Rumsfeld Ties to Tamiflu Corp.

Did you know.....

Friday, October 21, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.com
>
> NEWS AND ANALYSIS
>
> Readers can be helpful, and one just wrote in to inform us of a link that
> we had never imagined - Donald Rumsfeld, until he resigned and joined the
> Bush Administration, was the chairman of something called Gilead which
just
> happened to make something called Tamiflu.
>
> Now anyone who hasn't been on Mars for the last month or two, knows that
> there were only two things that were going to stop the human version of
> bird flu. One was a bird flu vaccine (which probably would work better if
> you were a bird) and the other was something called Tamiflu. Yes, that
> Tamiflu. In such short supply that the hundreds of millions of orders that
> have been pouring into Gilead probably won't be filled for another 12
> months or so. But everyone has got to have it because somehow or other it
> became established that Tamiflu really worked.
>
> This was the party line, anyway, for about a week, until word began
> trickling back in that maybe Tamiflu didn't work. In fact, the word on
> Tamiflu has always been positive at first and then eventually negative.
> It's a kind of pattern. We even find corroboration of it here on the
> Democrats.com, in what appears to be either a chat room or news roundup as
> follows, "Rummy was CEO of Gilead Sciences until named to the Bush cabinet
> and, like Cheney, still has ties that bind to the 'old company.' Now isn't
> it an 'amazing coincidence' that the drug Tamiflu patented by Gilead
> Sciences is being pushed by the National Institutes of Allergies and
> Infectious Diseases as the NUMBER ONE choice for flu, which, wonder of
> wonders, is sweeping through in one epidemic after another."
>
> The post from January '04 adds, "Tamiflu is now also being recommended to
> fight avian flu ... Scroll through this NIAID page and you will find
> Tamiflu listed as ahead of all other recommended drugs for both prevention
> and treatment of flu. Trouble is, Gilead has been accused of rigging the
> trials of Tamiflu as a preventive treatment. Meanwhile Gilead is making a
> killing."
>
> The post then gives the following link:
> http://12.31.13.115/HealthNews/reuters/NewsStory0106200324.htm)
>
> We bet Gilead is still making a killing as is Big Pharma. Please notice
now
> that the orders are in, the hysteria has died down a bit. Perhaps
everybody
> is too busy counting the money. Or perhaps it was never about anything BUT
> the money. We weren't entirely sure, but we knew that none of it passed
the
> old "smell test." In fact, in serial articles we claimed that bird flu
> probably wasn't going to turn into human flu anytime soon, that even if it
> did, it didn't mean that the world was in for a dose of 1918 influenza all
> over again. We just couldn't believe that the people bringing us Spanish
> Influenza Redux - with all the hype and horror - were remotely qualified
to
> bring us even the opening of an envelope.
>
> We questioned everything, even whether 1918 was all just the fault of a
flu
> virus. Didn't seem likely to us then and doesn't now - especially since
> we've come to understand what hygiene was like for the soldiers coming
back
> from the war, how vaccine providers apparently unloaded their stock after
> the war, lowering immunities, etc. and, finally how the new miracle drug,
> aspirin, was all the rage, prescribed by medical parishioners everywhere.
> Aspirin lowers fevers and allows flu to build until it bursts out all over
> the body with renewed and potentially mortal violence.
>
> And that brings us to today. Bird flu still rages and, yes, it may mutate
> into human flu at some point and cause death, many deaths, or fewer
deaths,
> no one knows. It may indeed sweep around the world. But of more worry
> immediately were moves of civil authorities to float trial balloons about
> mandatory vaccination and to start sending vials of superflu bugs around
> the world in the name of science. We demanded that our viewers call the
> Capitol Hill and get out the word that the government was to cease testing
> new vaccines, cease ordering TamiFlu and bird flu vaccine, neither of
which
> work or will work against whatever it is that bird flu will turn into.
> Which at least some in government would love because then they could turn
> the President's apparent yen for martial law into reality. And Bush could
> use some martial law about now. Hell, he could use anything, maybe even a
> good book.
>
> We hoped that this latest epidemic of hysteria would finally force the
> government to come clean about other remedies - super doses of Vitamin C
> and even the use of silver as an antidote. We're still waiting. Sigh.
>
> staff reports - Free-Market News Network
> http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=1443

WV Serenade

WHAT is the WV Serenade?
The Serenade is a huge variety show/concert featuring over a dozen of the region's most talented performers and performing groups - ranging from Gospel to Rock, Broadway to Blues, Bluegrass to Barbershop, Celtic to County to Classical. Besides celebrating our beautiful state, the Serenade also includes a moving tribute to Senator Robert C. Byrd - who has promoted WV artistry so vigorously throughout his career.

WHERE?
The Apollo Theatre in Martinsburg, WV. For more info on this beautiful, 500 seat theatre, please go to the website below, then follow link to the Apollo.

WHEN:
February 4, 2006 (Saturday). Preliminary show begins at 6:30 pm, main show starts at 7 pm. We strongly suggest getting your tickets as far in advance as possible, as an early sell-out is likely.

HOW ABOUT STUDENTS?
Fulltime students under 23 years of age are eligible for TWO-FER tickets (one ticket admits 2 students who arrive and sit together). See special order blank at website below.

WHAT ELSE?
Would you like to make it possible for someone to attend that cannot afford a ticket? If so, you can purchase and donate tickets to our Helping Others Team who will identify persons in need and distribute all donated tickets (about half going to veterans, and half to others). More info on this project is shown at the website below (and the ticket order form posted at this website).


WHERE TO GET TICKET ORDER FORMS & MORE INFO:
Just go to - www.berkeleyfun.org. YOU MAY ALSO PICK UP BLANK ORDER FORMS 24 HOURS A DAY from an outdoor dispenser at Appalachian Institute, 413 South Raleigh St., Martinsburg, WV 25401.


WHERE TO MAIL OR DROP OFF COMPLETED ORDER FORMS:
All checks must be payable to BCDA. Completed ticket order forms (with checks) may be dropped through the front door mailslot (24 hours a day) at Appalachian Institute, 413 South Raleigh St., Martinsburg, WV 25401, OR mailed to this address.


ANYTHING ELSE?
All income from snack concessions at the theatre plus all income from theatre rent go to the Apollo Theatre. All income from recorded music sold at event goes to the performing artists. Appalachian Institute is producing the event at no cost or fee, as part of an AI program that supports community theatre and performing artists. The event is sponsored by the Berkeley County Democratic Association, a WV Political Action Committee, who is paying all theatre rental, insurance, marketing and production expense. Net proceeds from ticket sales, after expenses, go to BCDA. Price of ticket is not tax deductible.

See you at the Serenade. Please pass it on, and thanks!!

A message from Senator Byrd

From an email:

Dear Friend:

The Democratic victories in Virginia and New Jersey are gratifying - Tim Kaine and Jon Corzine are good men who offered a hopeful vision for the future.

But they were attacked viciously and relentlessly by their opponents and by National Republican organizations. These men were able to win because they had the financial resources to fight back against the negative and brutal Republican onslaught.

Contribute to Senator Byrd now.

We already know that the White House has targeted my re-election in West Virginia. Karl Rove and his henchmen are planning to spend $14 million to misinform my constituents.

Earlier this year, we got the first taste of their attacks when the Republican Senatorial Committee spent $55,000 on negative television ads against me in West Virginia.

We need to have the resources to wage a winning battle for re-election. We will need to match the millions of dollars that will be spent to slander me.

Contribute to Senator Byrd now.

In just under a year, voters in West Virginia will go to the polls to decide who will stand up for them in the U.S. Senate. Please stand with me - by making a contribution today of $25, $50, or even $100 - to ensure that our campaign will have the means to wage a successful campaign.

An open letter to George W. Bush

Dear Mr. President,

I call you Mr. President even though I don't believe you won either election in 2000 or 2004.

However, you're the president. And you're doing a heck of a job of it, the way your boy Michael Brown did a heck of a job as FEMA director for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

I never supported you. I never thought you were qualified and I thought Al Gore was well qualified. He represented everything you did not: intelligent, curious, determined to reinvent government to make it serve the people better even as the budget deficits President Clinton inherited turned into the largest surplus in history.

The election of you ended that. As The Onion said, our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity ended with the Supreme Court's selection of you in 2000. Deep in your heart, you know the nation did not pick you and most Americans did not want you.

But we're stuck with you for three more years.

And let's be honest, you're stuck with the mess you've made for three more years.

Three more years of disaster. Everything you touched has turned foul.

You've brought dishonor on the country. And the world is letting you know it. People that loved America on September 11, people that surrounded our embassies to form human shields to show their support for our nation, people who lit candles and sang the Star Spangled Banner and proclaimed loudly that they too were New Yorkers, now despise us.

As well they should. We've not been the shining beacon on the hill as in the past, unless it's a warning beacon on top of a pile of bones.

Do you really want this job any longer? Seriously, life has always been easy for you and as my friend Mike expressed so eloquently the other day, being the Worst President Ever is hard work.

I want to help you. I want to give you advice on how to get out of your predictament.

Walk away from the job.

And you can do it in a way that will restore integrity and honor to your name.

Walk to Patrick Fitzgerald's office. Ask him to bring out a tape recorder. And then begin talking.

Confession is good for the soul, and you, Mr. President, need to remove the taint that stains your soul. Confession can be cleansing and it can help you on the path to healing.

Tell him everything. I suspect -- and I guess most of us suspect -- that the decision to out Valerie Plame as a covert CIA operative didn't come from Karl Rove or Scooter Libby or even Dick Cheney.

It fits the kind of thing you did for your father's campaigns.

Ambassador Wilson attacked your administration's rationale for war. And you wanted to be a war president and you didn't want anyone to question that. Of course you attacked back. It's what you do, whether it's Ambassador Wilson or Al Hunt or John Kerry or even your own father when you were a young man.

So own up to it. Confess. And then resign. You can return to your ranch and begin clearing brush. I'm sure it's good brush clearing weather down there. Clearing brush is so clean and simple. No families to meet with when you've cut down a brush at the prime of its life.

No, for your sake and the nation's, confess and resign and go home. Just walk away.

And take Dick Cheney with you.

Sincerely,

Carnacki.