Monthly Archives: April 2009

Kneejerk

msnbc.com:

CAIRO – Amidst overflowing bags of garbage, Abu Sayed raises pigs, chickens, ducks, pigeons and goats on a small muddy plot of land in order to feed and clothe the extended family of 14 with whom he shares a blackened makeshift shack.

Since he doesn’t own a radio or a TV, we were the first to inform him that the Egyptian government decreed on Wednesday that his pigs, along with all 300,000 pigs in the country, had to be slaughtered as a precaution against the spread swine flu; despite the fact that no cases of the H1N1 swine flu virus have been reported here and it is spread by people, not pigs.

Half of the families’ annual income comes from the sale of their small herd of 25 pigs, which usually sell for about $45 a piece.

But, if they do get the swine flu, maybe a maple syrup enema will help them.

Flooooo!!

The CDC says

Every year in the United States, on average:

  • 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu;
  • more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu-related complications; and
  • about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes.

36,000 ?

That swine flu better be some serious shit, if it's going to compete with plain ol' everyday flu.