Just Say No to... Trolls and your Own Interests while you're at it

Two things today. The first is, no more anonymous posting. I originally (and probably naively so) didn't have a problem with people posting anonymously, until I realized that it's usually only trolls that have nothing to add to the conversation, and that I can't tell who I'm talking to. They're all anonymous. So from now on, you have to be registered. Sorry, but some pricks always have to go and ruin a good thing for everyone else.

The second thing is, I was checking out France24, a news agency in France. I like to watch them, they tend to give a different perspective on things, since they have less of a vested interest in our politics, especially so when compared to local news networks. And I have to say, I love the comments regarding our health care. I'm sure the French, who have that *evil* "socialist" medical system are laughing their asses off at us. Well, at least laughing themselves silly over the idiots in this country. And we wonder why there is a prevalent attitude that Americans are stupid. We re-elected GDubya, so that's a case in point. We have people running around screaming against their own interests in favor of the interests of the Insurance Industry. How dumb can you get? Some comments from France24... translation is mine, and I'm not a native speaker, so I might miss some of the subtelty, but you'll get the gist of it anyway

"When Bush was in power, the Senate didn't hesitate to vote in favor of more funds to support an increase in cost of opearations for the soldiers in Iraq, that money was wasted and lost, but now they hesistate to vote in favor of a project that benefits all Americans, especially the poor."

"I do not understand why certain people (USA) are so hostile to this project? It's simple enough to be empathetic and understand the best interest of the project..."

"Good luck to this President, for this initiative for health."

Yeah, he's going to need all the luck he can get. And yes, it should be simple to understand that we think health care is a right, and that all people regardless of income should have access to it. But that requires critical thinking skills, and those are unfortunately sorely lacking in this country.

When I was in France, I came across a French family vacationing in the Pyrenees. We had a conversation about our vacations and what we were up to. The husband told me he thought it was insane that we didn't get more vacation time here in the States, followed by a little laugh, as if he knew he had the better end of the deal and was thanking his lucky stars he wasn't American. The French get an average of 39 days of vacation a year. In my white collar job, I get 10 a year. Yeah. They understand there, that there is more to life than money. Something that I think we've forgotten in this country. Sure money is important for living, I come from poverty and understand that really well, however it is not the be-all and end-all of life. What happened to enjoying life? Or are we too busy killing ourselves chasing after material shit that the talking heads on the TV tell us we have to have?

If you want to see an prime example of this, watch HGTV sometime. Watch how prospective home buyers and home owners either talk about or rip out entire kitchens and bathrooms because they're "dated". They complain about the color of the appliances because they're not "in". Talk about environmentally unfriendly! How many resources are wasted to build a new appliance, how many appliances are dumped in landfills because they're the "wrong" color? And these same people talk about going "green" while being the most wasteful fucks on the planet.

Everyone has to have the latest of everything, the latest phone, the latest custom cabinetry, the latest computer (okay well, maybe if you want to play the latest games you'll need that LOL), a brand new car, a brand new this and a brand new that. What happened to using things until they don't work?

Le sigh.

Ignorance is bliss?

I've been a little busy with things, and so I haven't even read the news lately, and so I have nothing to write about. I realized while on my trip to Europe that I enjoyed not knowing what was going on. The world kept on going without me knowing anything about all the crap I can't change or do anything about. You can read about all these politicians, and the things they do to muck up the world. You can read about all the crazy fundamentalist fanatics that are burning books or lashing women in some backwater in Afghanistan or beating their wives right here in the good ol' US of A. And I can't do shit about any of it. I sometimes question whether or not it's even worthwhile to know about all of the travesty that goes on in this world.

That's almost anathema to what I believe, that knowledge is important, it gives you power. I don't know what kind of power that is exactly though. The power to drive yourself quite mad at the craziness of humanity, both in the past and now, and I'm sure into the future. The entire world is quite mad. And that's why I named this blog that. Humanity is really fucked up on so many levels.

So why am I writing this? I don't even know, something to do with the fact that I realized I hadn't written in a few days, and realized also that I didn't know what to write about. That and it's late, I'm rambling and I should go to bed, but I'm procrastinating about that.

Sensationalism is the New Press: Or How We're all going to DIE!!!

So, I was checking my email, and one of the links to yahoo!News happens to catch my eye. It screams "Swine Flu epidemic enters dangerous new phase"!!!!! zOMG... it must be terrible, they must have more information, more people must have died, or something... Nope. Same story that I read earlier this afternoon. Nothing had changed, except they felt the need to make the title sensational.

As an aside, I happened to visit the WHO's website. Their latest update says that seven people are dead in Mexico from this. Yes, you read that correctly. There are 26 confirmed cases of swine flu in Mexico, and seven, yes that's seven people are dead. According to them.

Swine Influenza - Update 3

27 April 2009 -- The current situation regarding the outbreak of swine influenza A(H1N1) is evolving rapidly. As of 27 April 2009, the United States Government has reported 40 laboratory confirmed human cases of swine influenza A(H1N1), with no deaths. Mexico has reported 26 confirmed human cases of infection with the same virus, including seven deaths. Canada has reported six cases, with no deaths, while Spain has reported one case, with no deaths.

Further information on the situation will be available on the WHO website on a regular basis.

WHO advises no restriction of regular travel or closure of borders. It is considered prudent for people who are ill to delay international travel and for people developing symptoms following international travel to seek medical attention, in line with guidance from national authorities.

There is also no risk of infection from this virus from consumption of well-cooked pork and pork products. Individuals are advised to wash hands thoroughly with soap and water on a regular basis and should seek medical attention if they develop any symptoms of influenza-like illness.

Now the AP is saying it's 160 dead in Mexico, and their numbers keep going up every hour. They have no information though on who is dead, demographics, age, etc and no source for their numbers. The Health Minister of Mexico has said that twenty are confirmed dead of swine flu, but he can't give details because of privacy reasons, and doesn't "have the information" on him concerning their ages or situations. Really? You have got to be fucking kidding me. What are we basing these numbers on? Rumors?!

What I want to know, is when the fuck someone is going to reign the press in and tell them to stop spreading possible lies and causing panic. And when the fuck is Mexico going to get their shit together and figure out what is going on and who has actually died of this as opposed to any other form of flu or illness. It's like, "oh yes, old lady Juarez is dead down the street of something, must be swine flu because what else could it be?"

And again, a public health announcement. Wash your fucking hands!

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"You turn the page, you wash your hands. You turn the page, you wash your hands. You turn the page, you wash your hands."--Filbert, Rocko's Modern Life

Swine Flu being used to Cover Up something?

Isn't it odd that all of a sudden we have the press attempting to spread panic over a flu that isn't a pandemic, and probably won't become one, by trying to say it might. There was absolutely nothing in the news about this flu before yesterday morning. A pandemic by definition is a virus that spreads quickly from person to person. The people who came down with it in the United States were sick two to six weeks ago. Two of the high school students who were sick in the United States have returned to school. If it were a pandemic, at least half the high school would have been sick. It would have spread all over the country by now, and we'd be closing everything up in an attempt to contain it. I live less than a hundred miles from the Mexico border, and I don't know anyone who is sick here or has been sick in the last two months. If we ever do have a pandemic, we'll see illness before we see news about it.

Indeed, a doctor at a hospital in Mexico City hasn't even seen a case of it.

"Outside Hospital Obregon in the capital's middle-class Roma district, a tired Dr. Roberto Ortiz, 59, leaned against an ambulance and sipped coffee Saturday on a break from an unusually busy shift.

"The people are scared," Ortiz said. "A person gets some flu symptoms or a child gets a fever and they think it is this swine flu and rush to the hospital."

He said none of the cases so far at the hospital had turned out to be swine flu."

Twenty people as of this morning (they're saying maybe 62 now) dying in Mexico, a third world country of the flu is no surprise. I mean how many people die in Mexico of the flu in any given year? Something is going on, something is happening, and someone doesn't want us to notice, they want it buried by this swine flu panic. Could it be the torture news about Cheney? Or something else? Is Mexico involved in something with us?

Cheney gathering documents?

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Or new torture photos?

Or is it something else we don't know about yet? Or is it merely a coincidence?