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Papal Bowling
Dear Lord, another nut job. Sure, yeah, Bush is trying to conquer the world and brainwash us all. Uh huh. Good God, man, how the hell can someone be so insane?
Britney Spears’ very first appearance on the Internet. They just go up so fast.
Speaking of nutcases, Bob Barr and Cynthia McKinney both lost in yesterday’s primaries for their House runs. Barr pushed the Clinton impeachment (on all of the wrong issues) and also tried to deny Washington METRO funding after they said they wouldn’t change signs to National Airport to Reagan National Airport to reflect the name change. Metro said it would cost money they did have. Barr said he didn’t care. McKinney implied administration involvement in the September 11th attacks and had a campaign heavily contributed to by Islamic and pro-Palestinian organizations, not necessarily a horrible thing at face value, but at least four of her donators were on the government’s list of organizations who’s funds went to terrorists. Both of these races lost due to heavy crossover voting (Republicans voting in the Democratic primary and vice versa). I will personally not miss either of them.
White House to push “embryo adoption” plan
Pushed by Congress, the Bush administration is set to promote “embryo adoption,” where one infertile couple donates leftover embryos to another. It’s the latest move in the heated debate over the moral and legal status of an embryo….
Still, the program is making some people nervous. Officials at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine are considering applying for a grant, but fear it will suggest that donating embryos to another couple is preferable to donating them for research or discarding them altogether.
“Our biggest concern is to protect all of the options for the patients, not to make any one thing the designated best option,” said Eleanor Nicoll, spokeswoman for the fertility clinic trade group. “Some patients are extremely uncomfortable about the idea of other people bearing and raising their genetic offspring.”
Abortion rights advocates worry that the program lays the legal groundwork for considering embryos human beings with full legal rights. Using the term “adoption” rather than “donation” makes it appear that the program views embryos as children, said Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.
If an embryo were a person with equal rights, abortion could be more easily declared illegal, she said. “It can be used to support their effort to roll back Roe vs. Wade.”
Personally, I think this is an excellent thing and SHOULD be pushed over tossing them or using them for research. Maybe that’s the Catholic in me talking, but you made these things to have babies, why not allow others to experience that joy by donating what you’re not going to use? And if you’re concerned about the embryo being considered living, well, make sure the legislation to push and promote the program handles that issue. The thing is, simply pushing adoption is not saying “this is a life”, it’s saying “this can be a life” and allowing those who are unable to have children of their own the opportunity to raise families.
Now, really, I think they should be pushing REAL adoption before the embryo deal, but I really don’t see too much of a problem with embryo adoption.
‘Dead’ Man Caught Stealing; Police Baffled
Pasquale Antonino Iacopino committed suicide on July 21 and was buried by his grieving family on the island of Sicily. On Aug. 13, Iacopino was caught robbing tourists, was tried and then vanished.
Confused? Well, so are the Italian police.
The saga began in April when Iacopino’s mother reported that her 48-year-old son was missing.
The weeks passed and nothing was heard of him until last month when a man jumped into the path of a train and died. There were no identification papers on the body, but Signora Iacopino heard of the incident and feared it might be her son.
A trip to the morgue confirmed her fears. Both she and her husband identified the body and brought their son home to the Sicilian city of Messina for burial.
A few days later police caught a man on the nearby island of Vulcano as he was stealing from bathers’ rucksacks on the beach. The offender was carrying identification papers which showed clearly that he was Pasquale Antonino Iacopino from Messina.
He went before the magistrates who found him guilty but did not jail him. By the time police realized they had arrested a “dead man,” Iacopino had vanished into thin air.
Sweet!
Buy this PC a beer! 
