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The International Herald Tribune reports on a reported case of human embryo cloning. To watch an MSNBC video report of this story click here. Excerpts from IHT:
Scientists in California say they have produced embryos that are clones of two men...
…
The process "involves creating human lives in the laboratory solely to destroy them for alleged benefit to others," said Richard Doerflinger, spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Citing the earlier work in Britain, he also said that as a scientific advancement, the new work was "very limited."
Other objections to cloning include concerns about health risks and exploitation if large numbers of women are asked to provide eggs.
Those objections are one reason that an alternative route to stem cells made headlines last November. Scientists reported a relatively simple way to turn skin cells directly into stem cells.
In other bioethics news, the Times Online reports that the House of Lords in the UK has approved research that creates human-animal hybrid embryos (human-animal cloning). LifeNews reports here.
For more information on these critical bioethics issues check the AdvanceUSA stem cell page, human cloning page, or adult stem cell page.
UPDATE: The plot thickens. The Daily Mail reports that the
cloning scientists actually cloned themselves.
Conservative author and columnist Cal Thomas gives us an important
reminder of why Roe
vs. Wade must be overturned. Excerpt:
After 35 years of slaughtering our
young, isn't it time to stop? That child born in 1973 could be a parent now.
There are children who could have been born today. Thirty-five years of killing
has diminished and corrupted us all. Let's summon the moral courage to stop it
for our sake and for theirs.
Note: Next Tuesday (January 22) will be the 35th
anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision. March for Life events
will be going on here in Washington,
DC that day and AdvanceUSA hopes
to provide some highlights from the various programs.
 Though any information that comes from the Guttmacher Institute (the propaganda arm of Planned Parenthood) should be taken with a grain of salt, we are encouraged to consider that the abortion rate might be dropping. While liberals will predictably call for more “comprehensive” sex education and free birth control, the real answer to continuing to decrease the abortion rate is more responsible sex education (especially abstinence education), cultivating a culture of life, and providing viable alternatives to pregnant women who do not wish to be mothers (like Rep. Michelle Bachman’s new bill).
Despite the apparent progress in protecting unborn lives, we as a nation must continue to fight abortion in the public policy realm because the abortion issue is fundamentally a justice issue. It is inherently unjust that an entire category of people (the unborn) can be deprived of their fundamental right to life, and we must continue the pro-life battle to make our country a more just nation.
Check the AdvanceUSA pro-life page.
It appears the liberals in Congress will continue their battle to blur the definition of marriage. The latest attempt comes in the guise of providing to same-sex partners of federal employees the same marriage benefits as married spouses. The Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act of 2007 (S. 2521 / H.R. 4838), would make a federal employee and his or her same-sex domestic partner eligible to participate in federal health benefits, the Family and Medical Leave program, long-term care, insurance, and retirement benefits. Read the text of S. 2521 here and the text of H.R. 4838 here. Click here and here to see which senators and representatives have signed on to these dangerous bills as cosponsors and hold them accountable. Call your representative and both your senators today and urge them to oppose the Domestic Partners Benefits Act (S. 2521 or H.R. 4838)!
For more information on protecting marriage, check the AdvanceUSA marriage page. To see how the 2008 presidential candidates stand on the Federal Marriage Protection Amendment check the Candidate Comparisons page.
A very
interesting resource from our friends at Americans United for Life. Excerpts:
"Until all the pieces are in place to make the
overruling of Roe a realistic possibility and until the truth has replaced
misinformation about abortion," said Clarke D. Forsythe, AUL's President,
"laws that put fences around the abortion license and highlight the
negative impact of abortion on women are imperative. And those laws are being
passed in the 50 states."
…
“For the third year in a row, Michigan
topped the list, followed by Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, and
Kansas.”
…
“The least protective states according to AUL were Oregon, California, Connecticut, New Jersey,
and Vermont.”
LifeNews reports on this effort to ensure that pregnant women receive practical help in choosing life. To read the text of Rep. Michele Bachman’s (R-MN) proposed Positive Alternatives Act click here.
Excerpt:
A new bill in Congress would give states greater authority to help find positive solutions to unplanned pregnancies instead of abortion. Rep. Michele Bachmann has introduced the Positive Alternatives Act that puts into law prior Bush administration regulations allowing states to use the TANF program to help pregnant women.
Current federal regulations allow states to fund abortion alternatives, and Bachmann's bill, the “Positive Alternatives Act” (H.R. 4852) codifies the current state option.
It allows states to fund programs that provide information or counseling that assists women in making decisions about parenting and adoption.
For more information on pro-life issues check our pro-life page.
 Yesterday Michigan Democrats narrowly picked Senator Hillary Clinton to be their presidential candidate in 2008 (despite the fact that the national party has refused to recognize the state’s delegates at the convention) while Michigan Republicans chose former Governor Mitt Romney. Below are the full results for both parties (or click here).
Keep checking AdvanceUSA for the latest information as the presidential primary season continues (the South Carolina GOP primary and Nevada caucuses this Saturday on January 19!).
On February 5 (a.k.a. “Super Tuesday”) 22 states will have primaries or caucuses (to see which click here).
Additionally if you or your family and friends have questions about where the major candidates stand on issues important to you, check out AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
The Democrats
Hillary Clinton 55%
Uncommitted 40%
Dennis Kucinich 4%
Chris Dodd 1%
Mike Gravel 0%
* Due to party rules no delegates will be awarded to the winner of the Democrat primary.
The Republicans
Mitt Romney 39%
John McCain 30%
Mike Huckabee 16%
RonPaul 6%
Fred Thompson 4%
Rudy Giuliani 3%
Uncommitted 2%
Duncan Hunter 0%
USA Today has the full results here.
Graphic source: greenwhichmeantime
 In three weeks (Tuesday, February 5) 22 states will hold primaries or caucuses. Be sure that you, your friends, and family are well-informed. AdvanceUSA has prepared Candidate Comparisons (CCs) for both the Democrats and the Republicans to help show you where each presidential candidate stands on some of the most important issues.
AdvanceUSA hopes these resources will be helpful as you begin/continue your research for this critically important election season. If you have friends or family in any of these Super Tuesday states, please send them a link to our CCs.
State holding presidential elections on February 5:
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia
Idaho (Democrat caucuses)
Illinois
Kansas (Democrat caucuses)
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Missouri
New Jersey
New Mexico (Democrat primary)
New York
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Utah
Stay informed and spread the word about AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
Michiganders are heading to the polls today in brisk January weather. USA Today is posting the latest poll results information here and will continue throughout the night. Keep Michigan voters in prayer today as their decision could have important implications for the presidential race.
Check back for final vote results tomorrow morning here at AdvanceUSA Blog and eventually on our home page and Candidate Comparisons page.
To see how the presidential candidates stand on important issues check out AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
Graphic source: greenwhichmeantime
The AP reports on the efforts of pro-marriage activists in Vermont to oppose that state’s recognition of same-sex marriages. Massachusetts is currently the only state that recognizes “gay marriages” but fortunately a nearly century-old law prohibits its spread to other states. If Vermont were to approve same-sex marriage it could initiate a nation-wide domino effect of judicially imposed gay marriages. This precarious situation illustrates the importance of ratifying a federal constitutional amendment to protect the traditional definition of marriage.
Check out the AdvanceUSA marriage page or see how the presidential candidates stand on protecting marriage in our 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
In honor
of the 222nd anniversary of the passage of Thomas Jefferson’s
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, President Bush has declared tomorrow (January
16) “Religious Freedom Day.” To read the official proclamation click
here.
For more
information on religious liberty check out AdvanceUSA’s pro-religious freedom page.
Thomas
Jefferson Memorial graphic source: ThisNation
Our
friends at FRC report on this exciting
breakthrough in ethical adult stem cell research. Once again, ethical alternatives belie the
notion that embryonic stem cells are a necessary avenue of research that should
be supported with taxpayer dollars.
Excerpt:
[In a recent] online issue of Nature Medicine, scientists
from the University
of Minnesota announced
that using ethical alternatives, their research has resulted in the successful
creation of a beating rat heart. As part of the tests, the team hollowed out a
rat heart of its cells, leaving only the network of tubes where the old blood
vessels had been. Scientists seeded the heart's casing with non-embryonic cells
and watched as they latched onto the old framework and grew new heart tissue.
Within eight days the rat heart began pumping so well that its beating could be
easily seen. Dr. Doris Taylor, who led the research, said that while the team is
not ready to replicate the tests in humans, it could be less than a decade away
from attempting heart transplant trials in patients. "With modifications,
scientists should be able to grow a human heart by taking stem cells from a
patient's bone marrow and placing them in a cadaver heart that has been
prepared as a scaffold," Dr. Taylor said.
HT: FRC
Michiganders are heading to the polls today in brisk January weather. USA Today is posting the latest poll results information here and will continue throughout the night. Keep Michigan voters in prayer today as their decision could have important implications for the presidential race.
Check back for final vote results tomorrow morning here at AdvanceUSA Blog and eventually on our home page and Candidate Comparisons page.
To see how the presidential candidates stand on important issues check out AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
Graphic source: greenwhichmeantime
 Please tell your friends and family in Florida about this important marriage issue. Apparently the state constitutional amendment is approximately 30,000 signatures short of reaching the 2008 ballot. Encourage Floridians who support traditional marriage to sign the petition and consider supporting the pro-marriage organization Florida4Marriage in other ways.
From our friends at Florida4Marriage:
Officials Report 30,000 Petitions Short in Unprecedented Recount: Immediate Action Needed to Collect More Petitions
(Tallahassee, FL) Monday January, 14, 2008. Leaders of Florida4Marriage.org declared a state of "constitutional emergency" today when they learned from Division of Elections officials that due to an "audit" ordered by the Division, the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment fell short by some 30,000 petitions. The state constitutional amendment seeks to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman and would prohibit polygamy, group marriage, and same sex marriages in Florida.
According to state officials, only 589,020 petitions were officially certified after the unprecedented audit, leaving the petition effort just under 22,000 short of the needed 611,009 needed to be certified for the ballot in 2008. Florida4Marriage.org State Chairman John Stemberger said, "Right now, we are not interested in whose fault this is. We just want to finish the job -- and finish it immediately."
Amendment leaders are calling upon national, state and local pro-family leaders to alert Floridians to the crisis and to immediately pull out all stops to collect new petitions over the next two weeks. Stemberger said all petitions must be physically mailed or hand delivered into the state headquarters located at 4853 S. Orange Avenue, Orlando FL 32806, before close of business on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 (Presidential Primary Election Day). Under a new law, petitions can no longer be delivered to local county supervisors of elections by individual citizens. Petitions can only be received from the official sponsoring committee of the amendment.
To find out how you can help defend the sacred institution of marriage in the state of Florida check the Florida4Marriage.org website.
Related news articles: AP story in Bradenton Herald, Florida Today, Miami Herald
For more information on protecting marriage, check the AdvanceUSA marriage page. To see how the 2008 presidential candidates stand on the Federal Marriage Protection Amendment check the Candidate Comparisons page.
Now you can see the evidence behind the candidate positions in our CCs. Simply check the Candidate Comparison page and click on the “Online Interactive Version” link for either the Democrats or the Republicans. Once you have opened an interactive version simply move your cursor over a candidate’s position and a text box will appear that provides more information. Clicking on the position will allow you to read the entire selection.
AdvanceUSA hopes these resources help you make an informed decision in the upcoming presidential caucuses and primaries. If you find these helpful, please forward our Candidate Comparison page to your friends and family across the nation (especially those in early primary states).
Click on the links below to view or print your own copies and don’t forget to try out the Online Interactive Version.
The Democrats
View document
ONLINE INTERACTIVE VERSION
The Republicans
View document
ONLINE INTERACTIVE VERSION
The 2008 primary and caucus season for the presidency is in full swing. Be sure that you, your friends, and family are well-informed. AdvanceUSA has prepared Candidate Comparisons for both the Democrats and the Republicans to help show you where each presidential candidate stands on some of the most important issues.
AdvanceUSA hopes these resources will be helpful as you begin/continue your research for this critically important election season.
The Michigan primary will be held tomorrow (January 15). All the remaining states conducting primaries, caucuses, or conventions in January of 2008 are Michigan (1/15), South Carolina Republicans (1/19), Nevada (1/19), South Carolina Democrats (1/26), and Florida (1/29).
On February 5 (a.k.a. “Super Tuesday”) 22 states will have primaries or caucuses.
Stay informed and spread the word about AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
KCRG reports.
A federal appeals court says it won't reconsider a ruling that the state cannot fund a Christian prison ministry program in Newton.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says the ruling from its three-judge panel was correct because state funding of the program violates the Constitution's separation of church and state.
For more information on the IFI case check the AdvanceUSA pro-religious freedom page (scroll to the bottom of the page).
 The 2008 primary and caucus season for the presidency is in full swing. Be sure that you, your friends, and family are well-informed. AdvanceUSA has prepared Candidate Comparisons for both the Democrats and the Republicans to help show you where each presidential candidate stands on some of the most important issues.
AdvanceUSA hopes these resources will be helpful as you begin/continue your research for this critically important election season.
The Michigan primary will be held on Tuesday (January 15). All the remaining states conducting primaries, caucuses, or conventions in January of 2008 are Michigan (1/15), South Carolina Republicans (1/19), Nevada (1/19), South Carolina Democrats (1/26), and Florida (1/29).
South Carolina is just around the corner (Jan. 19 & 26). On February 5 (a.k.a. “Super Tuesday”) 22 states will have primaries or caucuses.
Stay informed and spread the word about AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
 According to Dr. David Prentice, the answer is “no.”
LifeNews reports that the cloning company is claiming it produced ethical embryonic stem cells by extracting one cell from a multi-celled embryo. The company made similar claims earlier this year while neglecting to reveal that all the embryos used in the research died. Now they apparently expect us to “trust them.” Excerpt:
… Dr. David Prentice of the Family Research Council told LifeNews.com that ACT's process "still does not meet the ethical threshhold" because "there is significant risk of harm to the embryo by this technique."
Prentice, a former biology professor at Indiana State University, said Lanza's company continues to mislead the media with claims that the process doesn't harm unborn children.
"Not all of Lanza's embryos survived, and those that did were not followed to birth, but only for a few days and then they were frozen," he said. "[Several] recent studies, including in the New England Journal of Medicine, have indicated that there is indeed risk of harm to the embryo."
Even if they do manage to extract stem cells from a particular embryo some day without killing it, the endangerment of human life inherent in the procedure is enough to label the research “unethical.” Considering the amazing new breakthroughs in obtaining embryonic-like stem cells from ordinary skin cells (iPSC), there is no reason to destroy or in this case endanger innocent human embryos. For more information, check the AdvanceUSA stem cell page.
 Our friends at the Committee for Justice sent around an email updating people on a particular case of judicial obstruction that relates to Michigan. AdvanceUSA shares the Committee for Justice’s hopes that judicial nominees will become an important issue in next Tuesday’s GOP Michigan primary. If you have friends and family in Michigan, please remind them of the importance of appointing qualified originalist judges to the federal courts rather than liberal activists who legislate from the bench. Send them a link to our 2008 Candidate Comparisons while you’re at it.
Below is an excerpt from the Committee for Justice:
With New Hampshire behind us, the next stop for the GOP presidential contenders is Michigan, home of four Great Lakes and the worst obstruction of judicial nominees in anyone’s memory. It’s been more than six years since Michigan Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow started blocking Michigan nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Despite a nearly 50% vacancy rate on the court at one point, they have persisted in their campaign of obstruction to this day. As a result, two exceptionally qualified Michigan nominees, Raymond Kethledge and Stephen Murphy, have gone more than a year and a half without so much as a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The seats to which they were nominated have long been declared judiciary emergencies.
…the essential point is that the confluence of the Michigan primary and the outrageous obstruction of the state’s nominees provides a great opportunity for journalists to ask the presidential contenders about the proper role of senators in the judicial confirmation process. After all, one of the most important constitutional responsibilities of a president is the appointment of federal judges….
At best, Sens. Levin and Stabenow are being petty. They have tried to justify their campaign of obstruction as payback for the failure of two second-term Clinton appointees to the Sixth Circuit – one of whom is married to Levin's cousin – to get hearings. At worst, Michigan’s senators are willing to subject the residents of the Sixth Circuit – spanning Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan – to eight years of unnecessary delays in the justice system, in the hope that Levin and Stabenow cronies can be put on the court under a Democrat president.
Many suspect the latter motivation, given that Levin and Stabenow have been offered “generous” compromises that would put the two Clinton nominees on the federal bench, but the senators “can't take yes for an answer,” to quote a Detroit News editorial. No wonder the News said that the “intransigence by the Michigan senators goes beyond rough politics and verges on political malpractice.”
HT: Committee for Justice | | |