If a person opposes stem cell research

and I totally support their right to such opposition (this is America after all, as opposed to a theocracy which would mandate opposition) I would like for that person to spend at least three months locked in an Alzheimer's Ward of a Nursing Home. Then, that person could contemplate the meaning of life and the value of research. Sadly, such a proposal would be rejected by conservatives who are totally sure of their beliefs - that Alzheimer's patients SHOULD suffer for years, that the families of those patients SHOULD be ruined financially and that humans reduced to a vegetative state with no capability of human interaction SHOULD be allowed to lie in an often fecal filled bed at, of course, no expense to those doing the advocating. My father suffered from Alzheimer's; please conservative tell me why I should be glad he did not live beyond age 77. Why are you so concerned about how other's lead their lives? Is it because you lead such pathetic lives yourselves?

Stem cell research may lead to a cure for Alzheimer's. Maybe some day we will find a cure for religious ignorance.

can convince the fundies

It was horrible. I really wish the last years of his life weren't so full of misery and pain for him.

My Dad was in a nursing home for just a short time before he died, but some of the folks there had been there for years. One man's wife had been there for 13 years and he had lost everything. She was nothing more than a bundle of flesh but still alive with absolutely nothing going on in her head. I choose not to be calloused but I'm sure she would have voted republican. As far as I know, her husband is still making the daily treks to the home to visit her and leaving with nothing but pain and sorrow.

My poor dad also suffered from diabetes and had to have his leg amputated which ultimately led to his death.

It was such a hard time for me, to watch this man who had cared for me and my brothers reduced to such a state. He took such delight in seeing my kids and my brothers' kids, and reveled in the smallest kindness you showed him.

Very humbling. I hope I can be that cheerful when I am nearing the end of my life.

suffer through that wretched disease. She died from pneumonia and what broke my heart about it was that she didn't even realize that her family was with her as she lay dying. She must have felt so alone even though we were right there with her. She didn't even have her memories to comfort herself with.

That damn disease robs you of everything...health, money, dignity, mobility and memories. Anyone who could be opposed to a potential cure for Alzheimer's from stem cell research is a cold and heartless bastard.

document that all who voted for Dumbya had to sign that said that under no circumstances could they ever benefit from a medicine obtained from embryonic stem cell research.

they just want people to suffer.

If your "morals" won't let you have anything to do with stem cell research or the cures that may be developed from it, do not use them.
If we have to set up and fund private progressive research institutions and labs, we can do it with our money, and money from all over the civilized world. If we have to do it north or south of the border (or east or west for that matter), so be it.
The population of America is aging fast, and all the plastic surgery and hard on pills will not cure Alzheimer's, diabetes, cancer or heart disease.
If the opponents of science do not want to be involved in the future, let them take comfort in their high moral standing to cure them of all life's ills. If prayer works, G-d bless them. I'll take Tamiflu.

if a person is ill, either physically or mentally, then there's something morally defective with them. And here's the unspoken part that no one wants to claim:

There's something unforivably wrong with you, so you deserve to die or at least suffer horribly for years because I am morally superior to you.

I find it horribly sad that people who claim not to believe Darwin also believe in the basest form of social Darwinism.