Thank God it is a democracy. And you should know what to do in Nov4
election.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nina P. Brown" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2004 9:07 PM
Subject: FW: Bush has declared war on the majority of American citizens!


> President Bush has declared war on the health and well-being of all
> Americans!
> Earlier this month 60 leading scientists and philosophers, including Nobel
> laureates, backed a Union of Concerned Scientists report that accused the
> Bush administration of distorting scientific advice to fit ideological
> goals.
> The following article taken from yesterday's Washington Post reported that
> Bush dismissed two members of his handpicked Council on Bioethics -- a
> scientist and a moral philosopher who had been among the more outspoken
> advocates for research on human embryo cells.
> In their places he appointed three new members, including a doctor who has
> called for more religion in public life, a political scientist who has
> spoken out precisely against the research that the dismissed members
> supported and another who has written about the immorality of abortion and
> the "threats of biotechnology."
> It's apparent that this "advisory" council is not constituted to discuss
and
> debate all aspects of scientific and ethical views on biomedical research.
> Rather, they have been selected to reinforce the President's
predetermined,
> ideological views.
> What ever happened to the concept of government by, for and of the people?
> He was elected to be and promised to be the president of all the people
and
> by law, he is.   His philosophy is "don't bother me with facts, my mind is
> already made up."  As our elected leader, President Bush owes it to the
> millions of people affected by this decision to consider all sides of the
> question.
> Our President borders on being as righteously sure of his positions as the
> terrorists are of theirs.  This philosophy borders on being a threat to
> democracy.
> +++
> Bush Ejects Two From Bioethics Council
> Changes Renew Criticism That the President Puts Politics Ahead of Science
> By Rick Weiss
> Washington Post
> Saturday, February 28, 2004; Page A06
> President Bush yesterday dismissed two members of his handpicked Council
on
> Bioethics -- a scientist and a moral philosopher who had been among the
more
> outspoken advocates for research on human embryo cells.
> In their places he appointed three new members, including a doctor who has
> called for more religion in public life, a political scientist who has
> spoken out precisely against the research that the dismissed members
> supported, and another who has written about the immorality of abortion
and
> the "threats of biotechnology."
> The turnover immediately renewed a recent string of accusations by
> scientists and others that Bush is increasingly allowing politics to trump
> science as he seeks advice on ethically contentious issues.
> Last week, a Washington-based interest group released a report detailing
> what it called many examples of the administration distorting the
scientific
> process to achieve desired policy answers relating to pollution, embryo
> research and other topics. Some in Congress, led by Rep. Henry A. Waxman
> (D-Calif.), have also been getting vocal on the topic, as have academics,
> scientific organizations and science journal editors.
> One of the dismissed members, Elizabeth Blackburn, is a renowned biologist
> at the University of California at San Francisco. She said she received a
> call yesterday morning from someone in the White House personnel office.
> "He said the White House had decided to make some changes on the council.
He
> wanted to express his gratitude and said I'd no longer be on the council,"
> Blackburn said.
> She said she had no warning and had not heard from the council's director,
> University of Chicago ethicist Leon Kass. She said she believed she was
let
> go because her political views do not match those of the president and of
> Kass, with whom she has often been at odds at council meetings.
> "I think this is Bush stacking the council with the compliant," Blackburn
> said.
> The other dismissed member, William May, an emeritus professor of ethics
at
> Southern Methodist University, is a highly respected scholar whose views
on
> embryo research and other topics had also run counter to those of
> conservative council members. Efforts to reach him last night were
> unsuccessful.
> Asked why Blackburn and May had been let go, White House spokeswoman Erin
> Healy said the two members' terms had expired in January, and they were on
> "holdover status." Asked whether, in fact, all the council members' terms
> had formally expired in January, she said they had.
> Pressed on why Blackburn and May had been singled out for dismissal, she
> said: "We've decided to go ahead and appoint other individuals with
> different expertise and experience." She would not elaborate further.
> Kass, who has written prolifically about biotechnology's toll on human
> dignity and was selected by Bush to head the council, was traveling
> yesterday and could not be reached.
> Bush created the council by executive order in 2001 to "advise the
President
> on bioethical issues that may emerge as a consequence of advances in
> biomedical science and technology." He recently renewed its commission for
> another two years.
> The group of scholars, scientists, theologians and others has produced
> several reports, including ones on human cloning, stem cell research and
the
> use of biotechnology to enhance human beings. But the council has often
> found it difficult to reach consensus on issues.
> The three new appointees are Benjamin Carson, the high-profile director of
> pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University; Diana Schaub, chairman
> of the department of political science at Loyola College in Maryland; and
> Peter Lawler, a professor of government at Berry College in Georgia. All
are
> respected members of their fields. And their writings suggest their
tenures
> will be less contentious than their predecessors'.
> When not performing some of the most difficult surgeries in the world,
> Carson is a motivational speaker who often invokes religion and the Bible
> and has lamented that "we live in a nation where we can't talk about God
in
> public."
> Schaub has effusively praised Kass and his work. In a 2002 public forum
> discussing the council's cloning report, she talked about research in
which
> embryos are destroyed as "the evil of the willful destruction of innocent
> human life."
> In a book review in the conservative Weekly Standard in late 2002, Lawler
> warned that if the United States does not soon "become clear as a nation
> that abortion is wrong," then women will eventually be compelled to abort
> genetically defective babies.
> Michael Gazzaniga, a Dartmouth neuroscientist who sits on the council,
said
> he was "upset" by Blackburn's ejection.
> "She was one of the basic scientists who understood the biology of many of
> the issues we're talking about," Gazzaniga said. "It will be a loss for
> sure."
> Research editor Margot Williams contributed to this report.
>
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