Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, this one below via Pharyngula is about thousands of lives. Below left is the fruitful result of fifty years of research into treating a type of deadly cancer. The data reflects long term survival rates of children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The top blue line represents 274 people diagnosed a few years ago, the bottom yellow line represents the fate of 90 others who contracted the disease decades ago. ALL is an insidious child-killer with a peak incidence among four to five year-olds. As you can see the five year prognosis has been virtually flipped over the last fifty years, from a 90% mortality rate to a 90% survival rate. This was only made possible by stunning advances in medical science fueled by research.
Throughout the 90s, NIH grants for cancer research grew. Then, starting around 2000, they stalled and began to fall back. In 2003 that funding took an ominous nose dive. The same pattern can be seen in basic federally funded science research across the board. The clear conclusion from this picture is that George Bush and Dick Cheney consider trillions for the endless Iraq War and eternal tax breaks for Fortune 500 zillionaires a better investment of your tax dollars than research already demonstrated to save countless lives. John McCain's promise to continue those foolhardy policies is the very foundation of his White House bid.