Last week, opponents of stem cell research and cures launched a campaign against... opponents of stem cell research and cures.

With a filing that was effectively a Declaration of War, a group calling itself the "Missouri Roundtable for Life [1]" filed three initiative petitions with the Secretary of State to ban stem cell research, cures and the funding of both.

The proposals directly compete with one promoted by a rival group, deceptively calling itself "Cures Without Cloning."

It's unclear exactly what triggered the civil war, but the CWC effort (led by GOP divider Jeff Roe) has been marked from the beginning by missteps and in-fighting

First CWC drafted its initiative petition to deny "human" status to Missourians with Down Syndrome. [2]

Then they botched their refiled petition by requiring signers to publicly disclose their private email addresses to the government. [3]

Next they failed to file required campaign finance reports until ordered to do so by the Ethics Commission.  But those reports only showed $20.34 raised, nothing spent and were described as purposefully false by the group's Illinois politician spokesman. [4]

Most recently, they joined signature gathering efforts with those promoting an affirmative action ban, drawing the ire of many Catholics. [4]

No matter what The Source, the division is likely to strain right-wing relations for months. 

In related news, scientists are hopeful that early stem cell research will find a cure for multiple personality disorder.