Since I’ve been asked about my take on the swine flu situation a few times in the comments section and numerous times by other people I know, I figured I would post on the subject.  Re the above cartoon: I agree with the President.

I don’t think the situation is nearly as bad as many people – including our esteemed Vice President – seem to think it is.  Whenever I hear reports of panic like those we’ve been bombarded with over the past week, I always think of what H.L. Mencken had to say in such circumstances:

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

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Don’t hold your breath waiting for any significant changes in the government’s nutritional guidelines due to come out in 2010.  The members of the ’scientific’ committee have just been announced, and it is stacked with all the usual suspects.

Here is a copy of the press release:nutritional-guidelines-press-release

Take a look at the names and resumes of those on the committee, and you’ll see that they are all lipophobes and carbophiles of the deepest dye.  Based on this cast of characters, it doesn’t look like much will change over the next five years. God help us all.

Let’s take a quick look at just one member of this illustrious panel that will decide how over 50 million people per day will be fed between 2010 and 2015.

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For the second time in as many days I’ve been inspired by a New York Times column.  Everywhere you turn it seems, you hear people lamenting that we could reduce health care costs so much if only we were more in tune with preventative care.  Everyone pays it lip service, including the two candidates for president who both pride themselves on straight talk.  Writes Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, professor of medicine at Dartmouth in today’s paper:

Senator John McCain argues that “the best care is preventative care,” and his health care reform plan claims that “by emphasizing prevention” and other measures “we can reduce health care costs.” Senator Barack Obama’s plan says, “Simply put, in the absence of a radical shift towards prevention and public health, we will not be successful in containing medical costs or improving the health of the American people.”

It may sound like common sense. But it is still a myth.

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I’m putting this post up today and leaving it throughout the weekend because I believe it is so important that everyone watch the videos at the bottom.

These long must-watch videos are in two parts: the first part is by a defense attorney discussing the unbelievable complexity of the law, especially federal law, and the difficulty of simply going through life without knowingly or unknowingly breaking some kind of law.  And he discusses the dangers of talking to the police without a lawyer present.  The second part is a talk by a police detective confirming everything the attorney says and, fascinatingly, discussing his own tricks, learned in over 25 years of police work, to get people to talk to him and even to confess to crimes.

I’ll probably alienate any readers who are involved in law enforcement, which isn’t my intention.  I’m sure that if any law enforcement officials were suddenly under investigation, they wouldn’t say a word without their lawyer present.  The rest of us need these same protections.

I’m not presenting these videos for any criminals who may be reading, but for the average citizen who happens to get crosswise with the police.  Every single police officer I know (and I know a half dozen or so) are hard working, dedicated, responsible, and even kind-hearted folks, but they can make mistakes.  I make mistakes, so I figure they can too.  The officer speaking on the last part of this video says that he doesn’t really interrogate people that he doesn’t think are already guilty.  So, you are basically assumed guilty if you’re under investigation for whatever.  And if the officer is mistaken, you can be in real trouble.  You can’t talk your way out of it; you can only make it worse.  When you watch these videos, you’ll see what I mean.

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