July 19, 2006, morning. I am against federally funded stem cell research, but not for the moral or ethical reasons cited by the president. Those fetuses are already destined for the dustbin. Using them for research is like harvesting organs from the not-quite-dead to help the living. I am against federal funding for the same reason I am against government funding for sports stadiums. Projects that truly hold promise of success and profitability will get plenty of private funding. Stem cell research is very much over-hyped, and the media love the controversy. This is another opportunity to bash Bush and spotlight some liberals like Kerry and Kennedy. If pharmaceutical companies see promise in stem cell research, and they do, they will fund it, and they do. Government funding for such research is not needed. If the researchers make a fantastic discovery, they patent it, and private enterprise reaps the profits. If the public paid for the research, the results should be in the public domain. Now, if THAT were true, you would not find so much clamoring for public funding. That stem cell research is the first bill President Bush might veto is very disturbing. Not because it is stem cell research, or even that he will veto it for the wrong reasons, but because he missed so many opportunities to veto ridiculous spending bills before now. That is the shame.