Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Stem cell research

Help me understand this. We waged a war in Vietnam costing us 50,000 boys next door. We expended enough ordinance there to sink a ship,we defoliated the country with agent orange. All this over a ****ing contest with North Vietnam. We perform a zillion abortions a year because mommy and daddy would not be able to afford 2 suv`s and eat in restuarants if they had another baby. Too friggen inconvienent don`t you know. We got the feds kicking in doors,confiscating property,and putting in jail,lord knows how many people year in the war on drugs. We fund the defense dept to the tune of billions to find better ways of killing people and train people to use it. What the hell is the big deal over stem cell research?

The big deal is that it is "big deal"material.Any "big deal"provides career opportunities for politicians and news people.

Lets see, ya shouldn't hunt cause it will hurt little barbies sensabilities and teach little tommy how to be agressive so he will grow up and become a bank robber or holdup stores. But it's ok to take unborn babbies apart use thier part for research,hummm.<BR> Every great nation has fallen from within and so shall we....

It's weird how some people correlate stem cell research with abortion and the other religion-induced topics. Stem cells are just what they are called, cells. The are derived from several objects, the one making the news are stem cells aquired from soon-to-be discarded (destroyed) embryoes. Some religions and other radical anti-abortion groups have jumped on this red herring to advance their publicity around the subject of life at conception, which, to me, is an idiotic misunderstanding of the whole concept of life. I have several friends and relatives with MS, Parkinsons, and Alzheimers diseases who may get some benefits from this research so am inclined to approve of it. Personally I wouldn't care what they used for the research if it provided a cure for some of these terrible diseases. I am sure that some will disagree. Also, what the hell has this got to do with firearms? Get a life.

I would love to get into this topic but this isn't the place. All I have to say is if stem cell research can lead to cures for many of these genetic diseases then whats holding up the parade?<P>Bullwnkl.

4pwr, others; some points regarding stem cell research.<P>There's a good chance that there has been no medical advance since the discovery of antibiotics that will be as significant as what may be gained from stem cell research. It may turn out to be to medicine (quality of life) analagous to our discovery of fire.<P>Secondly, I don't believe that a group of a few cells is a human being. What is a human being? I don't know how to answer that, and that isn't the point. The point is that stem cells are not human beings. Fertilized cells are reabsorbed into their mothers millions of times per day, quite naturally, and no one even notices.<P>Also, let's realize that favoring the issue of stem cell research does not equal being in favor of human cloning. Apples and oranges.<P>Before anyone condemns stem cell research, they should go to the memorial service of a friend's 16 year old son who had cystic fibrosis. I have.<P>I am not advocating the factory farming of human embryos. This issue is within the moral authority of human beings to manage, which is what is being done. To view the issue as crossing the border of man's authority does not make sense, at least from a biblical perspective. God clearly has given human governments the authority to govern themselves, including the use of deadly force and capitol punishment, if one wishes to interpret these passages at face value. That is how I interpret them. Further, it seems obvious to me that a democratc republic is the most just type of government with which to make these decisions. This is not Nazi Germany practicing genocide.<P>Genocide and abortion are completely different issues from stem cell research. Again, apples and oranges.<P>We have a responsibility to investigate all possibilities to eliminate human suffering, and are capable of making the moral judgements necessary to control such investigations. <P>Perhaps the reason the issue is of concern is because posters here are more sensitive than the average person about issues in which the government exercises sweeping decisions with moral implications. But look at it this way, if our elected government does not control and define these issues, powerful individuals will. To paraphrase Hamilton, our method may not be perfect, but it is none-the-less excellent. Consider the options. The fact that abuse of governmental power may have happened in the past, and is happening now, is a legitimate, but not salient, point. Again, consider the governmental options, and the fact that the government is comprised of individual human beings. Fortunately, we have a great degree of control over our government, though I will concede that just how much real control "we" have is debateable.<P>Thanks for an interesting issue, Talus

Talus, thank you for a well written post on a very misunderstood issue.

The real Question is where do you draw the line, the last adminastration wanted to use abortion as a means of getting research matieral.I too have friends and relatives, I watched my mother-in-law slowly die and we eventually had to setup a hospital bed in the living room. Cell research may be one thing but just as cloning will happen because it can, so will research on the unborn.You can't hunt because it will hurt little barbies feelings, but you can use the unborn for research, we live in a sick society....<BR>Ever great nation has fallen from within and so shall we...