http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews

Undoing the damage of the anti-science moron Bush and his idiot fundamentalist supporters.

President Obama is planning to sign an executive order on Monday rolling back restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, according to sources close to the issue.

Although the exact wording of the order has not been revealed, the White House plans an 11 a.m. ceremony to sign the order repealing one of the most controversial steps taken by his predecessor, fulfilling one of Obama's eagerly anticipated campaign promises.

The move, long sought by scientists and patient advocates and opposed by religious groups, would enable the National Institutes of Health to consider requests from scientists to study hundreds of lines of cells that have been developed since the limitations were put in place -- lines that scientists and patient advocate say hold great hope for leading to cures for a host of major ailments.

Administration officials would not comment immediately other than to say "there will be a stem cell-related event on Monday." But an e-mail sent out today from the White House stated that officials were planning a ceremony on Monday "on stem cells and restoring scientific integrity to the government process. At the event the president will sign an executive order related to stem cells." Sources close to the issue, asking not to be named because they were not authorized to discuss the plan, said the order would lift the restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem cells.

That was great news.

EO was signed today. It gives the NIH 120 days to develop ethical guidelines for the research.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29586269/

Soon enough funding will give the stem cell industry a new life.

Then, should we see the stocks of STEM, GERN, ACTC, OBAI, etc explode?

Eric Cantor's response to the bill signing? About as useful as anything any Republican has to say these days:

"There’s a reason it’s coming up this week,” Cantor said during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union." “Why are we going and distracting ourselves from the economy? This is job No. 1, let’s focus on what needs to be done.”


So what's more important to Eric Cantor than stem-cell research that he doesn't want to be distracted by it?

These are the bills he has co-sponsored since this session of Congress started:

H. Res. 204: Congratulating the American Dental Association for its 150th year of working to improve the public’s oral health and promoting dentistry.

H. Res. 18: A bill honoring the life, achievements and contributions of Paul Newman.

H.R. 997: To declare English as the official language of the United States.

H.R. 836: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reduce the tax on beer to its pre-1991 level, and for other purposes.

Nancy Reagan responds:

Under fire from congressional Republicans for lifting restrictions on stem cell research, President Barack Obama got a powerful endorsement for his move Monday from Nancy Reagan, the former president’s wife.

"I’m very grateful that President Obama has lifted the restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research," she wrote in a statement released shortly after Obama signed an executive order lifting the Bush-era restrictions. "These new rules will now make it possible for scientists to move forward. I urge researchers to make use of the opportunities that are available to them, and to do all they can to fulfill the promise that stem cell research offers."

Nancy Reagan has been an outspoken advocate of stem-cell research – and scientists hope that the research could someday lead to cure to Alzheimer’s disease, which afflicted her husband, Ronald Reagan.

Her statement also illustrates how support for the research crosses party lines, even though many in the anti-abortion movement strongly oppose the research on moral and ethical grounds.

Reagan continued, "Countless people, suffering from many different diseases, stand to benefit from the answers stem cell research can provide. We owe it to ourselves and to our children to do everything in our power to find cures for these diseases – and soon. As I’ve said before, time is short, and life is precious."

I have no problems with this, separation of science and religion is welcome.

It was merely government funding and stem cells. One could oppose funding on non-religious grounds.

The objection was about federal funding that MIGHT encourage abortion and/or the killing of embryos, which is entirely a religious objection, specifically from the religious nutcase right.

Any non-religious objection would probably be EVEN dumber than the religious one. In order to be consistent, you'd have to object to any and all federal funding of any medical research whatsoever.

Wait beeble so you're saying that not a single non-religious person is against abortion? Those odds seem rather slim.


As for the stem cell funding. I'm fine with this. There is huge potential for medical breakthroughs with this.

Stem Cells research is different than Abortion though. 1000s of embryos are destroyed every day so it isn't like those will ever be life anyway.

Yeah, abortion is WAY different. I'm not religious, but I go back and forth on abortion, especially after taking a developmental psychology course and learning just how alive a baby is even in the first term.

No, I'm saying that the objection to stem cell research came from the religious nuts because it used cells from embryos. They were afraid it would encourage abortion and/or used cells from aborted fetuses.

True. Most stem cells come from embryos from IFV, not abortion and they number less than 100 cells.

I agree it isn't that funny, just stupid. You could come up with a funnier version of the religious rights perspective.