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The cost of war is high, there are no doubts there, both in dollars and in lives. I wonder how much in tax dollars have been spent on the “Global War on Terrorism”., and how much per American life lost, that equates to.
In his budget proposal earlier in the year, President Bush offered a .5% increase to the National Institute of Health. With an inflation rate on biomedical research at 3.5%, that equates to a 3% cutback. Why not put some of the Billions of dollars that we are sending over to fuel the war machine to use here at home to save lives. I am very thankful that congress as a whole has better ethics, and saw that .5% was absurded.
Why do I care, because I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at age 43. Now at 47, and with the progression of this disease, my future looks grim at best. This disease affects everybody different. I fear the future, will I be a burden, and will I need somebody to feed me, dress me, and take me to the bathroom?
There are more people with Parkinson’s than with Muscular Dystrophy, Lou Gerhig's disease, and multiples Sclerosis combined.
Parkinson’s affects about as many patients as HIV and AID’S, yet the NIH last year spent $41 in research dollars per Parkinson’s Patient compared with $1640 per patient with HIV or AID’s.
Pardon me while I go swallow another hand full of pills so I am able to type some more.
Substantive stuff, though I'm sorry to see I'm not the only one with formatting problems at Voice of AZ.
Some other things to consider:
-- 45 million Americans without any health insurance;
-- taxpaying US citizens refused attendance at public Presidential addresses because of a bumperstickers on their cars and t-shirts on their persons;
-- the largest, record-setting Federal Deficit of all 42 presidents in just 5 years;
-- well over 100,000 Iraqis killed since the US invasion. Google "Lancet Iraqi Body Count". No one was actually counting until the Iraqis started earlier this year;
-- US deaths in the Iraq War are grossly understated. Data published by the Pentagon is the result of selfserving criteria, e.g., a GI who dies in an Army Hospital in Germany as a result of wounds received in Iraq is not considered a casualty of the war;
-- No bucks for No Child Left Behind.
to be continued...
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