Obama on Stem Cells

President Obama has issued an executive order changing the Bush administration's position on stem cell research. Check off another idiotic decision consigned to the dustbin of history. The folks at Daily Kos are, of course, thrilled, and offer some good background.

This should drive a nice fat wedge between three Republican constituents: the pro-life crowd, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, people who have been affected by diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and businesspeople who stand to benefit from the research that will now be allowed.

Conservative opposition to science has always confused me. I can understand opposition to stem-cell research, based on opposition to abortion. But these people are also supposed to be capitalists. Don't they know that advances in science are an absolutely essential part of increasing productivity, and therefore driving economic growth? Pick any company on the planet - there's about a 99.999% chance that its success is based on science. The internal combustion engine. Microprocessors. Radios. Televsions. Heck, electricity, without which our modern economy would not be possible, required scientific discovery.

So Obama has just given capitalists another reason to believe that Democrats are more in tune with their needs than Republicans. Works for me!

Obama wins

I remember where I was when I heard the news. I was in a bar in Silver Lake, The Echo, with a bunch of other Obama supporters. I had ordered a beer, Newcastle Brown Ale (I had originally mistaken it for Anchor Steam). I was about to put my change in my wallet when MSNBC called the election for Obama. Everyone went wild. A while later, John McCain conceded, in a very gracious speech, and Obama let the world know that the torch has been passed to a new generation.

Commentary tomorrow. Analysis later. Celebration tonight. And now, sleep. Waking up to a new day.