"THE BIRDS." Corp. News working overtime to scare the droppings out of us.

[Atman]

I tuned in to Hardball because I heard tonight's show was supposed to be good. Eh. Same ol' Tweety crap. Although Kristen...hoo-boy. I could look at her all day.

Anyway, they just did a promo for one of MSNBC's Bird Flu Scary Special, with images right out of a Hitchcock film, as if they actually had anything to do with "bird flu" and the "pandemic." Flocks of geese. One of those dark clouds of sparrows lighting on a tree. A pretty couple walking through a bunch of pigeons on the town square.

SCARY!

BE FUCKING AFRAID, DAMMIT!

In the GOP, no one can hear you scream.

[WI_DEM]

1. I've read about the flu epidemic of 1918-1919 and if this ever

became as bad as that then it could be plenty scary. We have to be prepared, but I'm sure the GOP will use it to divert attention from other issues.

[Atman]

2. Protect your BIRDS, then, goddammit!

This is the BIRD flu! The flu epidemic of 1918 was a people flu. You are already getting the kool-aid absorbed through your skin. This is NOT a people flu! We're being fucking played, and Rummy is making BRAZILLIONS!

[mcscajun]

6. It's not a "people flu" Yet. It could become one.

And while you may with reason think we're being played, that's only half the story.

Yes, BushCo never saw or found a fear they wouldn't or couldn't exploit, but they didn't invent the bird flu, they're not responsible for scientists around the world looking at pandemic models or the World Health Organization making pronouncements about it.

The potential threat is real, yet it is still only potential. No need to run around like Chicken Little screaming, but no cause to ignore the potential simply because fools, thieves and bastards like Bush, Rumsfeld, et al are going to take political and economic advantage of it.

[Karmakaze]

15. Bollocks...

There is just as much chance that normal everyday Human Influenza (that kills something like a quater million people PER YEAR) will mutate into a far more deadly version as there is that Bird Flu will mutate into a human version.

Its all a con, just like SARS was.

[mcscajun]

16. Wish that were so.

Have a nice week, though. :)

[Karmakaze]

18. No need to wish, its a fact.

The pandemic everyone keeps taking about is based on a virus that doesnt even exist. There is no human pandemic Bird Flu, it just does not exist. Maybe some day it might, but just as likely if not far more likely is it won't.

Human Flu exists and in fact kills on average 250 THOUSAND people a year. In other words since H5N1 first became a concern, nearly a million people have died from normal human influenza. In that same time H5N1 has killed around 2 HUNDRED. I dont see people panicing about Human Flu, yet it is a PROVEN killer that actually exists and kills hundreds of thousands each year.

Bird Flu is a con - there is no doubt about it.

[mcscajun]

19. You believe it's a con. I don't.

Have a nice week.

[Karmakaze]

20. I don't believe it is a con - I KNOW it is...

Just like SARS.

[Atman]

22. Here's the thing, mcscajun...

Several posters have offered up all sorts of evidence of a con job. Not the least of which are Rummy's involvement in the vaccine ($$$$) and the Bush administration's proven and demonstrated penchant for lying and using fear to manipulate Americans. You're argument thus far has simply been "I don't think it's a con."

Could you expand upon that for us? Is this perception coming from your Colbertian "gut" or are you basing this on some real facts? If you got the facts, maybe you should fill us in! This is obviously an important issue, and despite all of the panic-inducing the administration is trying to stir up, the facts as I see them just don't support the need for all the teevee specials, constant news reports, billions of dollars spent stockpiling unproven vaccines, etc.

I'm going with the brain on this one, not my gut.

[mcscajun]

23. I've expanded on this subject numerous times...take a look.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1095832&mesg_id=1095902

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4995426&mesg_id=4995938

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4995426&mesg_id=4995825

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4995426&mesg_id=4995969

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4995426&mesg_id=4996208

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4995426&mesg_id=4996502

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4995426&mesg_id=4996744

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5011150&mesg_id=5012084

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=947046&mesg_id=947285

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1869694#1871790

[BlueStorm]

26. Yes...

I was at a job shadowing for meteorology yesterday and somehow one of the meteorolgists and I got on a conversation about the bird flu. He told me that it's all B.S. and said that only one person in Indonesia or South Asia died of it. Only one out of that very populous country and yet more people die of regular influenza a year.

So should we really be afraid?

Blue

[babylonsister]

3. Will use it? More like 'ARE' using it. nt

[katty]

7. PBS did a great doc on this flu epidemic-reality check

[politicaholic]

4. I wonder what the spin would be if it were cow flu?

They certainly wouldn't encourage people NOT to eat red meat.

[valerief]

5. Anyone know Tweety's birthday? I'm guessing that's when they'll

hit us with it. After all, they thought attacking us on the emergency number was a hoot.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Where's Sylvester

now that we need him?

[fooj]

9. I have a thread about this, too. Mine was moved to the 9-11 forum.

Weird, since this is happening in real time, huh? I mean...that's all we've been hearing about all day, right?

Check this out...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x85565

[Atman]

10. I think you're more right than anyone wants to admit

On one hand, they keep us looking to Al Q to deliver the next "attack." They're expecting us to expect them to pull the "TERRA!" card. In the meantime, they're playing up this "natural" attack, which just oh-so-coincidentally is expected to hit the U.S. this fall. As in October/November. As in, ELECTION TIME. They're suddenly talking about quarantines and "staying in your homes."

Do I think they'll resort to quarantines and martial law? No. I think the plan is to scare the bejeebers out of Americans to the point than they'll all be staying home on election day. They wouldn't dare cancel elections at this point. Too transparent. The elections will go on, but we'll be under a cloud of panic regarding public exposure. Then, when Diebold fulfills its contractual obligation and delivers the mid-terms to the GOP, the official Corporate News meme will be because Americans were just too afraid to leave their homes, and therefore all the pre-election polling just didn't reflect the actual people who ventured to the polls. The whole point of ANYTHING BushCo does is to provide "plausible deniability" for their crimes.

Bird flu is the perfect crime.

[fooj]

11. Thanks. I knew that I wasn't completely nuts!

Peace.

[madame defarge]

12. Question about numbers...

What I heard today on the radio is that Commander InCompetent said that deaths would be in the range of 200K - 2M at worst.

I'm not trying to be cold or insensitive, but aren't the number of possible deaths relative to the population, which is much higher than it was in 1918? Current population is almost 300 million. 200K is .07% of the population and 2M is .7%. Granted that's still a lot of people who would suffer, but if you look at the numbers, it's all relative.

Does anyone know how many people die each year of flu-related illnesses?

[Mojorabbit]

24. They are low balling the numbers

It was 2-5 percent in 1918. The version now is around 56 percent death rate. No telling what the fatality rate will be if it goes pandemic. It is all a guess right now.

[mcscajun]

25. On Average, 36,000 Americans die each year of flu-related illnesses.

"Influenza has surpassed AIDS as a lethal killer and contributes to an average 36,000 annual U.S. deaths, largely because of a vulnerable aging population for whom the vaccine is often ineffective..." -- CDC, Jan. 2003.

"The 1918 pandemic killed an estimated 20-50 million people worldwide, including 675,000 in the United States. The pandemic’s most striking feature was its unusually high death rate among otherwise healthy people aged 15-34." -- CDC, Oct. 2005.

In the 1918 pandemic, 28% of Americans fell ill (not died, simply fell ill from influenza). Given our current population, IF we had a similar rate of illness (NOT that anyone is presuming or predicting that, but some models have taken that figure to begin a worst-case scenario) that would be 84 million Americans ill. Even if no one died, that would be chaotic. Now, presume a worst-case scenario where 50% who fall ill die; that's 42 million dead. Lesser case, 25% die; that's 21 million dead. Better case scenario, 10% die; that's 8.4 million dead. Best case scenario, 2% die: that's 1,680,000 dead.

Not ONE of those numbers is comforting, and all of them, even the smallest, dwarf annual domestic flu-related deaths by some order of magnitude.

All this said, I am NOT fear-mongering, I am NOT panicking; I merely point to the fact that Bush couldn't protect us from an oncoming train, much less a pandemic. The fact that he and his minions are gleefully exploiting this for their own revolting economic and political purposes should not blind anyone to the potential, I say again, potential threat. If Chimpy were the only one yammering about this while throwing feces at Americans, I'd say "Bah, Humbug" with all the other doubters. But he's not...the EU takes this more seriously, governments elsewhere and the WHO take this more seriously, than do we.

All of this may never happen; and I'd be among the happiest to be thought foolish and gullible in that event. So I won't rely on our useless present Federal government, and I'll take rational, considered measures to prepare myself for the possibility, while ignoring any and all pronouncements by BushCo.

It beats dying...by some order of magnitude. :)

[madame defarge]

27. Thanks for the info...

And you're right...we do need to prepare ourselves for the possibility. Remember: this is the administration that said to prepare for terrorist/chemical attacks with duct tape & plastic... Oh yeah, and don't forget the canned tuna fish...

[mcscajun]

28. Yeah. tuna fish. I love the stuff, but I ain't sleeping over a stash of it

:rofl:

[flyarm]

13. NO BIRDS WILL EVER SCARE ME..DIM SON SCARES ME!

LITTLE LORD PISSY PANTS AND DARTH VADER IN THE VP OFFICE SCARE ME!

fuck the birds...thats exactly what pissy pants is going to do..remember back when canada would not go to war with us in iraq??

well shortly afterwards..Toronto gets sars..that was a test folks..is came in from china they said..well why didn't San Fran get it or Seattle?? those are gateways from china by airlines..but it skips the west coast and makes it to the east coast of Canada..think about this folks..think about it..it happened in the height of toronto's convention season..i was living up there then..and lots of people were saying the USA was behind it!

i think it was a test...

just my 2 cents!

fly

[HockeyMom]

14. As someone who lives where Lyme and West Nile started

and haven't gotten either, or known anyone who has, think I am afraid of Bird Flu?

I cannot tell you how many times I have been bitten by mosquitoes in the past 10 years and have suffered absolutely nothing. I am talking about living 2 miles from an area where they have actually found dead birds infected with West Nile. Either I a very, very lucky, or it is a total "crock" just mean to scare people. I think the latter.

[KoKo]

17. THE BIRDS....THE BIRDS...THEY ARE COMING...SOON to GET YOU

and ME!! Be afraid...be VERY AFRAID......... YOU COULD DIE!!! DIE!!! DIE!!!!

[Deja Q]

21. Let the pretty couple be infected.

Everybody knows about the bird flu. The breeders obviously want to be infected. So let them.

And jail 'em for being contaminated.