One Of Saint Mikey's Mistakes

This letter to the editor appeared in the Bucks County Courier Times today (it's been running pretty evenly in support of both Mikey and Patrick Murphy, which is an indicator of how close the race is I believe).

Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick should be commended for being such a religious person that he completely follows the beliefs of his Catholic Church. As he indicated in the debate, this presents an impediment to federally funded stem cell research, but as a strong Catholic he is willing to prevent basic scientific research in an area that may help all of mankind.

While this may be popular with some Catholics, this position does not represent my views or, I suspect, the majority of people in this district. In fact, most surveys taken nationally show about 70 percent of Americans of all faiths support the research Mr. Fitzpatrick opposes. It is another example of Fitzpatrick supporting a Bush position that goes against public interest.

While he was running for President, John F. Kennedy indicated that he would represent all the people and not be subject to manipulation by the Catholic Church. This may have been the deciding factor in his victory.

As each day passes, our present government is becoming more controlled by religious elements in society. This press toward theocracy is a concern of most thinking citizens. All politicians should be guided by strong convictions. However, such convictions must allow them, even Mr. Fitzpatrick, to represent all of the people, not just a small religious minority.

Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy is a leader for all the people. He will not allow a church and a misguided president to usurp a basic principle of this nation which is separation of church and state.

Bobbie Poppel
Newtown Township, PA

I’m actually surprised that the editorial board of the Courier Times didn’t stick in a note after the letter that Fitzpatrick is apparently considering supporting non-embryonic stem cell research (another one of his “cotton candy” non-solutions that disappear the minute another issue arises). See, this demonstrates that Mikey is supposedly open to considering other points of view as long as it doesn’t affect human embryos in accordance with his beliefs…uh huh, sure.

As a Catholic, I believe in the sanctity of life also. The unfortunate fact, though, is that the embryos would be there anyway. If the nonsensical argument that stem cell research encouraged abortion were somehow actually true, I would oppose it. But anyone with brain capacity beyond that of a house fly (which automatically excludes Dubya, I realize) knows what I also know.

And as you can read here once more, our decision to ignore this area of study will result in far-reaching consequences for our families and our country as whole.

(And lest I forget, click here to help Patrick).

Update 1: By the way, I think supporting this would be a good way for Mikey to "walk the walk" instead of just "talking the talk" (one of Doomsy's axioms, and I don't have many: if Bob Edgar is involved, it's probably a good cause).

Update 2: What Atrios sez (Mikey can duck the question of whether or not he agrees with Rumsfeld's "appeasers" remark, but somehow I don't think he's going to be able to duck this also).