Friday, June 01, 2007

How Many Idiots Allowed TB Guy To Fly?

It’s hard to tell if this scandal is about arrogance, ignorance or arrogance and ignorance. Andrew Speaker has drug-resistant tuberculosis. He was allowed to fly all over the world and to potentially infect hundreds of people. 1) Let’s get this straight. Andrew Speaker is an idiot, an asshole and a self-absorbed, selfish jerk. Speaker knew he had drug resistant TB. He is a personal injury lawyer who deals with cases of people who have mesothelioma—asbestos poisoning in the lungs. He is not unaware of diseases of the lungs. He says he was not told not to fly. He didn't have to be told not to fly. He knew not to fly. 3) Andrew Speaker’s father knew his son had drug-resistant TB. He now is saying his son did nothing wrong. Unless Speaker’s father has been living in a cave, he knew his son should not fly and now he knows his son committed an act of horrible wrongdoing. 4) Speaker’s new father-in-law Robert C. Cooksey, is a tuberculosis researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He knew Speaker should not fly but now says he “was not involved in any decisions my son-in-law made regarding his travel.” If that is how Dr. Cooksey is going to defend himself and his new son-in-law, then Dr. Cooksey is also an idiot and a selfish jerk. 4) The guard at the Canada/US border was aware that Speaker had TB and let him cross into US anyway. 5) Supremely arrogant, ignorant, sycophantic weasel and head of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff is in charge of United States border security. In July 2005, Senate Bill No. 442 decreed that Michael Chertoff who had been No. 16 in the presidential line of succession be moved up to No. 8. Who knew it was possible for anyone to be dumber than George W. Bush? But there he is, in the flesh: Michael Chertoff, No. 8 in the presidential line of succession, is the guy who allowed Andrew Speaker to fly all around the world even though Speaker has drug-resistant TB. Now we know some of the players in this latest scandal involving our borders. And now we know what the people at the center of this outrageous event are saying in defense of Andrew Speaker’s indefensible and unspeakably self-centered act. And it seems all too clear, at least to me, that these two families—the Cooksey’s and the Speaker’s--had spent a whole wad of dough on the wedding plans of their son and daughter and nothing was going to derail this wedding from going forward as planned. But there’s something smelly going on underneath the drama of these two families and their wedding plans. How did Andrew Speaker contract TB? We’re told he travels all over the world. Does he work for the US government when he travels all over the world? Today, the New York Times reported that Dr. Gwen A. Huitt, an infectious-disease expert at the centers (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) said he (Andrew Speaker) did not develop resistance from anti-tuberculosis treatment that C.D.C. officials said he took earlier.” Anti-TB treatment he took earlier? When earlier? Why eariier? We found out today that Speaker's wife-to-be was tested for TB six months ago. Why was she tested? How long has Speaker known he has TB? The usual way for drug-resistant TB to occur is when people don’t follow through with a drug therapy regime that will cure tuberculosis and then the bacillus becomes virulent. The Cooksey family had all the inside info they needed about TB, why were they so gung-ho for their daughter to marry a man with drug-resistant TB? This soap opera about one more US government/Homeland Security failure is only getting started.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Incredible...........Where's the proverbial camera??? I surely am not smiling

Barry Schwartz said...

I would say that, to the contrary, having a father-in-law who was an expert about TB made it more likely that the young man would fly. Why? Because his father-in-law could have known that at this stage of the disease it wasn't significantly contagious; after all, his daughter was by far the most likely person to catch it, so he would have had an opinion. If the father-in-law had been a carpenter or lawyer, there wouldn't have been that reassurance.

I think it's sort of a typical thing that happens when there is a scientist in the family--either you know to panic or you know not to panic, depending on the circumstances.

Anonymous said...

entertaining & insightful article (i got it "straight" - thanks!)

Anonymous said...

Andrew Speaker is, for all intents and purposes, a terrorist. He knowingly shared closed space with innocent people to expose them to a biohazard. He knew it would be possible to spread the disease, but decided he was more important than the law and hundreds of innocent victims. He is hereby banned from the gene pool and should be sterilized immediately to prevent recurrence of extreme bad judgement - oh wait - maybe he was tired and stressed and not thinking clearly - I'm sure he's familiar with personal injury law. He is certainly a waste of carbon.