The hand wringing over human cloning continues with the announcement by a Kentucky fertility specialist that he has implanted a cloned embryo in an anonymous 35-year old British woman. Like the Raelian-linked Clonaid scientists before him, however, he has no proof, but the controversy rages.

Medical ethicists are outraged. Suzi Leather, the chairman of the UK’s Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, states, "His attempts, if true, are odious." News reports have highlighted the dangers of cloning, including Dolly the sheep’s early demise, cardiac arrest in cloned pigs, and disease-ridden rodents. Opponents of human cloning point to these and other incidents as proof that more study is needed before cloning is attempted with humans.

Concerns over the welfare of the child and the mother are often cited. Cloning expert Wolff Reik warns, “While it is possible the woman may fall pregnant the odds are still stacked against the baby developing. It could die at any time.” But foregoing human cloning doesn’t guarantee a healthy baby; both infant and maternal mortality are experienced in all countries, to differing degrees.

Many ethicists argue that the risk of human cloning is too great to allow it to proceed. Yet, there were ethical concerns regarding the practice of in vitro fertilization (IVF) before it became commonplace. In 1961, Italian physician Daniele Petrucci performed one of the first human IVF experiments when he fertilized a human egg in a laboratory dish. The egg developed into an embryo, which Petrucci destroyed 29 days later. Afterward, an editorial in L’Osservatore Romano, the weekly newspaper from the papacy, declared that IVF violated God’s natural law. There were fears that the process would create psychic super-babies, but in 1978 Louise Joy Brown became the first child born following IVF, and 25 years later she and thousands of other “test tube” babies appeared to be doing fine, although they keep their awesome psychic powers well-hidden.

Although some cloning proponents point to the successes of IVF to justify their calls to move forward, opponents claim that cloning is different. And as recently as 2002 studies indicating low birth weight was more prevalent among infants conceived in vitro were raising questions about the practice. Dr. Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, acknowledges IVF’s successes, but decries the unrestricted availability of the process, pointing out that “there are no regulations regarding the parents’ mental stability or age.”

Children are conceived by men and women -- or, if you’re Rosie O’Donnell, by women only -- every day. Sometimes, the mental stability of those parents is questionable. Recently, the parents of a six-year old girl were charged with her murder:

Police discovered the child's body on a motel floor after finding the couple and their two other children, aged 2 and 7, walking nude along Piedmont Avenue shortly after midnight Monday.

Human procreation has been going on for millions of years, and the suggestion that the government should license parents before they can reproduce would be laughable if the implication wasn’t so frightening. Why should a couple be forced to comply with government regulations before using IVF or cloning when a crack addict can be paid $200 to not have children? Given that there are risks of infant mortality during any pregnancy, regardless of the method of fertilization, the basic question is: Who determines if the risk is acceptable? The parents? The physician? The government? Who decides if you should have a child? If you’re a healthy couple, the decision is yours. But if you suffer the misfortune of infertility, there are some who would deny you the ability to make use of reproductive technologies. They would withhold these technologies ostensibly for the good of the mother. Patrick Cusworth, spokesman for the UK anti-abortion group Life, asserts that the unnamed woman who was the recipient of the cloned embryo is facing a “near suicidal risk.” And yet birth defects are the leading cause of infant mortality. One can imagine that miscarriages drive some women to suicide, but would a miscarriage following cloning be more emotionally damaging than any other? Would the birth of a cloned baby with a congenital defect be more of a tragedy than a birth defect in a baby produced without reproductive assistance? It would undoubtedly be no less a tragedy, but it’s something that parents have experienced for ages.

The current complaint is not so much that human cloning took place (although some oppose human cloning under any circumstances), but that it took place now. Many claim we should wait until more data is available concerning the safety and efficacy of the procedure. But when will it be safe enough, and who gets to decide?

In 2003, this site received a single page view from a Cuban Internet domain, in the month of April. It's the only indication I could find of a reader from Cuba, and it may be the last. Fidel Castro has decreed that Internet access be restricted to only a small group of Cubans.

It's interesting to note that the Cuban government justifies the act in the name of security. The government's stated goal is only to protect passwords and prevent "malicious" and "fraudulent" acts. It's meant to protect the people, in much the same way as drug criminalization, immigration controls, anti-trust measures, economic subsidies, trade barriers, public decency laws, involuntary mental treatment, smoking bans, safety regulations, Social Security, and firearms restrictions.

Cubans can sleep well tonight, knowing how much their government cares for them. Is your government protecting you?

Deutsche Welle published the latest mutterings about Bush from the European press.

The editors of the Russian paper Nezavisimaya Gazeta don’t think much of U.S. President George W. Bush's plans for a manned mission to Mars, which are scheduled to be unveiled later this week.

In Italy, La Repubblica looked ahead to next Monday's caucuses in Iowa. The paper wrote that it appears that none of the candidates for the Democrat nomination will be able to unseat Bush....America doesn't only need a new president, the Italian paper concluded, it is also needs a new opposition.

Meanwhile, a human tragedy preoccupied the French paper La Croix. The deaths of 21 Albanian refugees in the Adriatic is an "indictment of our times," the paper wrote....To reverse this trend, European countries must take decisive action to overcome the North-South divide. How else could one persuade hundreds of thousands that there is an alternative to flight to a rich country, the paper asked.

It's not easy being a libertarian. Most people don't understand libertarianism, and when I announce my affiliation the most common response is "Oh, you're the guys who want to legalize pot, right?" Yes, libertarians are often lumped into the kook camp alongside the Greens, Communists, and [gasp!] Lyndon Larouche.

As politicians know, you don't earn high-powered endorsements by being a kook. Sure, Howard Dean has had his weak moments, but Al Gore and Bill Bradley wouldn't have backed him if he were totally unhinged. But what of the other candidates? Who, for example, has endorsed Dennis Kucinich?

A list of comments from prominent endorsers includes four Hollywood stars who could charitably be described as being in the twilight of their careers. What has Ed Asner, Hector Elizondo, Elliot Gould, and Mimi Kennedy done lately? There is also a list of over 80 names, including folks like Danny Glover, Linda Blair, James Cromwell, Tom Hayden, and Roy Schneider. Big names, indeed, but then one stumbles across the endorsement by Grandfather Twilight.

Penned by Barbara Helen Berger, an author of children’s' books, the endorsement makes libertarians look like the most grounded and trusted social conservators. To whit:

I see someone who knows Peace is more than the absence of war--it is a positive power. Someone who is brave enough to stake his life on it. Someone who wants to lead us out of the nightmare. He is not afraid. He knows we can do it.

Although Grandfather Twilight feels that Kucinich would "stake his life" on peace, there is no indication that he served in the military, whose members take an oath to protect the Constitution and give their lives in that effort. He does, however, roll up his sleeves, and as a Congressman he provides recommendations for admission to U.S. Service Academies. But in the World according to Grandfather Twilight (and Kucinich), instead of heading off to West Point to learn the art of war, those youths would receive appointments to the U.S. Peace Academy, after which they would serve in the U.S. Department of Peace, bringing happiness and joy to people around the world. According to Grandfather Twilight, we can combat terrorism with a healthy dose of goodwill and fairy dust. The bad guys will soon see that we mean no harm, and join us in a warm embrace amid the wise and knowing trees:

BHB: I heard the Gandhi Peace Award for 2003 was given to Dennis Kucinich.

GT: True. When the whole deep forest heard the news, what joy! From the grassy roots to the tallest trees, we had a standing ovation.

Some might consider my criticism of this Kucinich endorsement cruel, but in terms of Internet traffic, he's third behind Dean and Clark, so this is hardly kicking a guy when he's down. I'd be hesitant to kick Dean, the self-described "street fighter," or Clark, who has been indicted for war crimes against Yugoslavia and is just a big meany, but Kucinich would probably take a good kicking with a heartfelt "thank you" and a broad smile.

The buzz regarding Apple got its annual boost during the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. There are several interesting products, and one in particular received a glowing reception: GarageBand.

Writing in the Mercury News, Jon Fortt touts GarageBand as "the greatest thing since word processing," citing the ease with which non-musicians can select and position audio loops to create phat grooves.

GarageBand is more an instrument than it is a piece of software. It lets people either record themselves playing traditional instruments, or mix together dance-type songs using prerecorded sounds.

GarageBand does have the advantage of the Apple marketing machine, whereas I didn't even know Sony had acquired Acid until I bought a VAIO notebook a few months ago and saw that it was preloaded. Apple seems to be investing significant effort in GarageBand and the iLife suite; Sony's commitment to the Acid line remains to be seen.