Ya know, I try to be civil but the pressure to fling poo is strong.

UK scientists plan a major research project to see if synthetic human blood can be made from embryonic stem cells.

Led by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, the three year trial could provide an unlimited supply of blood for emergency transfusions.

BBC

Meanwhile, in the Great American Desert (it tends to be windy all year round), willful ignorance services ideology, as it has for millenia:

"...I oppose all forms of experimentation on human embryos, and do not believe that taxpayers should be fored to fund this type of activity. There is widespread evidence that such controversial and ethically divisive research, which requires the destruction of a human embryo, and therefore a human person, is ineffective. It also appears to be financially unsustainable absent generous federal subsidies. Unfortunately, many reports do not adequately distinguish among the different types of stem cell research, potentially contributing to significant public confusion on this important issue." - Fortenberry form letter, 3/16/2009

Yes, a report about "stem cells" might cause confusion - as opposed to reports by the Representative who goes out of his way to deliberately cause confusion. He conveniently lists shortcomings of scientific opposition versus the sublime success of The Good Life, buttressed by the occasional anti-science anecdote.

We could provide an unlimited supply of blood in this way

That's O-negative blood the Professor's talking about, the kind that can be transfused into anyone without fear of tissue rejection.
And where do these life-giving embryos originate? Petri dishes. They're from in-vitro fertilization procedures - the embryos that are not implanted. Unless used in research projects these embryos are destined for... the trash can.

Somewhere in this paragraph I would probably ask the Representative why he's not charging the fertility clinic operators with murder, but just this morning I saw a video clip of Representative Bat-shit crazy Bachmann questioning the Treasury Secretary of the United States of America. Given that context, my would-be rhetorical question becomes a disturbing prediction of future legislation coming from the Republican party. I'll just stop now.

In the gallows of paradox the scholars hunker, The Fortnight's festivities begin

Thanks, poetry muse, for a carefree title. Two weeks ago yesterday, this fella, friends, and extended family stopped by for a visit. We're still cleaning up around the house.

nobel prize games

Spycam

AND SO IT BEGINS.... As expected, the Employee Free Choice Act, a measure intended to make it easier for American workers to form unions, was introduced on the Hill today. The measure is often known as "card check," because it would give workers the right to form a union when a majority of employees sign cards saying they want one.

Huh? Seems like signing a card serves as invitation for later retaliation. I'd be worried about that if I signed a card at my job asking for a union... wait! That's right, I don't have a job - so employer reaction ain't going to be a problem. Senator Nelson (R_Lite-NE) tries to couch his opposition to the bill by invoking the word "worker"

Workers are “more concerned with keeping their jobs than organizing a union today,” the Democratic senator said

...which is as good a way as any to avoid real explanation explaining how being for the worker means to be against the worker. Heck, let's just go watch a football game, okay?

Carpetbaggin' Backlash

In United States history, carpetbaggers was the term southerners gave to northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era, between 1865 and 1877. They formed a coalition with freedmen (freed slaves), and scalawags (southern whites who supported Reconstruction) in the Republican Party. Together they politically controlled former Confederate states for varying periods, 1867–1877.

The term carpetbaggers was used to describe the white northern Republican politicians who came South, arriving with their travel carpetbags. Southerners considered them ready to loot and plunder the defeated South.[1] Although the term is still an insult in common usage, in histories and reference works it is now used without derogatory intent.

--Wikipedia

Funny how things turn around over time. Like how it's trendy in some circles to compare recent Israeli governments with mid-20th Century NAZI activities.

Over at the OpenCongress website they have a clever voting trends analysis section that reports:

Rep. Jeffrey Fortenberry Voting Trends Analysis
The information below is an initial analysis of voting trends for this Member of Congress, calculated by cross-referencing all of this member's votes from the 110th Congress (Jan. 2007 - Dec. 2008). The results are intended to offer some helpful context for the place that this Member of Congress occupies in the Congressional landscape. In the next steps of site development, OpenCongress will incorporate more detailed analyses of voting trends to give you a comprehensive snapshot of every Member of Congress.

# Most often votes with: Rep. Charles Boustany [R, LA-7]

Aww, isn't that cute; they're like brothers!

Remind me sometime to tell the story about how a young Louisiana Republican wannabe with nice hair moves North to join the Republican War on Science and Other Stuff. It's American Dream meets American Idol.

Stemming the tide of stoopid

To Jeff Fortenberry, R-NE

In case you somehow missed it, here's the President of the United States - your President and mine - on science:

"I am also signing a Presidential Memorandum directing the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop a strategy for restoring scientific integrity to government decision making. To ensure that in this new Administration, we base our public policies on the soundest science; that we appoint scientific advisors based on their credentials and experience, not their politics or ideology; and that we are open and honest with the American people about the science behind our decisions. That is how we will harness the power of science to achieve our goals – to preserve our environment and protect our national security; to create the jobs of the future, and live longer, healthier lives."

As you mentioned in your recent press release, it seems that nowadays embryonic stem cells are inferior compared to induced pluripotent stem cells for human therapies. Maybe that situation will change over time; maybe not. Prayer will not answer that question. Scientific research will.

The larger point this issue raises, one far more appropriate for those people who are engaged in setting national policy, is that the ban on ES research was never based on science, rather, it was merely another Bush-era elevation of politics and ideology over reason and rational thinking. Kind of like torture. Or the jacked-up invasion of Iraq. Classifying legal advice as top secret. And so on.

Those days are thankfully behind us.

I urge you to chat with the good folks at UNMC in Omaha and see if their take on ES research is reasonable. They aren't generally regarded as kooks. Despite the apparent inferiority of embryonic stem cells, UNMC thinks this is a Good Thing. Perhaps they know something that we don't.

You can remain a faithful practitioner of your religion without pandering to fear, ignorance and hatred-of-the-other which, unfortunately, was a reliable vote-getter for the past few decades. For example, in this case you could have gotten out in front by finding and funding iPSC research right here in Nebraska. THAT would be something worthy of a press release.

I am looking forward with anticipation that day when you realize that obstruction, carping and denial are not helpful to the country, not helpful to the people of Nebraska and no longer sufficient to win an election.

Now. How about a press release showing what you're doing, not what you're not doing?

Retail Clerks Union

FAC

Sia | Soon We'll Be Found from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

Guidance

I was looking for a snappy comeback, a blistering retort or even a simple, logical explanation for what's sometimes called serendipity but more often called blessed intervention or divine guidance. Yeah well, I was going about my daily chores when all of a sudden, there's a web page with this quiz:

11. Although you are new at golf, you have just hit a beautiful 200-yard drive and your ball has landed on a blade of grass near the cup at Hole 3. The green contains ten million blades of grass. The odds of your ball landing on that blade of grass are 10,000,000 to one against, too improbable to have happened by mere chance. What's the explanation?

1. The wind guided it
2. Your muscles guided it
3. There is no need for an explanation
4. You consciously designed your shot to land on that particular blade

How cool is that?