See other Health Articles
Title: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!
Source:
Lew Rockwell
URL Source: http://lewrockwell.com/reed/reed159.html
Published: May 9, 2009
Author: Fred Reed
Post Date: 2009-05-09 08:20:54 by Ada
Keywords: None
Views: 116
Comments: 5
OK, yesterday on final into Guadalajara, at the height of the flu epidemic, indeed pandemic, predicted to be even more cleansing than the killer flu of 1918, perhaps the beginning of the long-expected plague that would eliminate mankind from the earth, no doubt to the earth’s relief, I was ready for the worst. I had read the papers, after all. I was sure there would be piles of festering corpses in the streets, such as one would expect after a Burundian election. I had read Defoe’s account of the bubonic plague in London, and knew that men with wheelbarrows would be collecting the dead. Especially with today’s littering laws. Except that, when I had called Violeta every night during the two weeks I was in the US, she always said “What flu?” Ain’t got no flu heah. The schools were shut down, bars closed, everybody hiding from the flu, but they couldn’t find any flu to hide from. My friend Ken, in another town near Guad, reported an equal epidemic of perfect health. It was media flu, he suspected. I knew better. I had read of the lightning spread, the hundreds of dead, the frightening appearance of cases in New Zealand, comparisons to the Black Death of 1348. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. The only logical explanation was that the Mexican government was quietly disposing of thousands—nay, tens of thousands—of dead so as not to alarm the tourist trade. We deplaned. An official of some sort was handing out those funny little masks to anyone who wanted one, which practically no one did. Coming out of customs, everybody had to stand briefly in front of an infrared camera that made you appear green on a big screen if you didn’t have a fever, which nobody seemed to. No corpses. I guess they removed them really fast. No coughs. Come on, I thought. You’ve advertised the flu. Now produce it. Violeta and Natalia picked me up, apparently not dead, and we headed south to Jocotepec. The streets were semi-deserted, traffic light. Maybe, I thought, a plague was a good thing. I mean, you could find parking. Mexico seemed to be taking the disease seriously, doing all the responsible things that one does with a plague. All it needed was a plague. Can you order plagues online, I wondered, being a practical sort. That evening we went with friends to the Tortuga Sedienta in Ajijic for hamburgers and wine. (I’m not sure you are supposed to drink wine with hamburgers. The question consumes me.) One of said friends was a Mexican doctor, shock-trauma variety I believe, who had worked all over the world. In two hours of conversation, she never mentioned the careening extinction, the eminent PCS to the sky, the Permanent Change of Station that loomed over us like a bad divorce settlement. I guess it just didn’t make an impression on her. Or anyone else. This morning I leaped like a startled jackrabbit to La Puta Dora and checked the Yahoo headlines, which didn’t mention the plague at all. This was ominous. I figured all the journalists must be dead. A news story I had read put the mortality from the Monster Flu at ten percent, so the reporters must have gotten it several times each to all be dead. So surviving it didn’t confer immunity. Bad, very bad. What’s the deal? Sure, tomorrow the virus may erupt with renewed virulence and carry off whole populations. I suppose it’s more likely than an asteroid strike. Maybe. The Yahoo headlines did Illinois or somewhere is suspected of killing his third wife. All right, perhaps this is of greater import than a disease that is going to depopulate the earth. You have to respect the editor’s news judgement. (Mmurdering your wife is a family matter and nobody else’s business. How about a little respect for privacy?) But if this flu business isn’t just a media frenzy staged by bored news weasels, why aren’t we hearing more about it? How come I can’t find it, and I’m supposed to be in the middle of it? Habeas corpus, I say.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Ada (#0)
Swine flu fears may increase seasonal flu shots Nanci Bompey • NBompey@CITIZEN-TIMES.com • published May 9, 2009 12:15 am Local health departments starting to plan for flu season say concerns over swine flu may mean more people will seek flu shots in the fall. Although it is still unclear whether there will be a vaccine for the new H1N1 strain ready by the time flu clinics are held in the fall, health officials said swine flu concerns may prompt more people to get vaccinated for the seasonal flu virus. Beth Rowe-West, head of the state's immunization branch, said health officials often see an increase in people getting a flu shot after a particularly bad or early flu season. She said the swine flu virus may increase people's awareness about the importance of protecting themselves against vaccine-preventable diseases. “We want everyone to be vaccinated,” she said. “Unfortunately, that's what it takes to increase the level of vaccination.” The Buncombe County Health Center has already ordered 7,000 doses of flu vaccine for the fall, but Health Director Gibbie Harris said the department is talking about possibly ordering more doses, along with discussing how they may deal with an increase in demand for shots. She said, however, that decisions on whether to order more vaccine may depend on what happens between now and the fall when flu shot clinics are held. Last year, the health department had 2,000 doses left over after holding their flu clinics. “If it (swine flu) continues to be mild and we don't see an increase in the number of cases, memories are short and there may not be a big concern in the fall around this, but it depends,” Harris said. “It will definitely be a part of the discussion.” Health departments in Henderson and Haywood counties also have already put in their initial orders for seasonal flu vaccine and said they also may increase the number of doses to deal with higher demand. “I don't think every person in the county will bombard us for flu shots, but a large number of folks may want a flu shot that have not gotten one this past flu season,” said Linda Weldon, communicable disease nurse supervisor at the Henderson County Health Department. Weldon said it has been difficult to plan for the flu season this year, due in part to uncertainty about a vaccine for the new swine flu strain. She said the outcome of whether or not there will be vaccine for the new H1N1 strain and how and when it would be administered could change their plans. “All we can do right now is plan for the regular influenza vaccine season until all the other issues are resolved,” she said. “There's too many unknowns right now. We're just sitting on the edge of our chairs waiting for information.”
Turtle said this flu was BS, and Turtle was right. I'll repeat this: the Huns were going to conquer the world, then the Nazis, then the Commies, then the Japanese, now the Chinese and the Muslims...first global cooling, now global warming...starvation...overpopulation...AIDs...bird fly...now beaner flu. More people have died from the hysteria around "threats" than from the "threats" themselves. How many? I don't know. One hundred times as many? A thousand times as many? That sounds about right.
Eventually the boy who cried "wolf" met a real one.
We already have: the housing and auto collapse. And not a WORD from the MSM. I predicted the housing collapse in June of '04. I missed the auto and bank problems, though.
#2. To: Ada (#0)
(Edited)
Dancing Turtles and Bouncing Boobs
...that's Turtle Island.
#3. To: Turtle (#2)
#4. To: Ada (#0)
fred nailed it, bump
#5. To: Ada (#3)
Eventually the boy who cried "wolf" met a real one.
Dancing Turtles and Bouncing Boobs...that's Turtle Island.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
