Is there a possibility -- a serious possibility -- that the Dow will go down to 10,000? Even lower?
Yes, the U.S. Federal Reserve has intervened and cut the discount rate by half a percent. Not to mention the EU central bank pumping hundreds of billions in one week to prop up the tottering world stock market. So stocks jumped 200 plus points for that day. Is the worst over?
Not by a long shot.
Here’s one good reason. The stock market is dangerously overvalued.
Wall Street soothsayers (erh, ”analysts”) claim the stocks in Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index have a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E Ratio) of 16.5. If that’s so, that’s quite normal, they reassure us, pointing out that the P/E ratio since World War II has been 16.1.
Therefore don’t worry, be happy!
But what most people don’t realize is that it’s another of Wall Street’s funny calculations. In the tradition of Voodoo Economics.
The problem with this P/E ratio? It’s cooked. It’s based on one year’s worth of earnings.
FACT CHECK: Columbia University professors Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd, in their classic book on investment theory ”Security Analysis,” (the bible for the likes of Warren Buffett) stressed that the P/E ratio should be calculated on the basis of profits for ”not less than five years, preferably seven or ten years.”
Using the Graham-Dodd formula, based on average profits over the past ten years (including the Internet bubble heyday), the P/E ratio of Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index comes out to a very, very inflated 27!
As the New York Times pointed out on August 15 in its ”Remembering a Classic Investing Theory” article, a 27 P/E ratio is ”higher than it has been at any other point over the last 130 years, save the great bubbles of the 1920s and the 1990s.”
”In fact,” the Times concludes, ”the stock run-up of the 1990s was so big---that the market may still not have fully worked it off.”
What’s worse is when the IT bubble was bursting, Alan Greenspan and the Bush regime cooked up a very effective replacement: the real-estate bubble of the past few years, now in its death throes.
Anyone who has read New York Times columnist and MIT/Princeton Economics professor Paul Krugman or has listened to Morgan Stanley’s Chief Economist Stephen Roach, is familiar with this.
Since the correction of the IT bubble was aborted, and that bursting bubble was replaced with the real-estate bubble, there is a hell of a lot of market ”correction” to be done.
And the subprime mortage market’s collapse, the ominous hedge fund troubles, and the recent panic requiring central banks in U.S. and Europé to pump in hundreds of billions to prop up the tumbling house of cards --- well, all that tell us the much-delayed "correction" is on its way. And it will most likely be ugly and nasty.
Running out of new tricks, Wall Street has been lamely trying to replace the quickly-deflating real-estate bubble with a revived Internet bubble. Think deals like YouTube, MySpace, etc and the hyperventilating press over them. But the past two weeks say it’s not working.
Contrary to all of Wall Street’s cheerleaders and hucksters, and despite momentary rallies, there is a serious possibility that the Dow will keep sliding--- to as low as 10,000. Possibly lower.
The chickens are coming home to roost.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Bush Veto of Stem Cells=Mass Murder
Make no mistake about it. Bush's veto against stem-cells research today will directly result in the deaths of tens of millions of Americans fighting heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimers, etc.
This is their and our best hope. But Bush's lethal veto will set back the advent of cures -- which stem cell research promises to deliver -- by all too many years.
It will be just too late for tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions, of Americans.
So if you or a loved one has cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Bush is telling you to Drop Dead!
xxxx
We desperately need a political party and government which supports stem cells research 100%. And is willing to open wide the federal funding spigot for it. In a sane, rational, really pro-life society, saving countless millions of American and human lives worldwide would and must have a supremely higher priority than invading and occupying Iraq, a hellhole of no strategic importance to us whatsoever.
Both houses of Bush's Republican-controlled Congress passed this law. But this usually rubber-stamp Congress cannot even muster the required vote to override a lame-duck "president" veto. Congress cannot stand up to a "president" with approval ratings near Nixon's when he was about to be impeached. No it can't even override this death-meting veto even when over 70% of the voters are on their side!
xxxx
History will be unmerciful on Bush's veto today. But what does his veto, the first he has ever had to use against his docile Congress, show?
1) Bush and the Religious Right are not pro-life as they claim, but Pro-Death.
Can any reasonable person still believe that Bush and his Religious Right care so much about a few cells when they don't care about grown, absolutely living and alive humans? Like you, your loved ones, and your friends. Surely, Americans have been conned long enough.
2) There is such a thing as The Death Society, and Americans live in one.
And the United States is the foremost Death Society on the planet. This despite the yearnings of many Americans to stay young, stay healthy, stay alive. (The ImmorTalist Manifesto points this out and explains it.)
xxxx
Americans who are fighting and dying of cancer, heart attacks, heart failures, diabetes, strokes, Alzheimer's couldn't care less about Iraq.
They know the real terror. And it's not Sadam. And they deserve a government that will fight The Real War on The Real Terror.
xxxx
This is their and our best hope. But Bush's lethal veto will set back the advent of cures -- which stem cell research promises to deliver -- by all too many years.
It will be just too late for tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions, of Americans.
So if you or a loved one has cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Bush is telling you to Drop Dead!
xxxx
We desperately need a political party and government which supports stem cells research 100%. And is willing to open wide the federal funding spigot for it. In a sane, rational, really pro-life society, saving countless millions of American and human lives worldwide would and must have a supremely higher priority than invading and occupying Iraq, a hellhole of no strategic importance to us whatsoever.
Both houses of Bush's Republican-controlled Congress passed this law. But this usually rubber-stamp Congress cannot even muster the required vote to override a lame-duck "president" veto. Congress cannot stand up to a "president" with approval ratings near Nixon's when he was about to be impeached. No it can't even override this death-meting veto even when over 70% of the voters are on their side!
xxxx
History will be unmerciful on Bush's veto today. But what does his veto, the first he has ever had to use against his docile Congress, show?
1) Bush and the Religious Right are not pro-life as they claim, but Pro-Death.
Can any reasonable person still believe that Bush and his Religious Right care so much about a few cells when they don't care about grown, absolutely living and alive humans? Like you, your loved ones, and your friends. Surely, Americans have been conned long enough.
2) There is such a thing as The Death Society, and Americans live in one.
And the United States is the foremost Death Society on the planet. This despite the yearnings of many Americans to stay young, stay healthy, stay alive. (The ImmorTalist Manifesto points this out and explains it.)
xxxx
Americans who are fighting and dying of cancer, heart attacks, heart failures, diabetes, strokes, Alzheimer's couldn't care less about Iraq.
They know the real terror. And it's not Sadam. And they deserve a government that will fight The Real War on The Real Terror.
xxxx
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Leaker-in-Chief Must Fire Himself
Now that we know who the Leaker-in-Chief is, Bush should fire himself.
Remember, Junior earlier promised to sack anyone found responsible for the leak which resulted in the exposure of a CIA agent. And Junior has been nothing short of obsessive about cracking down on leakers. Not surprising since there's a lot to leak in this Bush Jr. regime.
As John Dean pointed out in his recent congressional testimony, Junior is guilty of graver crimes than Nixon and Watergate and he should be impeached. For those who were born yesterday, Dean's testimony during Watergate was the beginning of the end for Nixon.
Not much hope of impeachment in this Republican-controlled Congress though. Well, maybe if the Democrats wrest control of both houses back. But don't bet on it even if that happens.
We don't feel as strongly that exposing a CIA operative is necessarily an impeachable offense. But we do feel that cooking up "evidence" of Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction" to get the American people into a reckless, bankrupting, and endless crusade is an impeachable offense of the "crimes and misdemeanors" variety.
Since Cheney was the one who leaked it (Junior authorized its leakage), Cheney must be fired by Junior before he fires himself. The last thing we want is for that nasty old man with the perennial snarl to take over officially as our Commander-in-Chief.
Note we say officially. Because unofficially, the triumvirate of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush Senior are the real powers and work-horses behind the throne. Yep, this is a regency. Just like the Reagan regime. In Reagan's case, it was because of early stages of Alzheimer's which we now know for sure. Well, here, it's mental inadequacy and sloth of the Mortalist kind.
Remember, Junior earlier promised to sack anyone found responsible for the leak which resulted in the exposure of a CIA agent. And Junior has been nothing short of obsessive about cracking down on leakers. Not surprising since there's a lot to leak in this Bush Jr. regime.
As John Dean pointed out in his recent congressional testimony, Junior is guilty of graver crimes than Nixon and Watergate and he should be impeached. For those who were born yesterday, Dean's testimony during Watergate was the beginning of the end for Nixon.
Not much hope of impeachment in this Republican-controlled Congress though. Well, maybe if the Democrats wrest control of both houses back. But don't bet on it even if that happens.
We don't feel as strongly that exposing a CIA operative is necessarily an impeachable offense. But we do feel that cooking up "evidence" of Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction" to get the American people into a reckless, bankrupting, and endless crusade is an impeachable offense of the "crimes and misdemeanors" variety.
Since Cheney was the one who leaked it (Junior authorized its leakage), Cheney must be fired by Junior before he fires himself. The last thing we want is for that nasty old man with the perennial snarl to take over officially as our Commander-in-Chief.
Note we say officially. Because unofficially, the triumvirate of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush Senior are the real powers and work-horses behind the throne. Yep, this is a regency. Just like the Reagan regime. In Reagan's case, it was because of early stages of Alzheimer's which we now know for sure. Well, here, it's mental inadequacy and sloth of the Mortalist kind.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Bush Axes Cancer, Heart & Stroke Research
New York -- The Bush regime has given Americans fighting heart disease, stroke, and cancer its new year greeting! The lowest funding for the NIH (National Institutes of Health) in 30 years. This year's budget is less than last year's (2005) which was effectively 10% lower than prior years.
Squandering all on the so-called "war against terror," a one-time attack which killed around 3,000, the Bush junta says Drop Dead! to the 725,000 or so who will die from heart disease and stroke in 2006. And it gives the finger to the half million Americans who will die of cancer this year.
This is why we say we live in a Death Society. In the foremost Death Society. It is not rhetorical flourish. It is a fact of our lives. And it's killing us.
War, reckless, unnecessary, endless wars take priority every single time over the life-and-death needs of tens of millions of Americans struggling with cancer, heart ailment, and stroke. When you count their friends, associates, and families. you realize this is America. We have the numbers, but we don't count in The Death Society.
The one-time 3,000 deaths from 9/11 were tragic and horrendous. But no rational or humane society or state would try to prevent that from happening again by ignoring the desperate pleas for help from the overwhelming majority of its voters. Up to 70% of U.S. families and households are affected by the unholy trinity of heart disease, stroke, or cancer.
This does not merely show the disconnect between Washington and Main Street. More than that, it proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Washington does not take its marching orders from Main Street. That it is in fact contemptuous of the deepest wishes of the overhwelming majority of U.S. voters because it sees no real power in them.
In a real democracy, the politicians are supposed to respond to the serious concerns of voters. What could be of more serious concern to tens of millions of Americans living with cancer, heart disease, stroke than funding for research to bring about treatments and cures in time to save them?!
And yet this is not a serious political issue in American politics. It is not just with Bush and his party that it's not a serious issue. It is not a serious issue either with the Democratic Party, which has a more sympathetic posture. The only way to make the politicos take this life-and-death issue of funding for cancer, heart disease, and stroke research seriously? Millions of Americans must make them understand that this is their overriding issue. That is, if you don't do right on this issue, we will vote against you, period. And throw you bums out.
Mllions of voters in the Bible Belt vote against their own economic interests so they can vote for their overriding issue -- the fundamentalist Christian agenda against abortion, gays, and turning the U.S. into a "Christian" nation. But why aren't there millions more voters who vow to make cancer, heart disease, and stroke their overriding issue? And to make the politicians ignore it at their own peril?
We are the real Silent Majority. "We" because the overwhelming majority of deaths in the U.S. will be due to heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Even those in perfect health now are at risk for it sooner or later. But the question is why are we so silent -- and timid? And when are we going to get smart?
Squandering all on the so-called "war against terror," a one-time attack which killed around 3,000, the Bush junta says Drop Dead! to the 725,000 or so who will die from heart disease and stroke in 2006. And it gives the finger to the half million Americans who will die of cancer this year.
This is why we say we live in a Death Society. In the foremost Death Society. It is not rhetorical flourish. It is a fact of our lives. And it's killing us.
War, reckless, unnecessary, endless wars take priority every single time over the life-and-death needs of tens of millions of Americans struggling with cancer, heart ailment, and stroke. When you count their friends, associates, and families. you realize this is America. We have the numbers, but we don't count in The Death Society.
The one-time 3,000 deaths from 9/11 were tragic and horrendous. But no rational or humane society or state would try to prevent that from happening again by ignoring the desperate pleas for help from the overwhelming majority of its voters. Up to 70% of U.S. families and households are affected by the unholy trinity of heart disease, stroke, or cancer.
This does not merely show the disconnect between Washington and Main Street. More than that, it proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Washington does not take its marching orders from Main Street. That it is in fact contemptuous of the deepest wishes of the overhwelming majority of U.S. voters because it sees no real power in them.
In a real democracy, the politicians are supposed to respond to the serious concerns of voters. What could be of more serious concern to tens of millions of Americans living with cancer, heart disease, stroke than funding for research to bring about treatments and cures in time to save them?!
And yet this is not a serious political issue in American politics. It is not just with Bush and his party that it's not a serious issue. It is not a serious issue either with the Democratic Party, which has a more sympathetic posture. The only way to make the politicos take this life-and-death issue of funding for cancer, heart disease, and stroke research seriously? Millions of Americans must make them understand that this is their overriding issue. That is, if you don't do right on this issue, we will vote against you, period. And throw you bums out.
Mllions of voters in the Bible Belt vote against their own economic interests so they can vote for their overriding issue -- the fundamentalist Christian agenda against abortion, gays, and turning the U.S. into a "Christian" nation. But why aren't there millions more voters who vow to make cancer, heart disease, and stroke their overriding issue? And to make the politicians ignore it at their own peril?
We are the real Silent Majority. "We" because the overwhelming majority of deaths in the U.S. will be due to heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Even those in perfect health now are at risk for it sooner or later. But the question is why are we so silent -- and timid? And when are we going to get smart?
Friday, January 06, 2006
Why 'Methuselah Prize' Will Not Save Us
This is an open letter to Aubrey de Grey of the Methuselah Foundation with the "Methuselah Prize." Elixxir challenges him to explain the reasoning behind why he believes The Methuselah Prize will snatch for us the prize every baby boomer yearns for -- the conquest of Old Age. Perhaps there is something Elixxir is missing in de Grey's logic because he still doesn't get it. At the same time, Elixxir will explain to Mr. de Grey why contemporary history tells us a prize is simply not going to do the trick. And if so, what will. And this letter ends with Elixxir's challenge to de Grey.
First of all, Elixxir reveals his bias in favor of de Grey. He agrees with Mr. de Grey on the goal of "curing" Old Age which comes with so much disease, suffering, misery, loss, grief, and eventually Death. If there is any real chance de Grey could procure this conquest of Old Age for us, surely Elixxir would be the first to cheer him on. Having said that, since we are embarked on an audacious goal and monumental mission and do not have the luxury of numbers, state wealth, or time, we must be unflinchingly sober and ruthlessly rational in asking whether this means (the Methuselah Prize) will get us to our end.
Preliminary impertinent question. Mr. de Grey claims to have raised 3 million dollars plus, a significiant sum which testifies to his rather proficient fundraising and promotional skills. But is this 3 million dollars best lying idle in the bank to serve our pressing goal of conquering human aging? Is not giving the prize out immediately somehow the optimum way to inspire and stampede scientists into pursuing anti-aging research? Correct Elixxir if he is wrong. But to his best knowledge, the so-called Methuselah Prize has never been awarded to any scientist yet. At least not in any sizable amount $100,000 or over. Why is this?! That is like not using our meager ammo and primitive weapons in the heat of and at the height of this do-or-die battle.
CAN WE DO BETTER THAN NOBEL PRIZE?
Yes, prizes don't hurt. But history shows what really works -- a hundred times, a thousand times more powerfully -- is state funding for research.
The Nobel Prize is as good as it gets for prizes. Yet most scientists or grad students who choose to go into a field or line of research don't do it because of the Nobel Prize, because even though it offers a prize of a million plus dollars, and a lot more prestige indeed, it is not a sure thing. It's not something that can sustain a researcher economically over the years. History clearly shows that what does greatly encourage grad students and even established researchers to go into a new field or new line of research is state funding, lots of state funding.
The examples of this fact -- that it is state funding and not prizes which really spurs research and breakthroughs -- are abundant and undeniable. The Manhattan Project. The Apollo Program. The National Institutes of Health. National Cancer Institutes.
Even if the Methuselah Prize goes up to 10 million, it will still fall far short to achieve our monumental goal! What is needed is state funding, and what opens up the spigot of state funding so it gushes out to the tune of hundreds of millions, and even hundreds of billions of dollars? Political pressure, lobbying, and grassroots activism.
HISTORY LESSON FROM AIDS, BREAST & PROSTATE CANCER
AIDS, breast cancer, and prostate cancer show how true this is, even in this age of budget deficits and reckless military adventurism.
AIDS went from almost zero funding to just under one billion dollars at the end of Reagan's regime. Yes, Reagan, who courted the Religious Right shamelessly to the point of refusing to even mention the word AIDS, was forced by ACT-UP and its relatively handful of activists into appropriating this amount! Without this, there would be no AIDS cocktails which have saved and prolonged the lives of millions.
Women with breast cancer have organized themselves into groups like the National Coalition for Breast Cancer and have forced the federal gov't to increase funding for breast cancer 800 percent in a few years!
MICHAEL MILKEN & LASKER PRIZE: THEY GOT IT
Prostate cancer activists like Michael Milken have compelled the budget for prostate cancer to increase by 20 times to its current half a billion dollars! But Milken understands it is nowhere enough for him, a billionaire, to open wide his deep pocket and set up a foundation that has so far distributed 245 million dollars. But that it's absolutely crucial to lobby the government to match his contributions many times over. Even with all this money, there is still no cure for prostate cancer, as Milken has to admit in his latest letter to his supporters.
Milken of course was not the first to realize the importance of state funding. The pioneer health-issues activist-lobbyist was probably Mary Lasker. She and her wealthy husband set up the Lasker Foundation way back in 1942. The foundation gives out the most prestigious and influential prize for biomedical research in the U.S., a prize which means that someone becomes a contender for the Nobel Prize. (In fact, a good number of its awardees went on to win the Nobel Prize.) And yet, Mrs. Lasker didn’t believe that her foundation’s largess would be sufficient for her crusade against cancer. No, she was astute enough to realize that there must in addition a lot of state funding for biomedical research and cancer research in particular. So she and a small coterie of influential lobbyists got the National Institutes on Health funded. She got the National Cancer Institute set up separately to focus on cancer, and she got Nixon and the U.S. Congress to declare a ”War Against Cancer.”
DO-IT-YOURSELF-ISM EQUALS DEATH
Can the Methuselah Prize really hope to match Milken in private foundation money? And isn't our goal so much more audacious than his, and if so, how can we possibly believe that we can succeed without massive state funding?!
To cure aging is a thousand times more audacious and complex a goal than to cure one of its symptoms like breast or prostate cancer. This we surely agree. So how can we expect to do it on the cheap? Yes, even 10 million is a joke and will get us nowhere. How can we believe that we can do this on a self-help basis?
Do-it-yourselfism equals Death. Elixxir has pointed this out in his book The ImmorTalist Manifesto. It has killed Roy Walford. It will surely kill every one on his Caloric Restriction List. And it will just as surely kill everyone who has given to the Methuselah Prize too.
It will kill all of us immortalists unless we start getting smart and adopt the right strategy which is so glaring, so historical, so irrefutable, that everyone sees it except us immortalists! And by everyone I mean everyone from civil rights activists, feminists, gays, and, yes, even the Religious Right! Not to mention activists for AIDS, breast and prostate cancer.
If we are to have a real chance at our common goal, then we must be clear-eyed and unsentimental about whether our means will get us to our end. It may be a valiant, noble try, but if it doesn't have a prayer to get me to where we want to go, then it is Naiveté and Romanticism that we simply cannot afford since the stakes are simply too high.
Immortalists who are people of reason and facts must and will consider the above.
YOU CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE
There is only one realistic way to get what we want. It requires political organization, lobbying, electoral politics so that we can get the state which collects our taxes to fund what the real silent majority really wants -- the conquest of Disease, Old Age, and Death.
There is no other way. All other way leads to Death!
We immortalists think we are smart, but we don't even get crumbs from the state's funding table. Everyone else does! In the U.S., where Ettinger, the founder of Cryonics, had a media windfall more than 40 years ago, we still do not have anything close to a real movement! We are in the dismal position of where the fundamentalist churches were before they got smart and made up for lost time and got into politics with a vengeance.
RELIGIOUS RIGHT SMARTER THAN IMMORTALISTS?
Yes, we are in the same primitive political stage as the apolitical do-it-yourself fundamentalist Christians when they didn't think they should get involved in political lobbying or electoral politics, much less get Caesar and its funding behind them.
The Elixxir Program is 100% scientific and based on the only anti-aging eating program known to science and medicine. Based on the abundant body of scientific literature and on what it has done for Elixxir, he is convinced it is the best way to slow down aging dramatically and buy Time so that we'll be around to benefit from the breakthroughs. But if Elixxir claims that The Elixxir Program alone is sufficient to save us from Old Age and Death without the help of massive political intervention and state funding, then you have every right to laugh. And yet this is what Roy Walford and his CR list has basically claimed. Walford, who died at 78, was wrong, dead wrong.
We must form a political movement capable of successfully pushing for dramatically increased funding for anti-aging research. At the level of The Manhattan Project or The Apollo Program. Ettinger should have started over 40 years ago. If he had succeeded, we would have a place at the state funding table. But he didn't even try. So now we must, or we too will surely grow old like Ettinger, and perish.
APPEAL TO MR. DE GREY: INVEST $3 MILLION WHERE IT COUNTS
Mr. de Grey, Elixxir believes you can make a difference. But not with the mortally-flawed strategy behind The Methuselah Prize. You can help us leap towards our shared goal of conquering human aging by helping Elixxir and others create the ImmorTalist political movement we urgently need. It will take much less to seed it than ten million dollars. In fact, your million dollars will do just fine. It will be the best investment you and your donors can make towards the real prize we all seek. What do we get in return? Hundreds of millions, tens of billions, hundreds of billions of dollars, pumped into anti-aging research to make sure the breakthroughs come in time to save us!
Stay Young & Prosper!
Elixxir
First of all, Elixxir reveals his bias in favor of de Grey. He agrees with Mr. de Grey on the goal of "curing" Old Age which comes with so much disease, suffering, misery, loss, grief, and eventually Death. If there is any real chance de Grey could procure this conquest of Old Age for us, surely Elixxir would be the first to cheer him on. Having said that, since we are embarked on an audacious goal and monumental mission and do not have the luxury of numbers, state wealth, or time, we must be unflinchingly sober and ruthlessly rational in asking whether this means (the Methuselah Prize) will get us to our end.
Preliminary impertinent question. Mr. de Grey claims to have raised 3 million dollars plus, a significiant sum which testifies to his rather proficient fundraising and promotional skills. But is this 3 million dollars best lying idle in the bank to serve our pressing goal of conquering human aging? Is not giving the prize out immediately somehow the optimum way to inspire and stampede scientists into pursuing anti-aging research? Correct Elixxir if he is wrong. But to his best knowledge, the so-called Methuselah Prize has never been awarded to any scientist yet. At least not in any sizable amount $100,000 or over. Why is this?! That is like not using our meager ammo and primitive weapons in the heat of and at the height of this do-or-die battle.
CAN WE DO BETTER THAN NOBEL PRIZE?
Yes, prizes don't hurt. But history shows what really works -- a hundred times, a thousand times more powerfully -- is state funding for research.
The Nobel Prize is as good as it gets for prizes. Yet most scientists or grad students who choose to go into a field or line of research don't do it because of the Nobel Prize, because even though it offers a prize of a million plus dollars, and a lot more prestige indeed, it is not a sure thing. It's not something that can sustain a researcher economically over the years. History clearly shows that what does greatly encourage grad students and even established researchers to go into a new field or new line of research is state funding, lots of state funding.
The examples of this fact -- that it is state funding and not prizes which really spurs research and breakthroughs -- are abundant and undeniable. The Manhattan Project. The Apollo Program. The National Institutes of Health. National Cancer Institutes.
Even if the Methuselah Prize goes up to 10 million, it will still fall far short to achieve our monumental goal! What is needed is state funding, and what opens up the spigot of state funding so it gushes out to the tune of hundreds of millions, and even hundreds of billions of dollars? Political pressure, lobbying, and grassroots activism.
HISTORY LESSON FROM AIDS, BREAST & PROSTATE CANCER
AIDS, breast cancer, and prostate cancer show how true this is, even in this age of budget deficits and reckless military adventurism.
AIDS went from almost zero funding to just under one billion dollars at the end of Reagan's regime. Yes, Reagan, who courted the Religious Right shamelessly to the point of refusing to even mention the word AIDS, was forced by ACT-UP and its relatively handful of activists into appropriating this amount! Without this, there would be no AIDS cocktails which have saved and prolonged the lives of millions.
Women with breast cancer have organized themselves into groups like the National Coalition for Breast Cancer and have forced the federal gov't to increase funding for breast cancer 800 percent in a few years!
MICHAEL MILKEN & LASKER PRIZE: THEY GOT IT
Prostate cancer activists like Michael Milken have compelled the budget for prostate cancer to increase by 20 times to its current half a billion dollars! But Milken understands it is nowhere enough for him, a billionaire, to open wide his deep pocket and set up a foundation that has so far distributed 245 million dollars. But that it's absolutely crucial to lobby the government to match his contributions many times over. Even with all this money, there is still no cure for prostate cancer, as Milken has to admit in his latest letter to his supporters.
Milken of course was not the first to realize the importance of state funding. The pioneer health-issues activist-lobbyist was probably Mary Lasker. She and her wealthy husband set up the Lasker Foundation way back in 1942. The foundation gives out the most prestigious and influential prize for biomedical research in the U.S., a prize which means that someone becomes a contender for the Nobel Prize. (In fact, a good number of its awardees went on to win the Nobel Prize.) And yet, Mrs. Lasker didn’t believe that her foundation’s largess would be sufficient for her crusade against cancer. No, she was astute enough to realize that there must in addition a lot of state funding for biomedical research and cancer research in particular. So she and a small coterie of influential lobbyists got the National Institutes on Health funded. She got the National Cancer Institute set up separately to focus on cancer, and she got Nixon and the U.S. Congress to declare a ”War Against Cancer.”
DO-IT-YOURSELF-ISM EQUALS DEATH
Can the Methuselah Prize really hope to match Milken in private foundation money? And isn't our goal so much more audacious than his, and if so, how can we possibly believe that we can succeed without massive state funding?!
To cure aging is a thousand times more audacious and complex a goal than to cure one of its symptoms like breast or prostate cancer. This we surely agree. So how can we expect to do it on the cheap? Yes, even 10 million is a joke and will get us nowhere. How can we believe that we can do this on a self-help basis?
Do-it-yourselfism equals Death. Elixxir has pointed this out in his book The ImmorTalist Manifesto. It has killed Roy Walford. It will surely kill every one on his Caloric Restriction List. And it will just as surely kill everyone who has given to the Methuselah Prize too.
It will kill all of us immortalists unless we start getting smart and adopt the right strategy which is so glaring, so historical, so irrefutable, that everyone sees it except us immortalists! And by everyone I mean everyone from civil rights activists, feminists, gays, and, yes, even the Religious Right! Not to mention activists for AIDS, breast and prostate cancer.
If we are to have a real chance at our common goal, then we must be clear-eyed and unsentimental about whether our means will get us to our end. It may be a valiant, noble try, but if it doesn't have a prayer to get me to where we want to go, then it is Naiveté and Romanticism that we simply cannot afford since the stakes are simply too high.
Immortalists who are people of reason and facts must and will consider the above.
YOU CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE
There is only one realistic way to get what we want. It requires political organization, lobbying, electoral politics so that we can get the state which collects our taxes to fund what the real silent majority really wants -- the conquest of Disease, Old Age, and Death.
There is no other way. All other way leads to Death!
We immortalists think we are smart, but we don't even get crumbs from the state's funding table. Everyone else does! In the U.S., where Ettinger, the founder of Cryonics, had a media windfall more than 40 years ago, we still do not have anything close to a real movement! We are in the dismal position of where the fundamentalist churches were before they got smart and made up for lost time and got into politics with a vengeance.
RELIGIOUS RIGHT SMARTER THAN IMMORTALISTS?
Yes, we are in the same primitive political stage as the apolitical do-it-yourself fundamentalist Christians when they didn't think they should get involved in political lobbying or electoral politics, much less get Caesar and its funding behind them.
The Elixxir Program is 100% scientific and based on the only anti-aging eating program known to science and medicine. Based on the abundant body of scientific literature and on what it has done for Elixxir, he is convinced it is the best way to slow down aging dramatically and buy Time so that we'll be around to benefit from the breakthroughs. But if Elixxir claims that The Elixxir Program alone is sufficient to save us from Old Age and Death without the help of massive political intervention and state funding, then you have every right to laugh. And yet this is what Roy Walford and his CR list has basically claimed. Walford, who died at 78, was wrong, dead wrong.
We must form a political movement capable of successfully pushing for dramatically increased funding for anti-aging research. At the level of The Manhattan Project or The Apollo Program. Ettinger should have started over 40 years ago. If he had succeeded, we would have a place at the state funding table. But he didn't even try. So now we must, or we too will surely grow old like Ettinger, and perish.
APPEAL TO MR. DE GREY: INVEST $3 MILLION WHERE IT COUNTS
Mr. de Grey, Elixxir believes you can make a difference. But not with the mortally-flawed strategy behind The Methuselah Prize. You can help us leap towards our shared goal of conquering human aging by helping Elixxir and others create the ImmorTalist political movement we urgently need. It will take much less to seed it than ten million dollars. In fact, your million dollars will do just fine. It will be the best investment you and your donors can make towards the real prize we all seek. What do we get in return? Hundreds of millions, tens of billions, hundreds of billions of dollars, pumped into anti-aging research to make sure the breakthroughs come in time to save us!
Stay Young & Prosper!
Elixxir
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
'West Wing' Star dead of Heart Attack at 58
New York -- In this holiday season, a heart attack killed John Spencer, a star of ”West Wing” who played a politico who survived a heart attack to run for Vice President. At the height of his career, Death came rudely to this self-confessed workaholic whose health took a backseat to the hit TV show.
For what does it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own life?
This is the question his death confronts us with. It forces us to evaluate our own priorities. It makes us ask what indeed is the most important thing in our life? The foundation without which there can be no possibility of success or happiness?
Surely this TV and movie star could afford the best health care in the world that money can buy! Surely he can afford annual medical and heart checkups and cardiologists. Surely he was not one of the 46 million Americans without the money to buy any health insurance.
If Spencer had wanted to do an anti-heart-attack program, surely he could have easily afforded it. If he had demanded it as part of his contract on grounds that it’d slash his risk for a fatal heart attack, the producers of this lucrative long-running hit show would surely have said yes to all or part of the fees. After all, it’d be less expensive than losing him just as they are gearing up for his character to possibly become the VP.
Did Spenser have a prior heart attack? Was he overweight? We don’t know. But if he had, for example, a past heart attack and was currently overweight, then the risk of another heart attack -- this time terminal -- would have been quite serious.
So the question is what is it worth to a John Spencer if there is some program, some intervention which has a serious scientific probability of preventing a fatal heart attack? Well, it would be worth every penny he had. Because a tatal heart attack would mean he loses everything he owns and all his future potential earnings as a hot TV actor.
A heart transplant costs up to one million dollars. Heart surgery to clear up clog vessels could cost hundreds of thousands. And they’re hardly a sure thing, bringing with them serious risk of major complications, including death.
John Spenser, if he were smart, would have no hesitation about paying a million dollars for a program which can save his life. That would be his best bargain and investment, ever.
For others of us who are not Hollywood stars, an anti-heart-attack, anti-aging program will be less than a million. But yes, it must be enough to make us take notice. And count the cost. Because if we do, we will be fully committed to the program, and when we play the program as instructed, it will work like a charm.
The Mortalist regime wouldn't let us know. But there is already a program that is based on the only scientifically-proven anti-aging program. It so happens it is also the best way to prevent killer heart attacks.
P.S. If you are overweight, and/or have heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, or diabetes, or any condition which could be helped by losing weight, you can get your doctor to write a letter advising you to lose weight and then choose The Elixxir Program. It can be tax-deductible under the new IRS regulations. After all, The Elixxir Program is based on the best-documented permanent lifelong weight-loss program. And we’ll show you how to live la dolce vita on it! What can be a better New Year’s Resolution! Happy New Year!'
More below----
For more info about The Elixxir Program
http://www.elixxir.com
To order "How to Stop Aging & Start Living: The Elixxir Program"
using your Credit Card or PayPal, just click
http://www.immortalism.com/paypal/
"Imagine living to 120…with youthful vigor, free of
disease…Elixxir is living proof… – Life Extension Magazine
"The only anti-aging guru who has actually stayed young." –
Marilyn Much, Investor's Business Daily
For what does it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own life?
This is the question his death confronts us with. It forces us to evaluate our own priorities. It makes us ask what indeed is the most important thing in our life? The foundation without which there can be no possibility of success or happiness?
Surely this TV and movie star could afford the best health care in the world that money can buy! Surely he can afford annual medical and heart checkups and cardiologists. Surely he was not one of the 46 million Americans without the money to buy any health insurance.
If Spencer had wanted to do an anti-heart-attack program, surely he could have easily afforded it. If he had demanded it as part of his contract on grounds that it’d slash his risk for a fatal heart attack, the producers of this lucrative long-running hit show would surely have said yes to all or part of the fees. After all, it’d be less expensive than losing him just as they are gearing up for his character to possibly become the VP.
Did Spenser have a prior heart attack? Was he overweight? We don’t know. But if he had, for example, a past heart attack and was currently overweight, then the risk of another heart attack -- this time terminal -- would have been quite serious.
So the question is what is it worth to a John Spencer if there is some program, some intervention which has a serious scientific probability of preventing a fatal heart attack? Well, it would be worth every penny he had. Because a tatal heart attack would mean he loses everything he owns and all his future potential earnings as a hot TV actor.
A heart transplant costs up to one million dollars. Heart surgery to clear up clog vessels could cost hundreds of thousands. And they’re hardly a sure thing, bringing with them serious risk of major complications, including death.
John Spenser, if he were smart, would have no hesitation about paying a million dollars for a program which can save his life. That would be his best bargain and investment, ever.
For others of us who are not Hollywood stars, an anti-heart-attack, anti-aging program will be less than a million. But yes, it must be enough to make us take notice. And count the cost. Because if we do, we will be fully committed to the program, and when we play the program as instructed, it will work like a charm.
The Mortalist regime wouldn't let us know. But there is already a program that is based on the only scientifically-proven anti-aging program. It so happens it is also the best way to prevent killer heart attacks.
P.S. If you are overweight, and/or have heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, or diabetes, or any condition which could be helped by losing weight, you can get your doctor to write a letter advising you to lose weight and then choose The Elixxir Program. It can be tax-deductible under the new IRS regulations. After all, The Elixxir Program is based on the best-documented permanent lifelong weight-loss program. And we’ll show you how to live la dolce vita on it! What can be a better New Year’s Resolution! Happy New Year!'
More below----
For more info about The Elixxir Program
http://www.elixxir.com
To order "How to Stop Aging & Start Living: The Elixxir Program"
using your Credit Card or PayPal, just click
http://www.immortalism.com/paypal/
"Imagine living to 120…with youthful vigor, free of
disease…Elixxir is living proof… – Life Extension Magazine
"The only anti-aging guru who has actually stayed young." –
Marilyn Much, Investor's Business Daily
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Sharon's Gerontocracy
Stockholm -- Sharon gets a stroke. But the question is why would Israel or any country have Ariel Sharon as its Prime Minister? If you wanted someone for your small business, would you hire this morbidly obese person who's a stroke-waiting-to-happen? Can't Israel, in this time of crisis, do better than to entrust its future to this 77 year-old with no future? And to his outgoing vice-Prime Minister, erh, a 82 year old Simon Peres.
If this is not a gerontocracy, what is?
But let's not forget the gerontocracy in the U.S. Empire. Cheney and Rumsfeld, failures and retreads from the Vietnam War. They are the ones, along with George Bush Senior, who are regents for G.W. Junior. And the real powers behind the throne. China has already gotten rid of its gerontocrats, and is into its third generation of leaders. But here we are in the U.S., and we got nothing better than to recycle the people from the Ford presidency. Yep, they had to cut and run in Vietnam. And they will have to in Iraq cause they're doing a hundred times worse. These losers.
And last but not least, only the Vatican, the world's oldest-running gerontocracy, would appoint someone like Ratzi-nger. You would not think that any sane institution would, after the lingering illness of the last "Pope," would appoint someone who has had a history of life-threatening illness as a Ratzi-nger. But nope, you'd be dead wrong. Because there's nothing a gerontocracy loves than nasty old men.
If this is not a gerontocracy, what is?
But let's not forget the gerontocracy in the U.S. Empire. Cheney and Rumsfeld, failures and retreads from the Vietnam War. They are the ones, along with George Bush Senior, who are regents for G.W. Junior. And the real powers behind the throne. China has already gotten rid of its gerontocrats, and is into its third generation of leaders. But here we are in the U.S., and we got nothing better than to recycle the people from the Ford presidency. Yep, they had to cut and run in Vietnam. And they will have to in Iraq cause they're doing a hundred times worse. These losers.
And last but not least, only the Vatican, the world's oldest-running gerontocracy, would appoint someone like Ratzi-nger. You would not think that any sane institution would, after the lingering illness of the last "Pope," would appoint someone who has had a history of life-threatening illness as a Ratzi-nger. But nope, you'd be dead wrong. Because there's nothing a gerontocracy loves than nasty old men.
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