Pirate's Cove

Actually, thanks for asking, it’s going exactly the way the rest of the research into ESCs is going

When millionaire Silicon Valley real estate developer Bob Klein launched his ballot drive to create a $3-billion state fund for stem-cell research in 2004, he pitched it as a way of taking politics out of science and focusing on cures. One particularly heartbreaking campaign ad showed former big screen Superman Christopher Reeve paralyzed in a wheelchair, struggling for breath and imploring California voters to “stand up for those who can’t.”

Next month, Klein’s six-year term as chairman of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine expires. Under his stewardship, the agency has funded research leading to hundreds of scientific papers, but scientists say marketable therapies for maladies such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and spinal cord damage promised during the campaign remain years, if not decades, away.

Wait, they’ve made no progress, no cures, no medicines, bupkiss? Shocker! So, what to do, what to do

In a recent interview with The Times, Klein said he plans to ask voters to approve another $3 billion in a bond measure on the 2014 ballot to keep the stem cell program going.

Of course, the answer is always “give us more money!” in Liberal World, where it is all about intentions, not results.

The agency was approved by many voters as a rebuke to President George W. Bush‘s ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The cells are at an early stage of development in which they retain the ability to morph into cells of almost any body part. Researchers hope they can be used to regenerate damaged organs, including spinal nerves. Bush imposed the ban because the process of obtaining the stem cells involves destroying human embryos. Supporters of the research accused the Bush administration of allowing politics to trump science.

Humorously, the article then goes on to describe all the politics that popped up.

Really, the problem here is that Liberals are caught up in wanting to use embryos for research, perhaps because of their overall support of abortion on demand, perhaps simply because Bush was president and implemented the ban on using federal money to fund new lines of ESCs. Really, who knows what goes on in the mind of a liberal? I doubt even liberals know.

What we do know is that ESC research has so far been totally worthless. Other lines of stem cells, such as adult, placental, and amniotic, have not only shown great promise, but have provided cures, medicines, and treatments, without those monster tumors and cancer associated with embryonic stem cell measures. Imagine had California dumped that $3 billion into research that was practical, rather than symbolic.