If the stem cell wars are indeed nearly over, no one will savor the peace more than James A. Thomson.

Dr. Thomson’s laboratory at the University of Wisconsin was one of two that in 1998 plucked stem cells from human embryos for the first time, destroying the embryos in the process and touching off a divisive national debate.

And on Tuesday, his laboratory was one of two that reported a new way to turn ordinary human skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells without ever using a human embryo.

The fact is, Dr. Thomson said in an interview, he had ethical concerns about embryonic research from the outset, even though he knew that such research offered insights into human development and the potential for powerful new treatments for disease.

“If human embryonic stem cell research does not make you at least a little bit uncomfortable, you have not thought about it enough,” he said. “I thought long and hard about whether I would do it.”

The New York Times

This was a big story that broke out over this holiday week. This should put an end to the embryonic stem cell debate since they should no longer be needed providing these claims are justified. It will interesting to see how this pans out politically, since the Democrats have just lost one of their wedge issues and the Republicans have been right all along, being against the use of embryonic stem cells for research.

Here’s a hint:  It’s not us, but I already knew that.

Democrats like to define themselves as the party of poor and middle-income Americans, but a new study says they now represent the majority of the nation’s wealthiest congressional districts.

In a state-by-state, district-by-district comparison of wealth concentrations based on Internal Revenue Service income data, Michael Franc, vice president of government relations at the Heritage Foundation, found that the majority of the nation’s wealthiest congressional jurisdictions were represented by Democrats.
He also found that more than half of the wealthiest households were concentrated in the 18 states where Democrats hold both Senate seats.

The Washington Times

There was a time where it was justified to say that Republicans represented big business and the wealthiest of Americans, but that is about 40 years outdated.  All you need to do is look at the electoral map to see it.  The northeast and west coast are the wealthiest regions in the country and they vote overwhelmingly Democrat, while the poorer regions, like down here in the south, vote heavily Republican.  So will the Dems stop spreading a dishonest myth?  I wouldn’t bet on it.