“The Ghost of H1N1” NATURALLY Speaking By Christopher C. Barr

Presidential ‘Trick or Treat’?

‘Swine Flu Cases Overestimated?’ read the headline of a CBS News story last week.

The article resulted from some old fashioned journalistic legwork by CBS investigators after not receiving requested statistical information about the swine flu for more than two months from the Centers for Disease Creationtrol and Promoevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The gist of the lengthy investigative piece was that only 1-2 per cent of suspected flu cases were of the H1N1 variety according to most of the state laboratories actually conducting such testing.

“If you’ve been diagnosed ‘probable’ or ‘presumed’ 2009 H1N1 or ‘swine flu’ in recent months, you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didn’t have H1N1 flu,” opened the CBS piece.

“In fact, you probably didn’t have flu at all. That's according to state-by-state test results obtained in a three-month-long CBS News investigation,” continued the CBS story opening.

Indeed, the really big numbers across the board among the tens of thousands tested throughout all the states varied from an absence of any flu at all in from 83 up to 97 per cent among those suspected of having some kind of flu.

Oops.

The CDC gave no response to CBS for its report.

CDC plays numbers game

The unofficial media house organ of the CDC over at Associated Propagandaess (AP) published a report (ghost written by CDC?) the day following airing of the CBS news report that appears to be a CDC response.

“Many millions” of Americans are estimated by the CDC director to have had swine flu according to the AP piece. Yet AP isolated the phrase ‘many millions’ in quotes as though even they didn’t believe this.

“The government doesn’t test everyone to confirm swine flu so it doesn’t have an exact count,” continued Mike Stobbe, AP medical writer/propagandist.

Actually, the government doesn’t test anyone by their own admission. They ceased doing so more than three months ago. They couldn’t know “any millions” let alone “many millions”.

You have to watch the words of AP and CDC more closely than the pea of shell game operators in order to figure out where the truth is hidden.

“There are at least two different types of flu causing illnesses; tests from about 5,000 patients suggest that nearly all the flu cases are swine flu,” the article notes without disclosing whether that is according to the CDC or to AP.

The true figure is closer to 4,000 patients so they have rounded up the number for exaggerated effect so it should not be surprising that the “nearly all” true figure of flu cases that are swine flu is actually closer to slightly more than regular flu cases. Yet the most telling figure of all is left untold by AP as to the tens of thousands without flu at all among the suspected flu cases tested. That dwarfs the swine flu cases many times over.

Other news agencies report that both incidences and deaths attributed to swine flu are higher than usually found at this point of the flu season. However, this is the usual start of the flu season while the swine flu totals cover more than a seven month period about equal to the whole, normal flu season. The 1,000 American swine flu deaths alleged in that seven month period is only about 2 per cent of the total deaths usually attributed to the seven months of the normal flu season.

Swine flu figures are looking shakier than a bad normal flu.

Worldwide swine flu deaths in seven months are said to be closing in on 5,000 according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

What else does WHO say?

“Worldwide … about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths,” are attributed annually to a normal flu according to WHO’s own fact sheet (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs211/en/ ).

That means that worldwide swine flu deaths represent only about 2 per cent of total deaths usually attributed to a normal flu.

Next up – the President of the United States

President Obama stepped up to the table the day after the AP/CDC day after follow-up to the CBS ‘Swine Flu Cases Overestimated?’ exposé with a White House declaration of a National State of Emergency regarding the swine flu.

Yet the facts don’t bear out a swine flu emergency.

Is Obama just fooled or just foolin’ U.S.?

A Presidential declaration of a National State of Emergency regarding swine flu invokes several provisions from a wide variety of laws and executive orders including the Homeland Security Act, the BioShield Act of 2004, BARDA, the Model States Health Emergency Powers Act, and many others. These bring potentials for civil rights infringements (forced vaccination/quarantine possibilities) as well as protections against liabilities of pharmaceuticals for lawsuits from damages caused by vaccinations and medications.

Freedom of Information Act requests may also be rendered null and void negating the possibility of an exposé such as that by CBS just two days prior to the Presidential declaration of a National State of Emergency regarding the swine flu.

Fooled or foolin’?

President Obama has addressed Wall Street greed, excess compensations and profits of varying groups, and redistribution of wealth both recently and in the past.

Most recently the health insurance industry has been targeted for greed and excessive profits. Yet news reports the past few days show health insurance industry profits declining in recent years and considerably behind dozens of others.

Health insurance increases are responses at least in part due to increased drug prices that rise much more steeply than health insurance increases – on average exceeding twice the rate of inflation so as not simply to be a matter of cost of living.

Nary a word has escaped the mouth of the President regarding pharmaceutical greed. Pharmaceutical costs – and profits – make up a significantly greater share of health care costs than health insurance or any other health care costs.

Yet the only urgency apparent for emergency regarding swine flu is protection for pharmaceutical profits.

Fooled or foolin’ indeed.

Are you Obama’s fool?

Christopher C. Barr writes Naturally Speaking from Arkansas: The Natural State … naturally! You may write him at Post Office Box 1147, Pocahontas, Arkansas 72455 or by e-mail at servantofYHVH@hotmail.com.