philosophicSCARY "I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe – I believe what I believe is right." – Gee Dubya, Rome, July 22, 2001
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politics COMMENTwhat's mine is mine and what's your's is mine tooAugust 27, 2001 Embryonic stem cells. The average person has no idea what they are or how they can be used in research and I guarantee Gee Dubya doesn't either. But in an effort to straddle the political fence he has declared that only established lines of stem cells can be used in federally funded research. Good one George, you're a regular Solomon in the White House. GW's 'thinking' is that the embryos that produced established lines are already dead so no new embryos will be 'murdered' making more, which sort of pleases his anti-abortion folks, but not really. And since the cells can be replicated, research can continue, which sort of pleases rational folks, but not really. What it actually means is that the companies that own existing stem cell lines are now the exclusive providers of stem cells for federally funded research... whether they want to be or not. GW basically sold stem cells that he has no right to sell. It's a bit like the time he sold submarines to Taiwan that we don't own and cannot produce. Oops! And what if the companies that own the identified stem cell lines decide they don't feel like selling them? Wouldn't that mean that only they would be eligible for federal funds in stem cell research? Why sell your cells to your competitors when the government just declared you a monopoly? And if no one else can get federal funds for stem cell research without your cells, wouldn't a lot more be available to you? I suspect the list of companies that own stem cell lines now figure heavily in Republican investment portfolios... but that's just a guess and a cynical one at that. It seems our Resident has a hard time with the concept of ownership. Seems he thinks he owns everything. You can't sell submarines that you don't own. You can't make companies that own stem cells sell them if they don't want. I guess that would also explain why he has no problem letting his friends' private companies extract natural resources from public lands that theoretically belong to all of us (in our arrogant human sense of ownership anyway). We all own the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge but when the oil starts flowing don't expect any royalty checks in the mail. And on a global scale I guess it explains why GW doesn't care that we pollute the whole world. He figures its his and he can do with it as he pleases. I wonder how GW would react if I sold his ranch in Texas. I'll bet I could make a nifty profit on it since I didn't have to pay for it in the first place. Think he'd mind? – dave © Copyright iriguchi 2001 |
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