ESCR fails to get veto-proof majority

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Thursday, April 12, 2007

Bryan Fischer, Executive Director

For a printer-friendly version of today’s Update, please visit our website, Idaho Values Alliance.

ESCR BILL FAILS TO WIN VETO-PROOF MAJORITY

S. 5, which would have forced taxpayers to fund life-destroying resource on human embryos, passed the U.S. Senate yesterday by a 63-34 margin. The good news is that President Bush reiterated his intent to veto this bill, as he did last summer, and there are not enough votes in the Senate to override his threatened veto.

Both of Idaho’s senators, Larry Craig and Mike Crapo, cast pro-life votes by weighing in against this bill, and deserve our thanks for helping to make an override impossible.

An alternative bill, S. 30, with which the IVA has some concern, did pass. The bill is supported by the White House and National Right Life, which is convinced that there is nothing in the bill – which supports ethically benign adult stem cell research – that would present a problem for pro-life advocates.

Proponents of ESCR seemed to agree that S. 30, much to their disappointment, will not advance ethically repugnant research. S. 5 supporter Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa said, “The only bill that really matters is S. 5, not S. 30.”

Contrary to much of public opinion, ESCR is not only still legal in the U.S., it is still being funded by federal tax dollars, on stem cell lines that were created prior to 2001, when Bush banned funding for new stem cell lines. Over the past six years, more than $130 million in taxpayer dollars have been spent on ESCR, $40 million last year alone.

But in contrast, more than $3 billion has gone into morally permissible research on adult stem cells, research that continues to provide proven medical treatments for over 70 diseases and conditions.

If you would like to call the offices of Sen. Craig and Sen. Crapo and leave a simple message, “Thank you for voting against S. 5,” you may reach them at 202-224-3121.

Senate Passes Embryonic Stem Cell Research Funding Bill, Not Veto-Proof

BONUS BYTES

Ø One of the tragic characteristics of the homosexual lifestyle is its emphasis on anonymous sex and multiple sexual partners. It is a little-acknowledged secret that many active homosexuals will have more than 1,000 sex partners over the course of a lifetime (the average among heterosexuals is seven – still six more than we were designed for). This sordid fact of homosexual life surfaced yesterday in an AP article yesterday that reports on the number of arrests police have made for indecent exposure and public sex acts in the restrooms at Atlanta’s airport, the busiest in the world. The increased restroom patrols, begun to apprehend luggage thieves, instead uncovered a rash of sex crimes. Airport restrooms have become so popular that men looking for anonymous sexual trysts with other men have advertised their airport availability on Craigslist. One such ad was from a man saying he was stuck at the airport for three hours and was looking for “discreet, quick action.” (AP: Arrests Up in Atlanta Airport Restrooms)

Ø The Virginia state legislature, in an action that the Idaho legislature may do well to consider, passed a bill that directed state agencies to study whether Virginia should start castrating violent sex offenders rather than confining them. The governor unfortunately vetoed the bill. Costs for housing the state’s most dangerous sex offenders are spiraling out of control, and lawmakers wanted to explore the possibility of offering criminals the option of “physical castration” in exchange for being released. (Physical castration virtually eliminates the sex drive, and reduces recidivism to near zero.) The founder of the Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorder Clinic was disappointed in the governor’s veto. Castration, he said, is “a sexual appetite suppressant” that can be used “for those sex offenders who seem to be driven by abnormal sexual cravings.” Chemical castration is an alternative, but requires repeated injections to be effective, while surgical castration, of course, is permanent. Eight states currently allow medical castration of some offenders, and three give sex offenders the choice between chemical and surgical castration. It costs the state $420,000 a year to keep a sex offender in prison, and up to $2.2 million over time to house an offender in a treatment facility. Said a lawmaker who supports the castration bill, “It’s a simple operation that can provide a cure for many of these individuals, and taxpayers are relieved of a burden.”Top of Form (Kaine Vetoes Bill To Study Castration - washingtonpost.com)

Ø The documentary Lost Tomb of Jesus – done by producer James Cameron of Titanic fame – is rapidly losing what little scholarly support it enjoyed. Several prominent scholars who were interviewed for the film – which argues the tomb of Jesus and his family has been discovered near Jerusalem, with the bones of Jesus still inside - have now revised their conclusions. Even the statistician who famously proclaimed that that the probability was 600 to 1 that the tomb was that of Jesus of Nazareth is now backed off that claim completely, in line with the assessment of many Israeli archeologists that the similarity in names found inscribed in the ossuaries is unremarkable since many of the names were commonplace in the first century A.D. The Harvard professor quoted in the documentary says he is now skeptical of the film’s claims, since “25 percent of the feminine names in this period were … variants of ‘Mary.’ So the cited statistics are unpersuasive.” And the scholar who initially said that the enigmatic ossuary inscription “Mariamne” referred to Mary Magdalene now says he does not believe that at all, and other scholars even doubt that “Mariamne” is even the correct translation. (Jesus tomb film scholars backtrack | Jerusalem Post)

Ø Columnist Michelle Malkin writes of how absurd it is for leaders in the black community to express such outrage at the utterly offensive remarks of shock jock Don Imus when the same leaders resolutely refuse to condemn rap music, which contains lyrics that are far worse and if possible, even more insulting to black women than Imus’s comments. In her Townhall column of today, she simply reproduces lyrics from this week’s top six songs on the rap charts to prove her point. (Warning: crude and offensive language) (Townhall.com::The Culture of "Bitches, Hos, and Niggas" ::By Michelle Malkin)

Ø Due to the trendy environmental fascination with corn-generated ethanol fuel, be prepared to pay 3.5 percent more for your food this year than last. So much corn has been diverted to fuel production that the supply of beef, pork, and chicken will fall by one billion pounds this year because of the soaring cost of feed. Corn is selling at its highest price in a decade, as an artificial demand for it has been created by the heavily subsidized ethanol industry. Mexico is already experiencing a tortilla inflation crisis for this dietary staple. The bottom line is that the federal government is extracting money from taxpayers to subsidize ethanol production and at the same time driving up the cost for those same taxpayers to feed their families. (Dash for green fuel pushes up price of meat in US - TimesOnline)

Ø A multi-million dollar project by our environmentalist friends in the neighboring state of Washington led to the reintroduction into the wild of a group of 20 endangered pygmy rabbits last month. All but four of them have been killed and eaten by predators such as coyotes, hawks and owls since then. Activists are undeterred, however, and plan to release more ~~snacks~~ rabbits into the area while “looking for ways to reduce predation.” (FOXNews.com - Endangered Rabbits Returned to Wild, Quickly Eaten)

Ø George Will writes today that the old media has been so successful in brainwashing the America people that 83 percent of us now believe global warming is a “serious problem.” This despite the observation of environmental expert Bjorn Lomborg that the cost of complying with the Kyoto treaty would have virtually no effect on global temperatures and would cost more than what it would take to provide the entire world with clean drinking water and sanitation, which would prevent 2 million deaths a year. Time magazine lays more blame at the feet of the Big Mac than BMW for our climate crisis, since livestock – through manure and flatulence - produce more greenhouse gas emissions than worldwide transportation combined. Says Time, “a 16 ounce T-bone is like a Hummer on a plate.” It turns out, by the way, that the Hummer is actually easier on the environment than a Prius hybrid. A thousand tons of zinc must be mined and smelted in Canada every year for Prius batteries, which zinc must then be shipped in carbon-belching freighters to Wales for refining and then to China for component manufacture – in factories fueled by coal-fired plants – then finally on to battery factories in Japan. Environmentalists are now speculating that the acid rain from zinc operations in Canada is killing vegetation there. One research firm has estimated that the environmental cost of a Prius is $3.25 per mile, while the cost of a Hummer is just $1.95 per mile. (Townhall.com::The media and global warming::By George Will)

Ø Global warming alert - headlines from today’s newswires:

Spring Snowstorm Blankets Upper Midwest...

Chicago breaks 1957 record...

North Dakota breaks 1945 snowfall...

Snow Closes Schools, Grounds Airlines...

Snow sweeps Midwest; 6 killed on Iowa roads