A Partner with a Chicago Venture Capital firm is frustrated with Bush...fyi...
vcconfidential.com
July 21, 2006
Rant: What Is Bush Thinking?
I am a very frustrated Republican. As a result, I am violating a tenant here by throwing up a political post. The far right is pulling the party way too far to the right.The most recent incursion of this over-reaching is Bush's veto of the recent stem-cell legislation. It is the first veto of his presidency.
Since having our children, my personal view on abortion have moderated. However, as our firm is an investor in one of the leading stem cell firms, Novocell, we have seen the incredible potential that stem-cell research has (and is manifesting). Diabetes, which affects an increasingly frightening number of children, can finally be brought under control. Alzheimers, Parkinson's, the list goes on.
Bush first banned federally funded research on stem-cells except for a handful of grandfathered cell lines upon coming into office. Unfortunately, many of these lines have become contaminated and have limited value in future research.
Meanwhile, other countries in Asia and Europe push forward aggressively and threaten to surpass our Biotech industry. Also, every day, cells are destroyed from left over fertilization procedures. These are cells that will never become children. However, they have the ability to save the lives of thousands (if not tens of thousands) of children.
Popular opinion supports stem cell research by an enormous margin. Research, nationwide, is impeded significantly nonetheless. Research centers that have bought equipment in the past with federal funds, can't use that equipment for stem-cell research. Since federal funding accounts for the vast majority of research funding, it is next to impossible to replace these lost dollars.
The elections can't come soon enough... |
