Imagine with me for a minute.

Imagine that when you try to tell your wife or husband that you love them, you can't make the words come out of your mouth in any coherent manner.

Imagine that you exhaust yourself trying to pick up something simple, like your spoon.

Imagine having strangers stare at you constantly, watching your uncontrollable limbs twitch.

Imagine being told that there is hope. A possible cure is just on the horizon for your Parkinson's disease, and the destroyed cells in your substantia nigra, the effected section of your brain, could be replaced with new, healthy ones.

Then, imagine somebody telling you to forget it. Imagine them telling you that you're never going to get any better; in fact, you'll get much, much worse until you're little more than a vegetable, and the reason you won't get better?

The research that can cure you offends my belief in mythology.

Welcome to the world of thousands of Parkinson's sufferers. The religious right is doing everything in their power to ensure that they live out the rest of their lives in misery.

Yesterday, this was hypothetical. Today it isn't.

Scientists in North Korea reported that they have created human embryos through cloning and extracted embryonic stem cells. Their goal, they state, is not to clone human beings but to advance the understanding of the causes and treatment of disease.

This is not pie-in-the-sky research. Doctor Richard Rawlins, an embryologist at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago stated, "My reaction is, basically, wow." And while the scientists in North Korea state that they are not interested in cloning a human, if you will pardon the expression, who the fuck cares?

This research does make it much more feasible that a human being can be cloned. The Christians are going to scream bloody murder. I can hear it now.

You know, you'd think that they would welcome it. I mean, it's just another group that they could terrorize with their ignorance. You think they hate atheists? How about a group of people that they can claim don't have a soul? The discrimination that would follow the mass cloning of humans would make Selma, Alabama look like a "We are the world," commercial.

And the worst part is, you and I are going to be out of substansive medical technologies that could lengthen our lifespans by many, many years. Imagine growing organs for transplant that have little to no chance of being rejected by your body.

Imagine cancer patients having fresh cells replace the cancerous growths that slowly eat them from the inside out.

Imagine hopelessly barren, loving couples being able to have children, and THEIR OWN children to boot.

Imagine losing all of that because we wouldn't stand up to a bunch of son-worshippers.

Oh wait. You don't have to image that at all.

Because that's your world.

Welcome to the insanity.

Joseph Haines, signing off from The Edge of the Abyss.