Pro-embryonic stem-cell use proponents are blind to developments like this!

[Estelle]

You know, Steven,
It's not only the people who would have been paying into Social Security who have been eliminated it's all the talent that was killed. We might have "found a cure for the common cold" by now plus lots of other problems if we hadn't killed off the ones destined to provide the answers. Talk about sheer stupidity! May the  Good Lord have Mercy on all of us!

By the way I appreciate your "classy example of Christian love" comment!

In His arms,
Estelle

[Steven Barrett]

Thank you Estelle! Yeah, it'd be great to get rid of that malady, which I think is a direct descedant of the original maladies we got whacked with after Adam n' Eve messed everything up. A very good doctor friend of mine asked me if I really wanted that common cure cold? Huh? That's like asking those Conquistadors who landed on Florida's shores looking for the Fountain of Youth, only to have to settle for a light-crowded day at WDW and no lines for the best rides. Being the good  doctor, and a solid Christian out for my  best interests, he told me the cold is for our benefit.

"Really." Yes...it's nature's way, he told me, for our bodies to get rid of all the bad stuff that's been hanging around inside. It's not just the gett ing over it that makes you feel really great when it's gone.  Then I  had to settle for my "consolation prize," which actually is much bigger when one thinks about it. Almost invariably, I'd catch a cold right after falling down and bruising  or breaking a few ribs.  There's nothing short of sheer Inquisition-style or CIA-waterboarding torture that rates with the excruciating sensation of trying to wheeze out a sneeze, esp. from a laying down position (always after you've turned in and your dear spouse is fully asleep). He didn't have any balming advice on that except to pop  the ibuprophen and stay  indoors and don't walk an excitable dog which landed me on my backside to begin with.  If it wasn't the cold, saving us from the tortures of busted ribs, just think  of all the other curses we could've cured, AIDS, malaria,  and so forth.

I actually tried to "do the math" and it left me stumped, even while trying to start from the lowest mim. wage figures. What's more stumping is that even our more "pro-life" administrations didn't assi gn anybody to crunch the numbers and they have the tools and knwledge of how to do it. I'm just a schlub in that respect.

Sometimes I’d love to have my own radio show from a middle ground view. But the big players who cut the checks are afraid of people who don’t want to throw as Fr. Corapi likes to say, “grenades in the henhouse” unless they really draw the blood of controversy because that keeps the ratings up. When I started a quarter century ago, no matter how many copies of our paper were picked up in the three towns it served, I would’ve been canned on the spot for calling  the President a racist. I can be crazy, but that’s nuts; but what’s really nuts is that the guy who made that comment laughed his way at the nation…all the way to the bank. He lost a lot  of his own personal sponsors, but his network made out well in the ratings and that, more than a respect for civility and modesty of expression, not to mention a glaring defect in this man’s “character,” counted far more. And yet we wonder why one more generation of kids grow up with a crust of additional cynicism.

It’s very hard to get people excited about the dangers of protecting embryonic stem cells, which we have to admit are difficult to find without a microscope…when the adults are polluting the airwaves with mean-spirited talk and getting away with it. We adults have to get the “jaded shades” out of our debates, particularly when it comes to the most primeval issues of life and death, even if those issues can’t be immediately discerned while texting or flashed up in an instant with as much attention given to Janet Jackson’s “clothing malfunction” during the Super Bowl.

But just let ‘em fall on ice, bruise a few ribbies, and catch the follow up cold…boy oh boy, will they wish  we could’ve produced the guy or gal who could come up with a pill that’d produce “Instant Ribs.” You bet they’ll be on their beggin’ knees for THAT.
 

[Credo Catholic]

Thank you Estelle for your words of wisdom.  You make me feel so much better, I know you have similar situations in your life.  I can't make a thirsty horse drink if he doesn't want to, but isn't that sad?  Jesus, lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy.

[Estelle]

Ah Marsha, I'm happy if I can make you feel better.

But those words of wisdom really come from the Source of All Wisdom. I'm only making my feeble attempt to spread His love. When I finally get to face Him I'd like to have a lilttle something to give back for all He's given to me. If I tried to make a list of all He's given me I'd run out of both paper and computer memory. I'd hate to have to admit I'd buried His talent either out of fear or just plain laziness. And believe me I've got plenty of both of those in my life.

[Steven Barrett]

Relax Estelle! You're doing a SUPER JOB with the deck of cards life has dealt you, then, now and I'm confident forever in the future.  You're doing a SUPER JOB, too! One task, one day at at time, and one soul to influence at a time is all we can ask to handle and both of you are doing a great job in showing myself and I'm sure the rest of us, how it's done.

[Estelle]

Okay, Steven, now I'm crying again, Honestly I'm a walking waterfall at times.

But I wouldn't change it for anything. To FEEL deeply is His gift and I'm not complaining about it anymore. I'm not even complaining about "being" (which I've done loudly on many occassions) or of being short. I figure maybe I'm the reason someone in the supermarket has an opportunity to  show kindness by helping  me reach the stuff on the top shelf. If I can be there for them to have a reason to be kind, perhaps it's the only kind act they'll perform that day so why would I complain?

I SO love being here with such a precious family! Sometimes I think of all the advancements our Loving Father has allowed to get us to the point where we're able to communicate with each other via this forum. We'd hardly have gotten here straight from horse and buggy days. So patient is He and so much does He love us.

[Steven Barrett]

I can tell you're doing a great job of living up to your signature below, Estelle. Your attitude jumps right off the screen.

But, please, give your kleenex budget a break! Just think of all the trees you'll be saving and who knows if the  people who make the tissues for your store brand (if that's what you buy, my wife saves that way) don't get their "tissue lumber" from GA Pacific.

God Bless ya,
Steven

[Estelle]

Not to worry, Steven. I love my monogrammed handkerchiefs too much to use tissues.  Not that they're so great, I'm not the best sewer around.

Thanks for the first part of your post. Only here and at church do people say so many nice things about me. Maybe being at home keeps my head from swelling too much! Though I have to admit, much to my very great surprise things are changing around here.

[Steven Barrett]

Well Estelle, don't feel too badly about the "fans" at home. We all have 'em. Sometimes we can't help wondering if Robert Frost should've added "and lovingly accepted" to "home is where you have to be taken in." Of course I'm not talking about deliberately or uncontrollably disruptive members. But I agree, it'd be nice to have fewer skeptics and more fans at home, besides the box variety that only seem to blow more hot air around if you  a/c isn't working. And you really need to have that appliance working full-bore when you find yourself all of a sudden challenged by somebody in your family who'd just read an "inspiriring" interview article about Michael J. Fox's campaign for exploring all possible avenues of scientific research ... and has the nerve to say, "Come on, be reasonable! What would you do if it was your nervous system," and so forth. You want to reply, but you're tongue looks and feels like a baker tried turning it into a pretzel and you're just too flummoxed to even think of the unthinkable possibility that somebody sharing your genes, flesh and blood could be so, so, so .... how can I put this charitably ... okay, "BLOCKHEADED!"  Don't feel bad, I've lost track of those kinds of "arguments" I've lost to my wife, and not necessarily on strongly held moral issues. The smartest thing for a guy to do is to accept the simple fact he'll forever be Charlie Brown the Blockhead to his Lucy, and shrug his shoulders. If he doesn't and lets her push his buttons so he's so stammmmmmerrrrrinnggly upset, then he IS a BLOCKHEAD.

[Estelle]

Dear Steven,
Don't the

Come on, be reasonable

arguments always come from those who deep down KNOW they're in the wrong and just want you to join them? Misery does love company after all.

I'm also not moved by the "there are only 4 food conglomerates out there any way' arguments . That is NOT the point I'm trying to make. I don't expect to change the world or even anyone's mind by my actions. I only want to give Jesus a reason to smile on me. I've certainly given Him plenty of reasons to frown.

[Steven Barrett]

With apologies to the late Bill Safire of the NYT's, I thought the  "be reasonable" folks also fit nicely  into the ninnying naboobs of naivite.

S.

[Estelle]

Steven, you do have a way with words!

[Steven Barrett]

Thanks Estelle:

If you're a social and foreign policy conservative in western Mass' version of Berkeley and  Pelosiville across the SF Bay, you run into the "be reasonable" crowd a lot more than you care to and sometimes it really helps to find the words to express how UNREASONABLE YOU WANT TO BE AND NEED TO BE, esp. when you feel you're dealing with complete nitwits who (seriously now) believe their educational pedigrees have such magical powers to overcome political commonsensical conclusions that 99 pct of the rest of the population could reach on most topics. with (or better off sans benefits of today's "higher education.") But remember, we're the great unwashed and unreasonable "small people." What makes it all the worse is that they give you that line in the most condenscendingly rude fashion they can muster.

With all the preponderance (to borrow from their ammo boxes of high falutin' words) ... how dense can they be to keep on ignoring the fact that adult stem cells have been the real workhorse and all this hype for embryonic stem cells is really a smoke screen for the abortion industry to keep justifying itself while it's going down fast. But, we know that all it'll take is for one bogus claim  for its effectiveness and all of a sudden Big Pharma and Big Sci will be slobbering like pit bulls outside every PPF "clinic" across the country. That's crony capitalism at its worst. We just see it for what it is and always has been, Societal Cannibalism, Inc. If that's their idea of a "progressive business" whereby more and more thousands of would be future children and citizens are cannibalized for research so a few celebs can say, "Look see, all my fundraisers have done such good things to fund these ever so wondrous moments in scientific research."

"Wondrous" indeed.  :

[Steven Barrett]

One more domino falling for the "Oh, be reasonable crowd" and it's right out of one of their favorite papers: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/08/02/adult_stem_cell_research_far_ahead_of_embryonic/?page=1

And it's a four-pager which will only make their day brighter. LOL

Here's one for the good guys!