List Members and Mary Ann,
I found the op-ed piece Mary Ann was referring to. I don't remember where I got it...it looks like the LA Times....I have Parkinson's disease, remember? It is very difficuilt for me to type, but in future will identify my sources. Under very disabling conditions I have been trying to abstract some of Diane's posts for you, and I really can't draw you a picture.
However it does say stem cells hold the "promise"....no wonder we will never see any progress, Ray
Fifty percent of people who live past 85 (the fastest-growing segment of our population) will be stricken with Alzheimer's. By 2030 the number of Alzheimer's patients will double from 4.5 million to 9 million. Even now it costs about $60 billion a year to treat Alzheimer's patients. Stem cell treatments hold the promise of reversing Alzheimer's, a cruel disease that steals one's ability even to remember loved ones. Diseases of dementia are among the fastest-growing health threats in the country.
The LA Times gives this quote: ' "We all want cures. We all want scientific cures. But there's this great pause about the notion of taking that young human life for the purposes of research," Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), a key abortion foe, said on CBS. '
Uh, Sam-- blastocytes are not "young human life," or at least not moreso than acorns are saplings. And nobody is taking a human life here, as defined by US law. Moreover, the stem cells to be used come from embryos produced by in vitro fertilization for other reasons. There is no instrumental connection between the abortion and the harvesting of the stem cells.
Despite the odd occurrence of the word "scientific" in Brownback's mouth, he is one of America's Taliban. As this website notes, "The fact is, Sam Brownback is a member of this "elect" cult and has co-sponsored Senate bill 520, designed to allow federal, state, and local government officials to overrule all other laws by appealing to the "higher source" of all law ("God") and to forbid the Supreme Court from doing anything about it."
The principle that the individual has a right by virtue of his belief in God and scripture to act as a vigilante and disregard governmental law also underpins all Muslim radicalism, from Sayyid Qutb to Ayman al-Zawahiri (who want their own sort of "Dominion.)"
----- Original Message -----
From: rayilynlee
To: parkinsn
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 10:11 AM
Subject: Future for Alzheimer's patients
Fifty percent of people who live past 85 (the fastest-growing segment of our population) will be stricken with Alzheimer's. By 2030 the number of Alzheimer's patients will double from 4.5 million to 9 million. Even now it costs about $60 billion a year to treat Alzheimer's patients. Stem cell treatments hold the promise of reversing Alzheimer's, a cruel disease that steals one's ability even to remember loved ones. Diseases of dementia are among the fastest-growing health threats in the country.
The LA Times gives this quote: ' "We all want cures. We all want scientific cures. But there's this great pause about the notion of taking that young human life for the purposes of research," Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), a key abortion foe, said on CBS. '
Uh, Sam-- blastocytes are not "young human life," or at least not moreso than acorns are saplings. And nobody is taking a human life here, as defined by US law. Moreover, the stem cells to be used come from embryos produced by in vitro fertilization for other reasons. There is no instrumental connection between the abortion and the harvesting of the stem cells.
Despite the odd occurrence of the word "scientific" in Brownback's mouth, he is one of America's Taliban. As this website notes, "The fact is, Sam Brownback is a member of this "elect" cult and has co-sponsored Senate bill 520, designed to allow federal, state, and local government officials to overrule all other laws by appealing to the "higher source" of all law ("God") and to forbid the Supreme Court from doing anything about it."
The principle that the individual has a right by virtue of his belief in God and scripture to act as a vigilante and disregard governmental law also underpins all Muslim radicalism, from Sayyid Qutb to Ayman al-Zawahiri (who want their own sort of "Dominion.)"
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