AIDS Denialism in Action: Clark Baker and the HIV Innocence Project Part II

Clark Baker and the late Karri Stokley

I received this email the other day. The writer's identity is concealed, although he did not ask me to do so. He nearly fell for Clark Baker's Innocence Project. Fortunately he had enough sense to recognize Baker was a sham. Baker's suggestion to stop taking his medications was a dead giveaway that he was dealing with a mad man. Good news is that this guy searched Clark Baker and found my blog. Mission accomplished! Below are the correspondences he gave me permission to post.

Dear Seth,


I just found out that the HIV innocence project is a fake! I was wrongly convicted for being HIV positive and spent two years in jail. I read about the Office of Medical and Scientific Justice (OSMJ) and thought I had finally found some help. But all I'm getting from Clark Baker is double talk. He won't take my case! I wonder if his project exists at all. Why won't he put me in touch with lawyers?


Worst of all, is this man trying to kill me? He wants me to go off medicines. I'm not a fool- I need legal help. But I want to stay healthy. Why would any detective tell me to go off meds? I'm reading on the internet about Karri Stokely. Is this what happened to her? Is this legal? Why is Baker harming his clients?



Is this Innocence project just a trap to get people off of meds? Why on earth would anyone not want to take life-giving medicine?


I hope you can use this message from Clark to warn people not to go off meds.


Do you know anyone who could really help? A friend of mine is still in jail for being HIV positive- I'm afraid he will get hurt in jail unless I find some real help.


----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Clark Baker <cb@omsj.org>
To: XXXXXXXXXX
Subject: Need Help- HIV innocent


Your story is one of millions that have occurred since 1984.  I feel awful that you endured this.


The first thing you must do is establish exactly who diagnosed you and exactly how they did it.  If you think you were lied to and are not HIV+, you can decide to stop the deadly drugs you’re taking – but do it slow.  Atripla contains a highly addictive drug and will make you sick (withdrawal) when you stop.  You’ll need to taper off of the Sustiva.  If you get sick from withdrawal, your clinician will scold you for interrupting you drugs and try to convince you that you’re dying from AIDS.


Do you have access to your medical records?  How far back do they go?  If statutes still run, you may have a claim… but I suspect the better opportunity may come in the future when we begin to file class actions.


OMSJ is now focusing on new criminal cases to demonstrate the widespread incompetence and corruption that permeates universities and hospitals and interrupted your life.  When we have a sufficient record, we plan to use our evidence in a wide case that should include you.


In the meantime, stay healthy, eat right, and stop trusting doctors who take bribes from drug companies.


I urge you to tell your story… write about it and blog on OMSJ’s website.  We have a blog section for people like you to share your experiences.  We can’t change the past – we can only try to change the course of our future. 


cb

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Denialist Henry Bauer's Logic and AIDS

What Constitutes Common Knowledge?

Guest Post by Concerned Citizen 

Very recently I attempted to engage Henry Bauer in dialogue at his HIV Skeptic site.  From the start of my argument it was obvious that I was not a dissident, but to his credit, Bauer went along with the dialogue.  Unfortunately, the dialogue ground to a halt after my third post.  I attempted a discussion on the reliability of HIV Testing based on the specificity of antibodies.  As proof of the highly specific nature of antibodies, I gave an example of vaccinations.  Vaccines are incredibly successful against the organism being inoculated against because of the specificity of the antibody elicited.  I also conceded that the dialogue was doomed to failure since Henry claims HIV has never been isolated and therefore, by that logic, the specificity of the antibodies to HIV could not be confirmed. 

I stated that Henry’s rationale would be along the lines of an argument I have seen him put forth in two separate papers.  In those papers, Bauer claimed that Reverse Transcriptase (RT) was not an adequate marker to be utilized in HIV isolation because, as Bauer claims, “RT is found in every living cell.”  As proof Bauer provided two citations:

One claimed RT was found in Drosophila and the other that RT was found in E. coli.  I simply pointed out to Mr. Bauer that just because RT is found in those two organisms is not adequate proof to extrapolate that “RT is found in every living cell.”

Much to my consternation, Mr. Bauer made two shocking claims.  First he stated that antibodies are not specific to anything and demanded I provide citations of such heresy.  Second, and in direct contradiction to his request for me to prove antibody specificity, Bauer claimed that “RT being in every living cell has been common knowledge for over two decades” and therefore refused to provide further proof to support his claim.  Does anyone else see the hypocrisy in that?  Let me explain.

First of all people have been getting vaccinated for hundreds of years.  Vaccinations work as a direct result of the Adaptive Immune System (also know as Specific Immune System: hint, hint, Bauer) responding specifically to the pathogen being inoculated against.  The adaptive immune response provides the vertebrate immune system with the ability to recognize and remember specific pathogens.  The body responds to future assaults with Memory B Cells and Memory T Cells.  As opposed to the Innate Immune System (aka non-specific), this reacts in a general, non-specific fashion relying on cytokines and complement cascade.  Most people have a general understanding (or common knowledge) of how vaccinations prevent them from being susceptible to infection by the pathogen to which they have been vaccinated. 

Specificity of antibodies as explained by PalMD:

http://scientopia.org/blogs/whitecoatunderground/2011/04/06/this-bodes-some-strange-eruption/

“Antibodies are part of the adaptive arm of the immune system that recognizes specific invaders.  (Emphasis mine)  The immune system also has a passive arm that can respond to molecules that look generally like invaders.  Antibodies though are very specific.  (Emphasis mine) One may recognize a particular surface molecule on a staph bacterium, another an influenza virus. The arms of the "Y" on the immunoglobulin molecule are the end that bind to antigens (molecules that form parts of various bacteria, viruses, and other invaders) and can bind very specifically, like a lock and key.”  (Emphasis mine)

Here is a description of the structure of antibodies and why they are able to have such incredible specificity from Virology Blog:

http://www.virology.ws/2009/07/22/adaptive-immune-defenses-antibodies/

“Binding occurs in a small region near the ends of the heavy and light chain called the hypervariable region.  As the name implies, this region is extremely variable, which is why vertebrates can produce millions of antibodies that can bind many different antigens.”

On the other hand, I highly doubt that there is “common knowledge” of Reverse Transcriptase either by the general public or even by scientists.  I am sure Bauer was referring to the latter when he made his specious claim about the “common knowledge of RT for over two decades.”   I am further disinclined to believe this statement when I stopped to consider the fact that RT was only discovered in 1970 and that was in a retrovirus.  If RT is indeed as prolific as Bauer states, why was it not found until 1970 and in a retrovirus and not in some other random, normal cell?  So I doubt that there has been common knowledge of RT in “every living cell” for 20 years when it was only discovered 40 years ago in a retrovirus.  Simple logic would dictate that truth.

I believe that Bauer is (intentionally) confusing Reverse Transcriptase with that of Telomerase, which is a type of RT.  When Bauer claims that RT is found in all living cells, he may be referring to Telomerase.  Telomerase is an enzyme used during cell mitosis to make telomeres to protect genetic material from being lost. 

http://www4.utsouthwestern.edu/cellbio/shay-wright/intro/facts/sw_facts.html

 “To make sure that information is successfully passed from one generation to the next, each chromosome has a special protective cap called a telomere located at the end of its "arms". Telomeres are controlled by the presence of the enzyme telomerase.  A telomere is a repeating DNA sequence (for example, TTAGGG) at the end of the body's chromosomes. The telomere can reach a length of 15,000 base pairs. Telomeres function by preventing chromosomes from losing base pair sequences at their ends. They also stop chromosomes from fusing to each other.”

It’s hard to know exactly what Bauer is discussing because he refuses to provide a simple citation to support his dubious statements.  Instead, Bauer suggests I read his entire blog, I buy a $345 textbook or else buy a book by John Lauritsen.  (I would rather stab myself in the eye than read Lauritsen.)  Maybe Bauer is right. (And maybe the moon is made out of cheese.) But why is it OK for Bauer to make me support my obviously true statements and he feels that I should just take him at his word?

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AIDS Denialism in Action: Clark Baker and the HIV Innocence Project

AIDS Denialist Clark Baker with the late Karri Stokely

WICHITA, Kansas, KSN.com – Effort is being made to get a new trial for a McConnell airman convicted of hiding his HIV status from sex partners in Wichita. KSN has learned the Innocence Project has its sights set on Wichita. It plans to help Tech Sgt. David Gutierrez get a new trial after he was convicted in a military courtroom in January.

It was a case that aired Wichita’s dirty laundry from Coast to Coast: an airman sentenced to eight years behind bars for hiding his HIV positive states at swinger parties.

Robert was one of the victims.

“As many people as he tried to infect, and I'm sorry, kill, in my book, I think he should get the death sentence,” he said.

But not everyone agrees. The HIV Innocence Project has joined Gutierrez in a push for a new trial. The non-profit group helps defendants accused of HIV-related crimes. It took on 20 criminal cases last year, saying in almost every case the charges were dropped. The group’s leader, Clark Baker, calls the Gutierrez case disturbing.

“The Air Force had a lot of pressure to act strongly in pressuring the defense,” said Baker.

In the filing for a new trial, attorney say Gutierrez received a gross and incompetent defense and that his attorneys never looked at his medical records, never called any expert witnesses and refused the free help offered by the HIV Innocence Project.

“I've been working with attorneys since 1980 and I've never had an attorney resist anyone who was willing to deliver exculpatory evidence that would clear their client,” Baker said.

The lawyers also say they plan to go after Doctor Donna Sweet, the HIV expert whose testimony was used by the prosecution against Gutierrez. The defense claims – among other things – that she violated HIPPA laws by testifying against her own patient. And while pointing out she was subpoenaed to testify, Dr. Sweet actually agrees with the broad mission of the Innocence Project when it comes to criminalizing people with the virus.

“There's a big difference between if you actually infect somebody when you didn't tell them versus you put somebody at risk, and in this case Sgt. Gutierrez did not infect anyone that we know of,” she said.

But to his victims, Gutierrez is right where he belongs.

“The only thing unfair about his trial was his sentencing,” said Robert.

KSN did receive a written response from Air Force officials who have no comment on the appeal. They have 30 days to respond to the court filing. In the meantime, Gutierrez remains at Leavenworth Prison serving his sentence. 

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