I Just Don't Know

President Bush used the first veto of his presidency to kill a bill that would have allowed the Federal Government to spend more money on stem cell research. The President said that the embryos that would be used had a right to live and even called them "boys and girls." I wish I could write something hilarious about this, but right now, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the whole issue.

Stem cell research is a tricky issue. Depending on who you talk to, it's either the most important advancement in science, or murder. That leaves a lot of room in the middle. I guess it comes down to the whole question of when you think life begins. Is an egg that has been fertilized and frozen, but never put in a woman's body and allowed to grow actually life, or is it just a high tech popsicle with the potential to become something else? People have been killed over this debate.

Without getting too heavy (this doesn't seem like the place) I have to say, this really has my head spinning. It's one of the few issues where I can almost see both sides. I say almost because I have a hard time seeing something that has been frozen in a Petri dish as a living thing. According to people I've talked to who know about the whole in vitro process, the chances of one of these frozen eggs actually becoming a baby is very slim. On the other hand, the use of stem cells to develop cures for diseases like diabetes and Parkinson's seems promising.

Tomorrow we'll get back to light hearted lampooning of daily life, but today, let's think. I'm not sure where I fall on this, but I'm going to keep studying it. I think it's the least we all can do. Later...Brian