George "Worry" Bush on cloning

I'm still busy with deadlines, but I'm taking a breather, and this is just screaming for attention.

Pandering to his base of "theocons" (which means religious conservatives who will not be content until the whole nation and the rest of the world fall in line with their narrow and self-serving interpretation of God's Will), President George W. Bush has lashed out at South Korean scientist Dr. Hwang Woo-sok, the man whose team recently announced that they cloned the stem cells of specific individuals who are sick or injured, as part of the process of tailor-making stem cells that won't be rejected by patients.

This is a major step, which is why Bush is majorly unhappy: "I'm very concerned about cloning," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday. "I worry about a world in which cloning becomes acceptable." (Contrary to early press reports, Bush did not say, "Woo-sok, you suck!")

So, Mr. Bush worries about a world in which cloning becomes acceptable?

Well you know what, Mr. President? I worry about a world in which unilateral attacks on a sovereign state under false pretenses become acceptable.

I worry about a world where it's okay to kill thousands of actual humans under false pretenses. And where the person who did this makes no apologies.

I worry about a world in which money to reduce unwanted pregnancy and the spread of STDs is withheld because some of the programs don't fit with fundamentalists' beliefs.

I worry about a world where lesbians/gays are demonized in order to win political points with a group of supposed Christians who wouldn't know Jesus Christ's words if they came up and bit them on the ass He rode to Jerusalem on.

I worry about a country where certain religious groups feel that it's okay to start dismantling the separation of church and state that has been a cornerstone of the nation, just because they happen to be in power.

God, if someone like Bush gets the GOP nomination in 2008, I may give up my membership. I don't know how much more I can take. I don't know how much more the country can take. I may end up registering independent and then just voting for Republicans who remember that being a Republican means fiscal responsibility, little government interference, and separation of church and state. (On second thought, better keep my membership at least through the primaries.)

And then there's the bashing of a Korean scientific icon at a time when South Koreans already have enough reasons to dislike Bush, thanks to his off-the-cuff remarks and some very ill-conceived bits of rhetoric. Oh, and that whole war thing.

Are Dr. Hwang's laboratory activities really a priority for the USA? Aren't they keeping you busy there in Washington? Go fix the national debt or something.