A Veto Against Hope. Enough With Your Stupidity Already!

It’s time to get serious about putting the lunatic fringe in its place: the margins of our society where it belongs! I don’t expect any reasonable response to this from them—after all reason is not their strong suit—but the longer we remain silent the more confusion there is. Having close-minded conservatives spew their incoherencies doesn’t provide us with “another side” to an issue, just plenty of cacophony! So to all of you who have the brain of Ann Coulter and the character of Barbara Bush* (the elder) listen up:


Isn’t it nice to believe in something just because it makes you feel good regardless if it’s true? Or, that once you take a position you won’t change your views no matter what? How about when you don’t like somebody’s else’s argument/ideas/lifestyle but you can’t use any facts to shoot them down so instead you behave like a bully? You know exactly what I’m talking about but you won’t allow me to call your bluff, so, go ahead, attack me personally, not my arguments! After all, you are a conservative; one who confuses having the right to an opinion as making your own facts up! After all, you live in a static universe divinely ordained & revealed only to the “chosen ones”, anti-intellectual, superstitious, and close-minded.

Why am I saying all these things? Let me explain why I believe my statements aptly describe you. Your president used his first ever veto against Congress’s bill for stem cell research. This is the same man who promotes incorrect science (unfounded beliefs); the same person who believes Biblical creationism is a better “theory” to be taught in school than one of the strongest, most-tested scientific theories we have, that of Evolution! But, I doubt that he fully understands what science is. Bush said that human embryo equals human life, and to fund stem cell research would “violate the dignity of human life.” Curiously, his spokesman acknowledged that private funding and research can still go on! Did I miss the effort by the White House to stop this “genocide” from taking place? What happened to “murdering innocent babies”?!! Private murder is OK? What happened was simple: Bush’s act was a veto against hope!

Yes, the same people, who question global warming and evolution, want to tell us about the science of stem cell research! They tell us that a collection of cells smaller than the small dot at the end of this sentence is a human being. This mass of cells develops 5-14 days after the egg’s fertilization. Those blastocysts fail, naturally, at a rate of 40-80%. They have the potential to develop into a human being. Human ova and sperm are naturally wasted too. Is anyone seriously suggesting collecting and saving all of them because they’re human lives?

The stem cells have another potential, to grow into any specialized cell for a particular body organ, and hold the promise of unlocking the secrets to curing dreadful diseases. The “lines” available to the scientists today aren’t enough for research so they need more. If research stops, those stem cell lines that already exist will deteriorate shortly and will be discarded. Wait, is this murder?..

Aren't you the same people who want to ban the the morning-after pill as emergency contraception to prevent egg fertilization? So, is sperm now a human being? Gosh, all the humanity... Sure, why not admit that you don't like sex so much that you want to keep others in the dark and misinformed like you? I don't expect you to let the facts interfere with your story! Facts like rising unintended pregnacies, abortions, and sexually transmitted diseases because of the policies you advocate! No, not bad sex is bad, but sex altogether is bad, right? Why bother checking to see what ignorance and superstition has brought to those "red states" you have big influence in? If it sounds/feels good to you, it's OK. The hell with the facts and those godless hedonists!

Can anyone explain to me why those “pro-life” conservatives don’t care about human life when it really matters? Being pro-life means enhancing human life when it makes a difference. It also means providing health care and hope to the sick--so stem cell research is pro-life! It’s strange to me that you conservatives don’t want us to have reproductive choice, don’t want us even to have the proper education & available information about sex—a natural human activity—but once a baby is born you conservatives don’t want to provide a safety net to mother & child! Healthcare, daycare, education, equality of opportunity, etc, are all liberal/progressive values after all.

Giving life a chance is not what you conservatives have in mind. When your president was governor in Texas, he presided over a record-setting executions (150 or so), and refused to grant clemency and/or a stay of execution to mentally retarded persons and to those who wanted to use the newly available science of DNA to prove their innocence. But, if you believe God tell you things, or that you act on his behalf, you go to sleep at night with a clear conscience.

Sorry, I forgot to call you arrogant (in addition to being anti-intellectual, superstitious, and close-minded). You’re convinced that not only God is on your side but that you speak for him as well! You support & applaud bigots like Jerry Falwell & Pat Robertson and you elect to Congress Republicans like these—who while voting for the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage—also pompously declared:

Rep. John Carter (R-TX): “It’s part of God’s plan for the future of mankind.”
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN): “It wasn’t our idea, it was God’s.”
Rep. Bob Beauprez (R-CO): “We best not be messing with His plan.”
Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA): “I think God has spoken very clearly on this issue.”

I can hardly find an atheist who can be more dangerous that any religious fanatic who not only believes God has told him the truth but it is also his duty to impose that "truth" on everybody else. [go ahead, click on the links to read what Falwell, Robertson, and Coulter have said.... and they are just a few of the wingnuts on the conservative side]

I know not all Conservatives are part of the lunatic fringe but the former have allowed the latter to highjack their party, trying to turn America back to the Dark Ages. There’s going to be a national debate, probably a serious struggle, soon. It’ll be between the forces of modernity/science/progress and the forces of conservatism/authoritarianism and apocalyptic religion. The other advanced countries have more or less settled on the side of modernity and the scientific method/inquiry, and they’ve been promoting a progressive social agenda. We—the true pro-lifers, the liberals—cannot let our country lose our traditional & progressive values. Those values that made America great; that made our cities vibrant cosmopolitan centers and our institutions beacons of hope and freedom!

*Former First Lady Barbara Bush said of the war in Iraq: "Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? It's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"