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# 145 Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - TALENT CAVES, FRIST FUMBLES: BAD WEEK FOR PARTY OF ELEPHANT Folks, please send me news about Republicans taking a stand IN FAVOR of embryonic stem cell research. I want to know, so I can report it here. Although I am proud to be a Democrat, I respect Republicans; I also like elephants. Once, in the 1986 political struggle to save Marine World Africa USA, a group of we the employees put a message on a piece of paper and let our elephant Judy hold it. President Reagan was coming to visit nearby Redwood City. The idea was to let the symbol of the Republican party give the President the message, inviting him to help Marine World stay alive, rather than be evicted from the premises in Redwood City. (We had no legal leg to stand on; a multi-national corporation had bought the land-we just wanted time to gradually relocate, rather than instant eviction.) The elephant's name was Judy. She and I had a history. One early morning, I had walked by her open "pen" and there she was, the most beautiful baby elephant-well, a pre-adolescent elephant. Judy was already about six feet tall. But so appealing: long eyelashes, swaying head, irresistible, and I asked the trainer if I could climb over the low electrified fence (a wire with a mild shock, common in zoos, irritating but not harmful) and he said sure, come ahead. She was a whole lot bigger up close. Instantly her prehensile trunk began to search me all over, looking for a carrot or an apple in my pocket, which trainers liked to do, just to give her a little fun. I forgot about my rubber diver shoes, (called booties) which I had stuck under my armpit to free my hands to pat her. She snatched the booties, put them in her mouth, began to chew. "Hey, elephant, don't eat my shoes!" She spit them out, and looked at me. The emotion I felt, rightly or wrongly, was: you tried to poison me, didn't you. The huge head filled my field of vision. Judy lifted, and threw me through the air. I landed on my back on the electrified wire. Felt a sudden shock-bzzzzzzt-- then my falling weight broke the connection. I rolled over quick and replaced the wire, so it looked like it was still working, because Judy wanted to play some more. The trainer got the shoes back for me, but I kept my distance from Judy after that. Unfortunately, so did the President. His folks saw through our little trick, and he never got anywhere near our elephant. Unfortunately, the current Republican leadership (at least in the Senate and White House) seems to be doing something similar, shying away from research it should overwhelmingly support. More and more, it seems there is a party in favor of stem cell research, and a party whose leadership is trying to block it: donkeys for, elephants against. That is not right. Supporting research is an absolute natural for the core constituencies of both parties. Republicans understand the importance of the free enterprise system, the economic engines that drive the country and make all progress possible; Democrats are maybe better on issues of the heart. Both sides are vital. Unfortunately, this was not a good week for the party of the elephant, in terms of stem cell research. First, Bill Frist somehow did not think stem cell research had anything to do with health, which is fairly astonishing when you think about it. Next week is National Health Week. What more perfect week to fulfill a year-delayed promise to let House Resolution 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act go forward? Politics got in the way. Despite many promises, it seems the Republican leadership in the Senate is trying to avoid bringing up the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which passed the House of Representatives twelve long months ago. Sadly, too, folks in wheelchairs and hospital beds (not to mention their families) do not realize their power. If we did, there would be no question about the research. With one third of the American people suffering from incurable illness or injury, we should absolutely dominate on this issue. If the Republican party chooses to throw away its chance to help one hundred million Americans, ease suffering, save lives, and lower the medical costs that strangle our country-that is a decision they will have to live with, come election time. But it really is a mistake. Secondly, Missouri Senator Jim Talent caved in to the pressures of the religious right, by coming out - brace yourself-against a law which allowed Missouri to use stem cell research already legal in America. All this talk about Talent reconsidering his position on research was just that-talk. Even his announcement of his retreat was politically helpful to the anti-research opposition. It came on the day when Missouri overwhelmingly qualified the law for the ballot-almost twice as many people signed the petition as was needed. This despite a full-court press by Missouri's Catholic Church (in what seems to me a complete violation of the Constitutional separation of church and state) to defeat the bill, even going so far as setting up helpers to show how to remove people's names from the signature list. They got a whole 45 un-signatures that way. A recent poll shows strong majorities of American Catholics not only are in favor of embryonic stem cell research right now, but also want the next Pope to relax the Church's standards on stem cell research. Across the country, Americans in every walk of life support embryonic stem cell research by huge majorities. Our numbers are through the roof. In Missouri and Kansas, despite multi-year campaigns against the new science, roughly 70% support embryonic stem cell research, including SCNT (Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, sometimes called therapeutic cloning.) We understand that the only way to provide affordable health care is to develop cure. What a mistake to deny a hearing for the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act! Remember, this is a very shy little bill, modest in its goals, almost bashful-all it says is that when frozen embryos from IVF clinics are slated to be thrown away, they could be used for government-funded research-HR 810 has no SCNT component in it at all, nor even any actual funding dollars. If it was any more conservative, it could not exist. Unfortunately, President Bush opposes even that, and has threatened to veto it. Perhaps because the elections are coming up, and GOP leadership hopes to avoid a bruising argument, the bill may not be allowed to even reach the floor. How could I think such a ridiculous thought? A recent letter was sent to Senator Bill Frist (majority leader in the Senate) asking him to keep his promise and allow the bill to reach the floor-- not a single Republican signed the letter. Stem cell research does not have to be a wedge issue. On this one issue, can we not find common ground? None of us can afford truly comprehensive health care; not with total health car costs exceeding three trillion ($1.4 trillion out of pocket medical expenditures, $1.7 trillion indirect costs, like lost wages). This staggering amount exceeds total federal tax receipts ($2 trillion)-even if we gave every penny of federal tax collections to medical costs, it would not be enough. The only solution is research for cure. Forward-looking business folks with the GOP know this. They also see the practical benefits of stem cell research- biomedical jobs, and profits to make America's business engines run- one reason why Prop 71 got such wonderful support from our state's Chambers of Commerce. And on one issue there is no separation: we all love our families, and want them safe. Right wing or left wing, Republican or Democrat-on this issue, let us work together. The eagle needs two wings to fly. By Don Reed, www.stemcellbattles.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn