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Beautifully stated, but perhaps too subtle for Mr.
Buckhorn. It's easy to be arrogant when you are healthy and
you don't recognize that the subtle little tremor in your
right hand is the harbinger of something unspeakable coming
your way...
Carole S. Hercun

--- Texas_Parkinsonism Advocate
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I just could not let this go unanswered... See paragraph
> six.
> Resolved, for 2003
> Some resolutions for America for the New Year.
> by Lee Bockhorn
> 01/02/2003 8:00:00 AM
>
>
> Lee Bockhorn, associate editor
>
>
>
> IT'S A NEW YEAR, which means it's time for all of us to
> make our usual bold
> New Year's resolutions--and promptly break them.
>
> So, rather than futilely resolve once again to acquire
> washboard abs, stop
> staying up until 3 a.m. most nights, and learn Italian,
> I've been thinking
> instead about some resolutions our country should make
> for 2003. We
> Americans have always been a can-do people, after all, so
> collective resolve
> in the midst of a maddening world should come naturally
> to us. No doubt I'm
> forgetting many worthy goals, but consider the following
> list a modest
> beginning:
>
> -Win the war: Speaking of "resolutions," since Iraq's
> government has baldly
> defied every U.N. resolution regarding its behavior since
> the end of the
> Gulf War, it's time we resolve to end the problem of
> Saddam Hussein's regime
> the only practical way possible: End the regime itself,
> and be prepared for
> the difficult but necessary task of establishing a
> functioning post-Saddam
> Iraq afterward.
>
> In the eyes of the world's thugs, dictators, and
> terrorists, American
> strength, resolve, and credibility are now on the line.
> Look no further than
> the shenanigans of the North Korean government to see
> what happens when
> America ignores gathering dangers and pretends that evil
> can be placated
> using a namby-pamby, "carrot and stick"
> approach--especially one that's all
> carrot and no stick. Tyrants only understand the stick.
>
> Winning a war requires clarity of purpose and clarity of
> intellect--most
> especially, the willingness to call a spade a spade. So
> let's resolve also
> to admit the obvious. For example: The only thing
> "special" about our
> relationship with Saudi Arabia is that its rulers are
> especially vile and
> enthusiastic in their support of those who foment hatred
> of America.
> Furthermore, we are waging not just a vague war on
> "terrorism," but a war
> against the militant and radical form of Islam that
> inspires it.
>
> -Put the Brave New World on hold: Is it too much to ask
> that Congress take
> some form of action on cloning this year? A full ban
> would be best, but at
> the very least, let's follow the advice of the
> President's Council on
> Bioethics and pass a four-year moratorium on both
> reproductive and so-called
> "research" cloning. Despite the bathetic statements by
> various Hollywood
> celebrities and others, no one currently suffering from
> Parkinson's or any
> other disease is going to die from a lack of a cure
> because of a four-year
> moratorium. Four years just might give us time to cleanse
> doublespeak and
> emotional appeals from the cloning discussion--and permit
> a reasoned
> national debate about whether the speculative benefits of
> research cloning
> outweigh the damage such research would do to our respect
> for the dignity of
> all forms of human life.
>
> -Poseurs and loudmouths: Let's resolve to stop paying
> attention to
> blowhards, hucksters, and self-important naïfs from all
> parts of the
> ideological spectrum. Talk to the hand, Jesse Jackson,
> Ann Coulter, Michael
> Moore, Bill Moyers, Pat Buchanan, Jimmy Carter, Hollywood
> windbags, and
> every smug anti-American professor on our campuses.
>
> -"It's Up To You, New York, New York": Two resolutions
> for the powers that
> be in New York City: First, junk your new draconian ban
> on smoking in bars
> and restaurants. Your city and our country face bigger
> problems right now
> than a little second-hand smoke. Second: Resolve to find
> some architects who
> actually believe in concepts like beauty and nobility to
> design the
> buildings and memorial that will arise at the site of the
> World Trade
> Center. The postmodern eyesores featured in the proposals
> unveiled to date
> are, to say the least, less than inspiring. We can do
> better.
>
> -Pop culture and more: Let's all resolve to stop
> listening to the "music" of
> boy bands and sexpot teen-queen "singers." Let's resolve
> to stop treating
> the marital status of people like Jennifer Lopez as a
> matter of
> earth-shaking import. (I know I'm asking for a lot here,
> but a guy can
> dream, can't he?) And finally--now that you've finished
> this web
> column--let's resolve as a nation to stop watching so
> much TV and spending
> so much time on the Internet. Do something radical, like
> read a book, or go
> outside, or do something for those less fortunate than
> yourself. There's a
> whole world out there beyond "reality" shows, video games
> where you can
> pretend to commit carjackings, and reading 200 blogs a
> day. Go discover it,
> my fellow Americans.
>
> Happy New Year!
>
> Lee Bockhorn is associate editor at The Weekly Standard.
>
>
> © Copyright 2002, News Corporation, Weekly Standard, All
> Rights Reserved.
>
> My rebuttal...
>
> Dear Mr. Bockhorn,
>
> On behalf of my wife, my children, my relatives, my
> friends and neighbors,
> my employer, my health care providers, my health care
> underwriters and the
> other million-and-a-half fellow Parkinson's patients I
> wish to thank you.
>
> I cannot believe I have been so sorely misled all this
> time. Misled to
> believe that my disease is progressively degenerative to
> the point of total
> wasting away. I join with you and your New Year's
> resolution that I will not
> get any worse, nor will any Parkinson's patient perish
> because of this
> disease during a moratorium on cloning at the cellular
> level, or as you so
> eloquently commented "so called 'research' cloning." In
> fact I would hope
> that we would resolve this moratorium indefinitely so
> that I could live out
> my life without fear of dying of Parkinson's. Even though
> I'm not a
> Hollywood type, but rather a resident of Bush country,
> deep in the heart of
> Texas I resolve that I will no longer proclaim any
> pitiful remarks about
> anyone dying from a progressively degenerative and as yet
> incurable disease.
>
> I further resolve not to recount for you the unreasonable
> cases of anecdotal
> cure's actually being effected, not only for Parkinson's,
> but also for
> diseases like sickle cell anemia, juvenile diabetes,
> strokes as well as
> others. I resolve I will not point out to you the
> unreasonable fact that
> cloning at the cellular level has been a long established
> laboratory
> procedure. And I certainly resolve not to suggest the
> unreasonable premise
> that Parkinson's Disease is an idiopathic condition,
> meaning of course that
> every American, rational or otherwise, is at risk of
> contracting this
> life-changing disease.
>
=== message truncated ===


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