Aggregated News
Biologically, embryonic stem cells are pluripotent _ capable of developing in any number of directions. The same might be said about them politically.
The vote this week by Congress to expand the pool of embryos available for federally financed stem cell research, followed by President Bush_s veto, changed little in terms of research. It also added little to any moral reasoning about why or why not _nascent human life,_ to use a phrase that both sides seem to find sufficiently neutral, should be destroyed in the quest for medical progress.
Most news accounts rightly focused on the political dimensions of Congress_s action and the president_s first veto. If there was an official list of wedge issues, embryonic stem cell research would certainly deserve to be on it.
Most of these wedge issues _ which have a broad surface appeal that benefits one party or ideological current while making it difficult for others to oppose them _ are considered the property of conservatives: same-sex marriage, for example, or flag burning, or _under God_ in the Pledge of Allegiance. A few are...
The vote this week by Congress to expand the pool of embryos available for federally financed stem cell research, followed by President Bush_s veto, changed little in terms of research. It also added little to any moral reasoning about why or why not _nascent human life,_ to use a phrase that both sides seem to find sufficiently neutral, should be destroyed in the quest for medical progress.
Most news accounts rightly focused on the political dimensions of Congress_s action and the president_s first veto. If there was an official list of wedge issues, embryonic stem cell research would certainly deserve to be on it.
Most of these wedge issues _ which have a broad surface appeal that benefits one party or ideological current while making it difficult for others to oppose them _ are considered the property of conservatives: same-sex marriage, for example, or flag burning, or _under God_ in the Pledge of Allegiance. A few are...