October 05, 2005
Twice Tricked
So W. had a press conference yesterday mainly to appease Harriet Haters. Notice the Group That Runs George W. never ever takes a chance like that when his ratings are up. The neocons don't seem to like her, even though she is a long standing member of the evangelical Valley View Christian Church.
To his credit, W. did try to convey some information about avian flu, however incoherently. (A brain shunt of some kind might be necessary before they let him out for his next impromptu moment. He can no longer string a complete sentence together, but appeasing the neoconservatives undoubtedly requires great risks )
In any case, the New York Times helped him out by filling in the blanks.
Here's the part that worried me.
"The president said he had spoken to Dr. Fauci about development of a vaccine, but added that "we're just not that far down the manufacturing process." He said he wanted to encourage potential vaccine manufacturers to be poised to react urgently.
The United States last month ordered $100 million worth of a promising vaccine from the French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis."
So I rushed right over to see what Sanofi-Aventis has in store for us. Sounds great until you read the last paragraph about " forward looking" statements which are not "historical facts" - you could have fooled me. "Forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words “expect,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “intends,” “estimates,” “plans” and similar expressions. Although sanofi-aventis’ management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of sanofi-aventis, that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. "
Embedded subtly in the text is the fact that the vaccine is indeed "not that far down the manufactuing process" and is expected to be produced by 2008 or 2009. We could all be dead by then. Are we hearing about Tamiflu? NO. Why? There is no more Tamiflu, and the administraton has once again missed the boat.
In additon, on Sunday, as I was hitting Target for the cutting edge XL and XXL ziploc bags in which to store my newly acquired 50 pound sacks of this and that, I was stopped at the door by a pleasant woman who asked me to sign a petition.
" I will have to read it first.", I said to her astonishment. It was an innocuous request to allow retail stores to carry alcohol. Okay. So what. I signed.
She handed me a second petition.
" What's this for, gay marriage?" said I, smelling a rat.
" Yes. Just to put the question on the ballot."
" I like it the way it is" I said, vanishing through the automatic doors.
Little did she know that she had Ms. Sophistocat on her hands. There were others, entering Target for a Sunday afternoon foray, who, I am certain, didn't even think to ask the nice lady what they were signing. I heard this morning that there was a formal objection from gay marriage advocates about this sleazy trick.
It's getting to the point where you have to scrape the spin off your shoes, lest you slip in it.
Photo note: A little illusion.
Posted by Dakota at October 5, 2005 06:29 AM