Gov. Clinton: Arkansas Blood Scandal Turned into Film

Canada.com ^ | 1/18/06

[llevrok]

OTTAWA (CP) - A new Hollywood film will dramatize the story of how contaminated blood from Arkansas prisoners found its way into the veins of thousands of Canadian hemophiliacs, killing many.

Blood Trail will make revelations that point to criminal negligence and raise suspicions of murder, says Elizabeth Fowler of Clear Pictures Entertainment

"There's bits here and bits there and that's how they managed to get away with it. You put it all together and you go, 'Whoa!' "

An RCMP investigation has been underway for close to five years, but no charges have been laid in connection with the prison blood.

Charges have been filed against leading figures in the Canadian Red Cross and the federal Bureau of Biologics but they don't involve the Arkansas connection.

Fowler said Blood Trail, which is expected to be released in about a year, will feature some prominent characters: Bill Clinton and Paul Martin.

Clinton, who went on to become U.S. president, was Arkansas governor in the 1980s when inmates in a state prison were allowed to run their own blood program without screening for infections.

A now-defunct Montreal company, Continental Pharma, bought the blood from Arkansas, then sold it to Connaught Laboratories of Toronto.

Connaught was controlled at the time by a Crown corporation, Canada Development Corp. (CDC), of which Martin was a director.

CDC minutes from the time went missing but some reappeared in the files of a Calgary chemical company.

The story is marked by many strange coincidences. On the same night in May 1999, Galster's clinic in Arkansas was firebombed and the offices of the Canadian Hemophilia Society were burgled.

An Arkansas prison warden was found murdered just as he was about to talk about the story, said Fowler.

[Wristpin]

"VampireGate"

[L.N. Smithee]

I think an even better movie could be made from Mara Leveritt's book The Boys On The Tracks, which gives a glimpse of pre-White House Clintonista corruption.

In the casting office in my mind, Kathy Bates has always been Kevin Ives' mother Linda, while Felicity Huffman is reporter Mara Leveritt (For the record: I invisioned Huffman as Leveritt before the existence of the show Desperate Whoreswives). However, I doubt Huffman, who is the darling of the politically correct now that she's played a transsexual, would risk her newfound glory in Tinseltown to take the role of someone hostile to Former President Elvis.

[taxesareforever]

With links like this, this thing is not going away anytime soon.

[Pagey]

I need my own copy of this for posterity.

[backhoe]

Sort of like old times...

Just tap into our "keyword datbase"--

KEYWORDS: BLOODTRAIL; CLINTONBLOODMARTIN; FACTOR8; TAINTEDBLOOD;

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Kelly Duda, who produced Factor 8, said he has tried to sell the film to Canadian television networks but when people see how controversial it is, "walls go up."

I have a sneaking suspicion that if the governor had been Republican, the state had been Texas, and his name had been Bush, this wouldn't be the least bit "contraversial".

[T'wit]

The scam continued from 1978 to 1994, throughout all six of Clinton's gubernatorial terms and for a couple of more years under Jim Guy Turner. Testing was indeed available for much of that period.

The prison plasma spread a substantially higher incidence of Hepatitis C than AIDS. Hep C is also incurable and potentially fatal. It wrecks people's lives even if it doesn't kill.

Now go wash out your mouth :-)

[T'wit]

The murder of an ex-warden is not an integral part of the tainted blood story. I'm pretty sure it was done by a prison escapee, possibly with a motive of revenge. I don't remember any persuasive evidence that the warden was about to talk.

Vincent W. Foster is another matter. He was very much involved in this case, as a bagman. At one point, in person, he offered a deal to Michael Galster (an orthopedist) concerning one of the inmates who had been horribly disfigured and was suing for millions of dollars. Galster told Foster to take a hike. Foster replied with a threat, that Galster would never get another job with the state of Arkansas -- making it clear that he was representing Clinton, not the company running the blood program.

When Galster later wrote his BLOOD TRAIL book, he may have guessed the truth about how the Foster character met his end. He wrote it as fiction but the way it played out, the whole section is spooky. But you have to read it and remember the Foster case to know what I mean :-)

[T'wit]

Good morning and a properly reticent smooch on the cheek!

[johnny7]

Talk about 'plantation'! Wonder if 'massa Clinton sold any of their other... precious bodily fluids?

[Budge]

Kelly Duda, who produced Factor 8,...

Kelly Duda is and never was the producer of this film, nor was it his idea.

Duda was nothing more than the cameraman for Galster who provided the money, equipment, and information.

Once the filming was finished, Duda dissapeared from the scene, refused to give Galster what he paid for, and is now trying to take all the credit for the film.

[T'wit]

Kelly's footage was shot in the 1990s when he was working for Michael Galster. Those who have seen it say that his problem is not that it's "too controversial" but that it's dated, incomplete and not up to TV standards.

Besides, the story is newsworthy in Canada, not controversial at all. American presstitutes suppressed the story in order to protect Clinton. But Canadians were the first victims of the diseased blood and there were many victims in a country of small population. This was big news. From the first, the Canadian press covered the tainted blood story vigorously, starting in the late 1980s, and any development after that was front-page stuff.

[T'wit]

Hiya, Budge! Great to see you active.

Maybe this time we'll get some justice, eh?

[Budge]

FYI, I ceased updating the Blood Trail links when Kelly first pulled his sneaky trick on Mike Galster.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

IIRC the system did not profit, it was FOBs. I don't have time to research it now.

[Budge]

Hi T'wit! Talked to Mike lately?

[T'wit]

Sorry. Jim Guy TUCKER. That will teach me to try to type before I've had my second cup of coffee.

[T'wit]

Called his office t'other day, he wasn't in. One of his kids was running the place. I'll probably have to come down there and invade the place to catch him :-)

Is he still doing your stuff?

[VOYAGER]

An Arkansas prison warden was found murdered just as he was about to talk about the story, said Fowler.

Now I see the Clinton connection!

He had to be in there much more than a cameo appearance! Hmmmm?

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"The Canadians won't care because it will be more evil America hand wringing."

Good point! It ought to be a big hit in Canada. And that will make it difficult for the US video/DVD places to ignore it. It could even be a hit on internet sales, if need be.