Yet Another Bush "Veto on America" As He Wages Bloody War on Science

Grrrrrr.... What is even MORE infuriating is that we've seen examples of several cases where the rabid rightwingers who fight against any use of embryonic stem cells (taken only from those that would be lost anyway) then turned around and used their OWN money and their OWN clout to seek the benefits FROM those stem cells. These, the same folks demanding that embryos that are barely more than a few cells deserve far more right to life than the women carrying them or the fully-cooked human beings who could benefit from REAL science. From Think Progress:

Today, President Bush issued the third veto of his presidency on legislation expanding funding for embryonic stem cell research, which recently passed Congress with a bipartisan, overwhelming majority.

Faced with the opposition of nearly two-thirds of Americans, White House spokesperson Tony Snow today attempted to spin the veto as a positive development. Snow claimed that Bush has a “unique and unprecedented role” in supporting stem cell research, and attacked critics for “misstating” the administration’s policies, claiming that Bush was in fact “putting science before ideology.”

In an attempt to drum up support for less potent alternatives to embryonic stem cell research, Snow falsely characterized the science behind stem cell research, claiming scientists “are not even entirely sure about what the possible benefits of embryonic stem cells [are].”

Just another loud, arrogant, and infinitely harmful "Fuck You" from the White House we pay to abuse us.

Gee, is Tony Snow, battling colon cancer, using stem cell treatments or at least using doctors willing to explore this? I (sadly) would not be surprised.

Yeah, Bush's War on Science is as well founded in fact and executed just as effectively as his other wars (on health care as a whole, on public education, on reason, on brown people not named Alberto Gonzales, to name a few).

Sidenote: Giant Bird-Like Dinosaur Fossil Found In China

Some put the fossil at about 70 million years old which, for the group of scientists who believe the Earth completely reshapes itself every 75 million years or so, might be of concern since it could mean the end of humans is indeed near (and perhaps the Rapture-End of the World crowd might want to stop reading those stupid books and remember how to spell science - s-c-i-e-n-c-e).

If the dinosaurs couldn't survive the changes on earth 70-75 million years ago, what chance do fat Republicans from Texas running their air conditioning 24/7/365 even while they're out driving in their Humvees stand?

Is The Search For Stem Cells With The Superior Qualities of Embryonic Stem Cells May Be Very Close

Researchers reported this week that they think they may be much closer to finding a good way to take very ordinary cells and morph them into the far more valuable embryonic stem cells that happen to work the best for treatment of various medical crises.

Obviously, the radical right fundamentalist extremists do not want ANY embryonic stem cells used (unless, of course, such cells would help cure their own health problems) because using such cells for anything more than creating a Bush-voter-load of snowflake babies is an abomination against God. Despite how many Republicans, including fundamentalist GOPers and the likes of Nancy Reagan believe very strongly that stem cell research and use is critically important, Bush and Congress and Washington as a whole ignores them. Indeed, they ignore these intelligent folks much as they ignore any other majority (like the number who want us out of Iraq, who don't want war with Iran, those who think Bush and Cheney are incredibly corrupt).

"Flock of Dodos": Delusional Design v. Evolution

If you have SHOWTIME, they’re running a good documentary called “Flocks of Dodos” (mind you, I see it referred to with both singular and plural “flock”) about the intelligent design perpetrators and how poorly (if at all) they answer any of the multitude of questions their "theory" raises.

Is Tennessee Looking To Reprise the Scopes "Monkey" Trial on Evolution?

Looks like in this piece from the Nashville Post. I do worry, however, that such a "stunt" could turn around and bite not just Tennessee but the U.S. which, under Bush, seems to have rolled the War on Science into the War on Terror:

Somewhere in heaven, John T. Scopes is watching the Tennessee Senate. Either that or he was reincarnated as a monkey and is too busy peeling bananas.

A Tennessee State Senate member has filed a resolution asking the Tennessee Department of Education to address a few basic questions about life, the universe and all that:

* "Is the universe and all that is within it, including human beings, created through purposeful, intelligent design by a Supreme Being, that is a Creator?"
* "Since the universe, including human beings, is created by a supreme being (a creator), why is creationism not taught in Tennessee public schools?
* "Since it cannot be determined whether the universe, including human beings, is created by a supreme being (a creator), why is creationism not taught as an alternative concept, explanation, or theory, along with the theory of evolution in Tennessee public schools?"

State Sen. Raymond Finney (R-Maryville), a retired physician, is asking the Senate to endorse his questions to the Department of Education, and for the department to come back with a response by January 15, 2008.

The evolution of this argument has deep Tennessee roots, going back to the famous "Monkey Trial" in 1925.

In 1925, business leaders in the Rhea County town of Dayton decided to test the Butler Act which stated, "... that it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the universities, normals and all other public schools of the state which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the state, to teach any theory that denies the story of the divine creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals."

Dayton's city leaders felt that by challenging the act they would put the town on the map and it would be good for commerce, no matter what the verdict was. They convinced Rhea County football coach and substitute teacher John T. Scopes to teach a class on evolution in order to bring about a jury trial.

In short order, legendary barristers William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow descended on the town to argue the law and the case.

Is anyone besides me getting VERY tired of having to explain why that which has some real physical proof should get higher billing than that which cannot be seen?