Swine Flu: Behind the Hype

punditman says...

Punditman doesn't have time to go into exquisite detail about his concerns regarding the swine flu vaccine or the origins of the virus, (which he has done many times already in this space), so Punditman will be brief.

There is certainly a lot to be concerned about when it comes to Swine Flu. But not necessarily for the reasons that we are being told. Thankfully, not everyone is buying into all the fear and hype. Many healthcare workers are refusing the shot. According to Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, which represents 20,000 hospital workers,"If there is an attempt to make it mandatory, I think you would see civil disobedience." Good on them, and good for Hurley for standing up for the rights of his union members.

Punditman saw Hurley interviewed on the CBC on the weekend and was pleasantly surprised at his candid assessment of what is really wrong with this picture. I am not quoting him, but paraphrasing: namely, hospitals are underfunded, overcrowded and germ-infested and rather than government putting all their energies into a vaccine with dubious efficacy and possibly dangerous effects, (especially for pregnant women workers), they should fix the hospital crisis! That would be the best strategy to contain a pandemic.

Speaking of the vaccine, rather than lining up for a shot of GlaxoSmithKline's squalene-laced vaccine, (linked to Gulf War Syndrome), perhaps folks should redirect their concerns? A good place to start is here or here. Those links oughta scare you a helluva lot more than the virus itself.

Vote!

punditman says...Considering what is happening in Iran and all the kerfuffle

about the Iranian elections, the least that some of you wankers could do is VOTE in the flippin' punditman poll at the top of the page! That way punditman and peacenik can get a pulse from all of you as to where yer heads are at. Who knows, this could lead to a new blog or even a band called WHEREYERHEADSAREAT. Or both. Or neither. But since most of you trolls don't even bother to vote, much less take the time to make a freakin' comment on the many, many interesting posts contained herein, then punditman just may conclude that choice #4. What future? The sky is falling, Punditan! ...is how you all feel.

After all, as I write this, at least half the votes (7 out of 14!), are leaning in that direction already. Egads! If true, that would be really freakin' sad. Sad indeed. Or you are just messing with punditman's head.

On the other hand, if this is the way the wind is blowing, punditman says there is not much point in continuing this blog. After all, updating the punditman blog can take up to two mens' half days. Surely punditman's time can be put to better use? Like handing out Socialist Loafer or, if a Mad Max future is on the way (or even really grumpy Max), then becoming a survivalist or whatever it is that peacenik does on his weekend soirees up north* may be more prudent ways to spend punditman's time.

Some of you have voted, but our traffic stats indicate a much wider readership than just JohnnyAnon. So just vote on the damn question about how you feel about the future. Your future. Our future. You will feel better. Then think about stuff and comment once in awhile. We are not always right. We don't have all the answers. I think.

* this may include training for peacenik's militia.

Economic Quagmire: What does Punditman think?

punditman says...

For months now, there has been much chatter around here about complete economic collapse, especially since the misnamed Peacenik arrived and started gathering up prognostications from the best of the online doomers and peak oilers. Though he started his Punditman career by posting about a possible US attack on Iran along with the ongoing quagmires in Afghanistan, Iraq etc., Punditman wonders if this was simply a means of infiltrating the content side of this blog, because it is clear where Peacenik's priorities lie: He is a "Peacenik" in a class warfare/survivalist sort of way (whatever does that mean?).

Still, Punditman does not blame Peacenik for closely monitoring the largest economic downturn in 80 years, in fact he is thankful to have such a razor sharp doomer analyst on board. He just wishes he would change his moniker.

That aside, what exactly does Punditman think about all this talk of economic collapse?

Punditman believes that "doomsday" is a relative concept. It depends on the country, the region, the sector, the business and ultimately the individual.

For instance, in the underdeveloped world, doomsday has been the norm for decades. Ditto for war zones. Suddenly a little karmic discomfort in the First World and everyone is screaming that the sky is falling.

Okay, so things are bad enough. But how bad can/will this crisis get? Well, I just got an email from a friend out West who said his wine class sales are booming. "Things are crazy busy," says he. Seems one person's doom is another person's dollar.

On the other hand, if you lose your job, your house, your business, your
wine collection, well then it's certainly doomsday for you. Punditman wishes he had a fine Merlot collection to lose.

Anyway, doomsday estimations are dependent on how stupid the estimator thinks politicians who are beholding to entrenched interests have become. Granted, they appear pretty clueless lately. Peacenik apparently thinks they are really stupid and will let the whole house of cards collapse all around them and do nothing to save their political hides or the actual hides of their rich business friends (especially if they live in France), as hordes of pitchfork wielding peasants and workers storm the corridors of power. Thus Peacenik is forming his own militia, just in case.

On the other hand, Punditman thinks that the powers that be fear the above scenario more than anything and that even their greed and ignorance is not as great as their fear of revolt.

Maybe.

With the past as our guide, we know that elites do not give away power willingly, nor, in a touch of great historic irony, do they change direction even when the train is seemingly headed off the tracks---unless there is concerted pressure from below that addresses the needs and demands of the common folk.

If you want, you can call that hope. Hopefully a guy named "Peacenik" has similar hopes.

"Civil War in the United States?"

by Immanuel Wallerstein

We are getting accustomed to all sorts of breakdowns of taboos. The world press is full of discussion about whether it would be a good idea to "nationalize" banks. None other than Alan Greenspan, disciple of the superlibertarian prophet of pure market capitalism, Ayn Rand, has recently said that we have to nationalize banks once every hundred years, and this may be that moment. Conservative Republican Senator Lindsay Graham agreed with him. Left Keynesian Alan Blinder discussed the pros and cons of this idea. And while he thinks the cons are a bit bigger than the pros, he was willing to spend public intellectual energy writing about this in the New York Times.

Well, after hearing nationalization proposals by arch-conservative notables, we are now hearing serious discussions about the possibilities of civil war in the United States. Zbigniew Brzezinski, apostle of anti-Communist ideology and President Carter's National Security Advisor, appeared on a morning television talk show on February 17, and was asked to discuss his previous mention of the possibility of class conflict in the United States in the wake of the worldwide economic collapse.

Keep Reading...

[Copyright by Immanuel Wallerstein, distributed by Agence Global. For rights and permissions, including translations and posting to non-commercial sites, and contact: rights@agenceglobal.com, 1.336.686.9002 or 1.336.286.6606. Permission is granted to download, forward electronically, or e-mail to others, provided the essay remains intact and the copyright note is displayed. To contact author, write: immanuel.wallerstein@yale.edu.

These commentaries, published twice monthly, are intended to be reflections on the contemporary world scene, as seen from the perspective not of the immediate headlines but of the long term.]

Peacenik says...Look whose name pops up in this commentary above...Ann Rand. Peacenik thinks it is time to stamp out Randism. Back not too long ago Peacenik thought the world, and North America was civilized. Peacenik thought North America was beyond the type of violence that exists in Africa, or in the Middle East, or in the old Soviet Union. But now major mainstream pundits/players are acknowledging that it is possible. In just a few short years Canada has gone from a country that was proud of its record for peacekeeping to a country that is inundated with militarist advertising to join the military and FIGHT. In Canada now one has to be careful when they say "bring the troops home now!!" The U.S. is already fighting a cultural civil war throughout the country. Will the U.S. devolve into a fighting civil war? Could Canada? Peacenik wants to go on a peace march. But Peacenik may have to start Peacenik's own militia.