Presidential Science Panel says 90,000 could croak this year from the swine flooos
Close to HALF the Country could be infected.
Coming soon to an ER near you.
Read it and weep HERE.
NOW:
The carnage could start as early as next month, which is little comfort to those most at risk since a vaccine will not be ready until mid-October and it will take weeks to get people fully immunized, probably because it comes in a SERIES of shots. (Now they say two, but last week it was three.)
Then there was this reassuring quote from THE pandemic expert, the guy who wrote the book on flu pandemics:
“The Northern Hemisphere medical care requirements for the next six months are a train wreck waiting to happen,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy in Minneapolis. “In the fall, even if nothing else changes in terms of the virus’s severity and our preparedness, it’s going to be a real challenge.”
A Nation of Dumbasses
Birthplace of our President. Really, no kidding.
According to a new Public Policy Poll, 10% of Americans either believe Hawaii is not part of the United States or are unsure about it. (See, Q4 on Page 2 of release.) Jesus H. Limping Christ on a Fucking Raft! We deserve whatever awful fate awaits us. Perhaps the swine flus will kill off a lot of stupid people and ultimately save us from ourselves. One can only hope.
Government Scientists: “…scared to death because they see just how intelligent this virus is.”
Biotech Drug Company Preparing for Worst Case H1N1 Flu Scenario Using Extremely Promising New Technology
“…Off the record, in a deep conversation in a dark bar, a government scientist researching pandemic flu would say that they’re scared to death because they see just how intelligent this virus is…”
1918 Pandemic Poster
LOS ANGELES, CA–(Marketwire – July 31, 2009) – BioMedReports, the news portal covering the biomedical news and financial sector, in a special report about the H1N1 flu pandemic, is reporting that CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE Amex: CVM) is positioned to help combat the virus after diligently preparing for the worst case scenario with promising results. CEL-SCI’s preclinical studies have demonstrated that vaccines utilizing its proprietary L.E.A.P.S. (Ligand Epitope Antigen Presentation System) technology potentially induce protection against illnesses such as the swine influenza. L.E.A.P.S. helps direct the immune response to the vaccine epitope and company scientists have been working to ensure that it will be available should the virus continue to spread and mutate.
Orange County men’s jail closed because of swine flu
This is just the beginning. In a pandemic, when half the prisoners have it, see how many guards will show up for work, or if any contractors (health, food service) will want to provide services to a jail full of a deadly infectious disease.
Swine flu keeps Orange County men’s jail under quarantine
The original closure was ordered Friday evening after five inmates had been infected. Since then, others have contracted the virus, a county health agency said.
July 29, 2009
Riot at a prison in Mexico
Orange County men’s jail will remain closed today as part of a continuing, temporary quarantine. The closure was ordered after five inmates were infected with swine flu last week and more were diagnosed over the weekend, officials said. Three inmates were diagnosed with the H1N1 virus Thursday, and two more on Friday. Those cases prompted the jail’s quarantine at 6 p.m. Friday, said Orange County sheriff’s spokesman John McDonald. On Monday, the county’s Health Care Agency identified “additional positives” that made it necessary to extend the quarantine. They would not say how many, said Deanne Thompson, a spokeswoman for the agency.
Huge Regional Thrift Set to Collapse
Guaranty Bank, the second largest in Texas has been ordered to turn itself over to the FDIC.
Pig Flu Pandemic: Blame it on the Kids
It’s all the fault of the little rugrats. They are super-transmitters, apparently.
Pig Flu News
- Argentine fear over flu spreads, as accusations of incompetence and numbers-rigging plague the government.
- The WHO – stop testing for H1N1 – assume it’s pig flu. Great way to fudge the numbers, no?
- Health Officials in the UK expect 100,000 NEW cases PER DAY by August.
- UN says its needs $1 billion to fight flu in poor nations. (Rush Limbaugh will probably advocate NOT fighting it, in order to reduce to surplus population.)
- Boston – swine flu panic led to prison uprising.
- No seasonal respite from this flu apparent.
DC awash in the pig flu
Health officials in Washington say the number of cases are comparable with the seasonal flu in fall / winter.
US tips the 1 million mark in pig flu cases; resistance to drug found
So says the CDC.
If the figures are correct, it is reassuring news, because it indicates that the fatality rate from swine flu is even lower than thought, says BBC medical correspondent Fergus Walsh.
Oh, I am reassured no end. What happens when the damn thing mutates?
Funny thing, I immerse myself in news on a daily basis and heard nothing of this from US outlets. If you want to know what’s going on in your own country, best look to the Brits for the info.
Also, check out: Roche Finds First H1N1 Case With Resistance to Tamiflu.
Why we MUST have a public option
FDR
President Obama has the opportunity to reshape our society in the same way that FDR did in the 1930’s.
Unbridled capitalism has clearly failed. The rest of the world has moved beyond us to the detriment of our great mantra – “Competition”. What cripples American business is that they cannot compete with foreign companies that do not have to pay staggering health care costs to private insurance companies in order to cover their workers. And, cover them they must, if they want to retain the best workers possible, after all, they have to compete in the US labor markets as well.
I am a government worker and, as such, I have a “Cadillac” private plan – Blue Cross. But, only because I work for an entity with 7,000 employees and an Insurance Office to intercede in beefs over coverage, am I fairly satisfied. I am sure if I was working in a small law firm, if I had coverage at all, I would be subject to the whims of the coverage thugs at the insurance company.
Medicare has consistently had a 3% rate for administrative costs. My best guess, from reading a lot, is that private health care companies have a 15 – 20% administrative cost. Think about that.
The argument against a public option is that it will result in rationing. Have you dealt with a private health plan lately? I have. If they do not engage in rationing, I’ll kiss your ass in Marshall Fields’ window at high noon. Covered drugs vs. uncovered drugs? HA! That’s just the beginning.
The other argument is that WE – those of us with private plans – would be paying more out of our pocket to cover the people in the public option plan. WE already are. Most of the people who would fit into the public plan are now waiting until they are deathly ill and then seek treatment in an emergency room and the charges are astronomical. They do not pay the bill. The hospital writes this off as uncollectible and passes that loss off to US in the form of higher rates to our private insurance companies.
The snake is eating its own tail.
The End of Empire – The BRIC is hitting the fan, folks!
Children playing with stacks of cash in Weimar Germany.
Stop reading right now unless you are prepared to be massively depressed. Our empire has fallen. We are now, officially, the Romans. In a stunning, devastating piece at TruthDig, Chris Hedges puts together the cataclysmic chain of events to come that many of us have struggled to round up and articulate since September of 2007. It took a year after that for the situation to get so bad, on September 21, 2008, that the Congressional leadership was called together by the Fed and Treasury and told without a massive cash infusion of tax dollars the whole rotten movie set that was our economy was going to fall on top of us. Riot, mayhem, violence and disintegration were sure to follow. Out of that meeting was born TARP, TALF, AIG, GM, the stimulus package, etc.
The whole piece is a must read, but some snippets after the jump will curl your hair.
Pig Flu Alert Raised to Highest Level
- A nurse in the 1918 Pandemic.
- The WHO says flu is unstoppable.
- First official pandemic in 41 years.
- Reuters: U.S. has been there for weeks.
- Times of London asks, “What took them so long?”
- The WHO says its a sign of incresed spread, not lethality.
- Yet, a Boston biotech company says that lethality IS increasing.
- Now in more than 70 nations.
- ‘Working hypothesis’ among experts is virus to follow 1918 pattern.
- Risk to pregnant women said to be on the rise.
All Flu, All Day, All Night
- Gun-wielding flu Dad attacks school official.
- Even healthy people die of the pig flu.
- The NYT offers some speculation as to how the current mild pig flu could become a more deadly visitor.
- The Depression is hampering our ability to battle the flus.
- Luxury cruise line stuck by the pig flu.
Day Old Bread – Odds and Ends 06/08/09
- Can’t make the payment? Light a match!
- Palin kicked out of Republicanist fund raising dinner – again.
- Right wing on the upswing in meaningless EU elections.
- ChiComs put Ray Nagin on lockdown in Shanghai. Has the mayor been “Shanghaied”?
- Apparently we’re letting some of the big banks pay back their TARP money. Let them give it all back, dammit!
- Laura Bush thinks Sotomayor is OK.
- Can’t afford your car payment? Torch the damn thing!
- Right Wing Israeli government stands in the way of Mideast Peace, while simultaneously claiming to have a new plan in the works.
- Canadian nurses meet to discuss possible violence surrounding flu pandemics. Now, they’re talking.
- Government selectively tracks the pig flu.
- Officials said to be preparing for second wave of flu. 1918 here we come.
- Coming to a jailhouse near you – Rikers Island overrun with the pig flu.
- I am irritated with the President on DADT, but I understand his strategery.
Day Old Bread – Odds and Ends – 06/05/09
- End of the line, Grasshopper.
- The WHO hold emergency meeting to avoid (again) raising the panic on pig flu to level 6.
- All of our strum und drang about bird flu apparently helps / will help us with the pig flu.
- Kung Fu’s death “may be accident” say genius cops. (Clue – No one commits suicide by strangling their yang.)
- Unemployment at at 25-year high.
- Department of Stoopid Criminals. AG DWI Homicide suspect busted boozing it up on Facebook.
- Sharon Tate killer, Manson Family member Susan Atkins, is dying, so she gets to have a parole hearing.
Day Old Bread – Odds & Ends – 05/27/09
- GM bankruptcy almost certain as bondholders tell company to stick their stock offer where the sun don’t shine.
- GM bankruptcy seen as a certain disaster for the economy.
- Survey of economists says Depression will end soon. Roubini doesn’t think so. My money’s on Dr. Doom.
- The contagion spreads while the WHO wonders if they jumped the gun on the pandemic alert number. These people will shilly-shally and fart around till we all drop like flies.
- The Dear Leader would like to re-start the Korean War.
Day Old Bread – 05/26/09
- The Swine flu is a particularly tricky bug.
- It looks like you could get both pig flu and seasonal flu at the same time. (By the way, please note, they’re really only telling the Chinese this, and not us.)
- Meanwhile, the World Bank is not being shy about the possibility of widespread civil unrest as a result of the Depression.
- Speaking of the Depression, many think it could go on for three more years.
H1N1 Update – It will probably kill us all.
- Bring Out Your Dead! Bring Out Your Dead!
- CDC has shifted focus to predict how the pig flu will kill us all next October. The guessing games goes on and on.
- The Japs and the Aussies have it now, too.
- The H1N1 has to get tougher still before we starting dropping like soldiers in 1918.
- Comes the day the pig flu marries the bird flu, we are the ones who will get fucked.
- The WHO says cases are on the rise – rapidly.
- UK Health Honcho reckons H1N1 more infectious than first thought. Duh!
- The pig flu’s target kills are between 20 and 29 years old. 1918!
