Mary Traeger, the typist from Forsyth, Mo., spouts the latest anti-science screed from social conservatives, trying to get your bowels in an uproar over embryonic stem-cell research. It's the same tired Traeger rant, full of hypocrisy and laughable ignorance.
Or, as Traeger herself typed:
This kind of hyperbole and inaccuracy causes confusion in people's minds as to what is true.
10 comments:
This chick.....is a loon.
Ron,
If you are going to trash Mary T, give us your answers to her arguments--If you dare, my friend!
Let's talk about it, not call names.
Dave Plemmons
Mary is in very bad need of a high school biology textbook.
Did you happen to hear Bolton on Meet the Press last Sunday. Talk about a weaseler. Simple question:Does Bush, like the snow-ball-man said, think that stem cell research is "murder"? (Indcidentally, that what Chuckles Wooten says all the time, only demonstrating that he has no idea what murder is either?) Bolton spent five minutes ducking, bobbing and weaving, and never answered the question, even though Russert asked it in four different ways.
There has to be a transcript up on the NBC site.
Dave:
Gladly. Traeger criticizes the Seattle Times for noting, correctly, that many other countries are going ahead with embryonic stem-cell research "because of the possibilities." Traeger may not like it, but it's the truth.
She then slides into classic misdirection -- lots of countries say "no" to cloning -- to bolster her lack of a point. She may believe that embryonic stem cell research is the equivalent of cloning. Most physicians don't.
Most physicians also support embryonic stem-cell research. Here's the skinny on that one: A national survey of 737 physicians shows strong support for embryonic stem-cell research -- and that support cuts across party lines. This isn't some Dems vs. Repubs argument. You can find the complete survey here.
Traeger then says it is "doubtful" that anyone with Alzheimer's will "ever be helped by embryonic stem cells." I did not realize Traeger is a scientist and a seer. According to the National Institutes of Health, scientists have only been experimenting with human embryonic stem cells since 1998. Federal funds have been available only since August 2001. Not much time to prove or cure anything. Surely Traeger doesn't believe that science and medicine should be put on deadlines. Or maybe she does, and that's even more reason to vehemently disagree with her.
Ron,
"The rest of the world" comment is indeed inaccurate, whether the issue is ESCR, cloning embryos, or both. Mary rightfully explains that in much of the world and in several states, ESCR is outlawed or frowned upon.
Rick Weiss of the Washington Post effectively blew the lid off the Alzheimer's fairy tale with his 2004 story after Reagan's death. See www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29561-2004Jun9.html
True, ESCR and cloning are separate, but at times related, subjects. She likely was just trying to cover alot of ground in a short editorial (editing involved?).
Most docs probably DO support ESCR as of now. But as more adult/umbilical cord blood stem cell therapies unfold in news reports all over the globe, that will change. Just follow the private investment trends, which are increasingly avoiding ESCR.
Whether anyone supports or opposes ESCR, there is still plenty of room for everyone to vote against the upcoming "Clone & Kill" (Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative) Amendment on constitutional grounds alone. It is simply too much power for one segment of Big Bio to own, unchecked, without future accountability to the voters.
Those of us in the Forsyth/Branson area have only glanced at articles with the name "Mary Traeger" for years. They contain the same old religious, Republican slanted rant each time. Perhaps she will decide to move to the Springfield area and be a regular columnist, and you will be blessed with her writings. Better yet, maybe she will choose to run for an office, she will fit right in with those already in power.
Drust
If you guys on the left are so fired up about stem cell research, then channel your energies into convincing the private sector to pursue this.
Why does the left always insist it's the responsibility of the government to increase the funding of this or that to solve the problem?
You people may feel that you don't pay enough taxes now. But by god, I do.
YAWN. Newtster is back with nothing new to say. What a bore.
That's what I love about the left.
Always an open mouth and a closed mind.
Newtie, there are MULTIPLE entities in the private sector, both philanthropic and for-profit, that would love to put their own money into stem cell research here in Missouri. The primary reason they haven't done so is for fear of having their investments criminalized by the Missouri General Assembly (controlled by, to use your monochromatic description, "the right.")
Talk all you want about "the left" having a closed mind.
If the Governor and the Republican majority currently in charge of things were effective enough to reach a consensus among themselves, they'd probably already have a criminalization bill rammed down ALL of our throats. Thankfully, they're too incompetent to achieve that.
Hopefully, when the next general election is over and more open-minded, reasonable-minded candidates (of whatever party) are sworn into office, Missouri can move ahead to enable these research opportunities. And again, Newtie, it doesn't have to happen with taxpayer money.
The jobs and investments that would accompany this type of research boom would go a long way toward boosting the economy, which should do its part to ease the pressure on public policymakers to push for increased taxes.
That is, unless more folks like you open their mouths and shut their minds to the potential for good that stem cell research holds for all of society...
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