The Swine Flu

EPIDEMIC? PANDEMIC?
Media misinforming public about so-called "epidemic"
William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.

Dear Friend,

The swine flu "epidemic" is only a few days old, and Big Pharma is already plotting to make a fortune.

European drug maker Roche announced it was scaling up production of Tamiflu, giving a boost to its stock price and sending millions into the Roche coffers. GlaxoSmithKline, which makes the anti-flu drug Relenza, is also seeing its stock price climb, as investors hope this swine flu is the biggest thing since the bubonic plague.

There's only one problem here – it's not going to happen. You read the Daily Dose because I always give you the straight scoop, and because I'm not afraid to tell you when the mainstream has it wrong.

And they have it wrong on swine flu. It won't be an epidemic – it'll barely even be a ripple. I've run medical clinics in Africa – I know what an epidemic looks like.

And this isn't it.

The media is blowing swine flu out of proportion so it can feed its 24-hour news cycle – the same media, mind you, that had us convinced that avian flu was going to destroy the planet a few years ago.

But here are the facts about swine flu – it has affected so few people in America that it's hardly worth discussing. There are 64 confirmed cases in America as I'm writing this – not 6,000 or even 600. There are 64.

Of course, the media is fixated on the 100 or so people who have died in Mexico from the swine flu. But let me clue you into something that no one seems to be discussing – health care in Mexico is ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. I know – I've been there more times than I can count.

Disease spreads rapidly through Mexico because large areas of the country lack clean water and basic sanitation. Seeing a doctor – let alone a qualified doctor – is a luxury unavailable to most of the population. Of course the flu is killing people in Mexico – so are a lot of other diseases that are successfully treated in America. People in Mexico still die from diarrhea, for Pete's sake!

Yes, they have apparently had some cases of bad swine flu in Mexico. They've had lots of dengue fever and chagas, too, but you don't need to stay up at night worrying about it. Beating the swine flu isn't any different from beating the regular flu. Wash your hands. Avoid large crowds if you can. Get plenty of rest and fluids if you start getting sick.

And don't be afraid to eat pork or any other meat, for that matter, as it's not the pigs who are getting sick. Of course, I'm not recommending you eat Mexican pork – or any food produced in Mexico, for that matter. Hopefully the tainted peppers outbreak of 2008 taught us that. But don't change your diet because of some so-called swine flu epidemic.

It's no epidemic. It's no public health catastrophe. It's good theatre – and nothing more.

bumper sticker shock

BUMPER STICKER SHOCK

by Stuart Shepard, director of digital media
Citizen Link www.citizenlink.org


The couple in the drive-thru apparently were oblivious to the story told by the stickers on their vehicle.

Usually, minivans don't trouble me.

But there it was, right in front of me in the drive-thru — a sad story told entirely in bumper stickers.

The first I noticed on the back glass was "Yes We Did!" Rows of silhouetted men and women stood with outstretched arms on an adaptation of Barack Obama's official campaign logo.
But, I've gotten used to the endless stream of always-new Obama merchandise, so that's not what troubled me.

Through the tinted window, I could make out a larger half-moon shape stuck to the inside of the glass with Obama and Joe Biden smiling at me. That didn't trouble me, either.

But then I saw the specialty license plate: "Respect Life." And next to that an ichthus — the ubiquitous Christian fish symbol.

And that is what troubled me.

There on the back of their modest minivan, the couple ahead of me offered expressions of what they hold dear: Their faith. Their issue. And their politician.

Now, I do not question their faith. Not in the least. I regard them as a Christian brother and sister.

And I'm glad they value the life issue so much they would purchase a license plate that shares that opinion with other motorists.

But here's what troubled me long after I finished my fast-food lunch:

As a candidate in July 2007, Obama pledged allegiance to Planned Parenthood's agenda. He promised significant changes in the White House, on the Supreme Court and in America that drew loud applause from the nation's largest abortion provider.

About abortion, Obama said firmly, "On this fundamental issue I will not yield, and Planned Parenthood will not yield."

And he has not.

As president, he quickly killed the pro-life policy that prevented our tax dollars from going to groups that promote or provide abortions overseas.

He re-established a flood of our tax dollars to the United Nations Population Fund. Some of that will pay for abortions in other countries. Some of it will pay for abortions that are not wanted by the mothers.

He chose Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. She voted against a federal ban on partial-birth abortions. Her abortion support is exceeded only by his [Obama's] own.

His choice to head up the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is Kathleen Sebelius. The Kansas governor has vetoed a long string of efforts by the Legislature to place commonsense restrictions on abortion. She's pals with notorious late-term abortionist George Tiller.

Obama chose Dawn Johnsen for a high position in the Justice Department. She was once the legal director for NARAL Pro-Choice America.

On top of all that, Obama lifted President Bush's restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. That opens the door for more of our tax dollars to be spent on embryonic stem-cell research. In the process of harvesting their stem cells, those tiny humans will be destroyed. Every one.

I could go on, but that should be enough to help you understand why the minivan troubled me.

Over the next four years of the Obama presidency, there are little boys and girls around the world who will not get to walk on the Earth, to breathe the air, to grow up to marry and drive minivans and put stickers on the back — all because of Barack Obama's pro-abortion choices.

So, where the minivan people saw rows of happy people on their "Yes We Did!" sticker — it looked to me like rows of crosses for all the boys and girls who won't be with us in 2012.

What troubles me most is that the pro-life minivan couple were fooled by a crafty marketing scheme into voting for persona over policy. They helped elect a pro-abortion president. And they apparently don't realize what they've done.

But here's my hope: That drivers of minivans and compact cars and pickup trucks and luxury cars all across America will soberly consider whether the stickers on their vehicles are so wincingly self-contradictory.

And that they vow not to be fooled again.

FOR MORE INFORMATION--see video: President Obama has said he "wrestles" with life issues, but his recent statements to the media contradict what he has said to Planned Parenthood.


***SEE BUMPER STICKER HERE***

ARE YOU AN EXTREMIST?

Are you an 'extremist'?

by Thomas Sowell - Syndicated Columnist

4/21/2009 10:35:00 AM

While the rest of us may be worried about violent Mexican drug gangs on our border, or about terrorists who are going to be released from Guantanamo, the director of Homeland Security is worried about "right-wing extremists."

Just who are these right-wing extremists?

According to an official document of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, right-wing extremists include "groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration." It also includes those "rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority." If you fit into any of these categories, you may not have realized that you are considered a threat to national security. But apparently the Obama administration has its eye on you.

According to the same official document, the Department of Homeland Security "has no specific information that domestic rightwing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence." But somehow they just know that you right-wingers are itching to unleash terror somewhere, somehow.

So-called "honor killings" by Muslims in the United States, including a recent beheading of his wife by a leader of one of the American Muslim organizations, does not seem to arouse any concern by the Department of Homeland Security.

When it comes to the thuggery of ACORN -- its members harassing the homes of bankers and even the home of Senator Phil Gramm when he opposed things that ACORN favored -- the Department of Homeland Security apparently sees no evil, hears no evil, and speaks no evil.

Maybe they are too busy worrying about right-wing "extremists" who don't like abortions or illegal immigration, or who favor the division of power between the state and federal governments established by the Constitution.

In one sense, the Department of Homeland Security paper is silly. In another sense, it can be sinister as a revealing and disturbing sign of the preoccupations and priorities of this administration -- and their willingness to witch hunt and demonize those who dare to disagree with them.

Reportedly, the FBI and the Defense Department are cooperating with the Department of Homeland Security in investigations of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. That people who have put their lives on the line for this country are made the target of what is called the Vigilant Eagle program suggests that this administration might be more of a threat than the people they are investigating.

All this activity takes on a more sinister aspect against the background of one of the statements of Barack Obama during last year's election campaign that got remarkably little attention in the media. He suggested the creation of a federal police force, comparable in size to the military.

Why such an organization? For what purpose?

Since there are state and local police forces all across the country, an FBI to investigate federal crimes and a Department of Justice to prosecute those who commit them, as well as a Defense Department with military forces, just what role would a federal police force play?

Maybe it was just one of those bright ideas that gets floated during an election campaign. Yet there was no grassroots demand for any such federal police nor any media clamor for it, so there was not even any political reason to suggest such a thing.

What would be different about a new federal police force, as compared to existing law enforcement and military forces? It would be a creation of the Obama administration, run by people appointed from top to bottom by that administration -- and without the conflicting loyalties of those steeped in existing military traditions and law enforcement traditions.

In short, a federal police force could become President Obama's personal domestic political army, his own storm troopers.

Perhaps there will never be such a federal police force. But the targeting of individuals and groups who believe in some of the fundamental values on which this country was founded, and people who have demonstrated their patriotism by volunteering for military service, suggests that this potential for political abuse is worth watching, as Obama tries to remake America to fit his vision.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.