Obama is no champion of science

Father Raymond J. de Souza is a Canadian priest who writes a weekly column in the National Post, a daily newspaper. He also has his own website where you can access all his articles.

Father de Souza's topic yesterday was Obama is no champion of science. He makes the point that research with adult stem cells, which involves no ethical difficulties, has been producing results in terms of treatment for various diseases. Stem cell research, involving human embryos, which involves killing human life, is going nowhere in terms of leading to cures for anything. He begins thus:

The scientists were jubilant, as men are when dividing the spoils. On Monday, President Barack Obama signed an executive order making available federal funding for stem cell research that destroys human embryos. It was widely described, erroneously -- even on the front page of the Post -- as a reversal of George W. Bush's "ban" on embryonic stem cell research (ESCR). Bush never banned ESCR; it has always been legal in the United States to create and destroy human embryos in order to harvest their stem cells. Bush only prevented federal funding from being used for embryo-destructive research.

That should not have been a problem in a wealthy country that spends hundreds of millions to advertise Viagra. If ESCR was going to be the thaumaturgical wonder its proponents claimed, the gateway to cures for every malady known to man, then private funding should have been plentiful. A cure for Parkinson's (Michael J. Fox was enthusiastic), for spinal injuries (Obama spoke about the late Christopher Reeve), for Alzheimer's (Nancy Reagan agrees too) -- what Big Pharma company wouldn't invest in research that would yield such lucrative therapies?

You can read the whole article here.

Father de Souza is writing about a man who said on national TV while campaigning to become president of the USA that knowing when life begins was 'above my pay grade'. (He later apologised for his 'flippancy').

One thing about Barack Obama is that so far he is keeping his campaign promises to promote abortion, not only in his own country, but overseas. One is tempted to say 'Yankee Imperialist'.