Political Round-up

Political Round-up

The stem cell bill in Maryland is facing a filibuster, if it emerges from the budget committee to full Senate Debate. This is not unexpected. There’s an extensive article in the Washington Post about the issues and what’s going on. In Michigan, there are dueling editorials about the possibility of lifting the state’s limits on embryonic stem cell research. The Detroit Free Press comes out in favor of lifting the ban, while the Lansing State Journal published a column by the vice president for public policy for the Michigan Catholic Conference advocating keeping the ban. State Governor Jennifer Granholm recently called for a lifting of the ban.

Sad Korean Event

Sad Korean Event

A Korean truck driver died after he doused himself with paint thinner and set himself on fire to protest the investigation against Hwang Woo-Suk. There is a story about this on Reuters, and an AP story ran in a Pennsylvania newspaper, the Centre Daily Times. (In other Korean news the investigation has requested Gerald Schatten to come to Korea. This is reported on various sources, including the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and Chosun Ilbo. Hwang’s home has been raided again.) No more word on what this man’s personal issues might have been—did he commit suicide to protest an act against science? Was he convinced that Hwang could cure someone in his family? Was he mentally ill and this was the way it manifested itself? We may never know what the constellation of factors was that drove this man to immolate himself, but it’s worth taking a quiet moment and thinking about, remembering that human behavior can be infinitely complicated.