(np) Diane Odell, polio victim wrote a book

[Michael Bailey]

She was in an iron lung for a long, long time and died during a power
outage.  I read this in the Kansas City Star sitting in McDonald's
back before we moved,
and can't remember sobbing at another story in the paper.  Ever.
Though a lot of them are sad.
This one just touched me for some reason.

The story she wrote was about a star named Blinky Less Light who wants
to become a wishing star.

So naturally I looked for the book online and found a thread on
MetaFilter (which somebody on the list turned me onto awhile back,
excellent source) and apparently nobody else could find a copy for sale either.

But one comment triggered my "post to p-list" button...and it was this

"Back in 2004, I suggested to someone that, for the cost of the TV
advertising spent by the Kerry and Bush camps in that Presidential
campaign, that polio could have been eradicated from the world in 18
months. Actually, it turned out that those guys spent about $150
million more than it would have cost to fully fund the polio
eradication effort back then (for 204-2005), on TV ads nobody now
remembers. And, we still have polio in the wild, and in our
vaccination efforts, to contend with. Color me cynical, but I'm
thinking the same things again now, and I'm really looking forward to
enduring the fall TV blitz of worthless political advertising here in
America, in 2008, while I check the polio case count monthly."

I'd vote for a candidate who put the advertising budget into that effort.

I think a lot of people would...