Number One on Today's Idiot List Is The
Mayday Project
June 25, 2019
A combination of outrageous lies, hate and plain old stupidity puts Mayday Project on the top of today's Idiot's List.
First Question- Is the Mayday Project angry or jealous because a member of theirs wasn't chosen to be on the TBDWG and Pat Smith was?
The TBDWG had a chance to chose Allison Caruana because she applied for a position. They didn't pick her.
In my opinion, I'm really glad she was not chosen because the attacks I've seen coming out of this group have been not only extremely disappointing, but sloppy, off track, false and even dangerous at times. I also don't believe she has the knowledge or experience necessary to represent us in this important role.
Fact- Pat Smith, President of the Lyme Disease Association has worked extremely hard for years to try to get more funding for Lyme research and get what funding is available into the RIGHT hands.
The ONLY way to do that is to get a seat at the government's table, which is at best difficult and has sometimes been impossible. For her efforts and the progress she has made on our behalf, Pat Smith deserves our sincere thanks and nothing less.
EXAMPLE- Here are five pages filled with articles about various federal legislative bills and actions Pat Smith has led and/or been involved with over the past two decades, working non-stop to try to help patients and doctors.
Here are countless pages describing her efforts on state bills.
https://lymediseaseassociation.org/category/government/
Do you know anyone else anywhere who has done so much? No, you don't, because there isn't anyone else.
And NOTE- As Mayday Project sometimes insinuates or falsly claims, Pat Smith is NOT paid for her work. This is true for her work on the TBDWG also.
QUOTE- "Pursuant to advance written agreement, public members of the Working Group will receive no stipend for the advisory service that they render as members of the Working Group." Source
Fact- Pat Smith also worked hard to get us a voice by way of a seat at the Military big boy's table.
This required continuously educating legislators and officials, traveling and meeting with them multiple times, getting actual funding appropriated for Lyme research from the Department of Defense budget and a seat at their table by way of legislation so the funds awarded would be put to good use and NOT just go to IDSA supporters.
Pat Smith does not, as Mayday Project and a few of the others would like you to believe, work for the Department of Defense (DOD). She works (as a volunteer) for all of us and has worked for her seat at the table, something no one else has been able to even come close to accomplishing.
Announcement- Lyme Disease Association, Inc. President Pat Smith has been appointed to the Programmatic Panel for the Tick-Borne Disease Research Program (TBDRP), a new program in the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Office of Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP)─a typical 3-year term-of-service.
QUOTE (Pat Smith)- “I am pleased to be appointed to the TBD Programmatic Panel to aid in the determination of grant awards for Lyme disease research."
Fact- Pat Smith also does not work for a "small animal Lyme vaccine company".
Mayday Project's lies are getting more and more far fetched as time goes by. Spreading lies like this whopper without any sources should at the least be a red flag to those reading their posts.
And it just isn't true.
Pat Smith, the volunteer President of the LDA, is the mother of children who were badly affected by chronic Lyme disease and that is her motivation.
Mayday Project claims Pat Smith "wasn't suppose to be on the TBDWG this year".
Fact- HUH? There is no reason for Pat Smith not be on the TBDWG, even though some Mayday Project groupies may continue to try behind the scenes to have themselves appointed and her removed.
If Pat Smith was nominated again for the TBDWG (and she was, by multiple people), and has the qualifications needed to hold the position (certainly true), and wants to give up her free time to help all of us (and bless her because she does), she would be considered for a position just like anyone else.
And think about this... if she wasn't on it we'd have no patient respresentation at all fighting for us.
And as you may remember, several patients were given a chance last time to be part of the TBDWG and they either acted up in an unruley fashion and/or quit before the hard work even got started. (Examples- Susan Green of NatCap Lyme, Enid Haller & Karen Forschner.)
Federal rules state clearly- "The public members are invited to serve overlapping terms of up to four years."
Those who aren't on the TBDWG should not be taking credit for doing the work.
Obviously, even after quitting the TBDWG on March 6, 2018, Karen Forschner either forgot she quit, or as it may appear to some, she is now working for the federal government (HHS) as their "Lyme Ambassador"? Or maybe she just mixed up March and July, or doesn't know the difference between 3 months and 7months? I'm sure that is a common mistake. Source
Mayday Project, in regards to the vaccine, falsely claimed Pat Smith would be the "vehicle by which they attempt to get the Lyme community's support."
You've got to be kidding!! This is not even close to being true. And it sounds as if it came from Karen Forschner of the defunct Lyme Disease Foundation. She at one time was that Lyme vaccine promoting "vehicle"- the only one.
When Karen Forschner supported the LymeRix vaccine twenty years ago, there was money involved- lots of money. Could this be why she has suddenly, after many years, started showing interest in reviving her Lyme group? Source
QUOTE- "Within a few short years, LDF had received sufficient donations and grants to hire a staff, which included her husband Tom as the founda- tion's Executive Director. " Source
QUOTE- "Officials at the Lyme Disease Foundation, based in Hartford, Conn., said earlier this year the big drug maker promised to provide $200,000 in unrestricted grants that the organization hoped to earmark for consumer education and clinical studies.
SmithKline added that it's already provided $90,000 to the Lyme Disease Foundation earlier this year." Source
QUOTE- "One lay advocacy organization that SKB [Smith Kline Beecham] initially supported was the Lyme Disease Foundation. At the 1998 VRBPAC meeting that ultimately gave approval to the vaccine, Karen Vanderhoof-Forschner, the foundation's president, offered passionate support for LYMErix.
Similar in many ways to the SKB-sponsored clinician who addressed the meeting, Vanderhoof-Forschner argued that LD was a geographically widespread, underdiagnosed, chronic, devastating, and costly disease—and thus worthy of prevention by vaccination." Source
QUOTE from Mayday Project- "Pat and her cohorts have hidden the viral aspect of lyme from the community for over 25 years now. Think of how many of our friends have died by either medical neglect or suicide while she withheld this information."
Big fat liars, pants on fire- The LDA's goals and mission never included having Pat Smith in a lab studying "viral aspects" of Lyme disease or anything else. She is NOT a scientist and is NOT responsible for promoting anyone's scientic views.
Nor does the LDA mission include dancing around pounding a scientific drum for the media, informing them about each and every miniscule thing that may or may not be a reason for persistent infection.
If the Mayday Project and groupies want something promoted, why didn't they just do it themselves? Some have been around for years, so by their way of thinking, wouldn't THEY be responsible for the deaths they claim happened because LDA "withheld" information?
LDA Goals & Mission- "The Lyme Disease Association, Inc. (LDA) is designated by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, a charity focusing on research, education, prevention and patient support." Source
QUOTE- "The Lyme Disease Association, Inc. (LDA) has been granted 501(c)(3) non-profit status by the IRS. Its mission is promoting awareness of and controlling the spread of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases (TBD) and their complications through education and other means; raising and distributing funds for Lyme and tick-borne diseases (TBD) research, education and other related Lyme and TBD issues; assisting underprivileged patients in connection with Lyme and other TBD." Source
Additionally, Pat Smith promotes all aspects of Lyme disease as best can be presented. In her annual conferences, for example, she has had a number of speakers (experts) sharing the latest information about Lyme and other tick borne diseases. Source, Source, Source, Source, Source
Even the research funded by the LDA and the resulting studies include TBD viruses. Source
As for the "viral aspect" of Lyme disease, a theory promoted by a small group of Lyme patients, if they feel it is so important then Mayday Project should focus on it instead of wasting time beating the stuffings out of others for not doing their work for them.
Pat Smith- Some of Her TBD Related Activities
VACCINES
Everyone would like to have some safe and effective way to prevent Lyme disease. BUT, we also know it can't be done using Ops A and that the last attempt was a miserable failure.
While Karen Forschner (LDF) was getting grant monies from the vaccine company, Pat Smith (LDA) was filing complaints early in the process on behalf of patients injured after getting the vaccines during the trials, and went so far as to call for a "moratorium on vaccine administration".
QUOTE (Pat Smith on Vaccines)
"I am here today because we do favor a safe and effective vaccine, but we are unsure whether an OSP A based vaccine can meet those criteria. Since the inception of OSP A vaccine trials, we heard from individuals experiencing difficulties after immunization. The information was startling, not only because of the problems described, but also because of doctors’ apparent incomprehension of the problem.
At a vaccine meeting sponsored by the LDF [Karen Forschner] where pharmaceuticals reps were discussing how well the trials were going, I questioned, without satisfaction, the issue of these trial-patient complaints."
QUOTE- "The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends under future considerations in their report on the Lyme disease vaccine, June 4, 1999 MMWR, “establish post licensure epidemiological studies of safety, efficacy, prevention effectiveness, cost effectiveness, and patterns of use.”
We concur with that recommendation and would like to see a moratorium on vaccine administration until those studies are completed and the results critically analyzed."
https://lymediseaseassociation.org/about-lyme/controversy/vaccine/vaccine-remarks/
The Lyme Disease Association, Inc., LDA- worked with the office of Congressman Chris Smith (NJ) in developing several provisions that were included in the appropriate committee report, i.e., H. Report 115-244.
Those provisions included: ensuring transparency, input from treating physicians and representation of the broad spectrum of scientific viewpoints in CDC’s physician education program for Lyme disease; a written rationale for treatment guidelines included on CDC’s website; research that will increase understanding of full range of Lyme disease processes and physiology of Borrelia burgdorferi and B. mayonii, including mechanisms of persistence; development of more sensitive and accurate diagnostics for Lyme and other TBD, including next generation PCR and new methodologies, such as omics; a bibliography of peer-reviewed TBD literature to include literature on possible mechanisms of persistent Borrelia infection.