Principled Approach: Fighting the IOM Contract is a Moral Imperative

[Jeannette Burmeister]

http://thoughtsaboutme.com/2013/10/...hting-the-iom-contract-is-a-moral-imperative/

"If something is morally wrong, one needs , as a matter of principal, to oppose it even if the chances of changing it are marginal."
"As a matter of integrity and as a matter of survival, we need to take a principled approach."

 

[Nielk]

There is something you can do if you don't like or feel comfortable with what is happening with the HHS/IOM contract. Your action will make a difference. Every letter, e-mail, phone call, signing of petition matters. They all get read and there is power in quantity.

If you would like HHS to cancel the IOM contract, please take action. Please write to your representatives in congress HERE. You can sign the petition to stop the IOM contract HERE. The petition in support of the expert's letter is HERE.

 

[alex3619]

This is not just a matter of moral principle. Its a matter of political principle and governance as well. More on that soon.

 

[Delia]

One of the earliest things I was taught when I first began to get trained in political advocacy was that 'they' (they being the group you are trying to get to change from) is that 'they' will throw all sorts of balls up in the air to get you to drop your ball.

Your very powerful ball. A ball you may not realize is as powerful as it is, and it's why they want you to drop it.

The simple fact is, ME/CFS advocacy has arrived in sufficient numbers to cause worry.

Our ball is that fact and the 35 signers of the letter.

Dropping that ball is in no way in our best interest.

Believing we can pass that ball to them, but keep our eye on it or somehow control it is just not possible. Even if they put players on the other team you like. It's not your team, You lose once you let go of the ball. The game is lost.

You lose nothing by hanging on to the ball. You lose everything by letting go.

It can be hard sometimes for people to know when to bend or give, but the basic thing, you can never give is the very basics of your cause. Your ball. That is not compromise or negotiation that is decimation of an advocacy group and the needs they represent.

 

[justinreilly]

Daft Punk sez "we've come too far to give up who we are."

 

[Delia]

justinreilly

I love it! Could be our "We Shall Overcome"

But it was kind of like watching a fashion show where all the women were modeling my ninth grade wardrobe.

 

[justinreilly]

There are many little gems here, but my two favorites are when the guy looses his wallet and keys and the "true pimp" whose entire dance routine consists of blowing a kiss to his admirers.

Don't know where the main lyric of "we stay up all night to get lucky" fits in with an ME advocacy platform, but sure, it could be our anthem!

 

[Delia]

There are many little gems here, but my two favorites are when the guy looses his wallet and keys and the "true pimp" whose entire dance routine consists of blowing a kiss to his admirers.

Haha. I totally missed those. I think I was watching the women! Because my ninth grade wardrobe was made up almost solely of my older sister's outfits, I was like yep, we wore that, yep that one too... Not that one, but oh man we wore this one...

Don't know where the main lyric of "we stay up all night to get lucky" fits in with an ME advocacy platform, but sure, it could be our anthem!

Hmm.

I can't sleep from this illness so there's that.

Advocacy makes for lots of long nights researching and organizing.

But really I think it was their proud dancing that does it for me.

That and when my fibro is bad I kind of make large and unnatural jerky hip and leg movements.

/and if I drop my keys and wallet I just have to move on and forget about them.

 

[Delia]

Does anyone know the dollar amount if the IOM contract? Or a best estimate?

I am working on the bullet points/elevator speech for my DC friend and that will be a powerful point. So I want to have facts, but am sick today and not able to scour through everything I've read

There is something you can do if you don't like or feel comfortable with what is happening with the HHS/IOM contract. Your action will make a difference. Every letter, e-mail, phone call, signing of petition matters. They all get read and there is power in quantity.

If you would like HHS to cancel the IOM contract, please take action. Please write to your representatives in congress HERE. You can sign the petition to stop the IOM contract HERE. The petition in support of the expert's letter is HERE.

 

[Nielk]

A million dollars.

 

[Delia]

Do you know the source Of the figure? I'd heard that, and another person said they thought it was a figure taken from what the IOM contract was for Gulf War Illness.

Sorry to be picky. When you go to talk to these people, we have to have the exact facts, or we get burned.

 

[Nielk]

IOM told PANDORA the amount. It's in their letter of statement.

 

[Delia]

Great! Thank you so much!!!!

 

[Snow Leopard]

Moral imperatives... Unfortunately I don't think there have ever been any real-life Kantians...