While we are bombarded by scare stories about how swine flu might turn out to be a re-run of the Black Death, so far the "pandemic" has, taken globally, been milder than ordinary conventional common or garden seasonal flu. But of course, it might mutate at any time, say the flu-meisters, so merely as a precaution, we should all roll up our sleeves and "just get your damn vaccine", as one bubblehead put it on ABCCBSMBCCNNFOX.
And while the media circus is obviously designed to panic the population into getting their shots (most swine flu vaccines are given in two injections), quite a lot of the population are in no mood to be corralled into compliance on this one. But, like with so much going on at the global level these days, the politics and the facts of swine flu are draped in a fog of lies, deception, half-truths, fearmongering and tabloid hyperbole.
Enter Teresa Forcades I Vila, a Benedictine nun at the monastery of San Benet in Montserrat, Barcelona in addition to being a medical practitioner with a string of qualifications including a degree in Medicine and a PhD in Public Health from the University of Barcelona, a degree in Internal Medicine from New York State University, and a degree in Theology from Harvard. OK, I admit it. Before the inevitable tirades of "Spanish wingnut", "conspiracy theorist" and "bride of the Black Pope" arrive, I'm just trying to tell you how classy she is.
Concerned about what's going on with regard to this nasty swine flu business, Sister Teresa has set out to explain the relevant facts, beginning with the history of the virus since 1918 and what all those letters and numbers in a flu strain name refer to. She then goes on to cover the extremely unfortunate Baxter incident last February where these pharm boys managed to contaminate 72kg of swine flu vaccine ingredients with a mix of bird and swine flu viruses that could—had an unusually diligent Czech lab technician not carried out an unauthorized test feeding the brew to some ferrets—have ended up killing literally millions of people across Europe.
Moving on, Teresa discusses the WHO's decision to declare swine flu a pandemic despite it being less virulent than regular seasonal flu, and mentions the plans a number of governments appear to be harboring to impose mandatory vaccination on their populations. For example, this spring the Massachusetts Senate passed a pandemic flu preparation bill (apparently without bothering to read it) enabling forced vaccinations and quarantine, although the House subsequently watered it down.
Relying on information reported (although for the most part vastly mostly under-reported) in the mainstream media, Teresa talks about the consequences of the WHO's pandemic declaration, discusses the pros, cons and controversies surrounding the current swine flu vaccine, and argues that we should all be campaigning for people's right not to be forced to submit to vaccination against our will and that those who voluntarily accept vaccination and suffer harm or death as a result should be entitled to adequate financial compensation, just as they would if they were poisoned by a pot noodle or fried by a faulty microwave oven.
I'm sticking this up because not because it's fascinating or educational—although it is both of those things, but because I think it's vital for people to have this information—so vital that even if you only came here to find out who Hitchens managed to insult or offend this week and you don't need this crap I still think you deserve the opportunity to be exposed to it. What you do with it is your own concern. But as Teresa herself emphasizes, whatever else you do please remain calm and don't panic.
“The enemies of intolerance cannot be tolerant." • "If it is an offense to justice to hold people who may have been victims of mistaken identity or of vendettas by other factions, then it is also an offense to justice to release psychopathic killers who believe that they have divine permission to throw acid in the faces of girls who want to attend school." • "Don't be such a lesbian!
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