STEM CELL RESEARCH VOTE

The House voted to extend federal funding for stem cell research today.

Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, a doctor of obstetrics, played the sound of a fetal heartbeat over the House speaker system, declaring, "This is what it's all about, folks."

This is outrageous political demagoguery. Embryonic cells in a petri dish do not have a heartbeat. It's as good an example of the extremist position of the right wing as any I can imagine.

Democrats don't participate in this kind of dramatic drivel. If they did, I'd suggest they listen to my son, who has cerebral palsy, crying during his childhood. Or the sound of a fully human adult suffering from Alzheimer's or spinal-cord injury.

Ethically-challenged Tom DeLay was in the vanguard of the opposition:

Voting yes would amount to a "vote to fund with taxpayer dollars the dismemberment of living, distinct human beings for the purposes of medical experimentation," DeLay said Tuesday, opening debate on the bill."

Dismemberment? Do embryos (or cells in a petri dish) have members? Christopher Reeve did. My son does. George W. Bush, in his privileged life, has the privilege of pandering to the Christian right. He just doesn't have the compassion, the human experience or the intelligence to understand or care about the difference. Together with his military adventurism (and so many other ill-conceived actions!), his position (a threatened veto if it passes) on this issue will write his worst-ever-presidency reviews.

UPDATE: As William Saletan details it, the Republican opposition in the Senate promise to keep it from a Senate vote or filibuster it. Guess the filibuster option, for Republicans, is only bad if it's inconvenient.