1. Leave out the fact that what is produced is a human embryo (going straight from enucleated egg with the nucleus of an adult cell, directly to stem cells)
2. Or they admit that an embryo is created, but claim it’s not a human being
3. Or they deny that the embryo is a human clone (redefining human clone to refer to a cloned human who is allowed to be born. 

They are leaving out important details, and redefining scientific words to fit their purposes.  It’s all rhetoric and propaganda, and obfuscates the science and biology behind it. 

For the last time: somatic cell nuclear transfer does not produce embryonic stem cells.  It creates a human clone, and that human produces stem cells.  To extract the stem cells, the human clone must be killed! 

Wesley J. Smith has some nice posts demonstrating how the mainstream media continues to get it wrong: 

• Let the Cloning Obfuscation Begin
• Cloning Obfuscation 2
• Human Cloning Obfuscation 3
• Human Cloning Obfuscation 4

Lou Dematteis/Reuters

Rhode Island

On May 2, Rhode Island became the 10^th state to permit same-sex marriage. The House approved the bill by 56-15 (the RI Senate approved the bill on April 24 by a 26-12 vote), and the governor signed it the same day. Same-sex marriages will be legal starting August 1, 2013. 

Rhode Island had just approved civil unions two years ago, and now the new law will replace these civil unions with marriage.  The Fox News article noted that “few couples” sought civil unions.  I wonder why they think many more will seek marriage.  What people fail to understand is that most gays do not want marriage.  What they want is social acceptance of their orientation and behavior, and permitting same-sex couples to partake of the institution of marriage is one of the best ways to accomplish this. 

Delaware

Just five days after Rhode Island enshrined same-sex marriage into law, Delaware followed suit.  On May 7 Delaware became the 11^th state to permit same-sex marriage when the DE Senate voted 12-9 to approve the bill (the DE House approved the bill in late April by a 23-18 vote).  The governor signed it a half-hour later.  Same-sex marriages will be legal starting July 1, 2013. 

In DE, civil unions – which were just legalized a year ago – had all of the same rights and responsibilities as marriages, so this is just a name change for them.  But there is something to be said for a name. 

Like RI, civil unions are being replaced by same-sex marriage effective July 1.  Unlike RI, DE will convert existing civil unions into marriages in one year.  Even out-of-state civil unions will be considered marriages if someone moves to Delaware. 

Minnesota

On Monday, the Minnesota Senate approved a same-sex marriage bill by a 37-30 vote.  Their House approved the bill last week by a 75-59 vote.  The governor signed it into law on Tuesday, making Minnesota the 12^th state to adopt same-sex marriage.  Same-sex marriages will be legal starting August 1, 2013. 

Same-sex marriage is now permitted in 25% of the states in this country. 

I find it interesting that all 12 states (and the District of Columbia) who permit same-sex marriage are in the northern part of the United States (and mostly in New England): 

1. Washington
2. Minnesota
3. Iowa
4. New York
5. Maine
6. Massachusetts
7. New Hampshire
8. Vermont
9. Rhode Island
10. Connecticut
11. Deleware
12. Maryland
13. Washington D.C.

For further thinking on same-sex marriage, see my other articles and blog posts: 

• “I Now Pronounce You Man and Husband?”: An Argument Against Same-Sex Marriage
• Defending the natural institution of marriage: The Best Argument I’ve Read for Traditional Marriage, and against Same-Sex Marriage
• Civil Marriage is Not a Right, so Same-Sex Marriage Cannot be a Right
• Can same-sex marriage be legalized without resulting in religious discrimination?
• The debate over same-sex marriage is about society, not homosexuals
• Marriage Has Evolved, so Same-Sex Marriage Should be Legal?
• Why the Debate over Same-Sex Marriage Matters
• Marriage, Same-Sex Marriage, and Fundamental Rights
• Same-Sex Marriage: Answering the “Childless Couples” Objection
• The definition of the definition of marriage
• Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage is not Anti-Gay
• A Concise Argument Against Same-Sex Marriage

Shoukhrat Mitalipov, of Oregon Health & Science University

Researchers at The Oregon Health & Science University have just announced in Cell that they successfully cloned 21 humans, and then killed them to extract their stem cells at the blastocyst stage (although they didn’t describe it as “killing”).  This is the first time stem cells have ever been derived from a human clone.  

Welcome to the brave new world of cloning.

HT: Wesley J. Smith

There’s nothing like sending a message to the most vulnerable people among us that we think their lives are of such little value that they can be disposed of at will.  Our moral decline continues….

HT: Wesley J. Smith

No one continues to visit their counselor after their emotional problems have been resolved. When we only present Jesus as the solution for our emotional needs – a divine counselor – we should not be surprised when people try Jesus, and then move on to other things once they “feel” better.

God: atheism 72.8%; theism 14.6%; other 12.6%.
Metaphilosophy: naturalism 49.8%; non-naturalism 25.9%; other 24.3%.
Mind: physicalism 56.5%; non-physicalism 27.1%; other 16.4%.
Free will: compatibilism 59.1%; libertarianism 13.7%; no free will 12.2%; other 14.9%.
Meta-ethics: moral realism 56.4%; moral anti-realism 27.7%; other 15.9%.
Normative ethics: deontology 25.9%; consequentialism 23.6%; virtue ethics 18.2%; other 32.3%.
Science: scientific realism 75.1%; scientific anti-realism 11.6%; other 13.3%
Time: B-theory 26.3%; A-theory 15.5%; other 58.2%.
Truth: correspondence 50.8%; deflationary 24.8%; epistemic 6.9%; other 17.5%.

Notice that although 72.8% of respondents are atheists, 56.4% are moral realists. This goes to show the strength of our moral intuitions. While atheists do not have a sufficient ontological grounding for objective moral values, they still believe in them nonetheless.

I was surprised that only 13.7% believe in libertarian free will. I would expect it to be much higher.  Perhaps this correlates with the high rates of physicalism.

HT: Scot McKnight

The latest advance was announced earlier this month.  Scientists extracted stem cells from a two year old girl’s bone marrow and created a new windpipe with it in less than a week.  Growing one organ from the cells of another body part is truly astonishing work!  

Here are some other recent medical advances in non-embryonic stem cell research that I have not reported on: 

• Adult stem cells used to restore the ability to walk in dogs who experienced severe spinal cord injuries (11/12)
• Adult skin cells converted to heart cells (5/12)
• Cord blood stem cells treat Type 1 diabetes (1/12)
• iPS skin cells used to create fresh liver cells (10/11)
• Adult bone marrow stem cells used to create a new trachea for a man with tracheal cancer (7/11)
• iPS cells used to restore mobility in a paralyzed monkey (12/10)
• iPS cells used to treat Parkinson’s in rodents (8/10)
• A broken leg was saved from amputation by adult bone marrow stem cell therapy
• Adult stem cells taken from a man’s good eye were injected into his blinded eye and restored his sight (12/09)
• Adult bone marrow stem cells restored a man’s ability to walk after being rendered immobile by Multiple Sclerosis (12/09) 

So much for all the hype about embryonic stem cells being necessary for cures!  They aren’t curing anything, while adult stem cells continue to work miracles in both the lab and in real patients.

Other evidence, however, suggests that it is genuine.  One theory put forward to explain the medieval date determined by C-14 dating is that the fibers used for the test were either contaminated (from either the lab, or from the fire in 1532 that nearly destroyed the Shroud), or were not part of the original Shroud (the Shroud was patched by weaving new threads into the old threads).

Recently, a group of scientists in Italy conducted tests on the fibers using three different dating methods and concluded that the Shroud dates to 33 BC, ±250 years.  These dating methods utilized infra-red light, Raman spectroscopy (“the measurement of radiation intensity through wavelengths”), and a mechanical process utilizing electricity.

I cannot speak to the accuracy of these dating methods, but given the fact that three different dating methods all arrived at dates more than a Millennium earlier than the C-14 dates is quite interesting.  It gives evidential backing to those who questioned the accuracy of the C-14 tests.  At the very least, the authenticity of the Shroud can no longer be dismissed out-of-hand based solely on the C-14 tests.  The new data fits perfectly with a first century dating of the Shroud.  It will be interesting to see how other scholars respond to this new data.