Saturday, August 23, 2008
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On the Cover of the Sunday Book Review This powerful, brilliantly researched and deeply unsettling book recounts the emergence of the widespread use of torture as a central tool in the fight against terrorism. Book News & More Reviews »ADVERTISEMENT  Also in This Week's Book Review Ammon Shea spends a year plowing through the entire Oxford English Dictionary -- and lives to write about it.  A New York writer recalls how she created and sold hundreds of fake letters “by” celebrities such as Noël Coward and the silent-film star Louise Brooks.  How Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin, Stalin and Mao so effectively spread their messages to the masses.  Patrolling a city of cemeteries, a police officer can see some strange things. Julia Blackburn’s memoir of her monstrously self-involved, catastrophically unfit parents manages to be completely distinct yet hauntingly familiar.  Kevin Phillips argues that America’s monomaniacal focus on finance is hurting us in the diverse global economy. This first novel, a modern twist on “Hamlet,” revolves around a mute boy in a family of dog trainers.  Julia Reed’s Hurricane Katrina memoir describes how she fell in love with New Orleans. A new look at the 12 years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11, an era with no catastrophe to brand it.  John Darnton’s thriller is set in the office of a major metropolitan newspaper that sounds a lot like The Times. In this novel, an immigrant laborer defies a gangster and enters the U.S. government’s Chinese Confession Program. | |
Slide Show: Letters Forged by Lee IsraelFriday, August 1, 2008
Integrity: What's in a Word?
Integrity: What's in a Word?
Integrity: What's in a Word?
Albert Mohler
President, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
July 18, 2008
According to The Los Angeles Times, scores of United Methodist pastors in Southern California are planning to defy church law by performing same-sex marriages. The paper provides rather extensive detail about these plans, acknowledging that performing same-sex marriages could lead to disciplinary action against the pastors.
In addition, a large group of retired United Methodist ministers in the region has volunteered to perform the marriages on behalf of pastors who might be defrocked or disciplined if they performed the marriages themselves.
The paper's report includes some fascinating statements from pastors who plan to defy the discipline and doctrine of their church -- and the clear teachings of the Bible.
For example:
"I'm tired of being part of a church that lacks integrity," said the Rev. Janet Gollery McKeithen of Santa Monica's Church in Ocean Park, who plans to conduct weddings for two gay couples in August and September. "I love my church, and I don't want to leave it. But I can't be part of a church that is willing to portray a God that is so hateful. I would rather be forced out."
And:
The Rev. Sharon Rhodes-Wickett of Claremont United Methodist Church joined a retired deacon from her congregation to co-officiate at the July 5 wedding of two longtime members, Howard Yeager and Bill Charlton. The wedding was held off site -- at a Claremont complex for retired clergy and missionaries -- to avoid violating the rule against such ceremonies in churches. Rhodes-Wickett, who led the Lord's Prayer and gave a homily, said she hoped to avoid discipline by stopping short of actually pronouncing the couple married. That action was performed by the retired deacon, who also signed the marriage license. Rhodes-Wickett said she did not want Yeager and Charlton to leave her church to exchange vows. "This is my flock," she said, adding that the men have been together 40 years, 22 of them as members of her Claremont congregation. "It's a matter of integrity and a matter of what it is to be a pastoral ministry."
There is a very curious and revealing feature to these comments. Both of these pastors oppose and defy the Book of Discipline -- the authoritative teachings and policies of the United Methodist Church -- and they claim to do so in the name of "integrity."
Pastor Janet Gollery McKeithen said her church "lacks integrity" because it identifies homosexuality as a sin and prohibits pastors from performing same-sex unions. Pastor Sharon Rhodes-Wickett said that her act of defiance is "a matter of integrity."
Integrity is crucial to the Christian ministry, and it is a word that is integral to the matter at hand. What makes the use of the word by these two pastors so disappointing -- and revealing -- is that the word is used to mask and justify an act that lacks all integrity.
These two women are defying the very policies they are bound and committed to uphold. They sought and accepted ordination in their church knowing that these policies and doctrines were in place. They are defying their church, their doctrine, and the Bible. They pledged to uphold these doctrines, but now they defy them.
Integrity would not lead these pastors to defy their church and violate their ordination vows, but to uphold them. If they cannot uphold these doctrines and policies, let them resign in conscience.
Sydney Biddle Barrows, the infamous "Mayflower Madam" convicted of running an elite prostitution service in the 1980s, once remarked, "I ran the wrong kind of business, but I did it with integrity."
Misused in this way and employed as moral artifice, "integrity" is claimed where no real integrity can exist. There is no "integrity" in running a prostitution ring, and there is no integrity in defying ordination vows.
In addition to being one of Salem’s nationally syndicated radio talk show hosts, R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Contact Dr. Mohler at www.albertmohler.com.
Integrity: What's in a Word?
Albert Mohler
President, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
July 18, 2008
According to The Los Angeles Times, scores of United Methodist pastors in Southern California are planning to defy church law by performing same-sex marriages. The paper provides rather extensive detail about these plans, acknowledging that performing same-sex marriages could lead to disciplinary action against the pastors.
In addition, a large group of retired United Methodist ministers in the region has volunteered to perform the marriages on behalf of pastors who might be defrocked or disciplined if they performed the marriages themselves.
The paper's report includes some fascinating statements from pastors who plan to defy the discipline and doctrine of their church -- and the clear teachings of the Bible.
For example:
"I'm tired of being part of a church that lacks integrity," said the Rev. Janet Gollery McKeithen of Santa Monica's Church in Ocean Park, who plans to conduct weddings for two gay couples in August and September. "I love my church, and I don't want to leave it. But I can't be part of a church that is willing to portray a God that is so hateful. I would rather be forced out."
And:
The Rev. Sharon Rhodes-Wickett of Claremont United Methodist Church joined a retired deacon from her congregation to co-officiate at the July 5 wedding of two longtime members, Howard Yeager and Bill Charlton. The wedding was held off site -- at a Claremont complex for retired clergy and missionaries -- to avoid violating the rule against such ceremonies in churches. Rhodes-Wickett, who led the Lord's Prayer and gave a homily, said she hoped to avoid discipline by stopping short of actually pronouncing the couple married. That action was performed by the retired deacon, who also signed the marriage license. Rhodes-Wickett said she did not want Yeager and Charlton to leave her church to exchange vows. "This is my flock," she said, adding that the men have been together 40 years, 22 of them as members of her Claremont congregation. "It's a matter of integrity and a matter of what it is to be a pastoral ministry."
There is a very curious and revealing feature to these comments. Both of these pastors oppose and defy the Book of Discipline -- the authoritative teachings and policies of the United Methodist Church -- and they claim to do so in the name of "integrity."
Pastor Janet Gollery McKeithen said her church "lacks integrity" because it identifies homosexuality as a sin and prohibits pastors from performing same-sex unions. Pastor Sharon Rhodes-Wickett said that her act of defiance is "a matter of integrity."
Integrity is crucial to the Christian ministry, and it is a word that is integral to the matter at hand. What makes the use of the word by these two pastors so disappointing -- and revealing -- is that the word is used to mask and justify an act that lacks all integrity.
These two women are defying the very policies they are bound and committed to uphold. They sought and accepted ordination in their church knowing that these policies and doctrines were in place. They are defying their church, their doctrine, and the Bible. They pledged to uphold these doctrines, but now they defy them.
Integrity would not lead these pastors to defy their church and violate their ordination vows, but to uphold them. If they cannot uphold these doctrines and policies, let them resign in conscience.
Sydney Biddle Barrows, the infamous "Mayflower Madam" convicted of running an elite prostitution service in the 1980s, once remarked, "I ran the wrong kind of business, but I did it with integrity."
Misused in this way and employed as moral artifice, "integrity" is claimed where no real integrity can exist. There is no "integrity" in running a prostitution ring, and there is no integrity in defying ordination vows.
In addition to being one of Salem’s nationally syndicated radio talk show hosts, R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Contact Dr. Mohler at www.albertmohler.com.
ABC News: Custom Stem Cells Around the Corner?
ABC News: Custom Stem Cells Around the Corner?
Personalized Stem Cells One Step Closer to Reality
Researchers Create Disease-Specific, Individualized Human Stem Cells
By RADHA CHITALE
ABC News Medical Unit
July 31, 2008
For the first time, scientists have proven that embryonic-like stem cells that are specific to both a person and to a disease can be manufactured using adult human cells.
stem cells
A scientific researcher manipulates drops of embryonic stem cells in a laboratory, at 'Hospital do Coracao' heart institute, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on 5 March, 2008.
Personalized stem cells may be the holy grail of science because of their potential to treat and allow the study of a myriad of diseases and conditions. And while there are still a number of hurdles to clear before this advance can be applied to humans, in the clinical setting this latest step, some say, shows promise of eventual human therapies.
Researchers from Harvard and Columbia Universities used skin cells from two patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, to create stem cells and then reprogrammed them to morph into replacement motor neurons.
"It opens doors to making patient-specific stem cell lines," said Dr. Kevin Eggan, principle faculty member at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and lead author of a study that was released today in the journal Science. "You can use these cells to make the actual cell type for that person's disease."
People with ALS experience progressive degeneration in their motor neurons to the extent that the brain and spinal cord can no longer signal the body to move. Patients in later stages of the disease often become paralyzed.
Eggan and his colleague, Dr. Christopher Henderson, co-director of the Center for Motor Neuron Biology and Disease at Columbia University and the other lead author, stressed that their study shows "proof of principle" for how embryonic-like stem cells can be created from adult cells using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, a technique introduced widely last year.
Stem cell researchers not involved in the study called the advance promising.
"The hope for iPS cell technology is that you could create cells from your own body to treat your own defects," said Dr. Curt Freed, professor of medicine and pharmacology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "They are immunologically matched to yours."
But Freed pointed out that iPS derived stem cells will never be used for therapeutic purposes because the method requires using retroviral genes to copy the cells -- genes which result in cancer-producing cells.
A New Approach
The ideal scenario for stem cells would be to create them by injecting the desired DNA -- DNA that's free from genetic defects -- into human egg cells and letting them become stem cells before reprogramming them into specific cell types, a technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). But getting human egg donations -- as well as funding for such research -- has been difficult for the researchers.
"The inability to have success with SCNT is wrapped up in logistical and political quagmires," Eggan said.
At the moment, the next step for this study is to determine how similar and different the new motor neurons from the iPS derived stem cells are from human motor neurons.
"We have the opportunity to study these motor neurons and see whether they behave in a manner that they do in the culture dish," Henderson said. "Although the promise of these ideas are there, there is much validation to do in terms of their potential to generate different types of neurons.... The [SCNT] embryonic stem cell model is really our gold standard."
But the discovery that only a few genes are necessary to nudge a human stem cell to develop into a specialized adult cell is encouraging. The finding also underscores the theory that almost any cell of any age in the body can be reprogrammed into any other type of cell, given the right genetic expression.
"It gets us closer to when we are able to use chemicals alone," Eggan said.
Not Ready for Clinical Setting... Yet
Rather than be used for therapy right now, Eggan and Henderson said that the cells they created will be most useful to study the nature and pathology of the disease, particularly in terms of determining what drugs might be effective to treat it.
"Studies... suggest that things are going wrong in those individuals far, far, far before they're ever outwardly sick," Eggan said, referring to a potentially fundamental difference between diseased neurons and normal neurons. "And it's those molecular correlates of disease which will be our first inroads into better understanding of the disease and then, in turn, treatment."
Personalized Stem Cells One Step Closer to Reality
Researchers Create Disease-Specific, Individualized Human Stem Cells
By RADHA CHITALE
ABC News Medical Unit
July 31, 2008
For the first time, scientists have proven that embryonic-like stem cells that are specific to both a person and to a disease can be manufactured using adult human cells.
stem cells
A scientific researcher manipulates drops of embryonic stem cells in a laboratory, at 'Hospital do Coracao' heart institute, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on 5 March, 2008.
Personalized stem cells may be the holy grail of science because of their potential to treat and allow the study of a myriad of diseases and conditions. And while there are still a number of hurdles to clear before this advance can be applied to humans, in the clinical setting this latest step, some say, shows promise of eventual human therapies.
Researchers from Harvard and Columbia Universities used skin cells from two patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, to create stem cells and then reprogrammed them to morph into replacement motor neurons.
"It opens doors to making patient-specific stem cell lines," said Dr. Kevin Eggan, principle faculty member at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and lead author of a study that was released today in the journal Science. "You can use these cells to make the actual cell type for that person's disease."
People with ALS experience progressive degeneration in their motor neurons to the extent that the brain and spinal cord can no longer signal the body to move. Patients in later stages of the disease often become paralyzed.
Eggan and his colleague, Dr. Christopher Henderson, co-director of the Center for Motor Neuron Biology and Disease at Columbia University and the other lead author, stressed that their study shows "proof of principle" for how embryonic-like stem cells can be created from adult cells using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, a technique introduced widely last year.
Stem cell researchers not involved in the study called the advance promising.
"The hope for iPS cell technology is that you could create cells from your own body to treat your own defects," said Dr. Curt Freed, professor of medicine and pharmacology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "They are immunologically matched to yours."
But Freed pointed out that iPS derived stem cells will never be used for therapeutic purposes because the method requires using retroviral genes to copy the cells -- genes which result in cancer-producing cells.
A New Approach
The ideal scenario for stem cells would be to create them by injecting the desired DNA -- DNA that's free from genetic defects -- into human egg cells and letting them become stem cells before reprogramming them into specific cell types, a technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). But getting human egg donations -- as well as funding for such research -- has been difficult for the researchers.
"The inability to have success with SCNT is wrapped up in logistical and political quagmires," Eggan said.
At the moment, the next step for this study is to determine how similar and different the new motor neurons from the iPS derived stem cells are from human motor neurons.
"We have the opportunity to study these motor neurons and see whether they behave in a manner that they do in the culture dish," Henderson said. "Although the promise of these ideas are there, there is much validation to do in terms of their potential to generate different types of neurons.... The [SCNT] embryonic stem cell model is really our gold standard."
But the discovery that only a few genes are necessary to nudge a human stem cell to develop into a specialized adult cell is encouraging. The finding also underscores the theory that almost any cell of any age in the body can be reprogrammed into any other type of cell, given the right genetic expression.
"It gets us closer to when we are able to use chemicals alone," Eggan said.
Not Ready for Clinical Setting... Yet
Rather than be used for therapy right now, Eggan and Henderson said that the cells they created will be most useful to study the nature and pathology of the disease, particularly in terms of determining what drugs might be effective to treat it.
"Studies... suggest that things are going wrong in those individuals far, far, far before they're ever outwardly sick," Eggan said, referring to a potentially fundamental difference between diseased neurons and normal neurons. "And it's those molecular correlates of disease which will be our first inroads into better understanding of the disease and then, in turn, treatment."
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