Missouri Elections, Amend #2 & #3

Amendment 2:

I did some research and below is the actual text to the proposed amendment #2. If you look at the text it says “No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being.” However in the SAME document it says “Human embryonic stem cell research also referred to as “early stem cell research” means any scientific or medical research involving human stem cells derived from in vitro fertilization blastocysts OR [THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART] from somatic cell nuclear transfer…”

Somatic cell nuclear transfer is the process they used in the famous cloning of Dolly the sheep.

Plus if you look at Section 38(d) 5
If we amend our State Constitution to allow funding for cloning (cough) I mean Stem Cell Research, apparently we can’t ever take that money away from them.

Also, the last paragraph of Amendment states that if one of the sections above is deemed unconstitutional by a court of law, the whole thing is not null and void and just that section can be ignored. Which would seem to mean that if say a definition of “cloning” where to be deemed unconstitutional, that section would be ignored and then they are free to do what they want.

Read for yourself, tell me if I am wrong. I found the Propsed Amendment #2 at
http://sos.mo.gov/elections/2006petitions/ppStemCell.asp

Trivia: The name Dolly from dolly the sheep comes from Dolly Parton, because is was a mammory cell they cloned.



SNIPPETS TO THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT #2

Section 38(d) 2.1 No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being.

Section 38(d) 6.5 “Human embryonic stem cell research,” also referred to as “early stem cell research,” means any scientific or medical research involving human stem cells derived from in vitro fertilization blastocysts or from somatic cell nuclear transfer. For purposes of this section, human embryonic stem cell research does not include stem cell clinical trials.

Section 38(d) 5 To ensure that no governmental body or official arbitrarily restricts funds designated for purposes other than stem cell research or stem cell therapies and cures as a means of inhibiting lawful stem cell research or stem cell therapies and cures, no state or local governmental body or official shall eliminate, reduce, deny, or withhold any public funds provided or eligible to be provided to a person that (i) lawfully conducts stem cell research or provides stem cell therapies and cures, allows for such research or therapies and cures to be conducted or provided on its premises, or is otherwise associated with such research or therapies and cures, but (ii) receives or is eligible to receive such public funds for purposes other than such stem cell-related activities, on account of, or otherwise for the purpose of creating disincentives for any person to engage in or otherwise associate with, or preventing, restricting, obstructing, or discouraging, such stem cell-related activities.



Amendment 3:

To be honest, I haven't done much in the research of this amendment, I am pretty sure I am going to vote no. I don’t smoke. Well every once in a while, I like to smoke a nice cigar. My father died (God Rest his Soul) of throat/lung cancer. He smoked two packs of Pall Mall cigarettes a day. In case you don’t know, Pall Mall are not filtered.

Here is what I agree on:

• I think “big tobacco” lied to our parents and grandparents to the effects of tobacco
• I think cigarette smoking is a bad for you
• I think “big tobacco” is trying to get more kids to smoke

But what I think is going on here is a much bigger picture than tobacco. My question is “What is next?” When I want to stop off at Burger King to get a Whopper, am I going to have to pay a “fat tax”? When I fill up my 4 wheeler am I going to have to pay an “entertainment/pollution tax”? When I want to suck down my favorite hops product (Which of course is an Anheuser-Busch product) am I going to need to pay a “dead brain cell tax”? When does it stop? It seems to me all ways to separate me from my money! But I know what you are thinking, you are thinking "I don't smoke, it isn't going to affect me!" Isn't there a famous poem warning us of this very nature?

When they came for the X,
I was silent after all,
I was not a X.

When they came for Y,
I was silent after all,
I was not a Y…

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out”