Category Archives: world
Rummy the Influenza Profiteer
Do you know someone who has the flu? Have you ever had the flu? If you answered “yes” to any of those questions-Did you or the person you know take Tamiflu? If so, Donald Rumsfield thanks you. Not for preventing the spread of the flu, but for making him rich while stopping the spread of influenza.
Here are the facts. On November 1, 2005, then President George W. Bush went to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland to hold a high profile press conference, to announce a 381-page plan, officially called the Pandemic Influenza Strategic Plan. The President surrounded himself with half his cabinet, including Secretary of State Condi Rice, Secretaries of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Health & Human Services, Transportation and, Veterans Affairs. The White House also invited the Director-General of the World Health Organization, who flew in from Geneva for the occasion. Needless to say this was a big deal. The President’s opening remarks set the tone:
“At this moment, there is no pandemic influenza in the United States or the world. But if history is our guide, there is reason to be concerned. In the last century, our country and the world have been hit by three influenza pandemics — and viruses from birds contributed to all of them. The first, which struck in 1918, killed over half-a-million Americans and more than 20 million people across the globe…Scientists and doctors cannot tell us where or when the next pandemic will strike, or how severe it will be, but most agree: at some point, we are likely to face another pandemic. And the scientific community is increasingly concerned by a new influenza virus known as H5N1 — or avian flu…”
Here is where it gets interesting. Despite the stated absence of a clear and present danger to the American public, the President called on Congress to immediately pass a new $7.1 billion in emergency funding to prepare for possible future danger. The speech was a testament to the Bush Doctrine that President Bush is so well known for. BUT WAIT… The President’s list of emergency measures was a call for Congress to appropriate another $1 billion explicitly for Tamiflu. THATS ONE BILLION.
Tamiflu, made by Gilead Sciences, seems to work, so its no shock that it would be needed to be mass produced…wait, mass produced for an issue that isn’t even an issue. Seems odd. Well..its not only odd but it may have been unethical or illegal.
GUESS WHAT? The Secretary of Defense under President Bush, Donald H. Rumsfeld, was on the board of Gilead Sciences since 1988 and Chairman of the Board of Gilead Sciences from 1997 until early 2001 when he became Defense Secretary. On October 26, 2005, Sec. Rumsfield released a statement that he had “reclused” himself on any Pentagon discussions involving Gilead Sciences. Seems like a good move to remove himself from any “conflict of interest” issues, RIGHT? HOLD ON!!! Before he removed himself from “any further discussions”, Rummy purchased $18 million dollars in additional stock in Gilead Sciences, making him one of its largest if not the largest stock owners. That reclusion came after he had already scored his windfall on the Gilead Science stock price jump. How big was the price jump, you ask?
FACT: In 2001, when Rumsfield became Sec. of Defense and left Gilead Sciences’ board, the stock price went from $7.00 a share to $50.00 a share in 2005. That is a 720% profit from his initial investment 4 years earlier.
On November 15, 2005, Fortune Magazine reported:
“The Defense Secretary decided not to sell his many shares in Gilead so as to ‘avoid being accused of insider trading.’ If true, that means Mr. Rumsfeld, apparently not one to shy away from turning a fast buck, has bagged an eye-popping windfall, as demand for Tamiflu worldwide explodes. Today it is the hottest drug in the world market. On October 6, the Pentagon announced it had stockpiled quantities of Tamiflu for members of the military.”
Is is considered insider trading when you can manufacture the threat of a “future” pandemic that causes hysteria and the only way to squelch that hysteria is by selling the people a drug you make?
I didn’t think you could yell “FIRE” in a theater when there isn’t a fire at all….I guess I was wrong. Again, I find myself angry and depressed at the obvious manipulation of the American people by our administration for their own personal profit.
On a side note, Gilead Sciences closed at 46.985 yesterday. Still going strong.
Congrats to you Mr. Rumsfield. Be sure to bundle up, it is flu season after all.
Sometimes learning is depressing
Monsanto is a name that those of us in the south grow up hearing. It is synonymous with farming, cotton, seeds, soy beans, and farmers that you know and see everyday. It has a non-intrusive, non-threatening, “we love farmers” vibe around here. With Round-Up selling as fast as they can produce it and their Round-Up Ready Soy Beans and Cotton genetically modified seeds, needless to say they are more than a minor influence in the southern United States. So, when I saw the documentary “The World According to Monsanto” listed on my DirecTV guide, I immediately flagged it to record. What I learned shocked me and really made me think about what Monsanto and its genetically modified seeds are doing for food production and the “intellectual rights” associated to a seed produced by a plant.
We learn in grade school that plants grow from a seed of some sort. When that plant continues to grow it produces seeds of its own. The plant does this so the plant can propagate its species. You may assume that if you grow something from a seed you can replant the seeds that original plant produces and grow more plants. That may be true…sometimes. It is never true for a Monsanto seed. Farmers must sign contracts that state they may not keep any seeds produced by the plants that they grow from Monsanto seeds. Monsanto uses this policy to protect their “intellectual property.”
We also learn about cross pollination in grade school. If a farm growing seeds bought from Monsanto cross pollinates with another crop near there grown from non-Monsanto grown seeds. The result is both fields produce genetically modified crops that fall under Monsanto’s GM seed property rights and the non-Monsanto crop owner will be sued. Mr. Schmeiser won is his ordeal, but hundreds others haven’t.
BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE.
MONSANTO OWNS PATENTS FOR “TERMINATOR SEEDS” These seeds will yield pants with sterile seeds so farmers will have to buy MORE seeds next year and the next year and the next year. This coupled with their stance on “seed savers” MONSANTO POLICY The only reasonable motivation is domination and control of the global food market.
WAIT, with all this talk about global food production and market domination, I have missed one important question… Is genetically modified food safe to eat? Well, Reports vary. However the American Academy of Environmental Science has issued a moratorium on GM foods. According to their study GM foods caused damage to the organs to animals who ate it. Here is their position paper concerning their findings and an excerpt from that paper.
“However, several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food consumption including infertility, immune dysregulation, accelerated aging, dysregulation of genes associated with cholesterol synthesis, insulin regulation, cell signaling, and protein formation, and changes in the liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal system.”
In all fairness this may be a biased study…WHAT? A former Monsanto employee feels GM food is unsafe????
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!
So this study is saying that GM crops, like the ones Monsanto manufactures, are unhealthy to consume and cause health problems. I need to calm down….
Well thank god we have non GM foods to consume….ummm, apparently not.
“As of 2001, 75 percent of all food crops grown in the United States were genetically modified, including 80 percent of soybeans, 68 percent of cotton, and 26 percent of corn crops.”
Just to make it worse: Here are the Top 10 Dangers of GM Foods
Well shit.
All I can say now is that we need to be more informed. We just need to know that when we stop to smell the roses, it may be a genetically “enhanced” blue rose.
EVERY FAN OF GEORGE BUSH NEEDS TO READ THIS, BUT WON’T.
I am completely floored by this. If you think I am completely off base for posting this…follow the links included and cut off your biases and weigh the evidence for yourself.
CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL POSTING ON KOTORI MAGIZINE
YOU HAVE BEEN EDUCATED thanks to Dan Benbow.
Some posts just write themselves
Let me start by showing you the “official response” to this from Palin.
“The choice of photo for the cover of this week’s Newsweek is unfortunate. When it comes to Sarah Palin, this ‘news’ magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant,” she wrote on her fan page, adding, “The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now.” (Full Article)
What is unfortunate for Sarah is the fact that she thought this photo shoot was something that is…OK…for an American candidate, especially in light of the the “VALIDITY FACTOR” that is in play these days. She told Barbara Walters that the photo on the cover was “a wee bit degrading.” OMG! SHE POSED FOR THE PICTURE BEFORE IT WAS PRINTED!
Maybe her realization that that photo is a bad idea coming too late is an indication of her decision making skills??????
WAIT, put your pitch forks away….let me explain further.
Is it wrong for a male/female political figure to pose for Runners World in 8″ shorts. NO. Does it increase her visibility in the country? YES. Is it looked on favorably by the country in terms of what we expect our politicians to be? NO. Is that my fault. NO. Well, maybe.
Maybe it is all our faults that Sarah Palin thinks that Runner’s World photo shoots, in attire that wouldn’t meet the dress code in her own fund raisers, is what she needs to do to really gain market share and appeal to all the “Joe Six-Packs” and “Hockey Moms” out there.
This part is to Sarah Palin. Just another thought about your exposure issue
AARP: The Magizine has roughly 24 million (UNREAL) copies going out every month. Whereas Runner’s World has approximately 650k copies (ITS NO AARP) every month in distribution. Lets be honest you need to appeal to your base and they read AARP not Runner’s World.
EVEN I KNEW THAT
My China,Debt crystal ball is dead on!
If you didn’t see my post about debt look below. If you didn’t see my post on China look deeper below….ANYWAY. Sometimes it is nice to see what you think validated by someone else. READ!
Obama’s leverage in China negotiations limited by massive U.S. debt
By: Lita Epstein
The U.S. and China are partnering more than ever in the battle against global warming, but the nations differ on hard targets for reductions in the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause it. China has some severe environmental problems because of its emissions. Perhaps a technology exchange could build a stronger bond on global warming and while developing a market for technologies developed in the U.S. for cleaning the environment.
China does support sterner sanctions to halt North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. But it differs with the U.S. on reining in Iran’s uranium enrichment program. It is possible the two countries can come to an agreement on how to move forward in parallel on Iran.
Improving the trade imbalance will be the biggest item on the agenda for President Obama. China could be a huge and lucrative market for American goods and services. But as long as China will not allow its currency to float freely and instead keeps it closely tied to the U.S. dollar, U.S. goods will remain expensive in China, while Chinese goods will continue to be cheap in the U.S. The only way to improve the trade imbalance would be for the yuan to be allowed to appreciate. While I’m sure the discussion will come up, I doubt the Chinese will budge on this issue.
For the Chinese, the biggest issue on the table will be the U.S. deficit and their biggest question will be how President Obama plans to get it under control. China has a big stick it can wield if it doesn’t like the answers. If China stops buying U.S. debt, most of President Obama’s plans — such as health care reform — would have to be shelved until the U.S. finds another lender.
Of course, if the Chinese did start selling U.S. debt, the drop in its value would cost them many billions as they tried to unwind their U.S. bond holdings. Unless they are willing to risk major losses, they would be ill-advised to wield their big stick. But for Obama to call this trip a win, he needs to bring home evidence of change from China, while for China, maintaining the status quo is a win. They don’t have to use their doomsday weapon — just having it is enough to let them say ‘no’ to Obama.
Lita Epstein has written more than 25 books including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Foreign Currency Trading and Trading for Dummies.
Linda, Thank you for making me smarter.
Sadly, Inspiration Is Too Strong To Ignore
As I was heading to work today my mind was deciding on what topic I should write about today. Honestly, I was not feeling overly creative, until inspiration struck. There, at a convenience store ATM, was the spark I needed to choose a topic. (See above) It was a print out that made me realize something about the state of most American’s lives…as well as America as a whole. Credit card abuse is a pandemic that effects the USA. Poor education and brilliant marketing are at the root of the problem. Let’s face it. Most American’s don’t understand how interest works. (WANNA LEARN? CLICK HERE) Learning how credit works, frankly, isn’t stressed enough in our lives. If it was illustrated and taught as is SHOULD be our financial system in the US would crumble due to no one accepting horrible terms on that line of credit. I KNOW…I KNOW. That may be an overestimation. (Maybe not.)
Surely our elected leaders, the best among us would not let our country be based on money we OWE SOMEONE ELSE…
Yeah they would-and have-and its bad for us all. (SEE!) Our country is being slowly owned by our lenders. The Christian Bible says the “Borrower is slave to the lender.” Well, get used to the shackles everybody, because your share of our nations debt comes to (CLICK HERE TO SEE). I think that is over our collective credit limit. Maybe they will take a check????
PETS OVER PEOPLE!
In these troubling,global economic times, there is a ray of sunshine out there. In the face of high unemployment rates and a stagnant recession,I give you this: THE CHINESE PEOPLE ARE DOING GREAT! Want to know how I know? They are making more pet food and owning more pets. Isn’t that great? Concerning China, Euromonitor.com (Whole Article) reports that:
For pet food manufacturers there is new profit margin to be derived from falling raw materials costs. After a long period of rapid growth, pet products’ raw materials costs fell in 2009, mainly as the real economy began to deteriorate following the late 2008 downturn. At the retail-end, demand for pet food products, especially dog and cat food, has not halted. This actually provided better margins for pet food manufacturers, with lower costs on the production side, concomitant with an upward retail unit price trend.
With the pet industry soaring (SOARING HOW HIGH YOU ASK?)the pet food industry in China is skyrocketing (ZOOM) !
THAT IS SO GREAT … OR IS IT?
This is not all squeaky chew toys and Alpo for China’s government. Chinese people owning pets shows disposable income (YEAH!) and a the people are focued on things other than strange disappearances, unwarranted imprisonment, executing mentally ill people, and religious discrimination and persecution that the hard line communist regime in power needs to promote to survive. Owning a Cockatoo is hardly a common sign of socialist/communist tyranny. Is Hu Jintao and Wen Jaibao‘s Chinese Government a “kinder,gentler” socialist/communist government?
Not hardly. (THE PROOF)
With a human rights violation list a mile long (THE CURRENT LIST) thank god the pets are being cared for and their rights being looked after.
When will the Chinese government do for their citizens what the citizens are doing for their newly acquired pets?
sometimes right - sometimes not - always correct 
