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Annotations & Elucidations

Who’s Controversial Now?

Our top story’s headline is misleading and is an excellent example of media bias. The abstinence-only speaker invited to a Henrico County high school is not causing controversy. She was invited and people may or may not attend. No student or parent said a word. It is 10 teachers and two outside groups — radical pro-abortion and homosexual advocacy organizations — who got wind of it and raised a stink. So, who’s being controversial?

On another front, Governor Tim Kaine now is staking his legacy to pre-K. It will be anything but that, but what’s amazing is that even as he shuns the liberal tag, he takes credit for a large expansion of government in the face of a backlash to that philosophy. Accordingly, Delegate Kirk Cox (R-66, Colonial Heights), the majority whip and senior member of the Appropriations Committee, broached eliminating it today on a Richmond radio station. Good for him.

Nationally, James Pethokoukis of Reuters uncovers a backdoor method Congressional Democrats and President Obama hope to raise taxes by three trillion dollars! It’s a very short, but revealing, read. Also of note, the Washington Post published a lengthy feature on Family Foundation friend Bishop Harry Jackson, who has become, perhaps, the nation’s leading defender of traditional marriage. Very much worth the read.

Finally, in news that must horrify liberals (other than an abstinence-only speaker at a high school) a CNN poll has found that 61 percent of Americans oppose taxpayer funded abortion, 51 percent oppose allowing insurance policies to cover abortions, and — sit down for this liberals — between 63 and 73 percent oppose legal abortions under any circumstance except for the 2 percent of abortions done each year in the cases of rape, incest and when the mother’s life is endangered. No wonder they’re reduced to protesting abstinence speakers.

News:

Abstinence-only speaker stirs controversy (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Virginia budget outlook poor; shortfall could grow (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Va. might have to cut $2.9 billion more by ‘12 (Washington Post)

Kaine cites pre-K success during his term (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Hamilton case ignites calls to overhaul ethics rules (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot)

Allen tax plan backed by Crusade (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Analysis:

Is Obama planning a $3 trillion income tax increase? (James Pethokoukis/Political Risk Blog Reuters.com)

National:

CNN Poll: 61% Oppose Tax-Funded Abortions, 63%  Oppose All or Most Abortions (LifeNews.com)

Internal Results of CNN/Opinion Research Poll on Abortion, Health Care (CNN/Opinion Research)

Seeking to put asunder (Washington Post)

D.C. vote on gay marriage denied (Washington Times)

AP Turns Heads for Devoting 11 Reporters to Palin Book ‘Fact Check’ (FoxNews.com)

I promise, I don’t go looking for scientific and medical advancements from adult stem cells. But they happen so often these days, you can’t avoid them. On the other hand, you can search far and wide and not find one discovery from embryonic stem cell research.  

The latest example: Looking around the FRC Blog today for something else, I found this post from May 20 by David Prentice (the words in bold are a link to a Reuters article):

Scientists at University College-London report that they have engineered adult stem cells to seek out and destroy cancer cells in mice. Mesenchymal stem cells, a type of adult stem cell found in bone marrow and connective tissue, have been shown to be good vectors to carry factors to different parts of the body, as well as seek out cancer cells throughout the body. The research team, led by Dr. Michael Loebinger, altered these adult stem cells to express the cancer-killing protein TRAIL (TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand), which causes the death only of cancer cells. In the lab, the cells were able to find and kill cells from lung, squamous, breast, and cervical cancer. They also injected the cells into mice with breast tumors and showed they were able to safely kill the tumors but leave healthy tissue intact. Results were presented at the American Thoracic Society’s 105th International Conference in San Diego.

Many place hope in the fool’s gold that is embryonic stem cell research or worse — politicians who pander to the extreme-left-abortion-at-all-cost crowd. But any objective, common sense thinking American clearly can see where our scientific goals and priorities should truly be. Any other options are purely political and not based on science or ethics, or else — with all the dozens of dramatic discoveries through adult stem cells — why wouldn’t embryonic stem cell advocates throw in the towel by now?

When Venezuela communist leader Hugo Chavez whined last week that he and Cuban best friend forever Fidel Castro “risk being more conservative” than “Comrade Obama,” you know we’re is a desperate mess. Reuters broke the story; read it here, or another version at FoxNews.com, here. Not only that, but Chinese prisoners at Gitmo and the Russian communist organ Pravda concur. Or, as Captain Thurston says, here, at The Big Feed Blog, take it from people who know.