So I watched the latest Battlestar Galactica last night. Touted by some as proof-positive of BSG’s liberal bias, I found it to be exactly the opposite (to the extent such scoring makes sense at all). Supposedly — according to readers who spoiled the show for me in advance — the use of fetal cells (of some kind) to save President Roslin’s was supposed to lend credence to the push for embryonic stem cell research. Well, that’s hardly what happened. First the fetus was a cylon-human hybrid (which kind of throws off easy analogies already). Second, the use of its cells was the excuse needed to keep the baby alive. Again, a pretty different fact-pattern. Third, they didn’t kill the baby to get the cells. I’d have to check with Ramesh and Kathryn, but my guess is that using blood cells from the unborn to save lives when there is no harm to the fetus is probably acceptable to some pro-lifers and at least it would change the moral calculus.
Meanwhile, a new plot line was introduced. The radical terrorist version of the ANSWER crowd has popped up. They are radical peaceniks who want to call a truce with the misunderstood and victimized Cylons (for those who don’t watch, the Cylons are dedicated to the eradication of the human race and have nuked numerous human planets killing untold billions). The peace-terrorists are clearly a collection of whack jobs, fifth columnists and idiots (one of them is a Cylon). Obviously, this storyline isn’t dead-on analogous to current events either. But if we’re going to keep score, I’d say last night’s episode goes down in the Right column as a win.