Thread: Ebola

The worst is this yahoo government of ours wants to call up the national guard to go "fight the issue". What exactly will they be fighting? Dumbest thing I have ever heard. I hope they all refuse to go.

Originally Posted by mrsell63

______________________________________________

Now if only you can get them to make a movie out of that great story.

Yeah, but I want to pick the actor that plays me, tall, dark , handsome, hair, six-pack, highly educated,,,,,,,,,,

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Yeah, but I want to pick the actor that plays me, tall, dark , handsome, hair, six-pack, highly educated,,,,,,,,,,

Let me know, I can volunteer for the audition ......

I am a bit more worried about the unseen, baggage handlers etc. They get to pick up the hot sweaty luggage of most anyone. who is checking them out?
~Richard

I read this book back in the '90s, and IIRC the author said that the reason ebola was not an issue was that it was isolated in the backwaters of deepest darkest Africa, and by the time the patient exhibited symptoms they would die too quickly to get out of Dodge.

Obviously things have changed. As far as any government response ....... I think of a special I saw on Nova, IIRC, about the possible consequences that New Orleans would face if they suffered a direct hit by a bad hurricane. That was in the 1980s because I was still married.

We all know what happened when the fatal day came. The hell of it is, New Orleans is still vulnerable to the next one that will someday inevitably come down the pike. We are all playing CYA, from the guy in the White House on down, and not doing a very good job of it. This is proven when the omelet eventually hits the fan time and again.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

What bothers me the most was the interview Tuesday with Dr. Thomas Frieden, the head of CDC. He had no good answers & expressed concern how flight restrictions might effect the economy of the nations that are ground zero for this problem. He should only be concerned about fighting the virus itsself, not the politics invovled.

I don't think that Mr. Ebola gives a damn whether you are Democrat, Republican, Liberian, American, English or a pygmy from New Guinea. This Ebola problem just demonstrated how little we (Humans) control mother nature. I keep hearing the "experts" brag about our (American) medical system being such a high level about the systems in the ground zero countries,, Really ????. Didn't Dallas have to ship a patient out to another hostpital? ,,, and there are less than 3 cases there,,,,,, if we had only a hundred active cases, it appears we have no facilities to treat them all.

This can be blamed on administrations that go back decades. The papers like to note that the Flu kills 30,000 a year in America, so what's the big scare,,, Really???? Unless your one of the 30,000, I guess its not a problem.

I saw that interview - I was a little shocked when he expressed fighting the virus vs the GDP! It wasn't something I expected but quickly found his statement refreshing because when it all comes down to it, your life, my life, all of our lives have a dollar figures assigned to it.

Back in the day (not sure if they still do this now with Obama care or if it even matters anymore), all you would have to do was look at your health insurance policy to see where your lifetime cap was -> that was the sum value of your life as dictated by some jackass in a cubicle someplace.

Obama care or not - your value is still weighed in terms of economic loss.

Life is not priceless to those tasked to saving it - its harsh, but its true. It was nice for the dude to actually point that out.

I think with an open country like the US (and to a lesser degree other countries like Australia) it is unrealistic to think the Government can be completely on top of something like Ebola especially when, as people have pointed out, there are many avenues for it to be introduced.

Having said that, Government policies sometimes do make me wonder. I was listening to an interview on the radio with a representative of our CDC here and she said we've had an ebola (et al) policy for 20 years, part of which is to isolate infected people at their head centre in Westmead hospital.

Westmead hospital is in the middle of the highest and most densely populated city in Australia - Sydney. I'd have thought a head centre in the middle of the outback would be a better option personally.

James.

Originally Posted by earcutter

I saw that interview - I was a little shocked when he expressed fighting the virus vs the GDP! It wasn't something I expected but quickly found his statement refreshing because when it all comes down to it, your life, my life, all of our lives have a dollar figures assigned to it.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Life is not priceless to those tasked to saving it - its harsh, but its true. It was nice for the dude to actually point that out.

Not sure I can ride with this, David. I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, but your background is economics?

If this is so, then I understand from what position you made the two statements that I highlighted. That man's (Dr. Thomas Frieden) position is not one that determines GDP. He is supposed to be the top authority on contagious disease control. The Administration has people selected to watch the dollars & cents. The problem with this man is, he is hoping for a favorable winds to push him to a more lucrative position in the future. He has sold out his responsibility to us all,,,,, that was evident in his answers,,, that is why pundants from both sides of the table are shocked at that interview.

Life is priceless, from the smallest of animals , to the poorest of humans,,,, it's just that in many cases we can't save them all. A man's ability to contribute, has never put him in the front of the food line, in my book. I wasn't the head of CDC, but like thousands in my profession, I was tasked with saving lives, if I could. I never thought about their financial status.

Here's a hypothetical for you David & don't take this the wrong way;
You see a car go into the canal, you decide to enter the water, the cars holds a father & a daughter,,, who do you take first; because you probably won't be able to return in time to save the other one?

I already know what your answer will be David. You will save the daughter. Why, because life is priceless & she still has some living to do.

Honest this is not a photoshopped image it was snagged from the video playing on just about every station possible from earlier today, this is the second Nurse (in the Yellow) being flown to Emory Hospital...


Things that make ya go Hmmmmmmmm





I think that single pic pretty much says way more then the standard 1000 words

I think at an individual level people act that way Hirlau. But at the collective level and particularly government, we are all just pawns in their game of macroeconomic chess.

Health, road deaths, unemployment - to policy makers running a country we are all just elements of an equation. Hopefully that equation involves the greatest good for the greatest number, but it's still just an equation.

James.