Obama: No Clones? Not Really.

President Obama lifted the Bush ESCR restrictions—unleashing gushing hyperbole in the media and among “the scientists” about the technology that I frankly don’t have time to deconstruct. But Drudge is touting his promise of no cloning. From the story:

President Barack Obama says human cloning is “dangerous, profoundly
wrong” and has no place in society. Obama made the comments as he was signing an executive order that will allow federal spending on embryonic
stem cell research. Some critics say the research can lead to
human cloning. Obama said the government will develop strict guidelines for the research because misuse or abuse is unacceptable. He said he would ensure that the government never opens the door to the use of cloning for human reproduction.

This is the typical misdirection we have seen on this issue for years. I predict Obama’s opposition to cloning is merely the same old smoke and mirrors, razzle-dazzle, game of hide the ball—choose your cliche.

When the president speaks of “reproduction,” he means a born baby. Thus, I predict he will support and sign a bill to explicitly legalize human SCNT—the actual act of human cloning—as has been proposed for years by my Senator Dianne Feinstein and Utah’s Orin Hatch, about which I have written previously.

Human SCNT for research, if it can be done in humans, literally creates new human life for the purpose of destroying it—perhaps a first in history. Over time, should the technology become “safe,” it will lead to reproductive cloning. But that is years away. In the meantime, President Obama and the rest of the brave new world crowd will redefine—or better stated, misdefine—cloning and outlaw their straw man so they can pretend that cloning has been made illegal when it has been explicitly legalized on the way toward federal funding.

And all along the way, they will unctuously ooze assurances that everything is under control. And they will be right—just not in the way they pretend.

Dear Reader,

Can I be direct with you?

War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.

First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.

But we can’t do it without readers like you.

Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.


Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.

Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.

GIVE NOW

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

The Church in the Age of Therapy

Matthew Loftus

In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…

Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot

Anna Farrow

On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…

The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen

Mike Aquilina

Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…