CHICAGO — Scientists for the first time have grown human heart valves using stem cells from the fluid that cushions babies in the womb _ offering a revolutionary approach that may be used to repair defective hearts in the future.
The idea is to create these new valves in the lab while the pregnancy progresses and have them ready to implant in a baby with heart defects after it is born.
The Swiss experiment follows recent successes at growing bladders and blood vessels and suggests that people may one day be able to grow their own replacement heart parts _ in some cases, even before they’re even born.
It’s one of several sci-fi tissue engineering advances that could lead to homegrown heart valves for infants and adults that are more durable and effective than artificial or cadaver valves.
Back Online
Well I’m finally back online. My internet went out Wed. evening and we were finally able to fix it this afternoon. It is a sad fact that because the internet was out I really wasn’t able to get any “work” done. Most of the work I do for my parents and myself is done online. But it was a little liberating. I found out that without the internet I was able to get some cleaning done and *gasp* even got to read a good chunk of my book! It was only about a day and a half, but it felt like a mini vacation – I spend way too much time on the computer. So I’m back and hopefully I will have some good stuff up here soon!
Lives Not Worth Living
I have seen two articles in recent weeks about doctors in Europe who want the door opened to “baby euthenasia” for severely handicapped babies. Apparently the problem is that scientific advancements have been made that are actually prolonging the lives of children once considered “terminal.” The Church of England has even given its blessing to this barbaric act. This is all done, of course, with an attitude of “mercy” and “compassion,” seeking the most high and noble goal of eliminating human suffering, and should concern us all. In the UK doctors offer embryo screening for 200 types of diseases – presumably with the idea that you can catch certain diseases ahead of time and then decide whether or not to continue the pregnancy. Although, truth be told, I understand that doctors are able to do amazing things with surgury inside the womb. And, again in the UK, two babies became the first to be born disease free after similar screening. This after the couple had to suffer the hardship of having a child with cystic fibrosis.
The underlying theme in all of these articles is that disabled children are a burden to parents and the health care system. According to one of the articles it is considered brave for parents and doctors to relieve their own suffering by killing an innocent child, rather that having to care for it and witness the effects of the disease. This is a backwards view of courage. True courage means facing our fears and accepting our sufferings. It is our trials and sorrows that give us strength (2 Corinthians 12:10). Our culture tells us that suffering is bad, but our Lord tells us that suffering is sanctifying (1 Peter 1:6-9).
Disabled children are not problems to be dealt with. They are human beings meant to be loved and cherished. To accept them is to accept God himself (Mt. 25:40).
Inspiration: Rush Limbaugh was talking about this yesterday and got a call from a woman responding to one lady’s assertion that, “unless you have lived with a child that has a terrible disability or disease then you can’t speak about it.” She is the mother of a severly disabled child and an inspiration to us all. Read the transcript or click on the blue button beneath the title to listen to the audio. (note: this link may not be available after a while).
Abortion and Illegal Immigration?
One argument in favor of allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. is the fact that so many of them are filling the jobs that “Americans aren’t doing.” A new report to a legislative panel in Missouri on illegal immigration suggests that part of the reason there are so many unfulfilled jobs in America has to do with abortion. Well, it’s an interesting theory considering we’ve now killed over 47 million people in America since 1973. The report also claims that “liberal social welfare policies,” which tend to discourage Americans from working, contribute to to the problem.
Conservatives to Republicans: Stand Up for Your Values!
Jill Stanek, from World Net Daily, reports that perhaps election day was not really a set back for pro-lifers. The problem, in fact, was our pro-life, republican leaders going silent on the issues that are important the conservatives who put/kept them in office in 2004:
“While Democrats boldly promoted embryonic experimentation, decried parental notification, and argued that privacy ranked higher than rape, Republicans cowered. Missouri’s Jim Talent wimped on human cloning. South Dakota’s John Thune went silent on the abortion ban.”
Even Sen. Rick Santorum, whose praises I always sing, threw his support to Arlen Specter, the pro-abortion Republican, in 2004, over his pro-life challenger.
“Conservatives could have handed Republicans no more silver a platter in 2004 to serve us back what we elected them for, but they squandered it. Incredibly, this Senate confirmed the fewest judges in 30 years. No Child Pain Awareness Act. No Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act.”
One also can’t ignore the amount of corruption that was uncovered in the Republican Party. As conservatives we realize that man is not perfect, particularly politicians, but we do expect our representatives to reflect and support those values that we hold dear. Of course, there are other factors in this outcome, most notably the war in Iraq and government spending, but the fact still remains that on the issues that matter most:
“Republicans simply have not had the courage to defy the mainstream media and follow their principles. For the Republicans to have consistent electoral success and govern well, they must transform themselves from a Bush party of New Age conservatism to a Reagan party of true, classical liberalism.”
From: S.T. Karnick, New Age Conservatism
Killing Our Children
I have to give a big thank you to Bill O’Reilly. For over a year he has really been investigating the state of Kansas and their partial birth abortion policy – specifically with regards to George Tiller, often referred to as “Tiller the Baby Killer.” Tiller’s situation is particularly troubling. He will perforn late term, partial birth abortions, for just about any vague “health” exception, including temporary depression on the part of the mother. Even more disturbing is that there is now apparently evidence that his clinic is performing these and other abortions on girls as young as 10 and 12 years old (which indicates forceable rape) and not reporting them to the proper authorities. O’Reilly points out that, “If we allow this, America will no longer be a noble nation — a country that stands for human rights and protection of the innocent.”
Late term, partial birth abortions are most commonly done in the third trimester on children fully capable of surviving outside the womb. This is the saddest fact of all. These chldren, instead of being killed, could have been delivered alive and put up for adoption.
If you or someone you know is considering this or any abortion check out this video by the Right Brothers, it’s beautiful:
O’Reilly’s coverage has prompted the pro-life group, Operation Rescue, to organize a protest at Tiller’s clinic in Witchita this coming January 20-22. The protest will coincide with the Roe v. Wade anniversary and the March for Life in Washington D. C. on Jan.
Minnesota Researchers Get Lung Cells From Cord Blood
Researchers at the University of Minnesota were able to get stem cells from umbilical cord blood to differentiate into a certain type of lung cell. Another amazing achievement for adult stem cell research came out last week about scientists in the UK who were able to use umbilical cord blood to grow an artificial liver. This astonishing research is all done using ADULT stem cells and of course the U.S. media is completely ignoring it.
For information on cord blood donation check out: The St. Louis Cord Blood Bank or the National Marrow Donor Program
Could Missouri Turn This Thing Around?
Senator Matt Bartle thinks so! In an interview on Bott Radio Network yesterday Senator Bartle, from Lee’s Summit, outlined a plan to work with members of the Missouri Legislature to get something on the ballot in the future that would actually ban human cloning! One aspect of this that I had not considered is that the vast majority of counties in Missouri voted against amendment 2: 90 out of 114. And Sen. Bartle thinks that’s a positive sign for getting this kind of legislation passed. He will be working with Rep. Jim Lembke in the House to get something drafted in the near future.
Post Election Commentary
St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke released a statement on the passage of amendment 2. In it he says that amendment 2 will, among other things, “further erode respect for all human life and for procreation as the way new human life is to come into the world.” And that, “The election campaign for the passage of Amendment 2 has shown us all how deeply rooted the culture of death is in our society.” The passage of this amendment is a wake up call to all Catholics, and Christians, to rededicate ourselves to the work of restoring, “in our state and nation, the respect for the integrity of human procreation and for the inviolable dignity of every human life, from the first moment of its existence.”
Fr. Frank Pavone offers his own reflections on the 2006 election results: “it’s time for Democrats to prove our point. Every effort to build a just society will fail until we eliminate the most fundamental injustice. We cannot welcome the poor or the immigrant without welcoming our own children, and we cannot advance peace in the world until there’s peace in the womb.”
The bottom line: “We have not yet begun to fight!”
Supreme Court Hears Partial Birth Abortion Arguments
If you haven’t already heard, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday about the federal partial-birth abortion ban. It is definetely a different court than the one that struck down the ban in Nebraska in 2000. Fr. Frank Pavone, from Priests for Life, was at the hearing yesterday and shares his reflections on the arguments:
“This is not simply about abortion. This is a hijacking of the delivery process for the purpose of killing the child. This is infanticide…Their key argument, after all, is that the procedure must be allowed for the sake of women’s health…In regard to safety, one of the key questions from Chief Justice Roberts was that if, as the abortionists claim, partial-birth abortion is safer because it requires fewer insertions of instruments into the woman’s body, why would it not then also follow that the safest method is live birth altogether, with the killing of the child outside the womb? The pro-abortion side did not have an answer to that specific question, which proves the point that Congress and the Bush Administration make, namely, that this procedure must be banned so that society has a clear barrier against infanticide.”