Hopefully, this finding will allow us to gain the benefits of stem cell research without having to walk up to the line of what constitutes a human life:
US scientists believe they have found a less controversial way of creating embryonic stem cells by using skin cells to create a “hybrid” version.
I’m not sure where I stand on the whole “is Hugo Chavez a tyrant or isn’t he” question (I suspect he’s moreso than most recent Latin American leaders, but not quite as much as the U.S.-sponsored dictators in the ’80s). But if his plans to encourage “co-management” (between workers and owners) in the workplace are more than just a way for him to exert more control over his country, then he may be a force for democratization in one of the last strongholds of authoritarian rule: the corporate world.
I’ve long felt that large corporations are a significant threat to democracy, since they are in structure anti-democratic. Money calls the shots in the boardroom and bribes politicians with political contributions to do its bidding. The end result is less freedom and equality, not more.
This is why I have always been skeptical of economic libertarianism. History tends to show that without regulation, corporations become more powerful, less democratic, and more oppressive over time. We may eliminate the “tyranny of the state” only to replace it with an even more fearsome “tyranny of the corporation,” against which we would have no vote, no voice, and no power.
I’m definitely not a fan of Mr. Chavez and his seeming eagerness to use violence to stay in power, although I suspect that he isn’t given a fair shake by the media in the United States. But it does seem to me that some of the ideas they are pursuing in Venezuela may not be quite so “evil” as those on the right would have us think. Democracy in the workplace seems like one such idea.
Ever wonder how murderers Christian extremists terrorists like Eric Rudolph come up with their ideas? Apparently, they’re just applying the teachings of their leaders (in this case, radical cleric Pat Robertson):
You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war.
I guess I didn’t get the memo, but apparently for today’s American Christian, following Jesus is out and following Machiavelli is in. “Turn the other cheek?” Passe. “The ends justify the means” is where it’s at!
The thing that is most interesting about Mr. Robertson’s statement is what he leaves out. No, there’s no solution to the “problem” of a world leader who won’t tow the American line other than a) war, or b) assassination. No room for loving our supposed “enemies.”
That Jesus, such a communist sympathizer with all of his warm and fuzzy talk of forgiveness and restraint!
