The even increasing difficulty of getting at the contents of a blister pack heralds the end of civilization as we know it1
[More as I get it written - place holder for a few tens of minutes]
So there I was, working away with FOX News in the background, when I heard:
Rude Lover denied charges he grabbed women from behind
WHAT? We’ll hear that on Jay Leno for a few days;-)
As it turns out, the real name is Ruud Lubbers, former Dutch prime minister.
Say his name ten times fast. If that isn’t bad enough, try spoonerizing the name.
When AIDS first hit the United States, AIDS activists were able to prevent some routine public health measures, resulting in a dramatically higher death toll than was necessary. They opposed contact tracing and quarantine, both normal measures with deadly contagious disease.
If one of the AIDS patients had contracted the less deadly multidrug resistant tuberculosis, they might have been confined to a hospital or other facility, by court order. But carrying and spreading HIV (the virus which causes AIDS) was made secret by laws pushed by gay rights activists. Hence contact tracing was not possible, and quarantine was and continues to be politically impossible.
Until Now…
A new, rapidly progressing variant of HIV has been found in several cases. If this form of HIV gets lose among the vulnerable populations (male homosexuals, IV drug users, and people from Pattern II countries), the result could be more dramatic than the original AIDS outbreak (See Note 1). It is also possible that the new HIV variant is a false alarm. [free registration required]
As a result, more coercive approaches are being considered [free registration required].
And yet, some still have their heads in the sand. Jon Givner, Lambda Legal Defense Fund, states:
We don’t want public health vigilantes going out and taking matters into their own hands, particularly if it means breaching the confidentially and civil rights of people with H.I.V.,”… “Frankly, I find it pretty scary.”
Jon, don’t you find the consequences of an epidemic of this disease even more frightening? If not, you are a dangerous idiot! And by the way, public health officials are, well, officials - sworn government officers with broad powers, not “vigilantes.”
On the other hand, Gabriel Rotello tells the truth:
“You can’t have a core group of people having sex with large numbers of people without amplifying any sexually transmitted disease that enters the system,” … “I don’t have any doubt that a resurgent H.I.V. epidemic will hit the gay population in the near future,” he said.
This time, the gay community will be put to the test, knowing full well the consequences of an epidemic of this new disease. As you can see, not all will support responsible action.
This is the time for that community to act responsibly and support common-sense and necessary public health measures.
The world will be watching.
A blog friend, Roger L Simon, is having/has had his gall bladder removed about now.
Roger is well known as a mystery writer, playwright, director, and most significantly, an influential and insightful blogger , The Less Abled Lost Angeles Times has labelled him a “main stream blogger”.
We hope the docs don’t remove his spleen, his brain, his heart , or his typing hands, and leave enough gall around for him to function at full tilt boogie. He’ll need it all for basting and roasting the usual suspects - the MSM, Democrat foreign policy, etc.
In any case, if you know the latest status of Roger’s condition, please post it as here (as a comment), so we can find out how he is doing, and when to expect his bloggerific come-back.
God Speed, Roger, and enjoy the morphine while you can.
[UPDATE: Roger has returned, admittedly a bit high on Vicodin, but hey, what’s a 60’s guy to do but enjoy it?
See here for the old geezer himself.
Nutty Norks with Nukes?
The North Korean announcement today bragging about their nuclear weapons, dropping out of the 6-way talks, and announcing a restart of their nuclear reactor has many ramifications.
Nobody is surprised when they claim they have nukes. In fact, they probably do have them - no surprise.
A desire to blackmail the US is behind dropping out of the talks. They are trying what worked in the past - scaring the US until another foolish treaty like Clinton’s. But it won’t work with Bush in charge.
More significant is restarting their reactor. This allows them to create much more plutonium. They are probably looking at a three scenarios:
1) We bomb the reactor. They lose its ability to produce plutonium. That sounds like a bad deal, until one realizes that North Korea is showing signs of internal stress. The human rights pressure is likely to allow North Korean refugees to avoid repatriation, unleashing a flood of North Koreans eager to escape the Stalinist regime. Provoking an attack by the US is a classic tactic to re-kindle nationalism and justify increased repression, relieving internal dangers to the regime.
Furthermore, there are two paths to nuclear weapons: creating Pluloniuim, or enriching Uranium, increasing the concentration of U-235 and U-233. All evidence indicates that the North has the facilities to enrich Uranium, well hidden underground somewhere. Hence the destruction of the reactor would be like a chess sacrifice - giving away one piece in order to improve one’s position. It is also possible that the huge underground facilities in the North have one or more unknown reactors producing Plutonium.
2) We don’t bomb the reactor. They make a lot more Plutonium, producing more bombs or just selling the Plutonium as is.
3) A major attack on the North. They view this as unlikely because it would trigger another Korean war, with WMD tipped missiles hitting all over South Korea, parts of Japan and potentially the US. This would cause tens of millions of immediate civilian casualties, especially in South Korea and Japan. The response would probably nuclear destruction of North Korea, followed by a complex interaction as China, what’s left of South Korea, and the US contend, for different reasons, for the territory.
China wants a buffer state to protect itself from the outer barbarians - an old and recurrent theme in Chinese history. South Korea wants to re-unify Korea. The US and others need to stop the sale and leakage of WMD’s and WMD material from North Korea.
Meanwhile, the Norks may be selling HEU or Pu or completed weapons to terrorists or nations highly hostile to the US such as Iran.
The key to this mess is China. They can hurt North Korea by cutting of its oil and commerce, and allowing refugees to stay free. But they haven’t done so, for unclear reasons.
The US needs to convince China that it is in their interest to end the North Korean nuclear threat and missile proliferation.
George Bush just warned Iran not to develop nukes, so naturally North Korea, wanting the spotlight, has announce it has nuclear weapons for “defensive” use.
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Last Christmas, my extended family traveled to the Yucatan jungle (Belize - San Ignacio). 4 of us spent 5 nights in an “authentic thatched roof hut” (not our plan, of course). The consequences were potentially deadly, and very expensive. Yours truly was a fool!
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