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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (52379)	10/11/2004 12:37:26 AM
From: Amy J	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Ann, I agree that we are not safe from terrorism and agree with you that we do need to address it. It's the degree and the methodology that I have issue with, admittedly the later is a subject of debate. But it's the former item, the degree, that I believe we need to re-examine. I think the exclusive focus on terrorism makes us too complacent into thinking medical illnesses aren't the huge killers that they indeed are. And if you look at the actuary tables from the insurance industry (or, if you have a friend that is an actuarialist), you'll notice that getting killed from a terrorist attack has a certain amount of probability associated with it. Buffett has acknowledged this. So, you are definitely correct in saying there is this risk. But if we look further at the tables, they don't put terrorism at the top of the list. We can't have all the good scientists running off to other countries, while we slip backwards on matters of health research. Additionally, we can't continue to neglect women's health issues for another 30 years because that will continue to cost us dearly in the future. I think some level of balance would be appropriate here. A few billion off of $300B would probably go a huge way towards medical research, and in fact, I would propose that the medical cost savings could then be reapplied towards fighting terrorism. Regards, Amy J