[andyfox]

"Stem cell research could benefit humanity at least as much as winning the war in Iraq or Vietnam. And in those cases people were willing to accept the killings of thousands of innocent cognizant humans for the supposedly greater good."

First, I don't think your last sentence is accurate. Governments routinely lie and dissemble about war, especially about the innocence of its victims. Maybe some of our leaders are willing to accept the kilings of thousands of innocents, but I don't think "people" in general are.

Second, people routinely value some human lives as more important than others. As you have pointed out about African children, out of sight, out of mind. We were often reminded during Vietnam, for example, that the "Oriental" didn't value human life as we supposedly did; they were less human/humane than we westerners. And our government has certainly not tried to make the information about how many civilians have been killed in Iraq readily available so that it will be discussed on the daily talk shows.

To acknowledge that killing embryos is homicide would be to publicize what those in favor of the research would not want publicized. Take a look at the speech Harry Truman gave after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. He claimed it was "an important Japanese army base." He said, "The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor." His original draft spoke of the target being "destroyed" but that was stricken, fearing it would look like we were expressing too much satisfaction. In fact, the original draft didn't even contain the name of the city, but it was added when it was realized people would ask about it.

You want the truth? People can't handle the truth.