The Farce of Debate: Rand Paul Shines and Nobody Notices

I was so disappointed in the way the debate was handled, I really could not sleep last night. I tossed and turned thinking about how badly Rand Paul was treated, not just by Donald Trump, which is somewhat expected by now from the bully billionaire, but from the CNN panel of moderators who only allowed him to speak when his name was mentioned by the other nominees.

Pompous platitudes and innuendos abounded, while Dr. Paul was given the obligatory opportunity to defend himself slightly. It appeared that Trump at center stage was in complete control of the panel. 

I finally dragged myself out of bed at 11:00 AM to have some coffee, and ran across the following article, which perked me up a bit.

I present it in its entirety to the Esteemed Readers of this blog for their assessment.


"Donald Trump does not like Rand Paul.

In the weirdest non sequitur of a often-incoherent second Republican presidential debate, the billionaire front-runner for the party nomination declared, “Rand Paul shouldn’t even be on this stage. He’s number 11. He’s got 1 percent in the polls. There’s too many people onstage already.”

As he has been on so many points, Trump was entirely wrong on this one.

Paul distinguished himself with coherent questioning of mass incarceration, calls for criminal-justice reform, and aggressive referencing of the injustices that extend from a failed drug war. The senator from Kentucky had one of the best moments of the debate when, during a back-and-forth over Jeb Bush’s youthful inhaling of marijuana, Paul put things into perspective for the former Florida governor: “Kids who have privilege like you do don’t go to jail. But the poor kids in the inner city still go to jail.”

And when the debate turned to foreign policy, Paul made more sense than the rest of the runners combined.

“I’ve made my career as an opponent of the Iraq War,” declared the senator, who reminded the crowd that “The Iraq War backfired and did not help us.”

“I’m not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq.” —Rand Paul
Those lines did not earn Paul a lot of applause Wednesday night. This Grand Old Party does not well remember—nor respect—the wisdom of Dwight Eisenhower’s warnings about a military-industrial complex or the example of “old-right” Republicans who opposed military adventurism.

But Paul displayed a steady awareness of that history. His great contribution to the debate was to offer an alternative to the bombast and bluster that came Wednesday night from many of the other contenders—and that, frankly, comes on a regular basis from prominent figures who position themselves across the political spectrum.

The senator warned, “”If you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you’ve got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you if you want to go back to war in Iraq.”

While others spoke of putting boots back on the ground in the Middle East, he dissented, saying, “The first war was a mistake and I am not sending our sons and daughters back to Iraq.”

Paul’s dissents extended beyond objections regarding the Iraq imbroglio—as was appropriate during the course of a debate that produced plenty of objectionable statements from the crowd of Republican front runners and pretenders.

Early in the evening, several of the contenders were stumbling over one another in express their readiness to rip up the Iran nuclear agreement, with Senator Ted Cruz trumping them all by promising, “If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal.”

A few minutes later, in a break from what New Jersey Governor Chris Christie referred to as “this childish back-and-forth” with Trump and Fiorina over who was the worse CEO, Fiorina said there would be no back-and-forth with the president of Russia. “Having met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn’t talk to him at all,” she announced. “We’ve talked way too much to him.”

This is where Paul really stepped up.

Noting the location—the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California—Paul said with regard to the “wouldn’t talk to him” line: “Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which [was a] much more significant [challenge than] where we are now.”

Paul continued:

Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the [Iran nuclear] agreement immediately? That’s absurd. Wouldn’t you want to know if they complied? Now, I’m going to vote against the agreement because I don’t think there’s significant leverage, but it doesn’t mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied.

The same goes with China. I don’t think we need to be rash, I don’t think we need to be reckless, and I think we need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged.

We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn’t mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here.

There was a similar moment when the question of intervention in Syria arose.

The Kentuckian said:

I think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn’t. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think ISIS would be in Damascus today. I think ISIS would be in charge of Syria had we bombed Assad.

Sometimes both sides of the civil war are evil, and sometimes intervention sometimes makes us less safe. This is real the debate we have to have in the Middle East.

Every time we have toppled a secular dictator, we have gotten chaos, the rise of radical Islam, and we’re more at risk. So, I think we need to think before we act, and know most interventions, if not a lot of them in the Middle East, have actually backfired on us.

There are plenty of issues on which Rand Paul is wrong. He is not so steadily anti-war as his father, former congressman and 2012 presidential contender Ron Paul, or as “old-right” Republicans like North Carolina Congressman Walter Jones Jr.

There are plenty of things that Paul has said and done that merit skepticism, and opposition.

But the senator—and his dissenting views with regard to foreign policy—belonged on the main stage Wednesday night. Indeed, it was Rand Paul, not Donald Trump, who made Wednesday night’s gathering of Republican presidential contenders a debate. "

Thanks to John Nichols, The Nation’s Washington correspondent.
http://www.thenation.com/article/rand-paul-made-some-of-the-few-sensible-points-of-the-whole-debate/

U.S. Federal Government Tracking Adults for Health

The Esteemed Readers following this issue may care to learn of the Federal Governments effort to track adults who have not obtained recommended vaccinations. 

Vaccines poorly prepared with unknown contents can cause various permanent conditions to occur. Vaccines improperly prepared with live organisms infect healthy individuals with the diseases they are meant to prevent. 

Proper vaccines are prepared with dead organisms that are recognizable by the immune system. The immune system learns to fight diseases by recognizing the organism. 

← Has the global geopolitical chessboard been set up for World War III?
U.S. Federal Government To Track Adult Vaccination Compliance

Posted on August 26, 2015 by State of the Nation

Adults Targeted as Federal Government Prepares to Track the Unvaccinated

By Theresa Wrangham, NVIC Executive Director

During the National Vaccine Advisory Committee’s (NVAC) February meeting, American adults were put on notice by Big Brother that non-compliance with federal vaccine recommendations will not be tolerated. Public health officials have unveiled a new plan to launch a massive nationwide vaccination promotion campaign involving private business and non-profit organizations to pressure all adults to comply with the adult vaccination schedule approved by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). (1)

NVAC has authored the National Adult Immunization Plan (NAIP) and, once finalized, the plan will be turned over to the Interagency Adult Immunization Task Force (AIFT) to create an implementation plan. Notably, this task force is composed of “vested interest” stakeholders and no consumer representation for those groups concerned with vaccine safety and informed consent.

NVIC has submitted our public comments and recommendations for the NVAC’s draft National Adult Immunization Plan. (2) Your opportunity to submit your comments and concerns about this plan has been extended to March 23rd. We encourage all of our readers to participate in the public comment process and submit comments to the NVAC on the NAIP. Please forward this article to family and friends and encourage them to submit public comments, too.

What you need to know – the nutshell.

The basis of the NAIP rests on Healthy People 2020 Goals, (3) many of which are arbitrary. (4) The key fact the plan seems to lose sight of in using these goals as its foundation is …THEY ARE GOALS. These goals have no legal authority over your healthcare decisions and are being used by government officials to shape public health policy, which in turn is spurring legal mandates to force you to comply with them. (5)

The adult immunization plan also “incentivizes” doctors and other vaccine providers to convert patient data into Electronic Health Record (EHR) formats that can then be shared across state and federal electronic databases to track national vaccine coverage rates and also track and identify who is and is not vaccinated. Many states already have electronic vaccine tracking registries (Immunization Information Systems – IIS) in place, but do not share this information due to laws preventing the sharing of personal medical information and/or limited vaccination data on adults. This is where financial and other types of incentives come in to convince vaccine providers and state legislators to participate in the gathering of this private medical information on all adults.

Big Government is Partnering with Your Employer, Community & Religious Organizations

The NAIP states that it will take more than providers raising awareness about the adult schedule and encouraging compliance to meet Healthy People 2020 goals. So the NAIP contains objectives that foster partnerships with your employer and your community and religious organizations to make you and all adults get every federally recommended vaccine according to the government-approved schedule.

The NAIP makes it clear that in the future, all American adults will be informed of the recommended adult schedule at every possible opportunity outside the healthcare provider domain. You will be encouraged to comply with the adult schedule not only by your healthcare provider, but also via community-based partnerships to ensure that you have the opportunity to roll up your sleeve at work, school, church and other community gatherings.

NVIC has always supported awareness and access to preventative healthcare options, including access to vaccines for everyone who wants to use them. However, there is a difference between awareness, access, recommendations and mandates. In the past, these types of government vaccine use plans do not just seek to increase awareness and access but also make recommendations that foster vaccine mandates without flexible medical, religious and conscientious belief exemptions that  align with the informed consent ethic.

Tracking Vaccination Status Raises Privacy Concerns

Adults should examine this plan carefully because the U.S. Constitution guarantees American citizens the right to privacy. (6) In that context, it is important to understand that the NAIP objectives include electronically harnessing your personal medical information and that of all adults for the purpose of increasing adult vaccine uptake in the U.S. by tracking your vaccination status, with little regard for your privacy. (7)

There is no language in the plan that provides for consumer privacy protections. This is a glaring omission given the acknowledged and known risks for patient data being hacked (security breaches) by malicious outside entities. (8) The plan does not include provisions for raising consumer awareness of their ability to opt out of electronic tracking and patient data sharing schemes. (9) (10)

Closing Vaccine Safety Research Gaps Not Included in Plan

While the NAIP also supports increased reporting to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and ongoing analysis of claims submitted to the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), it is hollow support. For this to be meaningful, stronger language is needed to support closing vaccine safety research gaps highlighted by the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) series of vaccine safety reports (11) to lessen the number of VICP off-the-table compensation claims.

These off-the-table claims are a direct result of the continued expansion of the numbers of government recommended adult (and childhood) vaccines without the accompanying identification of vaccine side effects and injury outcomes to expand the federal Vaccine Injury Table (VIT) that governs the awarding of vaccine injury compensation. Off-the-table adult vaccine injury claims now represent the majority of claims (12) filed with the VICP and the compensation process has become  highly adversarial and costly.

As NVIC President Barbara Loe Fisher stated at the U.S. Health Freedom Congress last year when pointing out that responses to vaccines and infectious diseases are individual:

“We do not all respond the same way to infectious diseases (13) and we do not all respond the same way to pharmaceutical products like vaccines. (14) (15) (16) (17) Public health laws that fail to respect biodiversity and force everyone to be treated the same are unethical and dangerous.”
The NAIP fails to acknowledge these facts.

Compliance at the Expense of Bodily Autonomy

Vaccine mandates are made at a state level and the NAIP is a federal vaccine use promotion plan that is has no legal authority to turn government vaccine use recommendations into vaccine use mandates.

However, much like the recommendations made by NVAC a few years ago for healthcare workers to receive annual flu shots,(18) these recommendations are likely to result in future de facto vaccine mandates for adults, whether through employer requirements, (19) or actual state laws. Given the introduction of legislation (20) this year in many states to remove non-medical vaccine exemptions and restrict medical exemptions for school age children in an effort to force parents to comply with the CDC’srecommended childhood vaccine schedule, there is little doubt that that the NVAC’s latest plan will result in similar actions to force adults to use all federally recommended vaccines.

One only has to read stories posted NVIC’s Cry For Vaccine Freedom Wallby healthcare workers who have refused flu shots and are being fired from their jobs to understand the threat posed by the NAIP. Is your profession next? The short answer is yes.

Make no mistake about this plan’s intent, if “awareness” efforts and “incentivization” of vaccine policy do not increase adult vaccine uptake, the partnering with your employer and other community groups is meant to lower the hammer and force you to comply. The electronic tracking systems that are enthusiastically being embraced by not only the federal government but also state governments and employers, without regard for your privacy, will be used to identify noncompliers.

Informed Consent Freedom at Risk

If you haven’t read Dr. Suzanne Humphries’ book Dissolving Illusions,21 you may not realize that history is about to repeat itself. Government enforced vaccination through identification and door-to-door efforts to make everyone comply, like was seen with smallpox vaccination campaigns a century ago, is a real possibility again in America. Only this time it won’t just be about one vaccine – it will be about a lot of vaccines you will be forced to get.

The noose being tightened around the necks of our children is being thrown over the necks of adults as well. The tightening of that noose is growing daily in an attempt to strangle vaccine freedom of choice by eradicating the ethical principle of informed consent.

Adults and their children are being asked to accept a one-size-fits-all vaccine schedule that does not allow for the ability to delay or decline one or more vaccines for religious and conscientious beliefs. This is very dangerous when the medical exemption has been narrowed by government so that almost no health condition qualifies for a medical exemption anymore. Families already personally impacted by vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths will be faced with more loss, including their financial stability if they are forced to be revaccinated.

The human right to protect bodily integrity and autonomy – the core value of the informed consent ethic – is at stake.

This battle is not about an anti- or pro- vaccine position. It is a battle over freedom, values and beliefs.22 What is at risk is your ability as a parent and individual to decide what medical risks you are willing to accept and vaccination is the forefront of this battle.

For over three decades NVIC has supported informed consent protections in all U.S. vaccine laws and policies, which means that parents and individuals must receive full and accurate information on vaccine risks and benefits and retain the right to make voluntary decisions to accept, delay or decline one or more vaccines without being sanctioned for they decision they make.

NVIC Vaccine Freedom Rally

What You Can Do Today – Get Involved!

Your rights are being eroded and vaccine exemptions are under aggressive attack in many states. NVIC will continue to advocate for your freedom as we have done for over 30 years, but this battle will not be won without your voice and action.

Submit your comments on the NAIP by March 23rd to the National Vaccine Advisory Committee and forward this article to your friends and family.(NVIC NOTE 3/20/15:  We have become aware that the NVAC’s representative assigned to receive your comments email account is autoresponding that she is out of the office until the 25th. NVIC has contacted the National Vaccine Program Office and has been assured that comments sent by the 23rd are being collected and forwarded to the NVAC for their consideration. Please ignore the autoresponder – your comments are getting through and will be a part of the record. Many thanks to everyone for making us aware of this situation and for sending in comments on the NAIP! Keep sending in those comments!)

Most importantly, register and encourage others to register on NVIC’s Advocacy Portal today and join with other concerned Americans to protect informed consent rights. This resource is free and will keep you informed on legislative actions underway in your state, provide guidance on what action to take, and connect you with your legislators.

There is no time to waste. Please do not wait for someone else to do this…that someone is you and you can make a difference!

References

(1) CDC. Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule. Feb. 3, 2015.

(2) NVAC. Draft National Adult Immunization Plan. Feb. 5, 2014.

(3) Healthy People.gov. Immunization and Infections Diseases.

(4) A Perspective on the Development of the Healthy People 2020 Framework for Improving U.S. Population Health. Public Health Reviews. Vol. 35, No 1. 2013.

(5) CDC. Vaccines and Immunizations. State Immunization Laws for Healthcare Workers and Patients. Nov. 19, 2014.

(6) Cornell University Law School. U.S. Constitution – First Amendment Table of Contents, Invasion of Privacy.

(7) TEDxTraverseCity 2014. Designing Technology to Restore Privacy. Deborah C. Peel, MD.
(8) Fourth Annual Benchmark Study on Patient Privacy & Data Security, Ponemon Institute, Mar 2014.

(9) Health information exchanges introduce patient consent questions. K. Terry. Medical Economics. Jul. 8, 2014.

(10) CDC Immunization Services Division Presentation on IIS & Health People 2020 Goals to the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, Sep. 2013.

(11) National Vaccine Advisory Committee – White Paper on U.S. Vaccine Safety System. Sep. 2011.

(12) Report from the Department of Justice. Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines (ACCV) Certified Minutes. Pg 8. Sep. 2014.

(13) Hill AVS. Genetics and Genomics of Infectious Disease Susceptibility. British Medical Bulletin 1999; 55(2): 401-413.

(14) Kinman TG, Vandebriel RJ, Hoebee B. Genetic variation in the response to vaccination. Community Genet 2007; 10(4): 201-217.

(15) Lemaire D, Barbosa T, Rihet P. Coping with genetic diversity: the contribution of pathogen and human genomics to modern vaccinology. Braz J Med Biol Res 2012; 45(5): 376-385.

(16) Institute of Medicine Committee to Review Adverse Effects of Vaccines. Adverse Effects of Vaccinations: Evidence and Causality. Evaluating Biological Mechanisms of Adverse Events: Increased Susceptibility. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press 2012.

(17) DHHS. Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Data and Statistics. HRSA Updated monthly.

(18) University of Minnesota. NVAC approves recommendations on health worker flu vaccination. Lisa Schnirring. CIDRAP News & Perspective. Feb. 8, 2012.

(19) NVIC. Forcing Flu Shots on Health Care Workers: Who Is Next?. NVIC eNewsletter. Barbara Loe Fisher. Sep. 29, 2010.

(20) NVIC Advocacy. Action Alerts and Bills Monitored.

(21) Humphries, S. MD. Bystrianyk, R. Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines, and the Forgotten History. Jul. 27 2013.

(22) NVIC. The Vaccine Culture War in America: Are You Ready?. NVIC eNewsletter. Barbara Loe Fisher. Mar. 8, 2015