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 Swine flu: time to panic…
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filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 04/29/2009 :  14:46:58   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
The foul Dim-o-crap floo plot has been uncovered by those dauntless defenders of the public well-being, Rush & Glenn.
Summary: Rush Limbaugh claimed that the Obama administration's response to cases of swine flu in the U.S. "is designed to expand the role and power of governments and schools," while Glenn Beck said the motivation behind the response "could be to move [President Obama's] Health and Human Services person into the office rapidly."
They're reachin' desperately for it and becoming more ridiculous every time they flap their lips. It is to laugh....




"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

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Kil
Evil Skeptic

USA
13477 Posts

Posted - 04/29/2009 :  15:13:41   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Kil's Homepage  Send Kil an AOL message  Send Kil a Yahoo! Message Send Kil a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by HalfMooner

Now, the reprehensible and possibly demented HIV/AIDS denialist, quack nostrum entrepreneur, and (former) dentist, Dr. Lenny Horowitz (who'd have guessed?) is saying the Mexican Swine flu was engineered by Dr. James S. Robertson, pharmaceutical company Novavax, and the Centers for Disease Control just to sell antiviral medicines. And he actually ends his video by advertising his Oxy-Silver cure-all. Quack scumbag!

The best I can say of the above video is that in it, at least Horowitz looks every bit as bug-fuck crazy as he sounds. And, since Loathsome Lenny has named Robertson as a criminal committing "genocide," maybe Horowitz will be sued until he pisses blood and finally disappear from public view. Well, one can only hope.

(Big hat tip to Abbie Smith at ERV.)


You guys need to see this. I'm trying to promote a debate here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBeKB7aKzOs

Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.

Why not question something for a change?

Genetic Literacy Project
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Zebra
Skeptic Friend

USA
354 Posts

Posted - 04/29/2009 :  15:58:26   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Zebra a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Chippewa

One question that isn't covered in the news media - is the regular standard yearly flu strain (that can be mild or serious too,) still out there? Does swine flu supersede past strains?

BTW -
WHO raises swine flu to level 5:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30398682/
My understanding is that this doesn't affect the standard influenza strains, which tend to peak sometime from December to March in the northern hemisphere, but is more likely to occur throughout the year in tropical areas. (It peaked late here in the Seattle area this year, ~March.)

This strain "is an apparent reassortment of several strains of influenza A virus subtype H1N1, which analysis at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified as a strain endemic in humans, a strain endemic in birds, and two strains endemic in American and Eurasian pigs (swine)." (from the Wikpedia page on 2009 swine influenza, which is being updated frequently).

Bad feature: it can pass from readily human to human (most swine flu strains can't, & the avian influenza (from H5N1) which was the last big scare didn't either). And, the new antigens are what offer the potential for it to become pandemic - people don't already have antibodies, from prior episodes of influenza infection, which might offer some degree of protection against such a different strain.

Good features (in the scheme of things): (1) it's sensitive to oseltamivir (Tamiflu) - most (>98%) of the H1N1 strains isolated in the U.S. & several other countries in 2008 & early 2009 were resistant (see .pdf at this page, and (2) it's causing only mild disease so far outside of Mexico (unclear why the difference, unless perhaps there are some genetic variants? I haven't heard any thoughts or information on this so far).

I'm a physician (internist) & have had several patients call this week requesting Tamiflu to take when they go on their planned trips to Mexico next week. My response so far has been, change your travel plans. Best prevention is not to be exposed, & I chafe at using up the country's supplies of Tamiflu on people traveling for pleasure.

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Kil
Evil Skeptic

USA
13477 Posts

Posted - 04/29/2009 :  16:14:39   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Kil's Homepage  Send Kil an AOL message  Send Kil a Yahoo! Message Send Kil a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Kil
You guys need to see this. I'm trying to promote a debate here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBeKB7aKzOs
Nevermind...

Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.

Why not question something for a change?

Genetic Literacy Project
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Zebra
Skeptic Friend

USA
354 Posts

Posted - 04/29/2009 :  16:41:59   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Zebra a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Kil

Originally posted by Kil
You guys need to see this. I'm trying to promote a debate here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBeKB7aKzOs
Nevermind...
Good god. What a loony.

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Machi4velli
SFN Regular

USA
854 Posts

Posted - 04/29/2009 :  18:08:38   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Machi4velli a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Don't worry, Obama just told everyone to wash their hands and cover their mouths when they cough in his press conference.

"Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people."
-Giordano Bruno

"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge."
-Stephen Hawking

"Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable"
-Albert Camus
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26022 Posts

Posted - 04/29/2009 :  21:16:41   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Machi4velli

Don't worry, Obama just told everyone to wash their hands and cover their mouths when they cough in his press conference.
Well, thanks for that!

Now, there's this other problem I've got. I mean, it seems like such a little thing I hate to mention it, but since January 20th, I've been peeing rainbows and my farts smell like lilac.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 04/29/2009 :  22:28:46   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Chippewa

One question that isn't covered in the news media - is the regular standard yearly flu strain (that can be mild or serious too,) still out there? Does swine flu supersede past strains?

BTW -
WHO raises swine flu to level 5:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30398682/
I would suppose that old, outdated flu strains are retired to the Communicable Disease Hall of Fame.

Yike, Level 5! Mask time!


Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.
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HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 04/30/2009 :  23:53:39   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote


(Found at White Coat Underground.)



Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.
Edited by - HalfMooner on 04/30/2009 23:57:00
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filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 05/03/2009 :  10:14:50   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
But of course.....

It is fortunate that Ken Ham doesn't realize just how pathetic and hilarious Answers in Genesis actually is. Their weekly News to Note feature is always good for a snicker and the odd snide remark or two, and if they ever got hip, we'd lose a great comic resource.
Is Evolution in Action”
Swine flu—both the virus itself and the associated paranoia—seems to be sweeping the world. Is it evolution in action?
Heh, this is the first of a really neat series of apologetic flatulence that only the sadly deluded would breathe in gladly.

This week's wheeze is a twofer in that they also have much to say about the K-T event.
The asteroid impact has long been blamed for the K–T extinction, a period when (old-earth advocates believe) 70 percent of life died and numerous creatures (including dinosaurs) went completely extinct.

But a team led by the U.S. Geological Survey's Jim Fassett has just upset the evolutionary status quo. The team analyzed dinosaur bones found in the San Juan Basin in the U.S. Using old-earth dating techniques—such as magnetic polarity—Fassett believes the evidence “independently indicate[s] that [the bones] do indeed post-date the extinction.” The bones have different concentrations of rare earth metal elements than corresponding “older” bones said to be from the time of the asteroid impact.
Here's the kicker: These dolts are claiming that science is trying to "prove" Darwin. How quaint!




"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

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Dude
SFN Die Hard

USA
6891 Posts

Posted - 05/05/2009 :  08:58:40   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Dude a Private Message  Reply with Quote
The good old tabliod media has done a fine job of scaring the everloving fuck out of people with this one. Ratings FTW!

You'll note that the actual number of deaths reported from this particular flu keeps going down. It is, apparently, not nearly as virulent, contagious, or lethal as reported.

So.


Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson

"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin

Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth
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HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 05/05/2009 :  11:40:46   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Dude

The good old tabliod media has done a fine job of scaring the everloving fuck out of people with this one. Ratings FTW!

You'll note that the actual number of deaths reported from this particular flu keeps going down. It is, apparently, not nearly as virulent, contagious, or lethal as reported.

So.


Yup, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says this variety of flu is no worse than the usual annual flu. (Which always kill a lot of people.) So, unless this one mutates to greater virulence, we may have to save most of our face masks for the time that the H5N1 avian flu mutates into a strain that permits easy human-human transmission.

At least this time it's not a repeat of the Spanish Flu. Whew!


Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend

Sweden
9688 Posts

Posted - 05/05/2009 :  13:02:27   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Dr. Mabuse an ICQ Message Send Dr. Mabuse a Private Message  Reply with Quote
In Egypt, scared shitless ignorant people are burning livestock to save their country from the swine-flu.

Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3

"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse

Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder.
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Simon
SFN Regular

USA
1992 Posts

Posted - 05/05/2009 :  13:23:03   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Simon a Private Message  Reply with Quote
More accurately, in Egypt, the vast majority of Muslims that have no interest in porks (duh) is scared of the virus enough to force a small minority of Christian to get rid of them.

There is a cultural/religious issue there that plays a role in the situation.

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996
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Dude
SFN Die Hard

USA
6891 Posts

Posted - 05/05/2009 :  14:42:07   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Dude a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by HalfMooner

Originally posted by Dude

The good old tabliod media has done a fine job of scaring the everloving fuck out of people with this one. Ratings FTW!

You'll note that the actual number of deaths reported from this particular flu keeps going down. It is, apparently, not nearly as virulent, contagious, or lethal as reported.

So.


Yup, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says this variety of flu is no worse than the usual annual flu. (Which always kill a lot of people.) So, unless this one mutates to greater virulence, we may have to save most of our face masks for the time that the H5N1 avian flu mutates into a strain that permits easy human-human transmission.

At least this time it's not a repeat of the Spanish Flu. Whew!




The good old fashioned regular flu kills about 15k people every year. This flu has a looooong way to go to even compare.

The media just loved the name though. "SWINE FLU! AAAAHHHHHHH!"


Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson

"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin

Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth
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