Limbaugh is the drug addicted, whore-hiring, right wing talk show host who thinks his own gas smells like lavender potpourri. This week, he criticized Michael J. Fox for political ads the actor taped in support of stem cell research. Limbaugh decided - without evidence - that Fox was either acting or "off his meds" because he was shaking so badly. Fox has Parkinsons Disease. He's 45. The illness will not only shorten his life but make what's left of it pretty darn uncomfortable. Damn right he wants stem cell research and Fox says he's taking his pills regularly and they're "working great".
My Father has Parkinsons. He's also on medication but he has not undergone the experimental brain surgery that's helping Fox and others because, at his age, my Dad thinks putting himself through the recovery (which may include learning to walk and talk again) would be worse than shaking as if he's in an earthquake nearly every moment of every day. Able bodied armchair critics who offer no possibility, however slight, that they could be wrong as they spout off about a topic on which they know nothing, need to experience a little bit of the hell that sufferers of neurological disorders go through.
My Dad is stared at all the time. Fortunately he's cool and continues to be socially active and confident. He will smile and say, "It's Parkinsons - you can't catch it!" His body moves and trembles uncontrollably. He can only observe it helplessly.
Rush can go back to his pill cabinet and his far-off lands where he can be legally tended to by teenage hookers for days on end and then come back to his cushy radio job and talk about it as if he's some sort of hero. But he has no right to comment negatively on people who are trying to make the most of the hand they've been dealt. Michael J. Fox is the most powerful voice right now for the use of embryonic stem cells, culled from fetuses that are bound only for the incinerator, to search for a cure for his disease. His goal is indeed a selfish one: he wants to see his children grow up. My goal is selfish too: I want to help my Dad.