It’s becoming ever clearer that those who voted against President Bush in November on the basis of his opposition to federally funded research on new lines of embryonic stem cells were being excessively alarmist about the effect of the ban on research. For it seems that California has voted $3 billion for embryonic stem-cell research and that New Jersey, Connecticut, and Minnesota are adding millions more. A proposal to spend $1 billion in New York funds is gaining momentum in Albany, even among Republicans. So Catholic voters can know that they are being forced to pay levies to support research that they deeply oppose on religious grounds.

Meanwhile, the state comptroller, Alan Hevesi, is out with a report claiming that if New York only provided bigger subsidies to biotech companies, we could have a bigger biotech industry here. Well, no doubt if the state provided a big enough subsidy to automobile makers, it could lure them here from Detroit, too. Or startup daily newspapers. But sooner or later, those employed in the state’s other industries, the ones that flourish here naturally without any special subsidies, are going to suggest that rather than picking and choosing special sectors for special favors, the state should lower taxes and regulations across the board.