Ebola outbreak.

Tornado Red

More people being recalled from Africa...one item of interest in this story is that they believe you can't be infected while someone who has it has yet to show symptoms (2-21 days I think they said), only after the symptoms appear. Still, not a good sign when the people working to contain/find a cure for this have to bail...

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/newsalert-canada-pulling-3-member-lab-team-from-sierra-leone-over-ebola-fears-272819141.html

BlueFox

First confirmed case of Ebola in the US. If this erupts then forget about this forum as we will be in a world of s h ! t.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/30/health/ebola-us/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

tonyb

The guy went to the emergency room and was sent home the first time. Why we continue to accept flights from infected countries is beyond me. Why we continue to accept an open southern border is also crazy. The incompetence continues.

Call me crazy, but I always assumed the number one duty of any government is to protect it's citizens.

westmassguy

tonyb wrote: »

The guy went to the emergency room and was sent home the first time. Why we continue to accept flights from infected countries is beyond me. Why we continue to accept an open southern border is also crazy. The incompetence continues.

Call me crazy, but I always assumed the number one duty of any government is to protect it's citizens.

Agreed, however the government is not a thing, it's people, mainly bureaucrats, politicians, and political appointees.
The most important thing for a bureaucrat is to protect their job, not do the job they were hired for. Doing their job, comes after protecting their job, and CYA.
We're a doomed society unfortunately.

tonyb

Well then that's the problem in a nutshell. Sometimes it takes a man of conviction, courage to fall on that sword for the betterment of all. Are there such men left in the world ?

westmassguy

I painted with a wide brush. Obviously there are some who are dedicated. Unfortunately those who are willing to give 110% are frequently held back by their superiors (bureaucrats), and many just leave out of frustration, or morph into bureaucrats themselves over time.

tonyb

westmassguy wrote: »

I painted with a wide brush. Obviously there are some who are dedicated. Unfortunately those who are willing to give 110% are frequently held back by their superiors (bureaucrats), and many just leave out of frustration, or morph into bureaucrats themselves over time.

Understand...the Washington way has it's process of eating up newcomers with grand ideas of change....hence nothing changes.

Still, whats needed is more than a handful of courageous men to stand up to the looters, thugs, we call politicians. Least if we want to survive as a constitutional republic anyway.

westmassguy

Loosely attributed to Sir Edmond Burke " All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"

cnh

Don't really disagree but I would ADD that "everything" about the general term bureaucracy ALSO applies to CORPS. They have giant bureaucratic structures that are also mostly protecting themselves as we move UP that ladder. Look at the various scandals from GM to Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs, etc. Far too many to even document here, certainly equal to everything bad the Federal Gov't has ever done! You boys need to study some sociology, perhaps. Institutions and bureaucracies and their problems in new States are older than Max Weber for God's sake!

Aldous Huxley identified TWO problems with American society in the '50s in Brave New World Revisited. ONE was giant Gov't bureaucracies that answer to no one and perpetuate themselves. The SECOND was BIG Business that has MANY of the same problems in terms of SIZE and distance from and responsibility to individuals. I don't really wish to argue this because it's pretty much the way things are and history documents excesses of "both" of these structures as they impact local areas and individuals. It is a problem of "scale" not that either gov't or business is inherently bad, but that as it removes itself from the "people", well then it can pretty much do anything or nothing; as in this case.

cnh

tonyb

How true it is too.

Part of the reason our country grew from it's roots to where we are today is from those very "good men" doing something rather than nothing. The tree of freedom must constantly be refreshed....if we are to keep it.

cnh

Back to Ebola. There are a lot of questions here and the U.S. public thrives on fear as do the media, so HOW is one to actually assess the REAL threat without falling prey to hyperbole? I for one, do not know.

cnh

tonyb

cnh wrote: »

Back to Ebola. There are a lot of questions here and the U.S. public thrives on fear as do the media, so HOW is one to actually assess the REAL threat without falling prey to hyperbole? I for one, do not know.

cnh

Maybe the better question is why entertain the threat at all if avoidable ?

Your comments echo what a lot of people feel anyway, and that's you can't trust anything or anyone anymore to be accurate or forthcoming. Besides, we have the internet and Ebola isn't exactly something new. All the info you want is available on line. After all, if you read it on the internet, it must be true.

tonyb

Everything runs hand in hand CNH. I know some things we don't agree on, but let me ask you this.

Do you lock your doors at night ? If so, why wouldn't we as a country lock ours to protect our home ? I think in todays world the time has come to be a tad more picky on who we invite in our house to sit down to dinner.

westmassguy

We didn't lock or doors when I was a kid, during the day anyway.

tonyb

westmassguy wrote: »

We didn't lock or doors when I was a kid, during the day anyway.

Arguably...the world has changed since then, and not necessarily for the better.

tonyb

cnh wrote: »

Don't really disagree but I would ADD that "everything" about the general term bureaucracy ALSO applies to CORPS. They have giant bureaucratic structures that are also mostly protecting themselves as we move UP that ladder. Look at the various scandals from GM to Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs, etc. Far too many to even document here, certainly equal to everything bad the Federal Gov't has ever done! You boys need to study some sociology, perhaps. Institutions and bureaucracies and their problems in new States are older than Max Weber for God's sake!

Aldous Huxley identified TWO problems with American society in the '50s in Brave New World Revisited. ONE was giant Gov't bureaucracies that answer to no one and perpetuate themselves. The SECOND was BIG Business that has MANY of the same problems in terms of SIZE and distance from and responsibility to individuals. I don't really wish to argue this because it's pretty much the way things are and history documents excesses of "both" of these structures as they impact local areas and individuals. It is a problem of "scale" not that either gov't or business is inherently bad, but that as it removes itself from the "people", well then it can pretty much do anything or nothing; as in this case.

cnh

I can agree to most of that. Remember though, those big corporate scandals....they had partners that looked the other way most the time. That other partner being government.

You will always have excesses at either end of the scale. That's the human nature of things. Question is though, why have we come to accept it ?

Msabot1

The powers that be would never ever let the seriousness of this out...just to avoid a general panic...The public would only become aware when it sees for itself how the containment is a futile gesture...first a few cases...then hundreds...and on from there...What is happening now is just the beginning.....There has never been a sickness in recent history with the mortality rate that this virus has...it has very fertile ground to grow....

tonyb

The powers at be will never let you see their incompetence. Anyway, lay off the Monkey meat and Bat wing soup for the time being.

Msabot1

Why should they?? Their actions...or lack of such speaks volumes....

sucks2beme

Welcome to the world as it is.
Democracy is always slow to respond to threats.
Dictators, however, respond instantly.
You have to take the good with the bad.
I think Ebola in the western world is far less a threat
than it is in Africa. A hospital in Africa is where you go to die.
Here, they actually keep things clean (other than VA hospitals!).

BlueFox

I hope you are right. As long as it doesn't mutate we are probably okay. It is Dr, Evil cooking up a new strain in his basement that is scary.

tonyb

BlueFox wrote: »

I hope you are right. As long as it doesn't mutate we are probably okay. It is Dr, Evil cooking up a new strain in his basement that is scary.

lol....The world is suddenly flooded with Dr. Evils, but only few Austin Powers. Need to find our Mojo again.

tonyb

Looks like this dude had contact with various children. This is how it starts folks but don't worry....they have it all under control.

I'm just curious if Obamacare covers Ebola treatments. I'm guessing not seeing that it can be costly using experimental drugs. Guess a lot of people may be sh$t out of luck. Whats that you say ? If you like your Ebola treatment you can keep it ? Cool, run with that.

sucks2beme

I like the headline "1st ebola case in U.S."
WTF? Doesn't anybody do their research?
There have been at least 2 cases in the past of
ebola. They were the far less deadly strain, but they
were indeed ebola.

BlueFox

Maybe we need to seal off Texas. That probably should have been done decades ago.

sucks2beme

There are a lot of reasons for Texas to be sealed.
It's for our protection, not yours!

Mikey081057

It is just incredulous to listen to the bureaucrats act like they know wtf they are talking about and how this is under control... One TV Dr. (Sanjay Gupta) was demonstrating a point about how it would take human contact with an infected persons bodily fluids for someone to get infected. Then he was asked "well what would happen if you were sneezed on by someone who was infected" and he said something to the effect "well that could be a problem too". We need to quarantine and prevent anyone from entering our country who has been in one of the high risk countries NOW before we have an outbreak. Political correctness needs to take a backseat to common sense.

Along the same lines has anybody put 2 and 2 together to suggest that the recent outbreak of Enterovirus infecting school children could be related to the fact that this is RAMPANT in Honduras from where thousands of children have entered our country and have been released into the American population without health screening and immunization? I believe this has now taken the lives of 4 children and hospitalized many.

Someone needs to be held accountable for this!

tonyb

Accountable ?? Good luck with that....even though we all know where the buck supposedly stops.

Mikey081057

tonyb wrote: »

Accountable ?? Good luck with that....even though we all know where the buck supposedly stops.

I am waiting for another "I just learned about it in the news" quote.

kevhed72

Here is what is freaking me out....I started reading Stephen Kings "The Stand" two days ago. I am about 200 pages in.....kick **** book. Anyone else read it....