One can speculate for the next 300 posts about whether or not Michael J. Fox was overmedicated, undermedicated, playing it for effect, or simply allowing people to actually see the visible symptoms of his condition. And Limbaugh? Since when did his insane ranting and raving matter to people who actually possess brain cells?

What matters is stem-cell research. If it goes forward, there is a chance—not a guarantee, but a good chance—that we could alleviate a great deal of the suffering of living individuals and restore them to leading happy, productive lives.   And there is a good chance that we can prevent its occurrence in the future. How many millions yet to come may never get the disease or condition at all because of what we do now?

We have a chance to remove the root cause of these diseases and disabilities—and how many others that we don't know about, I wonder?

I repeat:   the embryos the "Pro-Lifers" are trying to save will never develop any further than they already have, and are only fated for disposal anyway. What is truly pro life? Trying to preserve the existence of a non-person in a Petri dish, only to eventually dispose of it when it ceases to be viable? Or allowing this non-(and never will be)-person's existence to actually have some meaning by allowing it to contribute to alleviating some of the suffering in the world?

The future will judge us by the decisions we make now.

Don Firth