Power Blogging Thursday: Making Up For Lost Time

It's cold, my attention span is short and there's a lot of interesting items out today. So hang onto your hats, and let's power-blog ...

To Be Gaaaaaay Or Not To Be Gaaaaaay

Wisconsin law professor and fellow Blogspot resident Ann Althouse points to a New York Times article on an Oregon researcher looking into why 8 percent of male sheep prefer sex with other rams -- and the Left's reaction to it.

Charles Roselli set out to discover what makes some sheep gay. Then the news media and the blogosphere got hold of the story.

Dr. Roselli, a researcher at the Oregon Health and Science University, has searched for the past five years for physiological factors that might explain why about 8 percent of rams seek sex exclusively with other rams instead of ewes. The goal, he says, is to understand the fundamental mechanisms of sexual orientation in sheep. Other researchers might some day build on his findings to seek ways to determine which rams are likeliest to breed, he said.

But since last fall, when People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals started a campaign against the research, it has drawn a torrent of outrage from animal rights activists, gay advocates and ordinary citizens around the world -- all of it based, Dr. Roselli and colleagues say, on a bizarre misinterpretation of what the work is about.

Professor Althouse wonders if "progressives" only promote "science " when it suits their agenda.

"The more we play God or try to improve on Mother Nature, the more damage we are doing with all kinds of experiments that... turn into nightmares."

That sounds like the alarmism of a religious fundamentalist, but hostility to scientific research comes from the progressive side when the question is the source of sexual preference. ...

But shouldn't we want to know the truth? Shouldn't gay rights advocates care when they sound like the religious fundamentalists they usually deride?

This is more about PETA stirring up its allies than concerns over future human applications. Those unserious human beings who are so misguided as to compare Fido to developmentally challenged children aren't concerned at all with gay rights. They are upset that a few sheep die as a result of the experiments.

Interesting comments, however, following the Althouse post. We suggest reading them, including this one:

I think the real irony is in the penultimate sentence. The prospect of parents' eventually being able to choose not to have children who would become gay is a real concern for the future, Dr. Wolpe said.

The real issue will be that this touches the "third rail" of progressive politics: Abortion.

1. The Gay community keeps saying that gayness must be genetic, e.g. 5-10% of the population.

2. Sheep farmers say, this is real money

3. Researchers will eventually discover the genes, develop pre-natal tests, and gene therapies.

4. When this research ultimately crosses over into people, as it will, given the importance and incentives, does one doubt that;

5. parents will want to know the gender alignment of fetuses, and then either chose to treat or abort the fetus?

6. Hence the pro-choice community will need to say, it's a "woman's right to chose, except when...."

catch 22 comes to the abortion debate.

At BaT, we're pro-gay rights and, in most cases, anti-abortion. Until having a baby with any "gay gene" threatens the life of the mother, then we'll stick with the later stance and avoid playing God via a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Might As Well Jump

Will the oft-rumored Van Halen reunion tour finally happen? The Review Journal of Las Vegas is reporting it will.

A Van Halen reunion tour, with David Lee Roth back in the fold after 22 years, is in the works, with a Las Vegas launch looking good. A late April date at the Palms' new venue, The Pearl, is "99 percent" likely, a source said.

We were fortunate to see a stop in the 1984 Van Halen tour, before David Lee Roth left the band. Awesome. We were also unfortunate to see Roth in concert as a solo act. Sucked. Let's hope they can last through at least one show before Roth and the Van Halen brothers rip each other limp from limp.

Celebrity Death Match, Vegas Edition?

2008 TIME Poll: Rudy's In The Hunt

TIME magazine's 2008 presidential poll shows John McCain leading Rudy Guiliani narrowly, but America's Mayor is currently positioned as a uniting candidate.

If the election were held now, Rudy Giuliani appears to have the support of the greatest number of respondents of both parties, with 56% indicating they would "definitely" or "probably" support him -- followed by Hillary Clinton (51%) John McCain (50%) and Barack Obama (50%).

Hillary Clinton, however, surprises TIME with her big lead early on.

Despite the buzz generated by Senator Barack Obama entering the race, the survey found that Senator Clinton would beat him for the Democratic nomination by a margin of 40% to 21%. Senator John Edwards is a distant third with 11%.

It's no surprise to BaT. Of the currently announced Democratic candidates, Senator Clinton is the most qualified and best organized. John Edwards may very well be the nominee, but it's not because he deserves it.

You Read It Here First, Part 22

Speaking of polls and Barack Obama, a CBS News-Washington Post survey shows that the current media darling and Illinois' junior senator has some work to do with what clueless pundits thought was his lock on the black vote.

A CBS News survey this week found Hillary Clinton leading Obama among black voters, 52 percent to 28 percent.

Almost identical findings were reported by a Washington Post poll Thursday, leading some to suggest that certain African Americans just don't identify with the Ivy League-educated, bi-racial senator.

Loyal BaT readers learned this more than a week ago in this post (second item).

That's all for today. Whew, what a workout!