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1.: MICHIGAN MIRACLE? Stem Cell Stalwarts Fight Uphill Battle From: Stephen Meyer

2.: TAKE CARE OF CALIFORNIA … From: Stephen Meyer

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1.: MICHIGAN MIRACLE? Stem Cell Stalwarts Fight Uphill Battle

Posted by: "Stephen Meyer" Stephen276@comcast.net stephen_meyer_stemcells

Sun Oct 12, 2008 7:20 pm (PDT)

MICHIGAN MIRACLE? Stem Cell Stalwarts Fight Uphill Battle

"Let us so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire last for a
thousand years, men will still say: this was their finest
hour."—Winston Churchhill

In World War Two, when Nazi bombs were falling on England, the citizens
came together like never before. Far from breaking their spirit, the
attacks strengthened their resolve.

Similarly, in Michigan today, a common purpose has united men and women
from every walk of life. Not separated by artificial labels like
Republican and Democrat, church-go'er and not, male and female,
young and old, Michiganders are mounting a non-partisan effort to throw
off the cruelest anti-research laws in the nation.

Current law? If you are trying to find a cure for cancer and you make a
stem cell line, you can go to jail for ten years, and be fined a million
dollars. This is nonsense, and it is time for change.

The state of Michigan is fighting for the right to turn medical trash
into treasure, to use blastocysts that would otherwise be thrown away to
give hope to suffering people, so that every American family can have
the right to the best medicine science can provide.

Here is how it works. When a childless couple goes to the In Vitro
Fertility (IVF) clinic, to try to have a baby, fifteen or twenty
microscopic blastocysts are made—microscopic unions of sperm and
egg. The best ones are put inside the woman, implanted in her womb, to
help her and her husband achieve their dream. But what about the other

12-15 blastocysts?

Under current law, they must be thrown away, given to some other couple,
and be stored in frozen nitrogen (at an expense) forever. But they
cannot be used for research which might save lives or ease suffering.
That's correct— a blastocyst which can legally be tossed in the
dump, cannot be donated to the quest for cure.

Would it not be better to allow these microscopic dots of tissue to be
used to help bring about relief for suffering people? Remember, it is
biologically impossible for these cells to ever become a child unless
they are implanted in a woman's womb. No mother, no baby: that is a
simple fact of life.

A lot of good people have worked years to overturn those laws.

Why? "Everybody knows someone with a terrible condition, who cannot
be cured right now," said Sophie Eichner of Michigan for Stem Cell
Research and Cures, "like my husband, who has cancer and diabetes,
and my mother, who has rheumatoid arthritis."

People like Sophie mounted a campaign, and put Proposal 2 on the ballot.
As an initiative, Proposal 2 needed 380, 000 signatures to qualify for
consideration; but the men and women fighting for Proposal 2 gathered
more than half a million individual signatures.

Now it must be voted on, decided by Michigan.

It is an uphill battle.

The Religious Right likes to brag about their domination of Michigan,
taking pride in the very restrictions on research that we hope to
overturn-- and they have virtually unlimited resources.

Among the enemies of research is (unfortunately) the Catholic Church,
the single largest property owner in the world. In addition to attacks
from the pulpit, the Michigan Catholic Conference has spent vast amounts
of money on their seemingly endless campaign. For example, one of their
widely-distributed propaganda messages was a professionally-done 12
minute anti-stemcell DVD. This was sent to every Catholic family in
Michigan—think of the cost of 503,000 DVD's plus postage for
that single mailing—not to mention the television ads.

Fortunately, Catholics can be independent. My wife Gloria is Catholic,
as are my children Desiree and Roman, and they are among the 72% of
American Catholics who support embryonic stem cell research*.

Unfortunately, we are up against people who are willing to lie.

These are supposed to be champions of morality. Certainly they praise
themselves enough, implying that only non-virtuous folks could disagree
with their views.

To me, when the Good Book says, "Thou shalt not bear false
witness", that means no lying—the opposition tossed that
commandment out the window.

Three examples:

Lie Number One: the opposition knows perfectly well Proposal 2 is not
about money for research: not a nickel, not a dollar, not a cent.

But the opposition runs expensive TV ads showing an actor shoveling
mountains of money, saying Michigan can't afford to spend millions
on stem cell research—even though Proposal 2 asks for no money at
all.

Lie number Two: The opposition pretends the bill is about cloning,
using the fear of this horror movie fantasy in more professionally-made
TV ads, with an announcer intoning like the voice of doom, while the
video shows a bunch of buildings with labels like "Crop Clones"
on them. I have no idea where they got these companies, or if they exist
at all— (a Google search reveals no company by that name) or maybe
the company (assuming it has an existence) has something to do with
cloning plants, increasing farm crops they way gardeners do when they
cut a slip from a plant—but the clear implication is that there is a
business trying to clone people, which is completely false.

If the opposition was seriously worried about cloning, all they would
have to do is to read the first sentence of the bill itself: here it is.

"Article I Section 27. (1) Nothing in this section shall alter
Michigan's current prohibition on human cloning."

How much clearer can words get? There is no possible excuse of
misunderstanding here; the opposition seems to hope Michiganders will
not read the bill for themselves.

Lie number three is the cruelest deception of all—that we don't
need embryonic stem cell research-- because adult stem cell research is
already bringing cures to 70 (or 58 or 100 or whatever number they are
using today) of diseases.

This is the one that angers me the most. Adult stem cell research is
valuable, no one says it isn't. I am in favor of stem cell research
from many sources. Where it works, it should be used.

But talk to people who have Parkinson's, spinal cord injury, cancer,
Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's disease and more—all conditions
presently incurable—and ask them if there is a cure.

My son is paralyzed. If there was a cure, I would sell my house to make
it happen for him. There is no cure yet, but the best hope I have is
embryonic stem cells.

Adult stem cells to me are like bandaids: they are useful for minor
repairs of the body, all through life. I am glad they exist. My sister
Barbara, who has cancer and leukemia, was given our younger brother
David's adult stem cells, and they helped—for a while. But then
the cancer came back. There is no cure.

No serious scientific or medical body pretends adult stem cells are an
acceptable substitute for embryonic stem cell research.

They may even be less valuable than we think.

Here is a small piece of an article which just came out. It is about the
adult stem cell research which the opposition tries to say is just as
good as embryonic.

[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500ap_stem_cell_study.html

Last updated October 7, 2008 10:59 p.m. PT
University: Stem-cell study used falsified data
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MINNEAPOLIS -- The University of Minnesota has concluded that falsified
data were used in a 2001 article published by one of its researchers on
adult stem cells. The school is asking that the article be retracted.

The conclusion follows an 18-month investigation into research published
by stem-cell expert Dr. Catherine Verfaillie. The investigation clears
Verfaillie of misconduct but points to a former graduate student, Dr.
Morayma Reyes, who is now an assistant professor at the University of
Washington.

The university blames Verfaillie for "inadequate training and
oversight," and says it has asked for a retraction of the published
article, which appeared in the journal Blood.

Reyes said it was an honest error and there was no intent to deceive.

The study was one of a series that Verfaillie published, suggesting that
adult stem cells could be used as an alternative to embryonic stem cells
in medical research…." (emphasis added.)—end of quote.

Dr. Katherine Verfaille is a decent and honorable person. She never said
her research should replace embryonic stem cell research—she always
said both adult and embryonic forms should advance side by side-- but
those who oppose embryonic stem cell research tried to use her work as
an excuse to stop it.

The truth is being heard at last. But facts alone cannot prevail. It
takes people brave enough to stand up and speak, sometimes at great cost
to themselves.

People like Joe Schwarz, Republican, former Member of Congress. Joe
sacrificed his political career to advance stem cell research. In
Michigan, people in government are often afraid to speak out against the
powerful "right to life" special interest group. If Joe had kept
quiet about supporting stem cells, he would very likely have won his
race. But Joe Schwarz showed the content of his character, as Martin
Luther King said, and spoke out strong for stem cell research. The
Religious Right targeted him, and defeated him—but he will be proven
right. Michigan and America are richer for the integrity of public
servants like Joe Schwarz.

Stem cell research can never belong to one political party. It is above
the petty partisanship which so often dims our hopes.

Rick Johnson, another Republican, powerful leader, former speaker of the
house, is a Cure Michigan board member.

Democratic champions definitely stand tall. People like Governor
Jennifer Granholm, Senator Gretchen Whitmer, Representative Andrew
Meissner and other Wolverine State legislators have fought in the
trenches for years on our behalf.

Some folks hold no public office, but exercise influence by the power of
their voice: people like Danny Heumann. who has been fighting to ease
stem cell restrictions since 2004. Paralyzed in body but never in
spirit, Danny is a motivational speaker, with so much energy the wheels
of his chair almost seem to turn themselves. He is everywhere nowadays,
and the next month will see him working to exhaustion and beyond,
towards the great goal of freedom to research cure.

We have outstanding leaders, people like Mark Burton, chair of the
Committee to pass Proposal 2, to allow responsible embryonic stem cell
research in the state of Michigan. Mark is a charismatic young leader,
vibrant, vocal—he speaks clearly, putting into words the hopes and
dreams of millions—and every strength he can bring to the table is
needed right now.

Behind the scenes folks make things happen: people like Amber Shinn,
communications director for the effort. You may not see her in the
papers, but you will see her work, bringing people together. When I
called her to tell me a little about what she does, a question for this
article, her first thought was for others, and she said: "Don't
forget to mention Laura DePotter, The Rossman Group, Minda Nyquist,
Chris DeWitt, Erica Barrera, Kelly Dancsok"—and a bunch more.

Right now, Michigan is the center of the stem cell universe.

People are standing up everywhere, some everybody knows, like former
President Bill Clinton, who is in Michigan, right now, as this is
written. How fitting, that the first President to authorize embryonic
stem cell research (his permission was overturned by President Bush, who
replaced it with his own very limited version) Bill Clinton should come
to Michigan to help the struggle.

And if the former President of the United States is coming here, so is
the man who has done more than any other human on earth to advance stem
cell research—Bob Klein. I think of him as the six billion dollar
man, because that is how much his leadership persuaded California to
invest in stem cell research: three billion and three billion in
interest. He runs his company, a real estate endeavor, does his job as
the chair of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee for the
California stem cell program, and supports stem cell research in other
states as well. He barely has time to breathe. But he is making time to
come to Michigan to help raise funds for the effort. It means a day on
the plane each ways but when there is fighting to be done for stem
cells, Bob Klein is there.

He will shake hands with A. Alfred Taubman, who made the Michigan
campaign possible. Like Klein, Taubman has put his fortune on the line
for biomedical research in general and stem cell research in particular.
Without his vision and kindness, there would no money to try and match
the outrageous distortions of the opposition.

Both men should put their hands together in a round of applause for the
almost unbelievable accomplishments of Marcia Baum, Mary Smyka, Sophie
Eichner of Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research and Cures. In the
past year, these folks made 170 visits and presentations on stem cell
research to churches and social clubs—in the next 30 days they will
do 100 more—that's more than three a day!

Scientists like Sean Morrison, Doug Engel, and Jack Mosher are not
sitting back and hoping for the best—they are raising their voices
on behalf of the research they know is good and wholesome. Morrison in
particular has set an example every scientist should emulate. He knows
if we the people do not understand what he is doing, we will not support
him, and the research will stop.

People are coming together. Every friend of cure research—regardless
of party, religion, or whatever-- is working toward the same goal.

I just have to be a part of it. Which is why, Sunday morning, bright and
early, I am heading out to the Wolverine State.

Thanks to the Cure Michigan campaign, my wife Gloria's and my plane
fare and hotel room will be covered, and for one week I will get to do
what I like most in the world—fighting for stem cell research in a
battle when everything is on the line. I will be doing chores, helping
in small ways, writing, talking, phonebanking, whatever. Like I told one
person, I want to do the chores they would do if they had the time,
which they do not.

You can help too.

Tired of divisive politics? Want to work across party lines? Help us in
Michigan.

Go to the campaign website. Consider volunteering your time, if you live
near enough to the state. Write a letter to the editor. Send a couple
bucks if you can.

Help Michigan succeed. A victory here will not only free up some of the
best universities in the world to work for cures, but also send a
message to the nation that embryonic stem cell research cannot be
suppressed any more.

If Michigan wins, everybody wins.

www.curemichigan.com <http://www.curemichigan.com/>

P.S. and a special "shout out" to—

John Simon-Our go to man! jsimon@tmo.blackberry.net
<mailto:jsimon@tmo.blackberry.net>

Rick Johnson-VP Board of CureMichigan rjohn@fraserlawfirm.com
<mailto:rjohn@fraserlawfirm.com>

Mark Burton(Burton Consulting, Campaign everyman) burton2@mac.com
<mailto:burton2@mac.com>

Jill Alper (media) jalper@deweysquare.com
<mailto:jalper@deweysquare.com>

Mark Mellman(media) mmellman@mellmangroup.com
<mailto:mmellman@mellmangroup.com>

Joe Slade White(media) jsw@jswco.com <mailto:jsw@jswco.com>

Chris DeWitt (Press) cdewitt@acd.net <mailto:cdewitt@acd.net>

Mark Pischea(Rossman Group/external media) mpischea@rossmangroup.com
<mailto:mpischea@rossmangroup.com>

Kelly Rossman(Rossman Group/external media) krossman@rossmangroup.com
<mailto:krossman@rossmangroup.com>

Amber Shinn(Everywoman!/ Endorsements) amber.shinn@gmail.com
<mailto:amber.shinn@gmail.com>

Cheryl Bergman(Fundraising/Gov. Granholm) cherylbergman@yahoo.com
<mailto:cherylbergman@yahoo.com>

Heather Ricketts (Fundraising) heather.ricketts@gmail.com
<mailto:heather.ricketts@gmail.com>

Carrie Jones(Fundraising point person) carriejonesmi@yahoo.com
<mailto:carriejonesmi@yahoo.com>

Kris Caswell (Fundraising/Sen. Levin) kriscaswell@gmail.com
<mailto:kriscaswell@gmail.com>

Karen DeMott( Fundraising/Budget) karen.demott@gmail.com
<mailto:karen.demott@gmail.com>

Laura DePotter (Intern extraordinaire) depotte5@gmail.com
<mailto:depotte5@gmail.com>

Mary Anne Servian (media) bridgeviewconsulting@comcast.net
<mailto:bridgeviewconsulting@comcast.net>

Traci Riehl(fundraising) traciriehl@comcast.

Brett DiResta (Research) bcdiresta@aol.com <mailto:bcdiresta@aol.com>

Something as wonderful as stem cell research advocacy does not happen by
itself!

Don C. Reed
Sponsor, Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act
co-chair, Californians for Cures
Vice President, Public Policy, Americans for Cures

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2.: TAKE CARE OF CALIFORNIA …

Posted by: "Stephen Meyer" Stephen276@comcast.net stephen_meyer_stemcells

Sun Oct 12, 2008 7:22 pm (PDT)

TAKE CARE OF CALIFORNIA …

A couple hours from now, Gloria and I will board a plane (one of four in
a multi-transfer flight) to Michigan to help pass Proposal 2, (see
"Miracle in Michigan ").

And as we get to the white-knuckle takeoff. part of me will wonder: what
if the plane crashes?

What would be the last unasked advice I would want to leave?

That's easy. Take care of California : specifically, the California
Institute for Regenerative Medicine, our beloved CIRM.

The world depends on it.

The global economy is crashing because of the very problem the CIRM is
fighting.

Chronic disease, not just Wall Street greed, is bringing us down.

America (and the world) is going broke paying for the chronically ill.

Let me prove that, by asking one simple question:

Can you subtract two trillion from one trillion?

Subtract $2 trillion, the total cost of American medical care, from $1.2
trillion, all our nation's income taxes, corporate and individual
combined. Can you do it?

Not without going into debt.

This is plain common sense, so obvious, a lot of leaders overlook it,
because they are working to exhaustion trying to deal with a million
other problems.

It is like the old joke: "When you are up to your (censored) in
alligators, it is hard to remember the original objective was to drain
the swamp."

Right now, millions of people are desperately ill with conditions that
cannot be cured by traditional medicine. Because they are our loved
ones, obviously we are not going to abandon them, and that means we are
all paying their medical expenses. People are going bankrupt as
individuals; economies all over the world are going broke.

Medical debt: how do we pay for it? For most of us, the one piece of
real property we own (if we are lucky) is a house. People borrow on
their houses, borrow on their credit cards, borrow, borrow,
borrow—and we still can't afford to pay for all those incredible
medical expenses—and the debt piles up, higher and higher.

Even people with the best insurance find they are not covered for
long-term chronic illnesses. You know this is true. When Barack
Obama's mother was dying for cancer, and from her hospital bed, she
was still having to fight the insurance people—that is wrong.
And when people who have no insurance go to the emergency room for
medical care, who pays for it?

And three-fourths of all medical expenses come from the diseases which
are incurable—except, perhaps, by stem cell research.

Don't take my word for it. Google the Center for Chronic Disease
Prevention (a U.S. government program) and read the overview. It will
tell you that 75% of all medical costs come from chronic (incurable)
disease and conditions: like cancer, Alzheimer's, spinal cord
injury, on and on.

Chronic disease is why our country's economy is going down, and with
it the world.

By curing the incurable, we also cure the economy. That is what stem
cell research is all about—and what is the very best organization to
advance stem cell research?

That's right. Not (unfortunately) the National Institutes of Health,
which is far too small and (to my mind too politicized) to take on the
job in the way it should be done.

Their whole budget is only $28 billion a year for an entire
nation—hasn't increased for five years, although the cost of
everything else has risen-- think of that.

Embryonic stem cell research? The entire budget for that was roughly $30
million.

California 's stem cell program is ten times that, $300 million a
year. That is why we must defend it.

In the whole world, the best way to fight for our loved ones-- and
defend the nation's economy—is the California Institute for
Regenerative Medicine, our beloved CIRM.

The CIRM is led by 29 men and women, on the Independent Citizens
Oversight Committee ( ICOC ). I know, too many acronyms—the CIRM is
led by the ICOC —seems like alphabet soup sometimes.

Protecting the independence of that committee was why we had to fight
Senate Bill 1565, courageously vetoed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor
of California.

But even though that bill was defeated, one of its main goals is going
forward.

An "efficiency" program called the "Little Hoover"
program-- apparently after the President who began the great
Depression—will be studying our program.

Right now, the California stem cell program is run by 29 supporters of
stem cell research.

Their stated goal? To offer political ways to "improve" the stem
cell program, by studying the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee,
to try and remove the "conflicts of interest, real or
perceived".

Conflicts of interest... if somebody votes on something to increase
their own salary, that is a conflict of interest. If somebody owns a
company, and they vote to send a big money contract to themselves, that
is conflict of interest.

That is corruption. To prevent that, the ICOC goes to enormous lengths
to keep individuals from voting on grants that could benefit the
organizations they worked for before they joined the ICOC .

But a "perceived" conflict of interest? Perceived means an
opinion. How do you defend against an opinion?

One way is to make the ICOC be run by government officials: who may have
no knowledge of stem cell research. They might be "pure"—but
they could also be purely ignorant.

They might be opposed to stem cell research, or opposed to large
government programs—or they might just want to spend the money
somewhere else.

In case you have not been following California 's economic drama,
Sacramento is having trouble paying for the economic programs we
support.

Due to a political weapon called Proposition 13, new tax increases are
only possible if approved by a 2/3 majority of the legislature—and
since all Republicans take a no-new-tax pledge— California 's
hands are legislatively tied.

So there is our beautiful program, which has its own funding
source—is it not possible some well-meaning politicos might want to
shift that money to another program?

Here is the nuts and bolts of how the LHC will work, based on my limited
understanding. I called up the Executive Director, a cheerful person
named Stuart Drown, and he said probably what will happen is this:

There will be a citizen committee, to be chosen from members of the
public. They will have input on the deliberations and decisions of the
Little Hoover Commission.

That's key. Right there, is how you and I have a chance to protect
our beautiful stem cell program.

The decisions will be made by the 9 members (if my math is correct) of
the LHC, but the public has a chance to offer input, both at the public
meetings, and as members of a committee.

So. November 20th, the first public meeting of the Little Hoover
Commission (LHC)—one of perhaps two—would you consider going to
that meeting?

It will be in Sacramento next month, November 20th. I don't know
time or place yet.

To find out, here is an email: littlehoover@lhc.ca.gov
<http://us.mc314.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=littlehoover@lhc.ca.gov> ,
and a copy to stuart.drown@lhc.ca.gov
<http://us.mc314.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=stuart.drown@lhc.ca.gov> ,
the Executive Director.

Send them an email, and ask to be notified about meetings.

Here is more contact information: Little Hoover Commission, 925 L
Street, Suite 805 , Sacramento , CA 95814 phone: 916-445-2125, fax
916-322-7709

Take care of California 's stem cell program. The world is counting
on us.

P.S. I made a mistake in the Michigan article I just ran. I got the
penalty wrong. Under current Michigan law, it is not ten years in jail
for "destroying an embryo"—it is only five years in the
slammer. The error is mine.

Don C. Reed Sponsor, Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act Founder
and Co-Chair, Californians for Cures Don Reed is also Vice President
of Public Policy for Americans for Cures Foundation; opinions voiced
here as an individual may or may not reflect those of the Foundation.

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