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Very well said, Greg and Carrie, I agree - Politics has everything to do with finding the cure for PD! In the years before Joan Samuelson founded PAN and led other Parkinson's patients to speak out about the need to fund the research, funding for PD as dismally low compared to other illnesses. In 1994, the NIH funding for PD was only $30 per patient, compared to $158/ MS patient and over $1000 for each AIDS patient. It was only through continual hard work and political activism by people with Parkinson's over the last 10 years, that funding has become more equitable, and the NIH budget as a whole has doubled. But now all this progress is threatened by Pres. Bush's proposed slashing of the NIH budget - causing all disease research to suffer. Bush is willing to commit untold billions to the Iraqi war, billions to go to the moon and Mars; even $1.5 billion for "marriage education" but at the same time wants to cut the NIH budget so severely that promising research already in progress could be shut down. Politics should be discussed on this list. We should share information about the candidates' voting records and stands on health care issues. We should support candidates who will put a priority on saving lives by supporting medical research funding and those who will support stem cell research. I dream of seeing a cure for PD in my life time. Do you? The 2004 election is crucial to that dream coming true. Linda Herman On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 01:32:43 -0800 Greg Wasson <[log in to unmask]> writes: > Joann, > > I disagree. It is politics that has increased per patient spending > on PD ten-fold in less than 10 years. And it is the uncompassionate > conservatism and pandering to the extreme right of the Bush > administration that has taken 15% annual increases iin the NIH > budget down to 1 to 3 % max for FY04. > > It isnt mutual hugs, the PD fairy, or wishing real hard that has > brought us to human clinical trials in spheramine, gdnf, > neuoimmunophilin ligands, and a prediction by Mahlon Delong of Emory > University that human clinical stem cell trials might begin in 2005 > (next year). > > It is advocacy in DC and the statehouses, fundraising across the > country, and raising the awareness level of this once moribund > community that has accomplished this. It is politics pure and > simple. > > We need the hugs. But we need the money. And we need to face the > facts of our dilemna without blinking. We can sit on our butts and > complain about our aches and pains and wait to die, or we can > believe in our collective power to change our own prognosis and act > to save ourselves and future generations from this awful disease.. > > We need more politics, not less. > > Respectively, > > Greg Wasson > > Jo Ann Coen <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Jesus Christ, Carrie. Back off. No one wants to hear politics on > this > list. At least, I don't think so. Why don't YOU go to Mars? J o Ann > > On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 10:16:55 EST Carrie Barrott > writes: > > In a message dated 1/13/2004 11:03:05 PM Pacific Standard Time, > > [log in to unmask] writes: > > Schwarzenegger was indiscriminately cutting cost-effective > programs > > that have > > little effect on the state budget. > > ** > > Maybe he could join his pal George on Mars... What a mess. > > > > Carrie > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > > mailto:[log in to unmask] > > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > > --------------------------------- > Do you Yahoo!? > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn