You can keep the swine flu.

So, This doesn't really have to do with Politics, but more with World News. Regarding the swine Flu: As of today, right now, this very second, the Swine Flu has been the cause of only one confirmed death in Texas, One! The following table is from the CDC website (source)

I took a screenshot because I am talking about right now, the 119th day of 2009.  Ok, so this flu has been attributed to one death. Now let's focus on the regular Influenza virus.  According to the CDC, the Influenza virus is the cause of about 36000 deaths a year. (source) Again with the screenshot, click to enlarge:

So, that's about 98 people per day that die of regular influenza.  So lets crunch the numbers.

Let's assume that there are about 304,000,000 people in the United States, (google: US Population). Lets use the numbers from the Regular Flu.  5% of the US gets flu (low number).  5% of the population is 15,200,000.  Divide the number of deaths by the number of infections and you get 0.2% (36000 deaths / 15200000 cases) of the people who get Influenza die.  Swine flu is higher, at just over 1% (1 death / 91 cases).  So, the odds that you'll die from the swine flu are 5 times greater, it's still only about 1% chance of dying.  

Now for a little perspective: The SARS outbreak of 2003 had 8096 recorded cases with 774 deaths... the odds of dying with SARS back in the day was an amazing 9.6% (source).

My take on this  If you get the flu (swine or regular) go see a doctor and get some chicken soup because you'll be sick for a few days.  It's not as bad as SARS was yet.

(for you punks that say "what about 20% of the us" here are those numbers.  20% of 304 M = 60.8M people.  Divide out the deaths and you get 0.05% [36000 / 60.2M], so the percentage is less, but the difference between 0.2% and 0.05% is nominal, let the flame war ensue!)

Budget Pennies

Need we say more?

A thought on Reagan and the United States

I was sitting here trying to get my GPS to start working on my blackberry and ran across an article online about how any why the Global Positioning System is a federally funded program but is still free and accessible to everyone in the United States.

Turns out when I was very young, A Russian strike force shot down a US commercial jetliner, killing everyone on board.  This happened in the middle of the very tense Cold War.  The GPS network was up at the time, albiet young, and had the aircraft been fitted with a GPS receiver, they wouldn't have strayed into a Soviet forbidden fly zone.  Spurred by this, America could have launched a massive strike against the Soviets and started WWIII, but the UN mitigated discussions.  Russia apologized for the horrible loss of life, but defended their actions, claiming that they just followed protocol.  Reagan apparently accepted the apology and then issued an Executive Order allowing all citizens of the United States access to the GPS system free of charge.  America is still the only nation in the world that has a position network of it's kind.  No other nation can compete.

This reminded me of another one of Reagan's shining moments, though he had so many of the.  On April 14, 1986, the United States launched a series of Strike Attacks against terrorist training facilities, headquarters and military assets located in Lybia.  In an address to the American People the day of the attacks, Reagan explained what had happened and why.  In closing he said:

"We Americans are slow to anger. We always seek peaceful avenues before resorting to the use of force -- and we did. We tried quiet diplomacy, public condemnation, economic sanctions, and demonstrations of military force. None succeeded. Despite our repeated warnings, Qadhafi continued his reckless policy of intimidation, his relentless pursuit of terror. He counted on America to be passive. He counted wrong. I warned that there should be no place on Earth where terrorists can rest and train and practice their deadly skills. I meant it. I said that we would act with others, if possible, and alone if necessary to ensure that terrorists have no sanctuary anywhere. Tonight, we have." (the full text of the speech can be found here)

I only wish we had a president who was not afraid to get his hands dirty to fight the good fight.  I am not a warmonger, but I do believe that there really is "a time for war and a time for peace."  I miss Ronald Reagan, and I hope everyone has a chance to learn about who he was and why he was so loved by the Americans.  Our nation was never as unified as it was under Reagan's tenure. So, here's hoping that one day in the future, we will have someone in charge of this country who listens to the people, who does what's right and not necessarily what's popular.  May the president of the United States uphold this nation's moral and ethical way of life and not run rampant with his own agenda in total disregard for the safety and security of this wonderful nation. God Bless America!