TresSugar

Doctors List Who Should Die in a Pandemic

LibertySugar — Tue, 06 May 2008 10:00:37 -0700

If a global and deadly pandemic hits, doctors will have to chose who to save, and thus, who to let die. Prominent doctors have now put out a definitive list of who is in and who is out.

They made the list at the behest of prominent universities and military and US governmental agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services. The list specifically articulates who should not get medical attention in a widespread emergency.

People older than 85.
Those with severe trauma, which could include critical injuries from car crashes and shootings.
Severely burned patients older than 60.
Those with severe mental impairment, which could include advanced Alzheimer's disease.
Those with a severe chronic disease, such as advanced heart failure, lung disease or poorly controlled diabetes.

Do you make the cut? Are you happy to see governmental agencies and physicians getting organized, since preparation could save more lives? Even so, does this godlike list - of who should live and who should die - make you uncomfortable? Does it amount to unfair discrimination?
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Risk of Heterosexual Global AIDS Pandemic Decreased

LibertySugar — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:00:52 -0700

The World Health Organization (WHO) has determined that the risk of a global AIDS pandemic among heterosexuals has decreased. Of course this assessment does not apply to Africa.

Dr. Kevin de Cock, the head of the WHO's department of HIV/Aids said:

It is very unlikely there will be a heterosexual epidemic in other countries. Ten years ago a lot of people were saying there would be a generalized epidemic in Asia – China was the big worry with its huge population. That doesn't look likely. But we have to be careful.

Certain areas are still at risk. In Russia, in 2006, 1 percent of the population was infected, the same number as South Africa in 1991, whose infection rate has now risen to 25 percent of the population. Yet, experts doubt that Russia will see the same dramatic rise.

Recent research claims that significant funding is being wasted in Africa on condom distribution, HIV testing, and vaccine research. Instead, some say, money should be spent on male circumcision, reducing the number of sexual partners, and improving health systems. Is it time to reassess the global AIDS initiative? Should we concentrate funds on high-risk locations, or continue a broad education campaign, which appears to be working in many places?

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US Lifts HIV/AIDS Travel Ban

TresSugar — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:00:00 -0700

For the last 22 years, foreign citizens living with HIV or AIDS have been forbidden to legally enter the US. As of Monday, that ban will be a thing of the past. On Friday, President Obama announced the decision to overturn the policy he called "rooted in fear rather than fact." He said:

"We talk about reducing the stigma of this disease - yet we've treated a visitor living with it as a threat. We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic - yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people from HIV from entering our own country. If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it."

Before this decision, the US joined a less-than-impressive list of countries that banned HIV-positive outsiders. The list still includes: Armenia, Colombia, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sudan, and Yemen. Considering there are already Americans living with HIV/AIDS, it served little purpose to "quarantine" the country. I'm happy to see that our HIV/AIDS prevention strategies will no longer include an ineffective and discriminatory ban.

Front Page: Holocaust Museum Closed After Deadly Shooting

TresSugar — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:00:18 -0700

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum will be closed today to honor the security guard gunned down by a white supremacist yesterday. - CNN
The World Health Organization has declared swine flu a pandemic. - AP
US retail sales were up for the first time in three months. - Bloomberg
Reformists in Iran hope that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be defeated in the country's elections tomorrow. - Reuters
David Letterman sort of apologized to the Palin family last night. - AP

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Front Page: Man Charged With Murder of Abortion Doctor

TresSugar — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:00:35 -0700

Scott Roeder, 51, has been charged with the first-degree murder of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. - BBC News
President Obama has kicked off his Mideast tour in Saudi Arabia. - LA Times
France will lead an international investigation into why the Air France place crashed this week after taking off from Brazil. - Voice of America
The World Health Organization says its closer to declaring swine flu an international pandemic. - New York Times
Stephen Colbert will be the guest editor of Newsweek's upcoming issue out June 8. - New York Observer

Survival of the Prepared? Is It Time to Build a Bunker?

CitizenSugar — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:37:24 -0700

Hoo boy, so the news, right? If it's not a world of thrashing tornadoes, it's water rationing in California, or any number of politically or economically unstable situations. This BBC piece raises the topic more commonly associated with the 1950s nuclear mentality - or that Brendan Fraser movie - building a bunker. One survivalist they spoke to called the bunker a safe haven that's "self-sufficient and capable of growing some kind of food."

The piece sums up his philosophy like this:

In a world in which people and systems are increasingly "interconnected," the potential for infrastructure to collapse is great, he says. Political disturbances in Kenya, drought in Australia, or crop disease in South America can quickly affect food prices in the UK. And globally, everything from modern mass agriculture to transport and industry is dependent on the availability of oil.

Another man who calls himself an urban liberal survivalist gave this as a reason:

The systems we rely on are brittle and facing strain. Here in Seattle we are vulnerable to earthquakes and I also live near a big volcano. Climate change is causing more extreme weather events. There could be a global bird flu outbreak or some other pandemic.

The timing of this article is great - I was planning this weekend to stock my emergency earthquake kit with food and water - but is that not enough? Is it bunker time?

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