Hello,
A few days ago the Wisconsin legislature finally passed its budget,
and sent the budget to the governor. The media. particularly the television
news reports, and even in very catholic Green Bay, have designated the
legislature as being in support of stem cell research, have described the
budget as a victory for stem cell research , and have touted the University
of Wisconsin-Madison as being the pioneer, the leader, in stem cell research.
Very interesting. The main Green Bay newspaper, and the television
stations, only discovered stem cells and stem cell research about two weeks
ago, and the media here do not routinely cover state legislative matters. (I
find out what is going on with the state by going online with the Milwaukee
paper). A few weeks ago a female legislator from Green Bay received
considerable state and local coverage, and I think national coverage as well,
for her strong, vocal support of a proposal in the state budget to ban stem
cell research. This legislator was interviewed as part of the Green Bay
paper's coverage of the passage of the budget, and she was represented, at
the end of a long, pro-stem -cell-research article, as being in support of
the budget as passed and as stating that her pet projects were included in
the budget. I don't know what she said to the reporter, but nothing was
mentioned in that portion of the article about about her and stem cells, stem
cell research, or her support of the ban against stem cell research. I think
I remember an editorial in the Green Bay paper which was in favor of stem
cell research, but I am not certain because I have been reading so many
articles about stem cells. I do remember a cartoon, on the editorial page,
done by the paper's own editorial artist; that cartoon was in favor stem cell
research and directly confronted the position of anti-abortionists against
stem cell research. There was an anti-abortion demonstration in Green Bay
after the passage of the budget, but the paper buried its coverage of the
demonstration in the back of the first section of the newspaper, and the
paper never made any connection to stem cells or the passage of the budget.
The Pope, who is very popular in Green Bay, received front page coverage for
his meeting with President Bush, but the Pope's subsequent statement to Bush
was buried also.
What occurred in the Wisconsin state legislature was that a budget
proposal to ban stem cell research was not passed, was deleted from the state
budget. My understanding is that there is nothing in the budget now as
passed by the legislature about stem cells or stem cell research. That meant
that the new governor, who appears to favor the ban against stem cell
research, cannot exercise his line item veto power to quash stem cell
research or to support the anti-stem cell research lobby. When looking at
legislative history to interpret the meaning of a law, the courts look at,
among other things, whether or not a specific provision of the law was not
passed, was defeated on the legislative floor. I don't think it is general
practice for the media to promote a defeated provision of a law as a sign of
favorable legislative support for an idea or a program.
This is very conservative, catholic Green Bay, Wisconsin. Politics is
always politics. But the media, it surprises me sometimes. Obviously it is
favorable to supporters of stem cell research to have the media in Green Bay,
and I think elsewhere in the state of Wisconsin, to put stem cell research in
a favorable light--and don't forget those innovative researchers, a source of
state pride, toiling away at the University of Wisconsin, who have also been
put in a favorable light as well. There have been postings before, on this
list, about editorial slants in the writing, editing, and presentation of
newspaper articles on stem cells and stem cell research. We all know it goes
on in the media, all forms of the media. The media have a lot of power, and
I don't mind my fellow Green Bayites, Packer backers, whatever we are called,
to hear in the evening news or to read in the morning papers that the state
legislature favors stem cell research and that the state is on the cutting
edge of stem cell research. Maybe, some progress, at last. What a relief!
I thought that our state legislature just might, as part of the budget, pass
the ban against stem cell research. I think I see here in Green Bay, and
elsewhere across the country, a turning of the tide where more and more
people are supporting stem cell research as a potential treatment, as a
potential cure against various diseases, including Parkinson's Disease. I
hope that my observation is valid. And thanks to Murray, Linda H., Ray on
the Prairie Abyss, and whoever else, for putting stem cell material on the
list. Katie
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