(click on ads for more details)

On Funding of Stem Cell Research, Education, Social Security, Baptist Homes, and Jewish Hospital:

by Pat Pending (8-06-01)

1.          Federal funding for stem cell research?

I can understand the debate about the morality of conducting stem cell research on cells that were obtained from human embryos, but I can’t understand the debate about whether the federal government should financially support such research.  What makes anyone think the federal government has the authority to force taxpayers to support research which they believe is immoral?  Where does the Constitution give the federal government that power?  And where is the respect for diversity of opinion?  Don’t people opposed to the use of fetal tissue have any rights?  This issue is a no-brainer.  No matter what you think about stem cell research, the federal government needs to stay out of it.  If you want to support the research, get out your own checkbook.  (By the way, federally funded research has a terrible track record as compared to private research, from the Wright Brothers, who were privately funded, to the recent genome mapping project, in which the privately funded folks ran circles around the federally-funded folks.)

2.          Kentucky Refuses to Give Jefferson County Schools Technology Money

Louisville’s Jefferson County always sends much more education tax money to Frankfort than it ever gets back.  Furthermore, in order to get even a portion of its money back, the county must jump through lots of hoops set out by the state.  This time, the state says the county didn’t jump properly, so no money.  And this from the people who say they care about “the children”! 

3.          Social Insecurity

If social security is in great shape, and there really is a “lock box”, as the Democrats claim, then why not use that “lock box” money to buy a paid-up private annuity right now for every person who has already paid into the system?  Then, the people will have the security they have been promised, enforceable under contract law, and they will not be helplessly dependent upon the goodwill of future politicians or the plunder of future workers in their old age.  Politicians should either pay up now, or admit the system is a fraudulent pyramid scheme.

4.          Lawsuit on Kentucky’s Baptist Home’s Firing of Lesbian

A court has determined that the Baptist Home did not break any laws when it fired a lesbian employee.  There are exemptions for religious institutions in the law.  But should you have to be a formal, religious institution in order to be able to run your own business according to your own beliefs?  Now, the suit continues, trying to stop state funding of the religiously-oriented charity.  If only we could have statism declared a religion, we could stop the politically-controlled funding of all these institutions and return the control to private donors who really do care about the children.

See: Baptist group wins lawsuit over firing lesbian employee
http://www2.startribune.com/stOnLine/cgi

-bin/article?thisStory=84602017

5.          Jewish Hospital Struggles For Certificate of Need In Order To Build New Facility

Jewish Hospital is in the middle of building a new medical facility in the Dutchman’s Lane area, near two other hospitals.  This is great for consumers, giving them another choice, but Norton Hospital is not very happy about the competition.  Unfortunately, the state has the power, through the “certificate of need” process, to stop the project in order to protect Norton from competition.  While we certainly can see how the state’s protection could help an inefficient or unpopular hospital stay in business, we can’t see how that benefits consumers.  If Jewish hospital is willing to build the hospital with its own money, the state should stay out of it.