Does the Senate Vote on Stem Cell Research Matter?

Articles covering the US Senate vote on funding for embryonic stem cell research tend to include polarising comments.

For example, from a Senator supporting the bill "I happened to have the opportunity to see people in a cancer ward, children, it breaks your heart. How can you not explore the possibility that they will be there to be an adult?"

Whereas President Bush had this to say: "This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others. It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect, so I vetoed it"

But an article entitled 'Does the Senate Vote on Stem Cell Research Matter?', in the San Francisco Chronicle, provides an interesting viewpoint, which leaves emotions aside and concentrates on facts. The article concludes that 'The debate was divisive, emotional, replete with misinformation from both sides -- and totally unnecessary.' Well worth reading.