This has been my ongoing theory since November.

I think we need to put up 0m for "preventing porcupines from forcibly inserting themselves into Republican anuses" just on the off chance of a trifecta

I hear you, look at Arlen Specter today, fuck

I can't tell you how much I love it when people's sensationalism and soundbites get caught out as bullshit.

I should add Chuck Schumer also dismissed the funding as a "little porky thing," primarily because he wanted Congress to drop these small but important projects to fund more politically popular ones. So even though Republicans were championing politics over policy, they're hardly alone.

I think the idea is, if I am judging the mood correctly, is to address all the potential problems that come so we are not caught off guard as a society. There are a few reasons for doing this; one is that people are generally weary because of the financial issues, and a national flu epidemic would likely add to that, effecting the economy; second is from a national security stand point; and third is that it's pragmatic, and in this case "conservative" in the true sense of the word, to handle issues as they arise so they are not bigger problems in the future.

The "new", "exotic", and "scary" factors makes these deaths more newsworthy, just like shooting sprees and killer bees get more coverage than handgun accidents and diseases borne by mosquito. But there are many more casualties yet to be caused by the disease, as well as trade and transportation costs as a result of trying to contain it.

Normally it'd get little attention due to the fact its primarily fatal to the poor and underdeveloped countries. Thankfully cable news networks will soon have the middle class afraid to touch pork and let their kids near anyone with sniffles.

Think about it. Last week, say hypothetically, five people were sick. Couple days ago twenty people were sick. Today forty people are sick. Sure, forty people isn't much. But maybe eighty is more your speed. Point is it pays to watch this stuff closely and take care of it early.

http://www.crazymonkeygames.com/Pandemic-2.html

You might think it's mild now, but wait until god gets enough points to buy HEMORRHAGING.

ehh, it's pretty fucking scary actually.

the first person to die from it died 2 weeks ago, now the death toll is up to 150 something.

that and the US cases far from mexico have been mild (?) versions of the flu from what the reporters are saying.

Maybe the farther from mexico you live the less scary it is to you. I'm in san diego, so im buying half a ton of dry dog food and dehydrated milk tomorrow.

There's a big deal being made about it for a lot of reasons, and indeed some of them are stupid media flaming hair dances.

However.

Influenza has -- in the past -- seriously fucked our shit up as a species. La Grippe in 1918 put the axe to a huge number of people. Normally, the flu kills very young and very old people. In 1918 it killed healthy young adults.

The one that's currently ripping the shit out of Mexico is also killing people in the age range of 30-50. That's bad news, right there.

Worse news is that tracking for the bug has not been great. CDC and WHO don't know what the death numbers represent in terms of percentage of those infected because reporting didn't really kick in until this new variant of was detected.

At this moment only people in Mexico have died. The problem with assuming that this is because Mexicans are dirty and have lousy hospitals is that the bug has been traipsing around Mexico City for the last *month*. It's been having fun in the US for a bit over a week and we've only had a comparatively tiny number of infections.

The part that has CDC and WHO people worried is that this particular strain of Influenza is a mixture of avian, swine and human flu virus (nature is perfectly happy to do that gene splicing all by itself, pig bodies are great at it). It apparently spreads easily from human to human. Avian flu has, in the past, had a mortality rate somewhere north of *20%*, it just doesn't transmit easily. Human influenzas can infect 20-30% of the population.

The potential for serious up-fuckage is pretty high, and no one currently knows what this thing is going to do.

Also worth noting, one of the *two* successful drug treatments against this bug is likely to fail as it moves through the population, since it'll be mixing with the regular Flu that's already been going around and it will probably pick up *that* flu's ability to laugh at Tamiflu.

For added, extra fun, it is possible for a person to have both the regular annual flu and this new swine flu. It's conceivable that's why Mexico has had the number of deaths it's had, because some number of the population has been hit with 2 bugs at once. Again though, it's currently unknown.

It could also end up being wimpy after the initial bang. Still, it'd be a real good idea to look into making yourself a flu kit and practice diligent hand washing.

starless? is that you?

If I were Starless, I wouldn't have said it could end up doing nothing. Plus, you would have been able to hear my boner as I typed that.

You mean because he's wrong, or because he doesn't magically predict what the virus is going to do?

Noober: Yup.

eh, just looked into it and the cases are not confirmed at all. but like i said, it's all a huge hoax anyway bro.