There has been something wrong with the media frenzy over the Swine Flu "pandemic" that is "sweeping the nation and the world" virtually since reports began labelling it as far more deadly than the "normal" seasonal flu.

I say there is something wrong because from the very first, the media reports neglected to compare the numbers of people with the Swine Flu, and those who had died from it, with the numbers who had the seasonal flu, and were dying from it.

I realize it makes a good story to create a worldwide health monster, give it a name and scare little children, the elderly and the gullible into lining up for vaccinations that supposedly will save them. But it is irresponsible to create hysteria over one disease, when it has far more deadly relatives that are causing far more damage.

As of October 23, approximately 5,000 deaths have been attributed to the Swine Flu WORLDWIDE going back to the beginning of 2009. I am not certain of that number because different sources give different reports. As you will see later in this column, the numbers themselves also may be inaccurate, especially those coming from government sources. But 5,000 total deaths since the Swine Flu hysteria began last spring is possible so I will err on the side of hysteria if at all.

However, the seasonal flu kills approximately 3,000 people in the US every month on average. That amounts to 36,000 deaths in the US every year from seasonal flu, and an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 every year world wide, depending on the severity of the outbreak and other factors.

In addition, the Swine Flu is generally a milder form of the flu, and there have been reports that up to a third of the people who have it never know they have it, according to the few news reports that address this issue objectively.

I realize that doesn't do anything to ease the pain of people who are more susceptible and come down with more severe cases, nor certainly for those who have friends and relatives who have died from the disease. I am not minimizing the danger of any kind of flu here but I am wondering why we have an international hysteria over a relatively mild form of an ongoing disease.

I also am wondering why the President of the United States is declaring a state of emergency for Swine Flu, when there is a much worse variety of the same disease creating havoc with the populace, and why there is an ongoing effort to convince everyone and their brother to get vaccinated with an unproven, minimally tested, and possibly dangerous vaccine. Particularly with the recent news that there is nowhere near the amount of vaccine available that the government promised earlier.

In his proclamation the president stated, "Given that the rapid increase in illness across the Nation may overburden health care resources and that the temporary waiver of certain standard federal requirements may be warranted in order to enable U.S. health care facilities to implement emergency operations plans, the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in the United States constitutes a national emergency."

Overburden health care resources? How is that possible when medical facilities have been treating 100 times more cases of normal flu for years than the amount seen in the Swine Flu Pandemic? Seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people worldwide every year. So far the Swine Flu has killed 5,000 at most.

Again, I am not minimizing the impact of Swine Flu, but from the standpoint of national security and a state of emergency, what the hell is going on?

The federal government is way out on a limb with pushing this issue. Let's start with this comment. "Millions of Americans have reportedly been infected with what is commonly referred to as the swine flu." That came from The Hill.

From the same outlet we get "Thomas Frieden, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Friday that more than a thousand people have died as a result of the H1N1 flu virus." There is no indication that either of those statements are accurate.

On top of everything else, reports are surfacing that the statistics on the Swine Flu themselves are skewed. Take a look at this broadcast from CBS News on Oct. 21, just two days before President Obama's declaration of an 'emergency.' This comes to us via YouTube. (My apologies for the embedded commercial. If I knew how to get the coding out without losing the rest of video I would.)



One of the biggest curiosities about the President's emergency declaration, according to the news report announcing it, is that the government can waive privacy regulations for individual medical histories. Why?

If you go to the doctor's office, and are diagnosed with the flu, it already is too late for the vaccine, and even the anti-viral medications that can lessen its severity are only good for a limited time very early after the symptoms appear. So it is likely that unless you are in such a state that you require hospitalization, you will be sent home and told to go to bed, take aspirin for the fever, and drink plenty of fluids.

Why does the government need a waiver on your medical records for that? What exactly is going on with this? Is the real issue here not the flu, and not the vaccine, but a method to delve into individual privacy? Is this once again about the federal government taking even more control over our lives and putting average Americans again in risk of losing the individual liberties we take for granted?

Want to see the full list of items that the federal government takes away from the populace and gives itself in a state of emergency? Check this out. But sit down first.

http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title11/1135.htm

I have another video of the national guard being trained for riot control in the case of insufficient vaccines for Swine Flu. It makes the point that it is unlikely, considering the relative mildness of the Swine Flu, and the reluctance on the part of millions of Americans to be automatically injected with foreign and in many cases dangerous substances, that people will be rioting to GET the vaccine.

But they may be rioting to keep from being FORCED to get the vaccine.

This all may just be gross incompetence on the part of the federal government and an oversensitivity to government control on the part of millions of Americans. But it is worth watching, listening, and deciding for yourself.