Scott AKA TLHeart (mail):
Now they can admit that they have been overestimating the aids crisis, maybe because the money is drying up for their inflated cause, and now they have a new inflated cause anyway....big and bad carbon dioxide.
11.20.2007 12:43pm
zach.:
Scott,

that presumes that it's the same people working on both aids and global warming. i'd estimate that, at most, there is less than 1 crossover scientist between the two teams.
11.20.2007 12:46pm
Dan the Highway guy (mail) (www):
I wouldn't be so sure, zach. I can imagine there's plenty of 'administrative' scientists that are moving from one field to another.
11.20.2007 12:58pm
Dean Esmay:
The handwriting was on the wall when Fishbein blew the whistle on shoddy research techniques a couple of years ago. Now they've pretty much admitted that they grossly exaggerated the scope of the disease everywhere but sub-saharan Africa. I expect soon they'll be admitting that they did so there as well, because African "AIDS" is indistinguishable from malaria, cholera, dysentary, and plain old malnutrition.

It's probably the biggest medical scandal of my lifetime. I expect few if any apologies though.
11.20.2007 1:08pm
Dean Esmay:
As for whether it's the same people--the paid researchers, probably not, but the bureaucrats? I wouldn't be surprised to see crossover.

When you pay people to see a problem, amazingly, they see the problem most of the time.
11.20.2007 1:09pm
zach.:
Dan,

first off, if they're so tied to administration that they can jump from one field to a wholly different one successfully, then they are probably more aptly labeled administrators and not scientists. Second, even then I doubt that there are many, if any.
11.20.2007 1:11pm
Stace:
I've just started reading Gary Taubes book, Good Calories, Bad Calories. It describes how scientists, government, and media arrived at a consensus that Americans would live longer if they reduced the fat in their diets--even though there were zero scientific studies that proved this, and in fact some studies showed just the opposite.

It's disturbing to read how the "experts" can just ignore the actual science to push an agenda. As I'm reading the book, I'm seeing a lot of parallels with what's happening in some areas of the the climate change controversy: scientists with loud voices cherrypick the science, media raise the alarm because "scary" sells, skeptics are demonized, congressmen hold high-profile hearings, and statisticians are appalled by how the studies are being promoted.
11.20.2007 1:13pm
Ronald Coleman (mail) (www):
Zach, you completely are missing the point!
11.20.2007 1:40pm
Scott McLoud (mail):
Well, Scare-mongering over AIDS is at worst a gigantic money sink, pulling money from other disease research areas.

Scare-mongering over climate change is much worse as it is not only a gigantic money sink, but a potential to drastically reduce or ruin economies and to set up the most anti-democratic government systems for "the peoples' own good"
11.20.2007 1:55pm
zach.:
Ron,

no, I get it and agree with Dave. I was just addressing Scott's point.
11.20.2007 1:55pm
TallDave (mail) (www):
[last lines]
Marion: Hey, what happened? You don't look very happy.
Indiana: Fools. Bureaucratic fools.
Marion: What'd they say?
Indiana: They don't know what they've got there.
Marion: Well, I know what I've got here. Come on. I'll buy you a drink. You know, a drink?
11.20.2007 2:24pm
Ronald Coleman (mail) (www):
Yeah, sure -- and next movie, she's history.
11.20.2007 3:16pm
TallDave (mail) (www):
[Marion surprises him with a right cross to the jaw]
Marion: I've learned to hate you in the last ten years.
Indiana: I never meant to hurt you.
Marion: I was a child. I was in love. It was wrong and you knew it.
Indiana: You knew what you were doing.
Marion: Now I do. This is my place. Get out.
11.20.2007 4:32pm
Dishman (mail):
Zach,

Whether or not you're addressing Scott's point depends on who "they" are. If we're talking about scientists, then you're right. If we're talking about bureaucrats and the UN organization as a whole, then you've missed it.

The ones doing actual work (like scientists) are peons. They're disposable. It's the organization that matters.
11.20.2007 4:36pm
Hank Barnes (mail) (www):
Dr. James Chin from the WHO (since quit), is a heroic figure in all this

From the article:

James Chin, a former World Health Organization AIDS expert who has long been critical of UNAIDS, said that even these revisions may not go far enough. He estimated the number of cases worldwide at 25 million.

"If they're coming out with 33 million, they're getting closer. It's a little high, but it's not outrageous anymore."

That's one way to cure 7 million people -- strike them off the books:) Oops -- they you don't exist, please return your red ribbons!

Chin's book:AIDS Pandemic: The Collision of Epidemiology With Political Correctness," said from Berkeley, Califbook is must reading.

Essentially, AIDS has morphed into a jobs protection program for mediocre scientists and international health bureaucrats, shrouded by a lotta do-gooding hype and propaganda.

In America, way more people are making money off AIDS, than dying from AIDS.

HankB
11.20.2007 4:38pm
Scott McLoud (mail):
Yeah, sure -- and next movie, she's history.

To be fair, the second movie was set a year before the first. And Marion (Karen Allen) will return in Indiana 4.
11.20.2007 5:09pm
Mark @ Urthshu (mail) (www):

Scare-mongering over AIDS is at worst a gigantic money sink, pulling money from other disease research areas.
No, Scott, I'd say it can be and often is more pernicious than that. Especially when that fear is used as a means of social coercion.

Anyway, I printed the WaPo article out for the folks at the Health Dept. Crestfallen reactions in a couple of cases....
11.20.2007 6:50pm
zach.:
Dishman,

you're right, yeah.
11.20.2007 7:56pm
jaymaster (mail):
Typical UN.

The top men get the glory.

The bottoms get the pain.
11.20.2007 8:44pm
TallDave (mail) (www):
Crestfallen reactions in a couple of cases....

That really says it all, doesn't it?

"Oh no, fewer people are sick!"

Expect the same with global warming, if temperatures fall as some solar-model advocates believe.

And then on to the next Malthusian scare...
11.20.2007 8:53pm
Mark @ Urthshu (mail) (www):
Nah. They're worried about their funding.
11.20.2007 9:36pm
Scott McLoud (mail):
Mark,

The only social coercion I see on AIDS are "walk for the cure" kind of things (i.e. charities "if you don't donate you don't care" kind of thing).

The type of social coercion I see in Global Warming is down right scary and anti-democratic. Let's face it, Gore in his rhetoric and attitude combines Lysenko, Stalin and a fundamentalist preacher all in one; I'm sure the Ironman (Stalin) is looking up from his grave saying "Damn, that guy's GOOD"
11.20.2007 10:37pm
Jack G (mail) (www):

The top men get the glory.

The bottoms get the pain.



Does this mean the UN is actually just a giant glory-hole?

Cause I've suspected something like that for a very long time.
11.20.2007 10:40pm
Mutnodjmet (www):
Love the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" reference.
11.20.2007 11:06pm
Scott AKA TLHeart (mail):
Zach,

It does not matter who the scientist were or are, I am talking about the UN as an organization, and just how corrupt they are, and how they use scare monger tactics to advance their ideas, even if they are not backed up by scientific research, but by bureaucratic need. IE give me money for my organization, as I try to pull at your heart strings, or your fears, regardless of what the science actually says.

The UN needs to be disbanded as it is the most undemocratic supporting organization in the world. The Dictators control their power over their countries with the UN's blessings.
11.20.2007 11:08pm
Ronald Coleman (mail) (www):
I stand corrected!
11.20.2007 11:20pm

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