I’d just like to thank the Gipper and Nancy for providing me with this issue that probably won’t blow up in my face like everything else I’ve been saying has.

Posted by: JFKerry at June 14, 2004 10:23 AM

Oddly ironic, if you ask me. The hero of the Republican party had a chance to actually remember what he did if his own party had been more open to stem cell research.

Posted by: Max at June 14, 2004 01:31 PM

Wow Kerry actually found an issue!

Posted by: HullBreach at June 14, 2004 01:48 PM

No Hullbreach- Kerry’s running on the issue of Bush’s incompetance.

And Reagan- “This man died of a disease that isn’t being researched and treated for the exact same reasons that Reagan avoided dealing with AIDS, and that’s because of right-wing politics,”

Posted by: Loofa at June 14, 2004 02:46 PM

Loofa,

Get some knowledge! Your ignorance is showing again. CURRENT and suggested research projects using stem cells WILL NOT focus on Alzheimer’s.

It has NOTHING to do with Politics. It is about what is and is not feasible.

Posted by: Leaddog2 at June 14, 2004 02:57 PM

Leaddog if you knew anything you’d know that current research projects using stem cells don’t exist, Bush knocked them all out. And it has everything to do with politics, Bush and his right wingers believe that scientists will try to create human life from stem cells, and the Christian Right doesn’t want that which is why Bush is against it. People thought that mapping the Human Genome was impossible and it was done in years.

Posted by: Max at June 14, 2004 03:54 PM

No, Christians are against embryonic stem cell research because they think it will encourage abortion. It has very little, if anything, to do with creating clones.

Whether you agree with that or not, if you are going to pigeonhole people for their beliefs, at least get the beliefs right to begin with. (Does this statement sound at all familiar to you?)

Leaddog, what Bush did was limit the amount of stem cell lines to existing research. That was 78 different genetic lines of stem cells, of which 19 may be usable. Now because of a number of catastrophes with contamination, even those remaining lines may or may not be usable. Having said that, your other statement is not correct; there are a number of proposed studies using stem cells for Alzheimer’s research, both embryonic and non-embryonic, including a recent one published, I believe, in the British Medical Journal, where adult stem cells (not embryonic stem cells) were transplanted into the brains of newborn mice, and became neurons. To my knowledge, the Bush administration is not opposed to this kind of research, as it does not compromise Bush’s stance on abortion. That, as I said above, is the issue here primarily, not clones, although I believe that Bush is opposed to human cloning.

If anyone would like citations for these, just include it in your response, and I’ll hunt it up.

Posted by: johnnymozart at June 14, 2004 06:31 PM

Where is Max? Is Max no longer Max? Will someone please clarify because the views that get expressed by the two Maxes are as opposite as can be and I for one am slightly bothered by the whole thing.

Sorry, this has been cropping up these past few days and whoever this person is, he’s not Max the soldier (correct me if I’m wrong someone) and the confusion almost looks deliberate.

Posted by: marymcl at June 15, 2004 01:53 AM

Nope, Mary, you are right. This person, whom I refer to as “Max2” is a bleedin’ heart liberal. My good friend “Max” from Britain, remains as always, a tempered, thoughtful voice, deserving of respect. I guess, though, its pretty easy to distinguish between them.

I have suggested to Max2 to relinquish this NIC in favor of something else, but he told me that since he is “smarter”, he’ll keep it. Oh well.

Posted by: johnnymozart at June 15, 2004 08:38 AM

“John Kerry endorsed Nancy Reagan’s efforts to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and yesterday challenged the Bush administration to relax restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research…”

Does Kerry ever have an original thought? I highly doubt it. Just look at his past. He was more than willing to suppress any conviction he might have had, which is questionable at best, and embrace what appeared to be a more advantageous point of view in the early 1970’s. Witness his dramatic, pompous, riddled-with-lies testimony before the Senate in which he had to drop his fabricated “John Kerry - hero” image and replace it with his studied “John Kerry - contrite veteran” posture.

His “me too” campaign strategy gives new meaning to the epithet “ambulance chaser.”

Posted by: Jim at June 15, 2004 12:31 PM

Thanks johnnymozart. And all the best to our Max.

They do say imitation is flattery in its most sincere form. ;)

Posted by: marymcl at June 15, 2004 10:57 PM