Politics War and Bird flu

Politics, War and the Bird Flu, is anything going right these days?

The Bush Administration:

Looks like some of the Bush and Cheney staff is getting ready to visit G. Gordon Liddy’s old finishing school. For those who don’t recall, Mr. Liddy spent 54 months in federal prison following the Watergate scandal. Speaking of the G-Man, now there is a man. He stuck to his principals, never gave in, paid his time and is now anchoring a syndicated radio show broadcasting on 232 stations nationwide. Bless you G-Man and thank you for your service. As my Grandfather used to say, “May you get to heaven five minutes before the devil knows you’re gone.”

President Bush, you could have gone down in history next to Ronald Reagan, Roosevelt - Teddy and Franklin, the greats. When you stood at the devastation of the World Trade Center, the fireman standing next to you, you defined your presidency. You said to a fireman, “They can hear you.” “The Whole world can hear you. And soon, (pointing to the devastation) the people that did this will hear you!” For one brief moment you stood on the precipice of history. You were and are a great man. You have a strong belief in your principals, God, and this great country. Within that same period of time when asked what your response would be to the attack on the WTC, you were quoted as saying, "I’m not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It’s going to be decisive." Then slowly you fell. Not because of your principals, nor your response. You fell because of those you surrounded yourself with. You made the same mistake as other presidents, you trusted the president’s men. You remained loyal to them, supporting them in their mistakes.

Loyalty is a wonderful virtue. In everyday life this one act will make a difference in a friendship. But, you are not in everyday life. You are the most powerful man in the free world. The individuals you consult with need to be untouchable. They need to be qualified for the task you have given them and to the presidency in which they serve. If and when one of them does not live up to your expectations, or those of the nation, you replace them. I for one am very sad to see the decline of your presidency. You are a Texan, a proud state with a prouder history. Great men carved that state out. They paid in blood, sweat and lives. Be a Texan. Surround yourself with the greatness preceding you. The Alamo lives as a monument to their bravery, courage and principals. The blood of legends lies on that sacred ground. Grasp the greatness that is Texas and declare war on the ineptness surrounding you. Become the great man a lot of voters feel you are.

Iraq and Afghanistan:

Iraq and Afghanistan scream at us from the headlines. Our troops rise up to meet insurrection and terrorism head on and kick it in the ass. Bless the men and woman who have given their lives for this great country. They are guarding heaven’s gates and enlisted in the corps of angels. Rest in peace my brothers and sisters.

I hate what the media has done with the lives lost by these brave men and woman. They have turned it into another anti-this, anti-that media event. When writing or publishing their dribble, how can they neglect to mention the reason American lives are being lost? How can they forget about the thousands of lives lost at the WTC, on September 11th, 2001 or the 343 lives lost by the brave New York City firefighters, or the police officers, or the lives lost in the terrorist attack on the USS Cole. The list of American’s loss of life is quite large. We are in a war on terrorism. It has no name, no country, no front lines, and no boundaries. It does not have a person, like Adolf Hitler to hate. Although Usama Bin Laden is right there on the top of America’s hate book. But there will be terrorism as long as one person wants to strap on a bomb and run into a crowd. The media sickens me at times.

Avian Influenza: The Bird Flu (Center for Disease Control, CDC)

Avian Influenza, The Bird Flu, H5N1 could become the black plague of the 21st century. The Bush administrations Bird flu battle plan reportedly predicts that almost 2 million Americans could die in a major outbreak. States and the federal government have already prepared emergency plans in the event it turns into this. The best way to find emergency plans for your state is to google with “Bird Flu Emergency Plans for Insert You State”. Example, bird flu emergency plans for new york. Presently the US is preparing to fight this virus. But it is attacking it five years too late. We have been aware of the H5N1 strain for that long. It took a lot of recent media attention to get it off its collective butt and begin doing something about it. Only recently has the Bird Flu been the talk of the media, yet if you google the words, Bird Flu you get back 47,000,000 hits, the term H5N1 will return another 6,130,000 hits. We need to all be concerned about this.

According to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, October 14, 2005 “U.S. not ready for bird flu”, staff reporters, Jeremy Manier and Tim Jones wrote, “Congress and the Bush administration are scrambling to improve the nation's scant supply of vaccines and anti-viral drugs that could fight such infections. Lawmakers said the government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina highlighted weaknesses in disaster readiness”. They stated that Michael Osterholm, an adviser to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy was quoted as saying, “Quarantine will be playing a very limited role," "Influenza is such an infectious disease that unlike some diseases where quarantine can work, with this one it will not.” and Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa), who heads the House subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, said “disease control has surpassed war and terrorism as the nation's top priority”. “Everything else pales in significance”, Leach said.

Recent news articles showed there are plans in place to turn our schools into emergency hospitals, our office buildings into morgues. The probability of expected death from this flu is expected to surpass the Spanish Flu of 1918. Presently a human must come into direct contact with an infected bird. Such as in Asia where cages holding hundreds of birds are stacked atop one another in market places.

The time will come when the virus mutates, jump species as all influenzas do and begins infecting humans directly. Jumping from one infected human to another. This type of infection occurs all of the time. We feel a bit under the weather, or get hit with a cut-down version of the virus, spend a few days in bed, recover and get back to work. Because we have immunity, we have had versions of it before and our body either ignores it, or gets a little of it and builds more immunity. The problem with this particular strain, H5N1, is that human beings have never been subjected to it. We have no built-in immunity. If this strain mutates it will hit humanity like a ton of bricks being dropped on it. A pandemic of proportions never seen may hit us. Some sources are stating that the “Bird flu 'could shut down world travel'. The United States is now stockpiling more of the vaccine, Tamiflu.

To find out more check the NewsXS feed, or the CDC, Center for Disease Control.