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1.: SHAME ON MICHIGAN CATHOLIC CONFERENCE: Lies Discredit Church From: Stephen Meyer

2.: Going Out With a Bang [Stephen Spruiell] From: Stephen Meyer

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1.: SHAME ON MICHIGAN CATHOLIC CONFERENCE: Lies Discredit Church

Posted by: "Stephen Meyer" Stephen276@comcast.net stephen_meyer_stemcells

Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:53 pm (PDT)

SHAME ON MICHIGAN CATHOLIC CONFERENCE: Lies Discredit Church

In a series of dishonest TV ads, print media, and DVD mass mailings, the
Michigan Catholic Conference is attacking stem cell research, maligning
Proposal 2— and undermining the good name of the Catholic Church.

My family is Catholic. But the truth is the truth, and when the Church
is wrong, it's wrong.

The Church is run by human beings, who can make mistakes. When the
Church ordered Joan of Arc to be burned to death as a witch, that was a
mistake. When the Spanish Inquisition tortured and murdered Jews and
took their money, that was a crime. When the Vatican maintained silence
about the Nazis in World War II, that was a sin of omission, for which
Pope John Paul II personally apologized, to his great credit.

And when expensive TV ads (paid for by the Michigan Catholic Conference)
talk about Proposal 2 wanting to raise taxes, or clone people, or mix
cows and human eggs together, these are deliberate and knowing lies.

Proposal 2 does not raise Michigan taxes one cent. Proposal 2 does not
change Michigan's strict law against cloning, which still carries a
jail sentence. And the only embryonic stem cell research Proposal 2
supports is on blastocysts left over from in vitro fertility
procedures—biological material that would otherwise be thrown away.

Right now, the Church's leadership is out of touch with its members,
the vast majority of whom support embryonic stem cell research.*

That is forgivable. Down through history many religions have been slow
to support medical breakthroughs. Anesthesia was forbidden by the Church
because the Good Book said women were supposed to "bring forth
(their) children in pain." The small pox vaccine was opposed because
it was thought the disease was God's punishment for sin.

Even X-rays were opposed because it was thought they might be used to
see through women's clothing!

But the Church is not supposed to lie, ever. "Thou shalt not bear
false witness" is a Biblical Commandment which applies to upper
management like everybody else.

Anti-Proposal 2 advertisements (paid for by the Michigan Catholic
Conference) are filled with manipulation, misinformation, deceit: so
many lies, it is difficult to answer them all.

Each ad is built around a different falsehood.

Here are a few:

1. Alleged tax increase: false. The ad shows an actor dressed as a
custodian shoveling bundles of dollar bills into a wheelbarrow. The
camera pulls back, and the money is shaped like the state of Michigan.
Michigan can't afford to spend millions of dollars on stem cell
research, the ad says. The reality? Proposal 2 has no taxation. Zero.
There is not a single tax dollar in the whole measure. It is what is
called a "permissions bill", merely allowing scientists to do
their work without fear of imprisonment.

2. Another ad shows fictitious cloning companies, with fake names like
"Clone Crop", implying that Proposal 2 would allow the cloning
of people. This is utterly false. The reality is plain, and verifiable:
Michigan has strict laws prohibiting cloning, including a ten year jail
sentence; nothing in Proposal 2 changes that.

3. In a genuinely ridiculous ad, an actor in a cow costume raises his
hoof in objection to a mad scientist wanting to make cow-people. This
would be laughable if the purpose was not so damaging. The only kind of
embryonic stem cell research Proposal 2 supports is the use of
blastocysts that would otherwise be thrown away: leftover biological
materials already destined for the trash.

4. The most recent ad is perhaps the worst. One of the cruelest acts
ever perpetrated by a government was the Tuskegee Airmen Syphilis
Experiment. This was a crime against humanity done by the U.S. Public
Health Service, a symbol of shame—and now the MCC is attempting to
tie that act of criminality to modern-day stem cell research.

Let's take a look at reality.

First, what was the Tuskegee Airmen Syphilis Experiment? Google it. Find
out about it, because it was a crime of Nazi-like evil, which must never
be allowed to happen again.

Over forty years, 1932 to 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service denied
cure to 399 African-American men with syphilis—even after penicillin
was invented.

Those men could have been cured. But the government denied them the
medicine which would have made them well. Many of them died because that
medical advance was withheld.

Is this not very much like what the Michigan Catholic Conference is
trying to do with these ads? As penicillin was denied to suffering
African-Americans, even so research which might ease suffering and save
lives for literally millions of Americans today is being held back.

Fortunately, survivors and family members of the Tuskegee Airmen tragedy
have spoken out, objecting to the misleading advertisements.

"It's disgraceful that they would use this horrible chapter in
American history to score cheap political points and block patients from
hope and cures," said Aurelia E. Alexander Smith of Detroit, whose
late father, Capt. Halbert L. Alexander was a Tuskegee Airman. "My
hope is that people who see this ad aren't fooled by the lies, and
instead listen to the facts about stem cell research."

Is the Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC) responsible for the
outrageous lies in this ads? Absolutely, because it paid for them. The
MCC is the single largest contributor to the opposition to Proposal 2.
That is a matter of public record.

If the Michigan Catholic Conference wants to make a religious objection
to the research, that is fine. It has every right to do so, just as some
faith communities are opposed to blood transfusions, and forbid their
membership to accept that medical treatment.

But lying is different. A church is supposed to be honest. If it
deliberately and publicly deceives, not once but systematically, over
and over-- how shall it be trusted?

Catholics everywhere should speak up. The faith of millions demands a
public apology for these disgraceful ads.

And if anybody reading this would like to try and help balance the
incredibly damaging impact of those TV commercials (which are being run
over and over in Michigan), they need only click on the following:

www.CureMichigan.com <http://www.curemichigan.com/>

If you can, do what I just did and make a small donation. I put in
another $25—I know, big spender, huh—but the good news is that
money will be doubled. A matching grant has been promised, so that every
dollar contributed will be matched by one from an anonymous donor.

Ads to answer the lies have been made, but it is difficult to find the
money to pay for them being aired. The Catholic Church is the largest
property owner in the world, and has extremely deep pockets. It would be
a shame if their ads were not countered for lack of a few dollars.

But whether you can afford to contribute or not, go to
www.CureMichigan.com <http://www.curemichigan.com/> , and take a look at
the honest work these citizens of Michigan are doing.

They are standing up for everyone. The entire nation will benefit from
their efforts to reverse what have been called the most restrictive
anti-science laws in the nation.

They are fighting for the right of every American family to have access
to the best medical care science can provide.

We must not let them stand alone.

*A recent national survey sponsored by the National Catholic Reporter
shows "77% of American Catholics support stem cell research on
excess embryos." This is in line with other polls such as that done
by Belden Russonello & Stewart, which found that "69% of Catholics
support stem cell research with early human embryos"—July, 2008
Don C. Reed
Sponsor, Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act
co-chair, Californians for Cures
Vice President, Public Policy, Americans for Cures

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2.: Going Out With a Bang [Stephen Spruiell]

Posted by: "Stephen Meyer" Stephen276@comcast.net stephen_meyer_stemcells

Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:55 pm (PDT)

View the Following Article First

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YjM0MGNmZjY2NGIyYzYzMjhmMzI0MGR\
mODZlZmM5ZDA
<http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YjM0MGNmZjY2NGIyYzYzMjhmMzI0MG\
RmODZlZmM5ZDA>

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Going Out With a Bang [Stephen Spruiell
<mailto:sspruiell@nationalreview.com> ]

The 2008 Republican Platform Committee has finally reached the finish
line, but before it crossed it tripped up on the issue of stem-cell
research. When the committee reached the stem-cell language, North
Carolina delegate Mary Summa offered what appeared on the surface to be
a small change. Summa sought to change the sentence:

We call for a ban on human cloning and a ban on the creation of and
experimentation on human embryos for research purposes.

to read:

We call for a ban on human cloning and a ban on the creation of or
experimentation on human embryos for research purposes.

thus severing experimentation on human embryos from their creation for
that purpose. It's just one word, but it has huge implications. It is a
call for a total ban on embryonic stem-cell research, including
privately funded research using frozen embryos from in-vitro
fertilization (IVF) clinics. By contrast, the 2004 platform was in
accord with President Bush's policy at the time, which made limited
federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research available for the first
time.

In introducing her amendment, Summa gave an emotional speech in which
she said, "I want my five children to live in a world where the weak are
protected from the strong. I want them to live in a world where all life
is protected."

The amendment drew opposition from Indiana delegate and pro-life
activist James Bopp Jr. "The sentence now in the draft, which ties the
creation to the experimentation, is exactly right," Bopp said. He argued
that the amendment would declare off-limits certain types of life-saving
therapeutic research he supports.

Bopp's objection was itself objected to by several delegates who
supported the amendment. Then Summa asked Bopp point-blank, "Under the
current language in this document, does this mean that you can
experiment on human embryos that are frozen in IVF clinics?"

Bopp answered, "The way I read this sentence is that it does have
limited application. It does not call for a ban on everything that I
might support. The amendment that has been put forward would ban not
only the type of research that I oppose, but also the types of
therapeutic research I have described."

He added, "We should not be in the business of prohibiting therapeutic
research."

At this point, Kansas delegate Kris Kobach offered an amendment to
Summa's amendment that would have replaced the words "experimentation
on" with "destruction of." Committee co-chairman Sen. Richard Burr asked
Summa if she would accept the change. She replied, "I certainly would
accept the amendment, but the former prosecutor in me would like Mr.
Bopp to answer my question."

Bopp quipped, "The defense attorney in me would say I have answered her
question."

Bopp then offered his own amendment to Summa's amendment. At this point
Burr broke it up. He instructed Summa, Bopp and Kobach to confer until
they had come up with a single amendment on stem-cells. The committee
then moved on to other matters.

When the three of them returned, Summa's eyes were red and swollen. She
re-submitted her original amendment, without modification. Burr called
for a vote, and the motion passed.

The 2008 Republican Platform calls for a ban on all embryonic stem-cell
research, public or private.

08/27 08:40 PM
<http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YjM0MGNmZjY2NGIyYzYzMjhmMzI0MG\
RmODZlZmM5ZDA=>

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