Senator Harry Reid of Nevada is in the fight of his senatorial life. But ME/CFS patients and the families of children with autism can reelect him on November 2
by W. L. Karns
by W. L. Karns
The tight and nasty race between U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Tea-Party Republican challenger Sharron Angle is down to the wire in Nevada. The race may come down to a few hundred votes. Harry Reid is one of the few politicians willing to stand up for ME/CFS patients, and we help ourselves by voting for him and supporting his campaign.
Voting in Nevada began last Saturday, and loyal Republicans are already turning out in disproportionate numbers. Voter turnout is critical for Reid—and his campaign wants Nevadans to cast their votes by Friday. After Friday, early voting stops, and voters have to wait until Election Day.
Reid has long been a staunch supporter of ME/CFS research and healthcare reform. Angle hasn’t weighed in on ME/CFS research, but here are her views on key health issues: She doesn’t believe that insurance companies should be mandated to cover mammograms and colonoscopy screenings. She also believes that insurance companies shouldn’t have to cover autism treatments. Indeed, she questions whether autism really exists.
In other areas, she wants Social Security to be phased out, and she doesn’t believe in global warming or that the U.S. Constitution mandates a separation of church and state. She believes same-sex marriage should be banned on the federal level. She doesn’t believe in abortion—even in cases of rape and incest.
Donations of time or money and calling voters to increase turnout may reelect Harry Reid, the senior and rational senator from the silver state—and keep Sharron Angle out.
In Nevada, ME/CFS patients and parents of autistic children need to call upon friends, relatives and neighbors to vote as well. If ME/CFS patients and families of autistic children can make a difference in this election, other politicians will, no doubt, sit up and take notice.
W. L. Karns has lived with ME/CFS for 23 years and is XMRV positive.
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Harry Reid was at WPI new building grand opening ceremony and made a speech there. He is a key player and supporter of CFS, it is sad to see that he will probably loss his seat in the senate.
ReplyDeleteThe evidence collected by Dr Cheney and Dr Peterson's special testing left the CDC little choice but to make some token gesture of scientific response to the undeniable evidence that "CEBV Syndrome" was a misfounded and fatally flawed concept.
ReplyDeleteThe CDC's initial answer was to act as if they were responding to this evidence by changing the name of "CEBV Syndrome" to something else that didn't rely on EBV.
But here is where it got interesting.
They intended to leave the Incline Village cohort completely OUT of the surveillance program being constructed to collect parameters for the new syndrome, claiming that Dr Cheney and Dr Petersons involvement in developing the evidence which disputed CEBV Syndrome had biased their perspective and made them less than objective regarding the medical entity under consideration.
Senator Reid pointed out that it would be a (very peculiar) conflict of interest in having the CDC construct a new syndromic paradigm due to this evidence, but omitting the very patients AND the illness from which it was obtained.
It was only due to Senator Reid's "voice of reason" that the Tahoe cohort investigated by Kaplan and Holmes was even included as a basis for the new syndrome.
Senator Reid is imperative to the State of Nevada, ME/CFS research and the Whittemore Peterson Institute. If you can vote please consider a man who reaches accross the isle and brings federal funding and awareness into these neuroimmune diseases.
ReplyDeletewhat kind of people relate to Sharron Angle? It's mind-blowing that anyone would want to vote for someone like that, nevertheless, have a race that's 'neck and neck'.
ReplyDeleteThank you for having the courage to run this story, Mindy.
ReplyDeleteThe race in NV is not over, by any means. Perhaps the KY incident in which a Paul Rand supporter stomped on a woman's head, giving her a concussion, will disgust Angle supporters into staying home 11/2.
Meanwhile, WPI fans need to GOTV like hell for Reid.
If we were to vote for Harry Reed it sure would make the case for CFS being a psychiatric disorder. Socialized medicine is on the way as evidenced by the fact that some of the largest providers of health care are considering dropping coverage for their employees. My own insurance increased 50% within 90 days of passage of the health care bill. The Whittemore Peterson Institute has proven the private sector will be way ahead of the the government on this research. I will not allow the politicians to use my illness to pigeon me into one of their voting blocks. This blog looks more like a campaign add than info on CFS. Losing the ability to think for yourself is NOT a symptom CFS. Harry Reed was in office during the feds war on CFS patients. If we keep reelecting the usual suspects expecting a different outcome we truly are insane.
ReplyDelete.for d,
ReplyDeleteWhat part of "re-elect Harry Reid because he has consistently helped persons with ME/CFS" escapes you? Why are you trying to scare people by saying a vote for Harry Reid makes us insane. There's no logic to that statement. If you don't want to vote for him don't, it's a free country.
Hey Ward, good to see that you are still alive! I just passed the 23rd anniversary of working 12 hours a day on October 23, 1987, and not being able to roll over in bed on my own the very next day. I thought i had suffered a stroke! Sen. Reid was one of the very first senators to come to our first D.C. May 12th Awareness event. When i described how painful it could be, Sen. Reid said, "it reminds me of women with interstitial cystitis. Women tell me that it feels like having shards of glass in your bladder..."
ReplyDeleteAt least he realized the gravity of the situation. I believe that all 4 of his sons have worked for Harvey Whittemore's law firm, so we can't really get a more interested politician, since Cong. John Porter retired. we still have a LONG way to go with our government being helpful, rather than hurtful. Getting someone at CDC to replace Willy Reeves who believes in biomedical research for M.E. and CFS and FMS would be a good start!
I agree with D.
ReplyDeleteI have been sick for 7 years, and I highly doubt I would vote for Reid! I am disgusted by the "reform" and I also do not understand why PWME are so certain that Harry Reid staying in office and Health Care Reform are going to help us?
Chris Mathews is a NUT JOB!
So what if Mrs. Angle does not believe in Autism, perhaps lots of Drs do not believe in it either? Look at how many do not believe in ME/CFIDS/CFS and Fibromyalgia?
I relate to Sharon Angle, I want the Gov't off my back, out of my wallet and to do a lot less than what they are doing right now!
Lets say by to the Dept of Education and IRS, what the hell do we need them for anyways? What do they really produce? Rubbish!
GG
PS I am glad he did a couple of things right in his long servitude/career/corruption in the Capital for all those years! Even a blind squirrel finds a nut some times. Time for him to go!!
Obviously this piece does not move me at all, and if anything it just solidifies my commitment not to donate to this site or it's author!
PSS The only way he is going to win is by stealing the election, and if the evidence is there, there will be hell to pay!
Americans are fed up with this BS!
So you don't believe in government and you dismiss the importance of the social safety net and then you get sick with a disease that is so desperate for public funding and the very real legitimizing effect of being recognized by the CDC, NIH, FDA etc. What do you do?
ReplyDeleteI guess you cut off your nose to spite your face.
"I want the Gov't off my back, out of my wallet and to do a lot less than what they are doing right now!"
ReplyDeleteI'm listening. What do you want government to do?
Or would you be happier if government was entirely out of your life? Sick at 25 years old and dependent upon your privatized Social Security and no hope of Medicaid or food stamps? Good luck with that when your parents die or if your trust fund runs out. What, no trust fund?
Thank about it. And again, as a CFS patient its easy to imagine a more effective government but do you really the government "off your back" and "doing less?"
Angle is crazy. I am all for qualified challengers in this upcoming election, but she is not one of them. Her views are not conducive to progress on any front. Her policies would destroy Nevada. Ban drinking she said? OK that would go over pretty well in Las Vegas. And people think the health care bill was bad? Have you read the patients bill of rights? Its like written for a CFS patient. And guess what, your health insurance would have gone up 50% in the next couple years regardless of if there had been a health bill. That's the whole point of reform. If everyone is required to carry insurance, then the net risk in the pool goes down - because the healthy young people who don't buy it now will balance the sick people out - and the cost of insurance doesn't go up as much. There is nothing "socialized" about the health bill, its a series of insurance reforms to protect patients and a shot in the arm of the current private system where people are required to carry health insurance. The bill isn't perfect, but its a step in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteThe only way to get health costs down across the board is for people to get healthier. That means research focused on curing stuff, not just treating symptoms. That means people taking responsibility for their health as much as they can - and not waiting until the last minute to see the doctor. And that means having an environment where people can afford to treat conditions before they get out of hand and expensive - they only way to do that is if everyone has insurance.
Social Security is a bankrupt pyramid scheme, it is going away whether you like it or not--better phase it out gradually rather than suddenly.
ReplyDeleteWPI is funded with private and state money so which candidate is elected to Senator for the federal government probably is not going to make a difference.
Angle never said autism didn't exist. She was saying that autism in the new health insurance bill she was referring to was a large umbrella covering wide range of symptoms...sound familiar? I would think ME/CFS sufferers could relate to being watered down! To say that she does not believe Autism exists is to give in to mere campaign rhetoric.
Also, guilt by association = logical fallacy, especially this one which makes several leaps. So somebody who is a supporter of a candidate who is in the same party as Sharon Angle assaulted someone. And that's why nobody should vote for her? Wow!
It is laughable that some commenters here can't seem to grasp the concept that Angle is running for Senate, part of the legislative branch of the United States federal government. She is not running for the state legislature! She does not want to ban drinking in Nevada, nor anywhere else. This is just more rhetoric. As far as her other beliefs, they are presented here as if she was running for president, or dictator even, when the reality is she is 1 vote in 535.
I visit this site for ME/CFS, news not to be preached to about what political candidate is better. This article is self-righteous, arrogant, and fearmongering; and it does not belong here.
Reid secured federal funding for the construction of the Whittemore Peterson Institute at the University of Nevada. That, Anonymous, is a fact.
ReplyDeleteNext is your comment that you “visit this site for ME/CFS news, not to be preached to about what political candidate is better. This article is self-righteous, arrogant, and fear-mongering, and it does not belong here.” This is my blog, Anonymous, and in my view W.L. Karns’s article does belong here. Perhaps you might consider starting your own blog instead of telling me what belongs on mine.
Anonymous, I suggest that you haven't been paying much attention if you haven't figured out that funding is all about politics and the lack of interest ($) in this disease is largely political.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you wrote "It is laughable that some commenters (sic) here can't seem to grasp the concept that Angle is running for Senate...she is 1 vote in 535."
She would actually be 1 of 100 votes in a body where at times one vote, and often 2-3 votes, makes all the difference in the world.
Social Security is solvent until at least 2037, but hey let's not let facts get in the way of fear and propaganda.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html
Saying that she wants to ban drinking in Nevada, end Social security, and thinks autism doesn't exist--that is fear and propaganda.
ReplyDeleteThe Social Security Administration reporting that they might be solvent at least until I'm 50 is so comforting.
I didn't mean to tell the blog owner what to do, just expressing an opinion. I would think that an article about what exactly Reid has done and why he should be supported might have been more effective than a hit piece on his opponent.
Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThe people who protest the loudest about Social Security seem to know the least about history and economics.
I don't know know what planet you have been living on anonymous, but on mine, health care costs have gone up every single year, by double digit percentages, for the last 10 years. Nothing new happened this last year, except that I now know that my daughter cannot be turned down for a preexisting health condition. Health insurance companies are already "death panels": they decide what gets treated and what doesn't. Health insurance companies have been far too little regulated at the expense of our health. Do I trust insurance companies to make decisions based on what is best for people's health or what is best for their bottom line? The latter. Healthcare in the US is great if you are super wealthy. The rest of us are at the mercy of corporations with the same ethical principals of Enron and Wells Fargo.
If you think a Harry Reid's support for the WPI hasn't been critical to its very existence, you are a fool.
Mindy, thank you for publishing this. Everyone who supports the WPI should be celebrating Harry Reid's win today. Sharon Angle was a nasty, racist toad.
Reid won.
ReplyDeleteAnd please don't confuse SSDI with so-called entitlement programs. Every single person drawing SSDI is getting back what they paid in.