News-Record.com

yeah ok.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-04-30/the-gops-worst-medicine/

I hope the stimulus package included some help for sufferers of the Sore/Loserman Syndrome.

They seem to be losing contact with reality.

The swine flu is but the latest media/administration driven 'crisis' to provide cover for the little messiah's bank busting spending and His upcoming SC nominee that apparently will a professional victim sent there to represent the downtrodden.

I never thought I'd live to see the day when I regretted the retirement of Souter or Buzzi.

By the time this is over, Jimma Cotta will look absolutely brilliant.

Ben:

The outbreak of swine flu that you seem to be referring to began early in 1976 during the Ford administration. The over-reaction to it--the costly mass innoculations--also occurred on President Ford's watch and ended before President Carter took office ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_swine_flu_outbreak ).

I've watched Gerald Ford get inoculated and Jimmy Carter refuse to get inoculated as background stories on the current outbreak at least 3 times.

They must not be showing that on Fox.

This swine flu bit is simply a media ploy to sell their product, keep the populace worried and deflect attention from more significant issues. One other spin off is the pro-illegal immigration groups using the victim card to defend their cause.

Here is how stupid the American populace is: There is a sign in to pork section at a Food Lion that read "Pork is safe to eat." You will not get swine flu from eating pork products.

Dan, you've hit the nail on the head.

rahrah, read the link. Hysterical. Thanks. :)

Here is another hysterical link Panacea. White House spokesman Baghdad Bob Gibbs interpreting Biden's idiotic comments about public travel and swine flu.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K0BFCbLyxk

Notice the reporters laugh at him when he claims he is telling them what Biden "meant to say".

I'm traveling on an airliner today, damn I'm doomed. It's been nice knowing you guys.

The difficulty with gauging responses to possible pandemics is similar to the difficulty of gauging responses to possible tsunamis. Do you warn of the potential danger? If a warning is given and no tsunami comes, people no longer take the warning seriously and scoff at the alarm. So what to do? Ask the folks in Indonesia and Hilo.

Dan,

At least you point the finger at the right party--the media (both left and right wing outlets) used the hysteria to drum up business.

But, if the administration supposedly took the threat of a pandemic seriously, it was an egregious act of incompetence, stupidity and arrogance to leave open the border with Mexico. Protocol for contagious diseases is isolation and quarantine, not "business as usual." We have learned (again) that political correctness and business pressure can force the government to risk our lives needlessly.

Dave/Rufus,

Please don't cloud this partisan hit job with facts. It really undermines the effort to create this illusion that everything from swine flu to a jet flying over NYC is Obama's fault, and an indicator of total incompetence.

Either that or the swine flu is a premeditated diversion, to distract us from a Supreme Court nominee. I especially like that one. I suppose we should long for the days of real crises. Anyone remember running out to buy duct tape? How about the color coded terror alerts that coincided with elections? Ah, the good old days when fear was more soundly justified.

I'll go with that verelse, it sells print and ad time on the air.

A few dozen people have contracted this flu in the US and one young child has died, a child visiting TX from Mexico. Yet this story leads the headlines every day. Even our church has asked people not to shake hands at the sign of peace.

What the media fail to report is that 30 something thousand Americans die of the regular flu each year. Or that 2500 Americans die in house fires.

I don't know if closing the border to Mexico would have helped, millions of Mexicans have been streaming across the border illegally for years.

With all due respect Barbati, I don't think your comparison between swine flu and tsunamis is quite on the mark. A tsunami comes very quickly with little warning whereas a pandemic develops over weeks or months.

Gotta go catch that flight now, wish me luck.

"...keep the populace worried and deflect attention from more significant issues." Sounds like a strategy taken from the Republican handbook.

Why is the media always the whipping boy for Republicans? If the media was not reporting on the flu, people would be complaining about being kept in the dark. "...it sells print and ad time on the air," they obviously aren't selling enough given the rate at which newspapers are folding.

Cough, cough, wheeze..........sniffle snif. Just got off an airliner. Get me a doctor!!!! Joe Biden was right.

"Sounds like a strategy taken from the Republican handbook."

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."

Rahm Emanual, not on swine flu but the recession.

As said before, the media report incessantly on the swine flu as it will help sell copy.

Newspapers are folding for a number of reasons, the web, recession, lack of union concessions (Boston Globe), and bias likely has something to do with it. Just a guess.

FNC dominates cable news prime time as it offers various viewpoints.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/02/fox-news-and-ms.html

BTW conundrum, congrats for posting a response without, you know what.

The time factor is different Dan, but same idea, eh? To warn or not to warn. If one warns and the threat is not realized then the response to future threats is degraded. However, if one fails to warn and the threat is realized the result can be catastrophic. Decisions, decisions.

"The time factor is different Dan, but same idea, eh?"

Don't get me wrong Barbati, I'm all for informing and warning if need be. And yes the time factors are different, tsunamis and tornadoes carry very short warnings, hurricanes a few days or even a week. Pandemics several weeks or more. That's why I didn't think it was a good comparison, hurricanes woulda been a bit better.

My point is to cover the "pandemic" with responsibility and not hype. Keep in mind, there are people out there that think their bacon and egg biscuit can give them swine flu.

USA Today front page today:

Flu's reach is nearly nationwide.

Sounds scary eh?

But if you read the article there are 226 confirmed cases in 30 states. 226 cases. 30 states. When you omit 20 other states is that "nearly" nationwide? Again, some 35,000 people die from regular flu count each year. Why not publish a weekly death count from regular flu?

Ok, I gotta go to the ER after flying on that plane.

Dan, Dan, Dan. Don't forget. You gotta call 911 if ya wanna get past the rest of the herd.

verelse: it's too early to start closing borders or restricting travel. In spite of the large number of people who've gotten this strain, very few have died. It's not like SARS was.

Now, that can change if the 2nd wave manifests itself. That could be more nasty and require more restrictions.

Fortunately for us, we are at the end of flu season. It's not until the fall that we are at increased risk.

Folks in the southern hemisphere, OTOH, are entering the flu season.

The WHO and CDC are actually doing a pretty good job with their recommendations right now.

"In spite of the large number of people who've gotten this strain, very few have died."

Again, quoting the USA Today article, 226 cases in 30 states and 1 death in the US.

Mexico has 506 confirmed flu cases and 19 deaths.

I hope my count is correct, 24 people died in plane crashes in the US last month.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/AccList.asp?month=4&year=2009

Worldwide, tests confirm 898 cases of swine flu in 18 countries and 20 deaths, according to WHO.

As for your concern about the fall Panacea, they have that covered too:

"Doctors are concerned about what the virus will do in the fall. The 1918 flu pandemic, which killed 50 million people worldwide, began in the spring, became dormant in the summer and roared back in the fall."

OHMYGOD, comparing with 1918 data perhaps 50 MILLION PEOPLE WILL DIE!!! Why the hell didn't they use Tamiflu back in '18?

And an update:

"H1N1 strain looks to be mild but can change fast, experts say."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-05-04-swine-flu-severity_N.htm

At least they called it H1N1, but the link has the term swine flu. Get back to the term H1N1 completely so folks can go back to eating bacon egg and cheese biscuits.

You'll probably die quicker from eating too many bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits than from swine flu.

But my throat is kind of scratchy....

Amen rahrah and greetings from Nashville, hope your throat feels better. Take my advice and that of the VP, don't get on a plane!! You will die!!

I'll have a bagel in the morning, bacon is too dangerous. It's an hour earlier but the body says it's an hour later. Keep posting at 3 am.

I hope it's a whole grain bagel.

Swine flu hype...just the latest move in the shell game that has become the trademark of the current administration. More people have died in auto accidents since the inception of this thread than have died of the swine flu worldwide.

Kinda pathetic to watch the liberals lap it up, then, of course, point the finger at....(who else?)...George Bush! LOFL...

Okay, so Democrats are the ones who generate phony hype? Thanks for clearing that up. I was confused. (On another topic, anybody want to buy some duct tape? I still have some that Tom Ridge told me to buy.)

By the way, what do they hope to gain by inciting hysteria? Are they going to raise taxes on germ masks and rubber gloves?

You bought duct tape?

LOL

Well sure -- didn't everyone?

Evidently it worked.

I guess it did. I have not succumbed to a chemical attack since I bought the duct tape.

Come to think of it, I also have not contracted cancer, malaria, rickets, shingles, psoriasis, cooties, been struck by lightning (or meteors for that matter), been hit by a bus, or suffered any long term memory loss. Maybe I should buy more.

Are you sure it was all duct tape...no tin hat?

Duct tape is cheaper than Viagra Howie, just tape it in the up position. Lasts for days, not hours.

You really bought duct tape?

Over 24 hours since traveling on two airliners and I'm still alive. Thanks Joe Biden, I was thinking about driving to Nashville after his sage advice.

In all honesty, I did not heed the Secretary's warning and purchase duct tape. As you might imagine, I already had some -- it does have a plethora of uses (though your suggestion is one I hadn't heard before). Glad you have not contracted swine flu.