Joe Biden (A.K.A Chicken Little) Says Don’t Ride the Subway and Don’t Use Airplanes
Hey New Yorkers, take a cab to work today. Or walk.
Your Vice President Joe Biden says you should avoid both planes and subways.
NBC New York: “I would not be at this point … [be] suggesting they ride the subway,” Biden said when asked whether he would advise family members to use public transportation.
Biden made his comments during a brief interview on NBC’s “Today” show during an interview with Matt Lauer.
The vice president said if one person sneezes on a plane “it goes all the way through the aircraft.”
Biden said the advice to his family differs from that of the federal government’s to the public because, “That’s me.”
But you know, that’s Joe Biden for ya! Always running his mouth, saying what’s on his mind. So charming.
Swine Flu Reaches Level 5 on Pandemic Scale
World Health Organization (WHO) raised the pandemic alert level to 5 out of 6 late afternoon Wednesday due to the global contraction of the swine flu.
Margaret Chan, the organisation’s director-general, said tonight: “I have decided to raise the current level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 4 to phase 5.
“Influenza pandemics must be taken seriously precisely because of their capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world.”
Making a call to governments, she said: “This change to a higher phase of alert is a signal to governments, to ministries of health and other industries, to the pharmaceutical industry and business industry that certain actions must be undertaken now with increased urgency and at an accelerated pace.”
In response, Janet Napoliano raises the national security threat level from Bert to Ernie:
Because I’m a skeptic and a cynic let me be the one to say that there are over 35,000 people that die from the everyday average flu worldwide per year, but we hear nothing about a pandemic when that occurs; only when a couple hundred people die from a virus named after a hog…?
PC Police: “Don’t Call it Swine Flu”
If you thought things couldn’t get anymore idiotic, well hold onto your hats!
Janet Napolitano and some foreign governments are upset at the official name of the flu epidemic that is spreading around the globe.
Apparently it isn’t kosher to say swine 
especially when this strain of the flu has more human and avian components and it is not specifically caused by pork or pork food products.
I say – who cares? Call it the Flying Meatball Virus for heaven’s sake – does it really matter?
What’s in a name? U.S. pork producers are finding that the name of the virus spreading from Mexico is affecting their business, prompting U.S. officials to argue for changing the name from swine flu.
At a news briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack took pains to repeatedly refer to the flu as the “H1N1 virus.”
“This is not a food-borne illness, virus. It is not correct to refer to it as swine flu because really that’s not what this is about,” Vilsack said.
Israel has already rejected the name swine flu, and opted to call it “Mexico flu.” Jewish dietary laws forbid eating pork.
The Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health also objected to the name, saying the virus contains avian and human components and no pig so far has been found ill with the disease.
And there is growing sentiment in the farm sector to call it the North American virus — although disease expert Anthony Fauci told a Senate hearing the “swine flu” designation reflected scientific naming protocol.
Give me a break!
Update: US Declares National Health Emergency; Close the Borders! Swine Flu Outbreak
UPDATE:
The U.S. is declaring a public health emergency to deal with the emerging new swine flu.
The precautionary step doesn’t signal a greater threat to Americans. But it allows the federal and state governments easier access to flu tests and medications.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napilotano says roughly 12 million doses of the drug Tamiflu are being released from a federal stockpile so that states can get it if needed.
The death toll in Mexico has risen to 81 caused by the recent swine flu outbreak. The swine flu is not just confined to Mexico, and the latest reports disclose that 8 students in New York City are infected, 2 people in Kansas have been confirmed and there have been cases in Texas and California.
Barack Obama was also greeted by a man who had the swine flu and recently passed due to the aggressive nature of the virus. Robert Gates has stated that Obama’s health is fine and there are no signs of any of the flu-like symptoms that come with the virus.
“The president’s trip to Mexico has not put his health in any danger,” said spokesman Robert Gibbs.
The World Health Organization’s director-general, Margaret Chan, said the outbreak of the never-before-seen virus is a very serious situation and has “pandemic potential.” Obama was in Mexico last week to meet with top government officials and talk about the growing problem with drug smuggling and border violence.
Now is not the time to listen to the babbling of Janet Napolitano about border control. This is the perfect time and reason to close down the borders. Like the Democrats always say, “Never waste a crisis.” Congressman Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) made a plea to close the borders on Saturday:
The “swine flu” that has infected more than 1,000 people in Mexico has led a lawmaker on the House Homeland Security Committee to call on U.S. officials to close the southern border.
Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) said the border should be closed until the threat is resolved.
“The public needs to be aware of the serious threat of swine flu, and we need to close our borders to Mexico immediately and completely until this is resolved,” Massa said in a statement.
“I am making this announcement because I see this as a serious threat to the health of the American public and I do not believe this issue is receiving the attention it needs to have in the news,” Massa said.
The CDC has stated that it is too late to stop an outbreak of swine flu and several governors that have constituents infected by this virus are calling on the CDC to provide them with antiviral medications to prepare for the worst:
Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) Saturday asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 37,430 courses of antiviral medications from the Strategic National Stockpile as a precaution after three cases of swine flu were confirmed in Texas.
The medication will be available for treatment of those with confirmed or suspected cases of swine flu as well as for healthcare providers who may come into contact with the patients, Perry said.
All three of the Texas cases involved high school students from the same school in Guadalupe County.
The first two became ill in early April and on Thursday test results confirmed both had swine flu.
The third student became ill until this past week.
Please, let’s pray and keep our fingers crossed that this does not become a large pandemic that sweeps the nation or is a form of bio-terrorism. Keep those afflicted in your thoughts and prayers.
For key statistics and FAQ’s on the swine flu visit the CDC link…
