FreeRepublic EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Witness Regarding Arkansas Tainted Blood Scandal Movie

Tona DeMers | 1-18-03 | Doug from Upland

[doug from upland]

A few hours ago, I had the pleasure of having a conversation with attorney and Arkansas Blood Scandal witness Tona DeMers of Pensacola, Florida. She is on her way to Little Rock as a witness and is hopeful that the expose of this terrible scandal, "FACTOR 8: THE ARKANSAS PRISON BLOOD SCANDAL," will not be prevented from being shown at the SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL in Park City, Utah.

In 1991, DeMers was an inmate attorney in the Compliance Office under the Arkansas Board of Compliance. She has a great deal of knowledge about the inside workings of how prisoners in Arkansas who were infected with AIDS and Hepatitus C gave blood that subsequently infected and killed people in several countries. She was deeply involved with the film in both interviews and editing. Governor Bill Clinton was up to his eyeballs in the scandal and benefitted in the form of campaign contributions. He stepped in on two occasions to keep the dangerous program going. Arkansas was the last state to use prisoner blood.

Michael Galster recently succeeded in obtaining an injunction to keep the film from being publicly shown, including at the Slamdance Film Festival.

DeMers was on the original team with attorney David Bowden representing the producer of the film. She hopes to be able to appear before the 8th Circuit Federal Court as a witness and convince the court to step in and remove the injunction. The first public showing of Factor 8 was supposed to be today.

From the Festival info:

Slamdance has invited 19 feature films to compete in their tenth annual festival taking place in Park City, January 17-24. Eleven of those films are fictional narratives with the rest being documentaries. Joining the features will be 21 shorts in competition.

Screenings will be split between two different venues this year - Treasure Mountain Inn (Slamdance HQ) and the brand new Madstone Theater Location in Trolley Square. Screenings at Madstone will focus on competition docs.

"FACTOR 8: THE ARKANSAS PRISON BLOOD SCANDAL" - (USA, 85 min., Documentary, 2003) WORLD PREMIERE - This film investigates the sale of tainted blood from infected prisoners to Canada, Europe and Japan, thus spreading AIDS and Hepatitis C. Directed by Kelly Duda.

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FReepers, help spread the word. Please add tainted blood links to this story. If you know talk show hosts who would like DeMers on the air, please let me know. Clinton must pay a price for what he has done.

[backhoe]

Thanks for posting the Bloodwork, backhoe...

My pleasure- one day, the truth will spread to enough people.

[Askel5]

=== I'd rather nothing be shown than get the wrong story out.



I'm glad to hear you say this. There is that part of me so desperate to have any attention at all given this story that I'm tempted to cave and just wish it were out there.

But, in addition to Galster's very real claims, I too would rather we not risk getting some Oliver Stone version of the story which only compounds the coverage afforded by passage of time to the actors in this story.

[Askel5]

Thank you so much for the heads up.

[gunnedah]

This will be covered up by the so called "Mainstream Press". The Clintons have their own MAFIA and it is called the Democrat Party!
We must fight them now or fight them later and later it will have to be an armed confrontaion I am affraid.
The Liberal Agenda in America is the overthrowing of our form of government and turning us into a Socialist Nation with a dictator for a leader.
It is called the Clinton Manefesto!

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

Thanks
I don't keep up on AR bureaucracies.

[T'wit]

Ping to BigM

[AD from SpringBay]

Is this the story about the big-mouthed woman that wears a lot of cleavage and helps a poor community overcome the fraudulent chemical plant? What's that? Wrong script? This has something to do with the Clintons? Nevermind, move along, go take some more SOMA.

[Great Dane]

I'm horribly confused here -- Did Galster hire this guy to do a film or not? Perhaps I missed it on another thread where this was revealed, but it just seems rather odd.

As i understand it Galster did ask this person to produce the film, but the producer then took the film as his own.... thats the problem.

[T'wit]

Thanks, Askel. We've been disappointed so many times by weak coverage or cover-ups or news shows backing off the story. Of course I want the story out too, but something here is not passing the sniff test.

Doug, I know you'll be careful, and your lawyer may be a gem, but she may conceivably have an agenda. Her position on a Clinton-appointed board is not reassuring. Clinton was, after all, a direct party to the tainted blood scam. Check out everything you can, as I will at my end.

[T'wit]

See all the fun you missed by not coming down to Little Rock with us? :-)

[T'wit]

See if you can reach him at the clinic. I tried and got an evasive answer. Then Freepmail me your phone #. (I'm sending you mine.)

[Askel5]

=== Her position on a Clinton-appointed board is not reassuring. Clinton was, after all, a direct party to the tainted blood scam

The plot thickens ...

Thanks, T'wit.

[T'wit]

All new intelligence is interesting.

[doug from upland]

Tona wants Bill Clinton exposed for what he did. She is amazed that Canadian citizens have not sued him for the death of their loved ones, and she has given info to the RCMP. The court can sort out the money issues. If Galster has a claim to revenue from the film, perhaps he will win in court. But this info cannot be hidden from the mainstream forever.

She is on our side and may have some people willing to talk about Hillary for PROJECT HILLARY.

[Budge]

You have FReepmail.

[Budge]

If Galster has a claim to revenue from the film, perhaps he will win in court.

No perhaps to it, DFU, IF an honest judge hears the case, which I think will be the case.

[T'wit]

Excellent, excellent. I'd like to hear her story in detail if you can post it, or in confidence, if she'd talk to me. (Did she talk to any Canadian bloodhounds?)

When Mike held that binational press conference in WDC, all the victims who were introduced were Canadians. I think four of them had both AIDS and hepatitis. We had lawyers from both countries and hemophilia activists from both, and a Canadian legislator sympathetic to the cause. The question of cross-border lawsuits and legal action was discussed in detail. I think the consensus was, lawsuits aren't really promising. The blood shield laws are formidable protection for people in the blood trade. And that's before the difficulties of two sovereign legal systems. There was no hope of the Canadian government itself getting at the Clintons (at least while in office).

Hillary was almost certainly involved in the scheme, and so was Vince Foster.

I don't believe Mike is concerned with the revenue from the video, but distortions in the story.

[doug from upland]

You have FReepmail. Call me.

[T'wit]

Can do. But later...

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Shucks - BigM. That was the name I was trying to remember in the bloodhounds past history of thread participation. How could I forget........? (My apologies, BigM, on my drawing a blank on your screen name for pinging.) Oh well. Ever since I hit 40, my memory cells ain't what they used to be ;-).