1. Money isn't everything. Had a Democrat done the same thing, you would probably be delighted to point out how it encourages awareness and better decision-making. But, like most on the internet and the media, you trample over the truth of the matter to criticize a Republican. Nice going. I'll bet you're even in favor of Canadian style health-care, even though under that cancer victims are really screwed.

Posted at 11:51PM on Apr 2nd 2007 by Koko

2. Say what? Since when did this become a political discussion? It seems to me that funding fuels research and research finds cures. If funding cuts are made research will suffer, plain and simple - no matter who makes the cuts. (please don't get me started on stem cell research) And why do some people have such a negative view of the Canadian health system? Some of the world's leading edge researchers and treatment facilities exist in this country. A more meaningful statement would have been - without research, cancer victims from around the world will suffer. My surgeon called cancer the great equalizer. It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, it is devastating to all. Politics shouldn't even enter into it.

Posted at 8:58AM on Apr 4th 2007 by Liane

3. Wow, koko, you've read a lot of offense into this. Where is she criticizing Bush? She simply stated that he made no mention of his budget cut. It's true; there's no editorializing about it in this article, as far as I can see, though the fact can certainly raise some passions in a reader. But that's up to the reader.

It's also true, as you say, that money isn't eveything. But medical research, as well as medical care on the personal level, can't occur without it. That's not a partisan issue; it's a cold hard fact. If a Democrat had cut that budget, it would be just as cut, and current and future cancer patients just as screwed.

Regards,
Richard Day Gore

Posted at 1:29PM on Apr 4th 2007 by richard day gore

4. It's time to be offensive, or at least go on the offensive about the Administration's neglect of the National Cancer Institute, the Government's engine for cancer research. In 2004 the Administration allowed the NCI's budget to slip below the level of inflation. This continued in 2005, but in 2006 the Administration actually cut the NCI budget. It then proposed virtually the same low level for 2007. The new Congress succeeded in increasing this modestly despite the Administration's objections, but the Administration is trying to roll back funding for 2008 to the proposed 2007 level. President Bush has done a horrible job with the War on Cancer, a war that has far, far more casualties than the war in Iraq or 9/11. Think of it: in just eight days, at about 1,500 cancer deaths daily in the US, total cancer deaths just about double the total deaths in the war to date plus 9/11! I found President Bush's proclamation most hypocritical. We deserve and need better leadership in the War on Cancer! Jim Waldenfels

Posted at 9:00PM on Apr 5th 2007 by Jim Waldenfels