I have no problem with cloning, I just don't see the appeal in this form.

There is an amazing story on an old episode of This American Life about a guy in Texas who had this prized giant bull that starred in movies and was the featured attraction at children's birthday parties. When it died, he agreed to participate in a Texas A&M (I think) experiment to clone him. The resulting bull had a completely different personality.

its not the cloning that disgusts me. thats science.

$50k would help a sh!tload of the overabundance of animals already on the planet, rather than funding new ways to create even more for delusional elitests

(the above is personal opinion only and was not meant to incite anger amongst the clones in our midst)

Oh, I agree that the money could be better spent but that is almost always the case. If you have $50k extra floating around there are far better ways to spend it than on any form of animal care.

I guess that I'd say the money thing disgusts me the same way most $40k cars disgust me. Sure, they're neat but how do priorities get so skewed that anybody buys them?

Now, I see this as using rich people's money/desires as a means of advancing the science. Rather than created unwanted creatures purely for academic reasons who will then be summarily destroyed, they get to create wanted, desirable animals, whose characteristics are well-known, and invite easy comparison to their originals, who will likely live out their lives as valued, wanted creatures. Meanwhile, scientists working on them get their research funded so they can perfect methods and move closer toward real-world medical applications that can advance the cause of mankind.

What's so disgusting about that?

Because I like them.

$40k for a car isn't really that much these days...

To me it is and if I wanted to I could afford cars that cost twice that.

But my point was that everybody has different priorities on what is acceptable spending, particularly when it comes to luxuries such as automobile features and pet owning. Pretty much all money not spent on bare necessities of staying alive could be spent better by somebody else's priorities.

Couple told mid-flight they'd left child behind
Israelis remember duty-free and luggage, but forget 3-year-old at airport
The whole wheat story.

I assume the child then stayed home and thwarted the machinations of a burglary team.

Yes, that was mentioned in the story.