pls dont move this to healthcare section. it is a political issue.

stem cell research. what next? who's right? who's wrong? is obama doing the right thing? did bush do the right thing?

is it better or not for the US to adopt a universal healthcare policy. is healthcare in the US at a relative disadvantage compared to those of other first world?

are the republicans right? or are the democrats right?

Health care in the US is way too expensive and is spiralling out of control

Funding stem cell research is absolutely the right way to go.

Not every Canadian or European is fine with the universal health care system esp the ones that actually work for a living

I back the stem cell research. Cancer patients, Parkinson's, Alhemizers, all increasing daily and it doesnt help that most of these patients arent getting sufficient care for these dieases and stem cell research is being looked into for these aliments yet people are still whining

How long will they rely on "Walking or Running For Cancer"

what's the point of raising money if they're against research that will aid the cause?

The problem with health care in the US is the Republican Party. The Republicans are ideologues who see the world in two colors only - black or white. Their racist core is the only reason why America is the only "developed" nation without universal health care for all.

The Republicans are made up of two non-mutually exclusive groups:
1. The racists and xenophobes - their interests are mainly on social issues
2. The paranoids (so-called conservatives) - their interests are mainly on economic issues

These two groups try to find common grounds to push their horrible programs, but on the issue of health care for all, their interests coincide perfectly. The racists and xenophobes interpret universal health care as giving health care to lazy blacks (and other minorities) who do not deserve to live if they don't have a job. Even with a job, there is no guarantee that a poor black woman won't die of breast cancer because the minimum-wage job she has can't pay for those expensive chemotherapy.

The paranoid/conservative Republicans spin the idea of universal health care as government take-over. Then they bring up foolish questions like "Why do you want your health to be in the hands of the government?". Then they throw around coded terms like "personal responsibility", "small government" and (my favorite) "socialized medicine". They forget that we already have "socialized police", "socialized army", "socialized postal service", "socialized fire departments", etc.

On stem cell, the Republicans are again the problem. They bring in religion to justify their opposition to stem-cell research. They argue that using stem cell is destroying life. But these same Republicans will support killing babies in far away lands, jailing minors for minor infractions, refusing to accept new evidence to free black men sent to jail by a criminal justice system tainted by the racists and xenophobes, destroying the lives of immigrants by separating children from their parents, etc.

Obama should continue talking "bipartisan" and at the same time pushing a liberal agenda. The Republicans want him to fail and he must not allow their filthy ideologies to affect his brilliant plans for the nation.

As the years go by, that generation of bigots that currently populate the Republican party will transition to the land beyond and, hopefully, America will free herself from the grip of the racist, the xenophobes and the paranoids.

how do we measure healthcare in a society? we can try. there are some modalities we can use. let us compare the health status of the United states and that of other countries whose system the US capitalists disparage

under five mortality rate

US.=6.30

EU=5.84

UK=4.93

Canada= 5.08

source: wikipedia(list of countries by infant mortality rate)



meaning, children less than five years old are more likely to die in the US from causes related to inefficient healthcare in the US than in the EU, UK or Canada

. . . . to be continued

The irony of those Republicans that oppose embryonic stem cell research are they are the ones likely to support the death penalty

bawomolo:

The irony of those Republicans that oppose embryonic stem cell research are they are ones likely to support the death penalty

dont look too far, they were the same ones who cheered on as Bush sent 150,000 soldiers to murder Iraqis. When Obama opted to reduce defence spending they nearly ran riot. Sure they love life.

Preselect
@under five mortality rate

US.=6.30

EU=5.84

UK=4.93

Canada= 5.08

Use UN Human Development Index and see that US has lower life expectancy amongst these countries. US spends 15% of its GDP and yet 50 million folks are uninsured. The US has a sick care system not a health care system.

this is a serious issue. because there has been so much talk/scare about socialised medicine. meanwhile i really dont know what the word socialised is doing in universal healthcare as practised in say UK or Canada. perhaps they should know that in the UK, if anyone is not happy with the NHS, the person has an option of private hospitals which are expensive. i dont get that argumaent at all, especially when the US has arguably a less efficient healthcare than the rest of the "western world".

about the stem cell thingy, i think i understand where the moralists are coming from and i appreciate their concern, but is it not also moral to consider research that may find a solution to all the illnesses that are causing enough death in US and the world?

and these guys that talk about the respect for life, how do they . . . . tayo D may help me explain this . . . . b/c i'm lost, how do the pro-life--gun loving--war mongers - - combine their actions with their title as pro-life? hope we see what gun rights have done for US. just this week alone, a pastor is gunned down in front of his congregation. and in alabama about 12 people are dead b/c of 1 mad goat with a gun. in nevada . . abi nebraska, . . . .police has to kill another gun holding mad man, b4 he acts. . . in just one week.

when will these mad men with guns, have the guts to kill anyone connected with the NRA? either their child, or their partner, or their parents or them. b/c that is the only time when all these thrash about guns will get real discussion.

. . . . . to be continued

Allowing stem cell research in the US is just a matter of time. My take is that they are even jumping on the bandwagon late cos the European and Japanese universities have really made a lot of break through in this field. Stem cells and its downstream applications is the future of medicine.

The republicans have raised a lot of concerns and if U sieve out all the political persuasions , those concerns are kinda genuine. However, if U weigh the definite potentials of this technology against some of the concerns that might be encountered, the good outweighs the bad.

The same dilemma was encountered when the sequencing of the human genome was being contemplated. A committee was set up called the Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (ELSI) which came up with guidelines (basically do's and dont's) which investigators are supposed to adhere to. I hope Obama toes the same line and set up some kind of committee that would oversee the ethical concerns of this field.

Uche2nna:


My take is that they are even jumping on the bandwagon late cos the European and Japanese universities have really made a lot of break through in this field.

Britain leads the world on embryonic stem cell research, the US is doing catch up here.