Maybe Bush Has Been Saving Up Vetos For This

[Brassmask]

If Reid and Pelosi get this stuff done in the first 100 hours or even days, I'll join the Democratic Party and even go to meetings.

I'm hoping for the best, expecting the worst.



Sen. Reid: Ethics, stem cells top agenda By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 46 minutes ago
 


Ethics reform, a higher minimum wage and more money for stem cell research are the top items on the Senate agenda next year, incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press.

Reid said he will tackle those priorities after cleaning up the "financial mess" that the outgoing Republican leadership has left. He was referring to nine long overdue appropriations bills covering 13 Cabinet departments for the budget year that began Oct. 1.

"They're just leaving town, it appears," Reid said from his office in the Capitol. "We hope that's not the case, but it appears that's what they are going to do. And so we're going to have to find a way to fund the government for the next year."

The must-pass legislation totals more than $460 billion and promises to divert time and energy from other items on the Democratic agenda.

Reid also said he's doing away with the "do-nothing Congress" that Democrats campaigned against this year as they ousted the Republican majority in both chambers of Congress. The Nevada Democrat, who is wrapping up his final days as Senate minority leader, will take control of the Senate agenda when the new Congress takes the oath of office in January.

"We're going to put in some hours here that haven't been put in in a long time," Reid said. That means "being here more days in the week and we start off this year with seven weeks without a break. That hasn't been done in many, many years here."

Reid said he hopes that President Bush is willing to work with the Democratic congressional leadership, but the early signs have not been encouraging. He said the White House has not reached out to him since his meeting with Bush in the Oval Office on Nov. 10. "Sorry to say," Reid said.

Bush used the only veto of his presidency so far to reject a bill passed by Congress last year that would have expanded embryonic stem cell research through government funding.

Supporters of such research say it could lead to treatments and cures for a wide variety of ailments, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries. Bush and abortion foes, however, have opposed embryonic stem cell research because the embryos die in the process of harvesting the stem cells from them.

Reid said he hoped the president "will relent and see the light" that the research gives hope to Americans struggling with illnesses and injuries. He said the Senate is "not even close" to having the two-thirds vote necessary to override Bush's veto, but he hopes some Republicans will join the Democrats after losing the election this month.

The election came on the heels of several ethical scandals involving lawmakers, and Reid said reform is needed. He said "the first thing we do" will be to try to cut the practice of lawmakers anonymously inserting "earmarks" — narrowly tailored spending that often helps a specific company or project in their district — into bills.

Citizens Against Government Waste, a taxpayer watchdog group, said there were 9,963 such projects in the spending bills for the 2006 budget year, costing $29 billion.

The third item at the top of Reid's agenda is increasing the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. The White House has signaled that Bush may be willing to consider the proposal.

___

On the Net:

http://reid.senate.gov

[Plane]

>>>The third item at the top of Reid's agenda is increasing the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. The White House has signaled that Bush may be willing to consider the proposal.<<<


 Well this won't hurt me , but it is a nasty thing to do to China.


>>>Bush used the only veto of his presidency so far to reject a bill passed by Congress last year that would have expanded embryonic stem cell research through government funding.<<<

We really need to spend more money on human research before this tecnoligy has ever been made to work on an animal?


>>>The must-pass legislation totals more than $460 billion and promises to divert time and energy from other items on the Democratic agenda<<<

I would like it fine if they could pass this stuff after subtracting a lot of earmarked projects .

[Xavier_Onassis]

We really need to spend more money on human research before this tecnoligy has ever been made to work on an animal?

==============================================
But they HAVE used it on animals. Lots and lots of them. THey just neglected to tell you.

[Plane]

We really need to spend more money on human research before this tecnoligy has ever been made to work on an animal?

==============================================
But they HAVE used it on animals. Lots and lots of them. THey just neglected to tell you.

Which of us is talking out of hat?

[Xavier_Onassis]

That would be you.

Jeez, just do a search on  the words animal research and stem cells. See the Wikipedia articles on stem cells and genetics. There have been dozens of articles on animal stemcell research in the Miami Herald, and I am certain in many other papers as well. There have been articles in Newsweek and the National Geographic.


There is less reason to do animal research when they are working with a tiny blastocyte of 64 cells and they are trying to form it into something like a spare kidney.

[Plane]

That would be you.

Jeez, just do a search on  the words animal research and stem cells. See the Wikipedia articles on stem cells and genetics. There have been dozens of articles on animal stemcell research in the Miami Herald, and I am certain in many other papers as well. There have been articles in Newsweek and the National Geographic.


There is less reason to do animal research when they are working with a tiny blastocyte of 64 cells and they are trying to form it into something like a spare kidney.

I would love to see the results of research that led to the formation of an organ from an animal blastocyst.

Why worry about doing this to a human before we have worked the bugs out?

[Lanya]

That would be you.

Jeez, just do a search on  the words animal research and stem cells. See the Wikipedia articles on stem cells and genetics. There have been dozens of articles on animal stemcell research in the Miami Herald, and I am certain in many other papers as well. There have been articles in Newsweek and the National Geographic.


There is less reason to do animal research when they are working with a tiny blastocyte of 64 cells and they are trying to form it into something like a spare kidney.

I would love to see the results of research that led to the formation of an organ from an animal blastocyst.

Why worry about doing this to a human before we have worked the bugs out?

[.................]
I tell you, you gotta look at this new-fangled thing they call Google.  Amazing! 
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5204335
Bioconstruction Zone: Tissue Engineering

Stem cells are quietly revolutionizing a high-tech medical field that unites engineering, materials science, and cell biology. The two-decade-old field of tissue engineering relies on the body's own repair mechanisms. A "scaffold" made of nylon or a biomaterial like collagen is transplanted into the body. Cells use the scaffold as support, replacing it over time with natural three-dimensional tissue. Scaffolds can be used with transplanted cells too. Like the cells in bone marrow transplants, the introduced cells are either from the patient or from a donor.

The success of tissue regeneration varies from organ to organ. The lung, like the heart, has little regenerative oomph. Yet when stem cells from the human lung are purified and put onto synthetic polymer sheets, they form smooth and shiny pulmonary tissue. And mouse lung tissues made from stem cells develop into respiratory structures after transplantation. Pancreatic tissue hasn't been made, though insulin-producing cell systems are under intense study. The liver can regenerate easily in the body, but a reliable method of growing cells in the lab has not yet been found. Rudimentary skin grafts made using collagen and cell suspensions have helped burn patients for more than 20 years, but regenerating fully functioning skin that does not scar is still a distant goal. For most organs, the secrets lie in the pathways of stem cell differentiation. If science can discover the genes and proteins involved in every step of tissue and organ formation, it may be possible to precisely manufacture the necessary body parts.

Human embryonic stem cells can be used to make beating heart cells, but that is just a start: to be useful as a tissue graft, they must grow into organized structures. Seeding a scaffold made from a thin patch of biomaterial with heart muscle cells begins the regeneration process. Once such structures are sewed into mice, heart cells that secrete matrix-forming proteins infiltrate the patch. This stimulates the construction of blood vessels and eventually new myocardial tissue and muscles develop. The heartbeat stretches and strengthens the new tissue as the scaffold slowly degrades.

Making bits of the body's plumbing is proving easier. Like any transplant, the proof in the pudding is whether these stem cell-directed structures can function fully and survive for the lifetime of the patient. Several labs are focusing on forming blood vessels. Another group has devised a way to make a trachea, the thin tube that carries air to the lungs out of cells found in the nasal cavity. MIT researchers are teasing hESCs into cells that line the blood vessels. They seed them on scaffolds, sprinkle in growth compounds, and a few days later watch networks of small tubes traverse through the matrix. When transplanted into a mouse, the manufactured vessels incorporate into the mouse's vasculature.
[................]

[BT]

One would think that with all the promise of this technology on animals there would be no need for federal investment. Big Pharma should be all over this, wth venture capitalists doubling down their bets.

One has to wonder what the fuss is about.

[Plane]

Thanks Lanya
  But did you happen to read the article?

     They swap from what they have done to what they might do without mentioning that there is a diffrence.


"The success of tissue regeneration varies from organ to organ. The lung, like the heart, has little regenerative oomph. Yet when stem cells from the human lung are purified and put onto synthetic polymer sheets, they form smooth and shiny pulmonary tissue. And mouse lung tissues made from stem cells develop into respiratory structures after transplantation. Pancreatic tissue hasn't been made, though insulin-producing cell systems are under intense study. The liver can regenerate easily in the body, but a reliable method of growing cells in the lab has not yet been found. Rudimentary skin grafts made using collagen and cell suspensions have helped burn patients for more than 20 years, but regenerating fully functioning skin that does not scar is still a distant goal. For most organs, the secrets lie in the pathways of stem cell differentiation. If science can discover the genes and proteins involved in every step of tissue and organ formation, it may be possible to precisely manufacture the necessary body parts.

Human embryonic stem cells can be used to make beating heart cells, but that is just a start: to be useful as a tissue graft, they must grow into organized structures. Seeding a scaffold made ..."

[Plane]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Science_Fraud.html

"A top scientific journal plans to adopt some stricter safeguards against fraud, in wake of a headline-grabbing South Korean cloning sham exposed a year ago.

The journal Science did subject the now-discredited studies to extra scrutiny before publishing them in 2004 and 2005, and correctly followed standard checks for signs of problems, concluded an independent review released Tuesday.

There is no way to completely prevent deliberate fraud, the reviewers cautioned.

But increasingly fierce scientific competition plus "the cachet of publishing in Science" create incentives for dishonesty that will require new steps to try to catch and deter, the report found...."


"...South Korea's Hwang Woo-suk claimed to have extracted stem cells from a cloned human embryo, and to have created stem cells genetically matched to specific patients. Science retracted the articles last winter."

    As far as I know this stuff doesn't work yet , but why not tear up some human embrios?

We know for certain that they are not beings even if they are human?


There is almost no one objecting to experiments with adult stem cells , or animal embrionic cells , the reason to push embrionic Human stem cell research is political.

[Lanya]

Thanks Lanya
  But did you happen to read the article?

   

Yes I did.

Quote:
. A handful of his new organs have already been transplanted into humans. Atala doesn't rush things -- he's still observing patients with manufactured bladders four years later and aims to try larger clinical trials only when he's certain he's found the safest and most efficient procedures.

Ten years ago, they said human organs couldn't be built. Now the challenge is unraveling the knotty problem of solid organs, like the liver, pancreas, heart, and lungs. Using renal tissue from cows and a spongy matrix no bigger than a 50-cent piece, the institute has made miniature kidneys that filter blood and eliminate straw-colored fluid. The surprising thing about many of these successes is that they don't rely on a pure source of stem cells. As long as the right kind of stem cell is in the mix of tissue, the brew of growth factors and scaffolds do the rest.

"Most of our research has a stem cell focus, both adult and embryonic," he maintains. "Some people are under the impression that regenerative medicine is this science-fiction drama with dozens of ready-made organs hanging in refrigerators, waiting for patients. That's nonsense." He waves his arm toward a collection of scientists and students huddled over an organ culture machine. "The reason that we've assembled an international group of physicians, engineers, and biologists is that one technology doesn't solve all problems. We have to change our expectations about regenerative medicine. The absolute first priority is the patient -- what's best for the patient?"

[Plane]

Thanks Lanya
  But did you happen to read the article?

   

Yes I did.

Quote:
. A handful of his new organs have already been transplanted into humans. Atala doesn't rush things -- he's still observing patients with manufactured bladders four years later and aims to try larger clinical trials only when he's certain he's found the safest and most efficient procedures.

Ten years ago, they said human organs couldn't be built. Now the challenge is unraveling the knotty problem of solid organs, like the liver, pancreas, heart, and lungs. Using renal tissue from cows and a spongy matrix no bigger than a 50-cent piece, the institute has made miniature kidneys that filter blood and eliminate straw-colored fluid. The surprising thing about many of these successes is that they don't rely on a pure source of stem cells. As long as the right kind of stem cell is in the mix of tissue, the brew of growth factors and scaffolds do the rest.

"Most of our research has a stem cell focus, both adult and embryonic," he maintains. "Some people are under the impression that regenerative medicine is this science-fiction drama with dozens of ready-made organs hanging in refrigerators, waiting for patients. That's nonsense." He waves his arm toward a collection of scientists and students huddled over an organ culture machine. "The reason that we've assembled an international group of physicians, engineers, and biologists is that one technology doesn't solve all problems. We have to change our expectations about regenerative medicine. The absolute first priority is the patient -- what's best for the patient?"

I just can't think you read this, they are already haveing success without any Embrionic cells .

So why do we need to destroy a person ?

[Lanya]

"Most of our research has a stem cell focus, both adult and embryonic," he maintains. "

[Plane]

"Most of our research has a stem cell focus, both adult and embryonic," he maintains. "

And is there any success with the Embrionic?