There are a couple of problems with the corruption explanation in this case. First, the US is actually behind most of the rest of the developed world in stockpiling of tamiflu. A US-specific explanation (whether linked to Rumsfeld or some broader corruption) fails to explain the rest of the world's behavior. 

Second, the US response seems to me to have been in large part driven by outside concerns. It's the press and others that have pushed the avian flu story, rather than the government. The government has dragged its heels and has only recently started addressing the problem aggressively. Again, this is not what you'd expect if the whole thing was a made up crisis to funnel government money to Rumsfeld and other stockholders. 

The evil invite their own punishment and it will be delivered. The Lord will not be checking Party affiliation nor issuing press passes. Enjoy your complacency, for it will not outlive you.

41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

mp

Time out folks on sleaze and corruption -
As far as I understand Rumsfeld did nothing wrong.  It is entirely logical he maintained investments in is old company.  I see not a conflict of interest with his DOD responsibilities.

I don't see how we can imply that Frist is trying to help Rumsfeld.  Frist is guilty of all sorts of mistakes and ommissions but there is no evidence of causation that I can see.


As to how the US should be handling the flu risk, prevention and care after infection I have no personal idea. I want to hear from medical professionals and not politicians.  Frist is first and foremost a politician.

The classic model of corruption involves sinister conspiracies, grand schemes, Nixonian-style nastiness.  I suspect that whatever corruption may exist here is of the "lite version."

We know that Bush takes care of "his own" in the extreme, and is prepared to punish, exile, career-wreck, etc. any disharmonious voice or anyone within one degree of family relation thereto, skills he honed well in his (ahem) successful career in the oil industry.  We also know that Bush believes in Indonesian style crony capitalism, not only as a business model but as a fundamental element of his success model ideologically, tactically and financially and has done so for 25 years.  If TPM readers know it, careerists in Congress, NIH and the Executive Branch must focus on that fact the way I focus on my commuter train schedule to DC to get to my law office.

If you worked for George Bush or Bill Frist, or in public life even 5 degrees of separation from them, and you suspected that there was no avian flu, or that the intelligence scientific data re same had been manipulated, or that perhaps Senator Frist had not received all of the information regarding the weapons microbes of mass destruction, and you knew that Donald Rumsfeld once ran the company that supplies the food for the soldiers and oil drilling equipment flu pills and probably still had at least a 7 figure stake in it, exactly when would you call Bob Woodward Judith Miller a real news reporter who worked for a living so that you and your undercover CIA agent wife immediate family could get attacked by Team Crawford?

No, you would gripe to a few friends, maybe talk someone else into taking the hit but otherwise shut up and punch out at 5 PM.  You would rationalize it - at least no one would die because the U.S. Government made an unnecessary, expensive and bad faith war against Iraq the flu bug.  You would not decide to become Deep Cough, especially if you do not have a half million dollar retainer for the white collar lawyer you will need after the FDA, the Defense Department, the Justice Department, Team Crawford and Gilead's corporate counsel all decide to eat you, your spouse and your children for dinner under 100 theories of civil, criminal and administrative wrongdoing.

There doesn't need to be a deep conspiracy.  Team Crawford has telegraphed its particular methods of political non-consensual sodomy clearly to all involved; in this sense they have been remarkably fair and open.  Fool with Bush and we won't kill you, but you will definitely beg us to do so.

A lot of corruption is about slowing down, stepping off the gas, delays in the ordinary procedures of due process and sunlight, skipping procedural review under "exigent circumstances."  It involves deferring tough decisions until the next guy/higher pay grade/proper authorization gives the OK.  When all is said and done, you do not need a conspiracy to keep people from picking up a turd; you just need an easy way for them to keep walking past it.

I have no idea whether Gilead is really "Halliburton Antiviral Solutions" in waiting.  But whoever might have a decent guess about it is probably mentally healthy enough to want not to commit financial and career suicide.  Thus works Corruption Lite (R), a registered trademark of the Republican Party.

The accusations never end. Where can a person invest their money and not be accussed of this stuff by the left? The guy is ancient, and was rich before he got back into the game. Do you actually think that the Bush administration is manipulating the stock portfolio of Donald Rumsfeld with the type of anti-viral they try to purchase to stave off a bird flu epidemic? It's these wild accusations that make the left look ridiculous, I'm sorry if anyone was offended by my style of pointing out the baselessness of the accusation (except tlees if you keep sticking your finger in the socket you will continue to get shocked). As a matter of fact why don't we see if the Kerry's or Kennedy's have any money invested in the oil/pharmacutical industries, oh that's right, all their money is hidden over seas in off shore trusts to avoid the crushing tax code they want to force on me!