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So how do the conspiracy theories explain the dramatic improvement in survival rates in those cancers where research-guided improvements in treatment have been very successful?:

https://www.stjude.org/stjude/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=5b25e64c5b470110VgnVCM1000001e0215acRCRD

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15726810

Clearly there's a great deal to be done, and finding 'cures' is a very complex and difficult task. But we finally have the tools to do this in a systematic and rational way, and targeted therapies are already emerging.

I'm very sorry. Whatever happened to make you this jaded must have been quite horrible indeed.

Look, human life has value to many, if not all, humans. Particularly their own life and that of their loved ones. The very nature of survival and reproduction means we strive to maintain our state of being alive. We avoid dying every single day, even in our modern world. Why would being diagnosed with a terminal disease suddenly change all that?

Because it costs a lot to fight it?

Well, as they say, you can't take it with you. What is one more day with you family worth to you? What is it worth to THEM? And finally, who is "tres (151637)" to decide for someone you will never even meet, what is an appropriate level of end of life care?

because some schmuck can't face the fact he's going to die

Like these schmucks?

End of life care isn't necessarily only going to be an issue for the elderly. Children also get these kinds of diagnoses.

...while hundreds go without basic medical services because they can't afford it

Fine, expand Medicaid. Why mess with the part that works for everyone else?

I mean, really man, no doctor is ever going to give you less than the care you need to recover under the scaaarrry socialized medicine that works for the rest of the world.

Right. Which is why they never come here for treatment that their government won't allow. Right? Never, ever happens. Because their system is awesome and does not ask you to wait six years to treat a cancer that will kill you in less than one. Right?

Wasting time and resources on people who aren't going to 'beat it' just because they have the money to burn is not only foolhardy, it's stupid.

And it is quintessentially human. While you may not agree, you simply cannot legislate that everyone sees it the same way you do. Not without a lot of yelling, screaming, and endangering ever getting re-elected.

What I said before:

While I support embryonic stem cell research, I don't support taxpayer money supporting it. Reduce taxes and let those who want ESC research donate money.

While I do no support government funding of research I don't oppose it either. I'd rather government reduce tax and let others pay for research. Only as a last effort should government fund research. But when government does fund it then the research should be open sourced so anyone could use it.

There is very rarely any corporate funding for something that CAN'T BE PATENTED

Corporations aren't the only ones that fund research. Universities fund research as well. So do charities and non profits. Others fund St Jude's Children's Research Hospital, which then funds research. Before he died Danny Thomas put his heart and soul into starting and supporting St Jude's, as does his daughter Marlo Thomas.

Falcon

Any "Universal Health Care" plan must by necessity mean that people are coerced into buying their own or paying for others to have health care.

Oh I agree. I don't think anyone should be coerced into paying into any health care scheme if they don't want to. Therefore I oppose any sort of universal health care.

Competition in health insurance will lower insurance premiums.

And has it? Or has it resulted in insurance companies lowering costs by providing fewer benefits?

My point is there is no free market in health insurance. Most people in the US who have it get it through their employer, where the employer contributes to the insurance. Because of laws it's cheaper for employers to do this than for employers to pay employees more. If they could pay employees more without them or the employees having a large tax bill then they will. One of the issues today between the US auto manufacturers and the United Auto Workers, UAW, is health insurance. Because the cost of providing health insurance to employees is raising the auto companies want workers to pay more for insurance. However the workers don't want to pay more. This goes away if employees were paid more. I don't know the costs now but say GM can pay employees $1000 a year more tax free, with 10,000s if not 100,000s of UAW members insurance companies will step up to offer health insurance to those people, and to try to sell as many policies as they can they'd lower premiums and or offer different plans. Someone single may only want catastrophic coverage and will pay out of pocket for normal expenses. They may be able to get coverage for $500, then they can put the other $500 into a medical savings plan. A married couple with two children may want full coverage. So they may have $2000 to pay. With 3, 4, or more insurance companies compeating against each other they will be willing to lower insurance premiums to entice the couple to go with them, they'd rather have a more people paying a little less, having 100,000 people paying $900 per person is better than 10,000 paying $1000.

Maybe that's fine if you're completely pro-free market and don't mind that some people can't afford and thus don't have health care,

As stated above, with competition from a free market insurance companies will lower their insurance premiums and more people will be able to afford coverage. If for some reason some people are unable to afford any insurance Civil Society can provide assistance. A concerned group like the Rotary Club or Elks Lodge can open up a free clinic on a street corner. The Shriners Hospitals have treated many, many children. Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital started by Danny Thomas threats many more children for free. " St. Jude is the only pediatric research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay." Imagine how many more would step up to the plate if they could keep more of the money they work to earn.

Any "Universal Health Care" plan must by necessity mean that people are coerced into buying their own or paying for others to have health care.

Oh I agree. I don't think anyone should be coerced into paying into any health care scheme if they don't want to. Therefore I oppose any sort of universal health care.

Competition in health insurance will lower insurance premiums.

And has it? Or has it resulted in insurance companies lowering costs by providing fewer benefits?

My point is there is no free market in health insurance. Most people in the US who have it get it through their employer, where the employer contributes to the insurance. Because of laws it's cheaper for employers to do this than for employers to pay employees more. If they could pay employees more without them or the employees having a large tax bill then they will. One of the issues today between the US auto manufacturers and the United Auto Workers, UAW, is health insurance. Because the cost of providing health insurance to employees is raising the auto companies want workers to pay more for insurance. However the workers don't want to pay more. This goes away if employees were paid more. I don't know the costs now but say GM can pay employees $1000 a year more tax free, with 10,000s if not 100,000s of UAW members insurance companies will step up to offer health insurance to those people, and to try to sell as many policies as they can they'd lower premiums and or offer different plans. Someone single may only want catastrophic coverage and will pay out of pocket for normal expenses. They may be able to get coverage for $500, then they can put the other $500 into a medical savings plan. A married couple with two children may want full coverage. So they may have $2000 to pay. With 3, 4, or more insurance companies compeating against each other they will be willing to lower insurance premiums to entice the couple to go with them, they'd rather have a more people paying a little less, having 100,000 people paying $900 per person is better than 10,000 paying $1000.

Maybe that's fine if you're completely pro-free market and don't mind that some people can't afford and thus don't have health care,

As stated above, with competition from a free market insurance companies will lower their insurance premiums and more people will be able to afford coverage. If for some reason some people are unable to afford any insurance Civil Society can provide assistance. A concerned group like the Rotary Club or Elks Lodge can open up a free clinic on a street corner. The Shriners Hospitals have treated many, many children. Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital started by Danny Thomas threats many more children for free. " St. Jude is the only pediatric research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay." Imagine how many more would step up to the plate if they could keep more of the money they work to earn.

it's actually a charity.....

24 hours is nothing. You've never pulled an all-nighter to get a semester project completed?

Are you telling me you can't see the difference between a voluntary competition (hint: its kinda fun to pull an all-nighter every now and then... I have a wife and 2 kids and if I come across a fun project, I still do it from time to time) and a man who was either incapable of determining his tolerance or chose to ignore it (most likely the latter)?

And I suppose you would have people oppose the voluntary fund raiser Up till Dawn as well? I mean, think of the college students that will be kept up all night and have to go to class in the morning!

"A butterfly could cause a hurricane"

And yet we do have hurricanes and wise people in Florida prepare for hurricanes.

There will be a pandemic. I don't know when, and I don't know if it will be H5N1. Robert Webster and other experts don't know either, but they are nervous about H5N1.

Perhaps we should make what preparations we can, even if it just to strengthen the internet so people don't have to go into the office to get infected by co-workers.

However, even if strains with mutant forms of M2 can be virulent and not be recognized by antigens resulting from this vaccine, the possibilities are probably going to be more limited than the eternally shuffled deck of HA and NA proteins. Hopefully. This doesn't sound too good, though:

There was almost no impact of the different M2 mutations on viral fitness, as assessed on the basis of the size of viral plaques generated in the absence of drug and of virus titers following MDBK infection at a low MOI (Fig. 1 and 2). These findings are in agreement with a previous report showing that influenza A/H3N2 recombinant viruses can undergo multiple cycles of replication without M2 ion channel activity (15). In that study, recombinants containing the M2 gene of A/Udorn/307/72 (H3N2) with V27T, A30P, and S31N mutations were found to replicate as efficiently as the recombinant WT in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells. Also, a recombinant mutant which had no detectable M2 ion channel activity due to a deletion in the transmembrane domain of the protein (M2-del29-31) exhibited replication efficiency in vitro similar to that of the WT virus (15).

But it's another story whether these strains would succeed in the wild.

By the way, the resistance of H5N1 to amantadine seems primarily due to China giving it to chickens. Wonderful. But the U.S. and Canada still give low-dose antibiotics in livestock feed, so I guess we don't have a drumstick to stand on.

• Ronald McDonald House
• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
• Caringbridge

The Ronald McDonald House in particular is amazing. I followed another young girl with terminal cancer that, when she was discharged from the hospital with a week or two to live, said she'd rather live at the Ronald McDonald House for her last few weeks since she'd spent so much time there.