The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are monitoring the progress of the swine flu outbreak in Mexico which already has 20 confirmed cases in the United States. Mexican officials have claimed that the H1N1 swine virus has claimed the death of over 60 people, 71 according to BBC News as of April 26, 2009. Over 1,000 people are suspected of being infected in Mexico. A few days ago, 6 people were confirmed to have the swine virus in California and 2 in Texas. As of today, 20 cases are confirmed, notably in students returning from a trip from Mexico to New York City. Four cases were confirmed in Canada. The outbreak and most of the cases originated in Mexico City, one of the largest cities in the world with a population of 20 million inhabitants. What worries most scientists is that the affected are mainly young, healthy adults which should have the capacity to fight off the virus. Cases of elderly or children being infected are not common and thus, rare.

With the threat of avian flu a couple of years ago, the world is better prepared with stock piled antiviral drugs for a possible global influenza pandemic. The pandemic alert has not been raised as the CDC and WHO are still monitoring events unfold. Mexico has approximately 1 million doses of anti-viral drugs, such as Tamiflu, which has shown to be effective in treating the virus. The WHO believe Mexico to be capable of handling the outbreak, which started in mid-March and have pledged support to work with Mexican health authorities. The World Bank has also loaned $25 million dollars in immediate aid to help treat the outbreak and will provide $180 million dollars in the long term. Expert teams have already been deployed to the hotzone to investigate the virus. Makers of the antiviral drugs are on standby to mass produce the medication if the virus spreads worldwide.  Authorities in Mexico City have encouraged its citizens to stay at home and not assist public venues such as soccer stadiums, nightclubs, and even church to help slow the spread of the virus. This was followed by suspension of massive public events. Mexican military personnel have passed out 6 million surgical face masks and seeing people with these precautionary face masks has become a common sight in Mexico City.

The CDC and the WHO are urging all world governments to stay informed and prepare defense plans in case the virus goes global, which seems to be the case. Despite this, tourists are currently not being advised to halt travel to Mexico. The White House stated that it is not time to panic, and that all proper precautions are being taken. The H1N1 swine virus is a new strain of influenza type A according to WHO. It is a respiratory disease that constantly changes, much like the human flu. It usually affects herds of swine, and transmission to humans was not common. The swines appear to serve as a “mixing vessel” in which the genetic material of avian, swine, and human influenza strains are combined (antigen shift), resulting in something never seen before. The CDC are initiating work to produce a vaccine from a “seed strain” of the swine flu, but nobody knows how quickly this may be done. People that have contracted the virus spread the virus like any common human influenza, mainly by coughing and sneezing.

Details will change by the minute. It may appear that a “local virus”, behind the scenes, mixing with the swine virus strain is what is enabling the disease in Mexico to be much more lethal than what has been found in the US cases, despite both being confirmed to be swine virus H1N1. Make sure you get your Tamiflu from greedy Roche today, just to be safe.

A certain aspect of my personality that has been congratulated by some and chided by others is my ability to put people that are out of line in their place. I can be laid back and nice most of the time, but when I see someone getting out of line and making others feel bad, I step in and leave that person in ridicule. I can do it as an automatic reflex, sometimes without them even knowing that I put them down and with the need of a dictionary to know what I said. I have no inhibitions in telling someone that their mentality is severely flawed, and point where they are wrong. I could care less if the person is rich, poor, Ivy League educated, or even famous. It is something that I do not do often, as I can very patient most of the time. Besides, whenever I feel like criticizing someone, I remember that not all people have been given the advantages I have had. Nevertheless, I speak my mind to people that deserve it at times. I have a strong sense of justice. I fight for what my mind and heart tells me is right.

If you watch the news, I am sure you have inevitably seen Lou Dobbs, the anchor of Lou Dobbs Tonight on CNN. He is an overly arrogant, biased, and stupid racist snake. Dobbs is a Texan, and was born in September 24, 1945. He received a bachelor’s in economics from Harvard University, whoopee fucking doo. The man lands a job as a news anchor in Phoenix and then Seattle. He was invited by Ted Turner’s people in 1979, when Ted (another idiot, a billionaire, but an idiot nonetheless) was in the process of forming CNN. Lou began his career with CNN in 1980 and held various important positions. However, he quit in 1999, due to conflict with then CNN President, Rick Kaplan. After Kaplan left, Lou was invited back to CNN by his BFF Ted Turner in 2001. He was given the helm of Loud Dobbs Moneyline which became Lou Dobbs Tonight. Aside from his evening show, he also works as a radio host.

Lou Dobbs is a person that was endowed with much power by CNN; he expresses his opinions very crudely. Now, everyone is entitled to their opinions, but nobody is entitled to play God and insult millions of people because of personal dislike. If he doesn’t like Hispanic immigrants, then that is a personal problem, don’t stereotype or insult the masses of Hispanic immigrants that come looking for the American Dream. America is a nation of immigrants, it doesn’t matter if you arrived 200 years ago or yesterday, it is the melting pot of the world. The reason America is great is because minds from all over the world come and live here. We have the best of every culture. Plus, I daresay had it not been due to European Jewish physicists that immigrated here, America would not have become the world’s most powerful country. Johnny Von Neumann, Edward Teller, Leó Szilárd, Stanislaw Ulam, Hans Bethe and others were all immigrants of Jewish descent that were key people at Los Alamos, during the Manhattan Project.  Robert Oppenheimer and Richard Feynman were not immigrants but their Jewish parents were.

So, please, Mr. Dobbs, don’t be so harsh on immigrants. True, Hispanic immigrants are not building nuclear bombs, but most do come to better themselves and the country, just give them a chance. Don’t use them as the scapegoat for America’s problems. Leave the bitchy-ness to the Native Americans whom experienced your ancestors invading America and caused their subsequent eradication. I must, however, thank Lou Dobbs for doing something right. You see,  he has an inbox on his website where you can leave comments about his show. His secretary helps him pick the best comments and he airs them at the end of his broadcast. I left one a little over a year ago. The following is what I left:

“Jesus Christ, Lou Dobbs. You are still alive? You are nothing but an insecure racist with friends in high places that enable you to keep your job plaguing immigrants on television. Hope you die soon. This coming from all the immigrants you hate.”

So, what do you know? He aired my comment! I must thank him in person. As my comment was chosen, I also received his book, War on the Middle Class, as a gift. Not that I have read it, of course. Lou doesn’t stop at bashing illegal immigrants; he even called former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice a cotton picker! The man is a racist, he is a racist that tries to cover up by saying an occasional good statement that he later employs as a defense for not being racist. I wish I could sit down with him one day, until then I have a message for Lou, and the message is “Screw You.” We do not need racism in this world. What do you think of Lou Dobbs?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y0W19-N3Ik

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