June 4, 2025 • 30 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We were talking about the flu shot and how the
studies show it doesn't actually work. In fact, it kills
more people than it saves. Then in two thousand and eight,
Cheryl Atkinson did a piece on how top vaccine advocates
we're receiving substantial funding from pharmaceutical companies.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Years now, parents have wondered if vaccines are linked to
conditions like autism and add Government officials and some scientists
say there is no connection, and they're often backed by
independent experts. But just how independent are they? You may
be surprised at what Cheryl Akison found when she set
out to follow the money.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
There's some of the most trusted voices in the defense
of vaccine safety, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child
by Two and pediatrician doctor Paul Ausitt. The CBS News
has found these three have something more in common.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Folly Young number two.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Strong financial ties to the industry whose products they promote
and defend. The vaccine industry gives millions to the Academy
of Pediatrics for conferences, grants, medical education classes, even helped
pay to build their headquarters. The totals are kept secret,
but public documents reveal bits and pieces. Three hundred forty
(01:23):
two thousand dollars was given to the Academy by WYF,
maker of the new macawcle vaccine, for a community grant program.
Four hundred and thirty three thousand dollars was contributed to
the Academy by Merk. The same year the Academy endorsed
Merk's HPV vaccine. Another top donor, Sanafi Aventis, maker of
seventeen vaccines and a new five to one combo shot,
(01:47):
just added to the childhood vaccine schedule last month. Every
Child by two, a group that promotes early immunization for
all children, admitst the group takes money from the vaccine
industry too, but wouldn't tell us how much. A spokesman
told us there are simply no conflicts to be unearthed.
But guess who has been listed as the group's treasures.
(02:08):
Unofficial from WYATH and a paid advisor to big pharmaceutical clients.
Then there's doctor Paul Offitt, perhaps the most widely quoted
defender of vaccine safety. He's gone so far as to
say babies can theoretically tolerate quote ten thousand vaccines at once.
This is how Affitt described himself in a previous interview.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
I'm the chief of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital Philadelphia
and a professor pediatrics at Penn's Medical School.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Doctor Offfitt was not willing to be interviewed on this subject,
but like others in our investigation, he has strong industry ties.
In fact, he's a vaccine industry insider. Doctor Offitt holds
a one point five million dollar research chair at Children's
Hospital funded by Merk. He holds the patent on an
anti diarrhea vaccine he developed with Merk Rhodo Tech, which
(02:59):
has prevented thatands of hospitalizations in the US, and future
royalties for the vaccine were just sold for one hundred
and eighty two million dollars cash. Doctor Offit's share of
vaccine profits unknown.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
There's nothing illegal about the possible conflicts of interest, but,
as one member of Congress put it, money from the
pharmaceutical industry can shape the practices of those who hold
themselves out to be independent. The American Academy of Pediatrics,
every Child by Two and doctor Offitt wouldn't agree to interviews,
but all told us they're upfront about the money they
receive and it doesn't sway their opinions. Today's immunization schedule
(03:38):
now calls for kids to get fifty five doses of
vaccines by age six. Ideally, it makes for a healthier society,
but critics worry that industry ties could impact the advice
given to the public about all those vaccines.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Now, let's think about how this works. Hmm. So we've
got a product to sell. Let's say we're the sellers
of chocolate candy bars, and people just aren't buying enough
chocolate candy bars for our liking. So we go to
(04:15):
the public health officials. We say, we'll give you all
this money, which is how fault you got rich. We'll
give you all this money to say you need to
eat more of Ramones chocolate candy bars. In fact, that's
really the only way to save you. And we recommend
(04:37):
that schools don't allow children to come to school unless
they've eaten their Ramones chocolate candy bar. Universities, we recommend
that companies don't allow people to come in. We recommend
that hospitals not allow you to be admitted as a
hospital unless you've eaten your Ramones chocolate candy bar. Or long.
(05:01):
What happens, they sell a lot of chocolate candy bars,
don't they you think that might have affected Now that
doesn't make the chocolate candy bar good for you. It
doesn't make the chocolate candy bar give you any health benefits.
And neither does the fact that top vaccine advocates are
(05:25):
advocating for something mean that you won't get what they're
giving you, the vaccine to prevent you from getting. When
you stop and think about it that way.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
Man Michael barryn't change in the system modern.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
On this day in nineteen fifty five, which makes it
seventy years ago. Love his Grief was There were four
different versions of this same ballad of Davy Crockett on
the market and on the charts, believe it or not.
One was by Walter Schumann, one was by the great
(06:13):
Tennessee Ernie Ford. One was by Best Parker, But you
knew that already because he started the movie. The fourth.
You get extra extra credit lanyap on top of Lanya
if you knew that it's Bill Hayes. Hiss went to
(06:36):
number one, and uh, I love the story of Davy Crockett,
but not for the reason that you might think. My
youngest son is named Crockett. Crockett Marcos Barry Marcos, one
of his Ethiopian names. We kept our children's Ethiopian names
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as part of their overall nity, even though we gave
them names that we chose as their sort of Christian name,
the name that they go by. But Crockett was so
named after a hero of mine. We went by the
name David Crockett. But legend has him at Davy Crockett.
I don't know that it matters today. David Crockett who
died at the Alamo, and as a child, I was
(07:21):
as inspired as I am today by the men who
fought at the mission in San Antone against the Mexicans
and died valiantly. David Crockett's a great story because of
the you may all go to Hell, I'm going to
Texas story. He was. He was one of the first,
(07:44):
after Daniel Boone, one of the first true American heroes.
For some reason other than being a president or a general.
He was Colonel David Crockett. But he was a hero
for his exploits. He once showed up in New York
at a Broadway musical about the exploits of Davy Crockett.
(08:09):
But the reason I adore. His memory and his legacy
is more than all of those things, although of course
they add to them. It is a story that's kind
of Ron Paul in the telling. Not many people like this,
very few people. Indeed, it's because of the speech he gave,
(08:29):
and that speech came to be known as not yours
to give, not yours to give. Say that out loud,
because you're gonna want to look this up, because most
of you probably don't know this story about David Crockett,
because you think of David Crockett as the legend and
killed him a bar when he was only three, and
dying at the Alamo and the Coonskin Cap and all
(08:52):
those are wonderful aspects to the legend of David Crockett.
But while David Crockett was in Congress, there was a
request for the widow of a celebrated naval officer, and
Congress was ready right there on the spot. Boom, let's
give her a bunch of money from the public treasury.
(09:13):
And Davy Crockett did something very brave. He stood on
principle because surely, with the old woman here, you're going
to give some money out of the federal government. Federal
government's got it, and we're in charge of it. We're
the appropriators. That's what Congress does. So let's give her
some money. And there was quite the fervor. Yeah, let's
give her some money. It's the people's money. Who cares,
and we'ld give it to her. We'll look like stars
(09:34):
and Davy Crockett, Colonel Crockett stood up and said, I
have as much respect for the memory of the deceased,
and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living,
if suffering there be, as any man in this house.
But we must not permit our respect for the dead,
or our sympathy for a part of the living, to
lead us to an act of injustice to the balance
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of the living means everybody else. I will not go
into an argument to prove that Congress has no power
to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every
member upon this floor knows it. We have the right
as individuals to give away as much of our own
money as we please in charity, But as members of Congress,
(10:22):
we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of
the public money. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate
this money as the payment of a debt we have
not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity.
Mister Speaker, I have said, we have the right to
(10:44):
give as much money of our own as we please.
I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot
vote for this bill. But I will give one week's
pay to the object, that's the widow, and if every
member of Congress will do the same, it will amount
to more then the bill asks. He then went on
to say, in quoting a constituent, the people have delegated
(11:06):
to Congress by the Constitution, the power to do certain things.
To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneies,
and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation and
a violation of the Constitution. Now, there is more to
this story, and it will require the next segment for
me to get to it. There is more to this
(11:28):
story than what David Crockett did. What he did, the
action he took was an act of courage, real courage.
The reason he did it is an act of incredible humility.
And it just goes to show that as we walk
through this world we make mistakes. We all do. And
(11:52):
it's not whether we make mistakes we endeavor not to,
But it is whether or not we learn from them,
whether we learn from the things we do, the mistakes
we make. And Davy Crockett went on to explain his vote,
and I will read you the rest of his speech
where he does that it's incredibly powerful. But before we
(12:14):
do that, I will say that you will find many
times that the greatest acts of valor, and this is
the part that I think people miss, are typically not
celebrated by those around them. People who stand on principle
are typically not honored and celebrated for standing on principle.
(12:36):
When Ted Cruz went to the United States Senate, I
had worked very hard to put him there, as did
a lot of other people, and when he got there,
he would lose votes ninety nine to one. Lindsey Graham
said that there were members in the Senate who wanted
to murder him. Send that into a hot microphone. There
are senators who want to murder him. And John McCain said,
it tells you how popular he is that he loses
(12:59):
votes ninety nine one. But I went back and read
those votes, and they were issues that the Senate had
rubber stamped. They were swamp issues, and the concept was
as long as everybody hangs together, we don't hang by ourselves.
And so what Ted Cruz was doing was making a
name for himself with the grassroots constituency with Tea Party voters,
(13:22):
which became Maga voters. But he wasn't very popular, for
it wasn't popular at all. Anyway, I'll read you that
letter coming up, Captain some ting Wong. Well, something must
be right. You're listening to Michael Berry. Okay, So I
told you that Davy Crockett, while the widow had been
(13:45):
brought forward before the Congress, her husband a celebrated naval
officer who had passed, and here she was the widow,
and she wanted some money. And they said, oh, yes,
your husband was a great man. Let's write to check
from the Treasury to you. David Crockett said, you can't
do that. You don't have the power. We do not
(14:08):
have the power to appropriate charity. And by the way,
we can give charity of our own money. And I'll start,
I'm the poorest fellow in this Congress, and I'll give
a week of my pay, and if every one of
you will do the same, we'll give her more money
(14:29):
than you're trying to give her from the Treasury. Well,
as you might imagine, nobody joined him in that offer.
But as I told you, that's not the fact that
he did such a principal thing is impressive. The fact
of how he came to do that, that's the story
I think makes this really, really special. And I'll read
(14:52):
to you from his speech. He uh, he said, it's not.
During his speech was later he was asked by a friend,
why did you do that? My god? Everybody hated you
for that, And he said, well, several years ago, I
was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol
(15:13):
with some other members of Congress when our attention was
attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was
evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and
drove over as fast as we could. In spite of
all that could be done. In spite of all that
could be done, many houses were burned, and many families
made homeless. And besides, some of them had lost all
(15:33):
but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold,
and when I saw so many women and children suffering,
I felt that something ought to be done for them.
The next morning, a bill was introduced appropriating twenty thousand
dollars for their relief. We put aside all other business
and rushed it through as soon as it could be done.
The next summer, when it began to be time to
think about the election, I concluded I would not sorry.
(15:58):
I concluded I would take a scout around among the
boys of my district. I had no opposition there, but
as the election was some time off, I didn't know
what might turn up. When riding one day and a
part of my district in which I was more of
a stranger than any other, I saw a man in
a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged
my gate so that we should meet as he came
(16:19):
to the fence. As he came up, I spoke to
the man. He replied politely, but as I thought, rather coldly,
I began, well, friend, I'm one of those unfortunate beings
called candidates, and yes I know who you are, your
Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before and voted
for you the last time you were elected. I suppose
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you're out electioneering now, but you'd better not waste your
time or mine. I shall not vote for you again.
This was a sock dollager. I begged him to tell
me what was the matter. Well, Colonel, it is hardly
worthwhile to waste time or words upon it. I do
not see how it can be mended. But you get
(17:00):
a vote last winter, which shows that either you have
not capacity to understand the Constitution or that you are wanting,
in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it.
In either case, you are not the man to represent me.
But I beg your pardon for expressing it that way.
I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege
of the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for
(17:22):
the purpose of insulting or wounding you. I intend by
it only to say that you are understanding of the
Constitution is very different from mine, and I will say
to you what. But for my rudeness, I should not
have said that. I believe you to be honest. But
an understanding of the Constitution different from mine I cannot overlook.
(17:43):
Because the Constitution to be worth anything must be held
sacred and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man
who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous
the more honest he is. I admit the truth of
all you say. But there must be some mistake about it,
(18:04):
for I do not remember that I gave any vote
last winter upon any constitutional question. No, colonel, there's no mistake.
Though I live here in the backwoods and seldom go
from home, I take the papers from Washington and read
very carefully all the proceedings of Congress. My papers say
that last winter you voted for a bill to appropriate
(18:25):
twenty thousand dollars to some sufferers by a fire in Georgetown.
Is that true? Well, my friend, I may as well
own up. You got me there, But certainly nobody will
complain that a great and rich country like ours should
give the insignificant sum of twenty thousand dollars to receive
its suffering, to relieve its suffering women and children, particularly
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with the full and overflowing treasury. And I'm sure if
you'd been there, you would have done just as I did.
It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of.
It is the principal. In the first place, the government
ought to have in the treasury no more than enough
for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing to do
with the question the power of collecting and dispersing money
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at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be
entrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue
by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country,
no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer
he is, the more he pays in proportion to his means.
What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge
where the weight centers. For there is not a man
in the United States who can ever guess how much
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he pays to the government. So you see that while
you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it
from thousands who are even worse off than he. If
you had the right to give anything, the amount was
simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had
as much right to give twenty thousand as twenty million.
If you have the right to give to one, you
have the right to give to all. And as the
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Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are
at liberty to give it to any and everything which
you may believe or profess to believe, is a charity.
And to any amount you may think proper, you will
very easily perceive what a wide door that would open
for fraud and corruption and favoritism on the one hand,
and for robbing the people on the other. No, Colonel,
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Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may
give as much of their own money as they please,
but they have no right to touch a dollar of
the public money for that purpose. If twice as many
houses had been burned in this country, in this county,
as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of
Congress would have thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief.
(20:35):
There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress.
If they'd shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing
each one weeks each one's week's pay, it would have
made over thirteen thousand dollars. There are plenty of wealthy
men in and around Washington who would have given twenty
thousand without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life.
The congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if
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reports be true, some of them spend not very credibly.
And the people about Washington no doubt applauded you for
relieving them from the necessity of giving by giving what
was not yours to give. The people have delegated to
Congress by the Constitution, the power to do certain things.
To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay monies,
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and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation and
a violation of the Constitution. So you see, colonel, you've
violated the Constitution what I consider a vital point. It
is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, For
when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the
limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it
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and no security for the people. I have no doubt
you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better,
except as far as you are personally concerned. And you
see that I cannot vote for you. I'm going to
continue reading this and it's going to be in the
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podcast if you want to hear the rest of the score.
So otherwise, I think you get the point of why
he cast his next vote against the widow's money. I
tell you, I felt street. I saw if I should
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have opposition, and this man should go to talk, and
he would set others to talk, and in that district,
I was a gone fawn skin. I could not answer him.
And the fact is I was so fully convinced that
he was right. I didn't want to, but I must
satisfy him, and I said to him, well, my friend,
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you hit the nail upon the head when you said
I did not have sense enough to understand the Constitution.
I intended to be guided by it and thought I
had studied it fully. I have heard many speeches in
Congress about the powers of Congress. But what you have
said here at your plow has gotten me more hard
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sound sense in it than the fine speeches I have
ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of
it that you have, I would have put my head
into the fire before I would have given that vote.
And if you will forgive me and vote for me again,
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if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law, I wish
I may be shot. He laughingly replied, Yes, colonel, you
have sworn to that once before. But I will trust
you again upon one condition. You say that you are
convinced your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will
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do more good than beating you for it. If as
you go around the district, you will tell people about
this vote and you are satisfied it was wrong. I
will not only vote for you, but I will do
what I can to keep down opposition, and perhaps I
may ex hurt some little influence in that way. If
I don't said I, I wish I may be shot.
(24:06):
And to convince you that I am in earnest in
what I say, I will come back this way in
a week or ten days, and if you will get
up a gathering of the people, I will make a
speech to them, get up a barbecue, and I will
pay for it. No, colonel, we are not rich people
in this section, but we have plenty of provisions to
contribute for a barbecue, and some to spare for those
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who have none. The push of crops will be over
in a few days and we can then afford a
day for a barbecue. This is Thursday. I will see
to getting it up on Saturday. Week come to my
house on Friday and we will go together, and I
promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you. Well.
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I will be here. But one thing more before I
say goodbye, I must know your name name as Bunts,
not Horatio Buns. Yes, well, mister Bunce, I never saw
you before, though you say you have seen me, but
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I know you very well. I am glad i've met you,
and very proud that I may hope to have you
for my friend. It was one of the luckiest hits
of my life that I met him. He mingled but
little with the public, but was widely known for his
remarkable intelligence and incorruptible integrity, and for a heart brimful
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and running over with kindness and benevolence which showed themselves
not only in words but in acts. He was the
oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame
had extended far beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance.
Though I had never met him before, I had heard
much of him, and but for this meeting, it is
likely I should have had opposition and had been beaten.
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One thing is very certain. No man could now stand
up in that district under such a vote. At the
appointed time, I was at his house, having told our
conversation to every crowd i'd met, and every man I
stayed all night with, And I found that it gave
the people an interest in a confidence in me stronger
than I'd ever seen manifested before. Though I was considerably
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fatigued when I reached his house, and under ordinary circumstances
should have gone early to bed. I kept him up
until midnight talking about the principles and affairs of government,
and I got more real, true knowledge of them than
i'd got all my life before. I have known and
seen much of him since, for I respect him, No,
that is not the word. I reverence and love him
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more than any living man. And I go to see
him two to three times every year. And I will
tell you if everyone who professes to be a Christian
lived and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the
religion of Christ would take the world by storm. But
to return to my story, the next morning we went
to the barbecue, and to my surprise found about a
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thousand men there. I met a good many whom I
had not known before, and they and my friend introduced
me around until I got pretty well acquainted. At least
they all knew me. In due time, notice was given
that I would speak to them. They gathered up around
a stand and had been that had been erected for
the occasion. I opened my speech by saying, quote, fellow citizens,
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I present myself to you today, feeling like a new man.
My eyes have lately been open to truths with which
ignorance or prejudice or both had heretofore hidden from my view.
I feel that I can today offer you the ability
to render you more valuable service than I have ever
been able to render before. I am here today more
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for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek
your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment is due
to myself as well as to you. Whether you will
vote for me is a matter for your consideration only.
I went on to tell them at the fire and
my vote for the appropriation, and then told him why
I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying,
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and now, fellow citizens, it remains only for me to
tell you that the most of the speech you have
listened to with so much interest was simply a repetition
of the arguments by which your neighbor, mister Buntz convinced
me of my error. It is the best speech I
ever made in my life. But he is entitled to
the credit for it. And now I hope he is
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satisfied with his convert and that he will get up
here and tell you so. He came upon the stand
and said, fellow citizens, it affords me great pleasure to
comply with the request of Colonel Crockett. I have always
considered him a thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied
that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised you.
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Today he went down, and there went up from that
crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett, as his name
never called forth before. I am not much given to tears,
but I was taken with a choking then, and felt
some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell
you now that the remembrance of these few words spoken
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by such a man, and the honest, hearty shout they produced,
is worth more to me than all the honors I
have received and all the reputation I ever made, or
shall ever make as a member of Congress. Now, Sir,
concluded Crockett, you know why I made that speech today.
There is one thing now to which I will call
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your attention. You remember that I propose to give a
week's pay. There are in that house many very wealthy men,
men who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or
a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party,
when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of
those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt
of gratitude which the country owed the deceased, a debt
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which could not be paid by money, and the inst
significance and worthlessness of money, particularly so insignificant a sum
is ten thousand dollars when weighted against the honor of
our nation. Yet not one of them responded to my proposition.
Money with them is nothing but trash when it is
(30:17):
to come out of the people. But it is the
one great thing for which most of them are striving,
and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to
obtain it. And that, my family, is why I name
my son Croft. The gentlemen, ell of Us has left Fortil,
(30:41):
Thank you, and good night,
We were talking about the flu shot and how the
studies show it doesn't actually work. In fact, it kills
more people than it saves. Then in two thousand and eight,
Cheryl Atkinson did a piece on how top vaccine advocates
we're receiving substantial funding from pharmaceutical companies.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Years now, parents have wondered if vaccines are linked to
conditions like autism and add Government officials and some scientists
say there is no connection, and they're often backed by
independent experts. But just how independent are they? You may
be surprised at what Cheryl Akison found when she set
out to follow the money.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
There's some of the most trusted voices in the defense
of vaccine safety, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child
by Two and pediatrician doctor Paul Ausitt. The CBS News
has found these three have something more in common.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Folly Young number two.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Strong financial ties to the industry whose products they promote
and defend. The vaccine industry gives millions to the Academy
of Pediatrics for conferences, grants, medical education classes, even helped
pay to build their headquarters. The totals are kept secret,
but public documents reveal bits and pieces. Three hundred forty
(01:23):
two thousand dollars was given to the Academy by WYF,
maker of the new macawcle vaccine, for a community grant program.
Four hundred and thirty three thousand dollars was contributed to
the Academy by Merk. The same year the Academy endorsed
Merk's HPV vaccine. Another top donor, Sanafi Aventis, maker of
seventeen vaccines and a new five to one combo shot,
(01:47):
just added to the childhood vaccine schedule last month. Every
Child by two, a group that promotes early immunization for
all children, admitst the group takes money from the vaccine
industry too, but wouldn't tell us how much. A spokesman
told us there are simply no conflicts to be unearthed.
But guess who has been listed as the group's treasures.
(02:08):
Unofficial from WYATH and a paid advisor to big pharmaceutical clients.
Then there's doctor Paul Offitt, perhaps the most widely quoted
defender of vaccine safety. He's gone so far as to
say babies can theoretically tolerate quote ten thousand vaccines at once.
This is how Affitt described himself in a previous interview.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
I'm the chief of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital Philadelphia
and a professor pediatrics at Penn's Medical School.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Doctor Offfitt was not willing to be interviewed on this subject,
but like others in our investigation, he has strong industry ties.
In fact, he's a vaccine industry insider. Doctor Offitt holds
a one point five million dollar research chair at Children's
Hospital funded by Merk. He holds the patent on an
anti diarrhea vaccine he developed with Merk Rhodo Tech, which
(02:59):
has prevented thatands of hospitalizations in the US, and future
royalties for the vaccine were just sold for one hundred
and eighty two million dollars cash. Doctor Offit's share of
vaccine profits unknown.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
There's nothing illegal about the possible conflicts of interest, but,
as one member of Congress put it, money from the
pharmaceutical industry can shape the practices of those who hold
themselves out to be independent. The American Academy of Pediatrics,
every Child by Two and doctor Offitt wouldn't agree to interviews,
but all told us they're upfront about the money they
receive and it doesn't sway their opinions. Today's immunization schedule
(03:38):
now calls for kids to get fifty five doses of
vaccines by age six. Ideally, it makes for a healthier society,
but critics worry that industry ties could impact the advice
given to the public about all those vaccines.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Now, let's think about how this works. Hmm. So we've
got a product to sell. Let's say we're the sellers
of chocolate candy bars, and people just aren't buying enough
chocolate candy bars for our liking. So we go to
(04:15):
the public health officials. We say, we'll give you all
this money, which is how fault you got rich. We'll
give you all this money to say you need to
eat more of Ramones chocolate candy bars. In fact, that's
really the only way to save you. And we recommend
(04:37):
that schools don't allow children to come to school unless
they've eaten their Ramones chocolate candy bar. Universities, we recommend
that companies don't allow people to come in. We recommend
that hospitals not allow you to be admitted as a
hospital unless you've eaten your Ramones chocolate candy bar. Or long.
(05:01):
What happens, they sell a lot of chocolate candy bars,
don't they you think that might have affected Now that
doesn't make the chocolate candy bar good for you. It
doesn't make the chocolate candy bar give you any health benefits.
And neither does the fact that top vaccine advocates are
(05:25):
advocating for something mean that you won't get what they're
giving you, the vaccine to prevent you from getting. When
you stop and think about it that way.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
Man Michael barryn't change in the system modern.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
On this day in nineteen fifty five, which makes it
seventy years ago. Love his Grief was There were four
different versions of this same ballad of Davy Crockett on
the market and on the charts, believe it or not.
One was by Walter Schumann, one was by the great
(06:13):
Tennessee Ernie Ford. One was by Best Parker, But you
knew that already because he started the movie. The fourth.
You get extra extra credit lanyap on top of Lanya
if you knew that it's Bill Hayes. Hiss went to
(06:36):
number one, and uh, I love the story of Davy Crockett,
but not for the reason that you might think. My
youngest son is named Crockett. Crockett Marcos Barry Marcos, one
of his Ethiopian names. We kept our children's Ethiopian names
(06:58):
as part of their overall nity, even though we gave
them names that we chose as their sort of Christian name,
the name that they go by. But Crockett was so
named after a hero of mine. We went by the
name David Crockett. But legend has him at Davy Crockett.
I don't know that it matters today. David Crockett who
died at the Alamo, and as a child, I was
(07:21):
as inspired as I am today by the men who
fought at the mission in San Antone against the Mexicans
and died valiantly. David Crockett's a great story because of
the you may all go to Hell, I'm going to
Texas story. He was. He was one of the first,
(07:44):
after Daniel Boone, one of the first true American heroes.
For some reason other than being a president or a general.
He was Colonel David Crockett. But he was a hero
for his exploits. He once showed up in New York
at a Broadway musical about the exploits of Davy Crockett.
(08:09):
But the reason I adore. His memory and his legacy
is more than all of those things, although of course
they add to them. It is a story that's kind
of Ron Paul in the telling. Not many people like this,
very few people. Indeed, it's because of the speech he gave,
(08:29):
and that speech came to be known as not yours
to give, not yours to give. Say that out loud,
because you're gonna want to look this up, because most
of you probably don't know this story about David Crockett,
because you think of David Crockett as the legend and
killed him a bar when he was only three, and
dying at the Alamo and the Coonskin Cap and all
(08:52):
those are wonderful aspects to the legend of David Crockett.
But while David Crockett was in Congress, there was a
request for the widow of a celebrated naval officer, and
Congress was ready right there on the spot. Boom, let's
give her a bunch of money from the public treasury.
(09:13):
And Davy Crockett did something very brave. He stood on
principle because surely, with the old woman here, you're going
to give some money out of the federal government. Federal
government's got it, and we're in charge of it. We're
the appropriators. That's what Congress does. So let's give her
some money. And there was quite the fervor. Yeah, let's
give her some money. It's the people's money. Who cares,
and we'ld give it to her. We'll look like stars
(09:34):
and Davy Crockett, Colonel Crockett stood up and said, I
have as much respect for the memory of the deceased,
and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living,
if suffering there be, as any man in this house.
But we must not permit our respect for the dead,
or our sympathy for a part of the living, to
lead us to an act of injustice to the balance
(09:58):
of the living means everybody else. I will not go
into an argument to prove that Congress has no power
to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every
member upon this floor knows it. We have the right
as individuals to give away as much of our own
money as we please in charity, But as members of Congress,
(10:22):
we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of
the public money. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate
this money as the payment of a debt we have
not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity.
Mister Speaker, I have said, we have the right to
(10:44):
give as much money of our own as we please.
I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot
vote for this bill. But I will give one week's
pay to the object, that's the widow, and if every
member of Congress will do the same, it will amount
to more then the bill asks. He then went on
to say, in quoting a constituent, the people have delegated
(11:06):
to Congress by the Constitution, the power to do certain things.
To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneies,
and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation and
a violation of the Constitution. Now, there is more to
this story, and it will require the next segment for
me to get to it. There is more to this
(11:28):
story than what David Crockett did. What he did, the
action he took was an act of courage, real courage.
The reason he did it is an act of incredible humility.
And it just goes to show that as we walk
through this world we make mistakes. We all do. And
(11:52):
it's not whether we make mistakes we endeavor not to,
But it is whether or not we learn from them,
whether we learn from the things we do, the mistakes
we make. And Davy Crockett went on to explain his vote,
and I will read you the rest of his speech
where he does that it's incredibly powerful. But before we
(12:14):
do that, I will say that you will find many
times that the greatest acts of valor, and this is
the part that I think people miss, are typically not
celebrated by those around them. People who stand on principle
are typically not honored and celebrated for standing on principle.
(12:36):
When Ted Cruz went to the United States Senate, I
had worked very hard to put him there, as did
a lot of other people, and when he got there,
he would lose votes ninety nine to one. Lindsey Graham
said that there were members in the Senate who wanted
to murder him. Send that into a hot microphone. There
are senators who want to murder him. And John McCain said,
it tells you how popular he is that he loses
(12:59):
votes ninety nine one. But I went back and read
those votes, and they were issues that the Senate had
rubber stamped. They were swamp issues, and the concept was
as long as everybody hangs together, we don't hang by ourselves.
And so what Ted Cruz was doing was making a
name for himself with the grassroots constituency with Tea Party voters,
(13:22):
which became Maga voters. But he wasn't very popular, for
it wasn't popular at all. Anyway, I'll read you that
letter coming up, Captain some ting Wong. Well, something must
be right. You're listening to Michael Berry. Okay, So I
told you that Davy Crockett, while the widow had been
(13:45):
brought forward before the Congress, her husband a celebrated naval
officer who had passed, and here she was the widow,
and she wanted some money. And they said, oh, yes,
your husband was a great man. Let's write to check
from the Treasury to you. David Crockett said, you can't
do that. You don't have the power. We do not
(14:08):
have the power to appropriate charity. And by the way,
we can give charity of our own money. And I'll start,
I'm the poorest fellow in this Congress, and I'll give
a week of my pay, and if every one of
you will do the same, we'll give her more money
(14:29):
than you're trying to give her from the Treasury. Well,
as you might imagine, nobody joined him in that offer.
But as I told you, that's not the fact that
he did such a principal thing is impressive. The fact
of how he came to do that, that's the story
I think makes this really, really special. And I'll read
(14:52):
to you from his speech. He uh, he said, it's not.
During his speech was later he was asked by a friend,
why did you do that? My god? Everybody hated you
for that, And he said, well, several years ago, I
was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol
(15:13):
with some other members of Congress when our attention was
attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was
evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and
drove over as fast as we could. In spite of
all that could be done. In spite of all that
could be done, many houses were burned, and many families
made homeless. And besides, some of them had lost all
(15:33):
but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold,
and when I saw so many women and children suffering,
I felt that something ought to be done for them.
The next morning, a bill was introduced appropriating twenty thousand
dollars for their relief. We put aside all other business
and rushed it through as soon as it could be done.
The next summer, when it began to be time to
think about the election, I concluded I would not sorry.
(15:58):
I concluded I would take a scout around among the
boys of my district. I had no opposition there, but
as the election was some time off, I didn't know
what might turn up. When riding one day and a
part of my district in which I was more of
a stranger than any other, I saw a man in
a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged
my gate so that we should meet as he came
(16:19):
to the fence. As he came up, I spoke to
the man. He replied politely, but as I thought, rather coldly,
I began, well, friend, I'm one of those unfortunate beings
called candidates, and yes I know who you are, your
Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before and voted
for you the last time you were elected. I suppose
(16:40):
you're out electioneering now, but you'd better not waste your
time or mine. I shall not vote for you again.
This was a sock dollager. I begged him to tell
me what was the matter. Well, Colonel, it is hardly
worthwhile to waste time or words upon it. I do
not see how it can be mended. But you get
(17:00):
a vote last winter, which shows that either you have
not capacity to understand the Constitution or that you are wanting,
in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it.
In either case, you are not the man to represent me.
But I beg your pardon for expressing it that way.
I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege
of the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for
(17:22):
the purpose of insulting or wounding you. I intend by
it only to say that you are understanding of the
Constitution is very different from mine, and I will say
to you what. But for my rudeness, I should not
have said that. I believe you to be honest. But
an understanding of the Constitution different from mine I cannot overlook.
(17:43):
Because the Constitution to be worth anything must be held
sacred and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man
who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous
the more honest he is. I admit the truth of
all you say. But there must be some mistake about it,
(18:04):
for I do not remember that I gave any vote
last winter upon any constitutional question. No, colonel, there's no mistake.
Though I live here in the backwoods and seldom go
from home, I take the papers from Washington and read
very carefully all the proceedings of Congress. My papers say
that last winter you voted for a bill to appropriate
(18:25):
twenty thousand dollars to some sufferers by a fire in Georgetown.
Is that true? Well, my friend, I may as well
own up. You got me there, But certainly nobody will
complain that a great and rich country like ours should
give the insignificant sum of twenty thousand dollars to receive
its suffering, to relieve its suffering women and children, particularly
(18:48):
with the full and overflowing treasury. And I'm sure if
you'd been there, you would have done just as I did.
It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of.
It is the principal. In the first place, the government
ought to have in the treasury no more than enough
for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing to do
with the question the power of collecting and dispersing money
(19:09):
at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be
entrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue
by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country,
no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer
he is, the more he pays in proportion to his means.
What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge
where the weight centers. For there is not a man
in the United States who can ever guess how much
(19:31):
he pays to the government. So you see that while
you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it
from thousands who are even worse off than he. If
you had the right to give anything, the amount was
simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had
as much right to give twenty thousand as twenty million.
If you have the right to give to one, you
have the right to give to all. And as the
(19:52):
Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are
at liberty to give it to any and everything which
you may believe or profess to believe, is a charity.
And to any amount you may think proper, you will
very easily perceive what a wide door that would open
for fraud and corruption and favoritism on the one hand,
and for robbing the people on the other. No, Colonel,
(20:15):
Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may
give as much of their own money as they please,
but they have no right to touch a dollar of
the public money for that purpose. If twice as many
houses had been burned in this country, in this county,
as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of
Congress would have thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief.
(20:35):
There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress.
If they'd shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing
each one weeks each one's week's pay, it would have
made over thirteen thousand dollars. There are plenty of wealthy
men in and around Washington who would have given twenty
thousand without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life.
The congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if
(20:55):
reports be true, some of them spend not very credibly.
And the people about Washington no doubt applauded you for
relieving them from the necessity of giving by giving what
was not yours to give. The people have delegated to
Congress by the Constitution, the power to do certain things.
To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay monies,
(21:16):
and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation and
a violation of the Constitution. So you see, colonel, you've
violated the Constitution what I consider a vital point. It
is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, For
when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the
limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it
(21:36):
and no security for the people. I have no doubt
you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better,
except as far as you are personally concerned. And you
see that I cannot vote for you. I'm going to
continue reading this and it's going to be in the
(21:58):
podcast if you want to hear the rest of the score.
So otherwise, I think you get the point of why
he cast his next vote against the widow's money. I
tell you, I felt street. I saw if I should
(22:20):
have opposition, and this man should go to talk, and
he would set others to talk, and in that district,
I was a gone fawn skin. I could not answer him.
And the fact is I was so fully convinced that
he was right. I didn't want to, but I must
satisfy him, and I said to him, well, my friend,
(22:41):
you hit the nail upon the head when you said
I did not have sense enough to understand the Constitution.
I intended to be guided by it and thought I
had studied it fully. I have heard many speeches in
Congress about the powers of Congress. But what you have
said here at your plow has gotten me more hard
(23:02):
sound sense in it than the fine speeches I have
ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of
it that you have, I would have put my head
into the fire before I would have given that vote.
And if you will forgive me and vote for me again,
(23:23):
if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law, I wish
I may be shot. He laughingly replied, Yes, colonel, you
have sworn to that once before. But I will trust
you again upon one condition. You say that you are
convinced your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will
(23:43):
do more good than beating you for it. If as
you go around the district, you will tell people about
this vote and you are satisfied it was wrong. I
will not only vote for you, but I will do
what I can to keep down opposition, and perhaps I
may ex hurt some little influence in that way. If
I don't said I, I wish I may be shot.
(24:06):
And to convince you that I am in earnest in
what I say, I will come back this way in
a week or ten days, and if you will get
up a gathering of the people, I will make a
speech to them, get up a barbecue, and I will
pay for it. No, colonel, we are not rich people
in this section, but we have plenty of provisions to
contribute for a barbecue, and some to spare for those
(24:27):
who have none. The push of crops will be over
in a few days and we can then afford a
day for a barbecue. This is Thursday. I will see
to getting it up on Saturday. Week come to my
house on Friday and we will go together, and I
promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you. Well.
(24:48):
I will be here. But one thing more before I
say goodbye, I must know your name name as Bunts,
not Horatio Buns. Yes, well, mister Bunce, I never saw
you before, though you say you have seen me, but
(25:09):
I know you very well. I am glad i've met you,
and very proud that I may hope to have you
for my friend. It was one of the luckiest hits
of my life that I met him. He mingled but
little with the public, but was widely known for his
remarkable intelligence and incorruptible integrity, and for a heart brimful
(25:31):
and running over with kindness and benevolence which showed themselves
not only in words but in acts. He was the
oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame
had extended far beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance.
Though I had never met him before, I had heard
much of him, and but for this meeting, it is
likely I should have had opposition and had been beaten.
(25:54):
One thing is very certain. No man could now stand
up in that district under such a vote. At the
appointed time, I was at his house, having told our
conversation to every crowd i'd met, and every man I
stayed all night with, And I found that it gave
the people an interest in a confidence in me stronger
than I'd ever seen manifested before. Though I was considerably
(26:16):
fatigued when I reached his house, and under ordinary circumstances
should have gone early to bed. I kept him up
until midnight talking about the principles and affairs of government,
and I got more real, true knowledge of them than
i'd got all my life before. I have known and
seen much of him since, for I respect him, No,
that is not the word. I reverence and love him
(26:39):
more than any living man. And I go to see
him two to three times every year. And I will
tell you if everyone who professes to be a Christian
lived and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the
religion of Christ would take the world by storm. But
to return to my story, the next morning we went
to the barbecue, and to my surprise found about a
(27:01):
thousand men there. I met a good many whom I
had not known before, and they and my friend introduced
me around until I got pretty well acquainted. At least
they all knew me. In due time, notice was given
that I would speak to them. They gathered up around
a stand and had been that had been erected for
the occasion. I opened my speech by saying, quote, fellow citizens,
(27:22):
I present myself to you today, feeling like a new man.
My eyes have lately been open to truths with which
ignorance or prejudice or both had heretofore hidden from my view.
I feel that I can today offer you the ability
to render you more valuable service than I have ever
been able to render before. I am here today more
(27:45):
for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek
your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment is due
to myself as well as to you. Whether you will
vote for me is a matter for your consideration only.
I went on to tell them at the fire and
my vote for the appropriation, and then told him why
I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying,
(28:07):
and now, fellow citizens, it remains only for me to
tell you that the most of the speech you have
listened to with so much interest was simply a repetition
of the arguments by which your neighbor, mister Buntz convinced
me of my error. It is the best speech I
ever made in my life. But he is entitled to
the credit for it. And now I hope he is
(28:27):
satisfied with his convert and that he will get up
here and tell you so. He came upon the stand
and said, fellow citizens, it affords me great pleasure to
comply with the request of Colonel Crockett. I have always
considered him a thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied
that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised you.
(28:50):
Today he went down, and there went up from that
crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett, as his name
never called forth before. I am not much given to tears,
but I was taken with a choking then, and felt
some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell
you now that the remembrance of these few words spoken
(29:12):
by such a man, and the honest, hearty shout they produced,
is worth more to me than all the honors I
have received and all the reputation I ever made, or
shall ever make as a member of Congress. Now, Sir,
concluded Crockett, you know why I made that speech today.
There is one thing now to which I will call
(29:33):
your attention. You remember that I propose to give a
week's pay. There are in that house many very wealthy men,
men who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or
a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party,
when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of
those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt
of gratitude which the country owed the deceased, a debt
(29:56):
which could not be paid by money, and the inst
significance and worthlessness of money, particularly so insignificant a sum
is ten thousand dollars when weighted against the honor of
our nation. Yet not one of them responded to my proposition.
Money with them is nothing but trash when it is
(30:17):
to come out of the people. But it is the
one great thing for which most of them are striving,
and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to
obtain it. And that, my family, is why I name
my son Croft. The gentlemen, ell of Us has left Fortil,
(30:41):
Thank you, and good night,
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