Wiki Update Monday 0400 hrs

The wiki continues to have problems. I'm assured they are working on it. Melanie and Pogge are no doubt exhausted, but continue to fight the good fight.

FOR A GOOD NEWS ARTICLE ON MELANIE & THE WIKI

http://tinyurl.com/zwqy7

Terrible title, but a good article overall. A rare, sensible look at prepping. We need more articles like this.



Stay tuned.

The Spin I'm In

Two or three weeks ago, the news reports were coming in fast and furious. CNN, FOX, MSNBC were running bird flu alerts in their scrolls at the bottom of the screen. ABC news did a dozen reports on GMA, Nightline, and their Nightly News. With each new death in Indonesia, or Azerbaijan, or China, a worried looking newscaster would assure us that this was primarily a disease of birds . . . and then, almost as an afterthought, remind us that scientists are worried it might mutate into a human pandemic.

Now, suddenly, the news has changed. Bird Flu reports are on the back burner. Worse, there have been a large number of articles printed in the papers dismissing the pandemic potential.

What happened?

Well, certainly the human deaths from H5N1 have not stopped. Nor has the number of infections reported gone down. The virus is still spreading, and infected birds are expected in North America within weeks. Mike Levitt, secretary of HHS, is still on the road traveling to each state, urging local and personal preparedness. And from all indications, the U.S. and Canadian governments are taking a potential pandemic more seriously now than ever before.

But the news has changed. And people are being lulled into complacency.

Some might argue that this story is just too hard to cover. The hot spots are in places like China, Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Africa. Places where it is difficult to get reporters on the ground, and places where the governments are not particularly forthcoming with information. We’ve seen the pictures of chickens being culled, and there is nothing new there. Deaths from H5N1 are only admitted to a week or two, sometimes three, after the event. By then, it’s old news.

With the events in Iran, Iraq, Europe and even here in the US providing much better photo opportunities, it is understandable why reporters are more interested in riots in France, immigrant protests in the South Western United States, or the latest body count in the Mid East. These are stories that carry a strong visceral reaction. They garner high ratings, and they evolve rapidly, which allow the networks to flash NEWS ALERT every 10 minutes.

The avian flu, on the other hand, is a slow moving freight train. Today’s news is merely a carbon copy of last week’s accounts. Two more dead in Egypt, another child hospitalized in Indonesia, or perhaps more infected chickens in the Gaza strip. Hard to pump up the ratings with those types of stories, something big has to happen in order to justify the airtime.

The good news, I suppose, is that the networks will cover the pandemic wall-to-wall when (or if) it begins. Until then, it just sits there, simmering, but not really ready for prime time.

Those with a more conspiratorial bent will note that everything changed the day after Dr. Robert Webster, arguably one of the most respected virologists in the world, announced that he felt the world needed to come to grips with the possibility that half the world could die from this disease. He didn’t say it would happen, only suggested it was possible.

Since then, the news has changed. But the situation has not.

The CDC and WHO now admit that Human to Human (H2H) transmission of the disease has occurred, but has been inefficient, and self limiting. You’d hardly know that listening to the news.

Hopes for a timely vaccine have diminished greatly, yet that story was spun into semi-good news. Instead of reporting the dismal failures of the vaccine trials, the news media portrayed this as an important first step towards developing an inoculation.

The mantra seems to have become:

Do Not Panic

And that’s always a bad sign. Dr. Webster’s pronouncement obviously scared a lot of people, mostly in government.

Among those who are aware, and who are preparing, I see no panic. Buying food and medicine (quietly recommended by the government) is prudent behavior, not the actions of a spooked herd. As for the rest of the population? They seem to be oblivious to what’s going on.

Bird flu? Yeah, I’ve heard of it. Will never happen. And if it does, they’re working on a vaccine. Right?

Sad, very sad.

And so another day passes and millions of people go to work, tend to their families, and sit distracted by the news, or American Idol, or their MTV. Another opportunity to prepare is lost.

And you can hardly blame people for not preparing. After all, if it were important, the news would be covering it.

Right?

Don’t count on it. There are multiple agendas at work here. And the least of their concerns is the survival of individuals. That’s your job.

The good folks of FEMA, who failed miserably in New Orleans, have already stated they won’t be there to help you, or your family, during a pandemic. That you will be on your own.

Amazing. Perhaps the most honest statement to come out of our Federal government in 50 years.

And nobody’s listening.