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or perhaps an part of # 4 Tax $ which go towards PD research are unfairly appropriated compared with that which is spent on AIDS research by the NIH - $41 for each of our 1,000,000 souls (slightly more now after a massive 2 year grass roots effort by the afflicted?) vs. $1,640 for each of their 980,000 ( recently increased by Clinton by Presidential fiat by - I doN't recall the number but $150,000,000.00 comes to mind.). $41 million Vs $1,640 million. Using last year's #s that is 4,000% more for AIDS -, NOT 4 hundred % more, but 4 THOUSAND percent more!. This SHOULD seem wholly wrong to us, especially when considering new statistics released earlier this year reveal that the incidence of AIDS affliction is down considerably and is, in fact, not even among the top ten causes of death for young men any longer.[I found this amazing - what could the top ten consist of besides crime. suicide & accidents - must be illnesses.] AND these results were obtained entirely through education (relatively inexpensive) and the wakening of common sense by those most at risk (free!). "If you are monogamous and don't do drugs you are virtually 100% safe from AIDS," this from a List member who is a University faculty member. I add this is true no matter what country you live in & no matter if you are teenager or a senior citizen. Barbara Shirloff on 11/8 posted comments by either Mike Clayes or Perry Cohen or both (was a bit confusing to me) of one of our advocacy groups stating that we should not fall into the trap of emphasizing competition among different disease groups. He then says that "we are not asking PD to be treated any better than AIDS or cancer or Alzheimers, but we won't be treated any worse." ???????? [I just erased my initial reaction to these 2 statements.]. Does anyone disagree that they are at least just a tad incongruous? We surely ARE treated worse. I stated some of these facts in October. A bit less than half of the responses were positive. The negatives were very negative, and very puzzling. I was accused of being homophobic. I am decidedly not. In fact I do not recall having disclosed my sexual preferences. I personally feel the use of gay bashing [ which I was accused of previously, including in 2 privately posted messages I considered threatening] is virtually non-existent compared with the overt discrimination faced by older people [50+]. Just try getting a job with corporate America past this age - isn't easy, `which is a reason to fight this branding of our disease as being an old people's disease Mr. Clays/Cohen's comment lumps cancer and Alzheimer's research in with AIDS. Nothing can compare with AIDS funding - it gets 445% more per person than cancer. AIDS sufferers are 12% of the cancer sufferers [8,000,000 Vs 980,000] but get 54% of the Federal tax dollars AIDS gets - $2,942,000,000 Vs the $1,640,000,000. And Alzheimer's? Ha! They only get about 50% more per person than us - but by 2050 today's 4,000,000 patients will be 14,000,000 - think what that will do our home care-giver problem. WE'LL BE ABLE TO AFFORD TO PAY ONLY $1.38 per. night. BBA