No, they weren’t. This is a process that starts quite early, and it is a process that is embedded in a system that takes years to set up. You can totally blame George Bush if you want to.

It turns out, of course, that you really need to blame Gerald Ford. Seriously. How does that work? Buy me a beer and we’ll talk about it for about a half hour some day … it is a long story.

Regarding the seasonal flu shot, that is not hard to get because resources have been diverted, as I understand it. It is hard to get because they made the same amount they usually make (actually, one million doses more than last year) but there has been so much attention to the flu that more people than usual have sought that vaccine.

I, as a rational, skeptical scientist Democratic liberal, got both seasonal and H1N1, so I’m fine. The rest of you, Good Luck!

There are three ways to increase the ability to produce more flu vax. One is more scientific research on how to do it. There are promising methods that have not been developed, because of insufficient funding. A second way is to increase demand for the flu shot. Too many people don’t get the flu shot. Without the demand, the whole infrastructure is scaled down to below what is should be for a pandemic. Market forces have made the industry the size it is today. Third, there is a chemical that can be added to the vax that makes it two or four times (depending) more potent. If we had that added to the H1N1 vax now, we would be in the same situation that all those European countreis that have commie socialist health care systems are in … there is no shortage there and a much larger percentage of the population gets the shot every year.

In all three cases, there is one common thread: Rational thinking. Add rational thinking, you get more scientific research on this important technology. Add rational thinking you get more people getting vax, and thus more demand. Add rational thinking and you have a health care industry that is smart instead of soopid, and marginalized the crazies, so better decisions are made about how to augment the shots.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/obamas_declaration_of_swine

You’re right, the right-wing blogging community will run with ANYTHING… look at the gun sales over the past year, all based on conspiracy theories that “Obama’s coming for our guns!!”.

I guess I have that community tuned out so much, I forget they exist. And I still think most Republicans are level headed on this issue – I live in a liberal bubble, so once again, perhaps I’m naive to assume the ultra-conspiracytheory-right is a small fringe of our society that mainly gets play on the internet, and every once in a while bleeds over to Fox News (i.e. Kenya birthplace).

http://tinyurl.com/obama-flu-martial-law

I don’t see anything about it on Foxnews.com. Never watch their TV channel, have commentators railed against it? I’m honestly curious – it’s hard for me to comprehend that something this straightforward would be politically manipulated.

And of course normal people use Twitter – but so do conspiracy theorists and loons of every political breed. If you’re trying to find a crazy viewpoint, it’ll be easy to find on there.

But at least I offer evidence, and education. At least I read their posts and I can articulate their point of view. Then point out why its false.

I have no idea what youre doing here. Laden has a blog filled with nice clear facts. You pop in with a statment that shows your ignorance, then bail back out. I doubt you would try to defend your ignorance (its indefensable). What possible reason could you have to come here and spout off?

As are many normal people. Just check out the trending topics any time you need proof of that.