Swine Flu Skeptic

The 1976 fiasco.....2009 Problem

I will admit upfront, that I'm a total skeptic when it comes to government vaccination programs. Just like all Americans my age, I went through them as a kid. They didn't really hurt me or anything, but then my Mom was in charge. She said take them, I took them. I was only five years old after all.

As I have gotten older, I have come to learn that we don't really know what is in the medicines that we take.

A lot of the medicines on the market are there purely to make a profit for someone, at the expense of you and me.

I don't take the yearly flu vaccinations even though I'm considered high risk.

Having lived through the swine flu epidemic of 1976, I not sure if I will ever trust my government or the big drug companies to do the right thing.

Not the way it was set up then...and certainly not the way it is now. Because as bad as the drug companies were back then...

They are a hundred times worse now in their disregard for consumers, viewing them only as cannon fodder for their big profit money making machine.

If you think that is a misstatement or a wrong statement then check out what is really going on in Africa with the drugs that could save so many, but are being withheld by their makers in order to make greater profit.

This is done by simply not making the drugs available because the people cannot afford the price that the drug companies want to charge to support their profit scenario in Africa.

Back in 1976, the big drug companies demanded that the US government take the fall if the swine flu vaccine turned out bad, because they didn't want to get sued. It did. The government took the hit.

The same thing is going on today with health care reform and this so called developing flu vaccine. I have no proof, but my mature gut tells me that we, the people are being screwed again, despite the fact that Obama is in charge. But I will wait and reserve judgment until the reform bill is passed and we get through the flu season.

One of the big players in 1976 and today in 2009 is Roche, the big pharmaceutical company. Roche makes Tamiflu, which you may know, the United States government, as well as other governments, worldwide have stockpiled in recent years to combat Swine and Bird flu.

The US decided to stockpile Tamiflu after Bush elevated Donald Rumsfeld to Secretary of Defense. Rumsfeld makes millions off the drug....He has stock in the company that created Tamiflu. Gilead Sciences gave Roche the rights to manufacture the drug.

Our government paid Roche $100 a dose to buy the drug...that works out to $2 billion dollars for useless meds.

Rumsfeld allegedly recused himself from all governmental decisions concerning the stockpiling of the drug. However, with the lies that are now coming to light...

Who knows what Rumsfeld did back in the day...

Rumsfeld and Bush just got the ball rolling. Tamiflu is held up as the treatment for the flu, which really it is not...

Tamiflu is only effective if taken at the first sign of the flu...It is not a cure...or vaccine....If you don't take it at onset....

In other words, if you don't have it in your house..then you're wasting your time.

And there are some nasty side effects to the drug, too...Deaths were reported in Japan to children given the drug, shortly after it came on the market.

If it has to be taken immediately...then wouldn't stockpiling be a waste of time, considering that the government can't get it to you in time to save you...they can't mobilize fast enough...

Think that's wrong...think Katrina....the only thing that's changed since the Katrina debacle is the President...the mechanism for saving American lives...is the same...

Obama has not changed the mechanism, yet. I love Barack Obama...He's like that Nia Long line from the movie The Best Man (pretty M*****), and it's way too early to make any judgments....

But so far, all I'm seeing is same old, same old...lots of charisma and very little change...Just like Bill Clinton....Love em...however...they are consummate politicians...

And as I've said before...if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck....you can finish...

The difference that I'm seeing between the last administration and the new one..is that one of them is giving us vaseline before telling us to bend over...

Back to this new developing vaccine in time for the coming flu season. As I said, I don't trust it. When they tried this in 1976, more people died from the vaccine then the so called epidemic.

In fact, in 1976, only one person died from the swine flu and he was the first one who contracted it..

He was patient zero, in other words.

It happened at Fort Dix and you can read the story here.

I can't tell you what to do for you and your children when the time comes to face this latest “flu bug.”

It is almost upon us and they are just beginning to test. Officials have already said it's going to take 3 shots.

The shots won't be effective until a couple of weeks after you take the second one...Given the roll out..that will be halfway through the school year..

If that is the case, what is the point of taking the drug...Seems to me your immune system is working effectively already.

What I'm hearing on the news does not sound confident...it sounds panicked...and that scares me..A panicky government is the last thing we need....

Here is how the Center for Disease Control “reflects on the situation."

Let's hope the government learned its lessons from 1976.

Monday Meanderings

The murder rate in Cincinnati is on record pace this year. Three weeks to go until 2007 and already 79 people have been killed, including a 17 year old yesterday.

Maybe we need to work on getting the guns off the streets. Maybe it’s time to outlaw the NRA and it’s gun pandering lobby just like we’ve outlawed smoking.

Maybe if there were fewer guns...harder to get...harder to own...killing wouldn’t be the sport that it has obviously become.

*****

20 years and you get a lousy polo shirt....that’s Walmart’s answer to improving the lives of its workers. Walmart has apparently instituted an “Associate First” program designed to make its employees feel special, and to combat the growing number of disgruntled workers picketing the stores...

I’ve got a great idea...why not raise salaries above third world levels, so Walmart employees can feed their families..

*****

Whoa! Two days before he resigned, Donald Rumsfeld wrote a memo saying change in strategy was needed in Iraq.

Now if only Dubya would buy a clue. He’s already rejecting the Baker-Hamilton recommendations and they’re not due to be released until later this week.

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Double whoa! Colin Powell says Iraq is a civil war....nice to see the general find his balls and comment, but is anybody listening to him these days.

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Condi says mistakes were made in Iraq, but she won’t talk about it until after she leaves office.

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Smoking ban goes into affect in Ohio on Thursday...Does that mean that employees will have to get into their cars and drive off company grounds in order to legally light up? Do same employees have to clock out first? Inquiring minds want to know?

And now that smoking has been outlawed in the name of healthiness....can overeating and obesity be next?

Is a visit from the weight police be just around the corner?

Condi Rising

All right, everybody sing that song from THE WIZ....

“Can you feel a brand new day, can you feel a brand new day!”

Condolezza finally gets some help. Her old playmates Robert Gates and Jim Baker are back in the picture. That means that Brent Skowcroft will also be lurking, giving advice off the record.

Looks like Daddy Bush got tired of junior screwing up and took back the reins of power on foreign policy. Daddy Bush is the expert after all. Both Gates and Baker are long time allies of Daddy.

And while I can understand Bush lite’s hesitation to dump Rumsfeld, losing Congress for one man was just plain stupid. We all have good friends who mess up everything around them. You help them as much as you can, but you don’t let them jeopardize your lifestyle with their stupidity.

That’s what Dubya did. If he hadn’t endorsed Rummy and Cheney days before the vote, the GOP would probably still be in power today. Arrogance, plain and simple.

I’ll bet he’s probably trying to figure out what to do with Cheney, too. But that’s a more difficult situation. Bush can isolate him, but unless Cheney does something illegal like Spiro Agnew (remember him) ain’t gonna happen.

But I still don’t think Bush gets it. He came out in conciliatory mode at his news conference yesterday, but then he proceeded to blame everyone and everything for his incompetence.

He even called the American population stupid, alleging voters didn’t really understand the issues, or they would’ve stayed the course.

I have to tell you, between Bush calling voters stupid and Rumsfeld telling citizens we’re confused and that the war and terror issues are too complicated for us to understand, I wish we’d been able to vote all of them out of office.

Now I hope Democrats can buy a clue and come up with a rational plan. Put revenge on the back burner and get on with governing this country correctly.

I know that’s a lot to ask. Democrats are just another species of politician and my jaw is clenched just waiting for the new stuff to hit the fan.

Some good things though..........more women than ever before in Congress.....Condi seems to be a better infighter than most of us imagined, but she could still buy a vowel and a clue on the Middle East (calling Madeline Albright)......Nancy Pelosi is expected to become the first female Speaker of the House, and that is a very big deal...makes her third in line behind the President and Vice President.....Condi’s in that succession line, too.

I’m not sure how things have opened up for Hilary.....To me she doesn’t feel like such a lock to run anymore.

I’m not a Hilary supporter. She needs a sense of humor. But I would love to see Bill back in the White House, even if he is only the wife and not the President.

The GOP doesn’t stand a chance when that man is on his game, as he was in the final days of the campaign.

Yeah, Hillary’s got some competition. Can you say Barack and Deval? Deval Patrick became this country’s second black Governor.

Everyone was mourning the loss of Ford in Tennessee. Not me. That race was a choice between bigots. I have no use for either one of them Don’t care if he is black.