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BY now most of you know that President Bush delivered his first veto in his 5 years in office. You re also probably aware that Congress failed in its attempt to override the veto by 51 votes.

What you probably don’t know however is that many of the same lawmakers who pulled themselves up on the moral pedestal of embryonic stem cell research voted down another bill that would have furthered non-embryonic stem cell research.

In other words only one kind of stem cell research is good enough for 136 Democrats and 12 double crossing Republicans who voted yes to support embryonic stem cell research and no to defeat alternative non-embryonic stem cell research.

To put this into context, all stem cell research shows promise. However, none of that research has lead to a cure for anything. Further, the emphasis on embryonic stem cell research and the framing of that as the “only hope” for millions of Americans is an unabashed lie.

But that doesn’t stop super hypocrites like Nancy Pelosi from speaking out of both sides of her mouth.

“In vetoing this legislation, the president would be saying ‘no’ to 72 percent of the American people. He would be saying ‘no’ to so many families across America who are hoping and praying this legislation becomes public policy. He would be saying ‘no’ to hope,” said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco at a press conference just before Bush announced his decision.

Pelosi voted to deny funding in the “Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act” on the same day she lobbied and voted for the “Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act”.

The same goes for Republican Michael Castle. He is the Republican author of the Bill that President Bush vetoed. He is so convinced that embryonic stem cells have greater potential than adult stem cells that he voted to stifle alternative research. Not very scientific but it makes a great talking point.

Democrat Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado was so outraged at the President Bush veto that she also voted against the alternative bill.

“I am outraged that President Bush is considering using his first veto on legislation that holds the key to helping millions of Americans suffering from diseases like Parkinson’s and diabetes,” she adds. “This research is far too important to be used as a political wedge.”

So why did she use that very same wedge in voting down alternative research? If you are going to be outraged you may as well be consistent!

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that embryonic stem cells don’t show promise. But it is quite disingenuous for anyone to elevate that promise above other stem cell research such as bone marrow, skin graft, human muscle and many other sources (too many to mention here).

Research in manipulating non-embryonic stem cells to act like embryonic stem cells is already advancing. Other researchers are searching for other sources of such early stage cells that doesn’t include the destruction of human embryos.

Just last month the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Stem Cell Research published an article in the Journal Nature that reports a discovery in reprogramming adult stem cells back to their embryonic stem cell state. This is one of many along the same lines of similar research.

The hypocrisy of Embryonic Stem Cell Politics is designed to fool people into thinking that there is only one hope in the quest to cure disease and repair paralysis. It’s a lie that has been conjured up by politicians whose sole quest is to gain power rather than help the human cause. People should get more involved and educate themselves if there are going to take such a stance.

Others:

• Flopping Aces: The Embryonic Stem Cell Veto
• The Anchoress: EMBRYONIC Stem Cells, EMBRYONIC
• Sister Toldjah: Harry Reid: Major-league *edited*
• Captains Quarters: Bush Casts First Veto On Embryonic Stem-Cell Funding
• 4thelittleguy: Bush Vetoes Embryonic Stem Cell Research

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