Just to acknowledge that there is ideological perversity on both sides — now that science has given us a way around using human embryos for stem cell research, I, for one, am more willing to entertain the possibility that they might find something useful…Indeed, I hope they do.

It will be interesting to see if the “cause” ethos that has surrounded this issue on the left, which involved overstating the likely benefits of such research to people suffering from degenerative diseases, will be amped down. How are they going to tell all of those people suffering from, say, Parkinson’s — who have been led to believe that all that stands between their suffering and a cure is George Bush and the religious right – that, now that research can proceed at warp speed, there may be less in it than anticipated?

By the way, while this development comes as a great relief for those who don’t want to see human embryos “manufactured” for utilitarian ends, I’d bet that it won’t matter nearly as much to the other side. I have heard a shocking number of (mostly older) people express indifference on the moral issue of where the stem cells that might cure their illnesses come from. If you don’t accept the moral burden to begin with, you have nothing to be relieved about.