AP is reporting that Bush has indeed vetoed the stem cell bill:
President Bush cast the first veto of his 5 1/2-year presidency Wednesday, saying legislation easing limits on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research "crosses a moral boundary" and is wrong.
"This bill would support the taking of innocent human life of the hope of finding medical benefits for others," Bush said at a White House event where he was surrounded by 18 families who "adopted" frozen embryos not used by other couples, and then used those leftover embryos to have children.
"Each of these children was still adopted while still an embryo and has been blessed with a chance to grow, to grow up in a loving family. These boys and girls are not spare parts," he said.
The veto came a day after the Senate defied Bush and approved the legislation, 63-37, four votes short of the two-thirds margin needed to override. White House officials and Republican congressional leaders claimed it was unlikely that Congress could override the veto.
That is just infuriating.
You have to understand that I consider myself a moderate libertarian. In this context, after he refused to veto about a bagillion other things like spending on projects that don't work or on programs that shouldn't happen, it is very frustrating to see him veto something that can do good and that the majority of the public supports. I am not one to point and yell "Partisan pandering!" all the time, but I just cannot concieve of another reason he would vote for this other than to please the most extreme portions of the Republican base.
Grrr.
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Please, please, I want someone to ask him how he feels about fertility clinics...
Libertarian? And you're a scientist? Where do you think your funding comes from?
Usually big "L" Libertarian is defined as believing government's only job is defense and law enforcement. When you find one of these guys under a rock they usually bitch about the department of education, say the FDA has killed more people than Hitler and then proceed to tell you how a oregano suspension cured their strep throat.
Maybe you're a small "l" libertarian? Aka a civil libertarian? Unless you were planning to lobby against funding for the NIH, FDA, CDC, DOE, NASA, NOAA, NIST etc.
Sorry, I always get freaked out when scientists describe themselves as libertarian when the overwhelming majority of research is publicly funded.