Luckily this didnt reach US soil....oh wait....

[chessdev.livejournal.com]

Comments

[usekh.livejournal.com]

That's a special kinda stupid right there

[belleweather.livejournal.com]

Well, clearly we should wait until it comes to America to fight it.

Oh, wait.

[zanganito.livejournal.com]

You don't understand. Obviously we should only fight it in America. And close all our borders. Those other people can die in the streets. 'Cause freedum and 'Murica.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Vitter is slime.

After he had a DC madame call him on the House floor several times (to line up some after work fun while he wore diapers), Vitter had the nerve to whine about Illinois Sen. Roland Burris refusal to resign his seat, for not disclosing his fundraising efforts on behalf of former Illinois Rod Blagojevich.

Vitter, speaking to The Hill, brushed aside suggestions he was being hypocritical:

"I honestly don't know anybody who would compare these situations," he told The Hill on Tuesday. "They are dramatically different."

[moonshaz.livejournal.com]

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking about how we'd start hearing this kind of thing this morning as I read the paper.

[oslo.livejournal.com]

Besides obviously misunderstanding the policy rationale behind "focusing on Africa," Vitter's apparent preference – to rely on existing authority and resources to limit the movement of people from Ebola-struck regions – fails to apprehend that US citizens can contract Ebola in Africa, as well, and can't be exiled in order to protect the domestic population.

Oh well. We don't, after all, choose our elected officials on the basis of their ability to handle crisis epidemics such as this one, so we can't expect them to have any sort of expertise or sophistication on the subject. Instead, we elect them based on their ability to get themselves elected (e.g., by raising funds, spinning lies that make them look like the lesser evil, etc.), so we shouldn't expect them to be any more sophisticated in crises than your average liberal-arts major writing op-Ed's for the campus newspaper.

[mudryikot.livejournal.com]

Is it within powers of the President or whoever to prohibit US citizens from traveling to a country and to imporse penalties for violation of such a decree?

[chron-job.livejournal.com]

It may be, but its not within his power to go back in time and prevent the traveling of those who have already traveled.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

And so, here in the United States a man has died from a highly contagious viral disease. (https://www.facebook.com/Stonekettle/posts/737872692914803)

You might have heard of this, it made the papers this morning.

The dead man, he won't be the last.

It begins with cold-like symptoms, sniffles, aches, sore throat. And while those symptoms persist the infected are highly contagious. A sneeze, a cough, bodily fluids, that's all it takes. It moves through the population like wildfire along a windy California ridge.

Before he died, this man may have infected dozens of others - and they are out there, right now, in the crowd with the virus growing inside them. They could be standing next to you right now, at the bus stop, in the office, in the schools, sleeping in the bed beside you with death brewing in their bloodstream.

Before this disease has run its course many, many more will die.The average mortality rate for the untreated is 800 per 100,000, meaning maybe as many as 2 MILLION will die worldwide this year alone. Infants, the aged, those with compromised immune systems are most at risk, but it can and does kill healthy people as well.

There's a vaccine.

Oh, yes, there is a vaccine. But many won't take it. They won't take it because they're too busy, or because they believe in thoroughly debunked conspiracy theories, or because they're afraid it'll make them sick, or because they think vaccines are a plot by the government and big pharma to steal their money and freedom, or, well, some people just can't afford it because they're barely scraping by and they don't have healthcare insurance. A lot of those people, they're going to get sick, some will die.

So, anyway, as I...

What?

What's that?

Vaccine? Well, sure, there's a vaccine. Safe. Effective. Cheap. We've had a vaccine for years, decades. How could you not know this?

What?

Ohhhh, I see, you thought I was talking about...

No.

I was talking about the flu.

The first reported death in the US for this flu season happened yesterday in South Carolina.

But you probably didn't see the headline, what with the Ebola and all.

___________

Addendum:

Cue anti-vaxxer hate mail in 3..2.. and bing! There it is! Paranoia is nothing if not predictable.

I've got to run to Anchorage. I'll be AFK for much of the day and not monitoring this page.

Now, I understand this is a touchy subject for some of you.

However, attend:

PUT YOUR REFLEXIVE NEED TO BE OFFENDED IN NEUTRAL and behave yourself. I have no problem unfriending those who can't behave in a rational fashion, the more than 1300 people currently on my waiting list will thank you for deselecting yourself and opening up a spot.

I. am. not. kidding.

Back in a bit. // Jim

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

You cannot prune roses by collecting the fallen petals.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

He'd prefer we'd focus on Taiwan (http://votesmart.org/bill/2998/10792/4615/taiwan-security-enhancement-act#.VDxze3VdX0o), Israel and USA.

http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/4615/david-vitter/

[mudryikot.livejournal.com]

Anyhow, what's proposed to do with this 1 bln USD?