 |
          
  |
|
|
|
- Studies in Australia show that adult stem cells are accomplishing incredible results in repairing fractured bones.
- The Temple Telegram has a great biographical piece on Dr. Darwin Prockop who “has been researching adult stem cells for 18 years and yet maintains a sense of wonder about his work.” Dr. Prockop is doing great work, and it is refreshing to hear his expert and honest assessment of the enormous potential of ethical adult stem cell research and of the difficulties and problems associated with embryonic stem cell research. This piece is an exciting read for those interested in the amazing medicinal potential of ethical forms of stem cell research. Excerpt:
There have been no reports of any patient trials using embryonic stem cells, he said.
“There have been some major technological problems,” Prockop said. “One thing is they form tumors in animals that look like the beginnings of cancer and nobody quite knows how to get around this problem.”
Dr. Prockop at work
Graphic source: Temple Telegraph
For more information on adult stem cell successes click here. Or check the stem cell page.
Our friend Curt Levey at the Committee for Justice compares the recent refusal of the House Democrat leadership to allow a vote on the Protect America Act to the obstruction of President Bush’s judicial nominees. Excerpt:
…our view on passage of the Protect America Act is the same as our philosophy on the confirmation of judicial nominees. If senators and House members are sincere in their belief that the PAA is a threat to civil liberties or that the President’s judicial nominees threaten civil rights – they can and should vote against passage or confirmation on the floor. What they should not do is thwart the will of the majority by preventing a fair up-or-down vote.
The Protect America Act and FISA are not major issues for AdvanceUSA, but we certainly share the frustration over the Senate’s intolerably slow pace of confirming judicial nominations and urge a fair up-or-down vote for all the president's nominees.
To see a graphic representation of the slow pace of judicial confirmations click here. For more information on judicial nomination check the AdvanceUSA pro-justice page.
Debra
J. Saunders writes about the animal-rights
terrorists who intimidate or plot acts of violence against researchers involved
with animal testing.
It
is highly ironic that many of the opponents of animal testing are likely also advocates
of unrestricted embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and abortion on
demand.
 Calling all Californians and Hoosiers
(“Hoosiers” are folks from Indiana for all you non-Hoosiers out there)
concerned about protecting the traditional definition of marriage from activist
judges and liberal politicians! You have
urgent and important opportunities to defend the sacred institution of marriage
in your states.
Indiana
The
Indiana Marriage Amendment (S.J.R. 7) was passed by the State Senate but is
languishing in the State House Rules Committee.
In Indiana, a constitutional amendment must be approved by two
consecutive legislatures and then approved by the people. If the House continues to delay, Indiana
voters will be deprived of the opportunity to vote on the amendment on their
2008 ballot and the effort to protect marriage in Indiana will be set back
several years. Defenders of marriage in
Indiana are urged to call and email State House Speaker Patrick Bauer and State
House Rules Committee Chairman Scott Pelath.
Contact
information:
Speaker
Pat Bauer
(D-South Bend)
317-232-9628
h6@in.gov
Chairman
Scott Pelath
(D-Michigan City)
317-232-9647
h9@in.gov
HT:
Brian
California
CitizenLink
reports (article: “California Gets
Ready to Vote on Marriage”) that the California Marriage Amendment is off
to a good start with 100,000 signatures gathered to get it on the 2008
ballot. However, a total of about 1
Million signatures will be needed to do so.
If you live in California check out the Protect Marriage website to find out
how to sign the petition and find other ways to help the cause.
Visit:
www.ProtectMarriage.com
AdvanceUSA
has learned from friends in the House of Representatives that the Foreign
Affairs Committee hearings on PEPFAR have been postponed until the “week of February
25.”
 The presidential primaries held yesterday in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia were clean sweeps. Sen. Barack Obama won for the Democrats and Sen. John McCain won for the Republicans.
For full results check the links below.
Virginia
Maryland
District of Columbia
To see how the presidential candidates stand on important issues check AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
 Annie Murphy Paul has an eye-opening and even-handed piece in the New York Times today entitled “The First Ache” which extensively documents the medical evidence that unborn children are capable of feeling pain. As noted in the piece, this knowledge has enabled pro-lifers to promote “unborn pain awareness” legislation aimed at humanizing unborn children and attempting to foster a “culture of life” and a culture of concern for the unborn.
Excerpt:
New evidence, however, has persuaded him [Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand] that fetuses can feel pain by 20 weeks gestation (that is, halfway through a full-term pregnancy) and possibly earlier. As Anand raised awareness about pain in infants, he is now bringing attention to what he calls “signals from the beginnings of pain.”
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) have proposed legislation, on the federal level, to inform women seeking abortions that their unborn child is likely to experience pain. For more information on the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act check the AdvanceUSA home page or pro-life page.
Consider contacting your representative and both your senators and urging them to support the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act (S. 356 / H.R. 3442). Also consider writing an op-ed piece in your local newspaper to inform people about the pain unborn children experience during an abortion.
Today the states of Maryland and Virginia as well as the District of Columbia, hold their presidential primaries. AdvanceUSA Blog will post the results tomorrow. Until then, USA Today will have updated vote results here throughout the night.
Make sure you know where the major presidential candidates stand on important issues with AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
 AdvanceUSA has learned that Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) passed away this morning from lung cancer complications. AdvanceUSA expresses its condolences to the family of Congressman Lantos, and is thankful for his willingness to serve his nation in Congress. The House Foreign Affairs Committee (which Lantos chaired) will likely postpone Thursday's hearing on PEPFAR until leadership and membership changes are made to the committee.
AdvanceUSA will continue to monitor the PEPFAR issue, and is encouraged that President Bush has indicated his opposition to the bill until the abortion and abstinence policy changes are removed.
The
Wall Street Journal mentions the dangerous
Employment Non-Discrimination Act in an article on several anti-business
bills that could progress in the current Congress. Another concern with ENDA, besides
restrictive government regulation of business, is the threat that
non-discrimination laws based on “actual or perceived” sexual preferences could
pose to religious freedom.
Excerpt:
…the Employment Non-Discrimination Act,
passed the House of Representatives last fall. It would prohibit discrimination
on the basis of "sexual orientation." In short, private-sector
employers who have religious or other objections to homosexuality would be told
their moral views lack legitimacy.
The Bush administration has announced its
opposition, noting that the bill raises constitutional problems and "turns
on imprecise and subjective terms that would make interpretation, compliance,
and enforcement extremely difficult" and is "virtually certain to
encourage burdensome litigation." Sen. John McCain is opposed to such
legislation; Sens. Obama and Clinton are supporters. Sen. Edward Kennedy is
expected to introduce the bill later this year in the Senate. For more information on ENDA click here.
The
closing of five Planned Parenthood “clinics” is great news for pro-lifers. LifeNews
reports.
The Daily Breeze reports. Excerpt:
Researchers at UCLA have become the first
in the state to successfully create skin cells that can be used to treat a
number of fatal or debilitating conditions without the use of human embryos or
eggs.
HT:
Sam Lee
“Charitable
choice” is what allows religious charities to maintain their non-profit,
tax-exempt status while being able to take religious or moral beliefs into
consideration when hiring employees.
Without these protections religious charities would be forced to
compromise their most cherished beliefs in order to continue to minister
effectively. For example, charitable
choice is what allows a Catholic charity to only hire Catholics while refusing
to hire someone who is an openly practicing homosexual.
The
Center blog reports on the latest efforts
to restrict this important religious liberty in the statutory provisions
governing the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA).
Over the weekend the battles between the Democrat and Republican nominees continued. On the Democrat side, Barack Obama won the contests in Nebraska, Maine, and Louisiana. On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee won Kansas and Louisiana while John McCain won the Washington State caucuses. However, the Huckabee campaign intends to contest the Washington State results.
For full results of the past weekend’s primaries and caucuses check the USA Today election coverage website.
LifeNews and Breitbart have some helpful analysis of the races tomorrow (Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC).
To find out where the presidential candidates stand on important issues check out AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
 Yesterday, at the White House, President Bush “called out” the Senate for its lack of action on important judicial nominations. Appointing qualified, originalist judges to the federal bench is of the utmost importance, but over 180 nominees are currently in judicial limbo. Call Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today (his DC number is 202-224-3542) and politely ask him to end the obstruction of the President’s judicial nominees and grant them hearings and a fair up-or-down vote, as is the Senate’s constitutional duty. Excerpt of the President’s remarks:
As President, I have a constitutional responsibility to nominate qualified men and women for public office. That's my responsibility, I take it very seriously. I have nominated skilled and faithful public servants to lead federal agencies and sit on the federal bench. The Constitution also gives senators an important responsibility. They must provide advice and consent by voting up or down on these nominees. Unfortunately, the Senate is not fulfilling its duty.
The confirmation process has turned into a never ending political game, where everyone loses. With more than a 180 of my nominees waiting for the confirmation process in the Senate, it is clear that the process is not working. About half these nominees have been waiting for more than a hundred days. More than 30 have been waiting a year or more. And nine have been waiting for more than two years.
That's no way to treat men and women who have stepped forward to serve our country, and it's got to stop. It's in our nation's interest that this process change. It's not right to treat these good folks this way. These nominees deserve an up or down vote. Many of them have had their careers on hold. They've got spouses whose lives are stuck in limbo. They have children waiting to find out where they're going to go to school.
To read the full speech click here.
For a helpful White House fact sheet on judicial nominees click here.
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) also spoke out on this crucial issue and his remarks can be read here.
For more information on judicial issues and to view a chart illustrating the Senate’s lack of progress on judges check the AdvanceUSA pro-justice page.
As
the AP reports, proposed changes to PEPFAR funding would side-step the crucial
Mexico City Policy allowing
tax dollars to support overseas abortions.
The AP report also mentions that the Lantos bill would undermine
ant-prostitution regulations and withhold funding from successful abstinence
and faithfulness anti-AIDS education.
The
Foreign Affairs Committee will likely vote on PEPFAR on Thursday, February
14. Be sure to contact
members of this committee and urge them to preserve the crucial pro-life
and pro-morality provisions PEPFAR.
NOTE: Mitt Romney just dropped out of the race. It is not clear how this will affect the upcoming primaries. Will Romney supporters rally behind Mike Huckabee or will he soon drop out?
LifeNews provides helpful reporting and analysis on some of the upcoming presidential races.
On Saturday, three states (LA, WA, and KS) will hold presidential contests. On Tuesday (February 12), Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC will hold their primaries.
I you or someone you know plan to vote in one of these races, AdvanceUSA encourages you to make use of our 2008 Candidate Comparisons with which you can compare the major presidential candidates on important issues.
Be in prayer for your country as momentous decisions are being made which will determine the future of conservatism and of our nation.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee markup for PEPFAR originally scheduled today has been postponed to next week. As currently written, the legislation undermines effective abstinence programs and mandates taxpayer support of overseas abortions. FRC has provided a helpful list of committee members. If your representative is in this list, be sure to encourage him or her to oppose any provisions which undermine the Mexico City Policy, allow tax dollars to support overseas abortion providers or proponents, undermine anti-prostitution regulations, or weakens support for successful abstinence and faithfulness education programs. If these concerns are not met, your representative should be encouraged to oppose the underlying bill. For more information on this issue check the PEPFAR blurb.
Liberals in Congress should stop endangering critical AIDS funding with attempts to advance their anti-life, liberal social agenda.
| | |