Subject: [Tweeters] RE: Bird Flu - possible motives for the hype
Date: Nov 13 10:14:07 2005
From: Stewart Wechsler - ecostewart at quidnunc.net


While I don't know how this hype and probable paranoia about Bird Flu will
affect our wild birds, I wouldn't rule out irrational killing of birds
migrating from Asia and the Aleutians. I'm amused at the idea of Bird Flu
vigilantes checking Tweeters for Temminck's Stints, Ruffs, and Eurasian
Widgeons and other avian immigrants from Asia that entered our country
without having their papers checked at customs.

Assuming the degree of concern about the possibility of this particular
animal disease mutating and causing a pandemic has been hyped beyond the
actual probability what would be the motive?

To clarify the relationship between Secretary of "Defense" - Rumsfeld and
Tamiflu - the drug being sold to us as the way to fight Bird Flu: I just
heard that Donald Rumsfeld has between $5 million and $25 million in stock
of the company he was previously the CEO of - Gilead - that has the patent
to Tamiflu:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/31/news/newsmakers/fortune_rumsfeld/?cnn=yes
In the last 6 months since the bird flu scare has been promoted his stock
has gone up over 30% - a profit of $1.5 million to $7.5 million so far both
from the hype and from sales to the government. The Pentagon - run by
Rumsfeld himself, has already ordered $58 million worth of Tamiflu.

This should sound familiar as Vice President Dick Cheney former CEO of
Halliburton has stock options in Halliburton that have increased in value by
approximately 3000% or about $9 million since the white house directed about
$10 billion in no bid contracts to Halliburton for the war in Iraq
http://lautenberg.senate.gov/~lautenberg/press/2003/01/2005915804.html
Now an ever increasing number of people believe the war in Iraq was based
on hype.

Traditionally presidents with flagging popularity and those that need to
deflect attention from their own dirty business have started wars to boost
their popularity. That may have worked for a short while with the Iraq war,
but I doubt another conventional war would boost the popularity of the
Bush - Cheney - Rumsfeld - Rove team right now, so I suspect they are hoping
that a war on Bird Flu might help them now. This is amusing in that the
administration has to promote a concept of evolution - .mutation - to
promote the bird flu war, as they work to keep the support of a critical
chunk of their base that believes in "intelligent design". They can also
get some people to look to birds as the threats in the world rather than
human tyrants.

Let's not forget that the same powers promoting bird flu are those working
to gut the endangered species act, eliminate roadless areas, drill oil in
our national wildlife refuges etc. I believe that exposing them is critical
to continued existence of all of the wonderful birds etc posted on this
list.

Stewart Wechsler

-----Original Message-----
From: Gene Bullock [mailto:bullockg at earthlink.net]
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 11:03 AM
To: Joaw9 at aol.com; celata at pacifier.com; tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Re: Bird Flu


I've also read that Donald Rumsfeld has financial ties to the makers of
Tamiflu.
Gene

----- Original Message -----
From: Joaw9 at aol.com
To: celata at pacifier.com ; tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 10:06 AM
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Re: Bird Flu


In a message dated 11/8/2005 7:47:15 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
celata at pacifier.com writes:
Is bird flu being hyped? Of course it is. The media loves
these kinds of stories.
Anyone who watches mainstream television news has been subjected to a
flood of pharmaceutical commercials. I am just cynical enough to believe
that drug companies not only delight in avian influenza news stories, but
that they insist the media (that they finance) air these stories frequently
to generate fear and prime their potential customers.

Jo Waldron
Edmonds, WA
joaw9 at aol.com
--
Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.12.8/161 - Release Date: 11/3/2005