Investigation opening up over Obama's drug deal

Investigation opening up over Obama's drug deal

rt.com

Sen. Claire McCaskill, a democratic representative from the state of Missouri, has asked the Department of Health and Human Services to look into the White House’s recent deal inked between the Obama administration and Siga Technologies Inc, the manufacturer of a smallpox pill that is coincidently owned by a major campaign donor and crony of the commander-in-chief.

The president’s relationship with controlling shareholder Ronald O Perelman has raised eyebrows, but it has also been divulged that

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Related News Links:
[url=http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/13/nation/la-na-smallpox-20111113]articles.latimes.com

Another White House scandal. This time a fellow member of Obama's Democratic Party, Sen. Claire McCaskill, has asked for an investigation into the White House's deal with Siga Technologies Inc., whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, one of the world's richest men and a longtime Democratic Party donor.

At $250 per pill x 1.7M doses the deal is worth $433 million for a drug that is experimental and untested to become a part of the U.S.'s stockpile. Nobody really knows if it will work in the event of a smallpox outbreak. Smallpox was eradicated worldwide in 1978 and is known to exist only in the locked freezers of a Russian scientific institute and the U.S. government.

Is this mere political cronyism (tit for tat for continued donations) or is an indication of something more nefarious coming our way? What are McCaskill's motivations in asking for an investigation? Are they good motivations to root out cronyism in the Administration, or is there something else to this?

From the L.A. Time earlier this month, look at how Siga Technologies got "selected":

articles.latimes.com...

When Siga complained that contracting specialists at the Department of Health and Human Services were resisting the company's financial demands, senior officials replaced the government's lead negotiator for the deal, interviews and documents show.

When Siga was in danger of losing its grip on the contract a year ago, the officials blocked other firms from competing.

Siga was awarded the final contract in May through a "sole-source" procurement in which it was the only company asked to submit a proposal. The contract calls for Siga to deliver 1.7 million doses of the drug for the nation's biodefense stockpile. The price of approximately $255 per dose is well above what the government's specialists had earlier said was reasonable, according to internal documents and interviews.

rt.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

RT is really reaching for everything they can to attack the office of the US president.

If this is the best they can do, all I can say is

The headline is catchy though.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin wins peace prize....

Originally posted by Fractured.Facade
RT is really reaching for everything they can to attack the office of the US president.

If this is the best they can do, all I can say is

Fractured, did you even look at the story and my post? There is a lot to this story. Don't get stopped from thinking about this story just because ONE OF THE sources if RT. If it came from the L.A. Times would you take it more seriously? Well, guess what? What do you think of the L.A. Times story linked? What about McCaskill's investigation?

The office of the U.S. President truly is under attack, although by Obama himself!

That's all? I disagree with that statement.
You mean "That too?"
It's not a weak allegation. That's some pretty serious stuff.

Single sourcing procurement for a drug that may or may not be needed to stockpile at a cost od $433million dollars should NOT be ignored.

IF it's so unimportant,why is one of Obama's own inside men calling for the investigation?

To distance himself right?

The question here is is the deal illegal or just unethical? Sounds like a legit question from his own team.

Not surprising, this sounds just like the solar energy scam, for about the same amount of money. Obama has about a dozen impeachable offenses against him, I don't think this will make any more traction than the rest which sound worse, but hopefully it does.

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


Yeah, I think the Russians are afraid that the US may have an effective treatment/vaccine for their weaponized smallpox.

I think there is far more going on here than what you are reading on the surface.

Whether there was financial manipulation, corruption or scandal here or not will be sorted out eventually.

But in a war, biodefenses could be critical to our survival.

Can you really put a price tag on that?

Food for thought.

Originally posted by Fractured.Facade
reply to post by Iamonlyhuman

 

Yeah, I think the Russians are afraid that the US may have an effective treatment/vaccine for their weaponized smallpox.

I think there is far more going here than what you are reading on the surface.

Whether there was financial manipulation, corruption or scandal here or not will be sorted out eventually.

But in a war, biodefenses could be critical to our survival.

Can you really put a price tag on that?

Food for thought.

Thanks for your thoughts, Fractured. I think the U.S. probably has weaponized smallpox as well, so hopefully, that is deterrent enough.

I also think that there definitely was corruption and scandal here, it's kind of obvious to me. It's not to you?

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


Scandal and corruption are the norm in our government, so it wouldn't surprise me, the deeper elements of this story and the actual implications, and urgency are far more alarming and compelling to me.

Deterrent is one thing, making your enemy's weapons ineffective is another.

the U.s was the first to weaponize smallpox just ask the native Americans!

one more brick in the wall for the dirty corrupt 1% but I am sure its all in our best interest for the Gov. to spend our tax dollars this way,,, after all its for our protection...right...

Originally posted by Fractured.Facade
reply to post by Iamonlyhuman

 

Scandal and corruption are the norm in our government, so it wouldn't surprise me, the deeper elements of this story and the actual implications, and urgency are far more alarming and compelling to me.

Deterrent is one thing, making your enemy's weapons ineffective is another.

Agreed. But we don't know if this pill will even work so I'm not at all confident that it will make our enemy's weapon ineffective. Competition in the bidding process possibly (probably) could have done this for far less money though, that's for sure.

So, we spent more $$ than necessary on a drug that we don't know if it's even going to work...

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


We don't know if it will work, but apparently someone does.

This is why the government should not use private manufacturers.

Leaves too many unanswered questions and room for scandal.

Effective defenses against ICBM attacks, and effective biodefenses can give an amazing advantage to one side.

Cronyism is a 2 party racketeering equal opportunity system. It's not Repub or Demo sensitive.

Let us not forget Mr. Cheny's involvement in a multitude of questionable business deals.
www.thirdworldtraveler.com...

Makes us commoners sick.

They just splashed on CNN the insider stock trading debacle that makes millions for the elected officials ,is gaining steam and speed to put an end to it.

We'll see how far and fast it goes. The story went on to say,that is one way elected officials retire millionares.

Legal Insider Trading.

They CAN but WE can't? Bulldinky.

Originally posted by -W1LL
the U.s was the first to weaponize smallpox just ask the native Americans!

one more brick in the wall for the dirty corrupt 1% but I am sure its all in our best interest for the Gov. to spend our tax dollars this way,,, after all its for our protection...right...

It's in the best interest of Obama, that's for sure. Think this story has anything to do with THIS story? Obama Fundraising For 2012 Campaign, DNC Breaks Record

Originally posted by Fractured.Facade
reply to post by Iamonlyhuman

 

Effective defenses against ICBM attacks, and effective biodefenses can give an amazing advantage to one side.

I agree with this statement.

But, I don't agree with this statement:

Originally posted by Fractured.Facade
We don't know if it will work, but apparently someone does.

Apparently, nobody knows if it will work.According to the L.A. Times story:

Siga's drug, an antiviral pill called ST-246, would be used to treat people who were diagnosed with smallpox too late for the vaccine to help. Yet the new drug cannot be tested for effectiveness in people because of ethical constraints — and no one knows whether animal testing could prove it would work in humans.

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


No one in the private sector could possibly know.

No arguments with the rest of your points.

Originally posted by Fractured.Facade
reply to post by Iamonlyhuman

 

No one in the private sector could possibly know.

I for one hold out hope that NOBODY knows. For if they did, it would mean only one thing... Secret US Human Biological Experimentation

Looks like there are TWO elephants in the room...

I'm trying to find a correlation between campaign contributions and Clair McCaskill's motivations by looking up info from www.opensecrets.org... but the site seems to be down for some reason. It's just odd that a fellow Democrat is calling for an investigation in a world full of corruption that requires party members to stay quiet about one another's business. If it's not about corruption, it's still odd that a fellow democrat is calling for an investigation on one of their own.

Will Obama just be impeached already!!!!!!

How much more crap is going to come out until this happens?

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


I'll bet you some key scientists/microbiologists bioweapons experts and high ranking members/officials in intelligence and defense communities all with the highest level clearances "know" with absolute certainty.

No one else could possibly know.

From protecting the government and military to protecting the private sector is where it all falls apart.



Probably best to stick with the politics and scandals in this, works out better that way... So officially, yeah we don't know!