May 29 Letter to the Editor

I am disturbed by two of President Bush’s recent statements concerning governmental funding of stem-cell research.

In a press conference recently, he said he could not support the use of public funds for a program that would destroy life in order to save life. In a later statement, he said he could not use tax dollars to support research that would lead to the destruction of life.

These statements seem highly hypocritical to me. The president is using public funds to support a war that is destroying life every day in Iraq. The justification is that the destruction of life now will ultimately enhance the lives of the Iraqi people. Our tax dollars are being used every day to support research to improve the efficiency of bombs and weaponry, which have no other goal than to lead to the destruction of life.

I fail to understand the difference.

Maybe the president should restate his position. It seems he cannot support the use of tax dollars for any program that would destroy human embryonic life, even if it could ultimately save fully matured human life. He obviously has no problem using public funds to destroy the lives of U.S. soldiers, the Iraqi people including adults and children, non-human life and the environment.

The war and his environmental policies destroy life every day.

Why is it that the rights of those opposed to stem-cell research to not have their tax dollars used in that way are more important than the rights of an anti-war environmentalist to not have my tax dollars spent in this way?

Geni Flores

Portales