Yesterday, Shrub was asked about his position on blocking federal funding for embryonic stem cell research:

Q: Thank you, sir. With 400,000 frozen embryos in this country unlikely to all get adopted, why do you think that either storing them or even discarding them is better than using them for research?

PRESIDENT BUSH: She’s asking about a very delicate subject called embryonic stem cell research. I have made my position very clear on that issue. I believe that the use of federal monies that end up destroying life is not — is not positive, is not good. And so, therefore, I’m against the extension of the research of using more federal dollars on new embryonic stem cell lines.

As you know, I made the decision that existing lines should receive federal dollars. And we’ve had about 600 different experiments, maybe 3,000 more to go. And so you asked about frozen embryos — that would entail the destruction of life, and the use of federal dollars to destroy life is something I simply do not support.

So, it’s bad to spend federal money that would destroy embryos, but the status quo — not spending federal money and embryos get destroyed anyway — is perfectly OK. Spending money that could save lives by destroying embryos = bad. Not spending money that could help sick people while embryos are destroyed = good.

I’ve already made the argument that you cannot be pro-life and pro-fertility clinic. AngryBlackBitch makes an excellent point that the genie is out of the bottle — China and South Korea are already making strides in embryonic stem cell research — and that the promising cures will come and we’ll be dependent on foreigners for these medical miracles.

Stem cell research is the genie and it is out of the bottle. We Americans need to think back to the birth of the nuclear arms race. Reach back to that recent past, when science was without borders and knowledge meant power. Not a damn thing has changed. Insert stem cells for nuclear, and you have the same basic debate.

Should we? What if we do? What if we don’t? They already are, aren’t they? How do we control this? Can limits be maintained?

Sorry, sistah, this isn’t the old 1960’s “get to the moon by ’69” America. Science is derided, intellectualism is unpatriotic. We’ve lost our edge in science and we don’t seem too concerned about getting it back.* Who needs science when you’ve got Jesus?

I know Bush is incredibly concerned about the 400,000 abandoned Embryo-Americans. Well, the solution is so simple! If you are a pro-life woman, when you show up to the abortion protest or the Bush/Cheney scripted rally, er, town hall meeting, you’re given a form that enrolls you in the Federal Frozen Embryo Lottery. Then when some other woman goes in to the fertility clinic, lottery numbers are drawn for all of her “spare” embryos, and a few lucky pro-life women get those embryos implanted in their wombs.

You cannot be both pro-life and pro-fertility clinic.

Next “Radical” Solution: yellow “Support the Troops” car magnets are only available as a consolation gift for signing your kid up for the military…

* And no, I’m not just a bitter computer geek who trained for “the jobs of the future” back in the late-80’s/early-90’s, only to see those jobs shipped off to Bangalore… Well, OK, maybe a little bitter…