Conflict of Interests for last THREE CDC Directors

As COVID-19 runs rampant through our media, social media, world media and though not anywhere near as significant, through our neighborhoods and hospitals... it is a SERIOUS outbreak, even if the actual outbreak NEVER reaches the potential that the media has prompted us to believe. Now, it might breakthrough into new territory that no other outbreak has seen since Spanish Flu, but it might not. I have been called out by many for flying in the face of the World Leaders in epidemiology and questioned as to why I am questioning. So in response to that, without wasting my time responding to those who simply choose to disagree without fact, stat, or truth... I have decided to give up on the social media methodology, and get to writing these blog posts instead. I have been watching these outbreaks for nearly twenty years now, and I commonly hear these leaders cry WOLF, and it is hard to imagine that this is not another WOLF cry ringing around the world. But behind it all, is a little known problem that exists in our CDC leadership, and though they don't all have dramatic conflicts when in their office, they commonly leave for those conflicting relationships, and in my estimation, leverage the relationships they have left behind at the CDC, leading them to be policy influencers long after they have left office. This is one reason why I believe that the decisions that come down from the CDC are not the best for public health. In addition, because their philosophy (as we are seeing right now in this mass shelter-in-place movement) is to protect all people, at no concern for the cost to some people. Meaning, regardless of whether or not I am correct in my belief that the excessive utilization of vaccines has resulted in the deterioration of immune function, and has led to the onslaught of auto-immune conditions in our country... if that were proven true, the CDC directors wouldn't care. Their philosophy is that it wouldn't matter, because the infectious disease is their focus, and all others would be secondary. I don't agree, so we choose to disagree. Now, on the Directors and their fate - Brenda Fitzgerald MD (2017-2018) - from her Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Fitzgerald) - Conflicts of interest

By December 2017 and after five months in office, Fitzgerald had yet to divest her financial holdings that posed conflicts of interest in her position at the CDC.[16] Democratic Senator Patty Murray raised questions as to Fitzgerald's ability to lead the CDC's anti-opioid programs given her financial stake in prescription drug monitoring programs.[16]

In January 2018, Politico reported that Fitzgerald had bought shares in the Japan Tobacco company one month after assuming office as Director of the CDC.[17] The investment raised ethical concerns given the CDC's mission to reduce tobacco use, which is the leading cause of preventable disease in the United States.[17] She sold the stocks a few months later.[17] One day after Politico's story broke, Fitzgerald resigned as Director of the CDC on January 31, 2018.[1]

Tom Frieden MD, MPH (2009-2017) - Tom argued that we were about to see a massive countrywide failure because of Zika and we were "about to see a bunch of kids born with microcephaly" in the coming months back in July of 2016. Which allowed him the opportunity to direct $222M towards the disease. It might or might not have been necessary. This assumption did not come to pass, and the result has been that Zika has receded into the place where it typically has lived since its discovery in the 1940's. An infectious disease that makes its way around the population in small numbers. BUT, Tom has left the CDC, he is doing great work with Resolve to Save Lives, and through their partnership (marriage really) with Vital Strategies, he is involved directly in the management of hundreds of millions of dollars funded by Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg among others. Notable, but not related, he settled sexual harassment charges shortly after leaving the CDC. I believe that he used his post at the CDC to set himself up with this relationship that has a worthy cause, but surely allowed the government post to be the stepping stone to get him there. Not the worst case of conflict.

Julie Gerberding (2002-2009) - Julie was perhaps not in talks with Merck for the job she landed after leaving the CDC, but there have been questions since she departed regarding decisions made while she was there in their utilization and praise of Edelman, a global PR firm that supports efforts of bug Pharma, and also the company she worked for in the short interim between leaving CDC and joining Merck. My greatest concern with all directors, is that they are seeing their exit strategy, while they are working their public job. There is a natural conflict, because they see these companies as the answer for all of their problems... and you can guess what that would create as an internal dialogue. (https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2009/12/mercks-new-vaccine-honcho-former-cdc-chief-gerberding#)

This author describes a series of potential conflicts at the end of his article - worth investigation - http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/2009/07/julie-gerberding-now-officially-paid.html

In all, I am confident that Julie, followed by Tom, followed by Brenda, all have been considering their exit strategy from almost the first day that they joined the CDC. Which means, that they would begin to develop policies that supported those exit companies. Merck was hammered by Vioxx lawsuit, and settled $4.85B in claims in 2007. In 2006 Gardasil was approved by the FDA, while Julie was with the CDC, and had influence over FDA action. In 2010 Julie joins Merck. Mercks path out of the Vioxx mess, was to create a demand for Gardasil. Replace your profits from one drug that became massive losses, with a drug that you can never be at risk of a law-suit. Protection for vaccines make it the perfect drug... and I am confident that the one year hiatus between working for the CDC and for Merck, was a fabricated gap for the benefit of this story. The fact that she went to work for Edelman, which actually does massive business with Merck, was designed so that we would all say "oh, she found a new job, and then made her way into a better job through relationship". Is she evil? No, I am not saying that... opportunity presents the ability to ignore a complete pursuit of truth, while dressing it up to look pretty.

Be well and be love. - Dr. E

Time, once again, to give Thanks!

#thanksgivingforever

It has been a hard few years for me. I was excited to open some new doors when we moved into our new office. Buying an old house and restoring it to a commercial condition. This was followed by the purchase of several other properties and ultimately diving into development. Along the way, I picked up some experienced partners, and some have worked out great, others not as much.

This has been my second mission while trying to stay true to my prime mission. To change the way the world views health while maintaining honor and respect for God and my family. It has been tough, with so many issues that I have had to deal with that are both costly, as well as urgent. I would say it has been one of the only times in my life that I have actually felt true stress. Not the stress I used to feel before my college hockey games... getting off of the ice after warm-up and having to run to the bathroom to get "light" before stepping on the ice for the game. Funny how that momentary stress happened so frequently and passed so quickly. Yet the stresses we deal with so commonly stay with us for months, or years.

I have always been a great leader for how NOT to be stressed, but this time has been a different story. However, the fact that I am stressed might actually make me a better teacher on how to cope with stress. Remember my doctor's report. I do not, for one minute, believe that stress does no less than steal your life from you. Slowly killing your capacity to function and heal.

For that reason, I take this stress seriously, identifying DAILY that it is there for a reason, and that I can beat that stress by coming into action every day with action steps to win for myself, and ultimately for my God.

So it is with this point, the point that you need to take daily steps to put yourself in command, that I feel like thanks are in order. I am currently living in my mother in law's house, after selling my house quickly, and my next house not being done. I am living in a situation that is not at all the best situation that I could hope for, but how thankful I am that my mother in law has a house with excess bedrooms (an American problem for sure), and there is a ton of room for my family right now.

How thankful that I was able to sell a house for a great profit, and it took only days on the market to do so... how thankful that the stress that I have dealt with for the last four years comes from an opportunity to leave a legacy behind... and to teach my kids the value of hard work and risk-taking that is rooted in trust in God.

How thankful to be redeemed daily from the stress by a community full of people who are looking forward to being together, and to strive for great purpose together (I consider that all of you by the way), and to be able to find comfort in so many places in this society that is ripe with comforts.

You see, we have an endless amount of items to be thankful for, and it is so important that we start our days, every single day with the desire to be thankful. My ritual has been, though admittedly at times when stress creeps up I tend to forget to be committed, even though that is the time I should be most committed... to the ritual of hitting the floor every morning and starting with 3 to 5 minutes of thanking God for all things in my life.

The KEY to this ritual is to find yourself being thankful for the things you think you cannot stand. Thanking God for your stressors, and for your "enemies" (strong word, ask me what I really mean by that), for your great things and your horrible things. Because through all things, you will be strengthened and better able to serve the will that you have been called to serve.

And for that reason, I pray thee be Thankful!

Be Blessed and Be Well! - Dr. E

PS - the image is from YEARS ago, but is a strong reminder of the GOOD things we should remember and be thankful for.

Summer Blues

This is for all of the dads (and perhaps moms too), who feel the summer blues during the summer from having school-aged kids, and a quiet house.  For those in this boat, you already know exactly what I am talking about.   And for those who have no idea, stick with it, there will be value for you.

But let me set this up for you to understand.

I wake up in the morning on a typical June day… the sun comes up early, the birds are singing, the world is alive… except for my house.  Over the last five + years it has been the same thing.  Kids asleep, wife asleep, everybody wiped out from a late night the night before… whether it was with friends, or family, or both… everybody needs to catch up on sleep.

So I would get up, get ready, let the dogs out, and head out into the world without a peep from the family.  This has been what I would call the summer blues.  Feeling a little empty inside every morning… and this is WITH my morning ritual fully intact (on my knees first thing, saying Thank You God, until I have exhausted just about everything in my repertoire to be thankful for, this is an anti-depression ritual for sure).

Summer blues… driving into work feeling lonely, feeling the absence of the lively morning at home, missing the hustle and bustle of a school day with kids running around screaming about who moved their book, or did you see my backpack, or who ate the last piece pf turkey bacon… those moments of activity replaced by silence.

It reminds me a bit of the time after my last dog passed.  He was the one who followed me into the bathroom, and watched me get ready, and followed me downstairs to hang out.  He was a solution to the quiet mornings, gave me that little bit of connection with someone/something before heading into the day.  It was so very empty once he passed.  The other dog never gets up, sleeps hours after we wake up… lazy.

But if you have ever suffered through a loss.  A loss of somebody, something, or just some activity, you might have felt this pang of loneliness or emptiness.  I have read a number of articles over the years that discuss the decline of the brain activity during a time of loss, and ultimately how a very short term depression can result in long term depressive states, and a loss of function to go with it.  I think we can all attest to the reality of that in the short term, and I would hope we can be aggressive in combatting that for the long term.

The summer blues is simply a title that resonates with me, but for you, no matter what the cause, if you have the BLUES, then you should put it under a microscope, with intensity towards fixing it.  Don’t ignore mourning, or grieving… go through the process, but understand that the process has an end to it.  There is a point at which you should be ready to move on.

For me and my small issue of summer blues, I have already begun fixing it.  I woke my daughter Ansley early this morning and brought her with me to work.  What a blessing, to have my daughter in the car on the way in, and to have her at the office, she even cleaned… and later we ran a loop at Rope Mill Trail during lunch… what a day!

Be Well and Be Blessed!