Jun. 08, 2004 - 19:22 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Et Tu Brutal

An article by Erica Werner of the Associated Press in today's Rocky Mountain News:

In part - - -Senators ask Bush To Rethink rules, grow stem cell research

"Fifty eight senators are asking President Bush to relax federal restrictions on stem cell research, and several said Monday that the late President Reagan's Alzheimer's disease underscored a need to expand the research using human embroyos."

The Senator's letter to Bush was sent Friday, before Reagan died after a long struggle with Alzheimer's."

"In April 206 House members sent a similar letter to Bush."

"Bush signed an executive order in August 2001 limiting federal funding for stem cell research to 78 embryonic stem cell lines then in existance."

"The letter complains that only 19 of those lines are now available to researchers and those available are contaminated with mouse feeder cells which makes their use for humans uncertain."

"Because stem cells develop into the various types of cells that make up the human body, scientists believe they could be grown into replacement organs and tissues to treat a wide range of diseases, including Parkinson's, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer's."

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Steve Lash of Cox News Service has an article detailing some of the Supreme Court's recent activity.

Woman can sue Austria for art taken by Nazis

"The Supreme Court on Monday allowed a Jewish woman, over the U.S. government's objections, to sue the Austrain government to retreive paintings she says the Nazis stole from her family during the Holocaust."

"The court ruled unanimously that "Maria Altman can pursue her claim under a 1976 federal law allowing private citizens to bring lawsuits against foreign governments in U. S. courts, the justices ruled, 6-3."

The court ruled unanimously that employers cannot cut back on pensions for people who retire early from one job and then go to work somewhere else."

"Mexican Trucks: The high court ruled unanimously that the Bush administration can skip a lengthy enviournmental study and open U.S. roadways to Mexican trucks as soon as it wishes.

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Third article is by John J. Lumpkin of the Associated Press:

Report: How to extract info is up to Bush

"Lawyers in the Bush administration argued in a paper last year that the president has supreme authority over the questioning of terrorist suspects, and can legally order interrogators to torture or commit other crimes against them."

"The lawyers, not identified by name in a draft report published in The Wall Street Journal, were part of a legal analysis by lawyers in the Justice and Defense departments, and possibly others, in a debate on how to obtain intelligence from Al-Qaida suspecs in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."

"It was unclear whether their arguments are part of the legal policy of the Bush administration, or are just one group's reflections on interrogation law and torture. Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said Monday that the final set of interogation methods adopted for use at Guantanamo in April 2003 are humane, legal and useful, and narrower than some had proposed."

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First article . . . . . . Rather than give guidelines in an Executive Order Mr. Bush took it on himself to severly limit the number and lines of stem cells. Maybe someday he will find out that research in that method may be the only solution to his possible upcoming health problems. I don't think though, the researchers feel they can regenerate an entire brain.

Second article: "Supreme court says the law must be obeyed on suing the Austrian government for paintings stolen by the Nazis from her family."

Next paragraph: "Mexican Trucks: The high court ruled unanimously that the Bush administration can skip a lengthy environmental study and open U.S. Roadways to Mexican trucks as soon as it wishes."

Of course, to him it is a matter of sane ? economics . . . .riiiight ? Whereas vehicles of U.S. citizens must undergo all kinds of safety checks and certifications of safety, Mexican trucks are to be passed freely into our country without study of any kind ? ? ? ? ? ? ?"Pensions: The court ruled unanimously that employers cannot cut back on pensions for people who retire early from one job and then go to work somewhere else."

So it appears to me that the push to knock pensions down to pittances will come in for lively action now as well as trying to cut overtime. The court goes one way but then another, seemingly to allow money to sway their decisions.

Third article: This article seems to be treading on eggs perhaps. Won't give the names or affiliation of the said lawyers and said it was unclear whether their arguments are part of the legal policy of the Bush administration, or are just one group's reflections on interrogation law and torture. But doesn't it seem quite logical that from the chain of command on down degradation, psychic and physical torture is the way the administration is trying to go ? Romanesque for the way I feel, Et Tu Brutal ? . . . . . . . . . . . .

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