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Editorial: "Eight is Enough" May Be Too Much
June 20th, 2002

Editorial: Cedar Key Plantation: Albatross or Opportunity
June 16th, 2002

Editorial: Hello Cedar Key Plantation, Goodbye Clam Beds
June 14th, 2002

Editorial: All`s Quiet on the Water Front
June 8th, 2002

Editorial: A Cop in Trouble
June 6th, 2002

Editorial: Community Redevelopment Wish Lists
June 3rd, 2002

Editorial: Heath Davis and the Power of Politics
May 19th, 2002

Editorial: Do We Need Another Hero?
May 16th, 2002

Editorial: Support Groups
May 8th, 2002

Editorial: Clarification of Speak Out
May 7th, 2002

Editorial: Introducing Our Editor
April 22nd, 2002


Armadillos and Anthros

Armadillos and Anthros

Editorial

Now that the Gulf of Mexico is placid as a mill pond, at least temporarily, we can turn our thoughts to things more esoteric than survival. And with apologies to John Steinbeck, the thoughts are of armadillos and their mammalian cousins, man.

Armadillos have expanded their range into North America over the past century despite sharing that century with a constantly expanding population of cars and trucks. (So much for irrelevant correlations.) Armadillos, like man, will eat almost anything as long as it hasn't been dead too long. They also exhibit the twinning process, carried to a much higher level than mankind. Armadillos can deliver identical quadruplets or even octuplets, all from a single fertilized egg. That is carrying the twinning process one or two steps beyond identical twins.

Human twins, although novel, are not unusual. Identical twins are less common, but much less spectacular than armadillos' identical octuplets. Because this is a family news paper, the production of fertilized eggs will not be discussed further here. However, suffice it to say, the processes are more similar than dissimilar for armadillos and humans.

The point of this esoteric editorial is that the miracles of birth and cloning are related. Cloning is not a new concept. Armadillos have perfected the process. Man and woman have been doing it without even knowing it. Now scientists have refined the process. It is now up to society to use good judgment and the process, like atomic power and stem cells, for good and not evil.

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