the other day I saw a man in a shirt that said "Imagine the world with no cancer"


My first thought was - we would have mass famine and no place to live. Call me mean. If we did cure cancer god would find another way to "cull the herd"...

(I am running for my flame suit)

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

I tend to agree with you. With a few people in my family including myself who have had cancer of one type or another I think Washington right now has bigger fish to fry. I think we have made tons of progress with cancer in the last 10 years and while DC may not be directly involved many, many others are. Now if we could just have Lance open his own pocketbook...

re:..."Now if we could just have Lance open his own pocketbook..."

Well, that may help... a bit, but isn't he more "valuable" as a high profile spokesperson/cheerleader for the cause.

As for bigger fish to fry... rather than re-election, what would that be? Financially, a re-think of Iraq may involve less (?) taxpayer $ than staying the course.

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

Govt should not be in heath care at all...no good has ever come from Govt playing puppet master to research as compared to Wall Street putting money into the companies that we as investors deem are worthy. If you were BMS or Pfizer would you want some nut ball Govt cronies calling the shots? What would your profit be? Would the Govt decide what the profits could be? You think that the research folks should all be philantropists for us cause we are not smart enough to make our own cures? Come on...

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

We don't have the time or money to do something good like find a cure for cancer, we have much more important things to do like kill innocent people in Iraq.

(Once a Lavender Room poster always a Lavender Room poster)

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You sir, are my new hero! - Trifan 11/13/2008

Casey, you are a wise man - blueraider_mike 11/13/2008

Casey, This is an astute observation. - Slowbern 11/17/2008

I had to hit quote on this one....wow....will medication help? Maybe we do need something to help you...I am calling drunken Ted right away!!! He will help you....dont worry, the delusions should stop some day.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

I am calling drunken Ted right away!!! He will help you

Now that's a cheap shot. I am no fan of Ted but sometimes the truth hurts. What on earth are we doing in Iraq anyway (I know, that's another thread).

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You sir, are my new hero! - Trifan 11/13/2008

Casey, you are a wise man - blueraider_mike 11/13/2008

Casey, This is an astute observation. - Slowbern 11/17/2008

Of course the state should be involved in health care. It is too important of a public issue than to be purely left to market forces. That being said, you do make a good point about possible bias in awarding of research contracts (Pfizer, BMS) but couldn't you say the same bias exists in the awarding of defense contracts?

And, yes, you do have me pegged - I do think for the most part research folks (not the corperations per se) are philantropic types - yes, there is a profit motive involved but profit isn't the primary motive for cancer research. Is it?

Finally, you write "we are not smart enough to make our own cures" - I'm not sure what you mean by this one - clarify...?

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

Maybe the government could take a little of that war money and apply it to those private companies and aid their research. Perhaps you have not lost a loved one at a young age to cancer, that kind of changes how you look at things.

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It's not how you start, it's how you finish

Though a research scientist MAY be thinking "for the good of man" - the fact is that the buck stops at Wall Street where the BoD is thinking "for the good of our stock prices...um...er....man - yeah, that is the good of man". I for one can not think of a single drug that does not have a patent and a team of Attys protecting that patent for as long as they can before they are forced to let it go to the generic producers. It is the profits from todays drugs that fund the research for next years, take that profit away and the desire to continue fades.

Today "public" drug research IS done much like Govt (aerospace in particular) contracts. There are only so many people who have the smarts, and ability to produce the things that they produce - and only so many people willing to take the risk of the fact that in the Med's there is no such thing as "A trial of ones peers" as the people who are smart enough to be a "peer" is in the industry. Much like an MD being taken for Med Mal - if a Doc had a "jury of his peers there would be 12 Doc's of the same specialty in the Jury box). There are HUGE risks involved in heath care in the US - the #1 being lawyers (Vioxx was a wonderful drug with low risk IF TAKEN PROPERLY).

When I say we are not smart enough to make our own drugs...we are not. Hell, I cant even read the information that comes with some drugs (I got out one from my Regranex to be sure) - let alone the atomic make up of the drug. The people who do this day to day are genius - hands down.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

So if gov't shouldn't be funding or fostering research do you also agree they should stay away from restricting it? (ie. embryonic stem cell research)

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Portside Athletics Blog

Any of it - abortion included.

Funny story...last year the moron jack ass Rod Blago, Gov of Il. "broke the rules" tried to make GW look bad about flu shots and spent my tax dollars on flu shots from Europe....funny...another liberal waste!!!

Read more about Govt action in health care here

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it's free...

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

Govt should not be in heath care at all...no good has ever come from Govt playing puppet master to research as compared to Wall Street putting money into the companies that we as investors deem are worthy. If you were BMS or Pfizer would you want some nut ball Govt cronies calling the shots?

Pharmaceutical industry loves the Govt to be in health care. The medicare prescription drug plan was an enormous handout to Big Pharma.

For hard problems like cancer, similarly, NIH (Federal Govt) funds the university-based basic science heavy lifting that takes decades and produces no quarterlies, and then when something interesting develops Pharma licenses the patents and the university gets a few crumbs. So pharmaceutical profits are heavily subsidized by government funded research.

When Wall St. puts in the money it's late in the game, and the owner / licensee puts large resources into hiding the science from other companies, which slows big-picture progress for things like cancer.

They also hide data from FDA, or when they can't, bind FDA's hands so unflattering data can't be published. Hence all the late findings like teenage suicide with antidepressants and so on.

Industry is after short term profit, which is an economic model that's incompatible with long term investment and publication of unfavorable clinical trial results.

funny...another liberal waste!!!

Have you seen the spending from the Bush administration in the last 6 years? I don't think anyone can accuse the Democrats of over spending again for a long time. At least not with a straight face.

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You sir, are my new hero! - Trifan 11/13/2008

Casey, you are a wise man - blueraider_mike 11/13/2008

Casey, This is an astute observation. - Slowbern 11/17/2008

Pharmaceutical industry loves the Govt to be in health care. The medicare prescription drug plan was an enormous handout to Big Pharma.

Trey, remember the rule about posting factual information is not just for the Lavender Room, it applies to all of Slowtwitch.

Facts get in the way of partisanship.

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You sir, are my new hero! - Trifan 11/13/2008

Casey, you are a wise man - blueraider_mike 11/13/2008

Casey, This is an astute observation. - Slowbern 11/17/2008

Trey, remember the rule about posting factual information is not just for the Lavender Room, it applies to all of Slowtwitch.

Sorry Casey, I will try to do better next time.

T