FRIST info inside - The Dead Remember - Rivers Pitt

[Guest guest]

Finally after I (and probably you) have been sending this information out,

someone finally writes that the wording is THE SAME

Sheri

" Early in 2002, Bill Frist tried to get protection for Eli Lilly from these

suits attached to legislation that would increase the availability of

vaccines to average Americans, but this attempt was thwarted by Senator

Kennedy. The Homeland Security legislation mysteriously found itself

amended to carry the Lilly litigation protections, written in language

virtually identical to Frist's original attempt. "

The Dead Remember

By: Rivers Pitt - 01/02/03

" To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth. " -

Voltaire

The last big story of 2002 jumped off the front page of the Washington Post

on Monday, December 30th. The headline read, " U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq

Buildup - Trade in Chemical Arms Allowed Despite Their Use on Iranians,

Kurds. " This was by no means a new story. The Reagan-era photograph of

Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein has been making the

rounds for years now; at the time, Rumsfeld was serving as a special

presidential envoy in an effort to strengthen ties between Iraq and

America. In the space between that handshake was the daily use of chemical

weapons by Iraq upon Iranian forces, and later upon Kurdish villages. At no

time during the Reagan administration was this deadly activity addressed.

In that Cold War paradigm, the enemy of our enemy was our friend.

The Reagan administration did more than simply turn a blind eye to our

assistance in Iraq's development of chemical, nuclear and biological

weapons. Dozens of biological agents, including several strains of anthrax,

were shipped to Iraq under license from the U.S. Commerce Department in the

mid-1980s. The Commerce Department likewise approved the shipment of

insecticides to Iraq, despite the fact that these chemicals almost

certainly wound up transformed into weapons before being placed inside

missile warheads.

A reporter named s Zumach with the Berlin-based newspaper Die

Tageszeitung obtained the portions of Iraq's 12,000-page declaration

regarding its weapons program which had been redacted and erased by the

U.S. government, which took possession of the report before any members of

the UN Security Council could see it. According to Zumach, the redacted

portions of the report describe efforts by U.S. nuclear weapons

laboratories at Lawrence Livermore, Sandia and Los Alamos to train Iraqi

nuclear scientists. These same laboratories gave the Iraqis non-fissionable

materials for the construction of a nuclear bomb.

The redacted portions of the Iraq report also reveal the involvement of

many of America's most prominent corporations in the arming of Iraq during

the Reagan era. Hewlett Packard, DuPont, Honeywell, Rockwell, Tectronics,

Bechtel, International Computer Systems, Unisys, Sperry and TI Coating are

among the 25 American companies named who provided material assistance in

the development of Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs.

As late as 1988, Dow Chemical provided $1.5 million worth of chemical

pesticides to Iraq, despite the documented fear that these chemicals would

be weaponized. " Pretty much everything was illegal in the case of nuclear

and biological weapons, " said Zumach. " Every form of cooperation and

supplies was outlawed in the 1970s. " Only the diligent work of the UNSCOM

weapons inspectors from 1991 through 1998 made sure these weapons were

destroyed, along with the Iraqi capability to make more like them.

Apologists for war and empire will claim that all of this happened a long

time ago, that the Cold War excuses these deadly activities by our

government and our corporations. This kind of murderous enabling no longer

deserves to be part of the argument. It's not like these same corporations

will profit from a war with Iraq, thanks to their contracts with the

Defense Department. It's not like this kowtowing to corporate rule in

America is still a reality.

Right?

Enter Bill Frist in the wake of disgraced Senator Trent Lott. Frist,

formerly a surgeon, has been tapped to be the new Senate Majority Leader.

On the eve of Lott's racist self-immolation, the Homeland Security Bill

made its way through Congress. Originally a Democratic concept, the

legislation to create a Homeland Security Department to defend the nation

against terrorism was graced with a number of strange amendments.

Oddest among them was an amendment protecting the pharmaceutical corporate

giant Eli Lilly from any and all lawsuits pertaining to their manufacture

of thimersol, a mercury-based preservative for childhood vaccines produced

by Lilly for 40 years that has been connected to the development of autism

in children. Thousands of families seeking redress for the neurological

disorders their children suffer have been sent packing, because Lilly has a

contract with the U.S. government to provide vaccines against biological

weapons. One hopes thimersol is not included in the processing this time

around.

Early in 2002, Bill Frist tried to get protection for Eli Lilly from these

suits attached to legislation that would increase the availability of

vaccines to average Americans, but this attempt was thwarted by Senator

Kennedy. The Homeland Security legislation mysteriously found itself

amended to carry the Lilly litigation protections, written in language

virtually identical to Frist's original attempt. The bill passed, and no

one in Washington DC is willing to take responsibility for it. Frist, whose

ties to the corporate healthcare industry are blood ties, whose family made

its fortune through the massive Hospital Corporation of America HMO, who

helped scuttle the Patient's Bill of Rights, whose book was promoted and

distributed vigorously by Eli Lilly, denies all knowledge.

The White House likewise denies any knowledge of the author/sponsor of the

Lilly amendment. This stretches belief, considering the ties the Bush

administration has to the pharmaceutical giant. Herbert Bush

sat on the Lilly Board of Directors during the late 1970s, appointed by the

father of Bush Sr's. vice presidential candidate, Dan Quayle, who owned

controlling interest in the corporation. Bush Sr. was personally ordered by

the Supreme Court to stop lobbying the IRS on behalf of Lilly for tax

breaks in 1982. The Bush family has been substantially invested in Eli

Lilly stock for years.

White House Budget Director s is a former Lilly executive.

Disgraced Enron CEO Lay also sat on the Lilly Board of Directors,

until he was forced to resign in disgrace in December of 2001 after his

company exploded in a blizzard of fraud and deceit. During the 2002

election cycle, Eli Lilly gave more campaign money - $1.6 million - than

any other pharmaceutical corporation, 79% of which went to Republican

candidates. The Lilly amendment that found its way into the Homeland

Security bill in the immediate aftermath of that election can be seen for

what it is: a payoff.

These are facts in the public record as we roar into the brave new world of

2003. These are facts that the mainstream television media will not share

with you; understand that NBC and MSNBC, for one example, are owned by

General Electric, one of the largest defense contractors on earth. General

Electric stands to make incredible profit from a war with Iraq, despite the

fact that its corporate brothers and sisters profited by helping to create

the supposed menace not so long ago. Why would GE's media outlets give you

the facts? Facts interfere with the bottom line.

Here is your bottom line.

This country is headed to war with a nation we armed in the first place for

a tidy corporate profit, despite the fact that there is no evidence that

nation is a threat anymore. Beyond the tens of thousands of civilian deaths

this war will bring to the people of Iraq, beyond the potential for

hundreds or thousands of American casualties, beyond the vastly increased

threat of stateside terrorism this will cause, yet another tidy corporate

profit will be made. Simultaneously, corporations and our government

collude to keep average Americans from being able to call to account those

who poisoned children during 40 years of profitable manufacture of what

appears to have been a neurological poison.

2001 was an abominable year, to say the least. 2002 was not much better. As

we stride towards the brave new year 2003, a moment of pause should be

taken. Is this the country you want? Is this the government you want? Is

this the world you wish to leave for your children?

The New Year is meant for resolutions. Consider yours carefully, and keep

it after you make it.

Rivers Pitt is a teacher from Boston, MA. He is the author of two

books - " War On Iraq " (with Ritter) available now from Context Books,

and " The Greatest Sedition is Silence, " available in April 2003 from Pluto

Press. is a contributing writer for Liberal Slant. He is also on

the writing staff at www.truthout.com. E-mail him at:

williamriverspitt@... or visit his website: http://www.willpitt.com/

Lowery contributed research to this report.

--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

$$ Donations to help in the work - accepted by Paypal account

vaccineinfo@... voicemail US 530-740-0561

(go to http://www.paypal.com) or by mail

Vaccines - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm

Homeopathy course - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/homeo.htm

ANY INFO OBTAINED HERE NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS MEDICAL

OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE

DECISION TO VACCINATE IS YOURS AND YOURS ALONE.

******

" Just look at us. Everything is backwards; everything is upside down.

Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy

knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroy information

and religions destroy spirituality " .... Ellner