Stem Cell Research

Carl Levin Of Michigan, A Giant In The Senate, Dies At 87!

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Former Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, a true giant of the Senate, has passed away at age 87.

Levin had a distinguished 36 year career in the Senate from 1978 to 2014.

He was rated one of the top ten US Senators in a Time Magazine article in 2006.

He was the fourth longest serving incumbent at his retirement in 2015, and was the longest serving Senator in Michigan history.

He served alongside his Congressman brother Sander Levin, both of them outstanding Senators of the Jewish faith, and both had a great impact on Michigan and the nation.

Carl Levin was Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, and served alongside Republicans and worked well across the aisle with them, promoting civil dialogue.

He supported the revival of the auto industry, and supported efforts to address pollution and other environmental issues affecting the Great Lakes.

He promoted a crackdown on offshore tax havens, and was an advocate for stem cell research and gun control laws.

He gained respect for his attention to detail and deep knowledge of policy.

Levin came across as a “regular guy”, who was unassuming and unpretentious.

His kind will not be easily found in the future, as he was, in many ways, one of a kind.

Rest in Peace, Carl Levin, you will be well remembered in the annals of history!

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions: A Horrible Successor To The Position Of Attorney General

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Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions may be very cordial and pleasant to his Senate colleagues, but he is clearly a horrible successor to the position of Attorney General of the Unites States.

The only Senator given a cabinet post, Sessions is, unfortunately, the totally wrong choice to enforce civil liberties and civil rights. He is rated one of the most conservative, hard right members of the US Senate.

He was rejected for a Circuit Court Judgeship thirty years ago by a Republican controlled Senate due to his insensitive statements on race, and has no record of tolerance on immigrants, Latinos, Muslims, gays and lesbians, and women.

Sessions would present a very different image of the Justice Department, to favor the powerful and elite over the powerless and middle class and poor in legal and constitutional matters.

He voted against use of medicinal marijuana, and is opposed to stem cell research. He also was highly critical and voted against Barack Obama’s two Supreme Court nominees, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Sessions is like bringing back the “Old South” image of George Wallace, Jesse Helms, and Strom Thurmond, with lack of concern about the growing number of cases of police behavior in controversial cases where people of minority status are often the victim of trigger happy cops, and end up deceased.

Will the Senate again reject one of its own, of the majority party as thirty years ago? That is the question that will be focused on next month when Sessions faces Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.

The “Science” Republicans Vs. The “Faith” Republicans

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Part of the struggle for the Republican Presidential nomination is between those who believe in the validity of science, relating to global warming, evolution, and stem cell research, and those who believe in the literal interpretation of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

On one side are Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney; on the other side are Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and sometimes, in an inconsistent way, Newt Gingrich, who is intelligent enough to know better!

Are we to have a possible future President who repudiates science and wishes to lead a holy crusade for Christianity in a world in which we must somehow coexist with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and other religious faiths that look at the world differently from us?

In a country founded on separation of church and state, to avoid religious conflict, we are now faced with the real possibility of a “Crusade” mentality which will undermine our national security!