Read All About It in the Sunday Papers: April 19 Edition

LEAD STORY-The Times of London: British Scientists Use Stem Cells and Find Cure For Blindness

Wow. Good thing that Bush and the Wingnuts had such an abiding ‘respect’ for ‘human life’. Who ever would have wanted this to happen?

British scientists have developed the world’s first stem cell therapy to cure the most common cause of blindness. Surgeons predict it will become a routine, one-hour procedure that will be generally available in six or seven years’ time.

The treatment will tackle age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of blindness. It affects more than 500,000 Britons and the number is forecast to increase significantly as people live longer. The disease involves the loss of eye cells.

Under the new treatment, embryonic stem cells are transformed into replicas of the missing cells. They are then placed on an artificial membrane which is inserted in the back of the retina.

Tom Bremridge, chief executive of the Macular Disease Society, said: “This is a huge step forward for patients. We are extremely pleased that the big guns have become involved, because, once this treatment is validated, it will be made available to a huge volume of patients.”

Inspirational Verse from the Sunday Hymnal-“I was blind but, with the aid of stem cell research, now I see.”

New York Times: Expanded DNA Databases Violation of Privacy?

Is this an area where progressives and teabaggers can agree?

“DNA databases were built initially to deal with violent sexual crimes and homicides — a very limited number of crimes,” said Harry Levine, a professor of sociology at City University of New York who studies policing trends. “Over time more and more crimes of decreasing severity have been added to the database. Cops and prosecutors like it because it gives everybody more information and creates a new suspect pool.”

Courts have generally upheld laws authorizing compulsory collection of DNA from convicts and ex-convicts under supervised release, on the grounds that criminal acts diminish privacy rights.

DNA extraction upon arrest potentially erodes that argument, a recent Congressional study found. “Courts have not fully considered legal implications of recent extensions of DNA-collection to people whom the government has arrested but not tried or convicted,” the report said.

So, with some degree of hesitancy, ‘bulo invites teabaggers (…if their lips aren’t too tired from reading this, NOT teabagging, you people are so sick!) to share their perspective on this.  FWIW, The Beast Who Slumbers thinks that the government is going way too far.

The Sunday (UK) Independent: Obama Rejected Former CIA Directors’ Efforts to Stop Torture Memo Release

This may have been in an American newspaper somewhere, but the Beast Who Slumbers must have missed it. 

Four former CIA directors opposed the release of classified Bush-era interrogation memos, officials say, describing objections that went all the way to the White House and slowed disclosure of the records. Former CIA chiefs Michael Hayden, Porter Goss, George Tenet and John Deutch all called the White House in March warning that release of the so-called “torture memos” would compromise intelligence operations, current and former officials say.

This article is highly-recommended, so please read the entire thing.  Obama really stood his ground. And, what ultimately is ‘compromised’ here are the ‘reputations’ of the CIA chiefs and many others who secretly authorized and carried out government-sponsored torture. Truly one of the darkest chapters in American history.

Washington Post: Army Attracts Better Recruits, Thanks to Economic Downturn

No more spouse batterers or drug abusers in today’s Army.

While shunning those with criminal backgrounds, the Army is also attracting better-educated recruits. It is on track this year to meet, for the first time since 2004, the Pentagon’s goal of ensuring that 90 percent of recruits have high school diplomas.

The developments mark a welcome turnaround for the Army, which has the military’s biggest annual recruiting quota and had in recent years issued more waivers for recruits with criminal records. That, coupled with unprecedented strains from repeated deployments, led some senior officers to voice concerns that wartime pressures threatened to break the all-volunteer force.

Now, though, rising unemployment, security gains in Iraq and other factors have helped make military service more attractive and have allowed recruiters to be more choosy, according to military officials and Pentagon data.

Dallas Morning News: Killer-Turned-Pastor Sparks Admiration and Outrage

This is a great Rorschach Test story. Brutal murderer at 18, released from prison at 25 due to overcrowded conditions in (where else?) Texas, and now enjoying a very successful career as a televangelist. If you know El Somnambulo, you know how distrustful ‘bulo is of all organized religion. So you can anticipate his likely reaction to the story. Yet, the reporting by Diane Jennings is so even-handed that even he cannot come to a definitive conclusion. 

Read it for yourself. The Beast Who Slumbers would love your reactions to this well-crafted story.

Chicago Sun-Times: Who’s Joining Blago in Costa Rica?

This list barely makes it to D-level celebritology, but there’s mucho trainwreck potential.  Sadly, there are no Hogans or Kardashians on it. Memo to producers: Add the horny Palin girl to the list as Blago’s love interest. ‘Bulo would watch.

Inspired by the last item, Nostrabulus ends this week’s edition with a bold prediction. So bold that it’s in boldface to make for easy e-clip ‘n save:

Historians will discover that Sarah Palin was the first and only person to run for Vice-President for the sole purpose of having her own reality show. The show was wildly successful and ran for eight years until Levi and Whatshername’s baby OD’d on crank that was just layin’ around in Levi’s meth lab. A film crew rushed back from the First Dude’s oil rig to document the entire tragic scene.