Laura Bush to Nancy Reagan: Drop Dead! (Stem Cell Research)

[wyldwolf]

Laura Bush Says Cannot Support Stem Cell Research

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Laura Bush, whose father died from Alzheimer's, said on Wednesday she admired Nancy Reagan's devotion to former President Ronald Reagan until his death but could not back her call for relaxation of stem cell research restrictions.

But Mrs. Bush said she did not endorse Nancy Reagan's call, already rebuffed by the White House, to allow greater stem cell research to proceed in the hope it would provide some answers to the disease or possibly a cure.

The Bush administration has placed restrictions on embryonic stem cell research and opposes using stem cells from most embryos, a stand Mrs. Bush said she supported.

"There are stem cells to do research on and ... we have to be really careful between what we want to do for science and what we should do ethically," the first lady said. "Stem cell ... is certainly one of those issues that we need to treat very carefully."

http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=5383174

[shraby]

1. Since when did anyone

elect Laura Bush to make policy?????

[wysimdnwyg]

2. Since when did her HUSBAND get elected?

He was SE-lected.

[Canuckistanian]

3. Oh, well. Laura says no, so that's the end of it.

Thank you Laura, you noted biomedical expert. The nation is grateful for your leadership and expertise.

/fucking sarcasm off

[Cheswick2.0]

4. Pickles the Stepford Christian

Who cares what she thinks?

[TheDebbieDee]

7. She thinks?

[seabeyond]

5. hypocrit. she is for abortion quietly

but refuses stem cell research. hm, do tell me how that brain works

[donhakman]

6. Between successful stem cell research...

and decalsification therapies for nano bacterial infection (respondisible for heart attack, stroke, cataract, many cancers etc.)
there would be:
an increase in life expantcy of 20-30 years
an older percentage of senior citizens
more mouths to feed
and a wiser population.

This does not serve the Republican party in any way
(except for secret therapies for themselves)

I wrote 2 books about this.

[PDX Bara]

13. Your Books

What two books did you write and under what author name (if your DU signature name is not the same as your author name?

[northzax]

8. thanks, Dr. Laura

tell me more about your Ph.D in bioethics...surely you at least have an MD, right? so you know what you're talking about.

what, you're a librarian? excellent. so you surely have read the voluminous tomes describing the fact that these 'already existing' stem cells are USELESS? that your hubby lied when he said there were 60 some odd avaliable?

come on, let's leave the science policy to the scientists, huh?

[LittleApple81]

9. I don't think she realizes that in some cases Alzheimer's runs in families

How old is she now? If I were her, I would be pushing for this type of research. If she has no pity for other people, she could think about herself and her daughters.

[FleshCartoon]

10. Geez...

...I just finished re-reading Sinclair Lewis' novel Elmer Gantry and it's disgusting to have people like Laura spouting off about what's best for all when, privately, they utilizes the very options they want to limit for others.

Laura Bush needs to shut-up and go back to the kitchen--that's where good little Christian wives like herself are supposed to stay.

[Vickers]

11. Jeebus, hearing those folks talk about ethics

:puke:

[anarchy1999]

12. Thank you dear Laura, please teach us all more about what we can

do ethically. Especially more about the Bush Family ethics. I really would like to learn more. Can you take us all the way back to World War II and what Preston was doing ethically, and just then bring it forward, year by wonderful, ethical year?

[MI Cherie]

14. Calling Mrs. Heinz-Kerry ...

... can anyone think of a more compassionate cause to support?

[donhakman]

16. Larry King

"Well Laura what is your current first lady program you are promoting?

Laura: "I am heading the National literacy program. As you know I was a libraian and read absolutely everything I get my hands on. I am very big on reading."

Larry: "Have you read Hillary's book?

Laura: "No"

............






My books (mostly fiction and sci), short stories, poems, and thousands of paintings and toons are all unpublished and unsubmitted. I suppose I'll be discovered on the cheap once I'm dead. ;)

[Oddman]

15. I do not think

I only think as I am told . . .

The Stepford Pickles

[fujiyama]

17. I've really never commented on Laura

because she hasn't been very relevant, but since her and her daughters are now campaigning for Bush, they're fair game as well.

Hey Laura, you're a fuckin librarian...Go read books to the kiddies and don't try thinking about all those difficult science ethics issues - as if this woman (who's killed someone herself) or her husband that kills for fun have a right to talk about ethics.

She doesn't have a clue what she's talkin about.

[donhakman]

18. Here is the forward and prologue of a gentech novel

Best Intentions*

By Don Hakman c. 2001

Dedication: To Sarah and our sons.

We joyfully began the quest to rid man of all disease with gene vaccines. After 7 generations the problems begin...
Fertility becomes challenged to the point clones are a more viable alternative. The meek inherit the earth to the extent that those without ancestors with gene vaccines procreate more successfully for a time...
Spanning 2 thousand years and discovering an unknown culture closer to man than he would like to believe, the nature of Man playing God plays itself out to a novel conclusion.

Abstract: Bio-Science fiction novel in which genetic manipulation renders the human race unviable. The story spans 2,000 years and involves many people and technologies dedicated to the innate common goal of survival.

Forward: There is nothing wrong with genetic science or the stem cell in particular. It is us or it is food. That has always been the way for all life. There does however seem to be a consensus against clones conceived or raised to maturity. One man’s good is another man’s evil. Good and evil are the temporal giants’ man must wrestle. The immortal that speaks with the ineffable voice does not have good and evil in its vocabulary. Should man become nearly immortal, there are questions to be asked, answers to be questioned, heaven to be praised and hell to be paid.

Recall the politicization of a single cell:


Alone with only the memories
of millions of years, the stem cell
waits in its frosty glass house.

Will it heal, will it grow
Will it die, will it freeze

A genetic double standard
engineered chickens and cows
vs. the eugenics of man

It make fools of the devout
and fools the scientific.

Imagine the Hindu
at the slaughter house,
the scientist at Babtist U.

The stem cell is terrific but:
Is it Kosher?
Is it clean?


The little stem cell waits but
single issue politics has no room
for common sense or compromise

waste a life
or save a life

Families pray at dinner
food corp. prays for profits
no one prays for the stem cell

Unless they're paralyzed
on dialysis or shaking


Prolog.

Genetic Vaccines, a form of recombinant DNA modification, were hailed as the singular greatest advancements since ORTs; organ regeneration transplants. ORT hearts, lungs and livers were only a close third to the second greatest advancement of knitting nerves together with crystalline. Although crossed nerve pathways often left the "healed" with strange new synthethesia challenges but at least paraplegics could walk and the nerve blind to somewhat see.

Some claimed these advancements actually hindered an evolution of a survival of the fittest. Some religious sects called it a medical evilution but were marginalized by all those who wished to enjoy good health for themselves and children.


Gene Vaccines had an advantage over traditional vaccines by passing on the disease resistance to the next generation. They were proven quite powerful and at times seen to have an ability to adapt a resistance to similar strains of disease be it bacterial of viral that the original vaccine had not been designed to combat.

It was not that traditional vaccines were not strong enough but rather that the pathogens got the upper hand and often mutated into even more powerful bugs. There were many outstanding examples of success with the Gene Vaccine method. Originally researchers at the U.N.S.F. Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases created a mouse by adding a gene from a parasite that causes malaria to the rodent's genetic code. Delivering the protein isolated from the mouse’s milk produced immunity from malaria in 98% of the human subjects.

An opposite approach was to transplant genes of naturally immune individuals into people of low or no immunity. In a way the people were now the mouse. People were not just getting a protein of protection but their very genes were changed. This so called Genetic Vaccine technique was extremely profitable since the people with the super immune genes were paid nothing while the drug corporations patented the genes for resale. The prices they demanded for Gen. Vac. were justified with the idea that the vaccine was not just for the individual but all their ancestors. Passing on immunity occurred in only a minority of cases at first but was refined in later years. It did not appear that the bugs were getting an upper hand in this technique.
Gen Vac was of course not without its detractors. Initially the Gen Vac hype didn't inflame conservatives but they had found a leader (or visa versa) with Dr. Broadbarn. His notion that genetic vaccines would cause humanity to lose its soul one gene at a time. When each genetic addition sometimes subtracted tiny bits of one's original genome, a few people were alarmed. One molecule at a time out of billions was virtually nothing but after dozens of regenerations the small changes could be multiplied. He painted humanity's greatest hope to be disease free, with a broad brush of eugenic abuse. Depending on your view he focused, inspired or duped millions of followers.
His hypothetical conclusions were so far out in many cases he was easily scoffed at or manipulated by Gen Vac proponents and was eventually made to say, on air, “I prefer people die of preventable disease, for the common good”. That pretty much did him in. He was even likened to Kevorkian, a euthanasia provider who died in prison centuries ago.
Over the next 50 years the few vaccine mistakes never caused alarm. The only scandal that people remembered was the fact that the very first Gen. Vac. treatments were made available over the course of seven years at the price of $1,000,000 per person. The arguments and justifications raged for years. The most common argument one heard was that there was not enough for everyone so the rich were subsidizing the eventual mass Gen. Vac. inoculation when stocks were available. Truth was there could be enough replicated in six to eight weeks to inoculate the world against seven of the deadliest pathogens known to man.
The benefits so far outweighed the risks that medicine was in a supreme golden age. The one area that remained most difficult and was suspected of growing epidemic was infertility and embryonic disorders. With such dramatically increased life spans and survival rates, some considered fertility challenges a blessing in disguise. The worry about population explosion had become moot.
As longevity records were being broken, childbirth by any means was accepted as being an exceedingly rare and blessed event. Even when fewer than ten percent of couples could have children there was no outrage. People hoped an environmental culprit would be caught and fertility would return. Those that were infertile felt a personal deficiency and had little or no urge to lash out or call attention to themselves. They actually felt an undeserved guilt.


………………………………………………………………………………

IN THE BEGINNING

Seven generations after the first genetic vaccines were given there was finally no doubt that infertility matched exponential computer models of genetic damage. Dr. Carlax was the first to announce the inevitable. The human race will have natural viability of less than 1% among 98% of the potentially conceiving gene pool. The reaction was likened to the pandemic of the original AIDS virus. People ignored what was happening or looked for a magic bullet. Too often people looked beyond the horizon of the obvious to save the day.

If Dr. Broadbarn had still been alive he would have said “I told you so”, but he was completely unremembered in this new age of good health for the old but extreme challenges for embryos.

If centuries ago anyone knew that Bill Gates and a controlling “country club” and would live for 454 years, gene vaccines might never have been introduced. Hindsight takes a back seat to cocktail courage when movers and shakers are being wined and dined.
The beer belly bombast by the masses debated football. They had no clue of what a relative immortality for the wealthy would do to the world.

The world fought back against the unintended assault on fertility.
First surrogate mothers were recruited by the millions. Clones enjoyed a complete acceptance and freedom that would in later years fall under a repression of legislation that bordered on slavery and guaranteed a second class citizenship denying them opportunities more than rights.

Other methods of fighting against infertility created flashes in the pan like ancient weight loss diets. The most promising hope stemmed from looking for original untainted DNA stem cells. DNA repositories became a library to look among the dead for those that had no trace of gene vaccines in their family.

A multidisciplinary task force UNFS was formed worldwide. The first hope of the commission was devastatingly defeated. The DNA repository of 15 million samples in West Virginia had been hopelessly destroyed by the Great Oak Ridge Nuclear accident. Radiation scored a bulls-eye against fertility hopes. Oak Ridge had been a land of inventions by Edison prior to the nuclear age. Now it was a unique graveyard of past and future humanity.

The new longevity did advance scientific discoveries from veteran scientists. New theoretical solutions to infertility had stalled for nearly a decade until a wild and almost desperate plan devised by a father and son received top secret status by the government of the United States which had fallen behind in fertility research in recent times.

Chapter1.
...

[genius]

19. What do you expect from a "first lady" who killed her first fiance?

[OKNancy]

28. Actually - let's be correct here

She was seventeen and ran a stop sign. The accident killed an ex-boyfriend.

I had a sixteen years old student who ran a yellow light and killed someone...it devastated her. Trying to make political points out of Laura Bush's accident is not wise, IMO.

[Bake]

33. And why did she run that stop sign?

Because she wasn't paying attention to the road? Putting on makeup? Fiddling with the radio? Looking for her lipstick? Lighting a cigarette? (No cell phones then ...)

Teenagers need to be made to understand that they are operating machines that demand their attention lest they kill somebody. They need to be responsible drivers. Just calling it an "accident" is waaaaaay too easy.

My son is 16 and just started driving. I remind him of this every time I get in the car with him.

Bake

[OKNancy]

35. Write back when he is 21

Teens have accidents. Happens every day. Poll DU, and see how many have teens or were teens involved in accidents.

[0007]

34. How come the Midland Police Department scrubbed her record?

Accordingly it wasn't her ex-boyfriend but her boyfriend.

I do respect your opinion.

[OKNancy]

36. Here is a mainstream source

I feel weird defending the woman. I have no problem raking her over the coals for the stem cell issue. I just hate it when her looks or clothing are brought up, or too harsh a judgment is made about her past.
--------------------------
Laura, they learned, had been speeding blithely out of town about 8 P.M., east on Farm Road 868, her high school friend Judy Dykes in the passenger seat. She never saw the stop sign. She never saw the other car. She plowed right through that stop sign and slammed hard into the 1962 Corvair coming south and with the right-of-way, on State Road 349, the La Mesa Highway. She was fine, really, the officer assured her parents, but bruised and banged up, and awfully upset. Judy was shaking but unharmed as well. But the boy in the other car, well, the force of the broadside impact was so severe that, well...He never had a chance. Michael Douglas, golden boy of Midland, high school track star, was dead on arrival at Midland Memorial Hospital. The two girls were taken there, too, in another ambulance. Mike Douglas's father had been driving another car behind his son. He saw the entire horrific scene, the explosive beginning of a nightmare that haunted him his whole life.

The front-page story in the Midland Reporter-Telegram was blunt and nonaccusatory. "Police said death was attributed to a broken neck," the paper reported, using that passive voice peculiar to newspaper writing. But the news flew through Midland about whose actions had caused that death.

Killing another person was a tragic, shattering error for a girl to make at seventeen. It was one of those hinges in a life, a moment when destiny shuddered, then lurched in a new direction. In its aftermath, Laura became more cautious and less spontaneous, more inclined to be compassionate, less inclined to judge another person.

What made the crash even more devastating was that the boy Laura killed was no stranger but a good friend of hers, a boy from her crowd. Some said Mike Douglas was her boyfriend. Or had been, or maybe she wanted him to be. ...


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/07/earlyshow/leisure/books/main591951.shtml

[chookie]

20. Her own Dad died of Alzheimer's?

And she STILL supports His Chimperial Highness's view on stem cell research?

That is one very cold, politically opportunistic meanwoman.

Imagine being such a goddamned lockstep b**** that you are even unwilling to stick up for your OWN disease-ravaged father. She really sets a good example to follow, huh? Not.

Sometimes people start out shallow, and go through an experience, like witnessing a horrific disease, that challenges their world view. But not Laura. She is possessed of Absolute Certainty. Or is too afraid of Barbara to speak up (more likely).

The mind reels.

A weird thing about fascists and authoritarians: they are obsessed with protecting the "innocent" but the rest of us can go to hell. They love fetuses -- they haven't progressed developmentally far enough to protest her idiotic husband's religiously insane "policies". Wait till they can -- THEN they'll kill them.

[robbedvoter]

25. Her dad is dead, so who cares? let them all burn,

I hope this one gets as much publicity as possible this week.

[Proud2BAmurkin]

21. Who cares what Laura-bot thinks

eom

[NickB79]

22. "There are stem cells to do research on" Oh really?

She must be referring to the 60-odd stem cell lines that were already in existance and exempt when Bush cut off stem cell research funding. She must not have heard that most of these lines were grown as pre-production prototype lines on mouse cell beds. The mouse cell beds are excellent in providing nutrition for the growing human stem cells, but fear of human contamination by animal cells makes most of these existing stem cell lines USELESS for use in human disease prevention. Without a new supply of embryonic stem cells to use, the data gathered using the human/mouse stem cell lines is useless.

[Dropkick]

29. I beg to differ...

...the knowlege gained is not useless. BUT, it will be (and is currently being) WASTED, because the research isn't able to go to the next level.

Sorry to nitpick.

[NickB79]

38. True, a misuse of words on my point

Thanks for the correction :-)

[SoonToBeExUSAFGuy]

40. Yo...

NickB79...you wouldn't happen to be the same Nick79 from the old Stillers.com boards....would you ?

[LuminousX]

23. The Bushes and the Reagans are feuding again

Reagan hated George, but was wise enough to make him VP.

[radfringe]

24. :evilgrin:

might make for an interesting match? the Battle of the first ladies?

what do you think? Cage match? tag team? anything goes?

for what it's worth, my money in on the Dragon Lady over Pickles

[playahata1]

27. With BARBARA BUSH suspended above the ring -- PERFECT!

n/t

[Tyler Durden]

26. Hey Pickles! How about a good deal on some Defensive Driving Lessons??

You insufferable BITCH.

Sorry for the epithet but some words have no substitute.

[calimary]

30. Just wait til YOU need some of the help that research could provide,

laura dear.

SHAME on you, laura bush! Kicking a widow when she's down, are you? Why don't you do us all a favor and shut up? Or at least keep your opinions to yourself while the poor woman buries her husband!

Just another compassionate conservative for ya... You belong in that damnable family, laura.

[fdr_hst_fan]

37. The thing you're

forgetting is: she'll GET that help! And, it will be at TAXPAYER'S expense! Because once Dubya is retired, he'll STILL be able to use Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals, and so will Dr Pickles!

[HFishbine]

31. Well, Laura Bush would know

after all, she's a scientist. (Makes as much sense as my grade school librarian, Mrs. Bunch, having a say.)

[BlueStateGirl]

32. How do these people feel about fertility clinics? How do they feel

about all those embryos that are created, not used, and frozen or destroyed so John and Mary Wealthy can have their precious baby?

[Neecy]

39. ethics? What ethics?

How dare an unsavory member of the Bush Crime Family lecture decent, hard-working American people about ethics. Shit like this just makes me seethe with Pickles-hatred.