Friday, September 10, 2010
A three-judge appeals panel lifted an August 23 injunction banning the use
of federal funds for research involving embryonic stem cells. The stay
could be short-lived; opponents of the use of embryonic stem cells have
only until September 14 to file a response and the government must submit
its response by September 20. The Alliance Defense Fund, which filed the
original lawsuit, is a conservative Christian organization launched in 1994
by Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, and James Dobson,
founder of Focus on the Family. The problem, however, was the United States
Congress which passed the Dickey-Wicker Amendment prohibiting the use of
federal tax money for research involving the destruction of human embryos.
The pressure should be on Congress to amend the law.
Saturday was supposed to be International Burn a Koran Day, decreed by
Baptist minister Terry Jones in Gainesville, Florida, the instigator of
this thing, whatever it is. The last thing I saw on the news this morning
was protestors in Jalalabad, or someplace, pushing signs printed in English
in front of the cameras. The signs vowed revenge, but it wasn't a threat to
burn Bibles in revenge, which would be harmless, but to kill Americans and
Jews. Back in the US, the befuddled pastor seemed to be speaking in
tongues. I don't think he will light the match, but why shouldn't he as
long as he pays for the books and doesn't violate any municipal burning
ordinance? The First Amendment is on his side, but nothing will ever get
resolved because neither side has any evidence. Science works, because we
have evidence to argue about.
The Engineer, http://www.theengineer.co.uk , had a
story in the 20 August 2010
issue about a technology to scan for oil from the air. Using a technique
called atomic dielectric resonance (ADR) Scotish scientists will detect and
measure offshore oilfields using radio and microwaves. They have proven the
technology works at depths of up to 4 kilometers and now hope to adapt it
to search for offshore deposits, a remarkable development. It might be
noted, however, that in 1976 the government of France conducted trials of a
secret device that purportedly used the echo from a newly discovered
particle to map mineral deposits from the air. Over the next three years
France invested some $200 million in the idea, a lot of money at the time,
but no government official had yet had a look at the device. A prominent
nuclear physicist, Jules Horowitz was appointed to investigate, and devised
a simple test that revealed it to be a fraud. Government secrecy had
permitted the deception to go unchallenged for three years. Now that it was
exposed as a fraud, the French government made the appropriate change
secrecy was tightened still further to avoid embarrassment.
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