The Gov. will ignore all of MDRTL's and the Catholic Conference's nominees, except for one person who will be either 1) a priest; or 2) a layperson in a religiously oriented profession who worked for an explicitly Catholic institution. That person will be used to show that the commission holds a "diversity of views" on embryonic research, and his dissenting opinion will always be accompanied by press reports that insinuate his view is that of a foreign religious institution, the Vatican.
Let's see:
- Ethicist employed by Catholic University appointed to commission? Check.
- Lopsided "discussion"? Check (14-1!)
- Story implying his opposition is "religious" as opposed to "scientific"? Check.
The fiscally responsible thing to do would be to just announce up front you're funding embryonic stem-cell research, and you don't care whether or not it's ethical. The sham of it is disgusting.
