Politics

First off I just have to say, I am so sick of these political ads! If you were to believe everything they say neither candidate should be in office, and probably should be in prison. I am voting Republican because of many issues, among them taxes, pro-life, social security, and defence. I actually think we should have a national sales tax. If it were an accross-the-board 1 cent tax we would have more money for the government because everyone, regardless of income or loopholes, would pay the tax.

I agree with President Bush and his stance on stem cell research. Fetal stem cells are not needed for research. Adult stem cells have proven to be more effective at treating disease than embryonic cells. This is a link to a Web site called Do No Harm: The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics http://www.stemcellresearch.org/

This is from Forbes.com:

Steve Forbes, 09.06.04, 12:00 AM ET

Celling Out the Truth

John Kerry is making a big issue of stem cell research, claiming the Bush Administration's restrictions are cruelly delaying cures for Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries and other afflictions. This is misleading and dishonest. No one questions the use of adult, or nonembryonic, stem cells for medical research and cures. There is no moral issue here. Stem cells are relatively easy to obtain, one of the biggest sources being umbilical cords. The debate is over those harvested by killing embryos. Three years ago the President rightly banned the destruction of new embryos for stem cell research, believing that creating a life for the purpose of destroying it for therapeutic ends is profoundly wrong. But he opened the door for federal funding to projects using already harvested stem cells. And there is no ban on privately funded efforts. It is an unquestionable scientific fact that human beings begin life as embryos; that's the first stage in our development. From there, we grow to fetus, to infant, to child, to adolescent, to adult. We wouldn't tolerate the idea of killing children or adults to obtain various body parts for medical purposes. So--morally, philosophically--why should a human at the very start of life be treated like a pig raised for insulin? (Listening to his opponents, you'd never know that the President already crossed that line.) While Britain is now granting licenses to use cloning techniques to create embryos for "harvesting," other nations, including France, Germany, Austria and Ireland, have totally banned the creation of embryos for stem cell research. Stem cells derived from nonembryonic sources have already produced heartening medical advances and have saved thousands of lives. So why the focus on embryonic stem cells? Good question. Results from embryonic stem cell experiments have often been disastrous, which is why private research money is overwhelmingly going to areas involving nonembryonic stem cells. It may be that embryonic researchers want to use a little demagoguery to get their hands on more federal funds. Or perhaps certain pro-choice advocates figure their cause would be buttressed if someday we became dependent on harvesting stem cells from embryos for medical purposes. No matter the rationale, the issue, as advanced by the Democrats, is disquietingly, ethically off-base.