STEM CELL VETO

Bush's first veto occurred because stem cell research crossed "a moral boundary." Look, you turd, no one needs lessons in ethics from a greedy, lying butcher. And do you remember that ol' separation of church and state? With admittedly cute kids in every shot of the newscast (including one little girl who flipped him off) this cheap trick should have also been used by advocates of the research. They could have surrounded themselves with pitiful victims of cancer, Parkinson's, and the many other afflictions whose lives stem cell research might save or ease. Or had a slide show of cancerous organs like this yummy liver below to inspire fear of life-threatening disease and reinforce the need for cures. 67% of the country supports stem cell research. You'd think Bush's low poll numbers might make him think twice about an unpopular decision as his first veto in 5 and 1/2 years.



"These boys and girls are not spare parts.", he said. Well, neither are the thousands of US soldiers and Iraqis who died in your quest for Iraq's oil. As Randi Rhodes pointed out yesterday on her brilliant AIR AMERICA broadcast, Bush doesn't even worship God. He worships money. She suggests that right-wingers have taken note of how successful governments like Saudi Arabia have been in keeping citizens/believers in check with fundamentalist religion--it's a form of mind control and it doesn't even matter what the religion is. That's why Bush's rhetoric is contradictory to itself. Thou shalt not kill. Go to war and kill. Protect the life of a discarded cell. Torture a human being. His evangelical supporters are too sheepish to question the party line. But if our population blindly follows evangelical preachers who inextricably link church and politics, then preachers can spout, as they did in the last presidential election, that a vote for John Kerry is a vote for the devil. It's sad but true, but most people don't want to think, much less analyze politics. It's much easier to just follow "the christian way" and not question. I'll never forget the time a religious seamstress was late in finishing one of my costumes. She'd waited until the last minute and then when there wasn't enough time to finish my frock. Her excuse? "It's in God's hands now." I was like, "Well how the hell did it get out of your hands and into God's?" People are so lazy that they use God as a catch-all which absolves them of the responsibility for their failings, but also of the need to think something through themselves. And with the government controlling much of the news media and even "liberal" news outlets like CNN increasingly tabloidish in content, we need the facts more now than ever. But perhaps because of the unpopularity of his veto, press wasn't even allowed at the veto signing..

So sometimes Bush's policies are christian and pro-life, but more often they're pro-death an suffering, whether starting an illegal war with possibly more on the way, leaving Katrina victims to perish, torturing, ignoring AIDS, keeping our health care system in the hands of crooks, add your own personal favorite outrage here. Randi pointed out that Tony Snow announced that private companies WILL be allowed to engage in stem cell research--so in other words, it's not murder of cute kids like the ones in the background of his veto photo op, if private companies can make money off of it. The same way big business is making, excuse the pun, a killing off of the war. I cannot recommend Randi's shows enough. Before the news even hinted at it, she was damning the Bush administration for forcing US evacuees from Lebanon to sign promisory notes guaranteeing that they'd pay the government back for their safe passage to Cyprus. Embarrassed by their own greed, the government stopped this practice due to the public outcry against it. Well, you can't cry out against something unless you know it exists. So please tune into Randi 3-7 PM Eastern on AIR AMERICA and try it. Even if you hate politics, her comedy makes the medicine go down very enjoyably. Even if it isn't broadcast in your area, you can listen online for free: AIRAMERICA