The extremist flat earth society Bioethics Defense Fund, a front for anti-choice folks (“advocates for human rights from beginning to end”), is attacking Louisiana’s two research universities, Tulane and LSU, to prevent them from launching any sort of stem cell research involving embryos or SCNT-derived embryo-like things. It is a sophisticated debate, and those who oppose this research (which appears not only not to exist but not even to be in the planning stages at either school) are awfully careful to avoid scandalizing the other side:

A 14 foot by 48 foot billboard, paid for by Tulane and LSU alumnae concerned about the direction of their alma maters, looms above the I-10 eastbound toward the Superdome and the LSU-Tulane medical parkway.

The billboard asks the question, “Are Tulane and LSU Planning on Cloning Human Embryos?,” and directs viewers to learn more about the Universities’ legislative committee testimony and activities at http://www.CuresNotClones.org.

The aim is to bring out the same folks who desperately fear gay marriage, book burning fruitcakes, and ask them to direct some of that passion against those dern eggheads.

All I know is that Dr. John and Professor Longhair would have supported stem cell research. There won’t be many protesters who come from the Quarter.