TURTLE THOUGHTS

But Saying Swine Flu Is Just So Much Easier

The first any of us ever heard of it, they called it the Swine Flu. Turns out you can't catch it from swine, just from other people. But to be fair, some of them are swine so maybe we're squared away.

If not, then maybe they called it the Swine Flu because it originally came from pigs and the reason we know that is because it has pig DNA in it. Okay, I'll give you that. But it also has human and avian DNA in it, so why not call it the Swine-Bird-Man Flu? 

In Israel, they're calling it the Mexican flu since it seems to have started in Mexico, and the Israeli Deputy Health Minister adds that the reference to pigs is "offensive" to both Muslims and Jews. My theory is that they don't like the idea of giving the word swine all that face time, so they're killing two birds. What can I say? I have to admire it. Unsurprisingly, Mexico has lodged an official protest.

But most of us were introduced to this as Swine Flu, and that's just what we're used to, so get over it, right?  Nope. The good folks at the US gubmint would like to remind you that the pork industry is very important, and they don't like this flu being called the Swine Flu, so call it something else, and STAT, why doncha? They're asking that you refer to it by its non-interesting scientific name of H1N1. They even hauled WHO aboard.

Actually, I don't have a problem with calling the flu H1N1 because, uninspiring as it may be, at least it's accurate. If this flu had been called that from the beginning, Egypt might not have killed 350,000 swine yesterday--every hog in the country. They claimed it was for the public health,  but I think they'd just been looking for an excuse. Now they'll be a hundred percent pig-free like in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Lybia where swine are banned outright.

The Egyptian slaughter most directly impacts the 10-percent or so of the Egyptian population that is Coptic Christian, many of whom are rubbish collectors who need the animals for their livelihood. The government has promised to compensate the owners for their losses, but few believe it will actually happen. Even if it does it'll be a short-term solution since the swine are a renewable resource and a government check isn't, as the UK Times online illustrates:

Mr Ishak said that his community receives 6,000 tonnes of organic rubbish every day, but if the pigs die there will be nowhere to put the waste. “What is the use of compensation? It will feed us only for several months, what then?" he asked.

So I guess everybody is on board with this H1N1 thing except for most of the media, which is really too bad since people tend to get their news from media and all.  The responsible thing to do is to call this illness what it is (H1N1) and stop calling it something it's not (Swine Flu.) 

Specter Will Have to Fight His Fellow Dems if He Wants to Keep His Seniority

*UPDATED BELOW*

 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid bent over backward to recruit Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter to switch parties and become a Democrat. Apparently, part of the deal is that Specter gets to keep his seniority—just as if he’d been elected to the Senate in 1980 as a Democrat instead of a Republican. While that’s just dandy for Senator “Abandon My Principles to Get Reelected” Specter, the backroom deal isn’t going to fly for Specter’s Democratic colleagues.  As the Hill reports, Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski doesn’t back away from voicing her displeasure.

 

I won't be happy if I don't get to chair something because of Arlen Specter," said Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who sits on the Appropriations Committee with Specter and is fifth in seniority among Democrats, behind Chairman Daniel Inouye (Hawaii) and Sens. Robert Byrd (W.Va.), Patrick Leahy (Vt.) and Tom Harkin (Iowa). "I'm happy with the Democratic order, but I don't want to be displaced because of Arlen Specter," she said. 

 

Mikulski points out that she’s the only majority party senator of her seniority who doesn’t chair a full committee, so having Specter jump ahead of her on the Appropriations Committee (or jumping to chair the Judiciary Committee should Senator Patrick Leahy leave his assignment there for Appropriations) is not acceptable.

 

 (bared teeth or smiling pols)

 

 

 

The dust-up between Mikulski and Specter is made more interesting by the fact that they've worked closely together in the past. But it doesn't look likeco-sponsoring a piece of immigration legislation earlier this year is going to be enough to smooth this over. We'll have to wait and see what the Senate Democratic caucus does when it meets to decide committee seats after next year's election.

UPDATE: Looks like Senator Reid is finally realizing that it's not a good idea to make secret deals that will impact the seniority and committee placement of established Dems. I predict there'll be a nasty fight and Specter will decide he's an independent.

Blogging is like quitting smoking...

...you have to keep at it until it takes.  Welcome to Turtle Thoughts. I'm the turtle in residence, I reckon. My name is HPStevens, and I decided to call my place Turtle Thoughts because I like the Emerson quote ("All the thoughts of a turtle are turtle.") 

I tried blogging another time, but it just didn't work for me. I thought going in that I needed a place to rant and vent because the world tends to stress me out. I used an outrageous name and let myself be all rude and shit. Anyway, after posting a couple dozen times, I realized that I wasn't ranting and raving. Yeah, I was venting, but it came out a lot more rational (and a lot less emotional) than I thought it would. Just four days into my blog, and I was having a major blogdentity crisis.

So I regrouped, scrapped my old blog, and resurrectified myself as a turtle. As a turtle, Emerson pointed out, I am concerned only with turtle things. And since I'm consumed by my thoughts, I'm just delusional enough to believe you could be, too. Please don't pop my fantasy bubble.

(Not my actual pic)