Culling the herd

Here in Florida there are multiple people running to take Bob Graham's place in the Senate. On the GOP side we have Mel Martinez, Johnie Byrd, Doug Gallagher, Larry Klaman. For the Democrats we have Betty Castor, Peter Deutsch, and Alex Penelas. Now normally this would take a lot of work to sort through all of these candidates to choose one. Unfortunately it is actually very easy to narrow it down. Just apply the old pro-life algorithm and in no time the choices are slimmed down considerably. The National Right to Life Committee actually endorsed two candidates, which is a rarity for them. Former U.S. Housing Secretary Mel Martinez and Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd were both endorsed since they have consistent pro-life positions. The Democratic candidates were all strongly pro-abortion and of the rest of the Republican candidates Rep. McCollum supports research on embryonic stem-cells.

I had recently heard on a local talk show an interview with Doug Gallagher who answered questions fairly well and I like most of his answers. That was until a caller asked about using embryonic stem-cells. He seemed to be pro-life on this but I was highly suspicious when he termed part of the ESTR as ideological and he repeatedly used this term. So I was not surprised when I read this in an article today.

President Bush, Martinez and Senate candidate Johnnie Byrd largely oppose the research because they say it involves the destruction of embryos. Gallagher, a Catholic who almost became a priest, says he's comfortable with his position, which the church opposes, because the embryos used are routinely discarded at fertility clinics when no longer needed.

''It doesn't make sense to throw something away that holds such promise,'' Gallagher said. ``It's pro-life to save life.''

Now we all know what happens after the phrase "I was raised Catholic" is used, but the phrase "I almost became a priest" seems to be the same. Other famous people that used this phrase are Tom Cruise, Michael Moore, and John Kerry. So when I see this phrase I normally expect to see a position contrary to Church teaching advocated within the next paragraph. The "It's pro-life to save life" is also another phrase that seems to be used more and more and it is just a variant of "personally opposed, but". The fact that embryos are routinely discarded should make someone want to do everything then can to keep this from happening, not looking for ways to make use of this horrid situation. Prisoners are going to die anyway so let's harvest them for organs while they are still fresh. Hey we are all going to die anyway so let us make use of some for the greater benefit to others. It is pro-life to save life only when using ethical means.