Swine flu conspiracy theories and politics as usual....
Tuesday April 28, 2009
Categories: Purple Politics
"In my last post I made the mistake of asserting that swine flu was not yet contagious between humans - that's not true and it's why the disease is being taken seriously by the health community. I think it is important to recognize that the reason we can snark about the public paranoia about swine flu is precisely because of the government response. I am strongly asserting that there's no reason for panic or concern among ordinary folk; I am not asserting that the government is "over-reacting" or otherwise engaged in hype or whatnot.
As with all things, of course, swine flu is already politicized - see here, here and here if you can stomach it. I don't have much to comment on that, aside from simply noting that the acting chief of HHS (a Bush appointee) is qualified to do the job, so the delayed confirmation of Sebelius for HHS is not a factor in the public health response. The procedures for preparation for pandemics date from 9-11 and were substantially revised after the SARS outbreak a few years ago, so things really are under control.
The swine flu craziness is not limited to the usual political arena, though. Governments are getting in on the act, too - for example, Israel is mandating it be called "Mexico Flu" instead of "swine flu" because the latter is not kosher. Seriously. Meanwhile, Indonesia is playing the "Western oppression" card:
Falling short of elaboration, Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said on Tuesday that the deadly swine flu virus could have been genetically engineered. She had earlier accused Western governments of making and spreading viruses in developing countries to boost pharmaceutical companies' profits.
Since 2006, Indonesia has refused to share all of its bird flu virus samples with WHO researchers, citing fears that the system is being abused by rich countries to produce profitable vaccines, which impoverished nations have to buy.
The fact that the new virus causing an avian-human-swine flu first occurred in Mexico -- where pigs and birds are rarely raised together -- has also raised suspicion that the rare combination of more than two different flu viruses could have been genetically-engineered as a form of bio-weaponry.
They do have a point beneath the crazy, though - rich Western nations should indeed partially subsidize the cost of vaccines to poorer ones. There was a plan back in 2006 by the G-8 countries to try and address the problem but that fell through; hopefully this is something that can be revisited. As far as the flu being a bio-weapon, though, well, shhh....
Worth reiterating - related and highly recommended: interview this morning of Dr. Dennis Maki, senior epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin, by Joy Cardin on WPR. Also here's the official page at the CDC for latest info on swine flu outbreaks. Finally, see Rabbi Brad's comment on the kosherification of the flu in Israel."
Glenn Beck's Swine Flu Conspiracy Theory - Video - The Daily Beast
As Swine Flu Spreads, Conspiracy Theories of Laboratory Origins Abound
Monday, April 27, 2009 by: Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Key concepts: Swine flu, Conspiracy and Conspiracy theories
(NaturalNews) Perhaps due to the genetic makeup of the fast-spreading H1N1 strain of influenza -- which includes genetic elements from bird flu, swine flu and human flu spanning three continents -- there is considerable speculation that the origins of this virus are man-made.
It's not an unreasonable question to ask: Could world governments, spooked by the prospect of radical climate change caused by over-population of the planet, have assembled a super-secret task force to engineer and distribute a super virulent strain of influenza designed to "correct" the human population (and institute global Martial Law)?
Technically, it's possible. The U.S. military, all by itself, has the know-how to engineer and unleash such a virus. That doesn't mean they've done so, however. It would be an astonishing leap into crimes against humanity to intentionally unleash such a biological weapon into the wild.
Then again, governments of the world have routinely engaged in crimes against humanity, haven't they? The U.S., for example, dropped nuclear bombs on civilian populations in Japan. Israel rained white phosphorous on Palestinians, Hitler exterminated countless Jews, and Americans fired millions of rounds of depleted uranium rounds into targets in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unleashing a viral biological weapon in Mexico City is no great leap beyond what governments have already done to achieve their goals.
Throughout human history, virtually all the great crimes against humanity have been carried out by governments -- mostly in the name of peace, prosperity and security, by the way. So let's be clear about one thing: Governments are certainly capable of doing this if properly motivated. Let there be no question about that.
Is there any hard evidence of laboratory origins?
As of this moment, I have not personally seen any conclusive evidence of laboratory origins for this H1N1 swine flu. I am open to the possibility that new evidence may emerge in this direction, however, and I am suspicious of the genetic makeup of the virus as one possible indicator of its origins.
I am not a medical specialist in the area of infectious disease, but I have studied microbiology, genetics and a considerable amount of material on pandemics. What seems suspicious to me is the hybrid origin of the viral fragments found in H1N1 influenza. According to reports in the mainstream media (which has no reason to lie about this particular detail), this strain of influenza contains viral code fragments from:
• Human influenza
• Bird Flu from North America
• Swine flu from Europe
• Swine flu from Asia
This is rather astonishing to realize, because for this to have been a natural combination of viral fragments, it means an infected bird from North America would have had to infect pigs in Europe, then be re-infected by those some pigs with an unlikely cross-species mutation that allowed the bird to carry it again, then that bird would have had to fly to Asia and infected pigs there, and those Asian pigs then mutated the virus once again (while preserving the European swine and bird flu elements) to become human transmittable, and then a human would have had to catch that virus from the Asian pigs -- in Mexico! -- and spread it to others. (This isn't the only explanation of how it could have happened, but it is one scenario that gives you an idea of the complexity of such a thing happening).