Emerson can't have it both ways

To the editor:Regarding U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson's vote last month in favor of embryonic stem-cell research, I thought perhaps some slick politician had sneaked it in with another bill, as they often do, forcing her to vote yes. So on I called her office to find out. Surprisingly, it turns out that she flat-out supports it, according to her Washington staff. However, her office did stress to me that Emerson does not support human cloning, just embryonic stem-cell research, as if that makes sense.

Surely Emerson has to know where they get those handy little stem cells. Her constituents certainly do, and that's why each of the 28 counties in her district voted against Amendment 2 in 2006, many by a 2-to-1 margin. With her official, yet carefully crafted position, it sounds like Emerson herself has become one of the slick politicians, wanting to have it both ways.

The voters of the 8th District need to call and educate Emerson that embryonic stem cells are harvested from cloned human embryos. Therefore, if she's truly against human cloning, as her Washington staff claims, she must oppose funding the stem cells created by cloning. If Emerson continues to think that she knows better than her voters, on what other 2-to-1 issues will she abandon us?

JONATHAN OWENS, Ozark, Mo.