Pandemic

Bush learned a new word and uses it often. As popularity polls plummet, Chimpboy needs to trick voters that he was indeed concerned about us regular Americans so he dragged out the Avian Flu fear. (After all his true compassion was demonstrated by golfing right after Katrina and in the way he an his cronies minimize soldier deaths). Whenever Bush is in trouble, he tries to instill a little fear. By the way, Sparrow Chat had an interesting entry about Rumsfeld's connection to the vaccine production company.

With the threat of major lawsuits for the thimerosal/autism connection, Bush also took the opportunity to threaten us about shortages because the pharmaceutical companies are hampered by lawsuits so the "pandemic" might not be stopped (not mentioning Big Pharma's obscene profits).

I've read a little about the dangers of plagues and it is a frightening story. The real danger is that strains mutate so easily that prevention is very difficult. We saw last year how the flu vaccine was ineffective because the strain that spread was not the one the vaccine addressed. If Bush was really concerned, he would direct money to Asian countries that are trying to stop the spread - not fatten his cronies bank accounts.