Hello,

       Very interesting thread.  And I am going to have to go back to
watching former governor of Wisconsin, now Secretary of DHS,  Tommy Thompson,
who was obviously very involved in recent events with our favorite issue, and
possible link to future treatment and cure for PD, stem cell research.  I did
note in the media in Wisconsin the past week or so that prior non-existent,
lukewarm, or negative, coverage turned into postivie coverage of stem cell
rearch and federal funding of stem cell research.  And, then the media was
saying "we," Wisconsin, has 10 patents, and I know now, that that apparently
means 10 stem cell lines.  Then the Media was saying "we," Wisconsin, were
going to get many dollars in stem cell research.  Ethics, pro-life views,
etc. all disappeared.  And, Tommy Thompson was in town, in Madison, really
all over the state prior to this, right up to the time of this very crucial,
public appearance of his nationally on the issues of stem cell research and
funding for stem cell research.

       And, Linda and Terry are right, "we," Wisconsin has the patents, the
patents on the stem cell lines-- it has been reported that "we" have 10
patents, and no one, not even Tommy Thompson in his meeting with the press
yesterday, could identify the supposedly remaining 50 patents and/or stem
cell lines out there.  The researcher at University of Wisconsin-Madison was
purportedly the first to isolate stem cells.  The University of
Wisconsin-Madison, probably technically the University of Wisconsin System,
through WARF (the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation) has been reported in
the media in Wisconsin as holding these stem cell patents.  WiCell is
involved with WARF somehow, and there is Geron, Geron apparently provided the
bulk of the funding for the UW researcher's stem cell work.

       Another person on this list asked me offline for an overvirew of the
constitutional issues in regard to stem cells, and I was dismissing, I was
not interested in, those constitutional issues, and I postulated that state
law, primarily state contract and property law, would determine the issues in
this area.  Here you have it:  I forgot all about that lovely, federal patent
law (but I didn't know about stem cell lines either until the President's
speech yesterday)..   While the two or three (?) patent law experts  in the
state of Wisconsin will be dusting off their patent law books, the rest of
the Wisconsin bar will be dusting off their property and contract law books.
Somebody, that little unknown expert in patent law out there somewhere, who
probaby graduated from law school in Wisconsin and who knows, or who very
quickly remembers, Wisconsin property and contract law, is probably going to
get very, very busy.

       What a tangled web we weave!  We, the people on this list, want proper
treatment, a reaonable quality of life, and a cure.  We, the lawyers, are
intrigued by these new legal issues, and some of us want money.  We, the
people of Wisconsin, want recognition for our researchers and the quality of
our educational system, and some of us want money, for ourselves or for our
general economy.  The president wants to slip unscathed politically through
this divisive, turbulent area of embryonic stem cell research, and he
probably wants to be elected for a second term, and for a larger margin than
last time.  And, there are others out there, who are pro-life or whatever but
they want the moral and ethical issues to be considered and to prevail.  And
Tommy Thompson?   I am going to have to find out what he wants, what he gets
out of this.

         I think, hopefully, thankfully, after the President's speech, that
stem cell research has found its legs.  The president has decided his
position on the public policy to be in this area, and attention will shift to
Congress.   The president's position on stem cells, and his indications, his
preferences, for a veto, a partial veto, or for signing a stem cell bill,
will have an impact upon the legislative process.  Apparently the President
read all these huge briefing binders on stem cell research in the early
morning hours and quized everyone from the Pope to Tommy Thompson about stem
cell research.   We will see members of Congress, and the media, scramble to
catch up on this issue, and all the political, economic, scientific, and
ethical ramifications.  I watched MSNBC, Fox news, SPN,  CNN, and other local
and national news programs the day after the President's speech question, and
the "talking heads" kept saying "I don't know," "I don't," in answer to
questions from the commentators, and I saw all these reporters at the
Department of Human Services asking a beaming Tommy Thompson: "Why did the
President do this?"  "Why stem cell research?"  "Why a national broadcast on
the President's policy decision on stem cells?"

       And that brings us back to this list, and the array of materials which
have been made available to us on this list about all aspects of stem cells,
stem cell research, and stem cell funding.  Materials which have been made
available to us for a long time as well as today, and probably tomorrow as
well.  I am thankful; for this information, and I thank, and I applaud, the
people on the list who bring that information to me.  I have complained about
the volume of information, I have skimmed over some of it or stopped reading
it when frustrated or overwhelmed, BUT  always, always I appreciated that
information, and it has proven to be invaluable to me.

       And, and this also brings me back to Tommy Thompson.  He was governor
of Wisconsin for a long time and he left "us," Wisconsin,  to take the DHS
Secretary position in the Bush administration, and he has had aspirations for
national, elective positions in the past, primarily, in the past, for vice
president.  I was an employee of the State of Wisconsin for over nine years,
all nine years under his administration as governor of the state.  Thompson
is generally regarded as being smart and politically astute, politically
saavy, although he loves to present himself as a good ole boy, one of the
boys, a fun-loving redneck.  I know he excells at strategy; making deals
under the table, but also delivering on his deals, his promises; and he
appears to me to have brought a Huey Long/Louisiana kind of flavor to
Wisconsin politics.

       Tommy Thompson, his DHS, and his NIH will be putting the President's
policy decisions on stem cells into practice, and he will also be involved in
the legislative process.  Tommy Thompson is going to be on TV all the time.
Tommy Thompson  is supportive of stem cell research.  Good for us.  He has,
or he has claimed in his press conferences that he has,  persuaded the
President to accept his, Tommy Thompson's, compromise as to existant stem
cell lines.  Good for us?  Probably not?  The scientists say no.  We will
have to look into that.  And we will see what happens, and we will be spread
thin because things are going to be happening, all at once, in many different
places.

       But what really intrigues me is that the Secretary of the Department
of Human Services in our federal, administrative government has said that he
has persuaded the President of the United States to adopt a public policy
decision.  That happens all the time in government.   That decision will most
likely result in publicity, support, and monies for the owner, the holders of
the patents for existant stem cell lines  The ten stem cells lines, the only
publicly identified stem cell lines identified so far, to my knowledge, are
patented, and are patented by WARF, an arm of the University of Wisconsin, of
the University of Wisconsin system, and ultimately of --of the State of
Wisconsin.   Tommy Thompson, former governor of the State of Wisconsin, has
just thrown a bone, probably a big bone, to "us," in Wisconsin.  And,
arguably that happens all the time in government, but I am intrigued and I
worry and I get angry about what Tommy Thompson has done here, about "his"
alleged compromise,  or about what he will do, and the impact of that upon
stem cell research and stem cell funding, and ultimately upon me, upon us,
upon anyone who could possibly benefit in his/her health from stem cell
research.

       I realize, now, that Tommy Thompson, as Secretary of DHS, is not out
of my hair:  he is out of the State of Wisconsin, but it is like he has never
left.  He still has his fingers in every pie, and, on these issues of stem
cell research and stem cell funding,  he may or may not be in my way.  I
don't know.  I will have to go back to my "Tommy Watching," of old, and see
what he has done here and what he will do now that he is the Secretary of
DHS.

[To those of you who have asked, I am slowly coming out of this dreadful
cold, and I hope to be out and about next week.  And, so far, no secondary
infections. ]And, Tarzan the Cat is very, very happy with his own, human,
petting machine in the house 24/7.  I will return e-mails soon].


















       And this brings me back to Tommy Thompson and what he wants and what
he is up to.  I guess I will just have to find out.



What a tangled web we weave

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