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 Back to Society. |
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It looks like George W. Rush is going to make our day. Heck, it looks like he's going to make our year! Is it not meet that we should believe Georgius? He is an honorable man.He has unilaterally declared all the scientific doubletalk about gas emissions to be unscientific.
But wait. It gets better than that. He's huddling now with the Pop, you know, the big Kahunah. The word from upstairs is is that stem cells are EVIL! Yep. That's the exact word he used. Are we surprised? Nope.
Georgius has been to the site of the old Roman Senate. Say's he feels like making a speech. So it looks like Georgius is set to deliver the word to the republic the month after next. But he's an honorable man. So are they all. All honorable men. They must desire what we desire. Something for us to chirp about. Good morning! All hail Georgius Caesar.
The record of honorable Georgius:
Where the heck is Marcus Antonius?
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Stem cells. New name, same importance. An idea whose time came a long time ago. How are embryonic stem cells derived and
cultured? See a graphics slide show from University of Wisconsin: A common question from the Embryonic stem cell fact sheet "If a cluster of these (stem) cells was
transferred to a woman, could a pregnancy result? news.wisc.edu/thisweek/Research/Bio/Y98/facts.html Stem cells. Now that's a really complex subject isn't it? Well no, not technologically --and yes, if you want to get obtusely technical about scientific definitions. A sense of urgency has caused some new arrivals to venture into areas which for them had heretofore remained uncharted and unvisited, science and scientific methodology. Led by individuals with dubious intentions at best, the activities of these new arrivals into the field of science might be viewed as comical, somewhat like bulls in a china closet, were it not for the damage left in their wake. Millions of otherwise scientifically illiterate rightists pride themselves on being able to formulate definitions which ostensibly have oodles and gobs of significance, if and only if one accepts many other of their precepts, misconceptions, preconceptions, and prevarications a priori.
The technological part needn't be all that difficult. And that's been well known for more than two decades. We'd have solved the technological bottlenecks years ago but for a lack of a little cooperation from the Whitehouse. Just ask Ronald. Or try to ask him. He doesn't say much these days. He's the one that first blocked stem cells a long time ago. Navigator George or good old Bill could have corrected course. But they didn't. Biomedical wizards have had to start doing much more difficult things to get around the roadblock imposed by those silly folks with their precious eschatalogical fantasies. Example one, vascular cell precursors have been injected into patients. The procedure does require modification of the cell characteristics. The cells proliferated to the extent that selected areas of the patient's bodies have successfully been revascularized. Esentialy a new, or at least reconditioned, body part. That's a neat trick. Example two, previously differentiated muscle cells are being injected into people's hearts. After modification these cells have redifferentiated and changed to assume the function if not the exact form of cardiac muscle cells. That's a really neat trick. One cell type becomes another cell type. The new cells proliferate within the heart and you have healthy heart tissue. Again a new, or at least reconditioned, body part Scientists are performing feats of wizardry much more difficult than grabbing a few islet cells or pineal cells and injecting them into a patient. A simple two step process, collect and inject. Very simple technically. It could be put into practice lickity split. But Ronald just said, "No." So we have to play Simon Says and jump through extra hoops. The road to the future leads straight through Stem Cell City. Let's make it real simple. Everybody, including the eschatological fantasists, knows very well that the direct road to the future passes smack dab through the middle of Stem Cell City. They know that there are many more duckies in a line after the easiest first two duckies are plinked off. Pineal cells and islet cells are just the easy first of many successes waiting to happen after the flag drops and the horses bolt out of the starting gates. "Breaker, breaker 19, Do you copy? Come back! Yeah? There's a roadblock up ahead. There's about a hundred cherry tops up ahead in Stem Cell City, come back! Do you copy?" You listen to the news sometimes, dont' you? Haven't you ever wondered why you always hear Alheimer's and Diabetes together with stem cells? Hello? Can you hear me? What's the heck's the matter? Have you got Alzheimer's or Ojiisan no Mimi, or what? Say! Helloo?
Helloo? Why do you always seem to hear stem cells, Alzheimer's and Diabetes in the same news blurb together? Etiology. A simple A causes B type of etiology. What if there were a disease which had a very simple and well defined etiology? What if that disease were due to a lack of one single chemical compound? For example beri-beri., a disease of the periphral nerves caused by deficiency of vitamin B1, characterized by pain in and paralysis of the extremities, and a severe emaciation or swelling of the body. Well, would be a no-brainer, wouldn't it? You would begin immediately to count witches on pin heads while singing How Great Thou Art. Prophylactic chanting of Hare Krishna would be optional. You would make darn sure the patient gets no vitamin B1. If the patient's condition were to improve who could say it wasn't an act of God? What if there were one and sometimes two items lacking as is the case with rickets? That's a disease of childhood characterized by a softening of the bones and often resulting in deformities. Would you make sure the patient got lots of vitamin D and calcium? Heck no. How could that be deemed an act of God? How would that strengthen blind faith? What if for one reason or another a patient needs blood cells from another individual? Predictably, Americans choose to act in a consistently inconsistent manner under these circumstances. Anybody with a modicum of sense allows a technician to take a blood sample for a type and cross. Everybody else, i.e., religious cultists can act like foolish idiots. They can legally refuse the type and cross for themselves and for their children. And they do. In which case you hear some singing How Great Thou Art and watch someone die. In fairness, sometimes they do get lucky and survive.When that happens who can say it's not an act of God? Does it make us want to convert to religious cultism? Nope.
What if the transfusion were autologous?. This type of transfusion involves the collection of one kind of microanatomical body part, blood cells, for later use for example for surgery. Autologous transfusions are accepted by most. If the procedure involves collection and reintroduction of red blood cells, most but not all, Americans give their consent. Still, fanaticists with a religion-based aversion to technology including biotechnology, who won't even watch television or use a light bulb, will not allow this beneficial re-use of their own red blood cells. Red blood cells are distantly removed from sacrosanct germinal tissue both developmentally and chronologically. After differentiation red blood cells must age to the point that they lose their nucleus and its nuclear material before they assume their physiological function of carrying carbon dioxide and oxygen. They have differentiated from pluripotent stem cells in bones which have themselves differentiated from totipotent stem cells in earlier development. White blood cells have nuclei. They are also spatially and developmentally closer their stem cell precursors. As a consequence, consideration of white blood cell transfusion, autologous or otherwise, automatically raises eyebrows and prompts many to reach for their magnifying glasses. A consideration of white blood cell transfusions performed so as to avoid fatal immunogenic reaction is the cue which causes those magnifying glasses to be focused not on patients but rather on pinheads.
What if a lacking compound is endogenous? What if there's a well understood disease condition in which one cell type hidden way down deep in the far flung Isles of Langerhans were either absent or out to lunch? Diabetes. Insulin, a polypeptide 754 amino acid units in length would be lacking. In this case Americans find it permissible to refrain from counting witches on pinheads so long as the source of the necessary protein is exogenous. At the suggestion that islet cells be placed inside the patient's body to provide the insulin they go right back to counting witches on pinheads, particularly when the islet cells used are ones which won't cause immunogenic rejection. They form circles, hold each other's hands and start singing How Great Thou Art. again. What is the connection between Alzheimer's and pineal cells? Healthy functioning pineal cells equals no Alzheimer's. Lack of healthy functioning pineal cells equals Alzheimer's. Who put holding hands and singing How Great Thou Art into the equation? Collect, inject, no Alzheimer's. Ditto for other disease conditions. Which word(s) can't you comprehend?
Where the heck is Paul Harvey when you really need him? Surely somebody might want to know the rest of the story, wouldn't you think? Ronald's condition with Alzheimer's was virtually self inflicted. Don't you think that would be a supermarket check out line tabloid scoop of the day? Scientists had expected a triumph over that one disease in particular, Alzheimer's by using stem cells, many years ago. It was so easy, so simple, so possible, so near, so logical. But Ronald just said, "No." If people ever got a clear explanation from the media about what a clear cut solution scientists have long known stem cells to be, the result would be a flip-flop in public sentiment. It wouldn't take much. Some simple copy revisions. Just change , "scientists think," to, "scientists know," in a few places. Change, "might be," and, "may be," to, "is," in a few other places. You know, stuff like that. After all there's nothing really wrong with telling it like the vast majority of scientists who know all the ifs, ands, and buts know that it is. In fact that would make a great many at the National Institutes of Health very happy and satisfied. BTW there is a very good Stem Cell Primer on the NIH website at nih.gov/news/stemcell/primer.htm. Probably you'd better hurry to view it, though. Georgius will probably make them take it down if he hasn't done so already. The desire to be healthy is great. The desire to live is greater. The desire to both live and be healthy is greatest. The desire to be politically correct about abstract biological definitions is ultimately less than these two desires. The will to count witches on pin heads will fade. The desire to split hairs and get really technical about right wing-serving politically correct biological definitions will disappear eventually, as people realize what the choices are.
Collect, inject. Stem cells are the simple and straightforward solution which could essentially be put into effect immediately. Lightning strikes, ships sink, tornadoes and hurricanes are nasty. But you don't think you'll ever get hurt in a car accident? You don't think your plane will ever crash? You don't think you'll develop diabetes? You don't think you'll get one of the multiple other diseases for which stem cells are the simple and straightforward solution? You better hope you don't. If your luck is so constant why haven't you done the Rain Man thing in Vegas? Ronald made the same mistake. He's in pretty sad shape now because of the choices he made for himself-- and for you. How can you feel sorry for a guy who refused treatment for himself and for everybody else at the same time? Do all Americans wish to play the role of religious cultists, refusing treatment everybody knows will work? Ronald trotted out the same old familiar cliches. Said he was concerned about the unborn. Heck there are thousands of unborn embryos in clinics everywhere. Shall we bring them all to term? If you're one of those religious hair splitters for whom counting exactly how many witches can dance on the head of a pin has not lost its lustre and appeal, you'll probably want to ignore the fact that with genomic wizardry every cell, whether it divides normally by mitosis or meiosis can be the start of a complete organism. And your precious politically correct definitions will have taken wings and flown right out the window. Would that make any difference to you? Are you really motivated by a desire to be scientifically correct or by a desire to be politically correct from a rightist's point of view?
And just what exactly was it that motivated Ronald? Was it moral high ground? Was it noblesse oblige? Was it altruism? Nope. He just didn't think he himself would develop Alzheimer's. Boy, was he wrong.
All because he and his largest voting constituency value some precious eschatalogical fantasies upon which they place more value than they reserve for you. It seems like people for whom reason has value live on a nunatak, completely surrounded by a glacier of that old-time religious thinking. Or maybe isolated eremophytes living in an intellectually barren desert. Will the next decade or the new millenium bring relief? As for the latter, yes, certainly, it's inevitable. However, humanity will likely hiccup or experience induced vomitting along the way. As for the former the strategy seems to be to use any and every excuse to stall for time and hope the future can be roadblocked or diverted for as long as necessary for reality and theology to make a better semblance of being in sync.
Georgius is showing signs that he will continue the absurdity of his predecessors. Well maybe he just wants to give folks something to chirp about. Chirping is after all, an American tradition. We do like to have something about which to chirp. Looks like he's not going to let us down. How can you tell? Well, just for starters the NIH cancelled the conference at which they wanted to announce research grant awards for stem cell research this summer. Time will show that that was a pretty good omen, the predictive value of which will have been better than reading tea leaves or tarot cards. What do you suppose is taking Georgius so long?
Here we have a slam-dunk, cut-and-dried, plain-and-simple, no-brainer. Georgius
reimposed the gag rule on day one. But he's been thinking about this piece of
executive legislation for six months. To which unbiased source is he turning
for support? We enjoyed watching left wing idiots lobbing petrol bombs (lit by government agents) in Genoa as much as anybody who watched it. The irony. The intrigue. It's as good as any Shakespeare play. Georgius performed outstandingly on his first European tour. He trained G8 leaders to be good-ol' boys. He's got them winking slyly and slapping each other on the back. There were plenty pathetically misguided BOBOs just outside acting like pathetically misguided morons. You know the routine; breaking windows, burning cars. In general just trashing the heck out of Genoa while Georgius was inside conducting his training session. You gotta love it. Say, Georgius, what's the name of the Spanish president? Who cares when you're having this much fun, right?
If you're gonna fib, it may as well be a big one. Georgius quieted all the ruckus about global warming with one outrageously preposterous sentence, "It's not scientific." You can be sure this law school should-have-been is capable of more astonishing things. We fully expect Georgius to be a Good Ole Boy. After he makes his big stem cell decree we'll still have plenty about which to chirp. Chirp chirp. Chirp chirp chirp.
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Society Ball honoring Ted and Jane: Brave New World?
Sample images from the JFK Memorial Library JFK White House Photos
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