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Bioethics: The former director of the National Institutes of Health, once an enthusiast for embryonic stem cells, now says their future has "dimmed." So why is the administration bailing out research into such therapies while troubled states like California have committed billions?Aside from creating or saving a few research jobs, the administration's decision to federally fund embryonic stem cell research is, as we've noted, a bailout of bad science. It throws money at an avenue of research that time and adult stem cell progress have passed by. Applauding the administration's move was Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., who echoed the claims...

July ushers in new Ga. laws By GREG BLUESTEIN ATLANTA The beginning of July ushers in a slew of new laws in Georgia, including a measure that seeks to celebrate the Confederacy while also honoring a civil rights leader, new rules praised by abortion opponents and a pair of laws long sought by prosecutors. Those measures and dozens of others are set to take effect on Wednesday, the first day of July. And while some of the new laws aren't among the most high-profile legislation, many are the result of hard-fought legislative battles that could have profound impact. Prosecutors groups,...

Dr. Leon R. Kass, a widely published author, award-winning humanities teacher, and one of America’s leading moral philosophers and experts on medical ethics, will deliver the 2009 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced today. The annual NEH-sponsored Jefferson Lecture is the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities. “Leon Kass is an outstanding scholar, a gifted teacher, and one of our nation’s leading humanists,” said NEH Acting Chairman Carole M. Watson. “He has brought the wisdom of the humanities to bear on many topics, from bioethics...

News to Note, May 2, 2009A weekly feature examining news from the biblical viewpoint (Read the following stories, and much more by clicking excerpt link at the bottom) 1. LiveScience: “Swine Flu Is Evolution in Action”Swine flu—both the virus itself and the associated paranoia—seems to be sweeping the world. Is it evolution in action? 2. LiveScience: “Some Dinosaurs Survived the Asteroid Impact”The widely taught model of dinosaur extinction doesn’t line up with the latest fossil findings. 3. National Geographic News: “Baby Mammoth CT Scan Reveals Internal Organs”The preserved baby woolly mammoth shows that it died in an “oxygen-deprived environment” that...

On Friday, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dismissed critics of federal funding of life-killing embryonic stem-cell research with this argument: “We’ve had a situation where it’s faith or science — take your pick,” Pelosi said about how the administration of George W. Bush allegedly dealt with the funding issue and other hot-button issues that involve making moral choices about scientific research. “We’re saying science is an answer to our prayers.” Added Pelosi, “We need science, science, science, science, science.” At his Secondhand Smoke blog, bioethicist Wesley Smith demolishes Pelosi’s claim that embryonic stem-cell research represents state-of-the-art science. In fact,...

Read these stories and much more by clicking the excerpt link below: 1. Wall Street Journal: “Hong Kong Christens an Ark of Biblical Proportions” 2. ScienceNOW: “Our Ancestors Were No Swingers” 3. National Geographic News: “First Tool Users Were Sea Scorpions?” 4. LiveScience: “Three Subgroups of Neanderthals Identified” 5. BBC News: “Stem Cells ‘Can Treat Diabetes’” (adult stem cells, that is...) 6. New Scientist: “Praying to God Is Like Talking to a Friend” And much much more at...

We thought we'd heard some wild diet tips floating around health-obsessed Hollywood. But this takes the cake. According to MomLogic.com, a woman
 named Chrissy Schilling had her first baby over the weekend. And she and her sister celebrated by cooking and serving up the placenta. They put it on pasta and into a panini sandwich and posted some photos of the meals on a Facebook page

. According to Chrissy's sister Kathy Schilling's recommendations and recipe,
 the placenta -- full of lingering blood, vitamins, hormones -- is nourishing for the baby during pregnancy, but the nutrients are also good for moms...

Here’s Josh Brahm explaining this “Oprah” spot, in which Dr. Oz comes out against embryonic stem-cell research on scientific grounds (Warning: In it he handles, pokes and slices a real human brain).  Catholics remember sadly that Michael J. Fox was a huge proponent of clone-and-kill stem-cell research. How ironic that President Obama, who claims to want to “follow science” is funding precisely the kind of research that the medical community is abandoning. See Josh Brahm’s essay “9 Things the Media Messed Up About the Obama Stem Cell Story.”On the “Oprah” show, Dr. Mehmet Oz handles the brain of a 50-year-old...

VIDEO: Obama bans funding for Adult Stem Cell Research behind closed doors CONTRADICTING his own speeches! More stem cell info at http://StemCellAnswers.com.

Obama’s anti-life ideology ... Obama is not opposed to restricting adult stem cell research, because the same executive order which gives funding to embryonic stem cell research takes away funding from adult stem cell research. This is a senseless move on the part of the president; the only stem cell research he is interested in funding is precisely the most dangerous kind, the only kind that a large segment of the population is opposed to on moral grounds, and the only one that has consistently failed to produce the promised ‘miracle cure’ results. If he were really concerned about life-saving...

On Wednesday, President Obama signed a law that bans federal funding of any research that leads to the destruction of human embryos just two days after lifting Bush-era restraints on it. President Obama may have abolished contentious Bush-era restraints on federal funding of stem cell research on Monday, but a legislative obstacle still remains for scientists seeking more money. A spending bill that Obama signed on Wednesday explicitly bans federal funding of any "research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death," language that pertains to creation of new...

I'm really never going to get over how much fun this charade is to watch. On Monday, the glorious b. Hussein proclaimed how he hit "select all, delete, save" (for you original Mac folks) on the Bush administration executive order banning embryonic stem cell research. Then on Wednesday, b. signed the $410 billion omnibus bill, so his socialist soul train could roll on through the end of the fiscal year. Not to be outdone, he took to the pulpit (reading from his Golden Teleprompter, of course) and chastised lawmakers (particularly those supposed "Republicans," who, we admit with grinding teeth, disgustingly...

The article says that the stem cell debate which claims those in favor are enlightened and those opposed benighted is a triumph of propaganda over journalism. It cites many medical researchers who are oppposed. http://www.thebulletin.us/articles/2009/03/12/top_stories/doc49b8ed8396a14904658428.txt

Who would be against finding better ways of treating hypothermia or malaria? What monster would prevent us from discovering a cure for gangrene? Who is against better treatment for burns? Given the scarcity of fresh water in many parts of the world, can we find ways of putting seawater to human use? And who knows what useful science can result from the study of twins? Somehow, at one time and place, certain experiments designed to find the answers to these worthy questions were found to be a crime against humanity. But thanks to the policies of the Obama administration, these...

COLUMNS Wednesday, 11 March 2009 Obama Proposes a Toast By William Saunders    In 1942, C. S. Lewis published The Screwtape Letters, advice from a senior “tempter” to a novice about how to confuse us poor mortals, which may be summed up in a single sentence: “Your job is to fuddle them, not to encourage them to think.” In 1959, Screwtape appears again, in an essay titled, “Screwtape Proposes a Toast,” in which the senior tempter reflects on the state of the world and on what can be done to make it even worse. Those who listened to President Obama’s...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's lifting of restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research puts him at odds with Pope Benedict and the American Roman Catholic Church. After Obama signed the order on Monday, the Vatican and U.S. Church leaders condemned the move. One commentator said the test of "a real democracy" was its defense of the most defenseless. Obama's executive order reversed and repudiated restrictions placed on the research by his predecessor, George W. Bush, freeing labs across the country to start working with the cells, which can give rise to any kind of...

Michael Harris, the NY Government Examiner, makes an emotional appeal in support of stem cell research, following President Obama's decision to end President Bush's ban on using taxpayer funds for such research. As many such appeals do, it relies on personal experience and emotion over a reasoned discussion of the proper role of the federal government. I have early-onsent generalized dystonia, a severe neurological disorder and have used a wheelchair since I was nine years old. Stem cell research is considered one of the best chances of finding new and better treatments for dystonia and ultimately developing a cure. At...

Stem Cells Does Their Origin Matter? Preserving life—it is extremely important in the Christian faith. But what is the biblical definition of life, and how does this definition affect stem cell research?God clearly commands in Exodus 20:13: “You shall not murder [the intentional, predatory killing of another]” (NIV; see also Matthew 19:18; Romans 13:9). A big controversy today is that of determining when life begins. In the field of embryonic stem cell research (ESCR), this determination is especially crucial. Because technology is advancing faster than society’s ethics, we are left to solve such dilemmas in the midst of active...

VATICAN CITY: The Vatican's newspaper is reiterating Catholic teaching that embryonic stem cell research is immoral as President Barack Obama prepares to lift a federal funding limit on such work. L'Osservatore Romano wrote Saturday that such research in the eyes of the Catholic church is "deeply immoral" and lamented that U.S. taxpayers' money will help fund embryonic stem cell research. Catholic teaching holds that life begins at conception and opposes research involving destruction of human embryos. The Vatican's newspaper quoted from a condemnation issued last year by U.S. bishops who expressed worry that there will be "no stopping point" if...

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Jewish groups applauded President Obama's decision to lift the executive order restricting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. "We wholeheartedly thank President Obama for his action on this important issue," Hadassah national president Nancy Falchuk said of Monday's decision. "Those suffering from debilitating diseases and disorders for which stem cell research holds great promise now have a renewed sense of hope, and we are optimistic for the future of embyronic stem cell research." Falchuk also urged Congress to "continue working on this issue" so that federal funds are "completely accessible" for such research. The Orthodox Union...