Me too on that inevitability feeling, Justin. It really hit me yesterday (before I read your post!) and I was going to write on it today ... I really don't think the ESCR/cloning debate is winnable. I actually do think we can protect marriage in this country and even overturn Roe someday to result in drastic reductions in the number of abortions in America. But cloning has too many advocates and practitioners going ahead and working behind the scenes (and even in public) all over the world, with too little public awareness of what's going on. Unhappy days.

I oscillate between pessimism and optimism on this issue myself. It is certainly true that the biotechnology research complex is pushing ahead at a breakneck speed, which, when combined with widespread scientific illiteracy, makes for a toxic combination. But I often think that someone is going to go too far, or a series of events will eventually push the issue into the mainstream, where there will be a backlash against the biotech true believers. Perhaps that will have its own downsides, but it will probably serve to slow down the juggernaut. I will not be surprised if there is a big backlash against the California stem cell initiative. The taxpayers handed a pot of gold to a handful of researchers, but if they don't produce medical marvels, the people will feel gypped.

I guess it kind of parallels the nuclear physicists claims that they continuously need bigger and faster atom smashers to prove the existence of ever more sub-atomic particles... which will then lead to the need for another even bigger and faster atom smasher... eventually they will reach the limit of the European coastline and have to move it all to Africa, then to Asia.