'Snowflakes' are just a trace, not a blizzard

The bit of theater that George Bush engaged in Wednesday, vetoing the stem cell bill with an audience sprinkled with so-called "snowflake" babies created from "adopted" embryos, is what we've come to expect from the Bush-Rove manipulation machine.

Bush had trotted the "snowflakes" out once before, when enough courageous House Republicans joined Democrats in passing the bill over Bush's objections.

Their role this time was to set up Bush's best line of the day: "These boys and girls are not spare parts."

The show certainly worked on Journal Sentinel reporter Katherine Skiba, whose story all but cooed about the "snowflakes:"

Not everybody clapped. Some only cooed, gurgled, squealed and screeched.

They were not on cue. But they were squarely on message...

One was 14-month-old Jack "Trey" Jones of Cypress, Texas, near Houston.

He was here on his second visit. His parents, J.J. and Tracy Jones, brought him to the White House when "snowflakes" appeared with Bush on May 24, 2005, the same day the House approved the now-dead legislation.

Trey was one day shy of 1-month-old then.

He's growing up. Today, he says "Woof woof" and "Uh-oh" and "Dadda."

He likes to swim.

But his favorite thing is "pulling stuff out of drawers and cabinets," says Mom.

"And knocking over everything that's not nailed to the ground," says Dad.

Tracy Jones carried Trey to term after receiving a donated embryo from Heather and Dave Wright, of Stow, Ohio.

But if you get past that and keep reading, you'll also find this:

In all, the Snowflakes adoption program has helped connect adoptive parents with embryo donors, resulting in 110 births since 1998, said Leisa Brug Kline, a spokeswoman for the National Embryo Adoption Awareness Campaign.

Her group receives federal funding to promote the adoption of frozen embryos.

Twenty more children are due between now and next February, she said.

Let's do the math.

There are 400,000 embryos in storage, most destined for eventual destruction. The number is growing.

There have been 110 "snowflakes" in eight years, roughly 14 a year.

At the current rate, all 400,000 frozen embryos would become "snowflakes" in about 28,571 years. Of course, that doesn't account for the fact that new embryos are being frozen every day. And there appears to be little interest, either from donors or prospective parents, to having another couple's embryo implanted in a would-be mother.

To hold out this miniscule number of "snowflakes" as a rationale to deny hope to millions of people suffering from diseases and injuries which might be cured through embryonic stem cell research is beyond the pale.

Bush's veto was to deny federal funding to this vital and promising research.

Our federal tax dollars, instead, are going to "promote the adoption of frozen embryos" at the rate of 14 a year.

What's wrong with this picture?

Columnist Ellen Goodman wrote about the issue last year, when the "snowflakes" first appeared with Bush:

What happens when 400,000 embryos become 800,000? Will embryos stored in the 1990s still be stored in 2050?

Embryos are not human beings. Nor are they hangnails. They carry the potential for human life that deserves moral attention and respect. It's not disrespectful to donate embryos to the search for a cure for diseases. Nor is it respectful to keep embryos in a freezer until they're eligible for Social Security.

Rep.. Mark Green, who voted with Bush, tries to make it a moral issue. But he adds:

“... I support the current policy of allowing federally-funded research on existing embryonic stem cell lines..."

That, apparently, is not a moral issue. How many snowflakes can dance on the head of a pin, anyway?

Earlier post on the subject: We are all former embryos on this bus.

UPDATE: The Forward Report at One Wisconsin Now has extensive commentary on the issue.

UPDATE 2: The Democratic Party does a nice job of comparing Green's statements on stem cells with the facts. They don't match.

UPDATE 3: Carrie Lynch asks Green: If embryonic stem cell research is murder, is that only if the government funds it?