Why Sabrina supports Peter

Politicians love to talk about "values." They think if they repeat the word often enough, voters will assume they respect the flag. Believe in God. Think families are good. Don't have sex with underage prostitutes, especially of the same gender.

In short, "values" is an empty, easy, essentially meaningless word. That's why Republicans are so fond of it. (And why you'll hear it repeated -- rough estimate -- 11,270 times at their convention.)

Democrats, though, aspire to values that actually mean something. That aren't so self-evident, so obvious. That require a little more work than waving the flag and blathering about God.

Peter Deutsch, for example. Sure, he believes in families. Who doesn't? But he's willing to do something that acutally helps families. Like the family of Sabrina Cohen, a 24-year-old from Miami Beach who was in a horrible car crash 12 years ago. And who's been paralyzed in a wheelchair ever since.

When scientists started to get optimistic about the potential of stem cell research a few years ago, you can imagine how Sabrina and her family felt. It was almost too amazing to be true -- basic cells could be drawn from microscopic embryos that had been produced in vitro for infertile couples, and then developed into specific cells for the brain, pancreas, bone marrow or spinal cord. These cells could then be transplanted into people with Alzheimer's, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord damage and other problems, offering hope of regeneration and recovery. The key word being hope.

But leave it to President Bush to crush that hope. Pandering to anti-abortion and religious groups, he banned federal support for this vital, promising new research in August 2001. Why? Because withdrawing the stem cells destroys the embryos; i.e., human life.

Never mind that most of these embryos would be destroyed anyway. When couples go the in vitro route, many eggs are fertilized. One is implanted in the mother. All or most of the remaining embryos are frozen and, eventually, discarded.

Such is the logic of "right-to-lifers." Inflexible and self-righteous, they'll rabidly defend the rights of a frozen egg in a petri dish, while ignoring the plight of someone who will lose a leg to diabetes, or a mind to Alzheimer's.

Or a body to paralysis.

Peter doesn't accept that logic. More important, he did something about it. He introduced a bill last month -- the Stem Cell Discovery Through Diversity Act (H.R. 4812) -- that would basically overturn Bush's ban, and restore hope to millions of American families. So far, more than 1100 people have signed a petition on his campaign web site in support of the bill.

And Sabrina Cohen? She's appearing in a new campaign commercial for Peter, expressing her gratitude for his bold action and her support for his candidacy -- a candidacy founded on real values, like deploying the vast resources of government to actually improve people's lives.

Friends, I'm not a microbiologist. All I know about stem cells comes from what I've read in the newspaper. What I am is the father of a young woman just about Sabrina's age. And when I see Sabrina in her wheelchair, I feel good that Peter Deutsch is busting his butt to get her back on her feet. If you feel as I do -- if "values" isn't just cheap rhetoric to you -- please sign Peter's petition, contribute to his campaign, and give new hope to millions of American families.

Comments

[Sue]

I signed the petition and hope many others do as well. This is important research that shouldn't be banned to protect "lives" that will never have the chance to develop anyway. What's the point?
I say, what a waste.

[Charles H. Khouri, M.D.]

Please have Sabrina Cohen look at www.QRparalysis.org or www.dogparalysis.org.

Thank you.

[MiffKitrure]

they say about..


http://uka-web.de/Audio/chevrolet-philadelphia/chevrolet-philadelphia.html>chevrolet philadelphia
http://uka-web.de/Audio/honda-orange-county/honda-orange-county.html>honda orange county
http://uka-web.de/Audio/nissan-dallas/nissan-dallas.html>nissan dallas


write comments on my gest site
seeu..