I went to a wake today. A life celebration party for the mother of an old friend. I’ve known my friend since 5th grade, the fall of 1971. 34 years. That’s quite a long time. And in 1971, my friend’s mom was 34 years old.

She was a kind, soft-spoken, intelligent woman, a teacher. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) 15 years ago, in her early 50s. Not fair, huh? Not fair that my friend has lost his mom, and certainly not fair that his two children have never known their grandma as we did in 1971.

All of which leads us to Tau. Not The Way, the protein in the brain which supports the structure of neuron microtubules. The brain’s communication fiberoptics, I guess. I don’t really understand it, except that in AD, Tau gets tangled up by bonding wrong, and the microtubules collapse. What we have here is a failure to communicate.

What I do understand is that there are people out there who do understand AD a lot better than me, and they’re trying to find a cure. Which costs money. And I understand that our congress has just thrown another $50 Billion down Bush’s War on Terr’r commode. I wonder how much closer that money would have brought those researchers to a cure for AD. And diabetes, heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, Multiple Sclerosis. Hell, galloping dandruff and global warming for that matter.

We, as a species, need new priorities. Can’t get those without new leadership. Otherwise, I can’t bear to think of my friend’s kids, and my nephew, facing these same terrible, wasting, abjectly sad, diseases.

Let us, please, stop electing myopic fear-mongering monkeyminds like George Bush, and find people who can help us plant good and beautiful trees, in the shade of which we will not sit.