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- Presidential IQs according
to
http://www.presidentmoron.com/:
147 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)
132 Harry Truman (D)
122 Dwight D; Eisenhower (R)
174 John F. Kennedy (D)
126 Lyndon B. Johnson (D)
155 Richard M. Nixon (R)
121 Gerald Ford (R)
175 James E. Carter (D)
105 Ronald Reagan (R)
98 George HW Bush (R)
182 William J. Clinton (D)
91 George W. Bush (R)
MUGWUMP WITHOUT A CLUE
The hills are alive with the sounds of stem cell research arguments. One thing stands out clearly from the din and debate. That is the absence of the word "WOMAN." Just as in the abortion discussions, we hear of wombs, we hear of blastocysts, we hear of embryos, we hear of life and we hear of babies. But nary a word about woman.
Hair splitting has taken on a whole new meaning as some of the once militant right to lifers begin to contemplate their own and their family's possible diseases and death. "Of course life begins at fertilization," they insist. "But that is when fertilization occurs in the womb, not in a test tube."
The
womb! Like there is this disembodied uterus in the sky where fertilization
takes place and SHAZAM! Instant baby! Now they can justify the use of cells
from whatever it is that happens between an egg and a sperm in a test tube.
Don't you just love it? We all know that fertilization can and often does occur in the fallopian tube or even ectopically in the abdominal cavity of a woman. Does this matter? Not to them because they have taken the woman out of the picture. They deal only with egg + sperm = baby (unless done in a test tube.)
And wouldn't you think that since the lifers are so concerned with god and religion that they would have some idea of what a bible verse says? Many don't, especially among the spin miesters in the White House who go on TV after Dubya makes a speech to translate what he said.
"Karen [Hughes] reassured reporters that W. had wrestled, ruminated, reflected, grappled, groped and deliberated. Also, he had been preoccupied, possessed, pensive and prayerful. In addition, he was challenged, contemplative, consumed and conflicted. Guests to the White House, she revealed, invariably had been surprised by his persistent yet patient, deliberate yet impromptu, Solomonic yet sophomoric, poking, prodding, probing and picking of brains." -- excerpted from Dr. Banzai and Mr. Bush, by MAUREEN DOWD
Following the tortured presentation of his decision regarding stem cells, the spinners likened him to Solomon of Biblical fame. Say wot? All Dubya did was limit the funding of stem cell research to the material already in use. He pissed off the militant lifers. Where's the wisdom in that? There was none, it was strictly political mugrumpery.
Solomon, on the other hand, heard two women claim the same baby. He said he would cut the baby in half and give one half to each woman. When one woman cried out for him to stop and give the baby to the other woman, he knew he had found the true mother. In his wisdom, he settled the matter.
Dubya
heard from people who owned thousands of embryos that they did not need
and that would be destroyed, and he heard from scientists asking that federal
funding be given to study the stem cells in those embryos.
He had formerly declared his religious belief that at the union of sperm
and egg, an embryo was a human being and should not be destroyed.
In his ignorance, Dubya flip-flopped on a campaign promise and just straddled the stem cell controversy like the **mugwump he is. He O.K.'d federal funding for research on cell lines already taken from embryos.
He justified this by declaring that someone else had already killed those embryos so his decision was OK. He turned a blind eye to the fact that thousands of other embryos would be destroyed that could have been used to save lives. He pretended the fence he straddled was a mountaintop and washed his hands. Dubya = Pontius Pilot, not Solomon.
Newsweek reports in the current issue that despite appearing to agonize up to the at the last minute about federal funding for stem cell research, Dubya actually reached his decision a month ago. The compromise he finally announced was floated weeks ago by his strategist Karl Rove -- political market testing.
Dubya claimed "scientists" concurred that the existing cell lines would be ample but this appears to be untrue. Only a few were ever consulted and the majority point out that it is not even known if those cell lines will be available to them because they are owned by companies some of which are overseas.
They point out that the limitation will slow down the possibilities of finding cures for the conditions that they believe stem cell research will effect. In addition, doing research on such a small sample will intensify any anomaly that may be present in any given cell line. Since most of the cell lines are outside of the U.S. many researchers cannot compete for government funding.
Perhaps in the future we'll be hearing about a hunka-hunka burning bush and his tablets of stone but until then read it and weep for our Country and our World.
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