Moral Excuses for Doing the Wrong Thing

A story published today (8/25/06) at Keynoter.com and in the news nationwide, shines a bright spotlight, at least in my mind, on the sad state of a society (any society) that is controlled by religion rather than logic and common sense.

Here is a bit of the article:

“A California biotech company has developed a way to generate human embryonic stem cell colonies without intentionally destroying embryos in the process.

Lead researcher Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology declared Wednesday that “this removes the last rational reason for opposing” research aimed at using the cells to understand and treat diseases.

Lanza’s optimism was not widely shared.

His team earned praise for trying to address ethical concerns and for technical prowess. But opponents of embryonic stem cell research said the new approach still poses moral dilemmas.” (emphasis mine)

The “moral dilemmas” are, of course, the inventions of religious conservatives. Logically speaking, there is not a reason left to oppose this research but yet these religious conservatives are trying to convince the world that their opposition (based on faith, not reason) is the morally correct response. Forget the fact that no embryo will be harmed or that this research may someday produce treatments for diseases such as Parkinsons and Alzheimer’s — focus instead on the ‘moral dilemma’ that has religious conservatives quivering in their pews.

As Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute says:
“It is a mistake to try to appease religious conservatives on this
issue. What they are opposed to, fundamentally, is science . . .”.

I started this post with the suggestion that this country is being “controlled” by a religion and while controlled may be too strong a word TODAY . . . it may be just the right word tomorrow.

The Lowdown on “Pay For Post”

Rumor has it (garnered through ‘confidential sources’) that Ted Murphy, the founder of the website “PayPerPost.com” is on the payroll of The New York Times. Murphy is, in fact, the former college roommate of Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr, the Times Publisher.

So what’s that have to do with anything? Comeon! Think about it! Who want’s the blogosphere’s virtual head on a plate? The “mainstream media”! And what better way to discredit the blogosphere? Pay some bloggers to post positive reviews of businesses and products on their blogs.

This Murphy/Sulzberger/ACLU triad (Oh yes! You can be sure that the ACLU is in on it.) is clever enough to realize that once the world knows that some bloggers are ‘selling their posts’ to big business, every blogger will be suspect — and there goes the credibility of the entire blogosphere.

Makes sense to me!