As promised, here is my analysis of Gonzales v. Raich. I have read the entire decision and dissents. It seems to me that unless the court decides to be wildly inconsistent, or awards the win to Oregon based on a technical flaw in the way that Attorney General John Ashcroft sought to preclude the use . . . . Continue Reading »
I have always believed strongly that the Ninth Circuit District and Court of Appeals were wrong in preventing the federal government from declaring that assisted suicide is not a legitimate medical use of federally controlled substances (e.g., narcotics), even in the face of the Oregon law . . . . Continue Reading »
But for the very undemocratic procedural moves that the rules of the California Assembly permit, AB 654, the assisted suicide legalization bill, would be dead and buried. Sigh. Well, it may be the legislative answer to Rasputin, but we’ll keep working to put this turkey out if its misery. . . . . Continue Reading »
This Wired article is an interesting overview of the cloning controversy and Dr. Bill Hurlbut’s attempt to find a morally acceptable way to derive pluripotent cells that would have all of the attributes of embryonic stem cells but without the moral cost of creating human life in order to . . . . Continue Reading »
The LA Times has discovered the Leslie Burke case. If he loses the appeal, which I fear he will, the case will end up in the UK Highest Court (The Lords), and then, if necessary at the EU Court. At stake, quite literally, is whether the profoundly ill and disabled have a right to live in the UK, and . . . . Continue Reading »
Now British Airways, its executives targeted for vandalism and threats by animal liberation extremists, is refusing to carry animals destined for use in medical labs. And nary an animal rights advocate will condemn these tactics. Such silence is coming quickly now to mean assent. Unless activists . . . . Continue Reading »
Beneath the guerilla theater and models posing naked to protest fur, there is a radical edge to the animal rights/liberation movement that is growing increasingly lawless. This column discusses. Quite tellingly, PETA has repeatedly refused to condemn such violent and lawless . . . . Continue Reading »
Blogger Supremo, Andrew Sullivan, supports the Bush position on funding embryonic stem cell research using leftover IVF embryos. He notes that the Bush policy is truly neutral, that is, it does not legally prohibit ESCR, but also does not federally fund embryo destruction. This is true. But Bush is . . . . Continue Reading »