Subject: Rep. Tom Coburn and staff deliver for PWAs on House floor
From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 12:08:53 EDT

July 25, 2000

Dear friends,

Why has the mainstream media conceded so much to a couple of guys with a 
crackpot theory? Namely, Drs. Willi McFarland and Mitch Katz of the SF DPH 
and their voodoo epidemiology alleging HIV increases.

The answer, for me, comes from the May/June issue of Extra, the magazine of 
FAIR, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, a liberal media think tank, of which 
I am a member.

In "The Rape Debate, Controversy Trumps Credibility," written by Jennifer L. 
Pozner, we see how controversial "natural" sexual theories promulgated by 
Randy Thornhill and Craig Palmer were irresistible to news outlets in January.

"When incendiary ideas based on sloppy, contested science become such big 
news (think of "The Bell Curve"), we need to ask not only how this theory got 
presented to the public, but why it was so ballyhooed in the first place. 
Just because a topic is 'provocative' doesn't mean it is inherently credible 
or newsworthy. But such distinctions are becoming increasingly vague in a 
media climate that considers news a 'product' and readers and viewers 
'consumers,' " Pozner wrote in Extra. [BTW - The Bell Curve book gained 
substantial credibility when The New Republic, edited by Andrew Sullivan, 
excerpted parts of it for the magazine.]

The sentiment above applies to the situation in San Francisco, where we are 
supposedly at sub-Saharan African levels of transmission of HIV, thanks to 
unseen research and contracts controlled by DPH and UCSF. How the heck have 
these institutions managed to spread a lie repeated many times around the 
world, starting more than three weeks ago, and still not single public 
meeting has been held, nor has anything appeared on the DPH web site about 
how SF will be Botswana tomorrow.

July 25 was day two of Willi returned to SF and no one I know spoke to him, 
nor did any one say they had seen him at the AIDS Office. Where is Willi? 
Shouldn't he lead the effort to prepare us for being wiped out like a village 
in Africa? And where are the rest of the AIDS industry chiefs in SF? They are 
all back from their vacations abroad, and yet they have not met with the 
public to explain how we're about to be erased. Except Sabin Russell of The 
Chronicle. Still on vacation. May he stay away. 

We turn into Botswana tomorrow and no public meetings with UCSF, Stop AIDS, 
Aids Foundation, et al. What is going on here? How can we be facing 
eradication of the gay village in San Francisco and AIDS Inc. is incapable of 
providing us data proving their extremism will come to pass?

I dealt with three reporters today about the numbers here. It is definitely 
new for me to have reporters contacting me, and three weeks after my campaign 
to persuade DPH to release all of Willi's data began. Most telling, none of 
the three writers has been given any data from DPH. 

The biggest ray of sunshine amid this DPH data darkness was the debate in the 
House about the Ryan White CARE Act, led by Dr. Tom Coburn, with his aide 
Roland Foster at his side. This was the first time I watched Coburn in 
action. I had no idea he was such a gracious debater, with facts ready and an 
unwillingness to put up with Mrs. Pelosi's hysterics and emotionalism over 
money. Poor Mrs. Pelosi couldn't even pronounce "protease," never mind 
"inhibitors," without tripping over her tongue.

The best part of the floor action was Coburn producing the GAO chart showing 
the per Aids patient by metro area, and of course, San Francisco was double 
the amount than any other area. Memo to Pat Christen and Marty Delaney: Wake 
up and the smell aroma of federal cuts. Now is a good time demand salaries be 
cut before these two AIDS pimps and their associates in SF begin to reduce 
services.

Tomorrow July 26 is day three since Willi is supposed to be back at work. 
Please report any public sightings of him to me. Thanks.

Michael Petrelis
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