Life Links 8/24/10

The California Stem Cell Report has some links on regarding Judge Lamberth's recent decision on the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research including the text of the decision and a Wall Street Journal article which notes the federal government had raised the amount it was spending on human embryonic stem cell research to $137 million this year and $126 planned for next year. During the Bush administration, the funding was typically around $40 million.


The Obama administration is already misleading the public and claiming that research which hasn't treated a single human being is "life-saving."

President Barack Obama's spokesman said the administration was looking at ways to keep up work on embryonic stem cells in the wake of Monday's court ruling.

"The president said very plainly that this is important, life-saving research," spokesman Bill Burton told reporters. "We're reviewing all possibilities."

Former Marine Cesar Laurean was found guilty of killing Maria Lauterbach, a pregnant colleague who accused him of rape. There was a 3-month manhunt for Laurean after Lauterbach's body was found.

The remains of Lauterbach , 20, and her unborn baby were found in January 2008 in Laurean's backyard firepit. Authorities determined that her body had been buried there since December 2007, when she first went missing from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina when she was eight months pregnant.

Laurean, 23, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to The Associated Press.

Mary Lauterbach, the victim's mother, read a statement in court saying to Laurean, "I feel so sorry for your daughter. She will have to live with the shame that her father is in prison for murdering not one but two people," the AP reported.