(This is the poll I tried to post, before my poor Parkinsonian fingers hit the "Send" key before I was ready. Please forgive -- and vote. Thank you.)

Today (June 13) is a special day for me.

One year ago today, I was at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, undergoing Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery as part of a "Phase 1" clinical trial looking into the safety and tolerability of DBS on people in the earlier stages of Parkinson's Disease. Happy to say the operation went well for me, and I'm now taking about 25% less medication than I was before the surgery.

Today, while researching material for my PD blog and podcast (one of the URLs in my sig), I saw a story about Internet crooks who are scamming PD patients with false hopes tied to stem cell research that hasn't been done yet. Basically, if you send them a LOT of money, they will turn you on to the miracle of stem cell "cures" for PD and a variety of other diseases.

I believe that if this nation had an active, aggressive and FUNDED research effort into embryonic stem cells and the good they can do, then scams like these would be much fewer.

I know all the arguments against ESCR -- pro-life, we can't destroy one life to save another, etc. and etc. But as long as there is "in vitro fertilization", there will be a READY SUPPLY of these cells -- these "blastocysts" -- to be used in research. Folks who engage in IVF will generally fertilize a goodly number of cells, which are implanted on a monthly basis until a pregnancy occurs. Once a child is born, most of these cells are discarded -- thawed and burned as medical waste.

These are cells that are going to be destroyed ANYWAY once the desired pregnancy occurs. Why NOT use them to find cures for PD, paralysis, diabetes, and the myriad of other diseases for which ESCR shows such promise?

So... the question is... Given the fact that these blastocyst remnants from IVF are going to be incinerated ANYWAY... why not use them?

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Let's see which attack angle will work:

Trying to tie 8 year old Barack Obama to William Ayers.

...or...

Trying to tie 50 year old John McCain to the savings and loan scandal and following his mavericky path of deregulation for all his time in Congress.

Hmmmmmmmm, what will voters care more about??

www.keatingeconomics.com

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The woman in my avatar is Cristina Scabbia and the woman in my profile picture is Tarja Turunen
Sun flames and moons glow, timeless the tides will flow, what will I face, what will be mine, fortune and fate the other side...

Post of the week:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inferno You just don't relate to my sense of humor. How about this. Gosh darn funny man living in a whale. doncha know that gawd could do that I betcha he could. wink wink.

I voted for the last selection, I think that you are heading down a slippery-slope when you destroy human life for medical research

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On that topic masturbation is also murder.

but it feels soooooo goooooooooooooooood. *_*

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https://www.voteforchange.com/

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The woman in my avatar is Cristina Scabbia and the woman in my profile picture is Tarja Turunen
Sun flames and moons glow, timeless the tides will flow, what will I face, what will be mine, fortune and fate the other side...

Post of the week:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inferno You just don't relate to my sense of humor. How about this. Gosh darn funny man living in a whale. doncha know that gawd could do that I betcha he could. wink wink.

I was wondering if there was another option between 1 and 2 or perhaps replacing both of them:

"With parental permission the IVF leftovers can be used for research."

Seems to satisfy the objections implicit in the 2nd.

I have mixed feelings about this and all medical advances. Of course, I want to live a long, healthy life. If I get sick, I want a cure. However, Overpopulation is destroying over world and our civilization.

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WARNING: In the unlikely event of an accidental agreement with any or all points made in the above post, contact a clinical psychologist immediately.

The views expressed in the above post are not necessarily those of Joker and/or any of his affiliates.

not even close pffft . I voted that parents should pay , no government funds

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Aint but three things in this world thats worth a solitary dime,
But old dogs and children and watermelon wine.
Tom T. Hall
http://www.obamatruth.org/

Okay, I'm going to wimp out and post a response without voting, but it I was forced to, I'll admit I would have to choose the third option. It's not quite how I fell, but the closest of the choices.

I am pretty confident that both a sperm and an egg, prior to fertilization, are not human life. I am also quite confident that a new born baby is. With these two beliefs, I feel safe concluding that life starts somewhere in between. Is it at conception? It is at viability? Is it at delivery? I can't really say, but I would rather err on the side of caution when it come to even possibly killing a defenseless person.

However, I can't really say IVF is immoral, since I have no precise definition of when life actually begins. It also prevents me from saying that IVF should be outlawed.