Berger & Moreno Go to Town Over the Alternative Stem Cell Report

At the Center for American Progress, Sam Berger and Jon Moreno picked a fight with whomever would listen concerning the idiotic White House report on alternative sources of stem cells. Well, listening was New Republic National Review Senior Analyst Ramesh Ponnuru, and you can watch what Berger and Moreno do to his analysis of their piece on the CAP site linked above. No point quoting it, I'm just not capable of typing even one more time either the work by or the critique of the New Republic/Weekly Standard on stem cells.

I'd say that someone should kick these guys and let them know that the voters already decided, and continue to decide, state by state by state ... and that nobody wants to destroy embryos, whether they are little people or not, and that the activity of doing so will likely fade away if only the basic science can get accomplished, and preferably through a decent funding mechanism so that the entire embryo isn't owned by companies as a result of the rush of venture capital into the funding and regulatory vacuum.

But I won't say that, because inside-the-beltway fights about stem cell funding are about as invisible out here in the fields as the annual Wonkette debate over which congressional aides are most attractive, and certainly just as futile. Only in Washington can so much debate ensue over a bill that can't survive a veto and that wouldn't really compete with California's budget even if it did.