Two on stem cells, one really good and the other (for obvious reasons if you think about it) even better
“Stem Cell Ruling Could Focus Funding on Treatments by Dr. David Prentice and David Christensen for Human Events.
“But what does the ruling mean for patients if it remains and NIH must stop funding all hESC [human Embryonic stem cell] research? Since only adult stem cells are being used to treat patients, it clearly frees up millions more dollars for such adult stem cell treatments. These stem cells, including cord blood stem cells, are uncontroversial and currently treating thousands of patients. . . .hESC have been used to treat no one, have controllability problems leading to tumors, and have the ethical baggage of coming from destroyed embryos.
It is true that the federal government is funding adult stem cell research. But it could do much more. It may require legislation to push the government, still bent on funding embryonic stem cell research, to put patient treatments first. The bipartisan legislation called the Patients First Act (H.R. 877), sponsored by Rep. Randy Forbes (R.-Va.) and Rep. Dan Lipinski (D.-Ill.), would do just that.” More . . .
“The Battle Is Far from Over” (Life Issues Forum column) by Mary McClusky for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
“The promise of ethical adult stem cell research is real, and the battle to prevent federal funding of experimentation on the smallest of our brothers and sisters is far from over. Each of us is obligated to share the Gospel of Life and to declare that the life of each and every human being, regardless of his or her stage of development or condition of dependency, is a priceless gift and worthy of our protection.” More . . .
“Abstinence program in China a milestone for U.S. evangelicals” by William Wan in the Washington Post
“If all goes according to plan, this fall a girl somewhere in China’s Yunnan province will tell her boyfriend she can’t have sex with him. And he’ll have an abstinence program from the United States to thank.
In Yunnan schools this year, teachers are being trained with a sex education curriculum created by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family. The agreement with the Yunnan ministry of education is a milestone for Focus on the Family, which has struggled for four years to make inroads on abstinence in China.” More . . .
“Scandal at Justice: Enabling vote fraud: Whistleblower blocks epidemic of dead voters” Washington Times editorial
“The dead voters may be forced back into their graves. The biggest scandal emerging from the infamous New Black Panther voter- intimidation case didn’t even involve the Black Panthers. Instead, it came when whistleblowing attorney J. Christian Adams told the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that top Justice Department official Julie Fernandes had openly refused to enforce laws that require states to remove ineligible names – dead people, felons, people who have moved – from voter rolls.
‘We have no interest in enforcing this provision of the law,’ Ms. Fernandes reportedly told a roomful of employees of the department’s Voting Section in November. ‘It has nothing to do with increasing turnout, and we are just not going to do it.’” More . . .
“A class to die for: Zombies 101 at U. Baltimore” by the Associated Press
“Call it Zombies 101. The University of Baltimore is offering a new class on the undead.
The course is being taught by Arnold Blumberg, the author of a book on zombie movies, “Zombiemania,” and the curator of Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, which focuses on American pop culture. Students taking English 333 will watch 16 classic zombie films and read zombie comics. As an alternative to a final research paper they may write scripts or draw storyboards for their ideal zombie flicks.
The university isn’t the first to have a class on the undead. Columbia College in Chicago has offered a course on Zombies in popular media for years, and at Simpson College in Iowa students spent the spring semester writing a book on ‘The History of the Great Zombie War.’”