Guest guest Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Not sure this is germaine to being vegetarians, but since it came up on the list... >Critics say the Prop. was written by corporate >representatives, and that if passed, would guarantee public financing >for private companies, no matter how bad the state budget becomes. The fact is that all kinds of public services are provided by private companies. For example, does Caltrans build its own freeways? Or local school boards their own school buildings? No, they give " public financing to private companies " to do the job for them. There is nothing wrong with this practice, if the private company provides a service (a) more effectively than the government can and (b) the private company is providing a service that will lead to a general improvement in the standard of living. Prop. 71 meets both of these criteria. The state government is not in a position, in terms of technical expertise nor bureaurcratic culture to advance stem cell technology to a widely available and low cost treatment. Nor are the treatments likely possible from stem cells limited to a small segment but to everyone. It's a public good and a worthy public investment. Nor is there anything wrong with " corporate representatives " being involved in the political process. They have that right as does every citizen of a free country. I voted for 71. Everyone should too. I'd also draw people's attention to the fact that while the US scientific community has chafed under Bush's restrictions with many of the best and brightest geneticists leaving for more friendly intellectual climates. And seeing the huge opening the US has given them, more enlightened scientific societies such as Britain, Sweden, Singapore, etc are jumping on the chance to become the world's leaders in biotech. Isn't it time California joined those advanced civilizations in choosing science, reason, and progress over dogma and short-sighted political games? For my part I'd ratehr get stem cell treatments " Made in USA " rather than imported like so much other high tech stuff. Thanks, DG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 > Not sure this is germaine to being vegetarians, but since it came up on the list... Yes, please keep the discussion on current state ballot measures focused on veg / animal rights aspect. Thanks for bringing that up, Dave. Cheers, Tammy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 Hi Dave, You're right that this portion of the discussion isn't germaine to vegetarianism or AR. I didn't mean to start a whole debate on stem cell research on the list. My initial question was about its impact on animals and vivisection. Everything else is interesting, but off-topic. But if anyone else has an informed speculation about how this research might increase or decrease the use of animals in California labs, please contact me. That question is, in my opinion, relevant. Best, Matthew Quoting Dave Goggin <dave65536: > > > Not sure this is germaine to being vegetarians, but since it came up on > the list... > > >Critics say the Prop. was written by corporate > >representatives, and that if passed, would guarantee public financing > >for private companies, no matter how bad the state budget becomes. > > The fact is that all kinds of public services are provided by private > companies. For example, does Caltrans build its own freeways? Or local > school boards their own school buildings? No, they give " public > financing to private companies " to do the job for them. > > There is nothing wrong with this practice, if the private company > provides a service (a) more effectively than the government can and (b) > the private company is providing a service that will lead to a general > improvement in the standard of living. > > Prop. 71 meets both of these criteria. > > The state government is not in a position, in terms of technical > expertise nor bureaurcratic culture to advance stem cell technology to a > widely available and low cost treatment. Nor are the treatments likely > possible from stem cells limited to a small segment but to everyone. > It's a public good and a worthy public investment. > > Nor is there anything wrong with " corporate representatives " being > involved in the political process. They have that right as does every > citizen of a free country. > > I voted for 71. Everyone should too. > > I'd also draw people's attention to the fact that while the US scientific > community has chafed under Bush's restrictions with many of the best and > brightest geneticists leaving for more friendly intellectual climates. > And seeing the huge opening the US has given them, more enlightened > scientific societies such as Britain, Sweden, Singapore, etc are jumping > on the chance to become the world's leaders in biotech. Isn't it time > California joined those advanced civilizations in choosing science, > reason, and progress over dogma and short-sighted political games? For > my part I'd ratehr get stem cell treatments " Made in USA " rather than > imported like so much other high tech stuff. > > Thanks, DG > BAY AREA VEGETARIANS (BAV) is a community group for veggies to network > & find support. > > Event Calendar, Charter, FAQ and More! > http://www.bayareaveg.org/ > > Bookmark this page! Don't miss local events! > http://www.bayareaveg.org/events.php > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 30, 2004 Report Share Posted October 30, 2004 > I didn't mean to start a whole debate on stem cell > research on the list. > > My initial question was about its impact on animals and vivisection. > Everything else is interesting, but off-topic. Matthew, you raised an interesting topic and one that I was pondering as well. I'd like to thank you for bringing this up, and I'd like to thank everyone for their thoughtful responses to it. I particularly appreciate the responses that addressed Matthew's original concern, which was about its impact on animals. It certainly has given me a better understanding of the issue. To keep the discussion on this stem cell prop focused, I would like to ask folks not to consider every post that differs from their opinion as a reason to reply (again), most especially if it is about areas of the proposition that are not related to animals and if its just a reiteration of something that you have already posted. As with any discussion that happens on a large mailing list, I think the real benefit of posting to the group is if there is something new to add to the discussion or to clarify if something you said was previously misunderstood. Mailing lists like this are advantageous to easily distribute info to a broad community but it does make discussions difficult since each email can have a different topic, and folks who join the discussion late or missed some emails do not know what was previously discussed. For discussions, I really think the forum is a better venue but it's not as easy for people to post (i.e. you have to sign-in to the forum and post) whereas the relative ease of sending email increases the likelihood of getting a lot of responses. http://www.bayareaveg.org/forum For next year, if there is enough interest, maybe we should think about having an informal get-together to discuss the propositions and candidates from the veg/ar community perspective. Cheers, Tammy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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