Clinton & the
killer blood
Articles from the Progressive Review
Articles from the Progressive Review
FEBRUARY 2008
CLINTON'S ARKANSAS BLOOD SCANDAL STILL DRIPPINGMARCH 2006
WASHINGTON POST ADMITS PRISON-AIDS TIE
ONE OF THE BEST kept secrets of the American elite has been that its prison policies have not been tough love but, at best, massive negligent manslaughter. Not only has the war on drugs killed more young black American men on the streets than were killed in Vietnam, but the prison system is a primary incubator for AIDS. This has been ignored and denied by the mainstream media so for the Post to headline "Answer to AIDS Mystery Found Behind Bars" is a bit of a step forward. Writes Richard Morin misleadingly, "It is one of the most puzzling mysteries of the AIDS epidemic: Why did blacks, in little more than a dozen years, become nine times as likely as whites to contract a disease once associated almost exclusively with gay white men? Two researchers say they found the answer in an unlikely place: prison."
In fact, there's little puzzling about it. We have repeatedly pointed to the tie between AIDS and prisons not only because of the amount of unprotected sex behind bars but because prisons have served as an incubator in black neighborhoods after AIDS-infected prisoners are released and resume heterosexual sex.
Here is just one example of the damage that has occurred, again something the archaic media largely failed to report:
PROGRESSIVE REVIEW, 1999 - In the mid-1980s, as contaminated blood flowed from Arkansas inmates to other countries, then-Governor W.J. Clinton sat on his hands despite evidence of severe mismanagement in his prison system and its medical operations. . .
Some of the killer blood ended up in Canada where it contributed to the deaths of an unknown number of blood and plasma recipients. An estimated 2,000 Canadian recipients of blood and related products got the AIDS virus between 1980 and 1985. At least 60,000 Canadians were infected with the hepatitis C virus between 1980 and 1990. Arkansas was one of the few sources of bad blood during this period. . .
Other Arkansas plasma was sent to Switzerland, Spain, Japan, and Italy. In a case with strong echoes of the Arkansas scandal, a former premier of France and two of his cabinet colleagues are currently on trial stemming from the wrongful handling of blood supplies. Some of the blood in the French controversy may have come from Arkansas.
A 1992 Newsday report on the French scandal noted that three persons had been convicted for their role in distributing blood they knew was contaminated: "Throughout the 1980s and later, blood was taken from prison donors for use in blood banks despite a series of directives warning against such a practice. According to the report, donations from prisoners accounted for 25 percent of all the contaminated blood products in France. Blood from prisons was 69 times more contaminated that that of the general population of donors."
The Arkansas blood program was also grossly mishandled by the Food and Drug Administration. And the scandal provides yet another insight into how the American media misled the public about Clinton during the 1992 campaign. The media ignored a major Clinton scandal despite, for example, 80 articles about it in the Arkansas Democrat in just one four-month period of the mid-80s.
Here's how Canada's Krever Commissioner report describes the beginnings of the problem:
"During 1981-2, the number of AIDS cases in the United States reported to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta grew at an alarming rate. The vast majority of the reported cases were of homosexual men and intravenous drug abusers. During 1982, cases of AIDS transmitted through the use of blood and blood products began to be reported. The U.S. blood and plasma centers regularly collected from two groups of persons who were at high risk of contracting AIDS: homosexual men and prison inmates. Plasma was collected at centers, licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, in prisons in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. By way of contrast, because of the high prevalence of hepatitis B in prisons, the Canadian Red Cross Society had stopped collecting donations from prison inmates in 1971."
Suzi Parker, writing in the Arkansas Times, described the scene: "At the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas penal system during the 1980s, while President Clinton was still governor, inmates would regularly cross the prison hospital's threshold to give blood, lured by the prospect of receiving $7 a pint. The ritual was creepy to behold: Platoons of prisoners lying supine on rows of cots, waiting for the needle-wielding prisoner orderly to puncture a vein and watch the clear bags fill with blood. Administrators than sold the blood to brokers, who in turned shipped it to other sates and to Japan, Italy, Spain and Canada. Despite repeated warnings from the Food and Drug Administration, Arkansas kept its prison plasma program running until 1994 when it became the very last state to cease selling its prisoners' plasma."
OCTOBER 2005
CLINTON BLOOD SCANDAL ERUPTS IN SCOTLAND
DAILY RECORD, SCOTLAND - Former US President Bill Clinton may be forced to appear in court over a medical scandal which claimed the lives of innocent Scots. Many hemophiliacs were infected with hepatitis C after tainted blood from American prisoners was imported into the UK. Glasgow firm Thomsons are representing the families of Scots sufferers who died after contracting the disease. They allege inmates in an Arkansas jail were paid to donate blood despite the authorities knowing they had AIDS and hepatitis.
They are threatening to call the ex-president, who was state governor at the time, to the witness stand. The infected blood was used to make clotting agents for hemophiliacs who require regular blood transfusions Frank Maguire, of Thomsons, said "These allegations are extremely serious and I am now more sure than ever that there should be a full public inquiry into why so many Scots contracted hepatitis C from infected blood products.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16314330&method=full&siteid=66633&headline=clinton-s-scottish-court-warning--name_page.html
NEW DOCUMENTARY EXAMINES BLOOD SCANDAL
LIAM MCDOUGALL, SUNDAY HERALD UK - A major new documentary that uncovers fresh evidence about how thousands of Scots contracted Aids and hepatitis through infected blood is to be given its world premiere at a prestigious US film festival.
The film, Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal, made by the US film-maker Kelly Duda, will reveal new details about how inmates at a US jail were paid to donate blood despite the authorities knowing they had Aids and hepatitis.
It shows how the US state of Arkansas, under former president and then-governor Bill Clinton, allowed contaminated blood from Aids and hepatitis-infected prisoners to be exported around the world during the 1980s and 1990s to be used in the manufacture of clotting agents for hemophiliacs.
The documentary also reveals for the first time how senior figures in the prison system doctored prisoners' medical records to make it look like they were not carrying the deadly diseases. Even after it was known there was a problem, the film reveals, blood products were allowed to be supplied to Europe, including to the UK, where thousands of patients were infected with HIV and the potentially fatal liver virus, hepatitis. . .
Last night, the revelations caused outrage among hemophiliacs who contracted Aids and other diseases through the blood products. They branded the findings "unbelievable" and "shocking", and demanded that the government launch a judicial inquiry into the so-called "tainted blood scandal". . .
MAY 2005. . .
BURIED IN OUR ARCHIVES is one of the sadder of the many scandals of the Clinton machine: the bad blood that was shipped from Arkansas prisons to Canada that contributed to the loss of thousands of lives. The story was a big one in Canada but the heavily pro-Clinton media in the states steadfastly pushed it to one side with a few exceptions such as Salon. As we moved from the rampant corruption of Clinton to the maniacal machinations of Bush, we also pushed it aside. . . until yesterday when a former Arkansas prison guard wrote us:
"I ran across this article [about tainted blood] and it brought back old memories. I worked the plasma center several times as a guard during this period and saw some pretty bad things.THEN TODAY comes this story from Sky News:
"I had that same conversation with Jackie before he went to the governor. [See last item below] He left Arkansas after that to lay low. He was my best friend at the time.
"Later after a promotion, an inmate who became my clerk told stories of events that took place when he was assigned to the plasma center, including things like the refrigeration going out for hours and the plasma being refrozen later and shipped.
"I've seen the thugs they brought in with no medical training thrust a needle several times through the veins of the donors to teach them a lesson. For some this was their only means of getting money, and with their arm black and swelled up as big as a watermelon it would be weeks before they could return.
"I saw 3 inmates die in 18 months between fall '82 and spring '84.
"You can't fight organized crime if there's no one higher to pass judgment. Not counting regular people and inmates I know of one other friend of Bill's who went down and never made your death list.
"Anyway, old memories. . . Thanks for the reporting,"
SKY NEWS - The Canadian Red Cross has been fined more than L2,000 after pleading guilty to distributing blood tainted with HIV and hepatitis C in the 1980s. The charity will also put aside L1.5 million to pay for post-secondary scholarships for family members of those affected as well as a medical research project.
The decades-old tainted blood scandal is considered one of the worst public health disasters in Canadian history. More than 1,000 Canadians became infected with blood-borne HIV and up to 20,000 others contracted hepatitis C after receiving tainted blood products in the 1980s and early 1990s. About 3,000 people had died by 1997 and the death toll has grown, but recent estimates were not available.
NATIONAL POST - In exchange for a guilty plea under the federal Food and Drugs Act, the Crown withdrew charges of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and common nuisance.
DENNIS BUECKERT, CANADIAN PRESS, NOV 21, 2003 - Canada continued to receive blood from an Arkansas prison in the 1980s long after serious safety problems at the facility had been exposed, new evidence indicates. Material gathered by Arkansas filmmaker Kelly Duda shows that, after evidence of contamination emerged in 1983, the prison blood centre simply set up a new subsidiary, with a different name, and continued shipping blood to Canada.
The Canadian Hemophilia Society is asking the RCMP to consider the documentary as new evidence in the ongoing police investigation into the tainted-blood scandal. . . The lucrative blood centre at Grady, Ark., was originally run by a company called Health Management Associates, but many operations were run by prisoners themselves, according to Duda's 90-minute documentary. Prisoners drew blood and collected bribes from fellow inmates for the privilege of "bleeding," according to inmates interviewed for the documentary. . .
MURRAY DOBBIN, GLOBE AND MAIL, 2003 - It is a story that will not - and should not - die. The tainted-blood scandal is tale of bureaucratic indifference, corporate greed and regulatory failure resulting in hundreds of needless deaths from AIDS and the equally preventable infection of thousands with hepatitis C. An investigation by The Kansas City Star newspaper has jolted the story back to life in North America. Ironic that the reports coincide with the coronation of Paul Martin as Liberal leader, because Mr. Martin has a connection to this story.
Blame for the suffering of innocent Canadians spreads far and wide, to virtually every government agency involved, as well as the private companies providing blood and blood products. The Kansas City Star report included Canadian documentation showing that the Red Cross, as early as 1981, knew that a test was available to screen blood for hepatitis C - but while the U.S. began using the test in 1986, it wasn't used here until 1990.
TANYA TALAGA, STAR, CANADA, 2002 - Four doctors, the Canadian Red Cross Society and an American drug company have been criminally charged in what has been called the worst public health disaster in Canada. More charges may be on the way as the massive criminal investigation led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's blood task force continues. Two of the four men charged were senior federal health officials in the 1980s, when thousands of Canadians received blood transfusions and blood products that were contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C.
JANUARY 2001
DENNIS BUECKERT, CANADA PRESS: The RCMP has opened an investigation into the importing of contaminated prison blood from Arkansas during the 1980s, The Canadian Press has learned . . . RCMP Staff Sgt. Bill McAlpine said two officers based in Montreal will be assigned exclusively to pursue the Arkansas prison blood issue. "We just thought that we, out of Toronto, just couldn't handle the issue properly, and that therefore additional resources would be required," he McAlpine said. Continental Pharma, the now-defunct company that imported the prison blood, had its headquarters in Montreal, McAlpine noted . . . McAlpine said the task force, involving about 12 officers in Toronto and a couple in Ottawa, is highly active. But he could not say when its work will be complete or whether charges will be laid.
FEBRUARY 2000
OTTAWA NEWS: A Health Department memo says use of US prison blood products continued in Canada after being halted in the US because American authorities did not tell a Canadian broker the products were unsafe. The 1988 memo, obtained under Access-to-Information legislation, sheds new light on one of the most shocking episodes of the tainted-blood scandal. The memo, written by Health Department officials Andre Juneau and Robert Pinker, blames US authorities for use in Canada of blood products it says had a "high probability" of being infected with both HIV and hepatitis C. "The use of these blood products in Canada can be attributed to a failure by US blood and regulatory authorities to inform a Canadian blood broker that blood collected at prisons was no longer safe and as a result was no longer being used in the US," says the memo addressed to John Dossetor, who was and remains a senior adviser to Health Minister Allan Rock.
OTTAWA NEWS
NOVEMBER 1999
OTTAWA CITIZEN: An Ontario Superior Court judge approved a $1.2-billion federal-provincial compensation package for hepatitis C victims of tainted blood yesterday, following a judge in Quebec's approval earlier this week. That leaves only the province of British Columbia to rule on the package. Ontario Justice Warren Winkler voiced concerns at a hearing last month whether the proposed package would be enough to compensate about 10,000 tainted-blood victims, who contracted hepatitis C through transfusions between 1986 and 1990.
JUNE 1999
KILLER BLOOD: While the American media continues to shut its eyes to the 1980s flow of deadly blood from Clinton's Arkansas prisons to Canadian patients, the story remains big up north. Latest development: Liberal leadership contender Paul Martin was on the board of a corporation involved in the distribution of tainted blood.
INTIMIDATION TACTICS
IN KILLER BLOOD SCANDAL
Somebody doesn't want the truth to come out about how deadly blood sold from then Governor Clinton's Arkansas prisons made its way into the Canadian plasma supply. Mark Kennedy in the Ottawa Citizen reports two incidents within hours of each other Tuesday night: the Arkansas prosthetics clinic owned by tainted blood whistleblower Michael Galster was fire-bombed and the Quebec offices of the Canadian Hemophilia Society were broken into.
The clinic was burned to its shell and fire officials say they're "90 percent sure" it was arson. In the Canadian break-in, a computer and three telephones were stolen along with documents from a box labeled, "Hepatitis C, Krever Commission, Reform of the blood system, HIV-AIDS."
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have been looking into the scandal which involved the sale of tainted blood from Arkansas prisoners by a company closely linked to the Clinton machine. Galster worked in the prison system in the 1980s and has written a fictionalized account of what happened in a book, Blood Trail, which he wrote under a pseudonym to avoid reprisals.
Says Hemophilia Society executive director Pierre Desmarais, "It's really frightening. This is the kind of thing you see in movies."
TPR KILLER BLOOD ARCHIVES http://prorev.com/blood.htm
BLOOD
The Washington Weekly reports that as far back as 1974 the FBI knew that a Montreal-based blood plasma middleman "violated the law" in shipping tainted blood from the US. The FDA was also aware that the plasma broker might be involved in "criminal activity." The article quotes a 1974 memo from John Furesz, the director of the Canadian Bureau of Biologics: "FDA is keeping a close eye on their plasma, they have tested so far about 20 lots, of the last six lots four were found to be HB [hepatitis B] antigen positive." The FDA is denying any knowledge of the document. Bad blood from Arkansas prisons during the tenure of Governor W.J. Clinton was a major source of the plasma that resulted in a major Canadian HIV and hepatitis outbreak.
MARCH 1999
Author Michael Galster, whose fictionalized account brought American attention to the Arkansas killer blood scandals, says that the president "is in the unusual position of having in his private possession roughly 400 cases of documents concerning the administration of the prison by Health Management Associates [the firm involved in the blood sales] during these years. These cases of information are essentially every piece of documentation that was generated during 12 years of Clinton's gubernatorial administration. We know from other documents that these cases contain [information involving] then-governor Clinton, the director of HMA, and the director of the state prison, Art Lockhart."
FEBRUARY 1999
CLINTON & THE KILLER BLOOD
In the mid-1980s, as contaminated blood flowed from Arkansas inmates to other countries, then-Governor W.J. Clinton sat on his hands despite evidence of severe mismanagement in his prison system and its medical operations. The prison medical program was being run by Health Management Associates, which was headed by Leonard Dunn, a man who would brag to state police of his close ties to Clinton.
Some of the killer blood ended up in Canada where it contributed to the deaths of an unknown number of blood and plasma recipients. An estimated 2,000 Canadian recipients of blood and related products got the AIDS virus between 1980 and 1985. At least 60,000 Canadians were infected with the hepatitis C virus between 1980 and 1990. Arkansas was one of the few sources of bad blood during this period.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has a staff of 24 working on the case. So far, investigators have interviewed about 600 people including in the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands. According to the Ottawa Citizen, the team has more than 30,000 documents.
Other Arkansas plasma was sent to Switzerland, Spain, Japan, and Italy. In a case with strong echoes of the Arkansas scandal, a former premier of France and two of his cabinet colleagues are currently on trial stemming from the wrongful handling of blood supplies. Some of the blood in the French controversy may have come from Arkansas.
A 1992 Newsday report on the French scandal noted that three persons had been convicted for their role in distributing blood they knew was contaminated: "Throughout the 1980s and later, blood was taken from prison donors for use in blood banks despite a series of directives warning against such a practice. According to the report, donations from prisoners accounted for 25 percent of all the contaminated blood products in France. Blood from prisons was 69 times more contaminated that that of the general population of donors."
The Arkansas blood program was also grossly mishandled by the Food and Drug Administration. And the scandal provides yet another insight into how the American media misled the public about Clinton during the 1992 campaign. The media ignored a major Clinton scandal despite, for example, 80 articles about it in the Arkansas Democrat in just one four-month period of the mid-80s.
Here's how Canada's Krever Commissioner report describes the beginnings of the problem:
"During 1981-2, the number of AIDS cases in the United States reported to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta grew at an alarming rate. The vast majority of the reported cases were of homosexual men and intravenous drug abusers. During 1982, cases of AIDS transmitted through the use of blood and blood products began to be reported.
The U.S. blood and plasma centers regularly collected from two groups of persons who were at high risk of contracting AIDS: homosexual men and prison inmates. Plasma was collected at centers, licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, in prisons in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. By way of contrast, because of the high prevalence of hepatitis B in prisons, the Canadian Red Cross Society had stopped collecting donations from prison inmates in 1971."
Suzi Parker, writing in the Arkansas Times, described the scene: "At the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas penal system during the 1980s, while President Clinton was still governor, inmates would regularly cross the prison hospital's threshold to give blood, lured by the prospect of receiving $7 a pint. The ritual was creepy to behold: Platoons of prisoners lying supine on rows of cots, waiting for the needle-wielding prisoner orderly to puncture a vein and watch the clear bags fill with blood. Administrators than sold the blood to brokers, who in turned shipped it to other sates and to Japan, Italy, Spain and Canada. Despite repeated warnings from the Food and Drug Administration, Arkansas kept its prison plasma program running until 1994 when it became the very last state to cease selling its prisoners' plasma.
Mike Galster, a medical practitioner whose fictionalized account dramatically raised interest in the blood scandal, recalls that at the Pine Bluff unit's hospital they also took blood from prisoners. When he raised questions about the wisdom of bleeding sick people, he was told that even the ill had the right to sell their blood.
Here is a time-line of this as yet too known Arkansas horror story:
1981
The Arkansas Board of Corrections puts A.L. "Art" Lockhart in charge of the state's troubled prisons. An Arkansas Gazette front page feature on Lockhart begins by noting that he is "dogged by a public reputation as a man who runs roughshod over the constitutionally guaranteed rights and welfare of inmates. 'I don't why,' he said in an interview with the Gazette. 'I don't deserve it.'"
The state's prisons are already a mess. Ten years earlier Lockhart had taken over the notorious Cummins facility which, according to a member of the corrections board, was "still controlled by inmate trusties with guns. The inmates called the shots. A lot of experts said there was no way to take the guns away from them without a riot. But Art did it without spilling any blood."
But the Gazette also notes: "The prison system, and Cummins, in particular, still is in the transition from an institution controlled by the inmates to one controlled by guards. On many nights at Cummins, there are as few as half a dozen guards to watch about 1,650 inmates."
Two years earlier, a prison monitor hired under a federal court order, released a report saying there was "clear and convincing evidence" that Lockhart and other employees beat and kicked inmates needlessly after an attempted escape from Cummins. Another prison mediator charged that the abuse of inmates had increased under Lockhart and that he had obstructed efforts at prison reform.
Health Management Associates wins a contract to provide health services to state inmates, including running a blood plasma donor program.
The Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization establish that AIDS is a blood-borne disease. CDC recommends testing and sterilization of donor blood. The warning is widely ignored and, as a result, according to WHO, some one million people become infected. Twenty-two countries will eventually have to pay compensation as a result.
FDA asks US companies not to buy prison plasma since, due to unsafe sexual and drug practices by many inmates, the blood has a high risk of carrying the AIDS virus.
JUNE 1983
HMA tells FDA that 38 units of plasma from four inmates of the Grady prison should not have been collected because the prisoners had once tested positive for hepatitis B despite a test at the time of collection being negative. HMA sees the hazard as slight and thinks there is no need to recall the plasma. The Canadian Krever Commission will later report that "by 1983, however, an association had been identified between hepatitis B and AIDS; most persons with AIDS had also been infected with hepatitis B. There was a greater than average risk that the 38 units of plasma from the four inmates could transmit AIDS. Four of the units ended up in Canada, the others were sold to corporations in Switzerland, Spain, Japan, and Italy."
AUGUST 1983
HMA decides to withdraw the 38 units from circulation and FDA concurs. This is the first time that Connaught, the Canadian blood firm, has heard of any problems. The shipping papers had only shown that the blood came from "ADC Plasma Center, Grady, Arkansas."
By this time, however, the blood is already in circulation and only 417 of 2409 vials are retrieved.
The same month HMA tells the FDA of a fifth inmate with similar problems. He had given 34 units in less than a year.
SEPTEMBER 1983
Connaught reviews its approvals for receipt of plasma from US centers and finds that twelve have never been properly approved. One is the prison center in Grady, Arkansas. Other questionable blood has come from four prisons in Louisiana. Canadian Red Cross nullifies its contract for the blood the same day it finds this out.
FEBRUARY 1984
FDA suspends plasma production at the Grady facility where an average of 550-600 inmates have been giving blood since 1967. UPI regional wire reports that FDA finds overbleeding of inmate donors, disqualified donors, lack of documentation of testing, and inadequate storage. It also notes inaccurate and incomplete storage, instances of intentional and willful disregard for proposed standards, alteration of records and files to conceal violations, as well as inadequate training and ineffective supervision of the plasma center staff. Within months, however, HMA successfully applies for a new license after blaming the problems on a corrupt clerk.
1985
A UPI story recounts how the largest inmate donor program in the country -- in the Louisiana state prison -- is coming under increased federal scrutiny because of what is dubbed the "AIDS scare." Says the state's secretary of corrections: "We have no intention of shutting it down. It would have the same impact as a major industry shutting down in a small town: economic chaos." The president of a plasma company is quoted as saying, "There is no scientific evidence that prisoner plasma is worse than street plasma." The programs had, in fact, been shut down for six months but were reinstated after the prison discovered foreign markets to replace a dwindling US demand. Says the plasma company president, "I'd say 70 to 80 percent is going overseas. There's a good market for it over there, and they don't ask where it came from."
FDA finally requires testing of donor blood. Tainted blood distribution will continue inside the US until 1986. Thereafter, contaminated blood stocks will still be shipped from US companies to other countries.
Prosecuting attorney Wayne Matthews, after a two month state police probe, finds no evidence of drug trafficking in the Arkansas prison system. The allegation is that HMA employees are diverting drugs from the department's pharmacy and selling them to inmates, and that prisoners who 'knew too much' about drug trafficking were killed or allowed to die. "There's just absolutely no evidence whatsoever," says Matthews.
JANUARY 1986
The Corrections board agrees to have HMA's contract reviewed by outside parties. A media account notes that "HMA has been frequently in the news lately because of allegations by inmates of improper medical treatment." Among the charges: HMA hired a Mississippi doctor who was refused a permanent license in Arkansas. The doctor had lost his Mississippi license for "habitual personal use of narcotic drugs."
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports: "Governor Bill Clinton recently asked the Department to review health care services provided by HMA after allegations were raised that several inmates died because of a lack of medical care and that the leg of at least one inmate was amputated as a result of improper care. Department Director A. L. (Art) Lockhart, who earlier said HMA was doing a 'satisfactory' job, said Thursday a review of HMA could reveal some problems. ~~~ During the discussion of HMA and the allegations that have been made against it, [Corrections] Board member Don Smith of Pine Bluff excused himself because his law firm represents HMA."
MARCH 1986
Clinton tells a radio audience that there is no solution to problems with running a prison, only the process of dealing with the problems as they arise. He also says that "there is no evidence of systematic abuse for which the administration is responsible that I can see. If I did, I'd try to do something about it."
State Representative Bobby Glover charges that inmates are forced to participate in homosexual activities, that there have been gang rapes, that marijuana is openly smoked and that "home brew" is being sold for $7 to $10 a gallon. He disputes a recent prison department report that claimed only 6 per cent of the inmate population was participating in illicit drug use. Glover says he also is looking into reports of gambling, the theft and personal use of department property by employees, bid rigging, three questionable deaths, the lack of medical services, the physical abuse of inmates by guards and other prison officials, and bribes to obtain work release assignments or favorable classification.
Sandra Kurjiaka, director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Arkansas, says that there is a "real slavery problem" in the state correction department and that changes need to be made. Kurjiaka says an attitude exists that allows inmates to be raped and brutalized and that it exists with the consent of the governor, the correction board and the public.
APRIL 86
Clinton tells State Police chief Tommy Goodwin to begin a full scale investigation into reports of criminal conduct within the prison system. Says he finds them "very disturbing." Clinton makes his announcement after meeting for an hour with Goodwin and Rep. Glover. "Rep. Glover has communicated to me and Col. Goodwin some very serious allegations." Clinton says the state police "has resources" to investigate and Goodwin promises to assign at least eight investigators.
MAY 1986
Stories circulate about an alleged $25,000 bribe being paid to a prison board official to obtain a new contract for HMA. One witness tells the state police that the HMA board was angry about the extortion. This is all denied in a series of state police interviews with HMA and prison officials. It is claimed that the story arose from the attorney Richard Mays being hired for that same amount to serve for two years as an ombudsman for HMA. No contract or other written evidence of this agreement is ever produced.
What did Mays do in this job? According to HMA medical director Francis Henderson in a state police interview, "Mr Mays has thus far performed his duties in a very capable manner. He has met with us on three or four occasions and has mediated in some problem areas we have had. He has met with inmates and worked out some difficulties they had in the form of grievances with medical treatment services."
Henderson also describes his efforts to obtain a buyer for the plasma: "Historically this [was] the worst possible time to do it. I called all over the world and finally got one group in Canada that would take the contract."
Corrections board chair Woodson Walker is also interviewed by state police. According to the interview notes, he states that "he had had direct contacts with Governor Clinton throughout the selection process and that the Governor was deeply concerned with HMA's past performance and the deficiencies found by both the State Health Department and the Arkansas State Police Investigator of [sic] late 1984." Asked by Clinton for his recommendation, Walker states that after "taking everything into prospective [sic] he advised the Governor that he had decided to go with HMA ~~~ but only if a safeguard in the form of an ombudsman was included. The ombudsman was completely my idea and Governor Clinton advised me that he definitely approved. I was asked to make several suggestions as to who this ombudsman might be and among others recommended Judge Richard Mays and Judge David Hale, both of Little Rock. Hale was white and Mays was black but races was not a major consideration in these recommendations. As it turned out, Judge Hale declined. . . "
Hale would later become famous in the Whitewater scandal. Mays would also crop up again several times in the Clinton saga. A long-time Clinton supporter, he would gain posts both on the state supreme court and on the prison board. More curiously, he would show up as David Hale's attorney when the FBI got a subpoena to raid Hale's files for Whitewater documents -- issued on July 20, 1993, the day Vincent Foster died. [For yet another Mays link to Clinton, jump to 1994]
From state police notes of an interview with former Cummins guard Jackie Cummings:
"Jackie Cummings further stated that he had been dismissed from his job at the Cummins Unit because he had not been a 'team player.' When asked to provide additional information that would help investigators look into a situation such as his, Cummings stated that he would say no further, but that he only wants to 'get my job back.' Cummings advised both investigators that he had gone to the Office of Governor Bill Clinton and had met with him personally and was told by Clinton that he could do nothing about the situation at the Cummins Unit because it would cause him political harm."Leonard Dunn, president of HMA, is interviewed by state police. Investigator S. R. Probasco notes that Dunn explained that he "was the financial portion of the corporation as well as the political arm. Dunn advised that he had been a former member of the State Claims commission under Governor Pryor and that he was close to Governor Clinton as well as the majority of state politicians presently in office. Mr. Dunn explained that he was very fond of politics and that he was very active.
"Dunn stated to these investigators that the entire matter of trying to obtain a contact for HMA was considered to him to be part of negotiation and not in any form of pressure by the State Corrections Board or the Governor's Office. When asked specifically about contacts from the Governor's Office, Mr. Dunn stated that he did have conversations with both Governor Clinton and Mrs. Betsey Wright to assure them that HMA wanted to what was right. ~~~ Dunn stated that he was advised that the Governor's office was very concerned about problems HMA was having but was told to compete like anyone else if they wanted the penitentiary contract."Incidentally, Dunn is chair of a holding company that will later purchase two branches of Jim McDougal's failed Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association. He will also be named to the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission.
JUNE 27, 1986
The Institute for Law and Policy Planning, asked by the corrections board in March to study allegations of malfeasance in the prison system, presents its report to Governor Clinton and the board. The report states that that HMA has "consistently failed to provide the management system and medical services specifically called for in the contract." It also states that HMA and ADC "have only recently developed protocol and procedures for handling AIDS cases, and are currently developing a refined approach to AIDS screening and testing." Among numerous deficiencies, ILLP finds HMA has failed to provide the required number of doctor hours, the head of HMA is too overcommitted to give proper medical supervision, the enforcement of the medical contract has been inadequate, the program "fails to meet many significant professional standards," HMA has not followed state requirements, it has used inmates in prohibited medical jobs, and its record-keeping has been lacking."
JULY 30 1986
HMA is cleared of wrong-dong by the State Police. Prison officials are charged with just two misdemeanors and one felony.
JULY 31, 1986
The corrections board finds HMA in violation of its two year contract and placed on 90-day probation. The contract will eventually be taken over by Pine Bluffs Biologicals.
AUGUST 1986
Clinton decides not to ask A.L. "Art" Lockhart -- director of the state prison system -- to resign. He also denies being directly involved in the renewal of the contract for HMA. He says he didn't talk with Dunn until after the decision was made to give HMA the contract again. All he told Dunn, Clinton claims, is that HMA should be willing to accept an outside monitor and should work to improve patient care.
Rep. Glover, who has asked for Lockhart's resignation, says he has shown "a complete lack of administrative abilities." Clinton refuses to respond to Glover saying he should have taken the matter up with the Board of Corrections. He said he had "bent over backwards to try accommodate" Glover and accuses him of refusing to accept the state police investigation because "he had decided how it was suppose to come out before it was done."
1987
The last year improperly treated blood and plasma is distributed in Canada. The government provides compensation for harmed patients.
1989
The Committee of Ten Thousand -- named for the estimated 10,000 Americans infected with HIV by the blood industry -- is formed. Writing in POZ seven years later, COTT's president Corey Dubin says, "For years the manufacturers of blood products and the regulators at the FDA persuaded the hemophilia community as well as the general public that their infections were a 'tragic yet unavoidable mistake.' We now know that this is absolutely not the case and that doing business as usual from 1982 to 1985 consigned thousands of people with hemophilia to the ravages of AIDS. ~~~ Internal drug company memos demonstrate that officials understood the impact that blood tainted by this pathogen could have on people with hemophilia as early as mid-1982, but they failed to warn either our doctors or us. The industry was also targeting for plasma collection groups with a high incidence of hepatitis B -- gay men and prisoners -- that the CDC had by then identified as likely to have AIDS."
MAY 1993
Two separate tainted blood probes -- one by a California investigator and another by the Canadian government -- lead to the door of the Arkansas governor's office, now occupied by Jim Guy Tucker. Both are informed that all the governor's papers were removed when he left office and that they should contact the White House legal counsel's office. What happens next is not known but presumably they make contact with Vince Foster, the man in the legal counsel's office who knew Arkansas and who had been involved in the prison system and who may, at one point, have represented HMA.
JULY 1993
Vince Foster dies under mysterious circumstances.
A day or two after Foster's death, the New York Post will report much later, someone calls a little-known phone number at the White House counsel's office where Mr. Foster worked. "The man said he had some information that might be important," writes columnist Maggie Gallagher, who did not name her source or identify the official who took the call. "Something had upset Vince Foster greatly just days before he died. Something about 'tainted blood' that both Vince Foster and President Clinton knew about, this man said."
1994
Richard Mays, the "ombudsman" in the 1980s prison health scandal, crops up again, as described in a report from the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee:
"Charlie Trie was first solicited to contribute to the DNC in connection with the June 22, 1994, Presidential Gala in Washington, D.C. Trie was solicited to give $100,000 to the DNC, even though he had never made any significant political contributions previously. No one at the DNC demonstrated any concern about taking $100,000 from an obscure Arkansas restaurateur with little apparent wealth. Trie was rewarded with an immediate entree into the world of Washington insiders and presidential intimates, and the DNC was rewarded with badly-needed campaign cash.1994
"Trie was solicited to make his first contributions to the DNC by Richard Mays, a close friend of the President from Arkansas. Mays had been appointed to the Arkansas bench by Governor Clinton, and was also a longtime major DNC donor and fundraiser. Mays claims that he knew Trie from patronizing his restaurant in Little Rock. Mays claimed not to recall the exact circumstances of his solicitation of Trie, but did state that he 'had the distinct impression that [Trie] was in a position to contribute, and wanted to make a contribution.' Mays says he based his conclusion that Trie was in a 'position to contribute' to the DNC on the fact that Trie was traveling between Little Rock and Washington, D.C.:
"Question: When you say "in a position to contribute," do you mean he had sufficient money to contribute?
"Mays: I felt he did.
"Question: And how did you get that impression?
"Mays: I don't know how I got that impression, but frequently, he seemed like he was traveling extensively, you know, I knew he owned that Chinese restaurant down there, and he apparently had engaged in some business, other business interests. I really didn't have a specific judgment that, in fact, he could, but I certainly thought it was worth talking to him about it.
***
"Question: Would you ever see him anywhere other than D.C. or Little Rock?
"Mays: I don't recall that I have. I mean, I am not saying I haven't, but I don't recall."
"Mays asked Trie what he could contribute, and Trie told him $100,000. Mays claims that he was not surprised by Trie's offer of $100,000, even though this was the largest contribution he had ever solicited. Trie's $100,000 contribution was used for the DNC's Health Care Campaign, which was a public campaign to promote the President's health care legislative proposal.
"At this point, Mays claimed he still had no concern that a political novice with little apparent wealth had pledged $100,000 to the DNC. Rather than conducting any background research of Trie, or looking into the source of Trie's funds, he introduced Trie to Terry McAuliffe, then the Finance Chairman of the DNC. Mays set up a breakfast meeting between McAuliffe and Trie. At this meeting, Trie confirmed that he would make a $100,000 contribution to the DNC, and asked only that he be prominently seated at the June 22 gala. When asked if he ever had a concern about the source of Trie's contributions, Mays responded, 'Why would I have some concern?'"
Arkansas finally stops selling prisoner's plasma.
1995
Four blood company officials are convicted in Germany of distributing HIV tainted blood and derivatives. The government admits a cover-up. The former owner of a plasma testing lab goes on trial for murder in the deaths of three people treated with AIDS-tainted blood products.
1996
Japan, which has never discarded its contaminated blood and plasma, criminally charges a pharmaceutical company and a government adviser for the distribution of tainted blood matter.
1999
"This I know. Without the governor's support and protection, this disease-ridden system would have been shut down by 1982" -- Mike Galster to Suzi Parker
TAINTED BLOOD
While the US media continues to ignore the 1980s blood scandal involving Clinton's Arkansas prison system, at least four countries -- France, Japan, Germany and Switzerland -- have engaged in high profile prosecution of public and private figures responsible for similar deadly practices. A former prime minister and two members of his cabinet are currently on trial in France on charges of manslaughter for the mishandling of blood supplies. It is believed that possibly 4,500 persons died there because of contaminated blood.
In Canada, where the Arkansas blood wound up, an estimated 2,000 recipients of blood and related products got the AIDS virus between 1980 and 1985. At least 60,000 Canadians were infected with the hepatitis C virus between 1980 and 1990.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has a staff of 24 working on the case. So far, investigators have interviewed about 600 people including in the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands. According to the Ottawa Citizen, the team has more than 30,000 documents
TAINTED BLOOD
While working at the White House, the ubiquitous Linda Tripp stumbled on something she wasn't meant to know anything about. She received a phone call from someone who mentioned the "tainted blood issue." The phrase meant nothing to Tripp and when she tried to find out more from a White House computer, the database denied her access. Testifying in a Judicial Watch deposition recently, Tripp said, "It had been alarming to me that when I tried to enter data from a caller that I was working with on a tainted blood issue, that every time I entered a word that had to do with this particular issue, it would flash up either the word 'encrypted' or 'password required' or something to indicate the file was locked."
At the time, Tripp was working as executive assistant to Bernard Nussbaum, chief White House counsel. Also on the staff: deputy counsel Vince Foster. The Ottawa Citizen has since learned that Foster had tried to protect the Arkansas firm shipping tainted blood from prison inmates in a lawsuit. The New York Post has also reported that Foster may have been worried about the tainted-blood scandal at the time of his death, citing a mysterious phone call about the matter shortly after Foster died.
The Citizen notes that W. J. Clinton was governor of Arkansas "when the Canadian blood supply was contaminated in the mid-'80s. He was generally familiar with the operations of now-defunct Health Management Associates, the Arkansas firm that was given a contract by Mr. Clinton's own state administration to provide medical care to prisoners. In the process, HMA was also permitted by the state to collect prisoners' blood and sell it elsewhere.
"HMA's president in the mid-1980s, Leonard Dunn, was a personal friend of Mr. Clinton's and a political ally. Later, Mr. Dunn was a Clinton appointee to the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission and he was among the senior members of Mr. Clinton's 1990 gubernatorial re-election team.
"The contaminated prisoners' plasma is believed to have been infected with HIV and hepatitis C. Any information linking Mr. Foster to HMA and its blood program is bound to raise more questions about how much Mr. Clinton knew."
OTTAWA CITIZEN
FRENCH OFFICIALS HIT WITH CHARGES
IN CASE ECHOING ARKANSAS BLOOD SCANDAL
In a case with strong echoes of the Arkansas deadly blood scandal, a former French prime minister (now speaker of the lower house) and two other former cabinet members are on trial for manslaughter and criminal negligence. The case, like the Arkansas one, stems from the handling of government blood supplies in the mid-1980s, permitting HIV-tainted blood to be used. Former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius and the others are accused of letting unsterilized blood remain in supplies used to treat hemophiliacs for several months and negligence in enforcing screening regulations. About 4,000 persons became infected with virus and some 40% have since died.
The seriousness of the French action is in stunning contrast to the blasé reaction in this country to accounts of deadly blood being shipped out of the Arkansas prison system during the Clinton regime in the mid-80s. Although the story has gotten a lot of attention in Canada -- where the blood ended up -- and while about 1,000 hemophiliacs have filed a $660 million class action suit in Toronto over the shipments, American corporate media have suppressed the story.
Those involved in the commercial operation that sold deadly blood from Arkansas prisoners had close ties to the Clinton machine.
JANUARY 1999
HMM. . .
[From the Judicial Watch deposition of Linda Tripp]
Q Now the bit about the screen flashing up encrypted, Mr. Klayman asked you, again this is on page 139, is that an accurate recitation of what you told Lucianne Goldberg and you responded no.
A No, it's not. Let me just clarify, it's not that, it appears to be a compilation of two different issues confused in the recitation. The word encrypted, if I used it at all, did not have to do with FBI files. It had to do with another issue on Deb Gorham's machine when it was located in the West Wing prior to its being moved. What I had told Lucianne Goldberg at the time was that it had been alarming to me that when I tried to enter data from a caller that I was working with on a tainted blood issue, that every time I entered a word that had to do with this particular issue, it would flash up either the word encrypted or password required or something to indicate the file was locked.
BLOOD VICTIMS COMING TO DC
Canadian tainted-blood victims, so far ignored by the American media, are coming to Washington next month to demand an investigation into how contaminated blood from Arkansas and Louisiana got into their country's supply. The Ottawa Citizen reports:
DECEMBER 1998"As well, they will announce they are exploring the possibility of suing
those in the U.S. who played a role -- including the companies that
collected the blood and the state governments that allowed it to happen.
"Their actions come in the wake of a series of investigative stories by the
Citizen last fall that revealed how a U.S. firm with links to President
Bill Clinton collected tainted blood from Arkansas prison inmates and sold
it abroad."
THE ARKANSAS BLOOD SCANDAL
Among blacked-out stories about Clinton is the tale of how his Arkansas prison system sold tainted blood to Canadian sources well after inmate-originated blood was banned by American blood companies. Some 7,000 Canadians have died or are expected to as a result of contaminated blood, some of it from the Arkansas prison system.
According to Mara Leveritt in the Arkansas Times, in 1984, "the U.S. FDA revoked the [Arkansas Department of Corrections'] license for manufacturing source plasma, citing a litany of potential hazards. Among other things, the FDA said that HMA, the Arkansas company administering the program, was using inmates who had been previously disqualified because of a history of hepatitis; had failed to note on the plasma whether testing had been done for signs of hepatitis and syphilis; kept inaccurate and incomplete records; altered records; and had shown willful disregard of standards. The license was quickly reinstated, however, and the bleeding of inmates continued.
"By the end of the 1980s, all U.S. prison systems had quit drawing inmate plasma-- all, that is, except Arkansas's. When I interviewed John Byus, the ADC's medical director, in February 1991, I asked him how long the department intended to continue the practice, in light of the fact that the National Hemophilia Foundation, the International Red Cross, and the World Health Organization all considered the risks inherent in it too great. Byus replied, 'We plan to stick with it to the last day, to the last drop we're able to sell.' Our state ended the program later that year, but not from any sense of responsibility. The scandal had left its mark. There was simply no one left on earth willing to buy what we had to sell."
One year later, Bill Clinton, then governor of a state with the greatest number of inmate complaints in the country, began running for president. Clinton had shown far more impatience than concern with inquiries into prison conditions, claiming that they had been "studied to death." He also tried to bring a state police investigation of the prison system to a quick end saying in words whose spirit would become familiar in another context, "I told them to get it done and get it over with." Further, a couple of those most closely connected to the prison scandal were close to Clinton including Leonard Dunn, who served as president of the blood company with the prison contract. Dunn was a senior member of Clinton's 1990 gubernatorial campaign and bought Jim McDougal's Guaranty Savings and Loan that same year.
Proving the persistence of redemption, by far the best American media story we've seen is in the heretofore heavily pro-Clinton Salon Magazine.
SALON MAGAZINE ARTICLE
http://www.salon1999.com/news/
NOVEMBER 1998
TAINTED BLOOD FOR "POCKET MONEY"
The men who ran the 1980s tainted blood program in Arkansas have told the Ottawa Citizen that the program was justified because the inmate-donors needed "pocket money."
Writes Mark Kennedy: "That excuse has sparked outrage from Canadian victims who received the prison plasma which is believed to have been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and with hepatitis C."
"I don't really feel that we did anything wrong," said John Byus, medical director for the Arkansas Department of Corrections. "Does our conscience bother us? I'm sorry, I think our conscience was led by the reality of what we were trying to do. The reality was trying to maintain a program."
Dr. Francis "Bud" Henderson, medical director of Health Management Associates (HMA), the private firm that ran the blood program for the state, told Kennedy there were concerns prisoners' morale would be harmed if they couldn't donate.
Although the tainted blood story has been ignored in the US, it is a major scandal in Canada and the target of an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned in the early 80s that prison plasma carried a high risk of being contaminated. Says Kennedy, "At the request of the FDA, U.S. companies that fractionate blood products stopped buying prison blood in late 1982. But HMA found a willing buyer in a Montreal blood broker which resold it to Toronto-based Connaught Laboratories. From there, the plasma was pooled and turned into a special blood product and then sent to the Canadian Red Cross, which distributed it to hundreds of hemophiliacs.
"The prison-plasma pipeline was suddenly capped in the summer of 1983 when
it was discovered that plasma from several Arkansas prisoners should not
have been collected. .... The products were recalled, but not quickly enough, leaving 3,933 vials to be injected into the arms of unsuspecting hemophiliacs. The Red Cross immediately cancelled the Connaught contract."
Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas at the time the tainted blood was being collected from the state's inmates.
OTTAWA CITIZEN
http://www.ottawacitizen.com
OCTOBER 1998
BAD BLOOD
Canadian media, including the Calgary Sun and Ottawa Citizen, are reporting that tainted blood from Arkansas prisons made its way to a Montreal blood broker in the 1980s when Bill Clinton was governor. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating. At the time, American sources were not accepting prisoners' blood because of possible HIV contamination.
OTTAWA CITIZEN
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/national/980911/1996882.html
The tale of how contaminated blood got from Arkansas prisons to Canada in the mid-1980s continues to stir interest north of us . . . . Latest from the Ottawa Citizen: Vince Foster apparently represented the company involved in the blood operation in at least one matter. . . And the New York Post's Maggie Gallagher, says a source who asked not to be identified informed her that a day or two after Foster died someone had called a little-known phone number at the White House and said something had upset Vince Foster greatly just days earlier: "Something about 'tainted blood' that both Vince Foster and President Clinton knew about, this man said.'" The story meant nothing to Gallagher until the Canadian blood saga broke.
------------------
Diane Parsons, infected with hepatitis C from tainted blood, heads from a
news conference in Halifax on June 15, 1999. A Halifax woman who led a
$1.18 billion class-action settlement for those infected with hepatitis C
has died. Lawyer Dawna Ring says Diane Forsyth died Saturday at the age
of 64. Forsyth became known nationally under her maiden name, Diane
Parsons, for leading the legal fight for those infected with hepatitis C
from blood transfusions. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
CANADA'S TAINTED BLOOD SCANDEL - Halifax woman who led class action in blood
transfusion case dies
Lawyer Dawna Ring says Diane Forsyth died Saturday at the age of 64.
Forsyth became known nationally under her maiden name, Diane Parsons, for leading the legal fight for those infected with hepatitis C from blood transfusions.
Her family doctor, Patricia Beresford, said Forsyth, who had a bleeding disorder, became ill after getting a blood transfusion prior to dental surgery in 1989.
At the time, Canada had not instituted surrogate testing for hepatitis C.
“Early on in her illness, and until the day she died, Diane fought for adequate compensation for the medical and living costs of victims of hepatitis C exposure from blood,” said Beresford.
Thousands of people in Canada were infected with HIV and hepatitis C after receiving tainted blood transfusions in the 1980s.
The federal government launched a public inquiry in 1993 to look into the scandal. Justice Horace Krever spent four years in his investigation and made 50 recommendations when he issued his report four years later.
The settlement in the lawsuit led by Forsyth also wasn’t without controversy when it was announced in 1998.
Under the court-approved agreement, Ottawa and the provinces set up a fund to compensate people infected with hepatitis C through tainted blood from 1986 to 1990. But people infected before 1986 were excluded on the grounds that there was no test to screen for the virus before then, but it was later learned there were fairly effective tests available before 1986.
In 2006, a separate federal compensation deal for the so-called forgotten victims of hepatitis C was announced, covering people who were infected with the virus before 1986 or after 1990.
A number of people who knew Forsyth issued statements on her importance to those who were affected by tainted blood.
Harvey T. Strosberg, who was the lead lawyer in the national class action, said Forsyth was a “visionary and a leader.”
“She put her faith in the judicial system and she was not disappointed,” he said. “Thousands of Canadians have benefited because she led the way.”
Ring said Forsyth was giving of her time, even when she was sick and weak.
“Diane opened her private life to the public to assist in educating everyone about hepatitis C and its impact on the lives of those infected with the disease.”
Alexa McDonough, former leader of the federal and Nova Scotia NDP, commented on her importance to those with hepatitis C.
“How valiantly Diane struggled and championed the cause for others battling with hepatitis C,” she added.
Forsyth was predeceased by her first husband, Basil Cruickshanks. She is survived by her husband Billy Forsyth; daughter Heather Fleet Wolff; step-daughter Kelly Gillis; and sons Michael, Basil and Brian Cruickshanks.
A funeral was scheduled to be held Wednesday in Halifax.
via @metrohalifax
-------------------
IN CANADA OUR GAYS AND GIRLS AND WOMEN MATTER.... Canada and Israel first nations 2 have gay equality laws.... u keep your Hamas.... by the by... they also hate unions
O CANADA...
JULY 25 2014
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE:
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE- IT'S TIME-
Refreshing change
Thank you for your excellent July 22 editorial, which is refreshing in its ability to see past the propaganda war and speak to the heart of the subject.
Jewish communities across Canada have long ago given up on most unions, which continue to create a toxic atmosphere laden with anti-Semitic hatred where those who support Israel are intimidated and marginalized.
To watch the slow demise of Canada Post, whose union is busy advocating on behalf of a terrorist organization — to the detriment of employees and the future of the corporation, is sad, confusing and speaks to the obsessive vitriol of union leadership. Anti-Semitism in Israel, Europe and here at home is real and growing. Your editorial, which reflects this reality, is much appreciated.
Avi Benlolo, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, Toronto
------------------
JULY 23RD
not in our Canada... vicious rioting behaviour will not be tolerated-
City streets no place for violence — or indifference
On
Friday, close to 1,000 anti-Israel extremists in Calgary had a street
protest about the war in Gaza. Some of the protesters were there to
support ordinary Gazans. But some of them were there to support the
terrorist group Hamas. And some of them were there just because they
hate Jews. The protest was right
'The
European Union has issued a strong condemnation of Hamas’ attacks on Israel
and human rights abuses within Gaza. A statement published after a meeting of
EU Foreign Ministers condemned “the i…ndiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel by
Hamas and militant groups in the Gaza Strip, directly harming civilians.” 'The
EU also condemned “calls on the civilian population of Gaza to offer themselves
as human shields” – a sign of recogni...
5 hours ago ... How many more schools
will have to be abused by Hamas missile ... "local authorities," which in Hamas-run Gaza,
could mean the rockets went ...
1 day ago ... Western diplomat says Hamas
rockets found in UN school given to "local" Gaza offls. But deny this is actually Hamas
http://t.co/izltjBQD45.
-----------
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CUPE- POSTIES- U WANT CANADIANS SUPPORT U- AND U HATE ISRAEL AND LUV HAMAS??
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Jul 22 2014- Canada Unions-CUPE N GREEN PARTY SUPPORTING HAMAS??? - Remembering Randy and Janet Connors and the horrific nightmare of AIDS- PRESIDENT CLINTON'S PRISONER TAINTED BLOOD SOLD AND USED ON INNOCENT CANADIANS.... We stand with our Lord and Savior Jesus the Nazarene and our Israel - HISTORY OF AIDS-HIV- AND THE BETRAYAL OF PEOPLE OF TRUST- from president's 2 blood banks 2 prisoners knowingly selling tainted blood
WHEN FEDERAL UNIONS SHAME
CANADIANS..... CUPE AND CANADA UNIONS'S
SUPPORTING TERRORIST GROUP- HAMAS/HEZBOLLAH AND IRAN...... AND ELIZABETH MAY
GREEN PARTY!!!
canadian unions- ndp and green party supporting HAMAS??? WTF????
EWWWWWW.....
CUPE should stay out of
politics - canada.com
2009-01-08 · What part of
Hamas's stated goal to kill ... CUPE should stay out of ... slammed the federal
government's support for"the Israeli people to protect ...
"CUPE's moment of
shame" - Gregory Levey - Writing
One-sided resolutions
stripped of all nuance and evenhandedness do not provide that support. Worse,
CUPE is ... But a good deal is due to the decisions of the Hamas ...
CUPE boycott of Israel won't
help cause of peace
Home > CUPE Boycott >
CUPE boycott of Israel won't help ... We must all condemn Hamas for its support
for terrorism and its refusal to recognize the right of ...
UNION SUPPORTING HAMAS TERRORISTS???
EDITORIAL: Postal union lacks focus
THE CHRONICLE HERALD Last
Updated July 21, 2014 - 7:59pm
Dozens of postal workers and
others opposed to cuts in mail delivery rally outside the Almon Street post
office in Halifax on June 19. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)
Dozens of postal workers and
others opposed to cuts in mail delivery rally outside the Almon Street post
office in Halifax on June 19. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)
If the Canadian Union of
Postal Workers is wondering why it can’t seem to rally Canadians to protest
Canada Post’s plans to phase out home delivery in this country, perhaps the
union should reflect on its own divisive behaviour.
In between rallies in
Halifax in June and the tiny information picket on Halifax’s Armdale roundabout
Monday morning protesting the loss of home mail delivery, the CUPW local here
was apparently busy organizing its participation in a recent pro-Palestinian,
anti-war march in Halifax tied to the ongoing Gaza crisis.
The conflict in Gaza is
hardly a black and white issue. Hamas militants store rockets in heavily
populated zones within Gaza and fire them from there into Israeli civilian
areas. Despite the possibility of civilian casualties, the Israeli armed forces
respond with military strikes aimed at eliminating the rocket threat. The
partial blockade of the Palestinian territory by Israel is arguably strangling
the Gazan economy. But the continual smuggling of weaponry into Gaza by Hamas
and other groups buttresses the Israelis’ rationale for a blockade. And that
synopsis hardly covers the complexity of the conflict.
But instead of focusing on
domestic postal issues that directly affect their workers, along with millions
of Canadians, CUPW, as it’s done for years, continues to put the union’s
reputation, time and money behind a one-sided position on a foreign dispute
with no bearing on postal service in Canada.
In December, we
editorialized that it was untenable for Canada Post to announce it was getting
out of home delivery while maintaining a monopoly on end-to-end, first class
mail service. If that was its choice — which we didn’t agree with — we said
Ottawa should open up home delivery completely to competition, something many
countries in Europe successfully did more than a decade ago.
CUPW has cited surveys that
show a majority of Canadians want home delivery saved, but that doesn’t
necessarily mean home delivery by Canada Post.
That said, we continue to
argue that Canada Post has overlooked many other ways to tackle its looming
revenue shortfall, including, for example, offering banking services. Rather
than killing home delivery — which many small businesses and seniors count on —
the Crown corporation should have also done much more in the way of asking its
customers what they want, another option that is certainly still possible.
CUPW has been involved in a
long list of extra-jurisdictional causes, from its pro-Palestinian efforts to
sending delegates to support the Castro revolution in Cuba. At the very least,
the union has undermined public support for itself in the process. Certainly,
with the current Canada Post plan to kill home delivery and to shed thousands of
jobs being implemented, it’s curious the union would spend any time at all on
Gaza marches.
----------------
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
IN HAMAS’S HANDS
It’s astonishing how some
letter writers have ignored the primary role of Hamas in the Middle East
conflict. Hamas, a terrorist organization banned in Canada, does not simply
object to particular Israeli policies; it openly calls for the destruction of
Israel and the murder of Jews.
Israel unilaterally removed
every Israeli civilian and soldier from Gaza in 2005. The cause of the current
war is the incessant and indiscriminate missiles fired from Hamas and others in
Gaza at Israelis (over 1,200 missiles since mid-June alone). Those attacks
constitute war crimes under international law, as does Hamas’s use of
Palestinians as human shields.
Like Canada, Israel is a
democracy that has an obligation to defend its citizens. Israel takes
unprecedented steps to safeguard Palestinian civilians and evacuate them from
targeted sites prior to missions.
The b ottom line is simple:
Hamas alone can immediately bring an end to this conflict by stopping missile
fire, but it is more interested in terrorizing Israelis than securing a future
for Palestinians.
Mark David, Atlantic
representative, The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Halifax
------------------
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
GAZA CLASH: YOUR LETTERS
CREDO OF HYPOCRITES
I cannot believe the number
of hypocrites writing letters or articles about the Israeli “taking" of
lands in the Middle East.
First of all, Israel existed
long before Palestine was established. So therefore it was their land first.
Which brings up the main complaint — that the land should be given back to the
Palestinians.
All those writing to say
this should happen must look at themselves first. To make their point more
believable, they should take this country as an example. We all know that
Europeans came over here and took all the lands from the natives, as did the
Israelis in the Middle East (so these hypocrites say).
Therefore, to show their
true, undying support for the Palestinians, these critics should go the nearest
native band office and give their land back to the rightful owners. And to
reinforce their beliefs, they must pack up their belongings, take their
families, go to the press and inform them of what they are about to do and move
back to their ancestral homelands.
If this does not happen,
these people have shown their true colours. They will live by their new credo,
“Do as I say, but don’t expect me to do the same thing." And we all know
that this is what will happen.
B.A. Blaney, Cole Harbour
----------------
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
Israeli consul general Joël
Lion makes a very balanced case for Israel in the current conflict (“Gaza
missiles cast long shadow," July 16). He might have gone further.
Hamas is dedicated to the
utter destruction of Israel. It is actively trying to kill as many Israeli
civilians as possible. Hamas uses hospitals, mosques and children as human
shields to protect its missile-launching pads and its leadership.
The government in Gaza
tortures and kills its domestic political opponents. There is no political or
religious freedom in Gaza, neither is there freedom of speech or assembly.
There is no independent judiciary and the LGBT community is violently oppressed.
Gaza’s education system is rife with anti-Semitism and hatred. In 2014, Freedom
House gave Gaza a mark of six in freedom, civil liberties and political rights.
Seven is the worst possible rating.
On the other hand, Israel
recognizes the right of Gaza to an independent existence. Israel has never
started a war with Gaza. Israel has never targeted civilians in Gaza. Just the
opposite, Israel has sacrificed soldiers to minimize civilian deaths.
In Israel, there is freedom
of assembly, press and expression. There are political parties in Israel that
have representatives in Gaza’s parliament. Israel has freedom of religion and
the LGBT community has full civil rights. Israel has an independent judiciary.
In Israel, there are
numerous human rights groups dedicated to the welfare of the people of Gaza.
The Freedom House rating for Israel is 1.5 with one as the best possible
rating. Arab Israelis have the same rights as Israeli Jews.
There is a fundamental moral
difference between despotic Hamas-ruled Gaza and Israeli democracy. All of the
citizens of Gaza who are genuinely concerned with human rights should, as their
very first action, seek to oust their own despotic rulers and adopt the type of
free society that characterizes Israel.
Peter Mar tyn, Tatamagouche
-------------------
PARTY SUPPORTING HAMAS??? - Remembering Randy and Janet Connors and the horrific nightmare of AIDS- PRESIDENT CLINTON'S PRISONER TAINTED BLOOD SOLD AND USED ON INNOCENT CANADIANS.... We stand with our Lord and Savior Jesus the Nazarene and our Israel - HISTORY OF AIDS-HIV- AND THE BETRAYAL OF PEOPLE OF TRUST- from president's 2 blood banks 2 prisoners knowingly selling tainted blood
CANADA: WE NEED 2 PROTEST AGAINST CANADIAN UNION OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES/CUPE TO BOYCOTT ISRAEL UNIVERSITIES AND ALL THINGS ISRAEL.... enough!
So who really is the injured party here — academics shunning Jewish thought? That's like a man stranded in the Sahara refusing a glass of water. Asshattery Jew hating makes asshats of them all. And transparent as well. it is evil. Period.Check out this post at Atlas here back in April 2006 – it sums it up:What it represents is the struggle between good and evil.
The traditional Jew-peaceful, studious, dedicated to procreation,
family and life of worship and simplicity. He is concerned with being
benevolent hence the Kosher way of killing animals-without suffering.
He does not deviate from faith in God and belief that God, if he is
good, will take care of him. On the other side is the trayf – the
more likely to use physical force, have many wives, or at least does
not stay with one family and may beget a few, less concern in
procreation rather more concern in pleasure. Kills even for his faith
or in the name of his faith. More physical than studious and much less
faithful to family and religion.Inflicts pain without remorse and
enjoys the disrespect for other living creatures. Therefore for the strife between good and evil to
continue and exist – the fundamental basis and core for this existence
the traditional Jew must survive. If he dies the good is gone and evil takes over the world. The struggle must continue as this is the setup and fabric of this world. The conquering of
Israel is in theory. That piece of beach holds no oil, gold, or any
other valuable resources. It however, holds the Jewish people. The world knows that getting the land is meaningless, it is getting the Jew that will be the victory for the forces of evil.
However, if the Jew dies they die too as their survival depends on this
constant struggle because without it they will lose the meaning and
purpose of their existence. And so it goes, a never ending struggle
which is the very essence of life as we know it."Israel boycott5 Urban sent in this on the scene report: Here are the photos from yesterday's (Sunday February 22nd 2009) protest against CUPE, held in Windsor, Ontario. Union mob-rule;
recent islamic "sha'ariyah" honour killing beheadings of wives and daughters in Toronto;
shrill racist, inciting, cries from the Canadian Arab Federation and the Canadian Islamic Congress;
universities and colleges over-run with anarchic Left-Glibbers, anti-semites, and intolerant, bigoted, muslim student associations ….. … this isn't boding well for Canadian democratic, pluralistic society ………… Honourable Members of Parliament, the scourge of tyranny and oppression is upon us, from without and within, and its name is Islamo-fascism ,
fueled in part by re-emergent anti-Semitism ( thinly veiled as indignant anti-Zionism ) ,
and misdirected Left-Glib self-righteousness.
'Resolution to boycott Israel by CUPE Ontario discriminatory and racist,’ says B’nai Brith Canada
TORONTO, February 22, 2009 – B’nai Brith Canada has labeled as "discriminatory and racist" the resolution passed by CUPE Ontario, which proposes to boycott Israeli universities. "Central to the boycott Israel resolution passed by CUPE is the notion that the Jewish State is somehow illegitimate," said Frank Dimant, Executive Vice President of B'nai Brith Canada. "It marginalizes its supporters here at home and disenfranchises CUPE members who are supportive of democratic Israel and its right to defend its citizens against terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. "CUPE has gone far afield of its mandate by pushing through a resolution that at its very core is racist, employs a double standard, and which seeks to put a stranglehold on genuine academic exchange. "Followers of Israel Apartheid Week and its fellow CUPE travelers are promoting hatred and advancing a discriminatory agenda that is at odds with Canadian values of tolerance, respect and human rights for all. We urge the wider CUPE membership to come forward to denounce this resolution and call on the Canadian public to do the same." B’nai Brith Canada has been active in Canada since 1875
as the Jewish community’s foremost human rights agencyEmail this page - See more at: http://pamelageller.com/2009/02/canada-protest-againstcanadian-union-of-public-employeescupe-to-boycott-israel-universities.html/#sthash.HPMM4H65.dpuf
CANADA: WE NEED 2 PROTEST AGAINST CANADIAN UNION OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES/CUPE TO BOYCOTT ISRAEL UNIVERSITIES AND ALL THINGS ISRAEL.... enough!
So who really is the injured party here — academics shunning Jewish thought? That's like a man stranded in the Sahara refusing a glass of water. Asshattery Jew hating makes asshats of them all. And transparent as well. it is evil. Period.Check out this post at Atlas here back in April 2006 – it sums it up:What it represents is the struggle between good and evil.
The traditional Jew-peaceful, studious, dedicated to procreation,
family and life of worship and simplicity. He is concerned with being
benevolent hence the Kosher way of killing animals-without suffering.
He does not deviate from faith in God and belief that God, if he is
good, will take care of him. On the other side is the trayf – the
more likely to use physical force, have many wives, or at least does
not stay with one family and may beget a few, less concern in
procreation rather more concern in pleasure. Kills even for his faith
or in the name of his faith. More physical than studious and much less
faithful to family and religion.Inflicts pain without remorse and
enjoys the disrespect for other living creatures. Therefore for the strife between good and evil to
continue and exist – the fundamental basis and core for this existence
the traditional Jew must survive. If he dies the good is gone and evil takes over the world. The struggle must continue as this is the setup and fabric of this world. The conquering of
Israel is in theory. That piece of beach holds no oil, gold, or any
other valuable resources. It however, holds the Jewish people. The world knows that getting the land is meaningless, it is getting the Jew that will be the victory for the forces of evil.
However, if the Jew dies they die too as their survival depends on this
constant struggle because without it they will lose the meaning and
purpose of their existence. And so it goes, a never ending struggle
which is the very essence of life as we know it."Israel boycott5 Urban sent in this on the scene report: Here are the photos from yesterday's (Sunday February 22nd 2009) protest against CUPE, held in Windsor, Ontario. Union mob-rule;
recent islamic "sha'ariyah" honour killing beheadings of wives and daughters in Toronto;
shrill racist, inciting, cries from the Canadian Arab Federation and the Canadian Islamic Congress;
universities and colleges over-run with anarchic Left-Glibbers, anti-semites, and intolerant, bigoted, muslim student associations ….. … this isn't boding well for Canadian democratic, pluralistic society ………… Honourable Members of Parliament, the scourge of tyranny and oppression is upon us, from without and within, and its name is Islamo-fascism ,
fueled in part by re-emergent anti-Semitism ( thinly veiled as indignant anti-Zionism ) ,
and misdirected Left-Glib self-righteousness.
'Resolution to boycott Israel by CUPE Ontario discriminatory and racist,’ says B’nai Brith Canada
TORONTO, February 22, 2009 – B’nai Brith Canada has labeled as "discriminatory and racist" the resolution passed by CUPE Ontario, which proposes to boycott Israeli universities. "Central to the boycott Israel resolution passed by CUPE is the notion that the Jewish State is somehow illegitimate," said Frank Dimant, Executive Vice President of B'nai Brith Canada. "It marginalizes its supporters here at home and disenfranchises CUPE members who are supportive of democratic Israel and its right to defend its citizens against terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. "CUPE has gone far afield of its mandate by pushing through a resolution that at its very core is racist, employs a double standard, and which seeks to put a stranglehold on genuine academic exchange. "Followers of Israel Apartheid Week and its fellow CUPE travelers are promoting hatred and advancing a discriminatory agenda that is at odds with Canadian values of tolerance, respect and human rights for all. We urge the wider CUPE membership to come forward to denounce this resolution and call on the Canadian public to do the same." B’nai Brith Canada has been active in Canada since 1875
as the Jewish community’s foremost human rights agencyEmail this page - See more at: http://pamelageller.com/2009/02/canada-protest-againstcanadian-union-of-public-employeescupe-to-boycott-israel-universities.html/#sthash.HPMM4H65.dpuf
AND..
AIDS- HIV- STOLEN INNOCENCE OF CANADIANS.... HIJACKED BY GREED, INDIFFERENCE, IGNORANCE, FEAR..... AND INSTUTUTIONS OF TRUST NOT GIVING A SHEEET....... don't ask Canadians 2 change any laws on giving and donating blood-- LEARN HOW THE LAWS CHANGED ON GIVING BLOOD AND WHY...... never 4giving never 4getting
Randy Connors- Victim says Red Cross apology not good enough
Janet Connors - Victim says Red Cross apology not good enough
From the Heart: The Life and
Times of Janet Conners
TAINTED BLOOD- RANDY CONNORS STORY.... THAT BROKE CANADA'S HEART
QUOTED FROM FOLLOWING BLOG:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: P2Sep17/Afghanistan news/Sex in Military/Canada
News/Aldershtot NS/Paedoophiles/Wounded/PTSD/Suicides/Military News-good bad
ugly/Nato troops/General Intersest troops/
DURING CHRETIEN'S REIGN AS PM- AGREEMENT MADE WITH PRESIDENT CLINTON 4
CANADA 2 HAVE AMERICAN PRISONERS TAINTED BLOOD- WHICH KILLED OUR RANDY CONNORS
AND SO MANY OTHER INNOCENTS GIVEN 3 US BY CANADIAN RED CROSS- THE BIGGEST BETRAYAL 2 CANADIANS BY TRUST
CANADA RED CROSS AND OUR GOVERNMENT OF CANADA - we trusted u...
RANDY CONNORS DIED HORRIBLY FROM TAINTED HIV USA PRISONER BLOOD.... AND WE
WEPT... AND STILL DO...
In 1993 , the federal Health Department launched the Krever inquiry to
look into Canada’s tainted blood supplies. Justice Horace Krever spent four
years in his investigation and made 50 recommendations when he issued his
report in 1997. Among them was that there be no-fault compensation for the
thousands of Canadians who were in fected with HIV and Hepatitis C from tainted
blood and blood products in the mid-1980s to 1990.
Reframing Medical Injury? Viewing People With Hemophilia as Victims of
Cultural Injusticemore
by Michael Orsini
http://sls.sagepub.com/content/16/2/241Theonline
version of this article can be found at:?DOI: 10.1177/09646639070765332007 16:
241
Social & Legal Studies
Michael Orsini
Cultural InjusticeReframing Medical Injury? Viewing People With Hemophilia
as Victims of
and..
Nova Scotia compensates victims for tainted blood- the faces of Innocent
murdered- ourRandy and Janet and son
A new disease was threatening the Canadian blood supply in the early 1980s:
AIDS. But the Canadian Red Cross was slow to introduce donor screening methods
and even slower to test the blood. With the Krever Commission, those infected
by the AIDS virus and hepatitis C found a compassionate ear and the answers
they sought about who was to blame for this public health scandal.
-----------------
Aids activist Conners ill
CBC News Posted: Sep 01, 2000 3:14 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 01, 2000 3:10 PM
ET
AIDS activist Janet Conners has suffered a mild heart attack and is being
cared for in a Halifax hospital.
Conners has requested no visitors or telephone calls.
Janet Conners contracted HIV from her late husband Randy, as a result of
his blood transfusions in the late 1980s.
Conners played a major role in the Krever inquiry into Canada's tainted
blood scandal.
AND..
Janet Conners
Janet Conners is an activist who battles AIDS in her own very public way.
Outspoken and determined, she fights ignorance and predjudice about the disease
each day. Nova Scotians Janet and Randy Conners turned personal tragedy into a
political movement. Randy, a hemophiliac, required regular blood transfusions.
He contracted the AIDS virus from a transfusion of tainted blood. Not knowing
that he was infected, he passed the virus to his wife. The couple decided that
the public needed to be made aware of what happened to them, in order to
prevent such tragedies in the future. They made many public appearances to draw
attention to the need to reform the way we collect and store blood. They also
tried to heighton awareness about the AIDS epidemic and to combat the prejudice
and fear surrounding it. As a result of the Conners' quest for justice, in 1993
the government of Nova Scotia became the first province to compensate victims
of tainted blood. Their efforts also helped to persuade the government to set
up the Krever inquiry, to examine how thousands of Canadians were infected with
the AIDS virus and hepatitus C through blood transfusions in the 1980s. Randy
died of an ( Wikipedia article )
--------------------
AIDS: THE UNTOLD STORY
By Dr. Stanley
Monteith
It has been said that "men become
accomplices to those tragedies which they fail to oppose". Nowhere is that
truth more clearly demonstrated than in the apocalypse currently unfolding
across the world as the HIV epidemic continues its silent spread from land to
land.
As of January 1, 1997 over 350,000 Americans will be dead, another 200,000 will be in the terminal stages of their illness, and an additional six hundred thousand to a million more will be HIV infected. Barring the possibility that protease inhibitors can permanently block HIV-induced immunosuppression, almost all those currently infected will progress to terminal-stage illness and death.
The enormity of the tragedy facing America today, however, is dwarfed by the tragedy sweeping Asia and Africa. As of mid-1994, in the small landlocked nation of Malawi in Southern Africa, 30% of high school students and 68% of college students tested were found to be HIV infected. (1) Recent testing of soldiers throughout Africa revealed a 50% HIV infection rate, while testing of military units in Zimbabwe revealed a 90% infection rate. It is estimated that in Zimbabwe between one-quarter and one-third of President Mugabe's Cabinet have already perished from AIDS. (2)
In the May, 1996 issue of Special Warfare, a magazine distributed primarily to members of Special Operations (Military Intelligence) units, Dr. Brian Sullivan writes: "The immediate future may present other daunting challenges...Because of complicated social and cultural reasons, AIDS already infects a high proportion of the military and civilian officials of Zaire, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and other central African countries. In some or all of these countries government establishments may collapse in the next 10-15 years...civil rule may also erode or break down in parts of North Africa, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia." (3)
In Uganda, the average life span of men has fallen to 30 years, while the average life span of women has fallen to 27 years. (4) A missionary friend living in Africa reports that there are over nine million children in sub- Saharan Africa who have lost their mothers to AIDS, and that one in every four miners working in South Africa are HIV positive. These statistics were communicated to me by E-mail from Vern Tisdalle, a missionary stationed in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is estimated that by the turn of the century the epicenter of the epidemic will have shifted from Africa to Asia. Indian health authorities currently estimate that "as many as 20 million or even 50 million Indians will be infected by the year 2000, and that there will be more AIDS patients than hospital beds". (5) On June 1, 1996 Reuter's News Service reported that Dr. William Blattner of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland estimated that 100 million people will be HIV infected by the year 2000. (6) In both Asia and Africa, HIV infection (AIDS) is primarily a heterosexual disease, while in Western nations the illness is found almost exclusively among homosexuals, IV drug users, and more recently among heterosexual blacks. Why is there such variance between the continents? There are several possible explanations. Dr. Max Essex, Director of the Harvard AIDS Institute, has reported that the predominant subtype of the virus found in Western nations is HIV-I: subtype B, whereas in both Asia and Africa the predominant subtypes are C and E. Dr. Essex believes that the Langerhans cells which line the vagina and oral cavities are the primary sites for HIV infection. In laboratory experiments using Langerhans cell cultures, investigators have discovered that HIV I: subtype B is only minimally infectious to LH cells, whereas subtypes C and E are highly infectious. This study may explain why we find heterosexual spread of HIV infection in Asia and Africa where subtypes HIV I: C and E predominate, but only rarely in Western nations where subtype B is found. It is presumed that homosexuals and IV drug users contract HIV I: subtype B readily because of their lifestyles involving needle sharing and rectal sex. (7) Dr. Essex's work, however, does not explain the heterosexual epidemic developing within black America today. This aberration may be explained by studies which have found that certain genetic factors predispose blacks to HIV infection. Researchers have recently identified two mutated genes in some whites that are not found in blacks; these altered genes protect their hosts from HIV infection. There may well be other yet unrecognized genetic factors which confer complete or partial immunity to whites, but these factors have yet to be identified. (8,9)
Shortly after the year 2000 blacks will make up the majority of new HIV infections occurring here in the United States. (10) That supposition is reflected in statistics released by the Department of Health in Virginia in 1996. Because of the 10-year latency period between HIV infection and immunodeficiency, AIDS statistics reflect the status of the epidemic 10 years ago rather than what is happening today. Virginia's current AIDS statistics suggest equal numbers of blacks and whites infected while HIV statistics reveal that 64% of recent infections are among blacks while only 31.8% are among whites. These figures become even more frightening when one reflects that blacks make up only 22.6% of Virginia's population. (11)
What most people do not realize is that all efforts to utilize public health measures to slow spread of the HIV epidemic have been thwarted. Why?
As of January 1, 1997 over 350,000 Americans will be dead, another 200,000 will be in the terminal stages of their illness, and an additional six hundred thousand to a million more will be HIV infected. Barring the possibility that protease inhibitors can permanently block HIV-induced immunosuppression, almost all those currently infected will progress to terminal-stage illness and death.
The enormity of the tragedy facing America today, however, is dwarfed by the tragedy sweeping Asia and Africa. As of mid-1994, in the small landlocked nation of Malawi in Southern Africa, 30% of high school students and 68% of college students tested were found to be HIV infected. (1) Recent testing of soldiers throughout Africa revealed a 50% HIV infection rate, while testing of military units in Zimbabwe revealed a 90% infection rate. It is estimated that in Zimbabwe between one-quarter and one-third of President Mugabe's Cabinet have already perished from AIDS. (2)
In the May, 1996 issue of Special Warfare, a magazine distributed primarily to members of Special Operations (Military Intelligence) units, Dr. Brian Sullivan writes: "The immediate future may present other daunting challenges...Because of complicated social and cultural reasons, AIDS already infects a high proportion of the military and civilian officials of Zaire, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and other central African countries. In some or all of these countries government establishments may collapse in the next 10-15 years...civil rule may also erode or break down in parts of North Africa, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia." (3)
In Uganda, the average life span of men has fallen to 30 years, while the average life span of women has fallen to 27 years. (4) A missionary friend living in Africa reports that there are over nine million children in sub- Saharan Africa who have lost their mothers to AIDS, and that one in every four miners working in South Africa are HIV positive. These statistics were communicated to me by E-mail from Vern Tisdalle, a missionary stationed in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is estimated that by the turn of the century the epicenter of the epidemic will have shifted from Africa to Asia. Indian health authorities currently estimate that "as many as 20 million or even 50 million Indians will be infected by the year 2000, and that there will be more AIDS patients than hospital beds". (5) On June 1, 1996 Reuter's News Service reported that Dr. William Blattner of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland estimated that 100 million people will be HIV infected by the year 2000. (6) In both Asia and Africa, HIV infection (AIDS) is primarily a heterosexual disease, while in Western nations the illness is found almost exclusively among homosexuals, IV drug users, and more recently among heterosexual blacks. Why is there such variance between the continents? There are several possible explanations. Dr. Max Essex, Director of the Harvard AIDS Institute, has reported that the predominant subtype of the virus found in Western nations is HIV-I: subtype B, whereas in both Asia and Africa the predominant subtypes are C and E. Dr. Essex believes that the Langerhans cells which line the vagina and oral cavities are the primary sites for HIV infection. In laboratory experiments using Langerhans cell cultures, investigators have discovered that HIV I: subtype B is only minimally infectious to LH cells, whereas subtypes C and E are highly infectious. This study may explain why we find heterosexual spread of HIV infection in Asia and Africa where subtypes HIV I: C and E predominate, but only rarely in Western nations where subtype B is found. It is presumed that homosexuals and IV drug users contract HIV I: subtype B readily because of their lifestyles involving needle sharing and rectal sex. (7) Dr. Essex's work, however, does not explain the heterosexual epidemic developing within black America today. This aberration may be explained by studies which have found that certain genetic factors predispose blacks to HIV infection. Researchers have recently identified two mutated genes in some whites that are not found in blacks; these altered genes protect their hosts from HIV infection. There may well be other yet unrecognized genetic factors which confer complete or partial immunity to whites, but these factors have yet to be identified. (8,9)
Shortly after the year 2000 blacks will make up the majority of new HIV infections occurring here in the United States. (10) That supposition is reflected in statistics released by the Department of Health in Virginia in 1996. Because of the 10-year latency period between HIV infection and immunodeficiency, AIDS statistics reflect the status of the epidemic 10 years ago rather than what is happening today. Virginia's current AIDS statistics suggest equal numbers of blacks and whites infected while HIV statistics reveal that 64% of recent infections are among blacks while only 31.8% are among whites. These figures become even more frightening when one reflects that blacks make up only 22.6% of Virginia's population. (11)
What most people do not realize is that all efforts to utilize public health measures to slow spread of the HIV epidemic have been thwarted. Why?
(A)
Because most people don't understand what is happening,
(B) Because many who do recognize the unfolding tragedy have been threatened and are afraid to speak out, and,
(C) Because both public health officers and physicians have been effectively blocked from introducing the public health measures needed to stop further spread of this modern-day plague. (12)
(B) Because many who do recognize the unfolding tragedy have been threatened and are afraid to speak out, and,
(C) Because both public health officers and physicians have been effectively blocked from introducing the public health measures needed to stop further spread of this modern-day plague. (12)
(A)
Randy Shilts, author of "And The Band Played On" recognized this fact
when he wrote: "The bitter truth was that AIDS did not just happen to
America - It was allowed to happen by an array of institutions, all of which
failed to perform their appropriate tasks to safeguard the public health ...
There was no excuse, in this country and in this time, for the spread of a
deadly new epidemic." (13)
Why is this happening? Tragically, most Americans do not understand the magnitude of the epidemic because our print and TV media have been selective in reporting matters dealing with the epidemic. I know that from first-hand experience because I and many of my cohorts have been thwarted in our efforts to disseminate the truth about the magnitude of the epidemic. I have recorded that story in my book "AIDS:The Unnecessary Epidemic", published in 1991 by Covenant House. An interesting study in thought control in America today is to try to acquire my book via regular distribution channels.
In recent years several other books have been published which have, in my opinion, presented misleading information about the epidemic. Tragically, that misinformation has discouraged introduction of the public health measures needed to save human lives. In 1990 Regnery Gateway published Michael Fumento's "The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS". In that book, Fumento assured his readers that there was no possibility of heterosexual spread of AIDS here in the United States. Noting that the epidemic had not exploded within the white, heterosexual community as feared, Fumento crafted a convincing tale belittling those of us who wanted to introduce public health measures to block further spread of the disease. In his book, Fumento accused me of "iceberg-theory terrorism" because during the early stages of the epidemic I expressed fear that HIV disease would spread into the general heterosexual population. (14) As time has gone by I have publicly modified my view, but to the best of my knowledge Michael Fumento has never recanted his message that no public health measures were needed. During the early stages of the epidemic, we were both wrong. I erred on the side of caution; Michael Fumento erred on the side that insists that preventive health measures were not needed to stop the epidemic. The tragedy unfolding in both Asia and Africa today reflects the apathy engendered by the misinformation disseminated during the early 1990s. I sincerely believe that the lives of hundreds of thousands of homosexuals, IV drug users, black heterosexuals and black children could have been saved had public health measures been introduced at that time. Had measures been introduced in Asia and Africa, hundreds of millions of lives could have been saved. That, however, was not to be. (15). In 1994 Inside Story Publications released "Why We Will Never Win the War on AIDS" written by Brian Ellison and Dr. Peter Duesberg. Dr. Duesberg insists that there is no AIDS epidemic, and that most of those who are assumed to have died from AIDS have actually succumbed to the complications of drug usage, sexual stimulants, and AZT. (16) An updated version of Dr. Duesberg's book was republished by Regnery Publishing Inc. in 1996 under the title "Inventing the AIDS Virus". Both books contended that:
[1] "in most individuals suffering from AIDS, no virus particles can be found anywhere in the body" (17)
[2] "retroviruses do not kill cells" (18)
[3] There are no scientific studies to document any relationship between HIV infection and immunodeficiency (19)
[4] Kimberly Bergalis was perfectly healthy before she was given AZT (20)
[5] HIV-infected hemophiliacs and transfusion recipients do not die from immunodeficiency but rather from their hemophilia and other diseases. (21)
A number of other questionable arguments were presented in a clever and convincing manner in Dr. Duesberg's book, and they swayed many people. After all, why would Dr. Duesberg, a world-famous retrovirologist, make such statements if they weren't true? Let me respond:
[1] Clinicians presently chart the course of HIV disease by measuring the numbers of viral particles present in peripheral blood.
[2] Because the HIV retrovirus routinely kills normal T cells in the laboratory, special resistant lines of T cells must be used to culture the retrovirus: This information was confirmed by telephone conversation with Dr. Donald Francis in August 1996, and with the chief of the CDC virology lab in Atlanta, Georgia, in February 1996.
[3] There have been a number of published studies documenting the relationship between HIV infection and terminal-stage immuno- suppression: (22,23)
[4] Kimberly Bergalis was severely immuno- compromised, contracted pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and had a CD4 count as low as 41 before she was started on AZT. This information was obtained from Kimberly's college medical records which were graciously provided to me by her father, George.
[5] Both Ellison and Dr. Duesberg ignore the fact that hemophiliacs and transfusion recipients who have died have virtually all manifested the classic, clinical picture of terminal- stage immunodeficiency. (24)
Why is this happening? Tragically, most Americans do not understand the magnitude of the epidemic because our print and TV media have been selective in reporting matters dealing with the epidemic. I know that from first-hand experience because I and many of my cohorts have been thwarted in our efforts to disseminate the truth about the magnitude of the epidemic. I have recorded that story in my book "AIDS:The Unnecessary Epidemic", published in 1991 by Covenant House. An interesting study in thought control in America today is to try to acquire my book via regular distribution channels.
In recent years several other books have been published which have, in my opinion, presented misleading information about the epidemic. Tragically, that misinformation has discouraged introduction of the public health measures needed to save human lives. In 1990 Regnery Gateway published Michael Fumento's "The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS". In that book, Fumento assured his readers that there was no possibility of heterosexual spread of AIDS here in the United States. Noting that the epidemic had not exploded within the white, heterosexual community as feared, Fumento crafted a convincing tale belittling those of us who wanted to introduce public health measures to block further spread of the disease. In his book, Fumento accused me of "iceberg-theory terrorism" because during the early stages of the epidemic I expressed fear that HIV disease would spread into the general heterosexual population. (14) As time has gone by I have publicly modified my view, but to the best of my knowledge Michael Fumento has never recanted his message that no public health measures were needed. During the early stages of the epidemic, we were both wrong. I erred on the side of caution; Michael Fumento erred on the side that insists that preventive health measures were not needed to stop the epidemic. The tragedy unfolding in both Asia and Africa today reflects the apathy engendered by the misinformation disseminated during the early 1990s. I sincerely believe that the lives of hundreds of thousands of homosexuals, IV drug users, black heterosexuals and black children could have been saved had public health measures been introduced at that time. Had measures been introduced in Asia and Africa, hundreds of millions of lives could have been saved. That, however, was not to be. (15). In 1994 Inside Story Publications released "Why We Will Never Win the War on AIDS" written by Brian Ellison and Dr. Peter Duesberg. Dr. Duesberg insists that there is no AIDS epidemic, and that most of those who are assumed to have died from AIDS have actually succumbed to the complications of drug usage, sexual stimulants, and AZT. (16) An updated version of Dr. Duesberg's book was republished by Regnery Publishing Inc. in 1996 under the title "Inventing the AIDS Virus". Both books contended that:
[1] "in most individuals suffering from AIDS, no virus particles can be found anywhere in the body" (17)
[2] "retroviruses do not kill cells" (18)
[3] There are no scientific studies to document any relationship between HIV infection and immunodeficiency (19)
[4] Kimberly Bergalis was perfectly healthy before she was given AZT (20)
[5] HIV-infected hemophiliacs and transfusion recipients do not die from immunodeficiency but rather from their hemophilia and other diseases. (21)
A number of other questionable arguments were presented in a clever and convincing manner in Dr. Duesberg's book, and they swayed many people. After all, why would Dr. Duesberg, a world-famous retrovirologist, make such statements if they weren't true? Let me respond:
[1] Clinicians presently chart the course of HIV disease by measuring the numbers of viral particles present in peripheral blood.
[2] Because the HIV retrovirus routinely kills normal T cells in the laboratory, special resistant lines of T cells must be used to culture the retrovirus: This information was confirmed by telephone conversation with Dr. Donald Francis in August 1996, and with the chief of the CDC virology lab in Atlanta, Georgia, in February 1996.
[3] There have been a number of published studies documenting the relationship between HIV infection and terminal-stage immuno- suppression: (22,23)
[4] Kimberly Bergalis was severely immuno- compromised, contracted pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and had a CD4 count as low as 41 before she was started on AZT. This information was obtained from Kimberly's college medical records which were graciously provided to me by her father, George.
[5] Both Ellison and Dr. Duesberg ignore the fact that hemophiliacs and transfusion recipients who have died have virtually all manifested the classic, clinical picture of terminal- stage immunodeficiency. (24)
A
detailed analysis of Dr.Duesberg's arguments and his agenda is beyond the scope
of this article. That subject is covered in my HIV-Watch newsletter, and in my
monograph, "The Population Control Agenda". Unfortunately, Dr.
Duesberg's books have convinced many otherwise sincere people that there is no
reason to institute standard public health measures to control further spread
of the epidemic. (25)
(B) Why have people been afraid to speak out? I personally know of physicians, medical personnel and politicians who have had their professions ruined simply because they dared to comment publicly on the mishandling of the epidemic. On one occasion two public health officers approached me stating: "We want you to know that we support you and what you're doing, but we can't come out publicly because we've been threatened." That pattern of intimidation has been commonplace since the inception of the epidemic. The story of the threats and intimidation utilized to silence concerned professionals is also covered in "AIDS:The Unnecessary Epidemic". (26)
(C) For centuries epidemics have been stopped by identifying the infected, and preventing them from transmitting their illness to others. In the case of HIV disease it would have been relatively simple to have blocked further spread of the epidemic in the mid-1980s when the HIV blood test became available. That, however, was not to be. Even before the blood test was released in May of 1985 there were forces organizing to block the introduction of standard public health measures to control further spread of the epidemic. Virtually all necessary public health measures have been precluded because of those efforts. (27,28)
The precedent for public health management of a sexually transmitted disease epidemic was established by Surgeon General Thomas Parren during the syphylis epidemic of the 1930s. Had physicians been allowed to introduce the public health measures needed in the mid-1980s we could have stopped further spread of the plague. What should have been done?
[1] Physicians should have been instructed to carry out routine, non-mandatory, confidential HIV testing on all office and hospital patients.
[2] Mandatory reportability of the names of the infected to public health officials should have been instituted to facilitate contact tracing, compilation of accurate statistics, and identification of those who were intentionally spreading their illness.
[3] Mandatory premarital, prenatal, and neonatal HIV testing should have been introduced to save the lives of sexual partners, unborn and newborn children.
[4] Infected prostitutes should have been identified and removed from our streets.
[5] Houses of prostitution, gay sex clubs and bathhouses should have been closed.
[6] Nationwide treatment programs for drug addicts should have been introduced.
[7] Education should have stressed chastity and morality rather than instructing our youth how to put on condoms and lecturing them on aberrant sexual activity.
(B) Why have people been afraid to speak out? I personally know of physicians, medical personnel and politicians who have had their professions ruined simply because they dared to comment publicly on the mishandling of the epidemic. On one occasion two public health officers approached me stating: "We want you to know that we support you and what you're doing, but we can't come out publicly because we've been threatened." That pattern of intimidation has been commonplace since the inception of the epidemic. The story of the threats and intimidation utilized to silence concerned professionals is also covered in "AIDS:The Unnecessary Epidemic". (26)
(C) For centuries epidemics have been stopped by identifying the infected, and preventing them from transmitting their illness to others. In the case of HIV disease it would have been relatively simple to have blocked further spread of the epidemic in the mid-1980s when the HIV blood test became available. That, however, was not to be. Even before the blood test was released in May of 1985 there were forces organizing to block the introduction of standard public health measures to control further spread of the epidemic. Virtually all necessary public health measures have been precluded because of those efforts. (27,28)
The precedent for public health management of a sexually transmitted disease epidemic was established by Surgeon General Thomas Parren during the syphylis epidemic of the 1930s. Had physicians been allowed to introduce the public health measures needed in the mid-1980s we could have stopped further spread of the plague. What should have been done?
[1] Physicians should have been instructed to carry out routine, non-mandatory, confidential HIV testing on all office and hospital patients.
[2] Mandatory reportability of the names of the infected to public health officials should have been instituted to facilitate contact tracing, compilation of accurate statistics, and identification of those who were intentionally spreading their illness.
[3] Mandatory premarital, prenatal, and neonatal HIV testing should have been introduced to save the lives of sexual partners, unborn and newborn children.
[4] Infected prostitutes should have been identified and removed from our streets.
[5] Houses of prostitution, gay sex clubs and bathhouses should have been closed.
[6] Nationwide treatment programs for drug addicts should have been introduced.
[7] Education should have stressed chastity and morality rather than instructing our youth how to put on condoms and lecturing them on aberrant sexual activity.
Tragically,
almost all efforts by concerned public health officers and physicians to
address the HIV epidemic have been thwarted. I know from personal experience
because for over a decade I led the battle within the House of Delegates of the
California Medical Association to introduce the public health measures needed
to stop the epidemic. Year after year the physicians voted to introduce
effective public health measures, and year after year those within the
hierarchy and the bureaucracy of organized medicine worked to block
implementation of those policies. That tragic story is also chronicled in my
book "AIDS:The Unnecessary Epidemic".
Men and women of conscience are not relieved of their moral responsibility to speak out concerning the manner in which this epidemic has been handled simply because it has failed to involve the white heterosexual population of America. In my opinion, almost everyone who acquires this disease today does so because of our nation's failure to implement the public health measures necessary to block further spread of the illness. I sincerely believe that men do become accomplices to those tragedies which they fail to oppose. Failure to speak out in times of moral crises makes cowards of men, and these days we live in are surely times of great moral crisis.
Men and women of conscience are not relieved of their moral responsibility to speak out concerning the manner in which this epidemic has been handled simply because it has failed to involve the white heterosexual population of America. In my opinion, almost everyone who acquires this disease today does so because of our nation's failure to implement the public health measures necessary to block further spread of the illness. I sincerely believe that men do become accomplices to those tragedies which they fail to oppose. Failure to speak out in times of moral crises makes cowards of men, and these days we live in are surely times of great moral crisis.
(1)
Radio Interview. John Harris. 9/13/95. Radio Liberty, P.O. Box 13, Santa Cruz,
CA 95063. Copies available.
(2) Radio Interview. Peter Hammond of Front Lines Ministry: 9/20/96. Radio Liberty. Copies available.
(3) Sullivan Brian R. Special Operations and LIC in the 21st Century: The Joint Strategic Perspective: Special Warfare. The John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School May 1996; 9(2):4. Contact Superintendent of Documents, US Publishing Office, Washington D.C. 20402
(4) Life Expectancy Shortened in Uganda. Xinhua News Agency 8/18/96. (See also CDC AIDS Daily Summary 8/19/96).
(5) Burns JF. Denial and Taboo Blind India to the Horror of the AIDS Scourge. New York Times 9/22/96: 1. (See also CDC Daily Summary 9/23/96: 2.)
(6) Blattner W. More than 100 Million Worldwide Predicted to be HIV-Positive by Year 2000. Reuters News Service 6/17/96. (See also CDC AIDS Daily Summary 6/19/96: 2.)
(7) Soto KE et al. HIV-1 Langerhans' Cell Tropism Associated with Heterosexual Transmission of HIV. Science 3/1/96; 271: 1291
(8) Kolata Gina. New AIDS Study Reveals Startling Immunity Data. New York Times 9/27/96: A13:
(9) Dean Michael. Genetic Restrictions of HIV-1 Infection and Progression of AIDS. Science 9/27/96; 273: 1856.
(10) The Changing Face of AIDS. New York Times 11/04/96: A26
(11) Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Health: Division of STD/AIDS Surveillance Quarterly; 4(2,3):1. Available from P.O. Box 2448,Room 112, Richmond, VA 23218
(12) Monteith SK. AIDS:The Unnecessary Epidemic. Covenant House 1991. (See also HIV-Watch; I-V.) P.O. Box 1835, Soquel, CA 95073.
(13) Shilts Randy. And the Band Played On. St. Martin's Press 1987: xxii.
(14) Fumento Michael. The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS. Regnery Gateway 1990: 303.
(15) Ibid: 178-184
(16) Ellison Brian., Duesberg Peter H. Why We Will Never Win the War on AIDS. Inside Story Communications. El Cerrito CA 1994 : v-viii.
(17) Duesberg Peter H. Inventing the AIDS Virus. Regnery Publishing Inc 1996: 175
(18) Ibid: 158
(19) Why We Will Never Win The War On AIDS. op cited: 250
(20) Inventing the AIDS Virus: op cited: 348-252
(21) Ibid: 4, 183-185, 286-288
(22) Asher MS. et al. Does Drug Use Cause AIDS. Nature 3/11/93; 362:103
(23) Schecter Martin T. et al. HIV-1 and the Aetiology of AIDS. Lancet 3/13/93; 341: 658-659
(24) Minimal Data Set for Risk Reduction,National Totals 1/1/93 - 12/31/93. 125 Hemophilia Treatment Centers Reporting to the CDC.
(25) Why We Will Never Win the War On AIDS; op cited: 122
(26) AIDS:The Unnecessary Epidemic; op cited.
(27) And the Band Played On; op cited: 539-560.
(28) AIDS:The Unnecessary Epidemic: op cited: 136, 161-66, 193, 342-43.
(2) Radio Interview. Peter Hammond of Front Lines Ministry: 9/20/96. Radio Liberty. Copies available.
(3) Sullivan Brian R. Special Operations and LIC in the 21st Century: The Joint Strategic Perspective: Special Warfare. The John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School May 1996; 9(2):4. Contact Superintendent of Documents, US Publishing Office, Washington D.C. 20402
(4) Life Expectancy Shortened in Uganda. Xinhua News Agency 8/18/96. (See also CDC AIDS Daily Summary 8/19/96).
(5) Burns JF. Denial and Taboo Blind India to the Horror of the AIDS Scourge. New York Times 9/22/96: 1. (See also CDC Daily Summary 9/23/96: 2.)
(6) Blattner W. More than 100 Million Worldwide Predicted to be HIV-Positive by Year 2000. Reuters News Service 6/17/96. (See also CDC AIDS Daily Summary 6/19/96: 2.)
(7) Soto KE et al. HIV-1 Langerhans' Cell Tropism Associated with Heterosexual Transmission of HIV. Science 3/1/96; 271: 1291
(8) Kolata Gina. New AIDS Study Reveals Startling Immunity Data. New York Times 9/27/96: A13:
(9) Dean Michael. Genetic Restrictions of HIV-1 Infection and Progression of AIDS. Science 9/27/96; 273: 1856.
(10) The Changing Face of AIDS. New York Times 11/04/96: A26
(11) Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Health: Division of STD/AIDS Surveillance Quarterly; 4(2,3):1. Available from P.O. Box 2448,Room 112, Richmond, VA 23218
(12) Monteith SK. AIDS:The Unnecessary Epidemic. Covenant House 1991. (See also HIV-Watch; I-V.) P.O. Box 1835, Soquel, CA 95073.
(13) Shilts Randy. And the Band Played On. St. Martin's Press 1987: xxii.
(14) Fumento Michael. The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS. Regnery Gateway 1990: 303.
(15) Ibid: 178-184
(16) Ellison Brian., Duesberg Peter H. Why We Will Never Win the War on AIDS. Inside Story Communications. El Cerrito CA 1994 : v-viii.
(17) Duesberg Peter H. Inventing the AIDS Virus. Regnery Publishing Inc 1996: 175
(18) Ibid: 158
(19) Why We Will Never Win The War On AIDS. op cited: 250
(20) Inventing the AIDS Virus: op cited: 348-252
(21) Ibid: 4, 183-185, 286-288
(22) Asher MS. et al. Does Drug Use Cause AIDS. Nature 3/11/93; 362:103
(23) Schecter Martin T. et al. HIV-1 and the Aetiology of AIDS. Lancet 3/13/93; 341: 658-659
(24) Minimal Data Set for Risk Reduction,National Totals 1/1/93 - 12/31/93. 125 Hemophilia Treatment Centers Reporting to the CDC.
(25) Why We Will Never Win the War On AIDS; op cited: 122
(26) AIDS:The Unnecessary Epidemic; op cited.
(27) And the Band Played On; op cited: 539-560.
(28) AIDS:The Unnecessary Epidemic: op cited: 136, 161-66, 193, 342-43.
---------------
Canadian Blood Services’ donor restrictions 'homophobic'
BRETT BUNDALE CITY HALL
REPORTER
Published July 21, 2014 -
7:29pm
Last Updated July 21, 2014 -
7:34pm
Agency still forbids
donations from men who have had sex with men in past 5 years
NSCAD student Yalitsa Riden
uses sidewalk chalk in front of the Spring Garden Library in Halifax on Monday
to call for an end to a Canadian Blood Services policy which prevents gay men
who have been sexually active within the last five years from giving blood.
(RYAN TAPLIN / Staff)
NSCAD student Yalitsa Riden
uses sidewalk chalk in front of the Spring Garden Library in Halifax on Monday
to call for an end to a Canadian Blood Services policy which prevents gay men
who have been sexually active within the last five years from giving blood.
(RYAN TAPLIN / Staff)
A blood donor policy banning
men who have sex with men from donating blood is discriminatory and homophobic,
a student group says.
Although Canadian Blood
Services lifted its controversial lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men last
year, there is still a restriction on accepting blood from men who have had sex
with men within the last five years.
Anna Dubinski, chairwoman
for the Nova Scotia chapter of the Canadian Federation of Students, said the
policy discriminates against people based on their identity as opposed to their
actions.
“It’s a homophobic ban and
needs to end,” she said Monday during a peaceful protest outside Spring Garden
Road Memorial Public Library in Halifax.
“The change last year was
big and it was definitely a step in the right direction,” said Dubinski,
referring to the nixing of the lifetime ban. “But it doesn’t go anywhere near
fixing the problem, which is that we have a whole demographic of people being
identified by something other than their actual actions and being identified by
their sexuality alone.”
She added that the nucleic
acid test, which screens blood for a number of diseases, is extremely accurate
in detecting the presence of HIV.
“We know how to test blood
and how to keep our blood safe and yet this entire demographic is still being
banned from donating blood that could be saving their friends and family.”
Michelle Thibodeau Coates,
spokeswoman for the Atlantic region Canadian Blood Services, said the national
non-profit organization is aware that the policy is contentious.
“Do we know that our policy
is challenging? Certainly, and we know it’s controversial and very emotional
and sensitive,” Thibodeau Coates said in an interview Monday from Saint John,
N.B.
She said the policy
preventing men who have sex with men from donating blood was first introduced
in 1977 but amended last year.
“We know most people would
feel that is not necessarily fair,” she said of the five-year rule. “We see
this change as a first and prudent step to incremental change to the policy.”
Thibodeau Coates said the
organization is reviewing data since the change and could make further changes
in the future.
“We need to ensure there
have not been additional risks introduced into the system,” she said. “Our
priority continues to be patient safety.”
Although every blood
donation is tested rigorously, she said there is still “a window of time that
testing cannot detect HIV” and therefore Canadian Blood Services has to proceed
cautiously.
But Sean MacIsaac, a student
at the University of King’s College, said the policy is outdated and unfair.
“To say a blanket statement
that all men who have had sex with men (or women who have had sex with men who
have sex with men) cannot donate blood is discriminatory and needs to change,”
he said.
“It’s a wasteful policy
because people are dying because they need blood transfusions and so many more
people could be donating blood.”
A commentary in this week’s
issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association called on the U.S.
government to change its blood donor policy for gay and bisexual men.
The medical scholars said
the lifetime ban for blood donation by men who have sex with men in the United
States “may be perpetuating outdated homophobic perceptions.”
In an effort to reach out to
the gay community and explain its policy, Canadian Blood Services is setting up
information kiosks at some gay pride events in Canada. The organization is also
hosting so-called ally blood donor clinics, inviting people who are ineligible
to donate to bring an ally to donate blood on their behalf.
comment:
Right!! 30,000 children
dying every day in the world from hunger and related, and this is the cause of
this person. GET A LIFE!!! Do something to help the world!!
comment:
How is placing a
"restriction on accepting blood from men who have had sex with men within
the last five years" discriminating "against people based on their
identity as opposed to their actions". Begin gay is an identity, having
sex is an action.
Second, According to http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/aid...
nearly two thirds of reported cases of HIV in adult men in 2012 were attributed
to men having sex with other men. This seems like an important fact to include
in an article about the ban on blood donated by men who have had sex with other
men.
comment:
Read "And The Band
Played On" for the shameful history of this.
--------------------------------
REBA- She thinks his name was John
Blood donor ban called homophobic
Agency still forbids
donations from men who have had sex with men in past 5 years
BRETT BUNDALE CITY HALL
REPORTER
bbundale@herald.ca
@CH_bbundale
A blood donor policy banning
men who have sex with men from donating blood is discriminatory and homophobic,
a stu dent group s ays .
Although Canadian Blood Services
lifted its controversial lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men last year, there
is still a restriction on accepting blood from men who have had sex with men
within the last five years.
Anna Dubinski, chairwoman
for the Nova Scotia chapter of the Canadian Federation of Students, said the
policy discriminates against people based on their identity as opp os ed to
their actions.
“It’s a homophobic ban and
needs to end," she said Monday during a peaceful protest outside Spring
Garden Road Memorial Public Library in Halifax.
“The change last year was
big and it was definitely a step in the right direction," said Dubinski,
referring to the nixing o f the lifetime ban. “But it doesn’t go anywhere near
fixing the problem, which is that we have a whole demographic of people being
identified by something other than their actual actions and being identified by
their sexuality alone."
She added that the nucleic
acid test, which screens blood for a number of diseases, is extremely accurate
in detecting the presence o f HIV.
“We know how to test blood
and how to keep our blood safe and yet this entire demographic is still being
banned from donating blood that could be saving their friends and family."
Michelle Thibodeau Coates,
spokeswoman for the Atlantic region Canadian Blood Services, said the national
non-profit organization is aware that the policy is contentious.
“Do we know that our p olicy
is challenging? Certainly, and we know it’s controversial and very emotional
and sensitive," Thibodeau Coates said in an interview Monday from Saint
John, N.B.
She said the policy
preventing men who have sex with men from donating blood was first introduced
in 1977 but amended last year.
“We know most people would
feel that is not necessarily fair," she said of the five-year rule. “We
see this change as a first and pru dent step to incremental change to the
policy."
Thibodeau Coates said the
organization is reviewing data since the change and could make further changes
in the future.
“We need to ensure there
have not b een additional risks introduced into the system," she said.
“Our priority continues to be patient safety."
Although every blood
donation is tested rigorously, she said there is still “a window of time that
testing cannot detect HIV " and therefore Canadian Blood Services has to
proceed cautiously.
But Sean MacIsaac, a student
at the University of King’s College, said the policy is outdated and unfair.
“To say a blanket statement
that all men who have had sex with men (or women who have had sex with men who
have sex with men) cannot donate blood is dis criminatory and needs to
change," he said.
“It’s a wasteful policy
because people are dying because they need blood transfusions and so many more
people could be donating blood."
A commentary in this week’s
issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association called on the U.S.
government to change its blood donor policy for gay and bis exual men .
The medical scholars said
the lifetime ban for blood donation by men who have sex with men in the United
States “may be perpetuating outdated homophobic perceptions."
In an effort to reach out to
the gay community and explain its policy, Canadian Blood Services is setting up
information kiosks at some gay pride events in Canada. The organization is also
hosting so-called ally blood donor clinics, inviting people who are ineligible
to donate to bring an ally to donate blood on their behalf.
Anna Dubinski, chair woman
for the Nova Scotia chapter of the Canadian Federation of Students, says the
blood ban is ‘a homophobic ban and needs to end.’ BRETT BUNDALE
------------
-------------------
1. Is cash for blood possible? | The Grid TO
www.thegridto.com/city/local-news/is-cash-for-blood-possible Cached
Jul 02, 2014 · ... which inadvertently infected the Canadian
blood supply with HIV and ... through blood obtained by
the Canadian Red Cross ... Randy Conners, and all
...
-----------------
1. Clinton blood scandal exposed in new film. - Latest Articles
www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1512537/posts Cached
Oct 31, 2005 · The death toll from the tainted blood
has grown since ... Canada's Red Cross guilty in HIV
scandal 'Blood Trail ... B in prisons, the Canadian Red
Cross ...
-----
1. LIFE AND TIMES OF JANET CONNERS - Telefilm Canada
www.telefilm.ca/en/catalogues/production/life-and-times-janet-conners
...
thousands of Canadians were unnecessarily infected with HIV and Hepatitis C by a ... like Janet's
husband Randy, were
hemophiliacs. Many spouses, like Janet, ...
This
is a soft pastel sketch done by my very talented and dear sister. It is of our
beloved brother, Randy, who passed away September 13, 1994. Randy was a hero to
many as he fought for and won compensation for those infected with HIV by
contaminated blood. He was my best friend. You are missed.
"Randy
Conners, a man whose battle to ease the suffering of the 1,000 victims of
Canada's tainted-blood tragedy prompted the provinces to cobble together a
$139-million compensation deal, has died of AIDS. He was 38. Mr. Conners, a
severe hemophiliac, learned he was infected with the human immunodeficiency
virus in 1987. He contracted the fatal disease from Factor 8, a blood product
that helps clotting, before the drug was heat- treated to kill the virus."
Wednesday,
September 14, 1994
BY
ANDRE PICARD
The
Globe and Mail
------------------------
[PDF]
www.hivaidsconnection.ca/.../RedScarf/A%20History%20of%20HIV%20AIDS%20in%20North%20Americ... - Cached - Similar
11 Jan 2014 ... es of cancer
among gay men, but on the way in which the American media has ... Canadian Red Cross (Canadian Blood Services) advises gays, Haitians .... Randy Shilts
investigative journalism book And the Band Played On: .... Katrina Haslip, leading advocate for women with AIDS in prison,
dies of AIDS.
Posted on 10/31/2005 6:42:51 AM PST by Mikey
WASHINGTON – A documentary seven years in the making tying Bill Clinton to an Arkansas prison blood scandal that spread AIDS to thousands around the world is set to screen in Hollywood next week – renewing controversy about the long-forgotten story.
The film, which premieres at the prestigious American Film Institute film festival next Tuesday, reportedly uncovers fresh evidence about how thousands in Europe contracted AIDS and hepatitis through tainted blood deliberately shipped even after widespread problems were discovered in Canada where some 10,000 had already been infected.
"Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal," made by Kelly Duda, an Arkansas native, will reveal new details about how inmates at an Arkansas jail were paid to donate blood despite authorities knowing they had AIDS and hepatitis.
The documentary shows how senior figures in the state prison system altered prisoners' medical records to make it look like they were not carrying the deadly diseases.
"While making this documentary, I lost several things. I lost my president, my home state, my family, many friends, and my innocence," says Duda.
The film reveals how for more than two decades, the Arkansas prison system profited from selling blood plasma from inmates infected with viral hepatitis and AIDS. Thousands of unwitting victims who received transfusions of a product called "Factor 8" made from this blood died as a result.
Duda interviews victims in Canada who contracted the diseases, state prison officials, former employees, high-ranking Arkansas politicians, and inmate donors.
"In the early days of AIDS, we at the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) were surprised that the hemophiliac community was infected so rapidly," said Dr. Donald Francis, former head of the AID Laboratory for the CDC. "This shocking documentary tells why."
Duda, who has worked with CNN, the Canadian Broadcasting Company and Associated Press Television in their coverage of the blood-scandal story, says he was followed, sued, burglarized and had his tires slashed while working on the documentary. He was also part of the team for Fuji-TV that produced "The Hepatitis C Epidemic: A 15-Year Government Cover-up." The program won a George Foster Peabody Award in 2003 and was watched by more than 12 million viewers in Japan.
He also worked as a consultant in two major class-action lawsuits in Europe and Japan where plasma from Arkansas' prison system showed up. He also assisted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in its investigation of the Arkansas prison plasma sales. He has also been in talks with the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI about a possible investigation in the United States.
"Kelly Duda's film screams to be known about," says William Gazecki, producer-director of "WACO: The Rules of Engagement." "The blatant abuse of power, the criminal subjugation of prison inmates, and the complete absence of government oversight and accountability make for a compelling, must-see story."
"Prior to the making of 'Factor 8,' I never considered myself an investigative journalist," says Duda. "In fact, I had never written a newspaper article before in my life. I was an aspiring filmmaker who had a story thrown into his lap. Actually, it wasn't even a story at the time but a series of events that allegedly took place in my home state in the 1980s. It was a tale I didn't want to tell, but the more I looked into it, the more I found. It didn't take long before I realized that regardless of the cost and sacrifice, the story you're about to see which is a complicated one had to be told. There where quite literally lives at stake. I felt a moral responsibility, a civic duty to do something."
Last May, the Canadian Red Cross pleaded guilty to distributing blood tainted with HIV and hepatitis C in a health disaster that killed more than 3,000 people.
The organization, which distributed the blood in the 1980s, paid a fine of $4,000 for causing more than 1,000 Canadians to contract blood-borne HIV and as many as 20,000 to become infected with hepatitis C.
As part of the plea deal, Canadian Red Cross Secretary General Dr. Pierre Duplessis issued a public apology via videotape that was played in the courtroom to survivors of the victims.
As WorldNetDaily reported, Bill Clinton was at the center of a scandal in Arkansas in the 1980s involving the sale of AIDS-tainted blood to Canada, which was distributed through the Red Cross.
As governor of Arkansas, Clinton awarded a contract to Health Management Associates to provide medical care to the state's prisoners. The president of the company was a long-time friend and political ally of Clinton and later was appointed by him to the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission. Later, he was among the senior members of Clinton's 1990 gubernatorial re-election team.
The death toll from the tainted blood has grown since the figure of 3,000 was calculated in 1997, but recent estimates are not available, the Associated Press reported.
Duplessis said the organization accepted responsibility for "having distributed harmful products for those that rely on us for their health."
Prosecutors dropped criminal charges, including criminal negligence and common nuisance.
The Canadian Red Cross already has paid victims $55 million in a separate fund. Along with the fine, the charity will set aside $1.2 million for scholarships for family members of victims.
The Arkansas connection to Canada's blood scandal began with a deal Health Management Associates struck with the state allowing collection and sale of prisoners' blood in addition to treatment.
Because of the exploding AIDS crisis, U.S. regulations did not permit the sale of prisoners' blood within the country.
But HMA found a willing buyer in Montreal, which brokered a deal with Connaught, a Toronto blood-fractionator, which didn't know the source of the supplies.
Sales continued until 1983, when HMA revealed that some of the plasma might be contaminated with the AIDS virus and hepatitis. The blood was also marketed overseas.
Michael Galster, who conducted orthopedic clinics in the Arkansas prison system during the period the blood was collected, charged HMA officials knew the blood was tainted as they sold it to Canada and a half-dozen other foreign countries. He also alleged Clinton knew of the scheme and likely benefited from it financially.
"It may sound sensational, but I assure you it's true. In the process of making 'Factor 8,' I received strange phone calls, I was followed, my house was broken into, my tires slashed, and sensitive information – including my personal notes – mysteriously appeared on the Internet," recounts Duda. "I also had a gun pointed at the back of my head, there was a murder, and a key inmate informant was whisked out of state and put into isolation."
He says when he went looking for Clinton's governor's papers to find state documents relevant to his investigation, he was told that 4,000 boxes had been hidden away in private storage and could not be found.
"When I went to the Arkansas State Health Department to request records regarding disease rates at the prison and anything about the plasma program, I was stonewalled," he said. "I actually had to sue the state agency just to get access to its files that by law are supposed to be a matter of public record. When I went to the Arkansas State Police Headquarters key documents had disappeared. When complete strangers showed up out of the blue asking me what I was doing and with whom did I work for, I had to ask myself, 'What's going on here?
One thing is for certain, if I had a dollar for every time someone (in the past seven years I've been investigating this story) told me to "be careful!" I could have paid my rent several times over."
Duda says in 2004 he was sued shortly before "FACTOR 8" was to screen in Park City, Utah. A federal judge blocked the premiere. The case was eventually dismissed, but set his project back nearly two years.
Suzi Parker, writing in the Arkansas Times, described how the scandal unfolded: "At the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas penal system during the 1980s, while President Clinton was still governor, inmates would regularly cross the prison hospital's threshold to give blood, lured by the prospect of receiving $7 a pint. The ritual was creepy to behold: Platoons of prisoners lying supine on rows of cots, waiting for the needle-wielding prisoner orderly to puncture a vein and watch the clear bags fill with blood. Administrators than sold the blood to brokers, who in turned shipped it to other sates and to Japan, Italy, Spain and Canada. Despite repeated warnings from the Food and Drug Administration, Arkansas kept its prison plasma program running until 1994 when it became the very last state to cease selling its prisoners' plasma."
While working at the White House, Linda Tripp – the former assistant to both Vincent Foster and Bernard Nussbaum – said received a phone call from someone who mentioned the "tainted blood issue." The phone call came just after Foster's mysterious death. The phrase meant nothing to Tripp and when she tried to find out more from a White House computer, the database denied her access. Testifying in a Judicial Watch deposition, Tripp said, "It had been alarming to me that when I tried to enter data from a caller that I was working with on a tainted blood issue, that every time I entered a word that had to do with this particular issue, it would flash up either the word 'encrypted' or 'password required' or something to indicate the file was locked."
The Ottawa Citizen reported attorney Foster had defended a lawsuit against HMA, the Arkansas firm shipping tainted blood from prison inmates.
________________________
If you'd like to sound off on this issue, please
take part in the WorldNetDaily poll.
________________________
Previous stories:Canada's Red Cross guilty in HIV scandal
'Blood Trail' author's clinic burns
Previous columns:
The pricetag for Blood-gate
Blood trail grows cold
Blood scandal and Clinton's plumbers
We always get our man
Clinton's Arkansas blood scandal
________________________
Joseph Farah is editor and
chief executive officer of WorldNetDaily.com.
TOPICS: Canada; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current
Events; US: Arkansas
KEYWORDS: aids; blooddonation; bloodscandal; clinton; clintonbloodscandal; cz; exposed; factor8; hiv; hivaids; impeachedx42; moviereview; scandal
KEYWORDS: aids; blooddonation; bloodscandal; clinton; clintonbloodscandal; cz; exposed; factor8; hiv; hivaids; impeachedx42; moviereview; scandal
Pure evil.
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To:
Canadian Outrage; Blurblogger; backhoe
At long last! Some headway on this.
3 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:46:29 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March
(The election phase is just running off the fumes of the primary. And the
Primary starts Now.)
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To:
doug from upland
ping
4 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:46:58 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March
(The election phase is just running off the fumes of the primary. And the
Primary starts Now.)
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To:
Mikey
Thanks for the post. This has always received ZERO
media publicity. The Clintons made big bucks while murdering thousands.
5 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:47:08 AM PST by FormerACLUmember
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To:
Baynative; goldstategop
"It's just about sex."
6 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:47:57 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March
(The election phase is just running off the fumes of the primary. And the
Primary starts Now.)
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To:
Mikey
Clinton, the heinous reprobate of our time, and
most corrupt, criminal and perverted President of our time, will go down in
history just that way. It still enrages me that the Bush dynasty panders to this vile person.
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To:
FormerACLUmember
Not nearly enough media attention, back in the
last days of the Old Media. A few of us wouldn't let it go, however. WND of
course. I also remember the 700 Club was on this like white on rice. God bless
them.
8 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:50:24 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March
(The election phase is just running off the fumes of the primary. And the
Primary starts Now.)
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To:
Mikey
Whether it's true or not--expect a
feeding-frenzy of Media-coverup.
And, as for those morons out there who think AIDS
is "a 100% preventable" disease, that "those who get it
deserve it", and that it couldn't infect them or their loved
ones--this should shut them up. But it won't. If they weren't in denial about this scourge or had the intelligence to understand what's going on, they would already know all this. The information's been out there for all to know, for a long time.
9 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:50:31 AM PST by Savage Beast (The internet is the
newspaper of record.)
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To:
EagleUSA
"It still enrages me that the Bush dynasty
panders to this vile person." It's a definite sign, isn't it? Maybe Bush should invite Manson to the White House.
10 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:52:05 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March
(The election phase is just running off the fumes of the primary. And the
Primary starts Now.)
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To:
Arthur Wildfire! March
May Kelly's next assignment be the PRC/Clinton
kickback story.
11 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:53:02 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To:
Savage Beast
Every disease is 100% preventable.
12 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:53:54 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March
(The election phase is just running off the fumes of the primary. And the
Primary starts Now.)
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To:
Arthur Wildfire! March
Does anyone remember the Mena ARK. scandal about
running drugs? Any links to this?
13 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:55:05 AM PST by Gillmeister
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To:
Mikey
Disgusting.
14 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:55:07 AM PST by ConservativeMind
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To:
Mikey
Media sure has ignored this story.
15 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:55:18 AM PST by Jane Austen
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To:
EagleUSA
"It still enrages me that
the Bush dynasty panders to this vile person"
Two sides of the same coin.
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To:
Mikey
The Scots are after him too: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1512456/posts
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To:
Jane Austen
Its on next Sunday's 60 Minutes show. Not !
18 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:59:37 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To:
Gillmeister
http://www.faithandliberty.com/books/long_desc/1561712493.html
19 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:59:49 AM PST by Vn_survivor_67-68
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To:
Mikey
Bump for interest. I lost a friend
to AIDS contracted through factor 8. Hemophilia was one of the childhood
maladies treated by St. Jude Children's Hospital.
20 posted
on 10/31/2005 7:00:53 AM PST by armymarinemom (My sons freed Iraqi and
Afghanistan Honor Roll students.)
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To:
Mia T
ping
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To:
Mikey
I hope Larry Nichols is not in this film.
22 posted
on 10/31/2005 7:03:01 AM PST by Andy from Beaverton (I only vote
Republican to stop the Democrats)
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To:
Mikey
Yep, Satan smiles. Pure evil.
Must suck to be a friend of Bill. Women support
him...but then there are all of those stories of his cheating on the wife, of
battering women and rape. Dems support him...but then they lost all their power
to a Republican majority in all branches of government including state
govenors. Blacks support him as one of their own...and he gives them Ron Brown
and Jocelyn Elders. Gays support him...but then there is this little story.
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To:
Arthur Wildfire! March
I still think the Clintons have
some damaging stuff on Bush Sr.
24 posted
on 10/31/2005 7:04:22 AM PST by capebuffalo
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To:
Mikey
Could someone please summarize this article in
less than 5 sentences for me? I am too lazy to read the whole thing...
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To:
NoCmpromiz; Darksheare
serious ping
26 posted
on 10/31/2005 7:07:36 AM PST by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know
what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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Wanna know why Europeans hate us
.... ? Has nothing to do with war, they had reason to be anti-American long
before President Bush came to office in 2001.
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Not wanting to
diminish the Tainted Blood Scandal, but yes, there's a ton to see regarding
Chinagate. Here's something that haunted me, because I saw the Thompson
Hearing. It was a shocker:
[Note that Lippo was a front company for Chinese intelligence which also benefitted from the multi-billion dollar Escalante hard coal scandal].
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a37d95a0809ce.htm
According to William Safire, Lippo's ties to Jack Stephens enabled them to receive sensitive trade secrets http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a66185.htm from out of the Clinton Administration through Lippo employee, John Huang*, who also worked in the U.S. Department of Commerce as a Clinton employee. The kicker was that Huang would go across the street from his Commerce office to use a Stephens Inc. business office as a "drop" http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a1004986.htm to receive and send documents and make off the record phone calls. "At informative Thompson committee hearings last week, we learned that Huang, Lippo's man at Clinton Commerce, received a call on the average of twice a week from a secretary at the Stephens drop who was instructed not to leave her boss's name. Huang would then cross the street to pick up and send express packages and use the Stephens phone. We know that Huang spoke to former Lippo associates at least 237 times in his 14 months at his sensitive trade post. 'That number troubles me' said Senator Joseph Lieberman.
[Note that Lippo was a front company for Chinese intelligence which also benefitted from the multi-billion dollar Escalante hard coal scandal].
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a37d95a0809ce.htm
According to William Safire, Lippo's ties to Jack Stephens enabled them to receive sensitive trade secrets http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a66185.htm from out of the Clinton Administration through Lippo employee, John Huang*, who also worked in the U.S. Department of Commerce as a Clinton employee. The kicker was that Huang would go across the street from his Commerce office to use a Stephens Inc. business office as a "drop" http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a1004986.htm to receive and send documents and make off the record phone calls. "At informative Thompson committee hearings last week, we learned that Huang, Lippo's man at Clinton Commerce, received a call on the average of twice a week from a secretary at the Stephens drop who was instructed not to leave her boss's name. Huang would then cross the street to pick up and send express packages and use the Stephens phone. We know that Huang spoke to former Lippo associates at least 237 times in his 14 months at his sensitive trade post. 'That number troubles me' said Senator Joseph Lieberman.
28 posted
on 10/31/2005 7:10:31 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March
(The election phase is just running off the fumes of the primary. And the
Primary starts Now.)
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Sad to say, I wouldn't be surprised.
30 posted
on 10/31/2005 7:11:19 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March
(The election phase is just running off the fumes of the primary. And the
Primary starts Now.)
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32 posted
on 10/31/2005 7:13:40 AM PST by doug from upland (David Kendall --
protecting the Clintons one lie at a time)
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And, as for those morons out
there who think AIDS is "a 100% preventable" disease, that
"those who get it deserve it", and that it couldn't infect them or
their loved ones--this should shut them up.
AIDS is 100% preventable if carriers and known
patients were QUARANTENED and kept away from the general public..but Political
Correctness keeps them running around free to spread death to the
innocent...who do not deserve it.This wont shut me up about it..just because evil people have spread evil..no call to give a metaphoric "get out of jail free card" to those who STARTED the spread of AIDS..the homosexual community.
33 posted
on 10/31/2005 7:14:44 AM PST by Iron Matron
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35 posted
on 10/31/2005 7:16:25 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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37 posted
on 10/31/2005 7:18:21 AM PST by Zack Nguyen
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Pure evil.
ditto
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42 posted
on 10/31/2005 7:33:26 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March
(The election phase is just running off the fumes of the primary. And the
Primary starts Now.)
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43 posted
on 10/31/2005 7:35:38 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March
(The election phase is just running off the fumes of the primary. And the
Primary starts Now.)
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I have talked with Canadians and they are not to fond of shrimpdick, but then why does he care about the aids in Africa. There has to be a scam going on down there.
44 posted
on 10/31/2005 7:39:39 AM PST by longfellow (Bill Maher, the 21st
hijacker.)
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45 posted
on 10/31/2005 7:40:26 AM PST by ClaireSolt (.)
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If you believe in good & evil,
Heaven & Hell, the Lord God & Satan, then it is not a stretch to
believe that the Clintons made a "deal" with Lucifer himself for
power & wealth.Nothing else can explain their escapes from the myriad trail
of scandals & personal destruction (except their own)these two have left in
their wake.
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FYI…..
|
Related, current FR threads:
Clinton blood scandal exposed in new film.
Clinton and the Killer Blood
Scandal of infected US blood revealed in film exposé (Clinton Linked to UK Bad Blood)
48 posted
on 10/31/2005 8:33:44 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
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I still think the Clintons have
some damaging stuff on Bush Sr.
That's the only reason that I can think of, also.There were old rumors of an affair that Sr. had......but it was quickly swept under the rug.
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It
is stunning that Hollywood would support 2 such obvious thugs and opportunists....
I thought AIDS was one of Hollywood's defining issues....
YOO-HOO, Streisand... Spielberg. Over here!
I thought AIDS was one of Hollywood's defining issues....
YOO-HOO, Streisand... Spielberg. Over here!
CLINTON & THE KILLER BLOOD
THE
PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
UNDERNEWS
By
Sam Smith
February
18, 1999
In
the mid-1980s, as contaminated blood flowed from
Arkansas
inmates to other countries, then-Governor
W.J.
Clinton sat on his hands despite evidence of
severe
mismanagement in his prison system and its
medical
operations. The prison medical program was
being
run by Health Management Associates, which was
headed
by Leonard Dunn, a man who would brag to state
police
of his close ties to Clinton.
Some
of the killer blood ended up in Canada where it
contributed
to the deaths of an unknown number of
blood
and plasma recipients. An estimated 2,000
Canadian
recipients of blood and related products got
the
AIDS virus between 1980 and 1985. At least 60,000
Canadians
were infected with the hepatitis C virus
between
1980 and 1990. Arkansas was one of the few
sources
of bad blood during this period.
The
Royal Canadian Mounted Police has a staff of 24
working
on the case. So far, investigators have
interviewed
about 600 people including in the U.S.,
Germany
and the Netherlands. According to the Ottawa
Citizen,
the team has amassed more than 30,000
documents.
Other
Arkansas plasma was sent to Switzerland, Spain,
Japan,
and Italy. In a case with strong echoes of the
Arkansas
scandal, a former premier of France and two
of
his cabinet colleagues are currently on trial
stemming
from the wrongful handling of blood
supplies.
Some of the blood in the French controversy
may
have come from Arkansas.
A
1992 Newsday report on the French scandal noted
that
three persons had been convicted for their role
in
distributing blood they knew was contaminated:
"Throughout
the 1980s and later, blood was taken from
prison
donors for use in blood banks despite a series
of
directives warning against such a practice.
According
to the report, donations from prisoners
accounted
for 25 percent of all the contaminated
blood
products in France. Blood from prisons was 69
times
more contaminated that that of the general
population
of donors."
The
Arkansas blood program was also grossly
mishandled
by the Food and Drug Administration. And
the
scandal provides yet another insight into how the
American
media misled the public about Clinton during
the
1992 campaign. The media ignored a major Clinton
scandal
despite, for example, 80 articles about it in
the
Arkansas Democrat in just one four-month period
of
the mid-80s.
Here's
how Canada's Krever Commissioner report
describes
the beginnings of the problem:
"During
1981-2, the number of AIDS cases in the
United
States reported to the Centers for Disease
Control
in Atlanta grew at an alarming rate. The vast
majority
of the reported cases were of homosexual men
and
intravenous drug abusers. During 1982, cases of
AIDS
transmitted through the use of blood and blood
products
began to be reported.
The
U.S. blood and plasma centers regularly collected
from
two groups of persons who were at high risk of
contracting
AIDS: homosexual men and prison inmates.
Plasma
was collected at centers, licensed by the Food
and
Drug Administration, in prisons in Arkansas,
Florida,
Louisiana, and Mississippi. By way of
contrast,
because of the high prevalence of hepatitis
B
in prisons, the Canadian Red Cross Society had
stopped
collecting donations from prison inmates in
1971."
Suzi
Parker, writing in the Arkansas Times, described
the
scene: "At the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas penal
system
during the 1980s, while President Clinton was
still
governor, inmates would regularly cross the
prison
hospital's threshold to give blood, lured by
the
prospect of receiving $7 a pint. The ritual was
creepy
to behold: Platoons of prisoners lying supine
on
rows of cots, waiting for the needle-wielding
prisoner
orderly to puncture a vein and watch the
clear
bags fill with blood. Administrators than sold
the
blood to brokers, who in turned shipped it to
other
sates and to Japan, Italy, Spain and Canada.
Despite
repeated warnings from the Food and Drug
Administration,
Arkansas kept its prison plasma
program
running until 1994 when it became the very
last
state to cease selling its prisoners' plasma.
Mike
Galster, a medical practitioner whose
fictionalized
account dramatically raised interest in
the
blood scandal, recalls that at the Pine Bluff
unit's
hospital they also took blood from prisoners.
When
he raised questions about the wisdom of bleeding
sick
people, he was told that even the ill had the
right
to sell their blood.
Here
is a time-line of this as yet too known Arkansas
horror
story:
1981
The
Arkansas Board of Corrections puts A.L. "Art"
Lockhart
in charge of the state's troubled prisons.
An
Arkansas Gazette front page feature on Lockhart
begins
by noting that he is "dogged by a public
reputation
as a man who runs roughshod over the
constitutionally
guaranteed rights and welfare of
inmates.
'I don't why,' he said in an interview with
the
Gazette. 'I don't deserve it.'"
The
state's prisons are already a mess. Ten years
earlier
Lockhart had taken over the notorious Cummins
facility
which, according to a member of the
corrections
board, was "still controlled by inmate
trusties
with guns. The inmates called the shots. A
lot
of experts said there was no way to take the guns
away
from them without a riot. But Art did it without
spilling
any blood."
But
the Gazette also notes: "The prison system, and
Cummins,
in particular, still is in the transition
from
an institution controlled by the inmates to one
controlled
by guards. On many nights at Cummins,
there
are as few as half a dozen guards to watch
about
1,650 inmates."
Two
years earlier, a prison monitor hired under a
federal
court order, released a report saying there
was
"clear and convincing evidence" that Lockhart and
other
employees beat and kicked inmates needlessly
after
an attempted escape from Cummins. Another
prison
mediator charged that the abuse of inmates had
increased
under Lockhart and that he had obstructed
efforts
at prison reform.
Health
Management Associates wins a contract to
provide
health services to state inmates, including
running
a blood plasma donor program.
The
Centers for Disease Control and World Health
Organization
establish that AIDS is a blood-borne
disease.
CDC recommends testing and sterilization of
donor
blood. The warning is widely ignored and, as a
result,
according to WHO, some one million people
become
infected. Twenty-two countries will eventually
have
to pay compensation as a result.
FDA
asks US companies not to buy prison plasma since,
due
to unsafe sexual and drug practices by many
inmates,
the blood has a high risk of carrying the
AIDS
virus.
JUNE
1983
HMA
tells FDA that 38 units of plasma from four
inmates
of the Grady prison should not have been
collected
because the prisoners had once tested
positive
for hepatitis B despite a test at the time
of
collection being negative. HMA sees the hazard as
slight
and thinks there is no need to recall the
plasma.
The Canadian Krever Commission will later
report
that "by 1983, however, an association had
been
identified between hepatitis B and AIDS; most
persons
with AIDS had also been infected with
hepatitis
B. There was a greater than average risk
that
the 38 units of plasma from the four inmates
could
transmit AIDS. Four of the units ended up in
Canada,
the others were sold to corporations in
Switzerland,
Spain, Japan, and Italy."
AUGUST
1983
HMA
decides to withdraw the 38 units from circulation
and
FDA concurs. This is the first time that
Connaught,
the Canadian blood firm, has heard of any
problems.
The shipping papers had only shown that the
blood
came from "ADC Plasma Center, Grady, Arkansas."
By
this time, however, the blood is already in
circulation
and only 417 of 2409 vials are retrieved.
The
same month HMA tells the FDA of a fifth inmate
with
similar problems. He had given 34 units in less
than
a year.
SEPTEMBER
1983
Connaught
reviews its approvals for receipt of plasma
from
US centers and finds that twelve have never been
properly
approved. One is the prison center in Grady,
Arkansas.
Other questionable blood has come from four
prisons
in Louisiana. Canadian Red Cross nullifies
its
contract for the blood the same day it finds this
out.
FEBRUARY
1984
FDA
suspends plasma production at the Grady facility
where
an average of 550-600 inmates have been giving
blood
since 1967. UPI regional wire reports that FDA
finds
overbleeding of inmate donors, disqualified
donors,
lack of documentation of testing, and
inadequate
storage. It also notes inaccurate and
incomplete
storage, instances of intentional and
willful
disregard for proposed standards, alteration
of
records and files to conceal violations, as well
as
inadequate training and ineffective supervision of
the
plasma center staff. Within months, however, HMA
successfully
applies for a new license after blaming
the
problems on a corrupt clerk.
1985
A
UPI story recounts how the largest inmate donor
program
in the country -- in the Louisiana state
prison
-- is coming under increased federal scrutiny
because
of what is dubbed the "AIDS scare." Says the
state's
secretary of corrections: "We have no
intention
of shutting it down. It would have the same
impact
as a major industry shutting down in a small
town:
economic chaos." The president of a plasma
company
is quoted as saying, "There is no scientific
evidence
that prisoner plasma is worse than street
plasma."
The programs had, in fact, been shut down
for
six months but were reinstated after the prison
discovered
foreign markets to replace a dwindling US
demand.
Says the plasma company president, "I'd say
70
to 80 percent is going overseas. There's a good
market
for it over there, and they don't ask where it
came
from."
FDA
finally requires testing of donor blood. Tainted
blood
distribution will continue inside the US until
1986.
Thereafter, contaminated blood stocks will
still
be shipped from US companies to other
countries.
Prosecuting
attorney Wayne Matthews, after a two
month
state police probe, finds no evidence of drug
trafficking
in the Arkansas prison system. The
allegation
is that HMA employees are diverting drugs
from
the department's pharmacy and selling them to
inmates,
and that prisoners who 'knew too much' about
drug
trafficking were killed or allowed to die.
"There's
just absolutely no evidence whatsoever,"
says
Matthews.
JANUARY
1986
The
Corrections board agrees to have HMA's contract
reviewed
by outside parties. A media account notes
that
"HMA has been frequently in the news lately
because
of allegations by inmates of improper medical
treatment."
Among the charges: HMA hired a
Mississippi
doctor who was refused a permanent
license
in Arkansas. The doctor had lost his
Mississippi
license for "habitual personal use of
narcotic
drugs."
The
Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports: "Governor Bill
Clinton
recently asked the Department to review
health
care services provided by HMA after
allegations
were raised that several inmates died
because
of a lack of medical care and that the leg of
at
least one inmate was amputated as a result of
improper
care. Department Director A. L. (Art)
Lockhart,
who earlier said HMA was doing a
'satisfactory'
job, said Thursday a review of HMA
could
reveal some problems. ~~~ During the discussion
of
HMA and the allegations that have been made
against
it, [Corrections] Board member Don Smith of
Pine
Bluff excused himself because his law firm
represents
HMA."
MARCH
1986
Clinton
tells a radio audience that there is no
solution
to problems with running a prison, only the
process
of dealing with the problems as they arise.
He
also says that "there is no evidence of systematic
abuse
for which the administration is responsible
that
I can see. If I did, I'd try to do something
about
it."
State
Representative Bobby Glover charges that
inmates
are forced to participate in homosexual
activities,
that there have been gang rapes, that
marijuana
is openly smoked and that "home brew" is
being
sold for $7 to $10 a gallon. He disputes a
recent
prison department report that claimed only 6
per
cent of the inmate population was participating
in
illicit drug use. Glover says he also is looking
into
reports of gambling, the theft and personal use
of
department property by employees, bid rigging,
three
questionable deaths, the lack of medical
services,
the physical abuse of inmates by guards and
other
prison officials, and bribes to obtain work
release
assignments or favorable classification.
Sandra
Kurjiaka, director of the American Civil
Liberties
Union in Arkansas, says that there is a
"real
slavery problem" in the state correction
department
and that changes need to be made. Kurjiaka
says
an attitude exists that allows inmates to be
raped
and brutalized and that it exists with the
consent
of the governor, the correction board and the
public.
APRIL
86
Clinton
tells State Police chief Tommy Goodwin to
begin
a full scale investigation into reports of
criminal
conduct within the prison system. Says he
finds
them "very disturbing." Clinton makes his
announcement
after meeting for an hour with Goodwin
and
Rep. Glover. "Rep. Glover has communicated to me
and
Col. Goodwin some very serious allegations."
Clinton
says the state police "has resources" to
investigate
and Goodwin promises to assign at least
eight
investigators.
MAY
1986
Stories
circulate about an alleged $25,000 bribe
being
paid to a prison board official to obtain a new
contract
for HMA. One witness tells the state police
that
the HMA board was angry about the extortion.
This
is all denied in a series of state police
interviews
with HMA and prison officials. It is
claimed
that the story arose from the attorney
Richard
Mays being hired for that same amount to
serve
for two years as an ombudsman for HMA. No
contract
or other written evidence of this agreement
is
ever produced.
What
did Mays do in this job? According to HMA
medical
director Francis Henderson in a state police
interview,
"Mr Mays has thus far performed his duties
in
a very capable manner. He has met with us on three
or
four occasions and has mediated in some problem
areas
we have had. He has met with inmates and worked
out
some difficulties they had in the form of
grievances
with medical treatment services."
Henderson
also describes his efforts to obtain a
buyer
for the plasma: "Historically this [was] the
worst
possible time to do it. I called all over the
world
and finally got one group in Canada that would
take
the contract."
Corrections
board chair Woodson Walker is also
interviewed
by state police. According to the
interview
notes, he states that "he had had direct
contacts
with Governor Clinton throughout the
selection
process and that the Governor was deeply
concerned
with HMA's past performance and the
deficiencies
found by both the State Health
Department
and the Arkansas State Police Investigator
of
[sic] late 1984." Asked by Clinton for his
recommendation,
Walker states that after "taking
everything
into prospective [sic] he advised the
Governor
that he had decided to go with HMA ~~~ but
only
if a safeguard in the form of an ombudsman was
included.
The ombudsman was completely my idea and
Governor
Clinton advised me that he definitely
approved.
I was asked to make several suggestions as
to
who this ombudsman might be and among others
recommended
Judge Richard Mays and Judge David Hale,
both
of Little Rock. Hale was white and Mays was
black
but races was not a major consideration in
these
recommendations. As it turned out, Judge Hale
declined.
. . "
Hale
would later become famous in the Whitewater
scandal.
Mays would also crop up again several times
in
the Clinton saga. A long-time Clinton supporter,
he
would gain posts both on the state supreme court
and
on the prison board. More curiously, he would
show
up as David Hale's attorney when the FBI got a
subpoena
to raid Hale's files for Whitewater
documents
-- issued on July 20, 1993, the day Vincent
Foster
died. [For yet another Mays link to Clinton,
jump
to 1994]
From
state police notes of an interview with former
Cummins
guard Jackie Cummings: "Jackie Cummings
further
stated that he had been dismissed from his
job
at the Cummins Unit because he had not been a
'team
player.' When asked to provide additional
information
that would help investigators look into a
situation
such as his, Cummings stated that he would
say
no further, but that he only wants to 'get my job
back.'
Cummings advised both investigators that he
had
gone to the Office of Governor Bill Clinton and
had
met with him personally and was told by Clinton
that
he could do nothing about the situation at the
Cummins
Unit because it would cause him political
harm."
Leonard
Dunn, president of HMA, is interviewed by
state
police. Investigator S. R. Probasco notes that
Dunn
explained that he "was the financial portion of
the
corporation as well as the political arm. Dunn
advised
that he had been a former member of the State
Claims
commission under Governor Pryor and that he
was
close to Governor Clinton as well as the majority
of
state politicians presently in office. Mr. Dunn
explained
that he was very fond of politics and that
he
was very active.
"Dunn
stated to these investigators that the entire
matter
of trying to obtain a contact for HMA was
considered
to him to be part of negotiation and not
in
any form of pressure by the State Corrections
Board
or the Governor's Office. When asked
specifically
about contacts from the Governor's
Office,
Mr. Dunn stated that he did have
conversations
with both Governor Clinton and Mrs.
Betsey
Wright to assure them that HMA wanted to what
was
right. ~~~ Dunn stated that he was advised that
the
Governor's office was very concerned about
problems
HMA was having but was told to compete like
anyone
else if they wanted the penitentiary
contract."
Incidentally,
Dunn is chair of a holding company that
will
later purchase two branches of Jim McDougal's
failed
Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association.
He
will also be named to the Arkansas Industrial
Development
Commission.
JUNE
27, 1986
The
Institute for Law and Policy Planning, asked by
the
corrections board in March to study allegations
of
malfeasance in the prison system, presents its
report
to Governor Clinton and the board. The report
states
that that HMA has "consistently failed to
provide
the management system and medical services
specifically
called for in the contract." It also
states
that HMA and ADC "have only recently developed
protocol
and procedures for handling AIDS cases, and
are
currently developing a refined approach to AIDS
screening
and testing." Among numerous deficiencies,
ILLP
finds HMA has failed to provide the required
number
of doctor hours, the head of HMA is too
overcommitted
to give proper medical supervision, the
enforcement
of the medical contract has been
inadequate,
the program "fails to meet many
significant
professional standards," HMA has not
followed
state requirements, it has used inmates in
prohibited
medical jobs, and its record-keeping has
been
lacking."
JULY
30 1986
HMA
is cleared of wrong-dong by the State Police.
Prison
officials are charged with just two
misdemeanors
and one felony.
JULY
31, 1986
The
corrections board finds HMA in violation of its
two
year contract and placed on 90-day probation. The
contract
will eventually be taken over by Pine Bluffs
Biologicals.
AUGUST
1986
Clinton
decides not to ask AL "Art" Lockhart --
director
of the state prison system -- to resign. He
also
denies being directly involved in the renewal of
the
contract for HMA. He says he didn't talk with
Dunn
until after the decision was made to give HMA
the
contract again. All he told Dunn, Clinton claims,
is
that HMA should be willing to accept an outside
monitor
and should work to improve patient care.
Rep.
Glover, who has asked for Lockhart's
resignation,
says he has shown "a complete lack of
administrative
abilities." Clinton refuses to respond
to
Glover saying he should have taken the matter up
with
the Board of Corrections. He said he had "bent
over
backwards to try accommodate" Glover and accuses
him
of refusing to accept the state police
investigation
because "he had decided how it was
suppose
to come out before it was done."
1987
The
last year improperly treated blood and plasma is
distributed
in Canada. The government provides
compensation
for harmed patients.
1989
The
Committee of Ten Thousand -- named for the
estimated
10,000 Americans infected with HIV by the
blood
industry -- is formed. Writing in POZ seven
years
later, COTT's president Corey Dubin says, "For
years
the manufacturers of blood products and the
regulators
at the FDA persuaded the hemophilia
community
as well as the general public that their
infections
were a 'tragic yet unavoidable mistake.'
We
now know that this is absolutely not the case and
that
doing business as usual from 1982 to 1985
consigned
thousands of people with hemophilia to the
ravages
of AIDS. ~~~ Internal drug company memos
demonstrate
that officials understood the impact that
blood
tainted by this pathogen could have on people
with
hemophilia as early as mid-1982, but they failed
to
warn either our doctors or us. The industry was
also
targeting for plasma collection groups with a
high
incidence of hepatitis B -- gay men and
prisoners
-- that the CDC had by then identified as
likely
to have AIDS."
MAY
1993
Two
separate tainted blood probes -- one by a
California
investigator and another by the Canadian
government
-- lead to the door of the Arkansas
governor's
office, now occupied by Jim Guy Tucker.
Both
are informed that all the governor's papers were
removed
when he left office and that they should
contact
the White House legal counsel's office. What
happens
next is not known but presumably they make
contact
with Vince Foster, the man in the legal
counsel's
office who knew Arkansas and who had been
involved
in the prison system and who may, at one
point,
have represented HMA.
JULY
1993
Vince
Foster dies under mysterious circumstances.
A
day or two after Foster's death, the New York Post
will
report much later, someone calls a little-known
phone
number at the White House counsel's office
where
Mr. Foster worked. "The man said he had some
information
that might be important," writes
columnist
Maggie Gallagher, who did not name her
source
or identify the official who took the call.
"Something
had upset Vince Foster greatly just days
before
he died. Something about 'tainted blood' that
both
Vince Foster and President Clinton knew about,
this
man said."
1994
Richard
Mays, the "ombudsman" in the 1980s prison
health
scandal, crops up again, as described in a
report
from the House Government Reform and Oversight
Committee:
"Charlie
Trie was first solicited to contribute to
the
DNC in connection with the June 22, 1994,
Presidential
Gala in Washington, D.C. Trie was
solicited
to give $100,000 to the DNC, even though he
had
never made any significant political
contributions
previously. No one at the DNC
demonstrated
any concern about taking $100,000 from
an
obscure Arkansas restaurateur with little apparent
wealth.
Trie was rewarded with an immediate entree
into
the world of Washington insiders and
presidential
intimates, and the DNC was rewarded with
badly-needed
campaign cash.
"Trie
was solicited to make his first contributions
to
the DNC by Richard Mays, a close friend of the
President
from Arkansas. Mays had been appointed to
the
Arkansas bench by Governor Clinton, and was also
a
longtime major DNC donor and fundraiser. Mays
claims
that he knew Trie from patronizing his
restaurant
in Little Rock. Mays claimed not to recall
the
exact circumstances of his solicitation of Trie,
but
did state that he 'had the distinct impression
that
[Trie] was in a position to contribute, and
wanted
to make a contribution.' Mays says he based
his
conclusion that Trie was in a 'position to
contribute'
to the DNC on the fact that Trie was
traveling
between Little Rock and Washington, D.C.:
"Question:
When you say "in a position to
contribute,"
do you mean he had sufficient money to
contribute?
"Mays:
I felt he did.
"Question:
And how did you get that impression?
"Mays:
I donít know how I got that impression, but
frequently,
he seemed like he was traveling
extensively,
you know, I knew he owned that Chinese
restaurant
down there, and he apparently had engaged
in
some business, other business interests. I really
didnít
have a specific judgment that, in fact, he
could,
but I certainly thought it was worth talking
to
him about it.
***
"Question:
Would you ever see him anywhere other than
D.C.
or Little Rock?
"Mays:
I donít recall that I have. I mean, I am not
saying
I havenít, but I donít recall."
"Mays
asked Trie what he could contribute, and Trie
told
him $100,000. Mays claims that he was not
surprised
by Trieís offer of $100,000, even though
this
was the largest contribution he had ever
solicited.
Trieís $100,000 contribution was used for
the
DNCís Health Care Campaign, which was a public
campaign
to promote the Presidentís health care
legislative
proposal.
"At
this point, Mays claimed he still had no concern
that
a political novice with little apparent wealth
had
pledged $100,000 to the DNC. Rather than
conducting
any background research of Trie, or
looking
into the source of Trieís funds, he
introduced
Trie to Terry McAuliffe, then the Finance
Chairman
of the DNC. Mays set up a breakfast meeting
between
McAuliffe and Trie. At this meeting, Trie
confirmed
that he would make a $100,000 contribution
to
the DNC, and asked only that he be prominently
seated
at the June 22 gala. When asked if he ever had
a
concern about the source of Trieís contributions,
Mays
responded, 'Why would I have some concern?'"
1994
Arkansas
finally stops selling prisoner's plasma.
1995
Four
blood company officials are convicted in Germany
of
distributing HIV tainted blood and derivatives.
The
government admits a cover-up. The former owner of
a
plasma testing lab goes on trial for murder in the
deaths
of three people treated with AIDS-tainted
blood
products.
1996
Japan,
which has never discarded its contaminated
blood
and plasma, criminally charges a pharmaceutical
company
and a government adviser for the distribution
of
tainted blood matter.
1999
"This
I know. Without the governor's support and
protection,
this disease-ridden system would have
been
shut down by 1922" -- Mike Galster to Suzi
Parker
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Tainted-blood sleuth firebombed
Intimidation campaign suspected as Arkansas clinic
razed,
Montreal office ransacked
by
Mark Kennedy
The
Ottawa Citizen
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/national/990520/2621916.html
Monday
May 31, 1999
The
controversial story involving tainted plasma from Arkansas
prisoners
that was shipped to Canada in the 1980s while Bill
Clinton
was state governor has taken a mysterious and chilling
new
turn.
Two
crimes that occurred within hours of each other Tuesday
night,
hundreds of kilometres apart, have raised questions about
whether
someone is trying to intimidate or silence those who are
asking
questions about the prison-blood fiasco.
In
Pine Bluff, Arkansas, someone firebombed a prosthetics clinic
owned
by Michael Galster, who has been pushing hard for a U.S.
government
investigation. The clinic was burned to its shell and
fire
officials, who found a gas container in Mr. Galster's attic
--
where he kept his documents -- say they're "90-per-cent sure"
the
fire was arson.
In
Montreal, someone broke into the offices of the Quebec chapter
of
the Canadian Hemophilia Society, which recently unearthed
documents
that showed Finance Minister Paul Martin was a board
member
of the corporation that owned Connaught Laboratories, the
company
that fractionated and distributed the Arkansas prison
plasma
in Canada.
Hemophilia
Society officials say thieves stole a computer and
three
telephones. They also stole documents from a box labeled
"Hepatitis
C, Krever Commission, Reform of the blood system,
HIV-AIDS."
Police
are investigating both incidents.
Mike
McCarthy, a Canadian hemophiliac at the forefront of pushing
for
answers into the prison plasma scandal, says he's convinced
the
two crimes are connected.
"It's
too much of a coincidence," he said, adding that someone is
worried
Mr. Galster and the victims are probing too close to the
truth.
"They're
trying to find out what we know and erase the trail if
they
can."
"I
think they're also sending a message. They're trying to scare
us
into backing off. They're trying to put the fear of God into
us,
that if we pursue the truth it can get worse. That the next
action
might not just be buildings and records."
The
RCMP are examining the prison-blood scheme as part of their
criminal
investigation into the tainted-blood scandal. RCMP Cpl.
Gilles
Moreau said yesterday that the Mounties are willing to
review
any evidence local police in Montreal and Arkansas
uncover.
"We
do not work in a vacuum," said Cpl. Moreau. "If there's
information
that is linked to the blood distribution system for
the
period that we're investigating, we're certainly not going to
close
our eyes to that information. We welcome any information
that
comes our way."
The
story of how prison plasma was collected and found its way
into
the bloodstreams of unsuspecting Canadians stands as one of
the
most shocking aspects of the tainted-blood tragedy.
It's
not known how many Canadians contracted HIV and hepatitis C
from
the plasma of Arkansas prisoners, who were paid $7 a unit,
although
it's likely that several hundred people were infected by
the
tainted products.
At
the time, U.S. companies that fractionate blood products had
stopped
buying prison blood because it was widely understood
that,
since many inmates practised unsafe sex or were intravenous
drug
addicts, their blood posed a high risk of carrying the AIDS
virus.
In
Arkansas, a private firm, Health Management Associates, was
given
a contract by the state government to collect the
prisoners'
plasma. The firm had difficulty locating a U.S.
customer
but found a willing buyer in a Montreal blood broker,
Continental
Pharma Cryosan, which then sold the plasma to
Toronto-based
Connaught Laboratories. Connaught apparently didn't
realize
the plasma had come from prisoners.
Canadians
learned of the prison plasma scheme in 1995, when
Justice
Horace Krever's inquiry unearthed some aspects of the
story.
Last September, the Citizen revealed further details.
Also
last fall, Mr. Galster went public with his accusations
about
the Arkansas prison system, where he conducted orthopedic
clinics
during the 1980s. Mr. Galster published a book, Blood
Trail,
which is a fictionalized account of how the prison-plasma
program
worked.
He
wrote under a pseudonym because he feared reprisals. Soon
after
media stories began appearing, he revealed his true
identity.
In February, he organized and participated in a news
conference
in Washington where Canadian victims called for a
probe
by the U.S. Justice Department and announced plans to
depose
Mr. Clinton.
Mr.
Galster said yesterday he is reeling with shock from the
firebombing
of his clinic, which he has owned for 21 years.
He
said he worked until about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and was later
called
at home about the fire.
"I'm
trying not to get too paranoid about it. I pray to God that
it
was just a coincidence."
Mr.
Galster said that if someone is trying to silence him, it
won't
work.
"They're
barking up the wrong tree. They can't erase the victims
who
are seeking the truth."
Pine
Bluff's fire marshal, Capt. Randy Rushing, said the state
crime
lab has been called in to help with the arson
investigation.
Capt.
Rushing said fire officials have a "couple of leads," but
have
no evidence on a motive.
In
Montreal, hemophilia society officials are puzzled.
In
recent days, the group learned that Mr. Martin was a director
of
the Canada Development Corporation (CDC) from 1981 to 1986 --
the
key years of the tainted blood scandal. The CDC was created
with
federal seed money to promote the country's leading
industries
and owned a variety of firms, including Connaught.
The
Citizen published details of the story on Saturday, and
indicated
that Mr. Martin has no recollection of any discussions
about
tainted blood while a CDC board member. The article stated
that
Mr. Martin's connection to the CDC had been "unearthed" by
the
hemophilia society.
Just
three days later, the break-in occurred. Thieves entered the
office
of executive director Pierre Desmarais and were selective
in
what they took.
Mr.
Desmarais said that because the thieves stole documents --
not
just computer equipment -- it appears they were looking for
information,
not goods.
"It's
really frightening. This is the kind of thing you see in
movies."
50 posted
on 10/31/2005 8:56:40 AM PST by Mia T (Stop Clintons' Undermining
Machinations (The acronym is the message.))
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Posted on 10/30/2005 7:16:10 PM PST by Liberty Wins
A documentary by US film-maker Kelly Duda, has fresh evidence of Arkansas prison officials selling infected blood products collected from inmates with AIDS during the administration of former governor Bill Clinton.
The film, titled “Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal,” will be shown at the American Film Institute Festival in Los Angeles on November 8. Duda spent almost ten years researching the story of the tragic blood policy in Arkansas’ prison system that led to thousands of hemophiliacs world-wide being infected with both AIDS and hepatitis.
The contaminated blood was used to manufacture clotting agents for hemophiliacs and exported to Canada, the UK and Europe during the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Duda’s film gives new details about the scandal, including falsification of medical records by prison authorities to hide the fact that the blood came from infected prisoners, who were paid to donate their blood.
Claims have also been made in the documentary that Clinton may have known about the infected blood. “It would be ludicrous that Bill Clinton did not know that the plasma program was experiencing problems,” said Randal Morgan, deputy director of the Department of Corrections.
The “tainted blood” scandal first erupted in Canada when it was discovered that more than 1,000 Canadians was infected with blood-borne HIV and up to 20,000 others had contracted hepatitis C. Officials considered it one of the worst public health disasters in Canadian history.
The Canadian Hemophilia Society is asking the RCMP to consider the documentary as new evidence in the ongoing police investigation into the tainted-blood scandal.
According to the Scottish Sunday Herald, hemophiliacs in the UK have demanded an investigation by the government, and numerous lawsuits have been filed against pharmaceutical companies handling the blood products.
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption;
Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: aids; arkansasprisons; clinton; crime; krinton; leftistarrogance; leftistconspiracy; leftistgreed; taintedblood
KEYWORDS: aids; arkansasprisons; clinton; crime; krinton; leftistarrogance; leftistconspiracy; leftistgreed; taintedblood
Compilation of information on the
tainted blood scandal from articles in the Canadian press found on the
Progressive Review website.
1 posted
on 10/30/2005 7:16:12 PM PST by Liberty Wins
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2 posted
on 10/30/2005 7:18:28 PM PST by Stellar Dendrite ( Mike Pence for
President!!! http://acuf.org/issues/issue34/050415pol.asp)
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Clinton found his legacy.
3 posted
on 10/30/2005 7:18:59 PM PST by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like
victory)
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4 posted
on 10/30/2005 7:23:21 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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|
5 posted
on 10/30/2005 7:23:28 PM PST by Brian Mosely (A government is a body
of people -- usually notably ungoverned)
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6 posted
on 10/30/2005 7:25:09 PM PST by Jewels1091
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If the movie debuts at a film festival in LA and people actually pay attention to it, it will be the first time ever that it has ever gotten out of the box of MSM suppression. Not even the Canadian press would touch it, because they loved clinton so much.
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To: Brian Mosely; Alamo-Girl; Liberty Wins; Stellar
Dendrite; ncountylee; Verginius Rufus; Mia T; ...
Let's not forget Alamo girl's hard
work on this too...click here.
8 posted
on 10/30/2005 7:30:19 PM PST by Issaquahking (Americans defending the
homeland....a job an illegal alien will NEVER do....)
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9 posted
on 10/30/2005 7:40:47 PM PST by WorkingClassFilth (The problem with
being a 'big tent' Party is that the clowns are seated with the paying
customers.)
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Here's an intriguing connection to the Vince Foster death from her website:
New York Post 9/25/98 Maggie Gallagher "Can I tell you a little story? I warn you, I don't know how it ends yet. Maybe I never will. Once upon a time - in fact a day or two after Vince Foster died - a man called the White House Counsel's Office.
"This was not a line that kooks typically rang us up on," my source told me. Lunatics call the main office number. This guy called one of Vince's assistants directly. The man said he had some information that might be important. Something had upset Vince Foster greatly just days before he died. Some thing about "tainted blood" that both Vince Foster and President Clinton knew about, this man said.
"I'm only telling you this now because Vince Foster was very distressed about this only days before his death," the mysterious caller (whose name I am withholding) said. "I'm not saying this caused his suicide. I'm only saying it might have contributed to his distress and I thought someone should know."
The White House Counsel's office didn't pay much attention. "Probably a kook', they agreed around the office. Probably. Except that when his computer name was typed into the computer log of phone calls for Vince, something strange happened. The computer flashed "password required" or some such phrase indicating a special code was needed to open that file. "Aw, probably just a computer glitch, "Bernie Nussbam, then chief White House Counsel, said at the time.
And so the matter, as far as I know, was dropped. A strange little memory fragment, meaningless in itself, no? Until last week, when a story published in The Ottawa Citizen suddenly jogged it front and center. "HIV BLOOD CAME FROM ARKANSAS JAIL," the head line screamed. Then, The Ottawa Citizen reports, "A U.S. firm with links to President Clinton collected HIV-tainted blood from Arkansas prison inmates in the 1980's and shipped it to Canada, newly uncovered documents reveal...
10 posted
on 10/30/2005 7:41:03 PM PST by Liberty Wins (Life, Liberty, and the
pursuit of all who threaten it.)
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11 posted
on 10/30/2005 7:46:58 PM PST by Liberty Wins (Life, Liberty, and the
pursuit of all who threaten it.)
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Pinging a couple of bloodhounds.
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13 posted
on 10/30/2005 8:01:05 PM PST by doug from upland (David Kendall --
protecting the Clintons one lie at a time)
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14 posted
on 10/30/2005 8:02:29 PM PST by doug from upland (David Kendall --
protecting the Clintons one lie at a time)
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15 posted
on 10/30/2005 8:03:29 PM PST by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are
fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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16 posted
on 10/30/2005 8:08:09 PM PST by Issaquahking (Americans defending the
homeland....a job an illegal alien will NEVER do....)
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1. Dead film-maker walking, what
are the odds of her being Fosterized before this film gets shown and the only
copy vanishing?
2. Would knowingly allowing people to be infected
with AIDS be premeditated murder? What if the perpetrator were a Republican?
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18 posted
on 10/30/2005 9:47:45 PM PST by Pagey (The Clintons ARE the true
definition of the word WRETCHED!)
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19 posted
on 10/31/2005 6:41:58 AM PST by smalltownslick
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It is stunning that Hollywood
would support 2 such obvious thugs and opportunists.... I thought AIDS was one
of Hollywood's defining issues....
CLINTON & THE KILLER BLOOD
THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
UNDERNEWS
By Sam Smith
February 18, 1999
In the mid-1980s, as contaminated
blood flowed from
Arkansas inmates to other
countries, then-Governor
W.J. Clinton sat on his hands
despite evidence of
severe mismanagement in his prison
system and its
medical operations. The prison
medical program was
being run by Health Management
Associates, which was
headed by Leonard Dunn, a man who
would brag to state
police of his close ties to
Clinton.
Some of the killer blood ended up
in Canada where it
contributed to the deaths of an
unknown number of
blood and plasma recipients. An
estimated 2,000
Canadian recipients of blood and
related products got
the AIDS virus between 1980 and
1985. At least 60,000
Canadians were infected with the hepatitis
C virus
between 1980 and 1990. Arkansas
was one of the few
sources of bad blood during this
period.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
has a staff of 24
working on the case. So far,
investigators have
interviewed about 600 people
including in the U.S.,
Germany and the Netherlands.
According to the Ottawa
Citizen, the team has amassed more
than 30,000
documents.
Other Arkansas plasma was sent to
Switzerland, Spain,
Japan, and Italy. In a case with
strong echoes of the
Arkansas scandal, a former premier
of France and two
of his cabinet colleagues are
currently on trial
stemming from the wrongful
handling of blood
supplies. Some of the blood in the
French controversy
may have come from Arkansas.
A 1992 Newsday report on the
French scandal noted
that three persons had been
convicted for their role
in distributing blood they knew
was contaminated:
"Throughout the 1980s and
later, blood was taken from
prison donors for use in blood
banks despite a series
of directives warning against such
a practice.
According to the report, donations
from prisoners
accounted for 25 percent of all
the contaminated
blood products in France. Blood
from prisons was 69
times more contaminated that that
of the general
population of donors."
The Arkansas blood program was
also grossly
mishandled by the Food and Drug
Administration. And
the scandal provides yet another
insight into how the
American media misled the public
about Clinton during
the 1992 campaign. The media
ignored a major Clinton
scandal despite, for example, 80
articles about it in
the Arkansas Democrat in just one
four-month period
of the mid-80s.
Here's how Canada's Krever
Commissioner report
describes the beginnings of the
problem:
"During 1981-2, the number of
AIDS cases in the
United States reported to the
Centers for Disease
Control in Atlanta grew at an
alarming rate. The vast
majority of the reported cases
were of homosexual men
and intravenous drug abusers.
During 1982, cases of
AIDS transmitted through the use
of blood and blood
products began to be reported.
The U.S. blood and plasma centers
regularly collected
from two groups of persons who
were at high risk of
contracting AIDS: homosexual men
and prison inmates.
Plasma was collected at centers,
licensed by the Food
and Drug Administration, in prisons
in Arkansas,
Florida, Louisiana, and
Mississippi. By way of
contrast, because of the high
prevalence of hepatitis
B in prisons, the Canadian Red
Cross Society had
stopped collecting donations from
prison inmates in
1971."
Suzi Parker, writing in the
Arkansas Times, described
the scene: "At the Cummins
Unit of the Arkansas penal
system during the 1980s, while
President Clinton was
still governor, inmates would
regularly cross the
prison hospital's threshold to
give blood, lured by
the prospect of receiving $7 a
pint. The ritual was
creepy to behold: Platoons of
prisoners lying supine
on rows of cots, waiting for the
needle-wielding
prisoner orderly to puncture a
vein and watch the
clear bags fill with blood.
Administrators than sold
the blood to brokers, who in
turned shipped it to
other sates and to Japan, Italy,
Spain and Canada.
Despite repeated warnings from the
Food and Drug
Administration, Arkansas kept its
prison plasma
program running until 1994 when it
became the very
last state to cease selling its
prisoners' plasma.
Mike Galster, a medical
practitioner whose
fictionalized account dramatically
raised interest in
the blood scandal, recalls that at
the Pine Bluff
unit's hospital they also took
blood from prisoners.
When he raised questions about the
wisdom of bleeding
sick people, he was told that even
the ill had the
right to sell their blood.
Here is a time-line of this as yet
too known Arkansas
horror story:
1981
The Arkansas Board of Corrections
puts A.L. "Art"
Lockhart in charge of the state's
troubled prisons.
An Arkansas Gazette front page
feature on Lockhart
begins by noting that he is
"dogged by a public
reputation as a man who runs
roughshod over the
constitutionally guaranteed rights
and welfare of
inmates. 'I don't why,' he said in
an interview with
the Gazette. 'I don't deserve
it.'"
The state's prisons are already a
mess. Ten years
earlier Lockhart had taken over
the notorious Cummins
facility which, according to a
member of the
corrections board, was "still
controlled by inmate
trusties with guns. The inmates
called the shots. A
lot of experts said there was no
way to take the guns
away from them without a riot. But
Art did it without
spilling any blood."
But the Gazette also notes:
"The prison system, and
Cummins, in particular, still is
in the transition
from an institution controlled by
the inmates to one
controlled by guards. On many
nights at Cummins,
there are as few as half a dozen
guards to watch
about 1,650 inmates."
Two years earlier, a prison
monitor hired under a
federal court order, released a
report saying there
was "clear and convincing
evidence" that Lockhart and
other employees beat and kicked
inmates needlessly
after an attempted escape from
Cummins. Another
prison mediator charged that the
abuse of inmates had
increased under Lockhart and that
he had obstructed
efforts at prison reform.
Health Management Associates wins
a contract to
provide health services to state
inmates, including
running a blood plasma donor
program.
The Centers for Disease Control
and World Health
Organization establish that AIDS
is a blood-borne
disease. CDC recommends testing
and sterilization of
donor blood. The warning is widely
ignored and, as a
result, according to WHO, some one
million people
become infected. Twenty-two countries
will eventually
have to pay compensation as a
result.
FDA asks US companies not to buy
prison plasma since,
due to unsafe sexual and drug
practices by many
inmates, the blood has a high risk
of carrying the
AIDS virus.
JUNE 1983
HMA tells FDA that 38 units of
plasma from four
inmates of the Grady prison should
not have been
collected because the prisoners
had once tested
positive for hepatitis B despite a
test at the time
of collection being negative. HMA
sees the hazard as
slight and thinks there is no need
to recall the
plasma. The Canadian Krever
Commission will later
report that "by 1983,
however, an association had
been identified between hepatitis
B and AIDS; most
persons with AIDS had also been
infected with
hepatitis B. There was a greater
than average risk
that the 38 units of plasma from
the four inmates
could transmit AIDS. Four of the
units ended up in
Canada, the others were sold to
corporations in
Switzerland, Spain, Japan, and
Italy."
AUGUST 1983
HMA decides to withdraw the 38
units from circulation
and FDA concurs. This is the first
time that
Connaught, the Canadian blood
firm, has heard of any
problems. The shipping papers had
only shown that the
blood came from "ADC Plasma
Center, Grady, Arkansas."
By this time, however, the blood
is already in
circulation and only 417 of 2409
vials are retrieved.
The same month HMA tells the FDA
of a fifth inmate
with similar problems. He had
given 34 units in less
than a year.
SEPTEMBER 1983
Connaught reviews its approvals
for receipt of plasma
from US centers and finds that
twelve have never been
properly approved. One is the
prison center in Grady,
Arkansas. Other questionable blood
has come from four
prisons in Louisiana. Canadian Red
Cross nullifies
its contract for the blood the
same day it finds this
out.
FEBRUARY 1984
FDA suspends plasma production at
the Grady facility
where an average of 550-600
inmates have been giving
blood since 1967. UPI regional
wire reports that FDA
finds overbleeding of inmate
donors, disqualified
donors, lack of documentation of
testing, and
inadequate storage. It also notes
inaccurate and
incomplete storage, instances of
intentional and
willful disregard for proposed
standards, alteration
of records and files to conceal
violations, as well
as inadequate training and
ineffective supervision of
the plasma center staff. Within
months, however, HMA
successfully applies for a new
license after blaming
the problems on a corrupt clerk.
1985
A UPI story recounts how the
largest inmate donor
program in the country -- in the
Louisiana state
prison -- is coming under
increased federal scrutiny
because of what is dubbed the
"AIDS scare." Says the
state's secretary of corrections:
"We have no
intention of shutting it down. It
would have the same
impact as a major industry
shutting down in a small
town: economic chaos." The
president of a plasma
company is quoted as saying,
"There is no scientific
evidence that prisoner plasma is
worse than street
plasma." The programs had, in
fact, been shut down
for six months but were reinstated
after the prison
discovered foreign markets to
replace a dwindling US
demand. Says the plasma company
president, "I'd say
70 to 80 percent is going
overseas. There's a good
market for it over there, and they
don't ask where it
came from."
FDA finally requires testing of
donor blood. Tainted
blood distribution will continue
inside the US until
1986. Thereafter, contaminated
blood stocks will
still be shipped from US companies
to other
countries.
Prosecuting attorney Wayne
Matthews, after a two
month state police probe, finds no
evidence of drug
trafficking in the Arkansas prison
system. The
allegation is that HMA employees
are diverting drugs
from the department's pharmacy and
selling them to
inmates, and that prisoners who
'knew too much' about
drug trafficking were killed or
allowed to die.
"There's just absolutely no
evidence whatsoever,"
says Matthews.
JANUARY 1986
The Corrections board agrees to
have HMA's contract
reviewed by outside parties. A
media account notes
that "HMA has been frequently
in the news lately
because of allegations by inmates
of improper medical
treatment." Among the
charges: HMA hired a
Mississippi doctor who was refused
a permanent
license in Arkansas. The doctor
had lost his
Mississippi license for "habitual
personal use of
narcotic drugs."
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette
reports: "Governor Bill
Clinton recently asked the
Department to review
health care services provided by
HMA after
allegations were raised that
several inmates died
because of a lack of medical care
and that the leg of
at least one inmate was amputated
as a result of
improper care. Department Director
A. L. (Art)
Lockhart, who earlier said HMA was
doing a
'satisfactory' job, said Thursday
a review of HMA
could reveal some problems. ~~~
During the discussion
of HMA and the allegations that
have been made
against it, [Corrections] Board
member Don Smith of
Pine Bluff excused himself because
his law firm
represents HMA."
MARCH 1986
Clinton tells a radio audience
that there is no
solution to problems with running
a prison, only the
process of dealing with the
problems as they arise.
He also says that "there is
no evidence of systematic
abuse for which the administration
is responsible
that I can see. If I did, I'd try
to do something
about it."
State Representative Bobby Glover
charges that
inmates are forced to participate
in homosexual
activities, that there have been
gang rapes, that
marijuana is openly smoked and
that "home brew" is
being sold for $7 to $10 a gallon.
He disputes a
recent prison department report
that claimed only 6
per cent of the inmate population
was participating
in illicit drug use. Glover says
he also is looking
into reports of gambling, the
theft and personal use
of department property by
employees, bid rigging,
three questionable deaths, the
lack of medical
services, the physical abuse of
inmates by guards and
other prison officials, and bribes
to obtain work
release assignments or favorable
classification.
Sandra Kurjiaka, director of the
American Civil
Liberties Union in Arkansas, says
that there is a
"real slavery problem"
in the state correction
department and that changes need
to be made. Kurjiaka
says an attitude exists that
allows inmates to be
raped and brutalized and that it
exists with the
consent of the governor, the
correction board and the
public.
APRIL 86
Clinton tells State Police chief
Tommy Goodwin to
begin a full scale investigation
into reports of
criminal conduct within the prison
system. Says he
finds them "very
disturbing." Clinton makes his
announcement after meeting for an
hour with Goodwin
and Rep. Glover. "Rep. Glover
has communicated to me
and Col. Goodwin some very serious
allegations."
Clinton says the state police
"has resources" to
investigate and Goodwin promises
to assign at least
eight investigators.
MAY 1986
Stories circulate about an alleged
$25,000 bribe
being paid to a prison board
official to obtain a new
contract for HMA. One witness
tells the state police
that the HMA board was angry about
the extortion.
This is all denied in a series of
state police
interviews with HMA and prison
officials. It is
claimed that the story arose from
the attorney
Richard Mays being hired for that
same amount to
serve for two years as an
ombudsman for HMA. No
contract or other written evidence
of this agreement
is ever produced.
What did Mays do in this job?
According to HMA
medical director Francis Henderson
in a state police
interview, "Mr Mays has thus
far performed his duties
in a very capable manner. He has
met with us on three
or four occasions and has mediated
in some problem
areas we have had. He has met with
inmates and worked
out some difficulties they had in
the form of
grievances with medical treatment
services."
Henderson also describes his
efforts to obtain a
buyer for the plasma:
"Historically this [was] the
worst possible time to do it. I
called all over the
world and finally got one group in
Canada that would
take the contract."
Corrections board chair Woodson
Walker is also
interviewed by state police.
According to the
interview notes, he states that
"he had had direct
contacts with Governor Clinton
throughout the
selection process and that the
Governor was deeply
concerned with HMA's past
performance and the
deficiencies found by both the
State Health
Department and the Arkansas State
Police Investigator
of [sic] late 1984." Asked by
Clinton for his
recommendation, Walker states that
after "taking
everything into prospective [sic]
he advised the
Governor that he had decided to go
with HMA ~~~ but
only if a safeguard in the form of
an ombudsman was
included. The ombudsman was
completely my idea and
Governor Clinton advised me that
he definitely
approved. I was asked to make
several suggestions as
to who this ombudsman might be and
among others
recommended Judge Richard Mays and
Judge David Hale,
both of Little Rock. Hale was
white and Mays was
black but races was not a major
consideration in
these recommendations. As it
turned out, Judge Hale
declined. . . "
Hale would later become famous in
the Whitewater
scandal. Mays would also crop up
again several times
in the Clinton saga. A long-time
Clinton supporter,
he would gain posts both on the
state supreme court
and on the prison board. More
curiously, he would
show up as David Hale's attorney
when the FBI got a
subpoena to raid Hale's files for
Whitewater
documents -- issued on July 20,
1993, the day Vincent
Foster died. [For yet another Mays
link to Clinton,
jump to 1994]
From state police notes of an
interview with former
Cummins guard Jackie Cummings:
"Jackie Cummings
further stated that he had been
dismissed from his
job at the Cummins Unit because he
had not been a
'team player.' When asked to
provide additional
information that would help
investigators look into a
situation such as his, Cummings
stated that he would
say no further, but that he only
wants to 'get my job
back.' Cummings advised both
investigators that he
had gone to the Office of Governor
Bill Clinton and
had met with him personally and
was told by Clinton
that he could do nothing about the
situation at the
Cummins Unit because it would
cause him political
harm."
Leonard Dunn, president of HMA, is
interviewed by
state police. Investigator S. R.
Probasco notes that
Dunn explained that he "was
the financial portion of
the corporation as well as the political
arm. Dunn
advised that he had been a former
member of the State
Claims commission under Governor
Pryor and that he
was close to Governor Clinton as
well as the majority
of state politicians presently in
office. Mr. Dunn
explained that he was very fond of
politics and that
he was very active.
"Dunn stated to these
investigators that the entire
matter of trying to obtain a
contact for HMA was
considered to him to be part of
negotiation and not
in any form of pressure by the
State Corrections
Board or the Governor's Office.
When asked
specifically about contacts from
the Governor's
Office, Mr. Dunn stated that he
did have
conversations with both Governor
Clinton and Mrs.
Betsey Wright to assure them that
HMA wanted to what
was right. ~~~ Dunn stated that he
was advised that
the Governor's office was very
concerned about
problems HMA was having but was
told to compete like
anyone else if they wanted the
penitentiary
contract."
Incidentally, Dunn is chair of a
holding company that
will later purchase two branches
of Jim McDougal's
failed Madison Guaranty Savings
and Loan Association.
He will also be named to the
Arkansas Industrial
Development Commission.
JUNE 27, 1986
The Institute for Law and Policy
Planning, asked by
the corrections board in March to
study allegations
of malfeasance in the prison
system, presents its
report to Governor Clinton and the
board. The report
states that that HMA has
"consistently failed to
provide the management system and
medical services
specifically called for in the
contract." It also
states that HMA and ADC "have
only recently developed
protocol and procedures for
handling AIDS cases, and
are currently developing a refined
approach to AIDS
screening and testing." Among
numerous deficiencies,
ILLP finds HMA has failed to
provide the required
number of doctor hours, the head
of HMA is too
overcommitted to give proper
medical supervision, the
enforcement of the medical
contract has been
inadequate, the program
"fails to meet many
significant professional
standards," HMA has not
followed state requirements, it
has used inmates in
prohibited medical jobs, and its
record-keeping has
been lacking."
JULY 30 1986
HMA is cleared of wrong-dong by
the State Police.
Prison officials are charged with
just two
misdemeanors and one felony.
JULY 31, 1986
The corrections board finds HMA in
violation of its
two year contract and placed on
90-day probation. The
contract will eventually be taken
over by Pine Bluffs
Biologicals.
AUGUST 1986
Clinton decides not to ask AL
"Art" Lockhart --
director of the state prison
system -- to resign. He
also denies being directly
involved in the renewal of
the contract for HMA. He says he
didn't talk with
Dunn until after the decision was
made to give HMA
the contract again. All he told
Dunn, Clinton claims,
is that HMA should be willing to
accept an outside
monitor and should work to improve
patient care.
Rep. Glover, who has asked for
Lockhart's
resignation, says he has shown
"a complete lack of
administrative abilities."
Clinton refuses to respond
to Glover saying he should have
taken the matter up
with the Board of Corrections. He
said he had "bent
over backwards to try
accommodate" Glover and accuses
him of refusing to accept the
state police
investigation because "he had
decided how it was
suppose to come out before it was
done."
1987
The last year improperly treated
blood and plasma is
distributed in Canada. The
government provides
compensation for harmed patients.
1989
The Committee of Ten Thousand --
named for the
estimated 10,000 Americans
infected with HIV by the
blood industry -- is formed.
Writing in POZ seven
years later, COTT's president
Corey Dubin says, "For
years the manufacturers of blood
products and the
regulators at the FDA persuaded
the hemophilia
community as well as the general
public that their
infections were a 'tragic yet
unavoidable mistake.'
We now know that this is
absolutely not the case and
that doing business as usual from
1982 to 1985
consigned thousands of people with
hemophilia to the
ravages of AIDS. ~~~ Internal drug
company memos
demonstrate that officials
understood the impact that
blood tainted by this pathogen
could have on people
with hemophilia as early as
mid-1982, but they failed
to warn either our doctors or us.
The industry was
also targeting for plasma
collection groups with a
high incidence of hepatitis B --
gay men and
prisoners -- that the CDC had by
then identified as
likely to have AIDS."
MAY 1993
Two separate tainted blood probes
-- one by a
California investigator and
another by the Canadian
government -- lead to the door of
the Arkansas
governor's office, now occupied by
Jim Guy Tucker.
Both are informed that all the
governor's papers were
removed when he left office and
that they should
contact the White House legal
counsel's office. What
happens next is not known but
presumably they make
contact with Vince Foster, the man
in the legal
counsel's office who knew Arkansas
and who had been
involved in the prison system and
who may, at one
point, have represented HMA.
JULY 1993
Vince Foster dies under mysterious
circumstances.
A day or two after Foster's death,
the New York Post
will report much later, someone
calls a little-known
phone number at the White House
counsel's office
where Mr. Foster worked. "The
man said he had some
information that might be
important," writes
columnist Maggie Gallagher, who
did not name her
source or identify the official
who took the call.
"Something had upset Vince
Foster greatly just days
before he died. Something about
'tainted blood' that
both Vince Foster and President
Clinton knew about,
this man said."
1994
Richard Mays, the
"ombudsman" in the 1980s prison
health scandal, crops up again, as
described in a
report from the House Government
Reform and Oversight
Committee:
"Charlie Trie was first
solicited to contribute to
the DNC in connection with the
June 22, 1994,
Presidential Gala in Washington,
D.C. Trie was
solicited to give $100,000 to the
DNC, even though he
had never made any significant
political
contributions previously. No one
at the DNC
demonstrated any concern about
taking $100,000 from
an obscure Arkansas restaurateur
with little apparent
wealth. Trie was rewarded with an
immediate entree
into the world of Washington
insiders and
presidential intimates, and the
DNC was rewarded with
badly-needed campaign cash.
"Trie was solicited to make
his first contributions
to the DNC by Richard Mays, a
close friend of the
President from Arkansas. Mays had
been appointed to
the Arkansas bench by Governor
Clinton, and was also
a longtime major DNC donor and
fundraiser. Mays
claims that he knew Trie from
patronizing his
restaurant in Little Rock. Mays
claimed not to recall
the exact circumstances of his
solicitation of Trie,
but did state that he 'had the
distinct impression
that [Trie] was in a position to
contribute, and
wanted to make a contribution.'
Mays says he based
his conclusion that Trie was in a
'position to
contribute' to the DNC on the fact
that Trie was
traveling between Little Rock and
Washington, D.C.:
"Question: When you say
"in a position to
contribute," do you mean he
had sufficient money to
contribute?
"Mays: I felt he did.
"Question: And how did you
get that impression?
"Mays: I donít know how I got
that impression, but
frequently, he seemed like he was
traveling
extensively, you know, I knew he
owned that Chinese
restaurant down there, and he
apparently had engaged
in some business, other business
interests. I really
didnít have a specific judgment
that, in fact, he
could, but I certainly thought it
was worth talking
to him about it.
***
"Question: Would you ever see
him anywhere other than
D.C. or Little Rock?
"Mays: I donít recall that I
have. I mean, I am not
saying I havenít, but I donít
recall."
"Mays asked Trie what he
could contribute, and Trie
told him $100,000. Mays claims
that he was not
surprised by Trieís offer of
$100,000, even though
this was the largest contribution
he had ever
solicited. Trieís $100,000
contribution was used for
the DNCís Health Care Campaign,
which was a public
campaign to promote the
Presidentís health care
legislative proposal.
"At this point, Mays claimed
he still had no concern
that a political novice with
little apparent wealth
had pledged $100,000 to the DNC.
Rather than
conducting any background research
of Trie, or
looking into the source of Trieís
funds, he
introduced Trie to Terry
McAuliffe, then the Finance
Chairman of the DNC. Mays set up a
breakfast meeting
between McAuliffe and Trie. At
this meeting, Trie
confirmed that he would make a
$100,000 contribution
to the DNC, and asked only that he
be prominently
seated at the June 22 gala. When
asked if he ever had
a concern about the source of
Trieís contributions,
Mays responded, 'Why would I have
some concern?'"
1994
Arkansas finally stops selling
prisoner's plasma.
1995
Four blood company officials are
convicted in Germany
of distributing HIV tainted blood
and derivatives.
The government admits a cover-up.
The former owner of
a plasma testing lab goes on trial
for murder in the
deaths of three people treated with
AIDS-tainted
blood products.
1996
Japan, which has never discarded
its contaminated
blood and plasma, criminally
charges a pharmaceutical
company and a government adviser
for the distribution
of tainted blood matter.
1999
"This I know. Without the
governor's support and
protection, this disease-ridden
system would have
been shut down by 1922" --
Mike Galster to Suzi
Parker
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Tainted-blood sleuth
firebombed
Intimidation campaign
suspected as Arkansas clinic razed,
Montreal office
ransacked
by Mark
Kennedy
The
Ottawa Citizen
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/national/990520/2621916.html
Monday
May 31, 1999
The
controversial story involving tainted plasma from Arkansas
prisoners
that was shipped to Canada in the 1980s while Bill
Clinton
was state governor has taken a mysterious and chilling
new
turn.
Two
crimes that occurred within hours of each other Tuesday
night,
hundreds of kilometres apart, have raised questions about
whether
someone is trying to intimidate or silence those who are
asking
questions about the prison-blood fiasco.
In Pine
Bluff, Arkansas, someone firebombed a prosthetics clinic
owned
by Michael Galster, who has been pushing hard for a U.S.
government
investigation. The clinic was burned to its shell and
fire
officials, who found a gas container in Mr. Galster's attic
--
where he kept his documents -- say they're "90-per-cent sure"
the
fire was arson.
In
Montreal, someone broke into the offices of the Quebec chapter
of the
Canadian Hemophilia Society, which recently unearthed
documents
that showed Finance Minister Paul Martin was a board
member
of the corporation that owned Connaught Laboratories, the
company
that fractionated and distributed the Arkansas prison
plasma
in Canada.
Hemophilia
Society officials say thieves stole a computer and
three
telephones. They also stole documents from a box labeled
"Hepatitis
C, Krever Commission, Reform of the blood system,
HIV-AIDS."
Police
are investigating both incidents.
Mike
McCarthy, a Canadian hemophiliac at the forefront of pushing
for
answers into the prison plasma scandal, says he's convinced
the two
crimes are connected.
"It's
too much of a coincidence," he said, adding that someone is
worried
Mr. Galster and the victims are probing too close to the
truth.
"They're
trying to find out what we know and erase the trail if
they
can."
"I
think they're also sending a message. They're trying to scare
us into
backing off. They're trying to put the fear of God into
us,
that if we pursue the truth it can get worse. That the next
action
might not just be buildings and records."
The
RCMP are examining the prison-blood scheme as part of their
criminal
investigation into the tainted-blood scandal. RCMP Cpl.
Gilles
Moreau said yesterday that the Mounties are willing to
review
any evidence local police in Montreal and Arkansas
uncover.
"We
do not work in a vacuum," said Cpl. Moreau. "If there's
information
that is linked to the blood distribution system for
the
period that we're investigating, we're certainly not going to
close
our eyes to that information. We welcome any information
that
comes our way."
The
story of how prison plasma was collected and found its way
into
the bloodstreams of unsuspecting Canadians stands as one of
the
most shocking aspects of the tainted-blood tragedy.
It's
not known how many Canadians contracted HIV and hepatitis C
from
the plasma of Arkansas prisoners, who were paid $7 a unit,
although
it's likely that several hundred people were infected by
the
tainted products.
At the
time, U.S. companies that fractionate blood products had
stopped
buying prison blood because it was widely understood
that,
since many inmates practised unsafe sex or were intravenous
drug
addicts, their blood posed a high risk of carrying the AIDS
virus.
In
Arkansas, a private firm, Health Management Associates, was
given a
contract by the state government to collect the
prisoners'
plasma. The firm had difficulty locating a U.S.
customer
but found a willing buyer in a Montreal blood broker,
Continental
Pharma Cryosan, which then sold the plasma to
Toronto-based
Connaught Laboratories. Connaught apparently didn't
realize
the plasma had come from prisoners.
Canadians
learned of the prison plasma scheme in 1995, when
Justice
Horace Krever's inquiry unearthed some aspects of the
story.
Last September, the Citizen revealed further details.
Also
last fall, Mr. Galster went public with his accusations
about
the Arkansas prison system, where he conducted orthopedic
clinics
during the 1980s. Mr. Galster published a book, Blood
Trail,
which is a fictionalized account of how the prison-plasma
program
worked.
He
wrote under a pseudonym because he feared reprisals. Soon
after
media stories began appearing, he revealed his true
identity.
In February, he organized and participated in a news
conference
in Washington where Canadian victims called for a
probe
by the U.S. Justice Department and announced plans to
depose
Mr. Clinton.
Mr.
Galster said yesterday he is reeling with shock from the
firebombing
of his clinic, which he has owned for 21 years.
He said
he worked until about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and was later
called
at home about the fire.
"I'm
trying not to get too paranoid about it. I pray to God that
it was
just a coincidence."
Mr.
Galster said that if someone is trying to silence him, it
won't
work.
"They're
barking up the wrong tree. They can't erase the victims
who are
seeking the truth."
Pine
Bluff's fire marshal, Capt. Randy Rushing, said the state
crime
lab has been called in to help with the arson
investigation.
Capt.
Rushing said fire officials have a "couple of leads," but
have no
evidence on a motive.
In
Montreal, hemophilia society officials are puzzled.
In
recent days, the group learned that Mr. Martin was a director
of the
Canada Development Corporation (CDC) from 1981 to 1986 --
the key
years of the tainted blood scandal. The CDC was created
with
federal seed money to promote the country's leading
industries
and owned a variety of firms, including Connaught.
The
Citizen published details of the story on Saturday, and
indicated
that Mr. Martin has no recollection of any discussions
about
tainted blood while a CDC board member. The article stated
that
Mr. Martin's connection to the CDC had been "unearthed" by
the
hemophilia society.
Just
three days later, the break-in occurred. Thieves entered the
office
of executive director Pierre Desmarais and were selective
in what
they took.
Mr.
Desmarais said that because the thieves stole documents --
not
just computer equipment -- it appears they were looking for
information,
not goods.
"It's
really frightening. This is the kind of thing you see in
movies."
20 posted
on 10/31/2005 8:19:19 AM PST by Mia T (Stop Clintons' Undermining
Machinations (The acronym is the message.))
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21 posted
on 10/31/2005 8:24:10 AM PST by Mia T (Stop Clintons' Undermining
Machinations (The acronym is the message.))
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22 posted
on 10/31/2005 8:26:18 AM PST by Mia T (Stop Clintons' Undermining
Machinations (The acronym is the message.))
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Here are some links from
WorldNetDaily.com
Clinton Blood Scandal Exposed In New
Film - October 30, 2005Previous stories
Previous columns
- The pricetag for Blood-gate
- Blood trail grows cold
- Blood scandal and Clinton's plumbers
- We always get our man
- Clinton's Arkansas blood scandal
24 posted
on 10/31/2005 4:09:27 PM PST by DumpsterDiver
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You really didn't know about this? Well, the MSM tried like hell not to report it.
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this is so sick, these people have gotten away with so much. this stalinist press will cover for anything these evil commies do......
26 posted
on 11/01/2005 7:54:42 PM PST by Stellar Dendrite ( Mike Pence for
President!!! http://acuf.org/issues/issue34/050415pol.asp)
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Monday, October 01, 2007
'Tainted blood' verdict
Judge finds tainted-blood defendants "not
guilty."
And let's not forget the U.S.
connection to this whole, sordid affair.
Nor the fact that some Canadians are
still working to remove the Canadian Blood Services' rule against accepting
blood donations from homosexual men.
Here's
the full list, found on the second page of the linked document, of
questions now being used by the CBS to screen out donors on the grounds of
homosexual behaviour and drug use, among other things. It's a list of questions
that, if asked 25 years ago, would undoubtedly have saved a lot of lives.
Posted by Terry O'Neill on October 1, 2007 in Current
Affairs | Permalink
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