Saturday October 3, 2009, 2:59 pm

That's obscene!

(Capitalism gone criminal.)

Saturday October 3, 2009, 8:57 pm
Thanks Tom

Sunday October 4, 2009, 12:52 am
Wha-a-a-a???
OK---then HE can pay for the Healthcare plan.
[suckaruckafrucka Dick Dastardly].

Sunday October 4, 2009, 3:28 am
This is the most insane mess I have ever heard of. It is not just him, but the CEO of Cigna, who makes even more, as well as Humana and many others. They get rich off of making sure we are denied coverage! How can our Senators and our House Representatives continue to deny we need health care reform and a public option? Someone is lining some ones hip pockets.

Sunday October 4, 2009, 3:57 am
I must be doing something wrong! There is certainly something up the sleve there!!!
Thanks Tom for the info!

Sunday October 4, 2009, 5:20 am
It is sickening to think that we have become a nation of divide the rich get richer(politicians inclusive) while the poor struggle with issues that are hard core, housing, unable to feed their families due to rising cost of living all across the board!! health care well that is the most sickening of all......health insurance companies, drug companies all making the money at the consumers and patients expense....we will never have a health care program such as in france or a few other countries(canada not included they have issues there too!!) no one is asking for perfection or the perfect fix...but it seems our country makes excuses cant change this till 2012, cant change that till 2016 cant change something else till 2020 under FDR and Kennedy they acted fast and swiftly making no excuses, no stalling...we get ourselves caught in the drama and nonsense in other countries we need not be in..yes we should protect our country for potential nuclear threats from Iran at the same time more wasted money on troops? take some troops out of germany they have been there for decades and for what? send half of those soldiers to Afghanistan!!! and for once take some of the money( oh thats right we dont have money we owe money HA!) and place it where it belongs there are so many things that the US can do but we are a stubborn, selfish, materialist country and that will be our demise if attitude, and prioities dont change and fast!!

Sunday October 4, 2009, 7:52 am
tom rhia said it all

Sunday October 4, 2009, 8:26 am
What??? You want this poor CEO to live like AVERAGE people do? It must be really hard work to make so many people's lives miserable. Bleh!

Sunday October 4, 2009, 9:15 am
Greed is the seed that is planted among these CEO's!

Sunday October 4, 2009, 1:46 pm
I wonder how much of his $57,000.00 an hour goes to the Republican party to pay for their fighting health care reform???

Sunday October 4, 2009, 3:44 pm
Its not just United Health Care, either, it a lot of company's, American airlines, just told all the retirees that as of January 1, we will no longer have insurance with them because of the increase to cover us. Guess who was our carried United Health Care.. You got it! I am so upset, I do have a terminal illness that is not ever going to get better only worse and now I have to get out and try to fine me some more insurance. I have medicare and that's all now. I am 66 years old and have pre existing do you have any ideal what that is going to do to me....My medicine is outrages now with insurance, can not image what it will be after the 1st. The worse part is that they(American Airlines) took prefunding out of every pay check so that we would have insurance when we retired.. We also paid prefunding for Supplemental medical in case we ever used up our medical max at AA, that is also now gone because you can not have it if your not in a medical plan at AA, and they already told us we want get that money back. Now I know because I worked with the supplemental medical this fund was over funded by millions of dollars. because no one lived long enough to use it. I know this from the reports I got to read all the time. I think it sucks so you bet I want them to have a really good medical health care bill passed

Monday October 5, 2009, 12:06 am
It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known.

We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.

As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens.

--Excerpt from President Roosevelt's January 11, 1944 message to the Congress of the United States on the State of the Union

Monday October 5, 2009, 12:08 am
Note the third one from the bottom...how sad no one took up this amendment.

Monday October 5, 2009, 8:49 am
Thanks for the reminder, Al F. Today, we are so far removed from security, as FDR so well outlined, that GREED has become a way of life, POVERTY is a reality for many Americans, and CAPITALISM is a four-letter word.

I wonder how long it will take for Americans to 1) wake up, and 2) do something about it. Thanks Tom.

Monday October 5, 2009, 11:53 am
I saw on CNN twice last week that ALL the Republican Senators have received at least 10,000,000- that's 10Million dollars from the health and sickness insurance providers as well as the big Pharmas.

Monday October 5, 2009, 5:36 pm
$57,000 an hour. I still can't get past that obscene amount. Who decided to pay him that much? His hand-picked board of directors? Would the stockholders have voted to pay him that much? I don't think so. Don't the stockholders own the company? Shouldn't they have more of a say in this? This seems criminal to me. No wonder the middle class is shrinking and the American Dream is dying. Stephen Hemsley makes more in one hour than most people make in a year.

Greed will destroy this country. As Michael Moore says, the top 1% of Americans control 95% of America's wealth. Those 1%, the greediest of the greedy, are the ones who complain most about so-called "socialist" plans to redistribute the wealth from the rich to the poor. A massive redistribution has been going on in the opposite direction since the country was founded. The bailout was corporate welfare, a redistribution of taxpayer's money to rich people who should have lost the money they gamboled on risky investments.

The rich pay nothing into Social Security after the first $million they earn each year, and their taxes are capped at only 15% for investment income -- money they don't have to work to earn. Capitalism is a failure and will end in class warfare as soon as enough people have nothing left to lose.

There should be caps on the amount of money people who run publicly held corporations make. Right now there are no controls, and the bailout pokes holes in the old argument that corporations need to pay big bucks in order to keep good people to run companies. Those "good people" are the ones who caused the financial meltdown in the first place.

Tuesday October 6, 2009, 1:49 pm
"You cannot currently send a star to Tom because you have done so within the last week."

Many stars to you, Tom!

Wednesday October 7, 2009, 6:25 pm
very interesting??!!!!

Tamiflu Scandal: Gilead Sciences' Donald Rumsfeld Connection
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by Tina Kells | May 1, 2009 at 02:02 pm

Tamiflu is being touted as the best way to combat the H1N1 Swine Flu virus which has communities around the world in a pandemic panic, but is there a hidden agenda behind the push? Tamiflu is only one of two readily available anti-viral medications, yet Relenza isn't getting the same cure-it attention.

Could the fact that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has substantial interest in Gilead Sciences, the company that exclusively produces Tamiflu, be part of the reason that Relenza is taking a back seat in the H1N1 Swine Flu treatment plan?

The suggestion of a US government/Tamiflu conflict of interest is not new. It first surfaced in 2005 when then President George W. Bush pushed for and won $7.1 billion in emergency funding to prepare for an influenza pandemic that was not even yet on the horizon.

George W. Bush pushed for the emergency funding to develop a strategy against a Bird Flu type pandemic in the US, more than 14% of which went to one company, Gilead Sciences, producer of Tamiflu. Not so scandalous in and of itself until you learn that prior to becoming Defense Secretary Donald Rumsleld was Chairman of the Board of Gilead Sciences, a post he held from 1997 to 2001.


Prominent among the President’s (then George Bush) list of emergency measures was a call for Congress to appropriate another $1 billion explicitly for Tamiflu.

Conflict of interest or insider trading?

The saga of Tamiflu is just the tip of a big iceberg. As we noted in an earlier article, the real point of interest is the company in California who developed Tamiflu, Gilead Sciences, listed on the NASDAQ as (GILD). As we also noted, US Secretary of Defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, was Chairman of the Board of Gilead Sciences from 1997 until early 2001 when he became Defense Secretary. Rumsfeld had been on the board of Gilead since 1988, some thirteen years.


Source: engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net


Is U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld personally profiting from fears that a worldwide bird flu pandemic may occur? Yes. Rumsfeld once served as chairman of Gilead Sciences, Inc., the company that holds the patent on the antiviral drug Tamiflu, currently regarded as the world's best hope for the prevention and treatment of avian influenza. He still owns Gilead stock valued at between $5 million and $25 million.

Source: urbanlegends.about.com

The Rumsfeld connection to Tamiflu and its parent company Gilead Sciences is an eyebrow raiser which has caused bloggers to raise suspicious alarm bells. But the push to use Tamiflu over Relenza begs the question, why is the Obama administration pushing that one drug over an alternative? It can't possibly have an interest in padding the pockets of George W. Bush loyalists.

The reasons for the Tamiflu push may have been established long before Obama was calling the shots. As part of George W. Bush's 381-page Pandemic Influenza Strategic Plan the US amassed a stockpile of anti-viral medications to combat a future H1N1 pandemic. Starting in 2006 the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) collected Tamiflu and Relenza at a ratio of 80% Tamiflu, 20% Relenza. Total bill to the US taxpayer, $731 million (in 2006 dollars).

Q: What is the target ratio for SNS antivirals (Tamiflu/Relenza)?

A: SNS is currently purchasing antivirals in a ratio of 80% Tamiflu to 20% Relenza. The SNS also includes smaller quantities of rimantadine. Each State should purchase antivirals in a ratio that best fulfills their needs. HHS will be providing additional guidance to States to assist them in making this decision.

Q: What is the federal funding breakdown?


A: Congress appropriated $3.8 billion to help prepare the nation for a pandemic influenza event. Of this money, $3.3 billion was allocated to HHS for:
• $ 1.8 B – Vaccine production and development
• $731 M –Antiviral procurement (includes procurements and research)
• $162 M –Procurement of other medical supplies
• $350 M –State and local readiness
• $161 M –Domestic preparedness
• $ 94 M - International Activities
• $ 38 M – Communications