On a more selfish note this could mean more funding for my research in a year or two.

Woo hoo! The new president is also expected to lift a so-called global gag rule barring international family planning groups that receive U.S. aid from counseling women about the availability of abortion, even in countries where the procedure is legal, said Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, he rescinded the Reagan-era regulation, known as the Mexico City policy, but Bush reimposed it.

msnbc seems to have taken down the article, but I found a copy here.

I know that he's going to break my heart at some point, political expediency will ensure that, but I'm really loving everything that he's done so far in the transition. Denying abortions to poor third-worlders is just an amazingly shitty policy in so many ways. It looks like he wants to make quick progress on the climate issue too. It makes me so sad to think what Gore could have done in the last eight years.

hm I had no trouble accessing special-k's link

special-k, might I join you in the selfish happy-dance? This is huge news here for BigPharmaCo, as a fair amount of the bleeding-edge stuff we're working on relies on this type of research. There is a palpable air of relief around the water cooler when these things are discussed. Six to twelve months ago, there were concerns that due to restrictions on research, our site would not even exist in 2009.

Pharmaceutical companies are not all evil fat-cat overlords. Much of what feeds production on this site relies on our partnerships in academic research. It's a vicious cycle - when our production is low, we don't have the spare cash to fund the research, yet without that pipeline, we don't get new products to make, and if we don't make stuff, we go under. This is a very complex issue; i.e. to make an omelette (potent new drugs), you gotta break some eggs (stem cell research).

The thing the wingnuts don't realise is that if ethical, environmentally conscious companies like BigPharmaCo aren't allowed to do their thing here in the U.S., this extremely lucrative research will simply go offshore to other, far less regulated producers who are mad for the income it represents, and don't give a shit about concerns like process purity so long as the end result rakes in cash. So the question then becomes: who would you rather see thrive? For example, see current melamine scare in China.

I love how organized he and his team are. It's great that he had such an awesome team doing the campaign and the GOTV stuff and that he thought ahead to form this group and get things done quickly and efficiently as soon as he steps in.
I think it will do a lot to quell the nay-sayers who think he will get bogged down in the usual politics and not accomplish what he wants. Though I am sure there will be some of that later.
He just continues to impress me with his foresight and preparation.

/end lovefest

SEE! SEE! magical unicorn of hope.

Denying abortions to poor third-worlders is just an amazingly shitty policy in so many ways.

So true. And intentionally keeping education on birth control from them is flat-out evil. I cannot wait for this abstinance only bullshit to end forever.

totally lfr. For me I have been worried that if the other two won, they would pull the last of the tiny pot of funding we currently get. But thankfully Mr O has embraced the urgency of climate change.

rmless2: I too and totally in awe at his organizational skills.

let the love fest continue...
He's setting the groundwork to get real trials for people and finally fucking close Guantanamo Bay