Interesting Items 3/16 - by Alex Gimarc
Monday, Mar 16, 2009 Interesting Items 3/16 - Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy - In this issue: 1. Correction 2. Stem Cells 3. FDA 4. Palin 1. Correction. Last week I referenced a rumored silencing of Iran ’s satellite by the USAF 300 megawatt airborne laser test bed. I wrongly used the mW abbreviation – which is miliwatt (one one thousandth of a watt) rather than the correct MW, megawatt (one million watts). Thank you to a long time reader of this column for the correction. 2. Stem Cells. President Teleprompter revoked a pair of Bush Executive Orders last week that prohibited federal funding for embryonic stem cell research outside a few pre-existing lines of cells. The revocation was made with all the cynical pomp and ceremony (including teleprompters) that we have come to expect from this president and his pro-death administration. Essentially Obama opened the door for the cloning of human life and the use of those cloned humans for spare p art s. He made all the correct bleating noises regarding science and reinstalling science to the he art of the decision making- discussion on the use of stem cells. Yet Obama and his leftist supporters miss the point here, as in the words of Charles Krauthammer in a devastating column on the Executive Orders at weeks end, science tells us what is possible; morality tells us what is permissible. Additionally, some of the greatest evils in the 20th Century were all based on sound science, yet morally reprehensible and deadly. Remember that the Nazis st art ed with killing the disabled first – scientifically justifiable, and then extended it to everyone else. Pol Pot was going to scientifically remake the entirety of Cambodian society, apparently after he killed off a third of the population. Every time you hear that something ought to be based in science rather than in basic morality or humanity, your blood ought to go cold and your skin st art crawling. The use of embryonic stem cells has so far not been p art icularly successful in most applications, as they tend to create tumors in the recipient. On the other hand, the use of properly cultured adult stem cells has been highly successful in a wide variety of applications, and has shown much progress in the commercial world and the medical profession over the last decade. The pro-death side of the discussion wants an excuse to continue the abortion business that is failing in the marketplace as people and practitioners are increasingly choosing life over death. Otherwise, why would the Obama administration and congress be taking steps to force doctors to do things they are not morally inclined to be doing? There is an interesting coda to this little passion play, and it comes with the $410 billion pork fest that Obama signed two days after repealing the Bush Executive orders. Buried deep in the legislation (and it is clear that nobody in the WH even takes the time to read what he signs), is an extension of existing congressional language that in essence revokes Obama’s actions. Here is the language of the legislation that Obama signed, courtesy of the Strata Sphere, Sat: The amendment says, in p art : “None of the funds made available in this Act may be used for—(1) the creation of a human embryo or embryos for research purposes; or (2) research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.” 3. FDA. This one is a couple weeks old, but is yet another demonstration of the incompetent nature of both congress and the FDA. The SCOTUS on March 4 rejected a claim by drug manufacturer Wyeth that FDA directed labeling was defense against lawsuits in state courts. The case had a doctor misuse a drug (this misuse warming was labeled). The patient developed gangrene and lost an arm. Judgment in state court against the drug manufacturer was $6.3 million. The manufacturer had known about the problem with misuse and had petitioned the FDA to allow them to write stronger language in their warnings. These requests were denied. Congress has a p art of this action also, as it refused to pass language in the FDA authorization and funding legislation that precluded state lawsuits against FDA licensed, approved and labeled drugs. The basic question is this: What are we paying the FDA to do? If it is the keeper of all knowledge; if it is the organization with the ultimate authority and responsibility to approve all drugs; why are the manufacturers subject to lawsuits when something unfortunate happens? You can’t – or shouldn’t – have it both ways. If the FDA approves the use of a new drug, manufacturers ought to be shielded from all lawsuits unless there is clear evidence of their malfeasance in the development, testing, analysis and approval of new drugs. If we are to adopt a marketplace structured approach to new drugs (which would be my choice), we ought to shut down the FDA completely, replace it with an industry funded standards and best practices organization, and let the marketplace sort out the problems. Today we sit somewhere in the middle, which only serves to slow down new drug innovation and testing and needlessly inject uncertainty into the business of manufacture and use of drugs. Let the marketplace work. If the courts are the place to sort out the unexpected and unpleasant side effects of new drugs, so be it. Shut down the FDA and get them out of the way of progress. 4. Palin. Governor Palin appointed a new member to the state supreme court last week. The appointee was a former Planned Parenthood supporter and her appointment stirred up a small anti-Palin boomlet in local and national conservative circles. As usual, there is more to the story than it would seem at first glance, and that back story would serve the Governor well to consider, as she will have to solve the same problem should she reach for national office. Judicial appointments to Alaska Supreme Court and Superior Court are made by the Judicial Council, a 7-member body described in Article 4.8 of the Alaska Constitution. Three of the members are members of the state bar. Three are appointees of the governor that have been approved by the legislature. The seventh is the Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court who acts in an ex-officio manner. A vote of four members is sufficient to send a nomination forward. Over the years, the leftist Alaska state bar has managed to take over the operation of the judicial council with a bulletproof four vote majority. As a result, no conservative names ever get forwarded to the governor for nomination to the higher courts. Over the years, we have ended up with a incredibly activist left wing judiciary in a moderately conservative state. In this instance, only two names were forwarded. Our last governor, Frank Murkowski chose to take a stand with the judicial council and picked a fight with them, forcing them to send him all names of the nominees. He was not completely successful. Governor Palin chose not to pick this fight at this time. So what is our choice as conservatives when we have a leftist takeover of one branch of the state government? One way would be to have a state constitutional convention – which in my mind would be a very bad thing to do, as the big money in this state is all on the left, with the unions, the greens and the trial lawyers. We would all get completely rolled, as would we as a nation if we chose to do the same thing at a national level. On the other hand, it is possible for the Governor to back a constitutional amendment that would change two words of Article 4.5 of the Alaska constitution and remove the judicial council from the path of nominating judges and allow the governor that duty. Return that responsibility to the governor, where it resides in most states and at the federal level. This is an important fight that the governor needs to pick, and ought to do so at the point where she needs to nominate the next justice to the Alaska Supreme Court. Taking on the judiciary is also a thing that Palin will have to do at the national level. The next president will have to unwind the illegal and unconstitutional notion that unlawful enemy combatants have any constitutional rights. The next president will have to forcibly and bluntly tell the SCOTUS and the federal courts to get the hell out of the business of war fighting. The next president will also have to figure out how to remove a number of screaming leftist activist judges appointed by President Teleprompter from the bench. There is a constitutional way to do so. Congress can simply disestablish a given federal circuit court, retire everyone on it and reestablish it a few days later. The next president will need to fix the courts, and if Governor Palin is up to the job, fixing the judicial council here in Alaska will be a great place to st art . More later - - AG "If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776. Note: Interesting Items can be found at the following locations: The Alaska Standard http://thealaskastandard.com/ MatSu Valley News http://www.matsuvalleynews.com District 28 http://www.dist28.com/ subscriber and supporter Elbert Collins at http://thatselbert.wordpress.com/ and the home page: http://home.gci.net/~agimarc Rod M art in's The Vanguard site is also a long-time supporter of this column: http://www.thevanguard.org/ * * * * * * * <http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=91763>* * <http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=91763>* ** ------------------------------ * Updated March 14 OBAMA ELIGIBILITY ISSUE MUST BE RESOLVED SOON http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd436.htm Why are there still questions about qualifications? http://www.investorsiraq.com/showthread.php?p=877422#post877422 The Show me state trying to get Obama's birth certificate http://www.oilforimmigration.org/facts/?p=1246 * ** More military members join law suit http://theliberaldemocrat.com/?p=1535 Read the Declaration of Independence during this music interlude http://talkwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/03/obama-save-yourself.html *SUPREME COURT REFUSES TO LOOK AT THE MERITS OF THE CASES VS BHO* http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=91345 If the SCOTUS doesn't care about the Constitution, why should any of US? Certainly the USG doesn't respect its limits. ------------------------------ I'M MAD, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *The question is NOT whether Obama is natural-born, we're past that. The question now is: whether or not the various clauses of the Constitution are enforceable or are they nothing more than words for the govt to hide behind.* ------------------------------ With ACORN, La Raza, and Ohio Dem officials sitting on 20,000 suspect voter registrations and other Dept heads releasing Joe the Plumber's confidential information, *this has been an incredibly, uncreditable election*. You'd think there'd be a law somewhere at some level that would make elections honest. Unfortunately, the SCOTUS has ruled, no one has standing. Rich Martin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "APFN" group. 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