How much disparate and significant news can manifest itself in one week? This week may be among those which reach high, high to quantify.
Marion Edwyn Harrison, Esq.
President Barack Hussein Obama’s dramatically announced decision about American military participation in Afghanistan continues to avoid a fundamental: What would constitute victory? What would we do then? What would constitute defeat? What would we do then? So much for avoidance of some lessons of history and of basic military strategy.
At home there is no lack of specificity about another subject.
As Senator A. Mitchell (Mitch) McConnell (R-KY) phrases it, “ . . . For the very first time in U. S. history, the Federal Government will now use taxpayer dollars to pay for research that relies on and promotes the destruction of human life at its earliest stages. Americans may disagree about the morality of embryo-destructive research. But one thing we should all agree on is that taxpayers should not be compelled to pay for it.”
The announcement yesterday from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and [In?] Human Services, is clear and startling: “NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D . . .announced the approval of the first 13 human embryonic stem cell . . . lines for use in NIH [meaning taxpayer]-funded research under the NIH Guidelines for Human Cell Research [published on July 7, 2009] . . . . [T] stem cell lines were derived from embryos that were donated under ethically sound informed consent processes. More lines are under review now, and we anticipate continuing to expand this list . . .”
The foregoing procedures are consistent with and in implementation of the President’s Executive Order 13505 (March 9, 2009): Removing Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research Involving Human Stem Cells. Initial participation as Provider is announced to be that of George Q. Daley, M.D., Ph. D., of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Much more utilization of human stem cells for research, financed by American taxpayers, clearly is to follow.
Will the next Federal incursion upon human life be utilization of American taxpayer funds to provide abortions?
The Free Congress Foundation for more than thirty-two years, until last year under the inspiration of the late Paul M. Weyrich, has sought to educate about, encourage and defend a culture of life and liberty. The mission continues - more direly needed than ever.
Marion Edwyn Harrison is President of, and Counsel to, the Free Congress Foundation.
