A Nation of Sheeple
http://www.fumento.com/flu.html
And now, a SanityBreak: read Fumento on Chicken Little and the flu.
Posted by Oink
10/19/2005 at 04:52 PM
Read “Executive Orders” by Tom Clancy. The premise is a deadly disease is introduced and running wild in the U.S. The president combats it by shutting down the country temporarily to keep it from spreading. While it’s fiction, the possibility is real as are the means to combat it.
I’m reminded of a scene in ‘Life of Brian’. Brian is lecturing the crowds that are following him…
Brian: We are all different!
Crowd: We are all different!
Brian: We are all unique!
Crowd: We are all unique!
Lone guy: I’m notLet those that have ears to hear…
The idea of another influenza pandemic to the same level of what happened in 1918 is a nightmare scenario. The population around the world is much larger and due to technology the world is a much smaller place. It is now possible to travel great distances and spread a disease far and wide. It is now possible to take a 22 hour flight from the Philippines (would be a lot shorter if the Concord wasn’t retired). The travel time in 1918 would have been by ship and it would have taken weeks to a month. So someone in Indonesia could spread the disease into say JFK NYC in less then 24 hours. Influenza is generally spread via airborne water droplets. So simply having an infected person coughing would be enough to pump millions of viruses into the air that would be inhaled by the crowds and spread exponentially.
The trouble is that the influenza that we know today is not the same strain as 1918. The one in 1918 was far more deadly. People were coming down with symptoms and dying within 3 days. The current “Avian Flu” is not as contagious person to person yet so you would have to be in very close contact for extended periods of time. The big concern is if it mutates and takes on properties similar to the 1918 flu. Then it will be highly contagious even before showing strong symptoms and then once you get sick it would kill you rather quickly.
Yeah, I would support the military being used to enforce a quarantine in the event of an outbreak on American soil under a temporary emergency order issued by Congress and the President. Companies who follow disaster recovery plans should seriously prepare for work at home configurations by expanding their remote access and VPN capacity. All it would take for me is a VPN connection split between data and VoIP and I would be up and running, no need to go into the office.
Posted by MJS
10/19/2005 at 10:43 PM
MJS: I met an old woman 10 years ago, living history—her mother’s first husband died of the Spanish Flu. It killed young people—not so many old folks. Creepy.
When you think about it, a disease that kills quickly, altho unfortunate for the individual, is better for the general population. It has less time to incubate and communicate to others. In this sense Ebola is better than AIDS. With AIDS, the infected person may have 10 years of asymptomatic infection, during which he infects many others. Lucky for us, the virus is a wimp outside the human body—you have to inject it into your bloodstream.
But viruses mutate, and some day
. Sleep well.
Posted by Oink
10/19/2005 at 11:39 PM
So, when is he going to reinforce the border?
Now if the virus would only kill those weak liberals!
Posted by MJS
10/20/2005 at 06:40 AM
COME ON DOWN AND EAT CHICKEN WITH ME BEAUTIFUL ... IT’S SOOOOOO DARK !!!(
Sorry ... an in-joke for fans of “The Stand”.)
I remember the success they had with quarantine in that book. Zilch. Same here.1. Reread my link from Fumento, above.
2. We talk about the age of dinosaurs and the age of man—B.S., they’re all the age of bacteria and viruses. They’ve been here long before us and will probably outlive us. They’re constantly mutating and looking for a home. That’s why we spend so much time washing things; we don’t drink any old water or eat any food; cover our mouths when we sneeze, etc.
3. Being a Christian does not prevent me from seeing what’s in front of my face—that’s called being a Liberal.
4. “Survival of the fittest” is not evolution. That’s fascism.
5. Our brains plus social cooperation are our big survival tools. Why not use them?Posted by Oink
10/20/2005 at 08:44 AM
It is better to be safe that sorry?.............as long as it is reasonable.
And that’s the rub, ain’t it? Most of the stuff people come up with according to the Precautionary Principle isn’t reasonable. Look at Europe. Best example of precaution run amok.
The military enforcing quarantine is a bit much. A lot bit much.
Yeah I read Stephen Kings “The Stand” and you should get the full re-written edition that he completed later on in his career. The original edition was cut down as it was one of his first books to be published. He went back afterwards and re-released an unabridged version later on.
Ok, so the unthinkable scenario happens. The virus mutates and changes from a mostly bird to bird infection into a bird to human and human to human infection. i.e. the virus changes itself because it finds human DNA more to it’s liking. The virus arrives in the USA and it really doesn’t matter if it was due to bird migration or an infected person entering a major city. It takes a week for the virus to kill you and you are contagious prior to showing symptoms for at least a few days. The virus is airborne and is spread through simple breathing, coughing, kissing, and touching of the hands to door knobs, sinks, coffee pot handles, vending machines, etc. The world population of humans has grown quite a bit since 1918 so we are looking at hundreds of millions of people who will die. Mankind has a very real possibility of being reset back to the bronze age. America must protect it’s 300+ million citizens at all costs or there won’t be an America left. In other words, to save the country, martial law is put into effect and our freedoms suspended temporarily. All travel is suspended (air, train, highways, etc.). Infected zones are quarantined.
What happens next is just plain insane. People start dying, the virus spreads and breaks through quarantine after quarantine. The military tries to stop it but all they can do is slow it down. If we are lucky only 3-5 million Americans will die. If we are unlucky most of the world could be wiped out (billions). The survivors will most likely be those who were infected but were able to fight it off and those who never got sick.
“The military enforcing quarantine is a bit much. A lot bit much.” —Yeah, it sucks but I don’t see any other way to ensure a full quarantine, you just know there are stupid selfish people who will attempt to run a blockade out of fear. And anyone who tries to leave a quarantine site will be stopped one way or the other. If they refuse to stop they will be shot. We cannot afford to trust the safety of American citizens to the common good of mankind and good behavior. You must back that up with force.
The only good thing about any of this scenario is that the survivors will need to breed like crazy with multiple women to one man and a genetic marker system to prevent birth defects. i.e. avoid in breeding. Now that you see what can happen, I find it amazing that some will bitch and moan about the military being used to enforce a quarantine. When the shit hits the fan, we will have no choice but to use the military! It’s either that or lay back and expose our necks to the tigers teeth. I for one would rather fight to survive then allow a bunch of liberal nutcases complaining about American rights or even human rights when the entire race of humanity is at stake! And you just know there will be those screaming “Help, Help, I’m being repressed”!
All the rights and freedoms we take for granted… Everyone must realize that those rights and freedoms were paid for with the blood of our forefathers and the blood of the military maintains it today. Freedom is not free and sometimes the price can be very very high. Would I pay the price to protect our way of life by sending the military to enforce a quarantine in say Chicago? You bet I would! Will stupid people attempt to flee Chicago? Yes, they will and the military would be authorized to use deadly force as a last resort to stop them.
Now don’t get me wrong, such a situation scares the living daylights out of me. I don’t like it any more then anyone else. It would truly be a horrible thing to have to deal with. But I refuse to lay back and die, I am willing to fight for survival at all costs. This weekend the wife and I will begin putting together survival kits and bug-out bags. i.e. something we can grab in an emergency and haul ass with. We will have two bags at home and each will have one in our cars. They will contain survival items and things like financial records stored on a USB memory key, etc. Rest assured it will contain more then plastic sheeting and duct tape, along with Mr. & Mrs. 9mm!
Posted by MJS
10/21/2005 at 07:53 AM
