WHO has no reason to manipulate findings..

So is this new swine flu outbreak the next great plague, or just a global spasm of paranoia?
Some positive news surfaced yesterday: Mexican scientists said the contagiousness of the swine flu is no greater than that of the seasonal flu that circulates every year. And a preliminary genetic analysis hasn't turned up any of the markers that scientists associate with the virulence of the 1918 "Spanish" influenza virus, said Nancy Cox, head of the flu lab of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The 1918-19 pandemic has cast a long shadow over today's health emergency. That virus circled the world, eventually infecting nearly everyone and killing at least 50 million people.
Jeffery Taubenberger, the National Institutes of Health researcher who reconstructed the 1918 influenza virus, said he is growing the new swine flu virus in his lab.

"We're very early on in figuring out what makes this virus tick. I am loath to make predictions about what an influenza virus that mutates so rapidly will do," he said. But he believes it will spread across the planet: "My prediction is that this strain will continue to spread, and it is very likely to become a pandemic virus, if it's not already a pandemic now. That does not mean that this has to be a very severe pandemic like 1918."

Michael T. Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, said the situation is analogous to forecasting a hurricane when meteorologists know only that there is a high-low pressure gradient in the Atlantic. "Everyone in one week wants an answer as to what it will do. Anyone who gives you an answer right now, do not listen to them about anything else because you cannot trust them," Osterholm said.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl noted yesterday that the public may misunderstand the word "pandemic." The term refers to where an illness spreads, not its severity.

A major unknown is the swine flu virus's "case-fatality rate" -- the small fraction of infected people who die. For the 1918 influenza, it was 2 to 2.5 percent for the United States as a whole, but in military camps and on troop ships, the rate was a brutal 7 to 10 percent, and in some Inuit villages, it soared to 70 percent.

The other two flu pandemics of the 20th century, however, were far milder. The Asian influenza of 1957-58 had a fatality rate of 0.2-0.5, and the rate during the Hong Kong influenza of 1968-69 was even lower, about 0.1 percent, close to what it is for seasonal flu.
The case-fatality rate of the swine flu will become certain only when epidemiologists are able to track its behavior from the moment it arrives in a population -- a difficult task under the best circumstances, which the current circumstances in Mexico aren't. Physicians there first suspected something strange when a small number of young adults showed up in the hospital with severe pneumonia.

The question is how many other people contracted influenza but never got very sick. Researchers must draw blood from a sample of people in affected towns and cities to estimate how many people were infected and never knew it.

The early signs from the United States and a few European countries where the strain is spreading suggest it is not unusually dangerous, as there have been few deaths so far. If that continues to be true, then it may help explain the mysteriously high mortality in Mexico. It may be that Mexico already has had hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions, of cases -- all but the most serious hidden in the "noise" of background illness in a crowded population.
The fact that most people infected in other countries had recently been to Mexico -- or were in direct contact with someone who had been -- is indirect evidence that the country may have been experiencing a silent epidemic for months.

Regardless of how dangerous it proves to be, the new swine flu virus is almost certain to eventually infect every continent and country, although that may take years. Studies in the 1930s found that 97 percent of people born before 1920 had antibodies to the Spanish influenza virus. That's evidence that virtually everyone alive in the three years it circulated -- 1918, 1919 and 1920 -- was at one point infected, even if they didn't know it.
A similar fate awaits any population exposed long enough to a new flu strain to which it has no immunity, experts believe

To the Victor go the Spoils.. Or do they.

Change seems to be the buzz word of the moment, and so "change" has also arrived in El Salvador, where the leftist FMLN party has resulted victorious in the recently held presidential elections. ARENA, the rightist party, after 20+ consecutive years in power now passes to the role of principle opposition party. Presidential term limits in El Salvador is five years, and all four ARENA ex presidents (Cristiani, Flores, Calderon and Saca) have acknowledged and peacefully accepted their party's defeat and will now relinquish and turn over the political strings to President Elect Mauricio Funes, of the FMLN.

Much to the detriment of those concerned, there always seems to be a fly in the ointment in any seemingly beautiful picture and as the saying goes, "The Devil is in the details." The smooth transition of power in El Salvador appears to be on track and following this same fatalistic rule. In the seeming tranquility of the Democratic process currently unfolding, warning clouds seem to be gathering over the horizon and the lightening strikes appear like cracks in the ideological facade of the allegedly unified and newly forming FMLN administration. Albeit, honorable mention should go out to the ARENA party for their demonstration of civility, political maturity and democratic ideals clearly shown in the peaceful way they relinquished power to their long time opponents of the FMLN. Since the signing of the Accords and peace was finally realized between the government, the armed forces and the leftist insurgency back in 1992, the FMLN (an amalgamation of the five warring guerrilla groups FPL, FARN, ERP, RN and the Communist Party) lay down their weapons and formed into the newly constituted democratic opposition political party, the current FMLN. Among other important details and as part of the peace agreements, the old National Police Force was dissolved and replaced by a new force known as Policia Nacional Civil, that would be formed by elements of the various deactivated government military units and by the ex-guerrilla combatants. In a further effort to look forward to the future and let go of any lingering old ties with the past twelve years of civil war, a general amnesty was ratified and signed in 1993 that was to benefit and included all elements of the warring parties who had been active during the now defunct civil war.

As the nightmare years of war, death and destruction slowly faded away from memory, these became less and less of an influencing factor in the collective and contemporary life of Salvadorans. As time was slowly evolving, the main body of the FMLN ruling faction (made-up by ex guerrilla fighters and commanders turned politicians), continued steadfast as the core element who absolutely controlled the Party from within, even though for the past 20+ consecutive twenty years ARENA had overwhelming political dominance in the country. These old guard elements of the FMLN held the reins in the Party and constituted the ultimate and final voice that determined the individual party candidates for each and every local and presidential political race. The proverbial fly in the ointment in this picture slowly materializes with the passage of time itself and as we all know, time is relentless and history is never stagnant but rather it is fluid motion and ever changing. With every new election, the radical ideals of the FMLN old guard were becoming more and more antiquated and irrelevant to the times, and less and less popular to the majority of Salvadorans. This natural phenomenon became all to obvious to the ruling old guard FMLN ideologues when their geriatric champion and standard bearer, Communist Party leader, Shafik Handal, was soundly defeated in the past presidential race of 2004, by ARENA candidate and current President Tony Saca.

It was during this time that President Elect Mauricio Funes steps into the picture and joins the FMLN as their candidate to oppose the the ARENA Party candidate in the coming presidential elections 0f 2009. Mauricio Funes presented a new and refreshing face to the political scene and he was not identified with either of the principle embedded political parties. Funes was a popular young moderate professional with important connections to Brazilian President Luis Ignacio Lula de Silva, and who was widely known throughout El Salvador by the common man as a popular radio announcer and critic of the current ARENA administration. The FMLN old guard obviously realized and had the awareness that their time was fast passing, but they demonstrated exceptional political instincts and insight to see in Mauricio Funes a popular figure who could actually win for them over the long entrenched ARENA Party. They must have rationalized that Mauricio Funes, as the political novice that he was, could easily be manipulated, intimidated or dictated to once he was in office. In other words, Mauricio Funes represented to the FMLN old guard a viable backdoor entrance to their long held dream of establishing a Castro style Marxist-Leninist dictatorship in El Salvador, along the more current lines that we see in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, Bolivia, Etc.. These more current and not yet maligned political phenomenons developing in Latin America are also referred to as the "Bolivarian Democratic Socialist Revolution" that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has championed with his on-again off-again oil revenue wealth.

It is abundantly clear and history overwhelmingly demonstrates that the FMLN and its old guard matrix would have never defeated any ARENA candidate, simply because the Salvadoran people reject the extremist rhetoric associated with the FMLN radicals. Mauricio Funes won the presidency because of Mauricio Funes himself. The FMLN without Mauricio Funes was condemned to continued failure and frustrations as demonstrated by the 20+ years of consecutive ARENA rule. The FMLN old guard was finally able to offset their inherent ideological disadvantage by presenting a young, moderate and popular face that would totally overshadowed the vice presidential running mate, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, who was by then the new champion and ideologue of the FMLN old guard. Mr. Sanchez Ceren, the FMLN vice presidential running mate had previously worked as an elementary grade school teacher who turned insurgent during the 1979-1992 Salvadoran civil war.

As the FMLN old guard basks in their recent triumph over ARENA, the fiesta may be short lived because they are no longer the opposition, and with the sweet taste of victory comes the burden of responsibility. At this instant in time, only one man, Mauricio Funes, stands between the FMLN old guard extremists and their dream of running to the tailor shoppe and being fitted with Fidel Castro style military fatigues, and buying $3000.00 dollar horned rimmed glasses following the Daniel Ortega example when the Sandinista Revolution triumphed in Nicaragua. I wish Mauricio Funes lots of luck, I think he'll need it.

Leftist FMLN Party Victorious in Salvadoran Election

In El Salvador, the twelve years of conflict between government forces and the radical leftist insurgency ended in 1992, when the combined guerrilla factions (ERP, FPL, FARN, RN and Communist Party that together formed the FMLN) accepted to put down their weapons and sign the peace accords with the Salvadoran Armed Forces. As part of the peace process, a general amnesty was granted to the warring parties, and the old governmental Guardia Nacional, Policia de Hacienda and Policia Nacional were dissolved and a new police force was formed (the Policia Nacional Civil). This newly created police force would incorporate into its ranks ex-guerrilla fighters and demobilized government units. The responsibility of maintaining public order would now fall upon the newly created Civil Police force, while the regular Armed Forces would continue to maintain their principle mission as protectors of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of El Salvador, and more importantly, the Salvadoran Armed Forces would also continue their mission of guaranteeing the rights and obligations as defined by the national constitution. The Armed Forces mission of guaranteeing the constitution will surely become a point of contention now that the radical old guard in the FMLN will want to have a say in government policy. Their new champion, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, ex-comander of the guerrilla faction FARN, who is the vice presidential running mate of president elect Mauricio Funes, will clearly be the man to watch because now only one man, Mauricio Funes, stands between the geriatric old guard and their Castro style dictatorship dream. This situation in tiny El Salvador will certainly be getting more and more interesting because we'll be witnessing real Democracy in action, where it was ballots and not bullets that finally were victorious in that turbulent land.

President Obama may hold the highest office in the land and he may be considered the leader of the free world, but that does not automatically translate into being all powerful. Obama has demonstrated time and again that he is very much limited by the socio economic and philosophical constraints of the empire he represents. A good example of his back peddling is that Obama, like the rest of the world, has stated on more than one ocasion his opposition and disgust of the torture and human rights abuses of the Bush/Cheney administration. But while he speaks out against the torture, the human rights abuses, GITMO and so many other illegal acts, Obama is clearly powerless to take any further steps toward bringing those responsible before a court of law to respond for their crimes. When asked about these many and continuous contradictions, Obama simply responds that he doesn't want to look toward the past but to the future and that America does not (any longer) torture. The world watches and wonders in amazement at the hypocrisy and the heightening of contradictions of a country that is so quick to recognize and condemn unlawful acts in others, while permitting its own war criminals to waltz off into plush retirement and build 100 million dollar libraries to their egos. I guess that "the good guys" always win because it's the winners who write the storied history, while the losers simply disappear into the sunset or are led to the gallows.

All this silly talk about banning assault weapons, semi-automatic rifles and handguns, high capacity magazines, ammunition and the rest of the banal rantings of the gun-grabber crowd is simply feel-good rhetoric. Guns aren't the bogyman; guns are simply inert lifeless tools, like a hammer, a saw, a knife, or your car. Guns don't kill people, sick people kill people. The hypocrisy in all this is that we live in a nation that is inherently pro-gun and whose military budget is more than that of the rest of the world combined. We also happen to be the number one exporter of weapons in the world, and our own history as a free nation got off to its start with the famous "shot heard around the world." Since Lexington and Concord, the sound of gun fire has been the sound of our freedom and of our Star Spangled Banner. We the People, with guns blazing, won the privilege to be free citizens with inalienable constitutional rights, and not subjects of some foreign "God anointed" monarch. Let's never forget that those who turn their guns into plow shears will sooner or later end-up plowing for those who didn't.

War in Afghanistan an unending failure...

Recent reports now indicate that the top U.S. commander of the Afghanistan war will be replaced because we need "fresh thinking" to turn around our war against the resurgent Taliban.
After more than seven years of fighting, it has become clear that the warmongering Bush policy continues to be a counterproductive failure. We have the most modern and high-tech army in the world, with multi billions of dollars in weaponry for use against some local tribesmen whose most novel invention in recent times has been adding egg whites to their mud blocks for added adhesive strength to their buildings.
We have neither end goals nor definitions of what victory is, while our tribal opponents only need to not lose in order to outlast us and win. I'm sure that our military, industrial and financial complexes are in "tall cotton" with these unending wars, and they will never agree that fighting and destruction are the ignorant means to wage war.

How Sad...

It's saddening to see our national "Idealized Self Image" become so totally corrupted by embedded self serving politicians that the masses no longer believe or trust, and don't even bother or speak out in disgust anymore. Even Pres. Obama with all his grandiose ideas that brought the people together in hope, seems to have understood that his promises as candidate can not be fulfilled as president; that by doing so he would simply be heightening the contradictions so inherent to what we've become as a nation. Pres. Obama seems to have understood that his promises of "change" honest government and transparency have become less and less of an option. The loafty ideals of a government of the people, by the people and for the people seem to have lost meaning to become once again mere words. It really is sad to witness a man who spoke with so many good intentions being forced by realty and circumstance to backtrack from great, to good, to bad and to worse. We have clearly lost the high ground when we no longer demand that those responsible for war crimes be held accountable, and we witness silently as these same criminals emerging from their political graves trying to justify their torture and abuses. The screaming absence of public outcry and discourse an be explained as censorship by convenience, or simply to the lack of values of a thinking elite who only worry about keeping their jobs and not rocking the boat. It's sad... I guess I'll join the patriotic crowd and simply go shopping this afternoon. Tacos?

Trying to keep current with the news, one encounters and must understand a completely new list of colorful words and sanitizing definitions that are being added to the English language but haven't yet made it to Webster's Dictionary. Following is a small sampling of these words, and I bet everyone can add plenty more of there own:

Security Contractors = Mercenaries; Enhanced Interrogation Techniques = Torture; Surgical Strike = Premeditated Assassination; Plausible Deniability = Telling out-right lies with a clean conscious; Bad Guys = The People we happen to be fighting; Heroes = American GI's; Good Guys = Us; Daisy Cutter = Anti personnel bombs that detonate in the air and just before impacting the ground; Rag Heads = Arabs in their traditional garb, Etc... It goes on and on of course, but I'm sure you get the point.

Luckily though, words are like air and the air dissipates and takes them, but pictures are a completely different matter and that's why Pres. Obama is back-peddling and doesn't want to release the abuse photos of detainees. Everyone knows that that "safe sex" means no reporters present, ...a picture is worth a thousand words..