Reject Amendment 2 Deception
By Dr. Robert Onder

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.  Therefore choose life, that you and your descendents may live….”  (Deut. 30:19)

     Missourians are faced with a life and death choice this year on Election Day, November 7, 2006.  This choice will have profound implications for the pro-life cause throughout our nation, as this choice will mean life or death for thousands or millions of our most defenseless brothers and sisters.  Our choice is whether to amend the Missouri Constitution to create a legal right to kill human embryos, produced by cloning or by fertilization, for highly speculative research experiments.  What happens here in Missouri is crucially important; the pro-cloning forces know that if they can fool Missouri voters into buying into their lies, they can convince voters anywhere.
    Over the last several months in MetroVoice articles I have discussed different aspects of Amendment 2, (the clone and kill amendment).  In my July article I looked at the numerous ways in which the so-called “Stem Cell Research and Cures” amendment is designed to deceive the public.  This four-page amendment is deceptive from its first paragraph in which it claims “to ensure that Missouri patients have access to stem cell research, therapies and cures” and “that Missouri researchers can conduct stem cell research in this state.”  The fact is that Missouri patients do have access to stem cell therapies and cures, and Missouri researchers can conduct any kind of stem cell research. 
    The true purpose of Amendment 2 is to prevent pro-life Missouri legislators from banning human cloning, especially cloning human embryos for research experiments.  For the last several sessions of the Missouri General Assembly, pro-life legislators such as State Representative Jim Lembke and Senator Matt Bartle have filed bills that would have banned all cloning, both to make cloned babies and to make human embryos for research.  Unfortunately some very powerful and wealth forces, particularly the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, want to do cloning research, and they have been successful at preventing votes on this legislation.  These same forces grew tired of fighting anti-cloning bills year after year, so they decided to buy themselves a constitutional amendment.  They expect to spend 20 to 30 million dollars on this effort and so far almost all of it coming from one couple, billionaires James and Virginia Stowers in Kansas City.

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Casinos and Cloning
Commentary by Jim Day
Publisher St. Louis MetroVoice

    What do casinos and cloning human embryos have in common?  The casual observer would say they’re miles apart. However, if you live in Missouri you just might find something important that ties the two together.
    Remember how casinos made their way into the “Show Me State” with promises of curing our state’s education budget problems?  Remember all the TV ads promoting gambling as entertainment on nostalgic paddle wheelers cruising down the Mississippi.  Do you remember the commercials promising to help education by hiring new teachers, buying computers and strengthening math and science courses? What about the teacher who was concerned that our children’s education would suffer if we didn’t vote “Yes” on Amendment 6? (That was the Constitutional Amendment which brought us casino gambling.)
    Less than a hand full of casino companies poured millions upon millions of dollars into TV and print ads as well as political campaigns to essentially buy their way into Missouri. And what were the results?  Try to find a casino boat that cruises down a river in Missouri. You won’t find one – they’re all in oversized bathtubs. And what happened to all that extra money for education that was promised? Perhaps it was somehow misplaced because every time you turn around school districts are asking for a tax increase.
    What did the citizens of Missouri gain by approving Amendment 6 in 1994?  How about some 18,000 slot machines which rake in millions upon millions of dollars that are sent out of state, increases in personal bankruptcies, robberies, embezzlements, 100,000 new seriously addicted gamblers, a lot of broken homes and several suicides...not to mention the continual pleas for tax increases from school districts. Talk about a ‘bait and switch’, you might call this “The Great Missouri Bait and Switch.”
    That’s your first clue. 

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