Bush Veto of Stem Cell Funding Upheld

President Bush vetoed his first bill, some 6 years into his presidency. Congress upheld the veto. The bill provided for federal funding of stem cell research. The research is praised by some as the holy grail to achieve scientific miracles, like raising organs from a Petri dish. The research is condemned by others as it requires the destruction of a human embryo, which those people consider to be a human life.

I lean against federal funding of stem cell research because:

(i) if its immoral to kill a one-day old child for the purpose of using its body for research, why is it moral to kill a newly-formed embryo that absent intervention goes on to become that baby; and

(ii) even if the newly-formed embryo is not a human life, why should the federal government be funding this research, as opposed to letting private parties fund the research or allow the separate states, e.g., California and New York, to provide the funding?

I guess I just don't like the Feds getting into our business when the states can make their own decisions.

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Terrorists: We aren't like them

Hezbullah fires rockets into Israeli cities. The rockets hit apartment buildings, hospitals, a train station, fields...almost everything. But why don't the rockets hit Israeli military targets?

Of course, the reason is because Hezbullah doesn't care about civilians. They kill their own to make political points. Why would they care about the life of an Israeli, especially a Jew? And they don't.

How does Israel respond? With carpet bombings or massed attacks against Beirut and other civilian centers? No. Rather, Israel takes great pains to avoid killing civilians, while still achieving the military objective of disarming and destroying Hezbullah. In doing so, of course civilians die. It's the result of war. Civilians will die. But the difference is where one party targets civilians, or launches attacks with complete negligence, not caring who is hit, as opposed to an attack targeting a military objective for the purpose of hurting the enemy's ability to make war.

This is clear from the logs of an Israeli air force pilot, who notes in his journal in the early hours of the war:

>Major E, my formation leader walks into the briefing room, still in his jeans. He's been called to come ASAP. What's happening? He asks me. I update him, and we brief for our mission quickly. He is concerned about making mistakes, and bombing the wrong targets. He is experienced, and has been around long enough to see mistakes happen and innocent civilians killed. A friend of his, a helicopter pilot once mistook a letter in a target's name, and ended up shooting at the wrong target, killing a whole family. Major E does not want the same thing to happen to us. He emphasizes that there is no rush, that we must check and recheck every coordinate we receive, make sure we understand EXACTLY what we are supposed to target.

Who Will Fight

A moving writing by Rachel Saperstein and Neve Dekalim, former settlers in Israel. They talk about the death coming from the skies upon the Israeli cities, terrorizing the citizens. They heed calls from to go rescue their brothers and sisters in the north, when none came to help them when they were attacked in their settlements. They point out that they stood to fight terrorism, while those in "safe" Israel claimed settlers were not worthy of fighting, and that they should come home rather than be on settled land.

Now the people inside Israel are being attacked. The settlers have been forcibly removed to that so-called safe land in Israel. No place is safe. They are running out of places to hide from terrorists.

No place is safe. But they will fight.

A must read.

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Israel Pushes for Lebanon's Army to Secure Southern Border

A terrorist group attacks Israel without provocation. That terrorist group is operating in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution. Now, Israel is begging Lebanon's army to get off its butt and walk down a few miles to secure it's own border. Israel asks where Lebanon is, if its not in it's own country keeping the peace.

Israel also signals willingness for an international force to come in and secure the border. Basically, all Israel wants is peace. It wants someone to get Hezbollah to stop firing rockets into Israel's cities.

Why is that unreasonable?

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Hillary Clinton Lives the Good Life

Senator Clinton has spent "well over $800,000" to expand and "update" her abode in Washington. It includes a new pool house, a "giant ballroom" and plenty of new air conditioners and lights.

Should those who claim to represent our huddled masses be spending so much money on air conditioners, lights and pools? I mean, what about giving something back to the poor? What about global warming? Where's the conservation?

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