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Friday

March 2010

12

Community Blogs

Gary is an author, trial lawyer, Mequon-area resident and town of Cedarburg supervisor. He is a columnist for the News Graphic and writes for several Wisconsin area magazines. He lives with his wife, Lisa, and has three sons ages 14 to 24.

Comments
paul63
Friday Dec 18, 2009 5:52 PM

I am sorry to say that I find several factual errors in this column. I would like to set the record straight. In 2001, then Secretary of Health and Human Services (and former Wisconsin Governor) Tommy Thompson said, “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) led a process to develop a Model State Emergency Health Powers Act that will be an important tool for state and local officials to respond to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies.” The proposed PA law Mr. Wickert mentions, Bill 492, was drafted based on this Act, and gives a number of powers to "the state health authority" that Mr. Wickert claims are given to the governor alone. Contrary to Mr. Wickert's assertion, these powers do not include "prohibitions of firearms." Rather, authority is given -- in time of emergency only and to maintain order -- to prohibit the "transport" of firearms and to regulate (by taxes) or limit (by rationing) their sale.

paul63
Friday Dec 18, 2009 5:56 PM

2. Contrary to Mr. Wickert's assertion, these powers do not include "prohibitions of firearms." Rather, authority is given -- in time of emergency only and to maintain order -- to prohibit the "transport" of firearms and to regulate (by taxes) or limit (by rationing) their sale.

paul63
Friday Dec 18, 2009 5:58 PM

3.

Mr. Wickert fails to mention the special, unusual vulnerability of young adults to the H1N1 influenza virus. His reference is to "younger people" -- those, he writes, in "ages 20 to 60" -- but WebMD, quoting Janice K. Louie, MD., MPH, of the California Department of Health, reported Nov. 3: "the low median age of patients with severe or fatal H1N1 swine flu -- 27 years -- makes the pandemic 'markedly different' from seasonal flu." And WebMD reported Nov. 12: "CDC data from Aug. 30 to Oct. 31 show flu activity is 'substantially above historic levels in all U.S. surveillance systems,' according to today's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report."

paul63
Friday Dec 18, 2009 6:00 PM

4.

WebMD also reported: "a very large percentage" of the U.S. deaths were of people under age 18. On Nov. 12, the CDC reported its best guess estimate of 22 million H1N1 infections of U.S. residents as of Oct. 17, the six-month anniversary of the beginning of the pandemic, with 4,000 U.S. deaths -- "perhaps as many as 6,000." Mr. Wickert had just 4,735 H1N1 deaths worldwide – I don’t know the date for his tally -- but his figures were based only on laboratory-confirmed infections, which are understood by the CDC to be significant under-estimates.
.

paul63
Friday Dec 18, 2009 6:03 PM

5.

Mr. Wickert sees the failure to deliver the promised vaccines in a timely manner as having something to do with "government-run health care." But one expert, Robert Goldberg (Vice President of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest), in an op-ed published in The New York Post ("Why you can't get swine-flu vaccine," Nov. 3, 2009), claimed that the real reason for the delay was "pressure from anti-vaccine fringe groups" whose fear of thimerosol persuaded government agencies to order single-dose syringes (which do not require the preservative) rather than the more easily produced multi-dose vials. .

paul63
Friday Dec 18, 2009 6:04 PM

6.

Previous lawsuits over the matter in the 1980s, Mr. Goldberg claims, not only "scared off investment in production facilities" and in new vaccine technologies, but also led to a reduction in the number of companies that make vaccines from 18 to just 4, and left us with "a production process that hasn't changed in the last 100 years."

paul63
Friday Dec 18, 2009 6:05 PM

7.

Mr. Wickert concludes his column with a quote that he attributes to Ronald Reagan's nationally televised 1964 "Rendezvous With Destiny" speech. Unfortunately, Mr. Wickert is apparently in error here. From what I can tell, Ronald Reagan never uttered those words about "socialized medicine" or "handouts" in his famous speech on behalf of GOP presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, also known as "A Time for Choosing" and available in text and video on the website of The Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia (http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3405).

paul63
Friday Dec 18, 2009 6:06 PM

8.

And should Mr. Wickert's attribution prove not to be in error, I would note that his version even differs from similar versions I have seen (such as the one that appears in a collection of Reagan speeches published by Newsmax), which all quote Mr. Reagan as asking "Will you resist the temptation to get a government handout for your community?" (Mr. Wickert's quotation does not include "for your community.")

paul63
Friday Dec 18, 2009 6:07 PM

9.

Mr. Reagan did participate in a 1961 campaign in opposition to "socialized medicine," participating in a widely distributed LP recording sponsored by the American Medical Association (which also does not include the words quoted by Mr. Wickert). But that campaign was against Medicare -- which it succeeded in delaying for years -- a now very popular program covering 45 million seniors that in the current debate is being strenuously defended by Republicans. (Contrary to Republican claims, the proposed reform will improve Medicare coverage for many seniors and lower their prescription drug costs.) And, of course, the AMA itself endorsed the Democratic health care reform effort earlier this year.

paul63
Friday Dec 18, 2009 6:09 PM

10.

When Mr. Wickert refers to "state-run" media in this country, I believe he is making a charge that should not be taken lightly. If we do have "state-run" media in this country, when exactly did that happen? And does Mr. Wickert have any evidence to support this charge? (He did not present any.) To the contrary, I know that some media critics have expressed concern about the corporate control of our media. In particular, General Electric, as owner of NBC and MSNBC, has been accused of restricting the discussion of topic of global warming (or climate change) on its networks.

paul63
Friday Dec 18, 2009 6:12 PM

11.

In particular, General Electric, as owner of NBC and MSNBC, has been accused of restricting the discussion of topic of global warming (or climate change) on its networks. Apparently, this topic has rarely even been mentioned on "Meet the Press," for example. GE also benefits from very lucrative government contracts -- many in the defense industry -- and has been faulted both for uncritical war reporting -- even enthusiastic war-boosting, some claim -- and for failing to disclose possible conflicts of interest when retired military personnel with defense industry ties appear as expert commentators on its networks.

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