Do you know how to tell it is a weekend? Someone on the list will take issue
with something said during the week. It never fails.

Are you Russian, Chinese, Mexican, or European? If you are, you are welcome
here because we are an international group that is interested in helping one
another with Parkinson's and at the same time trying to find a cure as
expeditiously as possible. Parkinsn subscribers come from varied lands,
varied religions and varied cultures. You will encounter all kinds of
opinions on the politics of finding a cure on Parkinsn.

In order to manage some kind of order and civility, we are guided by the
Parkinsn Charter/Guidelines.
http://tinyurl.com/46qm6

If your postings to Parkinsn don't have your first and last name they tend
to be received as being secretive and anonymous. It is normal to fear
discovery for a while but after all we are one family with one goal and it
is nice to know your name. "Hey You!" isn't as nice as Jane or Harry. If you
didn't give a firstname and lastname to the listserv when you subscribed,
please email me and I can take care of that for you. That is one of my many
volunteer jobs.

I am assisting Murray Charters, the Bonander Award recipient, in providing
news articles of importance to the Parkinson's community which includes
Parkinsn. Murray Charters has been a longtime member of Parkinsn and his
commitment to service has been exemplary.

Murray is ill now and we wish him a speedy recovery. Our thoughts and
prayers are with Murray and his lovely wife.

There are two words in America that resonate here but mean nothing to an
international list on Parkinson's. The words Liberal and Conservative evoke
extreme hatred. Once an issue is colored by one of these two words means it
will either be adopted or not since the conservatives control the federal
legislature with the most members. Any President elected will have to seek
approval from both houses to have his agenda put forward.

Parkinsn has been called an activist group. It has been a place where the
workers could network on the affairs of the day to shorten the time when a
cure will be found. The news you get here is read through blue glasses,
either to bring you comfort or spur you to action. People with Parkinson's
have an interest in electing those who will help us in our endeavors. We are
a special interest group. If that fact surprises you, perhaps you need to
find another group that is satisfied to take a handful of pills the rest of
their lives. Parkinsn, since its inception 11 years ago next November, has
always been on the leading edge, offering our heads and bodies for research.

Politically, the success of our US friends has been mixed and many times we
had to settle for half a loaf or nothing at all.

Perhaps our new members do not know how research is financed. I will attempt
to enlighten.

Private Funds: Groups like Parkinson Alliance, Parkinson Disease Foundation,
National Parkinson Foundation, APDA and the Michael J Fox Foundation all
raise funds from the public and receive payments for conducting research.
The Parkinson's Unity Walks divide the moneys raised, among the groups.

Public Funds: The Parkinson Action Network lobbies congress for funds for
the NIH to oversee and  conduct Parkinson's studies. Those funds are
appropriated out of Federal Revenues. The NIH also oversees the ethical
issues involved in this research.

There is no "free lunch" when it comes to having or supporting our cause and
many of our brothers and sisters use their own monies to finance web sites
to further the cause of finding a cure. Daily, we owe them a debt of gratitude.

Most of the Parkinson's research is for petri dish projects where scientists
stir matter and look for change in order to learn how this or that works.
This type of research is not a viable product that can be sold to recover
its cost. This type of research is funded by private foundations like the
Michael J Fox Foundation and the NIH, with public and private monies.

Drug compounds on the other hand are financed by pharmaceutical concerns on
the idea that if it works better than what is on the market it will be a
financial success. The studies to prove or disprove the compounds worth are
strictly overseen by the FDA and the peer review process.

Homeopathic compounds based on commonly occurring substances tend to be
hawked by the vitamin merchants using little reproducible scientific
evidence. "Experts" in their literature tend to be those professionals who
have a financial interest in the product.

If you have an interest is finding out more about the reuse of a patients
stem cells please use this link to an interview of Dr. Michel Levesque by
some members of Parkinsn and others when the news was first released.
http://tinyurl.com/4w36j

Subscription to Parkinsn is not necessary if you just want to lurk and read
the messages online at http://tinyurl.com/2t4fd. Subscription is necessary
if you want to post and interact with us.

Our friend Simon Coles for many years provided the Parkinsn archives so we
could easily search them but since last May when he formed his own company,
the archives have not been updated.

On the P-I-E-N-0 web site, which is the home of the Parkinsn list, has the
last 300 messages available for searching. To read the messages sequentially
use this link: http://tinyurl.com/2t4fd. If you would like the messages
sorted by topic use this link: http://tinyurl.com/5j8xx.

The things to remember about posting to Parkinsn:
1. Do not respond immediately to what someone writes....let cool heads prevail.
2. The Liberal-Conservative viewpoints do not translate well so drop them as
a means to stifle thought.
3. We are in the same boat whether we like it or not, so please lets row in
the same direction.
4. Don't kill the messenger....The news items are just that...no slant to
the news intended.
5. Participate in the Clinical Trials.
6. Elect the Congress person or Senator that will provide us with a full loaf.
7. As Barbara Patterson would say, "continue on using uncommonly good
judgement in your discourse with one another".

Barbara and I consider each of you as more than an acquaintance.

John Cottingham
Co-Owner Parkinsn

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