-----Original Message----- From: Paul Stone <pas@xxxxxxxx> Sent: Oct 27, 2004 1:43 PM To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: flu vaccine >A.A. I don't quite understand this except that Bush blames lawyers for the= =20 >healthcare problems of this country. Kerry says it's a deeper=20 >issue. Apparently you're siding with Bush. P.S. I'm not siding with Bush. I think Bush is a feeble-minded nitwit. Howe= ver,=20 Bush's reaction to the question at the debate was more honest and accurate= =20 than Kerry's. Bush gave an answer which addresses the part of the problem,= =20 however incompletely. The solution DOES start with individuals'=20 sacrificing. The meting out of the existing vaccines to the needy IS a=20 different problem and one that I have every sympathy about. A.A. I'm talking about their responses to the healthcare problems of the c= ountry, not flu vaccine. Regarding the bigger picture of healthcare being = so expensive that it's burdening businesses and huge numbers of the populat= ion are going without, Bush blamed the lawyers and offered no other solutio= ns. If he does reform tort laws to the point where companies no longer hav= e incentive to behave themselves for fear of lawsuits, what's left? Return= ing to the issue of sacrifice, I refer you to Kerry's statement that member= s of Congress don't sacrifice when it comes to healthcare. So, let's kill = the lawyers and have good healthcare in this country. Fair enough? P.S. I think the reason that there is a problem with the flu vaccinations i= s=20 threefold: 1) people became dependent on vaccines because they were marketed well and= =20 increased demand tremendously A.A. Childhood vaccinations have made the biggest difference in irradicatin= g polio, measles, and the like. Those are mandated. They've been so succe= ssful in fact and diseases so minimized that government has to step in and = remind parents to have their children vaccinated. These were public health= initiatives, not marketing successes. =20 P.S. 2) because of various legal and corporate decisions, it became unprofi= table=20 to make them in country A.A. What legal decisions beyond this unverified account of a lawsuit? Cor= porate decisions are based on bottom line. Except Enron, which was based o= n fiction. P.S. 3) A snafu in one of the providers has now greatly decreased the overa= ll=20 supply AND screwed up the already in progress delegation of that supply A.A. Suppliers are not easy to find because this is a product that makes a = marginal amount of money for the manufacturer. It's a nuisance for them. P.S. It's a problem, but it's surely NOT directly the government's fault. A.A. Perhaps not, but Bush has weakened the FDA. Generally speaking, he's= relaxed restrictions on corporations. Pollution, for example, is up, ask = the Sierra Club. I don't know what he's done with the CDC, but I doubt he'= s increased funding. The CDC is our front line of defense against biologic= al warfare and naturally occuring pathogens. It's not extremely surprising= that this vaccine shortage happened on Bush's watch and not another presid= ent's. > BTW, the story about the guy who sued (if it's even true) states an=20 > award amount that is chicken feed to the pharmaceutical=20 > companies. Vaccines bring a very very small return on investment; it's= =20 > basically a pro bono for them and they don't want to be bothered with it. These are contradictory statements. A settlement of 5 million dollars is=20 HUGE on a pro bono ROI. Regardless of the fact that they make billions of= =20 dollars on other drugs. The -5,000,000 is in the books and they're not stup= id. A.A. Five million dollars is lunch money. It's a meaningless amount of mon= ey to the pharmaceutical industry. Even so, they will point to it and make= a big deal out of it if they need an excuse to give up public health orien= ted production. >Kind of a dog eared question, but do you still think Bush's war is a=20 >positive thing? P.S. Reaction omitted for fear of starting a war. A.A. This sounds like you still support the invasion. We have lost so muc= h ground over there that journalists literally cannot leave their hotel roo= ms. There is at least one reporter missing for a month now, and we don't e= ven hear about it. A few months ago journalists were able to travel within= the country to get news, now they can't walk down a street, can't speak En= glish in public. Stringers have to give them information. Newsweek is pul= ling out all together. Only journalists embedded with the military will st= ay. It is far more dangerous than Vietnam was at its worst. There are som= ething like two dozen landmines in a stretch of about 30 yards in some plac= es (the actual number is verifiable from that link I sent). Over 700 Iraqi = police were killed so far. People are faced with death threats and most l= ikely death if they vote. Oil facilities are constantly sabotaged, car bom= bs happen with such frequency they're not news anymore. Terrorists are run= ning the show in Iraq. Our military is so ineffective over there we may as= well be wearing clown costumes. I almost hope Kerry doesn't win, because = Bush created this mess and he should be the one to take the hit on it. Thi= s war is lost, but he's perpetuating the illusion/delusion that democracy i= s on the march. Go figure. In fairness to Bush, I recently learned (NY Review of Books, haven't read i= t yet) that the inspiration and ideology of "they're going to treat us as l= iberators" came from Bernard Lewis. He apparently convinced the administra= tion we would be dodging flowers. I'm sure all that high quality Iraqi oil= didn't hurt either in making the decision to invade, oil that is now unava= ilable to us. Even if it's true that Bernard Lewis was their muse, it's ha= rd to believe that Bush et al. are so stupid, so swollen with themselves, t= hat they didn't even consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, peopl= e wouldn't roll over and play dead for the occupiers. =20 Andy changing into fire-retardant pyjamas, Paul=20 ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html