A Reasonable Victory in Maryland

WJZ Baltimore, Maryland News has the story:

Opponents of state funding for research on stem cells taken from human embryos failed Wednesday to dilute a
bill that would provide $25 million a year to pay for research projects conducted in Maryland.

Votes on five amendments offered by Republican delegates indicated the bill will have more than enough support when it comes up for a final vote in the House, probably later this week.

A similar bill is expected to come before the state Senate this week or next. Opponents plan a filibuster that they hope will kill the bill by keeping it from coming to a vote.

The one major difference between the two proposals involves funding. Unlike the House bill, the Senate version does not guarantee future funding, leaving it to the governor to decide each year how much money to put into the budget for stem cell research.

The Reasonable Absolute Individualists in Maryland's House successfully pushed through the new sacrifice to Moloch ESCR funding. The predictable trope carried their hearts and minds:

Delegate Peter Hammen, D-Baltimore, said the bill gives priority to embryonic stem cell research because President Bush severely limited the use of federal funds for research involving embryos.

Responding to critics who said adult stem cell research is yielding results while embryonic stem cell research is not, Hammen said research on adult stem cells began almost 50 years ago, while research on embryos is a new field that could lead to cures for intractable diseases.

"We want to make sure the funding is there to cure these horrible diseases. People in this state are depending on us, and it (state funding) is a small price to pay," he said.

O'Donnell's amendment was rejected on a 53-83 roll call that fell mostly on party lines, with Republicans voting mostly for the amendment and Democrats opposing it. Seventy-one votes will be required for the bill to pass the House and move to the Senate.

ESCR is the perfect storm of anti-gospel motivated phenomena. The push rests on the same flawed assumptions that undergird support for abortion. Deny the humanity of embryos, and anything done to them becomes licit. Therefore, everything that Individual Absolutists and Devotees of the One Thing that Matters want become mandatory. ESCR greases the rails for the Agenda.

Additionally, the Ka-Ching! drives supporters into a tizzy. Who wouldn't want a piece of the action that leads to a cure for cancer? Imagine that stock the day after such a miracle drug hits the market!

Fuggettaboutit!

And it's so easy: No one even gets hurt! After all, only Fools would believe that a bunch of genetically diverse cells that mature to a fully developed child are actually human!

The only way ESCR could possibly lead to such triumphs, however, is if We the People buck up! Venture Capitalists aren't interested; they're money's flowing to ASCR. You know: The morally licit stem cell research that has led to over 84 treatments? The one that doesn't kill unborn children simply because they exist in a different stage of development from older children outside the womb?

If folks want to ride the grand Boobah of Gravy Trains, then the government(s) are going to have to buck up.

The Reasonable have spoken. Maryland voters will now make new offerings of their future children to a salivating Moloch. All people are equal. It's just that some are more equal than others.