OT: The RumsFlu strike hard

[Jones Beene]

For the politically savvy and politically cynical (is there any difference)... Circulating on the internet today is another sad tale of political greed (if it is true). Even this cynical observer hopes sincerely that this one is untrue. Once upon a time and not so long ago, our President George W. Bush sought to warn us the citizenry of this great land (or was he being duped by his 2nd closest buddy after Cheney) by telling us that a great pox is on the loose in Asia, and that it will arrive to our shores this winter, and that a minimum of 200,000 people will likely die from the avian flu pandemic, if it goes unchecked - but it could be as bad as 2 million deaths in this country alone. We must leap into action immediately !! This totally invented hoax is then used to justify the purchase of 80 million doses of Tamiflu, a worthless drug that in no way shape or form treats the avian flu, but only decreases slightly the amount of days one is sick from any viral infection - and can actually contribute to any virus pandemic having more lethal mutations - by allowing sick workers to keep working and spread the infection. So, following this grim and straight-faced warning from the highest level - the U.S. placed an initial order for 20 million doses of this worthless drug at a price of $100 per dose. That comes to a staggering $2 billion with much more to come. We are being told that Roche, a Swiss company, manufactures Tamiflu and there was no political payoff whatever involved in choosing this fine company... ahem...in a recent New York Times article, Roche was battling India and China over not allowing any foreign generic drug companies to produce any of the very expensive drugs it holds patents on - for Aids and so on.    But if you dig further you will find that this particular (nearly worthless) drug was actually developed, not overseas, but by a home-grown company called Gilead. Does that ring a bell? 10 years ago Gilead contracted with Roche for the exclusive rights to market and sell Tamiflu for a very high royalty payment back to Gilead. They were unable to sell it till now because it has been proven not to work very well. Ahh, The Plot Thickens... If you read up on Gilead, you'll discover Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was made the chairman of Gilead in 1997 and did not have to sell his large stock holding when he went into government. Now he is looking at retiring form government. Since Rumsfeld holds major portions of stock in Gilead, he will handsomely profit from the scare tactics of the government that is being used to justify the purchase of minimum of $2 and probably $8 billion of worthless Tamiflu. He will easily end up a billionaire from this.   Or is this tale of greed just another... in a cruel plot by enemies of the immoral majority to cast doubt on their brethren ... the loving and beneficent motives for such things as the War and bloody invasion, under false pretenses of a sovereign nation - causing 30,000 innocent civilians to loose their lives - "collateral damage" as Rummy likes to call it...  fortunes of War... but whose war and for what, Donny boy? http://www.iraqbodycount.net/   Hey the Fortunes of Peace are not too bad either, if you happen to be a beneficiary of the absurd Tamiflu scare, and can retire into the Payola enhanced billionaire boys club, along with the other Bush-buddies  ...   Jones