Debate over embryonic stem cell research centers on ideology versus science

The debate over embryonic stem cell research and Michigan's Ballot Proposal 2 is simply an attempt to trump science and progress with blind ideology and politics.

We have been hammered by false and misleading TV ads funded by anti-choice groups, Catholic groups and far rightwing organizations like the Family Research Council.

Embryonic stem cells have the potential to cure countless diseases, such as autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis; cancers; cardiovascular diseases; circulatory and respiratory diseases; spinal cord injuries; infectious diseases like HIV; metabolic diseases like cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease; muscular dystrophies; neurological diseases of adulthood like Alzheimer's disease and Lou Gehrig's disease; and neurological diseases of childhood like Asperger's syndrome and autism. The embryos are never implanted in a woman’s body, and the embryos are routinely discarded by fertility clinics.

The bottom line is this: instead of using the embryos for anything useful and helping the more than 770,000 Michigan residents who are suffering from the above mentioned diseases, opponents of embryonic stem cell research would rather see them thrown in the trash. That is just sad.

Cure Michigan, proponents of the ballot proposal, have done an excellent job of putting a human face on the 770,000 Michiganders this could help if passed. One is a friend of mine, Julielyn Gibbons. Her very personal video makes me proud she grew up and her parents still live in my home county of Livingston County in Green Oak Township.

I met her through blogging and politics, and the "Cruise Director" – as she is affectingly known in the liberal blogging world - is one of the people responsible for the success of liberal blogs. She works hard for what she believes in, and that's why she is working hard in this campaign. I have never seen her in a bad mood, despite the pain she has been in. But her story is just one of many personal stories, and the web site has many more.

For another good piece of video, check out the "Off the Record" episode with Tim Skubick that features an opponent and a proponent of Proposal 2, as well as Prop 1, debating the issue. For me, this is the best way to reach a decision instead of a one-on-one interview where statements can go unchallenged when they are facing off.

It speaks volumes about the two side's agendas by who were the spokesmen, and it was science versus politics and ideology. The anti-stem cell proponent was Republican state Sen. Tom George. The proponent was Dr. Sean Morrison, the Director of the University of Michigan Center for Stem Cell Biology. Granted, George is also a medical doctor, but he is playing the role of politician. It's worth watching.

What we have seen from the opponents of Prop 2 is false, misleading and even disgusting ads from the opponents of stem cell research. They have pushed falsehood after falsehood. They have falsely claimed it will raise taxes. Only 12 states have chosen to publicly fund embryonic stem cell research, and this proposal does not do that. The fact is Michigan is losing out on millions of dollars in federal funding and grants.

They also falsely claim it will open the door on human cloning, but they are, of course, ignoring the fact that a 1988 Michigan law already bans human cloning. Opponents also claim Proposal 2 would allow unrestricted research. Not true because the research conducted in Michigan meets existing strict federal laws and guidelines.

The newest one I heard says even if Proposal 2 is voted down embryonic stem cell research will still go on. That ignores that research here is severely limited to existing stem cell lines, many of which are contaminated and unsuitable for study, and any attempt to create new ones is a felony. Michigan has three of the best research universities in the country, but we have already lost some of brightest minds to states that allow embryonic stem cell research.

To see how politicized this has become we have the Catholic Bishop for the Lansing Diocese criticizing Gov. Jennifer Granholm for her support of Proposition 2. Now, I'm not a catholic, but apparently the Governor is a Catholic. I don't see why that even matters, and the Bishop's opinion is just one more opinion and that's not based on fact or science.

What the Catholic Church thinks is irrelevant, and I don't understand why their opinion carries any more weight than supporters of Prop 2, like the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, the American Dental Association or the Unitarian-Universalist Association of Congregations.

This reminds of the issues raised when President Kennedy, the only Catholic President, was running. It was feared he would take policy direction from the Vatican. He put that to rest in a speech in 1960 to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association: "I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president - should he be Catholic- how to act."

Make that Governors, too.

Vote Yes on Proposition 2.

Anti-union ad prompts discussion of advertising polices for bloggers

Some small cracks have been revealed in Michigan’s strong progressive/liberal blogging community when the leading liberal blog, Michigan Liberal, ran an anti-union blog ad.

The ad takes you to an anti-union blog called “Labor Pains,” which is part of the larger anti-union group called “Union Facts.” The ad copy says, “It's no longer Unions vs. Management. Now it's Unions vs. Employees: Union "leaders" embezzle and waste dues dollars. Union "leaders" use members' money on their own political agenda. Union "leaders" are trying to suppress an employee's right to secret ballot elections. Read more...”

Aside from the operators of the Michigan Liberal getting some angry emails from readers and posters, Michael Huerta, a member of the United Auto Workers (UAW) from Perry who operates the blog FARLEFTFIELD, took the symbolic step of taking the link to Michigan Liberal off of his blogroll. He said with the attack on labor unions in Michigan with so-called right to work laws pending in the state Legislature and the UAW strike against General Motors running the ad is bad timing, at best.

“Obviously, reasonable minds can differ,” he said. “It just seems like you work so hard for something good, and you get stuff like that.”

Huerta said he has had contact with Eric Baerren at Michigan Liberal, who is acting as the blog’s quasi-managing editor, and although Huerta disagrees with the e reasoning for running the ad, he remains cordial and supportive of Michigan Liberal.

“I don’t want to get in a flap over this, and it’s hard to say anything bad about the site,” Huerta said. “Michigan Liberal is one of the best sources for organizing and finding out about events in the state.”

Baerren says he has gotten a few angry emails, but once he explained the ad policy people understood his position.

“Michigan Liberal is pro-labor; it has been pro-labor in the past, and it will be pro-labor in the future,” he said. “If the right to work proposal gets off the ground we will be fighting against it.”

Mainstream media outlets have dealt with the problem of running questionable ads and conflicts of interest by adopting a consistent policy and keeping the sales and editorial departments segregated and independent as possible. But with the new medium of blogs there come new problems, and accepting ads from political opponents is one of them. Most blogs are just platforms for people’s opinions, but because some of the more popular blogs have such high traffic counts, advertisers are turning to blogs to reach a younger, targeted audience. The problem can be especially acute when the blog is operated by just one person, or in the case of Michigan Liberal by a quasi-board of four people, as well as many contributing writers and diarists.

“It’s kind of a big tent when you are talking about progressives,” Baerren said. “Obviously, you are going to get a lot of differing opinions.”

Baerren said he has adopted the same basic policy for advertising used by Daily Kos and The Nation Magazine. The policy gives him the discretion to reject ads that are plainly false, obscene or libelous, or ads that come with an overt attempt to influence editorial content. The policy also says running an ad does not imply endorsement of the product or cause, but if an ad is rejected for content then it leads to the danger that an advertisement that does run has an implied endorsement.

“You don’t endorse advertising, but you can’t condemn advertising either,” Baerren said. “When you start vetting ads for content you can have problems.
“I think it’s a bad idea when you start to vet for content,” he said.

The ad comes from a type of syndicate called Blogads that bloggers with at least an average of 1,000 hits a day can subscribe to. An advertiser contracts with the company, and he can choose a blog based on the number of hits, the content of the blog and their target audience. Blogads sends the ad to the blog, and the operator can accept the ad, reject it or do nothing and in three days it runs automatically, all for a small fee. Baerren said there was plenty of internal debate before deciding to do nothing and allowing it to run. That gave him time to post an explanation on the reason for running the ad.

“I wanted the blog post to run before the ad ran,” he said. “Most of the comments we got from the post were that they understood once they understood why we did it.”

Michigan Liberal was started in March of 2005 by Matt Ferguson, a former radio reporter, a former Democratic candidate for the U.S. House from the 8th Congressional District and a political consultant. It quickly became the leading liberal blog, but Ferguson stepped away from daily operations and posting on the blog when he took a job with The State of Michigan following the November elections.

In addition to Baerren, the blog is now operated by co-owners Laura Packard and Jon Koller and outreach coordinator Julielyn Gibbons. Both Packard and Gibbons have worked very hard to establish a cohesive liberal “blogosphere” by organizing various meet-and-greets with bloggers and elected Democratic officials, introducing other bloggers to each other, encouraging bloggers to carry each other’s links, organizing a blogger picnic this past summer, organizing a bloggers caucus at the Michigan Democratic Party convention last winter and they put together a guide to blogging they make available to new liberal and progressive bloggers.

(For full disclosure, Kevin Shopshire is a former diarist on Michigan Liberal under the screen name kjbas58.)

Article highlights Rogers’ watchdog blog: GOP rolls out standard attack the messenger defense

Dan Meisler continues to highlight trends and changes in politics that are altering the way campaigns are conducted. His story on the newest political blog, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, is one more excellent effort. He has written on political blogs in the past, and he was quick to pick up on this one.

I’m proud to say I am a contributor to this new blog, and this will be one way to shine a bright light on Mike Rogers’ votes, positions, actions and public statements. There has been a complete lack of accountability in the Bush Administration, and this will return some accountability to the process.

A Web log targeting U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, is the latest site of its kind to focus on the political scene in Livingston County and the 8th Congressional District.
According to its founder, Julielyn Gibbons, who grew up in Green Oak Township and now lives in Lansing, the Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood blog will document the congressman's every move in order to keep his constituents up to date.
Gibbons' political leanings are clear — her computer nickname is LiberalLucy and her other blog is called Liberal, Loud and Proud — but she insists her latest effort is not meant to smear or disparage Rogers. In truth, she said, her goal is to be educational.
"Since he is, in fact, working for all of us, the government should have an inherent level of transparency," Gibbons said. "This is just helping to make Mr. Rogers' record more transparent."
"I'm not saying Mike Rogers hasn't done anything good for the district, but there's a lot more good that he could be doing," she continued. "If nothing else, we who helped create the blog hope he understands, by us paying attention to him and publicizing what he does ... we are going to hold him accountable."

I’m really surprised Rogers spokesperson Sylvia Warner declined to comment for this story. She is very good at making up Rogers quotes on the spot.

It didn’t take long for the Republicans to ramp up the standard “attack the messenger” strategy that has led people to buy into the false “liberal media bias” strategy and smear campaign. Allan Filip, who was just chosen as the chair of the Livingston County Republican Party in a closed-door convention where they barred the press less than two weeks ago, wasted no time in rolling out the standard GOP attack the messenger strategy.

After looking at Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Livingston County Republican Party Chairman Allan Filip commented that it seemed to be too personal.
"To really play a large role, a lot of these things are going to have to become less venomous," he said.
Generally speaking, Filip said, political blogs play to the extreme fringes of their particular parties.
"I don't think necessarily it's anything that's changing people's hearts and minds," he said.

They love to claim scrutinizing a Republican’s record is a personal attack, and they used that defense when Chris Ward’s ethically challenged record was examined in the last campaign on the Mike McGonegal campaign blog I maintained. I challenged everyone who made that ridiculous claim to point out a personal attack or refute what was written about his record, and no body took up that challenge. I suspect we will see the same thing here.