Newt Gingrich Echoes Secretary Thompson's Warning on Pandemic Flu

[pandemic_1918]

Newt Gingrich Echoes Secretary Thompson's Warning; Former House Speaker Calls for a 21st Century Virtual Public Health System

12/4/2004 4:23:00 PM


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

To: National Desk and Health Reporter

Contact: Rick Tyler of Gingrich Communications, 540-338-1250 or [e-mail]

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Former Speaker Newt Gingrich implored the Bush administration and lawmakers on Capitol Hill to heed outgoing Secretary Thompson's dire warning that the United States is at significant risk of a flu pandemic because the nation is not prepared to adequately deal with it.

Secretary Tommy Thompson, in a news conference to announce his resignation, took the opportunity to issue a warning about the threat as well as a threat to our nation's food supply by a terrorist attack.

Gingrich pointed out that while it is highly unusual for an outgoing Cabinet member to make such strong statements about a threat to the nation, Secretary Thompson is in a position to know how serious the threat is. "I have known and worked with Tommy Thompson since he was Governor of Wisconsin. He is a serious person with a tremendous record of accomplishment. His work on welfare reform as governor and as a transformational leader of Health and Human Services speaks for itself," Gingrich said. "Having said that, Thompson's warning about a flu pandemic was his greatest single service to our country."

Gingrich concluded that if Thompson is concerned, than the threat is real. He called on the Congress to meet the challenge of creating a 21st century virtual public health system that can respond to the threat of a pandemic, and suggested starting with hearings so that Members of Congress and the nation can understand the full scale of the threat.

[pandemic_1918]

1. Human Flu in Korean Pigs

Wait till he hears about the human flu in Korean pigs

http://www.recombinomics.com/flu_bioterrorism.html

[Ian David]

2. This doesn't help

I wouldn't cite Newt as an expert on anything other than the world's most tactless divorce request ever.

[pandemic_1918]

6. Newt for Thompson

The was a rumor that Newt was eying in the health secretary position, but it sounds like McClellan will get it (Scott's brother).

[vickie]

20. You're right, fat Newtie was angling for the position, but the

McClellan drone is in line for it.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Anybody notice...

That Gingrich seems to be coyly speaking out against these clowns a lot lately?

[burythehatchet]

4. there are relatively few people who are on my list of "beyond redemption"

newtie has been on that list for many years. may he find himself on the spit of history, being slowly cooked by his conscience.

[pandemic_1918]

10. Newt Comments

I believe he was hoping to get Thompson's position (but its going to McCellan's brother).

[Journeyman]

5. Too bad there's no money for any such program . . .

even if BushCo could be convinced of the seriousness of the threat.

[pandemic_1918]

9. Bioterrorism

There is always money for Bioterrorism.

[pandemic_1918]

11. 1933 H1N1 in Korean Pigs (from 2004)

This will give you an idea of how serious things may already be.

http://www.recombinomics.com/1933_2004_H1N1.html

[pandemic_1918]

22. Terrorism

Terrorism is Bush's #1 priority and avian flu just requires a wheel barrel and a willingness to spread it around (at international airports). Lots of flu virus laying around in Thailand.

http://www.recombinomics.com/flu_bioterrorism.html

[depakid]

7. What a joke

"Gingrich concluded that if Thompson is concerned than the threat is real."

Republican logic never ceases to amaze me.

Forget the epidemiologists- listen to Tommy Thompson- he knows everything....

[pandemic_1918]

29. It's Unanimous

Maybe Newt doesn't understand the epidemiologists. In any event, Thompson and epidemiologists and just about anyone paying attention knows that the looming pandemic is a VERY serious threat

http://www.recombinomics.com/H5N1_case_fatality_rate.html

[Pepperbelly]

8. now this is just pretty damned ... odd.

Don't you think?

Two very conservative gops squawking in public about flu pandemics. I find it almost impossible for either of these yahoos to be speaking in the spirit of public service. They always have ulteriors.

Fuck both of them.

[disconnected]

12. ...hmmm

now, if there were a flu pandemic, which elected officials would you most like to see infected?
that's probably a loaded question...
*glances upward innocently while whistling*

[jburton]

13. newt.org is your source???

dream on...he just wants his chubby fingers in the Faith Based Shortage Contracts that his Bushco buds are about to give out.

[depakid]

14. Newt is NOT his source

The threat is all too real-

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/

What most of the commentators in this thread scoff about is Newt and Thompson, neither of whom have shown much interest in the public health before... which should lead a reasonable person to suspect that they're using the threat to further some hidden agenda.

[pandemic_1918]

17. WHO Warnings

WHO has issued several warnings on the flu pandemic

http://www.recombinomics.com/H5N1_case_fatality_rate.html

[pandemic_1918]

18. 1933 H1N1 Detection in Korea

The detection of H1N1 from the original 1933 flu isolate is a concern. The sequences are actually virtually identical to WSN/33, which was isolated from mouse brains. It grows well in tissue culture and is used in experiments using genes from the 1918 pandemic strain. When the H of WSN/33 is replaced with the H of the 1918 pandemic strain, the effects on mice are the same

http://www.recombinomics.com/1933_2004_H1N1.html

Why this virus is now showing up in pigs in Korea is a significant question and H1N1 isolates may be a serious health risk.

[pandemic_1918]

30. More Warnings

The number of earnings of the pandemic this week has increased quite a bit, along with commentary on how unprepared most countries are.

[brentspeak]

15. I would 1st check to see if Gingrich and Thompson are on the payroll

of some major drug company that would manufacture flu vaccines before I take their opinion on a possible pandemic seriously.

[pandemic_1918]

16. WHO Predictions on Pandemic Flu

It is WHO who said up to 100 million deaths from pandemic flu

http://www.recombinomics.com/H5N1_case_fatality_rate.html

[Silverhair]

32. Maybe they want to save their own lives???

In 1918 675,000 Americans died, (Population 100M) in nine months of the great flu epidemic. It doesn't take a medical genius to realize that flu can be more serious than a few days in bed.

Of the last 23 people that contacted Asian Bird Flu, 18 died. It doesn't take a medical genius to realize that if that if becomes as contagious as the regular flu, and retains it lethality in the change, then it poses a real threat to each of us personally. Republicans want to keep on living, just like the rest of us.

Learn to think for yourselves. If you automatically assume that if a Republican says "Up" then it is actually "Down", then you aren't thinking for yourself.

[pandemic_1918]

35. 1933 H1N1 on Farm in Korea

The flu situation in Korea is heating up. The 1933 H1N1 human sequences are from isolates taken from pigs on a farm in Korea. If this isn't some sort of sequencing lab artifact (and it doesn't look like it is), this could get very serious very quickly

http://www.recombinomics.com/1933_2004_H1N1_farm.html

[PurityOfEssence]

19. Newt's a supreme asshole, but he IS a historian

World War 1 (1914-18) was a horrible bloody mess, but the flu pandemic of 1918 KILLED MORE PEOPLE.

[pandemic_1918]

21. 1918 Pandemic Flu

Some have said the pandemic flu actually ended WW I.

The number dead ranged from 20-100 million and the population in 1918 was 1/4 of what it is today

http://www.recombinomics.com/1918_case_fatality_rate.html

[PurityOfEssence]

23. They're wrong

WW1 was a conflict of empires that was truly about nothing. Unable to sustain their greed, it collapsed of its own weight.

We are still paying for the Versailles Treaty, and the fact that Hussein was a pal of Tito simply underlines the reality that the lines drawn by people who'd never been to the places partitioned left us all with festering ills for which we'll all pay for quite some time.

The flu pandemic didn't halt WWI; it had already sucked itself under. Unfortunately, though, the war spread the disease.

[pandemic_1918]

24. 20 - 100 Million Dead

The pandemic (H1N1) flu was beginning to take off in the fall of 1918 and soldiers were dropping like flies (at some camps it was 100 per day dying). Eventually 20 - 100 million people died from flu, far exceeding all WW I casualties.

[PurityOfEssence]

33. It still didn't end the war

Germany's fate was sealed when Operation Michel stalled and the Americans started to come into things in force. By summer, it was unwinnable, and the Germans knew it. Although the weight of a fresh army and its materiel swung the balance, it can in no way be said that "America won the war".

What influence the influenza had on hastening the Armistice talks is small to none. Some people wanted to keep the war going and push into Germany to make it obvious. In light of how the Nazis distorted things to make it look like the army wasn't whipped, but had been betrayed by politicians, that might have been the best way to end it. The truth is that after all that carnage, everyone was exhausted.

When you think of the American casualty rates being about 40% of World War 2's, and in considerably less than 6 months of serious fighting, you can see how horrendous it all was.

The war did more to affect the flu than the flu did to affect the war.

Truly, though, the influenza losses should be considered part of the devastation of World War I: it never would have been spread like that without the mass movements of people and crowding of camps.

[leesa]

25. This is the next attack against America the Bush Crime Family will make.

Is THIS why the researchers were killed? So these evil "christians" could launch a microbiological holocaust?

[pandemic_1918]

26. Pandemic Flu is Democratic

Pandemic Flu is pretty democratic. I will infect and kill just about anyone that crosses its path (although some lame ducks do well).

[TrustingDog]

34. that's where my mind was going... the mysterious dead microbiologists...

o boy.

[Skidmore]

27. Newtie has some interest in this cabinet position, or at least I

heard this on one of those programs in the last few days--may have been Hardball.

[pandemic_1918]

28. McClellan

Yes, but I believe Scott McClellan's brother is getting the position.

[hollowdweller]

31. I notice ole Pumpkin Head is making the rounds again. Lets ignore him

I think he is one of the biggest asses ever. The ultimate for me was seeing him on TV about 15 minutes after the World Trade Center attack blaming it on Clinton.

[one_true_leroy]

36. ironic that someone with noe working knowlegdge of medicine,

military (Rumsfeld), or anything can be a Cabinet member. Aren't there any doctors available? Heck, I'd be happy with an RN or EMT running the show, but a washed up politician? :crazy:

[pandemic_1918]

37. Flu Knowledge Update

I think that if the sequences from the farm in Korea are correct

http://www.recombinomics.com/1933_2004_H1N1_farm.html

many will learn about flu and immunity very quickly, and some will learn the hard way.

[Silverhair]

38. Yes. There is the Office of the Surgeon General.

Bush appointed Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S. to that office. It is part of the Dept of HHS.

Here is the web site: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/

I searched the site but did not find anything about Asian Bird Flu, but that proves nothing one way or another.

[pandemic_1918]

40. Bird Flu Info

I think that just about all of the bird flu info from the government is at the CDC site

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/index.htm

The latest news in on lack of preparedness and WHO came out with an alert yesterday, but they still use VERY optimist numbers

http://www.recombinomics.com/H5N1_case_fatality_rate.html

[one_true_leroy]

42. sorry, I had forgotten about that post.

But it's not cabinet level is is? What is the officail role of the surgeon general?

[Blue_Tires]

39. why does ANYONE ever listen to Newton anymore??

and WHY does he continue to get ink?

[PATRICK]

41. Gingrich always has another agenda

and lately it is "modernizing" with a difference. Vote fraud dripped slyly from his nuances about modernized voting. One's imagination can range freely what he plans to do using the fear of plague to install some other new system. Let your imagination soar or plunge. You will not reach the depths of that hack's monstrous intentions.