How to respond to Obama Trauma!

Every time I think I'm recovering from Obama Trauma, the news gets worse!
The appointees Obama is naming are the Who's Who of the abortion industry, from Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute professor Alta Charo, to CINO(Catholic in Name Only) Tom Daschle's being tapped for the position of Health and Human Services Secretary in the new cabinet, to this gloomy bit of info from the Cardinal Newman Society.
Several outspoken professors and political activities on Catholic campuses helped deliver pro-abortion Barack Obama the Catholic vote, according to a new report from The Cardinal Newman Society.
Exit polls show that Obama won over self-described Catholics 54 to 45 percent—better than the 52-46 split among all Americans—and even made inroads with Mass-attending and white, non-Hispanic Catholics.
Not surprising, I argued against it in my piece at Catholic Exchange, but these professors have the students as captive audiences. When I tried to frame our debate in my eighth grade US History class in term of life issues, which of course meant that Obama lost handily, I took some fierce flack from parents and students alike.This was in a conservative Catholic school.

Catholics don't want to hear the truth; they shut their ears and their hearts.
So the most pro-abortion politician in the history of the USA gets elected with our help. The bishops threaten a war over life issues, but I can't help remembering poor Fr. Newman being forced to retract his bold statement about voting for Obama and hand my head in shame.
An abomination!
Here, folks are our marching orders from Our Lady of Victory.. .

Adult Stem Cells help MS patients

Just another wonderful breakthrough for Adult Stem Cells. So far, NOT ONE CURE has been attributed to embryonic stem cells, though millions of taxpayers' dollars have been spent.
HT Citizen Link

A Christmas gift to scientists, and the rest of us

I knew, deep in my heart, that if we just trusted God to reveal the secrets of His finest creation, the human body, that He would provide us with the means to cure diseases without resorting to destroying human embryos.
A new report published this week in the journal Nature shows that a third team of researchers has been able to "reprogram" ordinary skin cells to take on the properties of embryonic stem cells.
These new scientific breakthroughs hold real promise for savings lives without cloning human beings. In addition, Dr. Ian Wilmut - the scientist who cloned Dolly the Sheep - has even cited the new techniques has his reason for abandoning human cloning experimentation.

Here it is, a gift from the Divine Child Jesus on His birthday. We should have trusted Him from the start, we would have saved millions of dollars, and untold numbers of little humans from destruction in laboratories.


Human skin cells can now produce embryonic stem cells. So there, scientists who say that Catholics hold back the progress of science.
What have you to say for yourselves now?!

The differing reactions to the new stem cell breakthrough

Pro-life Groups
Lawmakers
National Review Editors
Fr Thomas Berg, LC
Focus on the Family
Genethique (Fondation Lejeune in Paris)
My personal reaction is one of prayerful gratitude; I have always felt that if you pursue research keeping within the parameters outlined by Holy Mother Church, that is, a respect for the dignity of man, that God will reward your efforts with success. It happened to Louis Pasteur, Dr. Jerome Lejeune, and Madame Curie.
May Cathoilc scientists continue to lead the world into greater discoveries which enhance, not demean, human life.
Update, here's the opinion of the Ethics and Public Policy Center on the stem cell discovery.

Scientific Breakthrough may eliminate need for killing embryos

I have been teaching all day, away from the internet, and this amazing development took my breath away when John Gibson announced it on his radio program tonight. He gave President Bush credit for steering money to Adult Stem Cell research, which ultimately led to this breakthrough. I give Pope John Paul II credit, as George Bush went to him for advice before his August 2001 decision not to allow federal funds for more embryo-destructive stem cell research. He wasn't completely in line with Catholic teaching in that he allowed existing stem cell lines to be funded, but he has taken a lot of heat for his stand against embryonic stem cell research, even from his own party, and deserves some credit. Here'a an article from the Family Research Council.

No Embryos, No Cloning, No Eggs--No Problem!
Two prominent embryonic stem cell scientists today published results showing that they can produce cells with the qualities of embryonic stem cells directly from human skin cells, without the need for creating or destroying embryos, without cloning, and without the need for eggs used in cloning. The groundbreaking news by Dr. James Thomson, first to grow human embryonic stem cells, and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, Japan, was that they produced what are called "iPS" cells (induced Pluripotent Stem cells) using a simple recipe that involved adding four genetic factors to a human skin cell. When comparing these new cells with existing embryonic stem cells, Thomson noted that iPS cells "meet the defining criteria" for embryonic stem cells "with the significant exception that the iPS cells are not derived from embryos." Yamanaka and Thomson are to be congratulated for pushing forward the frontiers of science and demonstrating that good science can also satisfy ethical requirements. Coupled with the recent announcement by Dr. Ian Wilmut, cloner of Dolly the sheep, that he is shelving cloning as an unproductive technique in favor of this new ethical method, dubious experiments involving embryo cloning and embryo destruction are being rendered obsolete. Scientists can now work with "embryonic-like" stem cells without ethical concerns, while for patients the adult and cord blood stem cells continue to treat thousands of patients now. Congress should move swiftly to ban all human cloning by passing the Brownback-Weldon human cloning prohibition.

Scientist who cloned Dolly has change of heart

Over at Adult Stem Cell Awareness there is a discussion about geneticist Ian Wilmut, who cloned Dolly the sheep. No, he hasn't converted to Catholicism, as far as I know. He simply recognizes the fact that Adult Stem Cells are far more promising and worth the effort of scientists.

Family Research Council reports below:
Here Goes 'Mutton': Dolly Creator Rejects Cloning
This past weekend, the movement to ban cloning got some help from an unlikely source--the scientist most famous for attempting it.

Professor Ian Wilmut, the creator of Dolly the sheep, publicly announced his decision to abandon "therapeutic cloning" and turn his attention to pro-life alternatives such as those being perfected in Japan with adult stem cells. He believes the "socially acceptable" approach "represents the future for stem cell research," rather than the nuclear transfer method he and his team used 10 years ago in creating Dolly. Although Wilmut was given the go-ahead to pursue human cloning in 2005, the professor has since declined. His decision, on the heels of last week's news that scientists had successfully cloned primates, should put a serious damper on any enthusiasm for projects that require the creation and destruction of cloned embryos.
For all of the hype surrounding the monkey breakthrough, a couple of key details were lost on the media. For starters, the team leader of the Oregon primate program, Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov, admitted that the "efficiency is low" for the research and it is "not yet a cost effective medical option." Also, some reports estimated that it took over 15,000 monkey eggs to yield just two lines of embryonic stem cells, only one of which is normal. Meanwhile, as scientists waste precious time and resources on a procedure that the majority of the world considers morally unacceptable, pro-life alternatives are effectively treating everything from juvenile diabetes to spinal cord injuries--without the ethical headache. We can only hope that Wilmut's conversion will pull the wool from the eyes of the public, which should result in Congress turning away from spending more taxpayer money on embryonic stem cell research that is both unethical and ineffective.

New Blog on Adult Stem Cells

One of the biggest frustrations of mine is how the general public fails to understand the difference between adult stem cells which have cured as many as 85 diseases in laboratory trials, and do not destroy an unborn baby, and the use of embryonic stem cells which causes the death of an unborn child, and have cured absolutely no diseases to date. Adult stem cells, which may be obtained from such innocuous sources as umbilical cord blood, are approved by the Catholic Church. Embryonic stem cells are not.
My friend Monica Rafie of Be Not Afraid. net has started a group blog to raise awareness of these important differences. It's called Adult Stem Cell Awareness.

Fr. Berg of the Westchester Institiute appointed to Empire State Stem Cell Board

Father Thomas Berg has been appointed to the Ethics Committee for New York's Empire State Stem Cell Board. The Board was established earlier this year to oversee $600 million in funding "for basic, applied, translational or other research and development activities that will advance scientific discoveries in fields related to stem cell biology." The Board's inaugural meeting took place yesterday.

Fr. Berg is the Executive Director of The Westchester Institute. This is the best news for New York in a long time. I will pray for Fr. Berg, as I'm sure his work with the Stem Cell Board will be quite challenging.

Time to get involved in the chatter about Embryonic Stem Cells

October is Respect Life Month

So here is an easy pro-life activity you can do from home, from my friend Elizabeth at The Divine Gift of Motherhood.
I believe it is no coincidence that Long Island’s Newsday chose this week to run a five-part series on the Katie Trebing Story, reported by Beth Whitehouse. The Trebings used preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and in vitro fertilization to create the “perfect sibling” for the purpose of a bone marrow transplant to hopefully cure their daughter Katie’s Diamond Blackfan anemia. In the process, a total of 37 embryos were created. Only three were considered “good candidates” for implantation; the result was one successful pregnancy. The story is available here.

Whitehouse will be available for a live chat at the web site this Tues. and Wed. at 12:30 p.m. Stacy and Steve Trebing will be in the chat room on Thurs. at 12:30 p.m. Perhaps some of you can log in to make your voices heard.
Blessings,
Elizabeth

Sam Brownback obtains the Right kind of stem cell funding!

Kansas senator and Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback recently voted against the 2008 spending bill for the departments of Labor, Health and Education because the measure has a provision that would overturn President Bush’s limits on funding new embryonic stem cell research. However, Brownback was successful in getting language in the bill funding an institute that conducts research using adult stem cells. Brownback successfully got language for a $500,000 grant to S. 1710 for the Midwest Institute for Comparative Stem Cell Biology. The institute is part of Kansas State University and primary looks at stem cells from human and animal umbilical cord blood. It has shown promise in experiments as treatments for Parkinson’s and breast cancer, said institute co-founder Mark Weiss, according to a CQ report. The earmark would double the institute’s funding, Weiss said. “That would be awesome if we could get some federal support. We’ve really been inching along here and that would help us take it to the next level.”
President Bush has promised to veto any Congressional spending bull that overturns his limits on taxpayer funding of abortion or embryonic stem cell research
LifeNews.com