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General Conversation, Introductions, and Humor
Usually I like to keep Politics and Religion out of most conversations. I have a military like stance, don't ask don't tell. I know I am not going to change anyone’s mind, even though I would like to, so talking about it or arguing about it is pointless. However, in light of the current campaigns and the magnitude of this election I would like to put my two cents in. After watching the Vice Presidential Debates I hope it has become appallingly clear that Sarah Palin has absolutely no clue what she is talking about. She has, so far, been unable to answer a question directly regardless of the interview or forum. She skates around the issue and regurgitates what she thinks her contingents want to hear. Joe Biden answered every question directly and concisely. The clear winner of that debate was Biden. Regardless of your opinion on the issues that were discussed Biden won that debate.I am a recovering Republican, not really though, my parents were Republicans but that was because they were well off and liked the tax breaks. They understood Reaganomics and were in a tax bracket that voting Republican would benefit them. Yes, they are conservative on most issues but not the ones you might think or for the reasons you might think. I would call them fiscally Republican and socially Democrat. I was a Republican because they were. This brings me to my next point. If you are a Republican because of your religion then you are not thinking critically. Unless your church pays taxes (NONE of them do) then they should NOT be preaching politics. If you are voting the Republican ticket because someone else told you to or tried to sway you, you are not thinking critically. Try thinking for yourself, if you really do, then a light should come on in your head. Ask yourself this question. Am I voting on issues that I know are right, or that have been sold to me by someone else? Examples would be friends, family members, pastors, priests, deacons, rabbis, peer group members. etc. etc. I am going to list some keys political points and then show that critical thinkers should vote using their brains, not their “hearts”.
National Security: John McCain (JMc) would be a worse threat to national security than Barack Obama (BO). BO has huge international support, when he gets elected BO will reflect that Americans are fed up with the current government and we are indeed ready for change. Both in foreign policy and domestic policy, the world would view us as a different country than we have been for the last 8 years. JMc would be viewed as an extension of George W. Bush. Therefore, our foreign policy would not really change, our enemies would still hate us and we would be more vulnerable to attack. Both here and abroad.
Gay Rights: Are you are married? Do you plan on getting married? How would you feel if the government told you that you could not marry the person you love? Gay people are just that. They are People. They are not to be “tolerated” like Palin implied, they are to be treated with the same respect every person deserves. You as an American have the right to marry or do pretty much anything you want, as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody else. Gay marriages don’t hurt anybody. They are not “abominations”; they are people that are just different than you. It is not a choice or a lifestyle. They are born that way.
Roe v. Wade: This is a touchy one but if you think critically you will understand my point. Mind your own FUCKING business.
Global Warming: We do not need to start off-shore drilling, this is a band aid. Yes, it will decrease dependence on foreign oil but it will help perpetuate the carbon emission problem. BO is right on the money, we need to focus on new energy resources. This will create new jobs and clean up the air. If we set the example the rest of the world will follow. We could actually make a new export! Imagine, having a real export besides grain. Now we would become players in the global economy again instead of just being consumers.
Taxes: If you make over $250,000.00 a year BO’s tax plan might hurt you a little in the pocket book. It is fact that the top income earners pay most of the taxes in the U.S. Even if you DO make more the $250K (I think I know ONE family right now that does) a year this would not be a reason to vote Republican. If you do make $250K or more then good for you, you can afford to pay higher taxes. You can also do your part in helping your country pull out of Iraq and giving health care to millions of Americans who don’t have it. If you are like me and most are, then BO’s new tax plan will help you.
The War: Haven’t enough people died over there? We need to get our troops home now. I have had friends and neighbors that have been on multiple tours. They are tired and have served their country well. They don’t need to go back. Having a full scale withdrawal would help international affairs not hinder them. The only thing that I agree with G. W. Bush on is “Mission Accomplished”. If you define ‘winning’ the war, over throwing the old régime and installing a democracy winning the war. Then we have won, and we need to get out. If you define it as occupying a foreign country and securing the region to control the flow and price of oil, then no, we haven’t won and we never will. We still need to get out of that country before the rest of the world joins the Taliban.
I know there are a lot more topics but these are the top six as far as I am concerned. If you have anymore that you want to discuss feel free to respond. I know I am not going to sway you. This is why I use the term over and over, think critically. Critical Thinkers vote for Obama!Superstitious people with imaginary friends vote for McCain. Think or know don’t “feel or believe”.Heathensrule
Showing posts with label sarah palin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sarah palin. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
THE REAL People & Disabled Know the Truth about Gov Palin
THE REAL People who are Disabled Know the Truth about Gov Palin
E mail this to a friend.
SARAH PALIN AND CHRISTOPHER REEVE: A Special Needs Parent Speaks Out
by Don Reed
www.stemcellbattles.com
According to Sarah Palin, if John McCain is elected President, she will be put in charge of cure research
According to Sarah Palin, if John McCain is elected President, she will be put in charge of cure research.
Governor Palin states: “John and I have worked out a plan… My mission is going to be energy security and government reform. And another thing near and dear to my heart, it’s going to be helping families who have special needs and children with special needs. And we’re going to be pushing for innovative cures of diseases.” *
Innovative cures? Special needs families? As far as I know, Governor Palin’s only background in either area is that she opposes embryonic stem cell research-- and that she has a six-month old baby with Down’s Syndrome.
At age 44, Ms. Palin chose to have a fifth child. When she found out the unborn child had Down’s Syndrome, she chose to continue with the pregnancy.
Fair enough. Those were her choices, and choice is important for every woman.
But does she have any knowledge of the real world of special needs families?
Right now, her baby requires only normal infant care: to be fed and changed and loved. When the “special needs” part of his life begins, Governor Palin’s income level will allow her to hire nannies and servants to care for her child.
Most of us do not have Ms. Palin’s advantages. For millions of American families, having a “special needs” member (a mentally or physically disabled person, old or young) means exhausting physical labors of care-giving, endless emotional stress, and bills we cannot afford.
At the age of nineteen, my son Roman Reed broke his neck in a college football accident. He was paralyzed from the shoulders down. The doctors gave us no hope: Roman would never walk again, they said: never close his fingers, probably never father a child; and, due to his shortened life expectancy, his mother Gloria and I might outlive our own son.
Before this happened, if I saw a person in a wheelchair, I never stopped to think how they got there. Who lifted them out of bed in the morning, helped them take a shower? Did they need assistance to use the rest room, to get dressed? Could they breathe on their own? If not, who changes the battery in their respirator? Who helps them turn over in bed during the night? Will she or he need to be institutionalized? If so, who will pay?
Many families break up under this stress. John McCain, for example, divorced his first wife when she became disabled.
If Ms. Palin truly wanted to be the “friend and advocate of special needs families”, as she so perkily promised at the Republican Convention, she could begin by opposing John McCain’s negative position on the Community Choice Act, which he says we cannot afford. The Community Choice Act would allow people with disabilities to receive government assistance at home, with their families, instead of being institutionalized.
In addition to care for special needs individuals, America must work for cures.
My family knows about this, up close and personal. California passed a law named after our son, the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act of 1999. It is just a small law, one and a half million dollars a year—but it made possible the nation’s first state-funded embryonic stem cell research.
On March 1, 2002, opening day of the Roman Reed Laboratory at UC Irvine, I held in my hand a laboratory rat which had been paralyzed, but which now walked again-- and this while my son watched from his wheelchair.
The experiment was so successful that Geron Corporation funded further work on it, taking it all the way to the Food and Drug Administration, where it is currently being considered for human trials. If all goes well, newly paralyzed people may one day have the chance my son did not—to walk out of the hospital, instead of being condemned to a wheelchair for life.
Far more importantly, California voters passed a magnificent stem cell research program, to fund the science President George Bush so cruelly restricted.
And it was our son who suggested the official motto for that program, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, (CIRM): “Turning stem cells into cures.”
Today, we have hope. But it would all be swept away by Sarah Palin.
Embryonic stem cell research would quite literally become against the law if Sara Palin and the GOP get their way. The official Republican platform calls for the complete prohibition of embryonic stem cell research, both public and private; even George Bush did not take such an extreme position.
Not only paralysis cure is at risk. We are fighting for relief from cancer, which killed my mother and older sister. Embryonic stem cell research is crucial in the battle against Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, stroke, diabetes, blindness—and Down’s Syndrome. In England, where the government supports it, embryonic stem cell research led to a clearer understanding of the causes of Down’s Syndrome, an important step towards cure.
Which brings us to another choice for Sarah Palin—when cure does come, will she allow her son to become well?
She might say no. There are people who do not accept medical treatment for religious reasons. X-rays were originally frowned on by some, because it was thought they might be used to see through women’s clothing. Others said chicken pox was God’s punishment for sin, and it was wrong to develop a vaccine to cure it. Even today folks may refuse blood transfusions; others believe in the power of healing by faith alone-- as is their right.
But should religion be allowed to block my son’s chances to walk again?
American families deserve access to the best care science can provide: to ease suffering and save the lives of our children, our brothers and sisters, and our neighbors too.
Our country has an estimated one hundred million citizens with incurable disease or disability. These are not just empty statistics, but our loved ones, members of your family and mine. They are the reason America supports stem cell research.
Also, we are plain common sense practical. We see the results of too many people not getting well. Last year, America spent $2 trillion dollars on health care—a mountain of money, more than all federal income taxes put together. Three-fourths of that went to the maintenance of people with chronic disease or disability, who will never be healed: except, perhaps, with stem cell research.
If we want affordable health care, we must support cure research.
We will not be tricked into believing there are alternatives to embryonic stem cells that are just as good. Those arguments have been made for years. They were not true then, and they are not true now. If there is a cure for paralysis, fine: show it to me. But until then, politicians should not insult my intelligence by pretending those cures exist.
To understand what an extreme position Sarah Palin and the Republican Party are taking on stem cell research, we need only compare the lists of groups who argued about a simple bipartisan bill expanding President Bush’s restrictive embryonic stem cell research policies: the Stem Cell Research Expansion Act (Castle,DeGette).
First, how many groups opposed the relaxation of restrictions? Seventeen. That’s right, seventeen: and every one was a conservative religious and/or ideological organization.**
How many groups supported embryonic stem cell research? Five hundred and eighteen: every major scientific, educational, medical or patient rights group that took a position on the issue, including the American Medical Association.***
At the end of this article, you will find both lists: 17 against embryonic, 518 in favor. (If you want to print out the list be supporting groups, be warned: it is long, almost 14 pages.
I do not think Ms. Palin has a lot of scientific background.
For example, as Governor of Alaska, she wanted to spend several million dollars of taxpayer money killing wolves, shooting them from airplanes, figuring that would result in more moose for human hunters to kill. As wolves actually protect the moose population by killing the weak and sick, thereby preventing the spread of disease, Palin’s plan to wipe out natural predators does not make a great deal of sense.
John McCain says he supports embryonic stem cell research. But to please the anti-science wing of his party, he would let an enemy of the research have influence over it.
Giving Sarah Palin power over research, is like tossing a weasel in the henhouse-- and pretending it will only supervise.
Enough. As Barrack Obama said, in a one-word rejection of failed policies: enough.
I am tired of a White House which does not reflect my hopes for a better America. I want a President who will work on the problems with the idea of really solving them, not just smiling and waving at us from a platform.
Cure did not come in time for Christopher Reeve. Our champion has fallen. But the flame of his faith still lights our way. Barack Obama has taken up the torch of scientific freedom, the power that lifted us to the moon, and accepts no limitations.
America will prevail.
*“Palin Outlines Four-Point Focus in McCain Administration. Says She’ll Focus on Energy, Reform, Special Needs Care, and Disease Cures.” --Scott Conroy, CBS News, September 15th, 2008
**17 groups in opposition to embryonic stem cell research:
Republican Study Committee. “H.R. 3 — Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007” Legislative Bulletin. January 10, 2007.
National Right to Life Committee
US Conference of Catholic Bishops
Family Research Council
Christian Coalition
Concerned Women for America
Focus on the Family
Christian Medical Association
Eagle Forum
Traditional Values Coalition
Southern Baptist Convention
Susan B. Anthony List
Republican National Committee for Life
Cornerstone Policy Research
Culture of Life Foundation
Religious Freedom Coalition
Coral Ridge Ministries
Center For Reclaiming America
***518 Groups in favor of the Stem Cell Research Expansion Act (open letter, 13 pages long)
1 July 14, 2006 . U.S. Senate , Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator: We, the undersigned patient advocacy groups, health organizations, research universities, scientific societies, religious groups and other interested institutions and associations, representing millions of patients, scientists, health care providers and advocates, write you with our strong and unified support for H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. Sincerely, A O North America AAALAC International AARP Abbott Laboratories Acadia Pharmaceuticals Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis Adams County Economic Development, Inc. AdvaMed (Advanced Medical Technology Association) Affymetrix, Inc. Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University Alliance for Aging Research Alliance for Lupus Research Alliance for Stem Cell Research Alnylam US, Inc. Alpha-1 Foundation ALS Association Ambulatory Pediatric Association
AMDeC-Academic Medicine Development Co. America on the Move Foundation American Academy of Neurology American Academy of Nursing American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry American Academy of Pediatrics American Association for Cancer Research American Association for Dental Research American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry American Association for the Advancement of Science American Association of Anatomists American Association of Colleges of Nursing American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons American Association of Public Health Dentistry American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association American Brain Coalition American Chronic Pain Association American College of Cardiology American College of Medical Genetics American College of Neuropsychopharmacology American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists American College of Surgeons American Council on Education American Council on Science and Health American Dental Association American Dental Education Association American Diabetes Association American Federation for Aging Research American Gastroenterological Association American Geriatrics Society American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering American Lung Association American Medical Association American Medical Informatics Association American Medical Women’s Association American Pain Foundation American Parkinson’s Disease Association American Parkinson’s Disease Association (Arizona Chapter) American Pediatric Society American Physiological Society American Psychiatric Association American Psychological Association American Public Health Association American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology American Society for Bone and Mineral Research
American Society for Cell Biology American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics American Society for Microbiology American Society for Neural Transplantation and Repair American Society for Nutrition American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics American Society for Reproductive Medicine American Society for Virology American Society of Clinical Oncology American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists American Society of Hematology American Society of Human Genetics American Society of Nephrology American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene American Surgical Association American Surgical Association Foundation American Thoracic Society American Thyroid Association American Transplant Foundation Americans for Medical Progress amFAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research Arizona State University College of Nursing Arthritis Foundation Arthritis Foundation, Rocky Mountain Chapter Association for Clinical Research Training Association for Medical School Pharmacology Chairs Association for Prevention Teaching and Research Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc. Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine Association of Academic Departments of Otolaryngology Association of Academic Health Centers Association of Academic Physiatrists Association of American Medical Colleges Association of American Physicians Association of American Universities Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges Association of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Neurobiology Chairs Association of Anesthesiology Program Directors Association of Black Cardiologists Association of Chairs of Departments of Physiology Association of Independent Research Institutes Association of Medical School Microbiology and Immunology Chairs Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs Association of Medical School Pharmacology Chairs Association of Professors of Dermatology Association of Professors of Human and Medical Genetics Association of Professors of Medicine
Association of Public Health Laboratories Association of Reproductive Health Professionals Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry Association of Specialty Professors Association of University Anesthesiologists Assurant Health Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America Athena Diagnostics Aurora Economic Development Council Axion Research Foundation B’nai B’rith International Baylor College of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Biotechnology Industry Organization BloodCenter of Wisconsin, Inc. Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation on Health Care Boston Biomedical Research Institute Boston University School of Dental Medicine Boston University School of Public Health Brigham and Women’s Hospital Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Broadened Horizons, LLC Brown Medical School Buck Institute for Age Research Burns & Allen Research Institute Burrill & Company Burroughs Wellcome Fund Colorectal Cancer Coalition California Biomedical Research Association California Insitute of Technology California Institute for Regenerative Medicine California Wellness Foundation Californians for Cures Campaign for Medical Research Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation Canon U.S. Life Sciences, Inc. Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Cedars-Sinai Health System Center for the Advancement of Health Central Conference of American Rabbis CFIDS Association of America Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science Charles River Laboratories Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation Children’s Memorial Research Center Children’s Neurobiological Solutions Foundation
Children’s Research Institute (Columbus) Children’s Research Institute (Washington) Children’s Tumor Foundation Childrens Hospital Boston Christopher Reeve Foundation City and County of Denver City of Hope National Medical Center Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilitites, University of Colorado System Colfax Marathon Partnership, Inc. Colorado Bioscience Association Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade Colorado State University Columbia University Columbia University College of Dental Medicine Columbia University Medical Center Community Health Partnership Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals Connecticut United for Research Excellence, Inc. Conquer Fragile X Foundation Cornell University Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science (CANS) Creighton University School of Medicine CURE (Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy) Cure Alzheimer’s Fund Cure Paralysis Now CuresNow Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Dartmouth Medical School David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA DENTSPLY International Digene Corporation Discovery Partners International Doheny Eye Institute Drexel University College of Medicine Drexel University School of Public Health Duke University Medical Center Dystonia Medical Research Foundation East Tennessee State University James H. Quillen College of Medicine Eli Lilly and Company Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Emory University Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Emory University School of Medicine FasterCures
FD Hope Foundation Federation of American Scientists Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, Inc. Fertile Hope Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority Florida Atlantic University Division of Research Ford Finance, Inc. Fox Chase Cancer Center Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Friends of Cancer Research Friends of the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research Friends of the National Library of Medicine Genetic Alliance Genetics Policy Institute George Mason University Georgetown University Medical Center Guillain Barre Syndrome Foundation International Gynecologic Cancer Foundation Hadassah Harvard University Harvard University School of Dental Medicine Harvard University School of Public Health Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, Inc. Hereditary Disease Foundation HHT Foundation International, Inc. Home Safety Council Howard University College of Dentistry Howard University College of Medicine Huntington’s Disease Society of America IBM Life Sciences Division Illinois State University Mennonite College of Nursing ImmunoGen, Inc. Indiana University School of Dentistry Indiana University School of Medicine Indiana University School of Nursing Infectious Diseases Society of America Institute for African American Health, Inc. Intercultural Cancer Council Caucus International Foundation for Anticancer Drug Discovery (IFADD) International Longevity Center – USA International Society for Stem Cell Research Invitrogen Corporation Iraq Veterans for Cures Iris Alliance Fund Iron Disorders Institute
Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health Jeffrey Modell Foundation Johns Hopkins Johnson & Johnson Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) Joint Steering Committee for Public Policy Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California Kennedy Krieger Institute Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology KID Foundation Kidney Cancer Association La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology Lance Armstrong Foundation Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Dentistry Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute Loyola University of Chicago Stritch School of Medicine Lung Cancer Alliance Lupus Foundation of America, Inc. Lupus Foundation of Colorado, Inc. Lupus Research Institute Lymphatic Research Foundation Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University Malecare Prostate Cancer Support March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation Marine Biological Laboratory Marshalltown [IA] Cancer Resource Center Masonic Medical Research Laboratory Massachusetts Biotechnology Council Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts Institute of Technology MaxCyte, Inc. McLaughlin Research Institute Medical College of Georgia Medical University of South Carolina Medical University of South Carolina College of Nursing MedStar Research Institute (MRI) Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Memory Pharmaceuticals Mercer University Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation
Miami Children’s Hospital Midwest Nursing Research Society Morehouse School of Medicine Mount Sinai Medical Center Mount Sinai School of Medicine National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research National Alliance for Hispanic Health National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression National Alliance on Mental Illness National Alopecia Areata Foundation National Asian Women’s Health Organization National Association for Biomedical Research National Association of Hepatitis Task Forces National Caucus of Basic Biomedical Science Chairs National Coalition for Cancer Research National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease National Committee for Quality Health Care National Council of Jewish Women National Council on Spinal Cord Injury National Down Syndrome Society National Electrical Manufacturers Association National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasias National Health Council National Hemophilia Foundation National Hispanic Health Foundation National Jewish Medical and Research Center National Marfan Foundation National Medical Association National Multiple Sclerosis Society National Osteoporosis Foundation National Partnership for Women and Families National Pharmaceutical Council National Prostate Cancer Coalition National Quality Forum National Spinal Cord Injury Association National Venture Capital Association Nebraskans for Research Nemours New Jersey Association for Biomedical Research New Jersey Dental School New York Blood Center New York College of Osteopathic Medicine New York State Association of County Health Officials New York Stem Cell Foundation New York University College of Dentistry New York University School of Medicine
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital North American Brain Tumor Coalition North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research Northwest Association for Biomedical Research Northwestern University Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine Nova Southeastern University College of Dental Medicine Novartis Pharmaceuticals Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation Oral Health America Oregon Health & Science University Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing Oregon Research Institute Oxford Bioscience Partners Pacific Health Research Institute Paralyzed Veterans of America Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy Parkinson’s Action Network Parkinson’s Disease Foundation Partnership for Prevention Pennsylvania Society for Biomedical Research Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Pittsburgh Development Center Princeton University Project A.L.S. Prostate Cancer Foundation Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum International Quest for the Cure RAND Health Research!America Resolve: The National Infertility Association RetireSafe Rett Syndrome Research Foundation Rice University Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins The Rockefeller University Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science Rush University Medical Center Rutgers University Salk Institute for Biological Studies sanofi-aventis Scleroderma Research Foundation Secular Coalition for America Sjogren’s Syndrome Foundation, Inc. Society for Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR) Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Society for Education in Anesthesia
Society for Male Reproduction and Urology Society for Neuroscience Society for Pediatric Research Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Society for Women’s Health Research Society of Academic Anesthesiology Chairs Society of General Internal Medicine Society of Gynecologic Oncologists Society of Reproductive Surgeons Society of University Otolaryngologists South Alabama Medical Science Foundation South Dakota State University Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Spina Bifida Association of America Stanford University State University of New York at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine State University of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine at Brooklyn State University of New York Upstate Medical University Stem Cell Action Network Stem Cell Research Foundation Steven and Michele Kirsch Foundation Stony Brook University, State University of New York Strategic Health Policy International, Inc. Student Society for Stem Cell Research Suicide Prevention Action Network-USA (SPAN) Take Charge! Cure Parkinson’s, Inc. Targacept, Inc. Temple University School of Dentistry Texans for Advancement of Medical Research Texas A&M University Health Science Center Texas Medical Center Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center The Arc of the United States The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology The Biophysical Society The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University The Burnham Institute The CJD Foundation The Critical Path Institute (C-Path) The Endocrine Society The FAIR Foundation The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network The Food Allergy Project, Inc. The Forsyth Institute The Foundation Fighting Blindness The George Washington University Medical Center
The Georgetown University Center for the Study of Sex Difference in Health, Aging and Disease The Gerontological Society of America The J. David Gladstone Institutes The Jackson Laboratory The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing The Medical College of Wisconsin The Medical Foundation, Inc. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research The Ohio State University College of Dentistry The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health The Ohio State University School of Public Health The Parkinson Alliance and Unity Walk The Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc. The Rockefeller University The Schepens Eye Research Institute The Scientist The Scripps Research Institute The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute The Society for Investigative Dermatology The Spiral Foundation The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine The University of Iowa College of Dentistry The University of Iowa College of Public Health The University of Mississippi Medical Center The University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Dentistry The University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center The University of Tennessee Health Science Center The University of Tennessee HSC College of Nursing The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston School of Medicine The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center The University of Toledo Academic Health Science Center Tourette Syndrome Association Travis Roy Foundation Tufts University School of Dental Medicine Tulane University Tulane University Health Sciences Center Union for Reformed Judaism Union of Concerned Scientists Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations United Spinal Association
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health University of Arizona College of Medicine University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences University of Buffalo University of California System University of California, Berkeley University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health University of California, Davis University of California, Irvine University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine University of California, San Diego University of California, San Francisco University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing University of California, Santa Cruz University of Chicago University of Cincinnati Medical Center University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center University of Colorado at Denver and HSC School of Dentistry University of Colorado at Denver and HSC School of Nursing University of Connecticut School of Medicine University of Florida University of Florida College of Dentistry University of Georgia University of Illinois University of Illinois at Chicago University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing University of Iowa University of Kansas University of Kansas Medical Center University of Kansas Medical Center School of Nursing University of Kentucky University of Kentucky College of Dentistry University of Louisville University of Louisville School of Dentistry University of Maryland at Baltimore University of Maryland at Baltimore College of Dental Surgery University of Maryland at Baltimore School of Nursing University of Miami University of Michigan University of Michigan College of Pharmacy University of Michigan Medical School
University of Michigan School of Dentistry University of Michigan School of Nursing University of Michigan School of Public Health University of Minnesota University of Minnesota School of Public Health University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Dentistry University of Montana School of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences University of Nebraska Medical Center University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Dental Medicine University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health University of North Dakota University of North Texas Health Science Center University of Oregon University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine University of Rochester Medical Center University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry University of Rochester School of Nursing University of South Carolina Office of Research and Health Sciences University of South Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences University of South Florida University of South Florida College of Nursing University of Southern California University of Southern California School of Dentistry University of Utah HSC School of Medicine University of Vermont College of Medicine University of Washington University of Washington School of Dentistry University of Washington School of Nursing University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine University of Wisconsin-Madison Van Andel Research Institute Vanderbilt University and Medical Center Vanderbilt University School of Nursing Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine Wake Forest University School of Medicine Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis Center for Health Policy
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine WE MOVE Weill Medical College of Cornell University Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research WiCell Research Institution Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Wisconsin Association for Biomedical Research and Education Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University Wright State University School of Medicine Yale University Yale University School of Medicine Yale University School of Nursing
You sure can cut and paste. Tell what you know about diverdonreed. He started this crap on Daily Kos.
Odie86 wrote on Sep 26, 2008 at 11:33 AM
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The politics of embryonic stem cell research are especially problematic when those who support this research also express a desire for abortions to be rare. Quite simply, they both cannot occur. Let's say embryonic stem cells can cure spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's, Alzheimers, and so on. Now embryos have become a commodity - companies or people willing to pay money for aborted fetuses so that they can cure those who have these disabilities. You see where this is going? Grandpa develops Alzheimers, so the grand-daughter now needs to get pregnant and then get an abortion to help Grandpa. Is this extreme? I don't think so. Why not just promote adult stem cell research which has no ethical baggage?
E mail this to a friend.
SARAH PALIN AND CHRISTOPHER REEVE: A Special Needs Parent Speaks Out
by Don Reed
www.stemcellbattles.com
According to Sarah Palin, if John McCain is elected President, she will be put in charge of cure research
According to Sarah Palin, if John McCain is elected President, she will be put in charge of cure research.
Governor Palin states: “John and I have worked out a plan… My mission is going to be energy security and government reform. And another thing near and dear to my heart, it’s going to be helping families who have special needs and children with special needs. And we’re going to be pushing for innovative cures of diseases.” *
Innovative cures? Special needs families? As far as I know, Governor Palin’s only background in either area is that she opposes embryonic stem cell research-- and that she has a six-month old baby with Down’s Syndrome.
At age 44, Ms. Palin chose to have a fifth child. When she found out the unborn child had Down’s Syndrome, she chose to continue with the pregnancy.
Fair enough. Those were her choices, and choice is important for every woman.
But does she have any knowledge of the real world of special needs families?
Right now, her baby requires only normal infant care: to be fed and changed and loved. When the “special needs” part of his life begins, Governor Palin’s income level will allow her to hire nannies and servants to care for her child.
Most of us do not have Ms. Palin’s advantages. For millions of American families, having a “special needs” member (a mentally or physically disabled person, old or young) means exhausting physical labors of care-giving, endless emotional stress, and bills we cannot afford.
At the age of nineteen, my son Roman Reed broke his neck in a college football accident. He was paralyzed from the shoulders down. The doctors gave us no hope: Roman would never walk again, they said: never close his fingers, probably never father a child; and, due to his shortened life expectancy, his mother Gloria and I might outlive our own son.
Before this happened, if I saw a person in a wheelchair, I never stopped to think how they got there. Who lifted them out of bed in the morning, helped them take a shower? Did they need assistance to use the rest room, to get dressed? Could they breathe on their own? If not, who changes the battery in their respirator? Who helps them turn over in bed during the night? Will she or he need to be institutionalized? If so, who will pay?
Many families break up under this stress. John McCain, for example, divorced his first wife when she became disabled.
If Ms. Palin truly wanted to be the “friend and advocate of special needs families”, as she so perkily promised at the Republican Convention, she could begin by opposing John McCain’s negative position on the Community Choice Act, which he says we cannot afford. The Community Choice Act would allow people with disabilities to receive government assistance at home, with their families, instead of being institutionalized.
In addition to care for special needs individuals, America must work for cures.
My family knows about this, up close and personal. California passed a law named after our son, the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act of 1999. It is just a small law, one and a half million dollars a year—but it made possible the nation’s first state-funded embryonic stem cell research.
On March 1, 2002, opening day of the Roman Reed Laboratory at UC Irvine, I held in my hand a laboratory rat which had been paralyzed, but which now walked again-- and this while my son watched from his wheelchair.
The experiment was so successful that Geron Corporation funded further work on it, taking it all the way to the Food and Drug Administration, where it is currently being considered for human trials. If all goes well, newly paralyzed people may one day have the chance my son did not—to walk out of the hospital, instead of being condemned to a wheelchair for life.
Far more importantly, California voters passed a magnificent stem cell research program, to fund the science President George Bush so cruelly restricted.
And it was our son who suggested the official motto for that program, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, (CIRM): “Turning stem cells into cures.”
Today, we have hope. But it would all be swept away by Sarah Palin.
Embryonic stem cell research would quite literally become against the law if Sara Palin and the GOP get their way. The official Republican platform calls for the complete prohibition of embryonic stem cell research, both public and private; even George Bush did not take such an extreme position.
Not only paralysis cure is at risk. We are fighting for relief from cancer, which killed my mother and older sister. Embryonic stem cell research is crucial in the battle against Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, stroke, diabetes, blindness—and Down’s Syndrome. In England, where the government supports it, embryonic stem cell research led to a clearer understanding of the causes of Down’s Syndrome, an important step towards cure.
Which brings us to another choice for Sarah Palin—when cure does come, will she allow her son to become well?
She might say no. There are people who do not accept medical treatment for religious reasons. X-rays were originally frowned on by some, because it was thought they might be used to see through women’s clothing. Others said chicken pox was God’s punishment for sin, and it was wrong to develop a vaccine to cure it. Even today folks may refuse blood transfusions; others believe in the power of healing by faith alone-- as is their right.
But should religion be allowed to block my son’s chances to walk again?
American families deserve access to the best care science can provide: to ease suffering and save the lives of our children, our brothers and sisters, and our neighbors too.
Our country has an estimated one hundred million citizens with incurable disease or disability. These are not just empty statistics, but our loved ones, members of your family and mine. They are the reason America supports stem cell research.
Also, we are plain common sense practical. We see the results of too many people not getting well. Last year, America spent $2 trillion dollars on health care—a mountain of money, more than all federal income taxes put together. Three-fourths of that went to the maintenance of people with chronic disease or disability, who will never be healed: except, perhaps, with stem cell research.
If we want affordable health care, we must support cure research.
We will not be tricked into believing there are alternatives to embryonic stem cells that are just as good. Those arguments have been made for years. They were not true then, and they are not true now. If there is a cure for paralysis, fine: show it to me. But until then, politicians should not insult my intelligence by pretending those cures exist.
To understand what an extreme position Sarah Palin and the Republican Party are taking on stem cell research, we need only compare the lists of groups who argued about a simple bipartisan bill expanding President Bush’s restrictive embryonic stem cell research policies: the Stem Cell Research Expansion Act (Castle,DeGette).
First, how many groups opposed the relaxation of restrictions? Seventeen. That’s right, seventeen: and every one was a conservative religious and/or ideological organization.**
How many groups supported embryonic stem cell research? Five hundred and eighteen: every major scientific, educational, medical or patient rights group that took a position on the issue, including the American Medical Association.***
At the end of this article, you will find both lists: 17 against embryonic, 518 in favor. (If you want to print out the list be supporting groups, be warned: it is long, almost 14 pages.
I do not think Ms. Palin has a lot of scientific background.
For example, as Governor of Alaska, she wanted to spend several million dollars of taxpayer money killing wolves, shooting them from airplanes, figuring that would result in more moose for human hunters to kill. As wolves actually protect the moose population by killing the weak and sick, thereby preventing the spread of disease, Palin’s plan to wipe out natural predators does not make a great deal of sense.
John McCain says he supports embryonic stem cell research. But to please the anti-science wing of his party, he would let an enemy of the research have influence over it.
Giving Sarah Palin power over research, is like tossing a weasel in the henhouse-- and pretending it will only supervise.
Enough. As Barrack Obama said, in a one-word rejection of failed policies: enough.
I am tired of a White House which does not reflect my hopes for a better America. I want a President who will work on the problems with the idea of really solving them, not just smiling and waving at us from a platform.
Cure did not come in time for Christopher Reeve. Our champion has fallen. But the flame of his faith still lights our way. Barack Obama has taken up the torch of scientific freedom, the power that lifted us to the moon, and accepts no limitations.
America will prevail.
*“Palin Outlines Four-Point Focus in McCain Administration. Says She’ll Focus on Energy, Reform, Special Needs Care, and Disease Cures.” --Scott Conroy, CBS News, September 15th, 2008
**17 groups in opposition to embryonic stem cell research:
Republican Study Committee. “H.R. 3 — Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007” Legislative Bulletin. January 10, 2007.
National Right to Life Committee
US Conference of Catholic Bishops
Family Research Council
Christian Coalition
Concerned Women for America
Focus on the Family
Christian Medical Association
Eagle Forum
Traditional Values Coalition
Southern Baptist Convention
Susan B. Anthony List
Republican National Committee for Life
Cornerstone Policy Research
Culture of Life Foundation
Religious Freedom Coalition
Coral Ridge Ministries
Center For Reclaiming America
***518 Groups in favor of the Stem Cell Research Expansion Act (open letter, 13 pages long)
1 July 14, 2006 . U.S. Senate , Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator: We, the undersigned patient advocacy groups, health organizations, research universities, scientific societies, religious groups and other interested institutions and associations, representing millions of patients, scientists, health care providers and advocates, write you with our strong and unified support for H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. Sincerely, A O North America AAALAC International AARP Abbott Laboratories Acadia Pharmaceuticals Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis Adams County Economic Development, Inc. AdvaMed (Advanced Medical Technology Association) Affymetrix, Inc. Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University Alliance for Aging Research Alliance for Lupus Research Alliance for Stem Cell Research Alnylam US, Inc. Alpha-1 Foundation ALS Association Ambulatory Pediatric Association
AMDeC-Academic Medicine Development Co. America on the Move Foundation American Academy of Neurology American Academy of Nursing American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry American Academy of Pediatrics American Association for Cancer Research American Association for Dental Research American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry American Association for the Advancement of Science American Association of Anatomists American Association of Colleges of Nursing American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons American Association of Public Health Dentistry American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association American Brain Coalition American Chronic Pain Association American College of Cardiology American College of Medical Genetics American College of Neuropsychopharmacology American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists American College of Surgeons American Council on Education American Council on Science and Health American Dental Association American Dental Education Association American Diabetes Association American Federation for Aging Research American Gastroenterological Association American Geriatrics Society American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering American Lung Association American Medical Association American Medical Informatics Association American Medical Women’s Association American Pain Foundation American Parkinson’s Disease Association American Parkinson’s Disease Association (Arizona Chapter) American Pediatric Society American Physiological Society American Psychiatric Association American Psychological Association American Public Health Association American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology American Society for Bone and Mineral Research
American Society for Cell Biology American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics American Society for Microbiology American Society for Neural Transplantation and Repair American Society for Nutrition American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics American Society for Reproductive Medicine American Society for Virology American Society of Clinical Oncology American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists American Society of Hematology American Society of Human Genetics American Society of Nephrology American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene American Surgical Association American Surgical Association Foundation American Thoracic Society American Thyroid Association American Transplant Foundation Americans for Medical Progress amFAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research Arizona State University College of Nursing Arthritis Foundation Arthritis Foundation, Rocky Mountain Chapter Association for Clinical Research Training Association for Medical School Pharmacology Chairs Association for Prevention Teaching and Research Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc. Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine Association of Academic Departments of Otolaryngology Association of Academic Health Centers Association of Academic Physiatrists Association of American Medical Colleges Association of American Physicians Association of American Universities Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges Association of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Neurobiology Chairs Association of Anesthesiology Program Directors Association of Black Cardiologists Association of Chairs of Departments of Physiology Association of Independent Research Institutes Association of Medical School Microbiology and Immunology Chairs Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs Association of Medical School Pharmacology Chairs Association of Professors of Dermatology Association of Professors of Human and Medical Genetics Association of Professors of Medicine
Association of Public Health Laboratories Association of Reproductive Health Professionals Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry Association of Specialty Professors Association of University Anesthesiologists Assurant Health Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America Athena Diagnostics Aurora Economic Development Council Axion Research Foundation B’nai B’rith International Baylor College of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Biotechnology Industry Organization BloodCenter of Wisconsin, Inc. Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation on Health Care Boston Biomedical Research Institute Boston University School of Dental Medicine Boston University School of Public Health Brigham and Women’s Hospital Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Broadened Horizons, LLC Brown Medical School Buck Institute for Age Research Burns & Allen Research Institute Burrill & Company Burroughs Wellcome Fund Colorectal Cancer Coalition California Biomedical Research Association California Insitute of Technology California Institute for Regenerative Medicine California Wellness Foundation Californians for Cures Campaign for Medical Research Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation Canon U.S. Life Sciences, Inc. Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Cedars-Sinai Health System Center for the Advancement of Health Central Conference of American Rabbis CFIDS Association of America Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science Charles River Laboratories Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation Children’s Memorial Research Center Children’s Neurobiological Solutions Foundation
Children’s Research Institute (Columbus) Children’s Research Institute (Washington) Children’s Tumor Foundation Childrens Hospital Boston Christopher Reeve Foundation City and County of Denver City of Hope National Medical Center Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilitites, University of Colorado System Colfax Marathon Partnership, Inc. Colorado Bioscience Association Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade Colorado State University Columbia University Columbia University College of Dental Medicine Columbia University Medical Center Community Health Partnership Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals Connecticut United for Research Excellence, Inc. Conquer Fragile X Foundation Cornell University Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science (CANS) Creighton University School of Medicine CURE (Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy) Cure Alzheimer’s Fund Cure Paralysis Now CuresNow Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Dartmouth Medical School David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA DENTSPLY International Digene Corporation Discovery Partners International Doheny Eye Institute Drexel University College of Medicine Drexel University School of Public Health Duke University Medical Center Dystonia Medical Research Foundation East Tennessee State University James H. Quillen College of Medicine Eli Lilly and Company Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Emory University Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Emory University School of Medicine FasterCures
FD Hope Foundation Federation of American Scientists Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, Inc. Fertile Hope Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority Florida Atlantic University Division of Research Ford Finance, Inc. Fox Chase Cancer Center Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Friends of Cancer Research Friends of the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research Friends of the National Library of Medicine Genetic Alliance Genetics Policy Institute George Mason University Georgetown University Medical Center Guillain Barre Syndrome Foundation International Gynecologic Cancer Foundation Hadassah Harvard University Harvard University School of Dental Medicine Harvard University School of Public Health Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, Inc. Hereditary Disease Foundation HHT Foundation International, Inc. Home Safety Council Howard University College of Dentistry Howard University College of Medicine Huntington’s Disease Society of America IBM Life Sciences Division Illinois State University Mennonite College of Nursing ImmunoGen, Inc. Indiana University School of Dentistry Indiana University School of Medicine Indiana University School of Nursing Infectious Diseases Society of America Institute for African American Health, Inc. Intercultural Cancer Council Caucus International Foundation for Anticancer Drug Discovery (IFADD) International Longevity Center – USA International Society for Stem Cell Research Invitrogen Corporation Iraq Veterans for Cures Iris Alliance Fund Iron Disorders Institute
Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health Jeffrey Modell Foundation Johns Hopkins Johnson & Johnson Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) Joint Steering Committee for Public Policy Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California Kennedy Krieger Institute Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology KID Foundation Kidney Cancer Association La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology Lance Armstrong Foundation Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Dentistry Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute Loyola University of Chicago Stritch School of Medicine Lung Cancer Alliance Lupus Foundation of America, Inc. Lupus Foundation of Colorado, Inc. Lupus Research Institute Lymphatic Research Foundation Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University Malecare Prostate Cancer Support March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation Marine Biological Laboratory Marshalltown [IA] Cancer Resource Center Masonic Medical Research Laboratory Massachusetts Biotechnology Council Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts Institute of Technology MaxCyte, Inc. McLaughlin Research Institute Medical College of Georgia Medical University of South Carolina Medical University of South Carolina College of Nursing MedStar Research Institute (MRI) Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Memory Pharmaceuticals Mercer University Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation
Miami Children’s Hospital Midwest Nursing Research Society Morehouse School of Medicine Mount Sinai Medical Center Mount Sinai School of Medicine National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research National Alliance for Hispanic Health National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression National Alliance on Mental Illness National Alopecia Areata Foundation National Asian Women’s Health Organization National Association for Biomedical Research National Association of Hepatitis Task Forces National Caucus of Basic Biomedical Science Chairs National Coalition for Cancer Research National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease National Committee for Quality Health Care National Council of Jewish Women National Council on Spinal Cord Injury National Down Syndrome Society National Electrical Manufacturers Association National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasias National Health Council National Hemophilia Foundation National Hispanic Health Foundation National Jewish Medical and Research Center National Marfan Foundation National Medical Association National Multiple Sclerosis Society National Osteoporosis Foundation National Partnership for Women and Families National Pharmaceutical Council National Prostate Cancer Coalition National Quality Forum National Spinal Cord Injury Association National Venture Capital Association Nebraskans for Research Nemours New Jersey Association for Biomedical Research New Jersey Dental School New York Blood Center New York College of Osteopathic Medicine New York State Association of County Health Officials New York Stem Cell Foundation New York University College of Dentistry New York University School of Medicine
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital North American Brain Tumor Coalition North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research Northwest Association for Biomedical Research Northwestern University Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine Nova Southeastern University College of Dental Medicine Novartis Pharmaceuticals Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation Oral Health America Oregon Health & Science University Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing Oregon Research Institute Oxford Bioscience Partners Pacific Health Research Institute Paralyzed Veterans of America Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy Parkinson’s Action Network Parkinson’s Disease Foundation Partnership for Prevention Pennsylvania Society for Biomedical Research Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Pittsburgh Development Center Princeton University Project A.L.S. Prostate Cancer Foundation Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum International Quest for the Cure RAND Health Research!America Resolve: The National Infertility Association RetireSafe Rett Syndrome Research Foundation Rice University Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins The Rockefeller University Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science Rush University Medical Center Rutgers University Salk Institute for Biological Studies sanofi-aventis Scleroderma Research Foundation Secular Coalition for America Sjogren’s Syndrome Foundation, Inc. Society for Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR) Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Society for Education in Anesthesia
Society for Male Reproduction and Urology Society for Neuroscience Society for Pediatric Research Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Society for Women’s Health Research Society of Academic Anesthesiology Chairs Society of General Internal Medicine Society of Gynecologic Oncologists Society of Reproductive Surgeons Society of University Otolaryngologists South Alabama Medical Science Foundation South Dakota State University Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Spina Bifida Association of America Stanford University State University of New York at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine State University of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine at Brooklyn State University of New York Upstate Medical University Stem Cell Action Network Stem Cell Research Foundation Steven and Michele Kirsch Foundation Stony Brook University, State University of New York Strategic Health Policy International, Inc. Student Society for Stem Cell Research Suicide Prevention Action Network-USA (SPAN) Take Charge! Cure Parkinson’s, Inc. Targacept, Inc. Temple University School of Dentistry Texans for Advancement of Medical Research Texas A&M University Health Science Center Texas Medical Center Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center The Arc of the United States The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology The Biophysical Society The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University The Burnham Institute The CJD Foundation The Critical Path Institute (C-Path) The Endocrine Society The FAIR Foundation The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network The Food Allergy Project, Inc. The Forsyth Institute The Foundation Fighting Blindness The George Washington University Medical Center
The Georgetown University Center for the Study of Sex Difference in Health, Aging and Disease The Gerontological Society of America The J. David Gladstone Institutes The Jackson Laboratory The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing The Medical College of Wisconsin The Medical Foundation, Inc. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research The Ohio State University College of Dentistry The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health The Ohio State University School of Public Health The Parkinson Alliance and Unity Walk The Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc. The Rockefeller University The Schepens Eye Research Institute The Scientist The Scripps Research Institute The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute The Society for Investigative Dermatology The Spiral Foundation The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine The University of Iowa College of Dentistry The University of Iowa College of Public Health The University of Mississippi Medical Center The University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Dentistry The University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center The University of Tennessee Health Science Center The University of Tennessee HSC College of Nursing The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston School of Medicine The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center The University of Toledo Academic Health Science Center Tourette Syndrome Association Travis Roy Foundation Tufts University School of Dental Medicine Tulane University Tulane University Health Sciences Center Union for Reformed Judaism Union of Concerned Scientists Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations United Spinal Association
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health University of Arizona College of Medicine University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences University of Buffalo University of California System University of California, Berkeley University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health University of California, Davis University of California, Irvine University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine University of California, San Diego University of California, San Francisco University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing University of California, Santa Cruz University of Chicago University of Cincinnati Medical Center University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center University of Colorado at Denver and HSC School of Dentistry University of Colorado at Denver and HSC School of Nursing University of Connecticut School of Medicine University of Florida University of Florida College of Dentistry University of Georgia University of Illinois University of Illinois at Chicago University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing University of Iowa University of Kansas University of Kansas Medical Center University of Kansas Medical Center School of Nursing University of Kentucky University of Kentucky College of Dentistry University of Louisville University of Louisville School of Dentistry University of Maryland at Baltimore University of Maryland at Baltimore College of Dental Surgery University of Maryland at Baltimore School of Nursing University of Miami University of Michigan University of Michigan College of Pharmacy University of Michigan Medical School
University of Michigan School of Dentistry University of Michigan School of Nursing University of Michigan School of Public Health University of Minnesota University of Minnesota School of Public Health University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Dentistry University of Montana School of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences University of Nebraska Medical Center University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Dental Medicine University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health University of North Dakota University of North Texas Health Science Center University of Oregon University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine University of Rochester Medical Center University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry University of Rochester School of Nursing University of South Carolina Office of Research and Health Sciences University of South Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences University of South Florida University of South Florida College of Nursing University of Southern California University of Southern California School of Dentistry University of Utah HSC School of Medicine University of Vermont College of Medicine University of Washington University of Washington School of Dentistry University of Washington School of Nursing University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine University of Wisconsin-Madison Van Andel Research Institute Vanderbilt University and Medical Center Vanderbilt University School of Nursing Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine Wake Forest University School of Medicine Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis Center for Health Policy
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine WE MOVE Weill Medical College of Cornell University Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research WiCell Research Institution Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Wisconsin Association for Biomedical Research and Education Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University Wright State University School of Medicine Yale University Yale University School of Medicine Yale University School of Nursing
You sure can cut and paste. Tell what you know about diverdonreed. He started this crap on Daily Kos.
Odie86 wrote on Sep 26, 2008 at 11:33 AM
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The politics of embryonic stem cell research are especially problematic when those who support this research also express a desire for abortions to be rare. Quite simply, they both cannot occur. Let's say embryonic stem cells can cure spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's, Alzheimers, and so on. Now embryos have become a commodity - companies or people willing to pay money for aborted fetuses so that they can cure those who have these disabilities. You see where this is going? Grandpa develops Alzheimers, so the grand-daughter now needs to get pregnant and then get an abortion to help Grandpa. Is this extreme? I don't think so. Why not just promote adult stem cell research which has no ethical baggage?
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Hackers Breaking Into Government Candidates E-mail Accounts
Hackers break into Sarah Palin's e-mail account
Wednesday, September 17, 2008 10:51:35 PM
By TED BRIDIS
Hackers broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin used for official business as Alaska's governor, revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate.
"This is a shocking invasion of the governor's privacy and a violation of law. The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them," the McCain campaign said in a statement.
The Secret Service contacted The Associated Press on Wednesday and asked for copies of the leaked
Other Politics Photos
Palin defends McCain over comment
e-mails, which circulated widely on the Internet. The AP did not comply.
The disclosure Wednesday raises new questions about the propriety of the Palin administration's use of nongovernment e-mail accounts to conduct state business. The practice was revealed months ago -- prior to Palin's selection as a vice presidential candidate -- after political critics obtained internal e-mails documenting the practice by some aides.
One person whose e-mail to Palin apparently was among those disclosed, Amy B. McCorkell, declined to discuss her correspondence. "I do not know anything about it," McCorkell said. "I'm not giving you any comment." Wired.com said McCorkell later confirmed that she did send the e-mail to Palin.
Another of the e-mails apparently revealed Wednesday was an exchange in July with Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell discussing a talk show host who had been critical of Parnell. Parnell declined to discuss the matter.
Palin herself used "gov.sarah" in one of her e-mail addresses, but the hackers targeted her "gov.palin" account. Her husband used "fek9wnr" in his address. "Fe" is the representation for iron, and "k9" is an abbreviation for canine. Todd Palin was the winner of the grueling Iron Dog snowmobile race, and "fek9wnr" also is Todd Palin's vehicle license tag in Alaska.
It wasn't immediately clear how hackers broke into Palin's Yahoo! account, but it would have been possible to trick the service into revealing her password knowing personal details about Palin that include her birthdate and ZIP code. A hacker also might have sent a forged e-mail to her account tricking her into revealing her own password.
McCorkell was appointed by Palin to an advisory board on issues involving alcohol and drug abuse. One of the leaked e-mails suggested McCorkell wrote to Palin on Sunday to say she was praying for Palin. "Don't let the negative press get you down!" the message said.
(This version CORRECTS Corrects in 7th graf that hackers targeted 'gov.palin' account sted 'gov.sarah' account.)
Wednesday, September 17, 2008 10:51:35 PM
By TED BRIDIS
Hackers broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin used for official business as Alaska's governor, revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate.
"This is a shocking invasion of the governor's privacy and a violation of law. The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them," the McCain campaign said in a statement.
The Secret Service contacted The Associated Press on Wednesday and asked for copies of the leaked
Other Politics Photos
Palin defends McCain over comment
e-mails, which circulated widely on the Internet. The AP did not comply.
The disclosure Wednesday raises new questions about the propriety of the Palin administration's use of nongovernment e-mail accounts to conduct state business. The practice was revealed months ago -- prior to Palin's selection as a vice presidential candidate -- after political critics obtained internal e-mails documenting the practice by some aides.
One person whose e-mail to Palin apparently was among those disclosed, Amy B. McCorkell, declined to discuss her correspondence. "I do not know anything about it," McCorkell said. "I'm not giving you any comment." Wired.com said McCorkell later confirmed that she did send the e-mail to Palin.
Another of the e-mails apparently revealed Wednesday was an exchange in July with Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell discussing a talk show host who had been critical of Parnell. Parnell declined to discuss the matter.
Palin herself used "gov.sarah" in one of her e-mail addresses, but the hackers targeted her "gov.palin" account. Her husband used "fek9wnr" in his address. "Fe" is the representation for iron, and "k9" is an abbreviation for canine. Todd Palin was the winner of the grueling Iron Dog snowmobile race, and "fek9wnr" also is Todd Palin's vehicle license tag in Alaska.
It wasn't immediately clear how hackers broke into Palin's Yahoo! account, but it would have been possible to trick the service into revealing her password knowing personal details about Palin that include her birthdate and ZIP code. A hacker also might have sent a forged e-mail to her account tricking her into revealing her own password.
McCorkell was appointed by Palin to an advisory board on issues involving alcohol and drug abuse. One of the leaked e-mails suggested McCorkell wrote to Palin on Sunday to say she was praying for Palin. "Don't let the negative press get you down!" the message said.
(This version CORRECTS Corrects in 7th graf that hackers targeted 'gov.palin' account sted 'gov.sarah' account.)
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Russel Simmons on The politics and the presidency
ABOUT SARAH PALIN
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.
She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular
girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and
won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because
she is a "babe". It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months. She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby. She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the
gym. She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out
there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.
Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin's kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans. Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.
She's smart. Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents. During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had
given rise to a recall campaign.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.
The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road
projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing. While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.
These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city. As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.
In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs. She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the librarian are on her enemies list to this day.
Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Plain fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated" her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support. She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn't like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.
Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her. When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he was fined).
As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to. As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance--but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork". She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.
Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.
As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum. Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National WildlifeRefuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiative that would have either a) protected salmon streams from
pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the
state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar bears as threatened species.
McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she. However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are getting it.
CLAIM VS. FACT
*"Hockey mom": true for a few years
*"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary
school, not since
*"NRA supporter": absolutely true
*social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill
that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconstitutional).
*pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.
*"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life
legislation.
*"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.
No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city
administrator to run town of about 5,000.
*political maverick: not at all.
*gutsy: absolutely!
*open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
*has a developed philosophy of public policy: no.
*"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
*fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
*pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city
without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.
*pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents.
*pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla's history.
*pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.
Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen
when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.
Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that's life.
Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the
100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against
Sarah's attempt at censorship.
Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to
say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor)
from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are
swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.
You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for
the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000.
The day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90's.
Anne
-Russell Simmons
Please login to post a comment
Kdollaz1
September 08, 2008, 03:46 PM EST
Barack or Die!
September 08, 2008, 05:23 PM EST
• Hi Russell: thanks for the information. This election is tough because you have one candidate who is advocating change and demonstrating how this change will come along. And you have another candidate who is advocating change but is really not demonstrating how that change will come along. I think that when Obama “picked a fight with McCain” he picked a fight based on the issues and it is those issues that I think should be the center of the campaign. When McCain picked a fight with Obama, I don’t think that he really had a foundation. In this debate, I think that the issues we should focus on are what is being ignored by the McCain Camp. (Economy/ Health care/ The War). I have read this article and it is very informative. Note that I am not looking to bash any candidate. I just want to choose a candidate who will be right for the position. To me, this election is a job interview and each candidate should be well qualified. At the selection of Sarah Pallin, quite frankly, I think that she is more “eye candy” for the McCain Camp rather than legitimate candidate who can make a difference. There is a serious disparity in the McCain Camp with Pallin. Like, I have every confidence that should “god forbid” anything happen to Obama; Biden would step into his shoes and do the job with ease. But should, god forbid, anything happen to McCain, “are you kidding me that this inexperience girl would because the leader of this nation. Please I hope that people open their eyes and see beyond her beauty and see the depth of this person. In my opinion, she is not the right person for the job. She is too inexperience, She is not within the league of Hilary Clinton or any of the senior governors.
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.
She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular
girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and
won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because
she is a "babe". It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months. She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby. She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the
gym. She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out
there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.
Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin's kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans. Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.
She's smart. Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents. During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had
given rise to a recall campaign.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.
The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road
projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing. While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.
These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city. As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.
In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs. She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the librarian are on her enemies list to this day.
Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Plain fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated" her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support. She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn't like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.
Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her. When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he was fined).
As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to. As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance--but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork". She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.
Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.
As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum. Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National WildlifeRefuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiative that would have either a) protected salmon streams from
pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the
state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar bears as threatened species.
McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she. However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are getting it.
CLAIM VS. FACT
*"Hockey mom": true for a few years
*"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary
school, not since
*"NRA supporter": absolutely true
*social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill
that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconstitutional).
*pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.
*"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life
legislation.
*"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.
No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city
administrator to run town of about 5,000.
*political maverick: not at all.
*gutsy: absolutely!
*open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
*has a developed philosophy of public policy: no.
*"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
*fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
*pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city
without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.
*pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents.
*pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla's history.
*pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.
Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen
when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.
Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that's life.
Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the
100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against
Sarah's attempt at censorship.
Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to
say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor)
from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are
swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.
You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for
the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000.
The day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90's.
Anne
-Russell Simmons
Please login to post a comment
Kdollaz1
September 08, 2008, 03:46 PM EST
Barack or Die!
September 08, 2008, 05:23 PM EST
• Hi Russell: thanks for the information. This election is tough because you have one candidate who is advocating change and demonstrating how this change will come along. And you have another candidate who is advocating change but is really not demonstrating how that change will come along. I think that when Obama “picked a fight with McCain” he picked a fight based on the issues and it is those issues that I think should be the center of the campaign. When McCain picked a fight with Obama, I don’t think that he really had a foundation. In this debate, I think that the issues we should focus on are what is being ignored by the McCain Camp. (Economy/ Health care/ The War). I have read this article and it is very informative. Note that I am not looking to bash any candidate. I just want to choose a candidate who will be right for the position. To me, this election is a job interview and each candidate should be well qualified. At the selection of Sarah Pallin, quite frankly, I think that she is more “eye candy” for the McCain Camp rather than legitimate candidate who can make a difference. There is a serious disparity in the McCain Camp with Pallin. Like, I have every confidence that should “god forbid” anything happen to Obama; Biden would step into his shoes and do the job with ease. But should, god forbid, anything happen to McCain, “are you kidding me that this inexperience girl would because the leader of this nation. Please I hope that people open their eyes and see beyond her beauty and see the depth of this person. In my opinion, she is not the right person for the job. She is too inexperience, She is not within the league of Hilary Clinton or any of the senior governors.
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