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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn