Trekking through concern over mortality, morality (stem cell)

[BR_Parkway]

Diana Schaub, a Loyola College professor and adviser to President Bush, is convinced that cloning and embryonic stem cell research are evil. She says this belief was formed, in part, by watching Star Trek.

<snip>

Her interest in mortality and Star Trek could be regarded as the quirks of an academic if not for her position on the President's Council on Bioethics, a 18-member panel that advises Bush on some of the most polarizing subjects in society.

She has likened embryonic research to slavery and has compared slacker students to lawless American soldiers in Iraq. Administration critics faulted her appointment to the council last year, saying she would push a conservative agenda.

<snip>

"Cloning is an evil," she wrote in an article published in 2003. "It is slavery, plus abortion."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-md.schaub19mar19,1,3619533.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

{registration site, bugmenot.com works though)

[LiberalinNC]

1. LMAO - Based on Star Trek!

Wouldn't it be funny (not in a haha way) if after Terri dies, they found that stem cell could have saved her life.

[HockeyMom]

2. Regrow brain tissue?

I guess maybe stem cell research might someday. Maybe they should just freeze her? Solve everything. lol

[Coastie for Truth]

3. I am a PhD in the chemical sciences - and I say she is full of shit

And my theological studies have convinced me that according to the precepts of my faith - stem cell research is permitted.

1. Stem Cell Research in Jewish Law by Rabbi Daniel Eisenberg, MD, http://www.jlaw.com/Articles/stemcellres.html

2. Is the destruction of preexisting pre-embryos permitted for stem cell research? by Rabbi Daniel Eisenberg, MD http://www.aish.com/societyWork/sciencenature/Is_Stem_Cell_Research_Ethical$.asp

3. Letter To President Bush by the UNION of ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA and the RABBINICAL COUNCIL OF AMERICA re Jewish Position On Stem Cell Research, http://www.ou.org/public/statements/2001/nate34.htm

So, when Diana Schaub, a political science professor (not even a chemist, or biochemist) and an AEI scholar (and her PhD is from University of Chicago - of Leo Strauss and Paul Wolfowitz fame) says this stuff - I say "bull shit".

And I have a PhD in the Chemical Sciences (ok - chemical engineering) plus 18 recent credits in biochemistry at Stanford and Cal State San Jose. So I am better qualified then she is.