Soylent Green Revisited? Nah, Just the Crazy Season in High Gear

There is no end to the terror and frantic posturing when it comes to the Republicans’ fetus fetish.  I thought I had heard it all but a Oklahoma legislator, specifically Republican State Senator Ralph Shortey, has introduced a state Senate Bill 1418 prohibiting the use of human fetuses in  . . . our food.  No that is not a typo.  The proposed legislation reads as follows:

STATE OF OKLAHOMA

2nd Session of the 53rd Legislature (2012)

SENATE BILL 1418 By: Ralph Shortey

AS INTRODUCED

An Act relating to food; prohibiting the manufacture or sale of food or products which use aborted human fetuses; providing for codification; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1-1150 of Title 63, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
No person or entity shall manufacture or knowingly sell food or any other product intended for human consumption which contains aborted human fetuses in the ingredients or which used aborted human fetuses in the research or development of any of the ingredients.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 2012″

Why? you may ask incredulously.

Well, because a Christian anti-abortion group [reportedly, The Children of God] has made ‘allegations’ that a bio-tech firm and several food companies used embryonic stem cells to test the flavor of food and even more egregiously used stem cells to enhance the flavor of specific food products.  The companies cited included Pepsi Co., Kraft, and Nestle.  The accused bio-tech firm, Semomyx, was also connected to Campbell Soup Co. After the original accusations were made, Campbell cut its tie with the bio-tech program.

Bad PR is bad PR.  And this, of course, is stomach churning.

But an accusation is easy to make.

The original allegations made last year went nowhere and the accused companies have flatly denied all charges.  In addition, it’s absolutely illegal [not to mention unethical] under US law to use stem cells in the alleged manner.

That’s the true beauty of a witch hunt.

All one need do is scream, WITCH!  Public passion is enflamed, fears are stirred and we’re off to the races [or the stake, as the case may be].  You can even get a state senator to introduce a bill that has absolutely no bearing to reality.  Hell, it might be worth a vote or two.

Of all the idiotic fears I’ve read, this takes the cake.  Not only is it disgusting fear-mongering, something the Republicans have turned into an art form, but it distracts from and delays any real effort in solving our economic issues.

Which are very real. And for which Republicans have few solutions.

But wait, let’s think about it as Stephan D. Foster, Jr. suggests at Addicting Info. [Addicting Info cites its mission as debunking Right-Wing propaganda.] If you were hell bent on forbidding any and all stem cell research and/or products for medicinal purposes, the sort that have been proposed for the cure of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s or used to generate cell growth in brain or spinal-cord damaged patients, what better way to covertly outlaw scientific research than slide through a seemingly pointless bill outlawing fetuses entering our food chain.  As Foster states:

Depending on the source, stem cell treatments could fall under a ‘product that contains aborted human fetuses.’ You “consume” medicine in the same sense that you “consume” food; it enters the body and is processed in some fashion. Whether it is used for energy or to heal a damaged brain is irrelevant to this law.

Convoluted?  Crazy?

Certainly no crazier than Senator Shortey, originally unavailable for comment, who told Nicole Burgin, KRMG Talk Radio the following :

I don’t know if it is happening in Oklahoma, it may be, it may not be. What I am saying is that if it does happen then we are not going to allow it to manufacture here.

Oh, good Lord!  Is this a disciple of Rick Perry?  Senator Shortey claims he went ahead with the legislation because his research led him to believe a law was necessary.

Splendid!

Okay, I want a law of my own.  I propose the following: If aliens land on the earth, toting a cookbook? And if they ask for ‘volunteers’ to visit their fine planet? I want Senator Shortey and all like-minded legislators to be the first to board said aliens’ spacecraft.  Maybe they can convert a few Outworlders before the Barbeque gets going.

Pass the salt, please!