Pork Flu
I’m already sick of that verdammte Schwein of a flu, exactly what we needed on top of war and economic ruin. Meanwhile, waiting on our illustrious leader to figure out a way to use this pig to pork his agenda forward. Did I miss it, has he already put the government healthcare push on a war footing? If the response to the worst economic crisis in 70 years is any guide, you can set your watches for the announcement of the nationalization of all hospitals and seizure of all insurance premiums.
I’m thinking this is going to be one Schweinhund of a flu, bringing out the porker in all our pols.
Surber eyeballs the signals from the dugout:
“But one thing is clear – our capacity to deal with a public health challenge of this sort rests heavily on the work of our scientific and medical community. And this is one more example of why we cannot allow our nation to fall behind.”
And cruelly notes that Obama lacks both an HHS secretary and a CDC chief, among other top health vacanies. WPost with more on that. Surber also notes alarming symbolism that suggests anti-big healthcare = racism. Hey, you stick with what works.
Patrick Di Justo at Salon, on the 1976 swine flu pandemic that wasn’t, slams Gerald Ford for overreacting, notes a curiously familiar tale the eager Dem snuffling at the disaster trough:
The president heralded the impending flu plague and asked Congress for $135 million to investigate the development of a swine flu vaccine, with the goal of vaccinating the citizenry …
Congress, with few exceptions, raced to support the bill. Knowing the Republican president would not, could not veto a bill he requested, the Democratically controlled House attached $1.8 billion dollars in welfare and environmental spending to the flu bill.
Something sounds screwy about that math, but this is a Dem-controlled House we’re talking about. Reynolds, also channeling the ’70s, notes ruefully, “You know, it’s feeling more and more like we’re living in a lame ’70s do-over all the time . . . . ”
OK, quick roundup:
NYT: Obama seeks to ease fears. Apparently he hasn’t seen his opportunity yet. Hey, check this out.
As the administration responds to its first domestic emergency, it is building on concrete preparations made during the tenure of President George W. Bush that have won praise from public health experts.
Howbout that. Here’s a NYT pandemic backgrounder, and Brooks arguing for a decentralized response to global viralism. Meanwhile …
WSJ: Senate set to confirm Dem hack Sebelius as Health Secretary amid a raging health crisis.
No worries. LA Times: Dem hack Napolitano, anti-rightwing extremist crusader, source of man-caused disasterists, is leading the charge.
NYT: Borders tightening everywhere. ABC: But not so fast on the US-Mexican border.
TOL: Ryannair chief, swine flu’s a risk for third-world slum dwellers only, not fare-paying jetsetters.
Reuters: Russkies beat Obama to the disaster opportunism punch. American meat ban.
CNN: Swine flu infects Twitter.
Sterling at Wired links to CDC’s helpful household anti-swine flu hints, and adds reassuring perspective:
People freak out over “pandemics,” even though we’ve got one of the worst pandemics in history, AIDS, raging through the carcass of the body-politic right now. Every once in a while you see a street demo or a charity show about AIDS. Carla Bruni is pretty big on fighting AIDS. Otherwise we just drop dead of AIDS in hecatombs, and the pandemic has become our business as usual. AIDS is an extremely fearsome disease, practically 100% lethal, yet it’s hard work to get people to remain properly afraid of it.
Sure, except in Africa.
*There is always some flu around and flu is always killing some people. Even when a raw mutant flu manages to kill off more people than a shooting-war, flu has never ravaged whole cities as cholera or the Black Death can do. As awful pandemics go, flu is like the snotty-nosed little sister of awful pandemics.
*So if you catch the new swine flu, you’re very likely not gonna die.
*But since it is a flu, you’re gonna kinda WISH you could die.
*You’re not ACTUALLY gonna die unless your lips are turning blue, you have bad chest pains, you can’t swallow water, you can’t stand up, you’re having seizures and you don’t know where you are or what your name is. As this document suggests, you’re gonna want to watch out for those symptoms.
*If you already suffer those medical conditions for any other reason and you ALSO get swine flu, then yes, you are in mortal peril, because that extra kick from Little Sister can do you in.
That Schwein of a flu sure is going to stink up Obama’s big 100 Days speech. Speaking of which, here are some thoughts on that. Malkin, nice flyby! Gateway: 100 Days of Disaster protest in St. Louis. Ace, with a hurtful 100-Day Debt Outlook. Related, not so different, Powerline with the ongoing government takeover of the private sector.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:20 pm on Tuesday, April 28, 2009
One Response to “Pork Flu”
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April 29th, 2009 at 3:57 am
Pssst… It’s “das Schwein”, so it would be “verdammten Schwein”.
It’s a whole other bundle of fireworks to make “pig” feminine. :)