Korean Stem Cells

Korean scientists have built a reliable technology for cloning the stem cells of individual humans in for potential medical benefit:

Hwang's team, who shocked the world last year by cloning a human embryo, has recently been credited with another major breakthrough _ creating the first embryonic stem cells that genetically match injured or sick patients.

With clock-work reliability, The Administration admonished the announcement immediately:

White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy said the work in South Korea amounted to human cloning for the sole purpose of scientific research. "The president is opposed to that," Duffy said. "That represents exactly what we're opposed to."

Separately, he said the president would veto legislation to permit spending government money for stem cell research that would destroy human embryos. A measure by Reps. Mike Castle, R-Del., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., would lift Bush's 2001 ban on the use of federal dollars for research using any new embryonic stem cell lines.
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The remark was a public reaffirmation of his position on sensitive issues such as abortion and stem cell research.

Bush recalled the legacy of the late Pope John Paul II and said, "The best way to honor this great champion of human freedom is to continue to build a culture of life where the strong protect the weak."

I suppose it depends on what your definition of "Strength" and "Weakness" may be. Some would say that Strength may apply to the healthy while Weakness to the sick (those with Parkinson's Disease, for instance, or Alzheimer's). Some would say that Strength would apply to those with great wealth, and Weakness with those of great poverty.

Then there are those that would invoke the Pope and use those words to build moral superiority and exclusion. Because here, in the "culture of life," the strong are the self-prescribed morally superior, and their protection is pointing out the deficiencies and failures of those "below" them.