Dolores, you are so right. The suffering in this world is monstrous and to not take the opportunity to do something about it is indeed a great moral failure. How many egregious acts does this administration have to commit before people wake up? ray ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dolores Buente" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 11:50 AM Subject: Re: PD and politics > Dear List members, > > I feel that Linda's message in regard to PD and politics is so important > that it bears repeating and deserves our time to reflect upon it and > fully > comprehend its meaning. > > Linda wrote that anyone who thinks that finding a cure for Parkinson's > doesn't involve politics is living with their head buried in the sand. > She > explains that it took three years of political activism to pass the Udall > bill and > that Parkinson's research would still be receiving the lowest funding of > all > chronic illnesses if people hadn't worked politically to turn that > around. > > She points out that while billions of dollars are being spent on the war > in > Iraq, the proposed budget for the NIH this year is a 1/2 percent > increase. > With the rate of inflation, this represents less dollars than we had to > work > with last year. > > The current administration is ignoring the advice of scientific experts in > their fields in favor of the opinions of religious fundamentalists and neo > conservatives. Medical advisory committees have been stacked with those > who > share the President's social and religious beliefs. Scientific > associations > have termed George W. Bush as "The most anti-science President in > history." > > As a person with Parkinson's disease, these are all very important issues > to > me. These issues affect my life and my future. They affect the lives and > futures of my children and grandchild. I am but one of many whose lives > and > futures are affected by the decisions our political leaders wish to make > for us > (for society) and I do not choose to sit back quietly and politely when > I > do not agree. I think we all should have learned a lesson on that when > we > watched as levees broke, a city flooded and thousands of lives were > jeopardized > as a result of a failure of leadership to initiate either a responsible > plan > for prevention or an organized plan for responsive emergency action. > > Yes, I know, and I will agree with the principle that our leadership is > not > responsible for nor can they be expected to prevent or remand every > disastrous act of nature and every affliction that can befall us. What I > do not agree > with is our leaders being presented with a reasonable opportunity to > fund, > explore, research and hopefully find cures for some of mankind's most > devastating diseases through embryonic stem cell research and their > choice not to do > so....I call that a monstrous failure of leadership! > > There are some who will find this message inappropriate to this forum but > in > spite of the risk of being offensive, I feel it imperative to express to > the > Parkinson's community my feelings about the importance of PD's connection > to > politics and the need to be vocal on this issue. > > Dee > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > 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