[Peace-discuss] Wasn't even close [flu vs. public health]

[E. Wayne Johnson]

On 6/16/2009 10:34 PM, Stuart Levy wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 07:57:52PM -0500, E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
>    
>> *<venom>*
>>
>> If one can set the war aside just for the moment----
>>
>> The  lies about the so-called A(H1N1) flu virus [aka Swine Flu] ought to be
>> enough by themselves to cause the huddled and befuddled masses to rise up
>> and take torch and manure fork in hand. But, it's only $25 or so for each
>> citizen, so its /very Reasonable/...
>> You can't expect our debt-ridden masses to Rise Up for twenty-five bucks.
>>
>> But seriously, folks, about 35,000 people in the US die every year from
>> P.O.F. (plain old flu) and its manifold complications, every year, year
>> after year after year.  So what so unusual about this A(H1N1)?  Nothing.
>> At.  All.
>>      
>
> It does seem to be clear now, but was that clear from the outset?
>    
I have said from the beginning that it was nonsense and fear-mongering 
for the sake of
a) getting grant money and b) proving to us how important the health 
officials are.

http://www.liberty4urbana.com/drupal-6.8/node/194

I am all for readiness in the face of a national emergency, but this 
wasn't it.
> I'm not sure whether you're criticizing the residual hysteria,
> which seems terrifically wasteful to me too, or the early alarm
> in the first few weeks, which seemed reasonable.  Wasn't it?
>
> As I understand it, the story has been that...
>
>     - This year's H1N1 is a new variant of a flu virus which has
> 	crossed from pigs to humans in the past.
>    
H1N1 and its cousins make new variants every year.  That's how it survives.
>     - Eventually it's expected that *some* animal flu virus,
> 	to which humans haven't yet adapted and react badly,
> 	will become transmissible enough among humans to propagate fast,
> 	and it'll be a big deal.  When that happens, stopping it fast
> 	will be important.  People today are a lot more mobile than
> 	in 1918.
>    
They dont have to develop in animals and cross over to be lethal.  The 
mutation can occur
in humans, too.  It's the fact that we have lots of cases of flu every 
year that seems to slow it down.
We are pretty much used to having these bugs around.  It's the real 
alien bugs like Malaysian Nipahvirus
and African Ebolavirus that are exotic enough for us to have no 
experience with them.


>     - This year's H1N1 is transmissible between humans.
> 	Early on it wasn't clear how transmissible.
> 	
>     - This H1N1 was lethal for at least a fair number of people.
> 	Early on it wasn't clear how lethal.
>
>     - It was more lethal for young healthy adults than among
> 	the elderly or children, which is unusual among flu viruses,
> 	but was true of the very serious 1918 H1N1 variant.
>
> Is any of that wrong?  Given that early picture, wasn't it
> reasonable for public-health people to raise an alarm at the time?
>    
Actually not.  If I could see this just with my limited perception and 
experience, I am sure
that there were many others seeing the same thing.  The people we have 
entrusted with the
management of these things are playing us for patsies.  No doubt their 
are some true believers
in their midst, but I cannot imagine that at the upper levels they 
really and truly dont know better.
Many of them have got to be much better virologists and much better 
epidemiologists then me.
If I can see it, it's got to be pretty obvious, because I'm not even a 
Real Doctor.
> It's since become clear that this one *isn't* very lethal nor
> very transmissible.  It's just a run-of-the-mill flu virus as you say.
>
> So we don't need to hear in today's national news that someone in
> such-and-such city has died of this year's variant -- it's unfortunate,
> and it's worth tracking in public health circles, but it shouldn't be
> news any more than the daily obituaries are.
>
> And so it seems we should be mad if we're going to spend $1.5 billion
> on fighting *this* H1N1 outbreak, which was the plan when it was put into
> the supplemental in late April (when, given what was known then,
> it might have been a real emergency, right?).
>
> If that is still the plan, sure enough, it'll be a ridiculous waste.
> We could provide a lot of real public health service, for
> tuberculosis or diabetes or drug treatment or whatever, for $1.5 billion.
>    
My point is that we are being manipulated continuously into accepting 
things that we would not
if logic, experience, and a public airing of the facts were allowed to 
occur.  But instead, were are
continually faced with an "Emergency Situation" in which there is simply 
not time to think but only
barely enough time to act.... and it's not just the war, its the 
financial sector, the manufacturing sector,
and the health care sector.  The problem is systemic and its not just 
the war.  The war is one symptom
of serious national mental illness.



>
>    
>> About 40% of the cases of P.O.F. are caused by A(H1N1) influenza viruses.
>> So that roughly about 35 to 40 deaths every day 24/7/365 are caused by
>> Plain Old "A(H1N1)".   While a few odd cases constitutes a Pandemic.
>>
>> As Costello said, "One of us is NUTS!!!"
>>
>> So, one might say this whole business of the flu is what is generally
>> referred to as a Fraud,  a Scam, an Artifice.
>> It's about the m-o-n-e-y...but, it's only about a $100 for a family of 4.
>>
>> Plus another $100 or so for the cronies and operatives at the IMF... [ty!
>> :-) ]
>>
>> &...Enjoy your stimulus...*SUCKERS!!!!*
>>
>> ****
>>
>> We now return you to the War, which is already in progress.
>>
>> *</venom>*
>>      
>
>
>    

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