in the president's gift, as worthy of a "banana republic". They said it was proof that Mr Obama...

President's Nominee for Trade Rep, a Lobbyist in 2008, to Take Advantage of Loophole in Anti-Lobbyist Regs On first blush, Ron Kirk, the former mayor of Dallas and President Obama's nominee for U.S. Trade Representative, could seem as though he has an enormous impediment standing in his way to the Cabinet: President Obama's high standards against lobbyists in his Cabinet. As recently as last year, Kirk was a lobbyist for investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., and President Obama has said no one can work in his administration on issues they lobbied on in the previous two years.