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>>          THE MANHASSET PRESS     (....10/24/6....)
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>>B ERN I E 'S    B A N T E R                               by  Bernard
>>Klainberg
>>
>>          A SORROWFUL  TALE
>>     (The Chosen People, and King's Folly
>>
>>          The Pope and the Chosen People
>>     Vatican sources  acknowledged this week that  the Pontiff was
>>suffering from
>>Parkinson Disease. They did it reticently, although it had been
>>noticed and rumored
>>about for months. The official announcement may   aid   PD victims
>>worldwide ; over a
>>million in the U.S. alone, and perhaps  accelerate research in this
>>field.
>>      The Pope joins a long list of "Parkies" , notably among them
>>Billy Graham,
>>Muhammad Ali, and me.
>>      Lumped together with His Holiness  and Rev. Graham, gives one
>>the impression
>>that a celestial decree has chosen the best among us to enjoy this
>>affliction, thus
>>making us '' the chosen people. ''
>>     PD is a neurological illness akin  to Alzheimer's, or  Lou
>>Gehrig's Disease,
>>except as you can tell from my  9 year experience,  that it  leaves
>>the mind clear and
>>sharp and as perceptive as ever.
>>
>>          Sorrowful Discoveries
>>     .In spite of great medical strides, there is a plethora of
>>diseases out there.   New
>>ones  are reported  monthly in medical publications, and some  like
>>PD are presently
>>incurable.   Many   maladies are represented in our town , and some
>>may have
>>originated with  environmental problems,  and this led me to several
>>sad discoveries.
>>
>>          Udall Bill
>>     The first item covered a bill   hibernating in Congress called
>>the "Udall Bill for
>>Parkinson Research ."  Cong. Udall , a very active representative ,
>>had retired a few
>>years ago due to his advanced PD.  The legislation  requested that
>>the NIH (National
>>Institute of Health) in Bethesda, set up an ongoing PD research plan
>>with $100.million
>>dollars.
>>     To insure its passage PD activists asked members of Congress to
>>sponsor it.
>>Over the months it gathered the endorsement of over 60 members of the
>>Senate, and
>>over 250 in the House. (not bad). After years of efforts passage
>>seemed assured.
>>     At the end of this year's term the Senate approved it, but in
>>the House, the
>>Gingrich Grinches would not allow it come up for voting. This in
>>spite of the fact that
>>it was agreed to change the funding to a laughable $20 million
>>dollars.
>>     Looking further ,we were surprised  that our   Senator was one
>>of the minority
>>who did not sponsor this bill. What really shocked was the news that
>>Cong. Peter
>>King, he of our gerrymandered district , was one of the few
>>Republicans who had not
>>endorsed or worked for this bill.
>>     We questioned King's office by E-mail, and phone, and did not
>>get a reply,
>>although to be fair, we should have spent more time and applied more
>>pressure to get
>>an answer.
>>
>>     In 1995 his score on  conservation bills was zero (0), zilch,
>>nada while Cong.
>>Ackerman was 100, and other N.Y.  Republicans : Lazio 77 , Boehlert
>>92, Kelly 54. He
>>has not done much better in 1996.
>>     King voted against  anything to benefit conservation . Example;
>>HR 1905,
>>funding to find  renewable energy sources, to reduce pollution,
>>create jobs, and reduce
>>the flow of imported oil.  He voted for crippling the EPA (HR 2099),
>>and for Safeguards
>>Rollback, HR 1022, which set up roadblocks against environmental
>>regulations.
>>     In 1996, King voted against Federal Land Acquisition (HR 3662)
>>within National
>>Parks, and to allow the logging of redwood forests, voted for
>>stopping the EPA
>>(HR3322) from researching global changes due to burning of fossil
>>fuels, etc......
>>
>>          Not in Tune with the World
>>     On July 25, 1996, the House voted 279-135 (HR 3816), to allow
>>continued
>>      And , lest I forget, those who are shaking, tremoring,
>>shuffling, and dribbling,
>>(the Pope among them)  sure would appreciate Mr.  King's  conversion
>>to help his
>>fellow man, and support  medical research on PD, and the  breast
>>cancer epidemic in
>>this area, and multiple sclerosis, etc..regardless of cost.
>>
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