US court rules against Barack Obama's stem cell policy

We are saw this US court rules against Barack Obama's stem cell policy



WASHINGTON: A US district court issued a preliminary injunction on Monday stopping federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, in a slap to the Obama administration's new guidelines on the sensitive issue.

The court ruled in favor of a suit filed in June by researchers who said human embryonic stem cell research involved the destruction of human embryos.

Judge Royce Lamberth granted the injunction after finding the lawsuit would likely succeed because the guidelines violated law banning the use of federal funds to destroy human embryos.

"(Embryonic stem cell) research is clearly research in which an embryo is destroyed," Lamberth wrote in a 15-page ruling.

The Obama administration could appeal his decision or try to rewrite the guidelines to comply with US law.

The suit against the National Institutes of Health, backed by some Christian groups opposed to embryo research, argued the NIH policy violated US law and took funds from researchers seeking to work with adult stem cells.

The US department of justice, White House and NIH had no immediate comment.

Key to the case is the so-called Dickey-Wicker Amendment, which Congress adds to budget legislation every year. It bans the use of federal funds to destroy human embryos. That was not an issue for the NIH until the discovery of human embryonic stem cells in 1998.

In 2001, then-President George W Bush said he could only allow federal research money to pay for work done using a few batches, or lines, of the cells.

Many stem cell researchers objected, saying they could not do work needed to fulfill the promise of the powerful cells, which can give rise to all the tissues and cells in the human body.

Privately funded researchers could do as they pleased, but federal funding is the cornerstone of such basic biological research.

New policy

As one of his first acts after taking office, Obama overturned that decision and the NIH set up a careful process for deciding which batches of human embryonic stem cells could be used by federally funded researchers.

The new guidelines do not allow the use of federal dollars to create the stem cells but do allow researchers to work with them if they are made by another lab.

Dr. James Sherley of Boston Biomedical Research Institute and Theresa Deisher of Washington-based AVM Biotechnology, who both work with adult stem cells, filed the original suit saying the guidelines would harm their work by increasing competition for limited federal funding. They both oppose the use of human embryonic stem cells.

Sherley was not immediately available for comment.

"There is no after-the-fact remedy for this injury because the Court cannot compensate plaintiffs for their lost opportunity to receive funds," Lamberth wrote.

He found that the injunction would not seriously harm researchers who focus on human embryonic stem cells because it would preserve the status quo and not interfere with their ability to get private funding.

With the preliminary injunction in place, the two sides will likely present arguments and case history to the judge over whether the guidelines can be permanently blocked or be allowed to go into effect.
Coppied by http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-court-rules-against-Barack-Obamas-stem-cell-policy/articleshow/6423597.cms

Domestic expediency dictates Obama's Middle East policy

Watches this enjoy Domestic expediency dictates Obama's Middle East policy

Obama ran for president on the slogan of taking the government back to the people from the grip of "special interests". Image Credit: DWYNN RONALD V. TRA ZO/ Gulf News
Shackled by special interest groups and fundamentalist lobbies, the pro-change leader needs to play for time

In order to understand President Barak Obama's present Middle East policy, it is necessary to review his initial agenda for "change" and to understand the pragmatic American political mentality that always looks at the world from two basic points of view:
Serving first and foremost the American national interest and the American national security.
"Politics is the art of possible", and what is "possible", is what is primarily suitable to domestic politics.
"Serving the national interest" became distorted by the US Congress into "serving the special interests" of those who pay for the bills of their election to Congress. National security has become subservient to "the special interests" entities who control the US Congress.
Obama ran for president on the slogan of taking the government back to the people from the grip of "special interests". This is "the change" promised by Obama to the American people. Indeed, he is the first president, who was not dependent on "special interest" money to get elected to the presidency. The people of the United States sent him $5 (Dh18) and $10 donations by the millions to free him from "special interests" money.
Obama came to power in the midst of an economic crisis, which had literally bankrupted America. The surplus of $1 trillion left by Bill Clinton was transformed by George .W. Bush into $1.5 trillion in the red. The US continues fighting the unfinished wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to its war against terrorism. President Obama's agenda was set "to take the American government back to the American people", through the following steps:
Recovery of the American economy moving in full gear.
A health care plan passed in Congress.
A bill passed in Congress restricting the greed of "Wall Street", so America and the world can never be robbed again.
Implementing "the change" in the American policy in the Middle East to influence the course of the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and the fight against international terrorism of Al Qaida in a way that favours the National Security of America.
Some of President Obama's closest aides (who did the impossible of getting him elected) are liberal adherents to the Jewish faith. And like many American politicians and thinkers, they have concluded that the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is turning into "a fight till death" between Jewish fundamentalism and Islamist fundamentalism. The Jewish fundamentalists (Israeli colonisers) are helped by Christian fundamentalists, the power base of the Republicans, who are now backed by "the special interests" against Obama — America is the Arena for this "fight till death". This view is held by many in the American intelligence community and the military establishment, and it will affect US in a catastrophic way. The failure to reach a peaceful settlement in the Middle East would determine the course of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the security of the oil fields in the Middle East, the blood line of Western economy. The Obama "change" was announced in Cairo. Then, how can any observer reconcile what was said in Cairo with what is actually happening on the ground now with America's appeasement policy favouring Israel against the whole world?
A lot has happened in America. The Obama "change" created a huge number of deadly enemies, hell bent on destroying the present American administration to prevent the taking of Congress back to the American people from the "special interests". Some are openly producing extreme hate against Obama on "talk shows" to encourage his assassination (political assassination in the least) to end his presidency. The command of this campaign is being headed by "the far right" of the Republican Party who elected Bush and their natural allies, the Israeli far right, who are dominating the present Israeli government. This campaign focus is on taking back Congress from the Democratic Party in order to prevent Obama's re-election.

coppied by http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/domestic-expediency-dictates-obama-s-middle-east-policy-1.670918