MSNBC.com reports that
Democrats and Republicans alike are trying to persuade
President Bush not to veto a new bill that would fun embryonic stem cell research. Bush has threatened to veto the bill which has already passed in the House. Republican Senator Orrin Hatch has been one of the loudest supporters of the bill:
But Republican proponents such as Hatch and Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore.,
argue that the stem cells used in research would come from embryos left over
from in vitro fertilization programs, embryos that would be discarded anyway.
On Wednesday Hatch praised the House-passed embryonic stem cell funding bill
and urged the Senate to pass it as well.
"It seems ridiculous to make the argument that we’re going to allow those
400,000 in vitro fertilization embryos to die by discarding them, but we can’t
utilize them for the benefit of mankind," Hatch said.
President Bush's recent speech at Fort Bragg, N.C. to shore up support for the Iraq War has been criticized for once again linking the Iraq War to 9/11
despite the fact that there is no evidence to support such a link.
A USA Todayarticle detailed some of the reaction to the speech:
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi accused Bush of demonstrating a
willingness "exploit the sacred ground of 9/11, knowing that there is no
connection between 9/11 and the war in Iraq.
"The president's numerous references to September 11 did not provide a way
forward in Iraq," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said. "They only
served to remind the American people that our most dangerous enemy, namely
Osama bin Laden, is still on the loose and al-Qaeda remains capable of
doing this nation great harm nearly four years after it attacked America."
Both Democrats and Republicans said that President Bush speech offered
nothing new in the speech and that there are still not enough troops in Iraq to secure the country:
Sen. John McCain, interviewed on CBS's The Early Show, maintained that "one of the very big mistakes early on was that he didn't have enough troops on the ground, particularly after the initial victory, and that's still the case."
Sen. John Kerry, Bush's Democratic opponent in last year's presidential election, told NBC's Today show that the borders of Iraq "are porous" and said "we don't have enough troops" there.
Sen. Joseph Biden Jr., appearing on ABC's Good Morning America, disputed Bush's notion that sufficient troops are in place.
"I'm going to send him the phone numbers of the very generals and flag officers that I met on Memorial Day when I was in Iraq," the Delaware Democrat said. "There's not enough force on the ground now to mount a real counterinsurgency."
Biden argued, "The course that we are on now is not a course of success. He (Bush) has to get more folks involved. He has to stand up that army more quickly."
The ScotusBlog has emerged as a popular blog with discussions on the
Supreme Court's Ten Commandments and Grokster decisions. Many blogs and media outlets noted that there was no resignation announcement from Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
The Washington Post sums up the Grokster decision in this article:
Internet file-sharing services will be held responsible if they intend for their customers to use software primarily to swap songs and movies illegally, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, rejecting warnings that the lawsuits will stunt growth of cool tech gadgets such as the next iPod.
The unanimous decision sends the case back to lower court, which had ruled in favor of file-sharing services Grokster Ltd. and StreamCast Networks Inc. on the grounds that the companies couldn't be sued. The justices said there was enough evidence of unlawful intent for the case to go to trial.
The Grokster decision is being heavily discussed online and HowToWeb has links to some news articles and blog posts about the Grokster decision.
Take it to Karl is a new blog that posts emails from
military personnel who are mad at Karl Rove's recent comments
about liberals.
Bloggers are organizing to fight the possibility of government regulation.
Military Casualties: Obleek uses Flash to show U.S. casualties over time and where they occured in Iraq. Icasualties.org has detailed information about military casualties in both Iraq and Afghanistan (Operating Enduring Freedom).
Several bloggers have formed BlogPac, an online political action committee. Bloggers on BlogPac's advisory board include: Markos Moulitsas of
Daily Kos, Jerome Armstrong of
MyDD, Duncan Black of
Atrios, Jeralyn Merritt of
Talk Left, John Aravosis of
AmericaBlog, Matt Stoller of
BOP News, Anna of
Annatopia, Jesse Taylor of
Pandagon, Chris Bowers of
MyDD and Steve Gilliard's
News Blog
