Dear Frank:
You tell me that,
" I need help. I need hope. I need guidance on dealing with this terrible
disease. I don't need political opinions. I don't need religious views.
I
don't want to see people I care about and respect insulted. I don't want
to
see my religious, political and personal views depicted as evil. I will
keep them to myself and seek the help and understanding of all here. I
will
provide the same to all regardless of their political or religious
beliefs."
Try telling this to the Bush Aministration. And see what kind of
response you get from them.
Let us put your emotional approach to this problem and look at the
facts.
We are here for a unified cause of finding a cure for PD. PD affects of
all faiths, caste, color, party.
You might know already that there is no cure for PD.
The only reasonable hope for permanent cure will come from studies on
stem cells. This field is at its infancy. What the current government is
trying to do is to stop this field of research right at its infancy not only
in USA; but it is also trying to stop the avancement of this field of
science in the whole world through United Nations. If they have their way,
even if there is a stem-cell based cure is developed in a foreign country,
if any of the Americans get stem cell therapy, they will be subjected to
criminal action when they return to America! "Bush has declared war on the
majority of American citizens!" is an understatement. They are working
against the well being of humanity at large, both the present and the future
generations!
Nobody is against Bush; but we sure don't like the way this government
acts towards science in general and especially towards stem cell research.
We shoud have the courage to speak out when something that is basically
wrong as this. I don't see anything selfish about this. Stem cell therapy
is the best thing that has come out of science and its usefulness spreads
far beyond curing PD.
I have stated my position. I will not post anymore on this subject.
Raj
*****************
>
> > 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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