Comments on: Ebola here, ebola now

By: kcom

kcom — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 22:00:52 +0000

Excuse the premature submission.

Better said “You get the government you’ve earned.”

By: kcom

kcom — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 21:58:43 +0000

Thanks for the comment, J.J. I certainly enjoyed my time there. As I said, they have lots of problems, many of their own making in one way or another, and you wish they’d make smarter choices about many things, but they are still people with real lives who are worth getting to know. Their governments do hold them back so terribly but in the long run that’s a problem they have to solve in order to move forward. And there’s no easy solution to that. But one way or another they have to figure out a way to do that. It comes back to that old saying, “you get the government you deserve” which I’ve always thought was better said, “You get the government younger earned

By: J.J.

J.J. — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 17:28:37 +0000

mf and kcom, I appreciate your comments.

Many of us have become distrustful of ALL government in this country. As a result, we may have developed blind spots and prejudices that cloud our vision. Ebola is a terrifying disease because of the horrific way that people die. Unfortunately, because it has always seemed to be self limiting before, it has been considered to be of less import. The truth that viruses do evolve and sometimes become more dangerous is something that can’t be ignored. On the other hand, not much work has been done on Ebola because it is “over there.” Now that it has come “over here,” people are paying attention. Because it has unknowns, it creates anxiety and fear. The lab that has developed the ZMAPP serum has been funded by DOD because they want to be able to protect against bio-threats. It appears that nine years of work have produced some tangible results.

Your comments about the people of Liberia are very familiar to me, kcom. My grandparents supported a missionary family in Liberia for many, many years. Those missionaries loved the people of Liberia. I wondered why until I visited Africa myself. Though I didn’t go to Liberia (I was in Kenya & Tanzania), I found the people, for the most part, to be welcoming and hard working. My observation about their poverty was that their African governments are mostly kleptocracies or Communistic – both of which stifle any chance at progress out of the poverty you see. Trillions of dollars of aid have been poured into Africa with little result. IMO, only changing their governments to the point where private property and free enterprise are accepted will allow them to move forward.

I’m cautious about what may happen, but I’m not pushing the panic button just because I don’t trust the administration to do much right.

By: kcom

kcom — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 14:01:41 +0000

And here's an interesting article by the head nurse at Emory Hospital I’m the head nurse at Emory. This is why we wanted to bring the Ebola patients to the U.S.

By: kcom

kcom — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 13:51:04 +0000

Here's an interesting article by a woman who was infected with Marburg virus (a close cousin of Ebola), came back to the U.S., got sick and was treated and recovered, and all without knowing what she had (until she was tested a year later after she was fully recovered). Despite being sick and theoretically infectious no one else she interacted with, touched or who treated her got infected or sick. Marburg experience

By: kcom

kcom — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 13:21:41 +0000

Thanks, mf. Unfortunately I might have made my contribution too late for anyone else to read. I miss Liberia and even after reading all the Ebola stories I still want to go back for an extended visit. It’s an interesting place and has plenty to offer besides misery and death.

By: mf

mf — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 05:12:55 +0000

kcom:

Glad it helped.

For us to even call ourselves conservatives in all the best sense of that word, we need to maintain a sense of proportion in the face of the daily onslaught of news that is designed to worry us and make us believe we are dependent on leftist nitwits. It is not in the best traditions of conservatism to cry loudly over and over that the sky is falling and we are all going to die. The left will always shout it louder so we win nothing by doing it.

The country I grew up in will always be the country that goes to the far ends of the earth to help people in need and no matter what happens I hope it keeps doing that because if it stops, it will no longer be America.

By: kcom

kcom — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 03:56:57 +0000

…go to work or to their farms, raise their kids, relax and socialize and generally do normal things. It’s just that the normal things are not done quite the same way we do them. They have plenty of problems but they are normal people.

By: kcom

kcom — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 03:50:52 +0000

Thank you, mf. I appreciate your contributions to the discussion. Here’s my perspective, as someone who has lived in Liberia in the past (specifically the northern area where Ebola first entered the country), has an educational background in biochemistry and molecular biology (though not working in that field) and is currently sitting on his couch about 3 1/2 miles from the hospital rooms of Dr.Brantly and Mrs. Writebol. I don’t have a problem with bringing them here. I think it was the right thing to do based on the situation and the risks involved. I think they have the technology and training to safely and effectively help these people. And if that’s the case, they should. And if we can learn something valuable from them, so much the better. Every medical advance known to man has been made the same way.

I have a bigger concern about the CDC next door to Emory, which 365 days a year houses and works with just about every one of the most dangerous pathogens on earth. It’s right in the middle of a busy commercial and residential neighborhood. These two patients, in isolation and closely watched, are nothing compared to that reality. I’ve passed by that complex many times on bike rides.

One last thought about Liberia. The medical system there is definitely rudimentary compared to here. But people still live their lives, have hopes and dreams, are friendly and welcoming and worthy of our concern. They gave me help and compassion when I was sick (fortunately not seriously) and that was my turning point in my time there. There’s nothing like being sick far from home in a foreign land and nothing better than feeling better and realizing that you will be able to make it and even thrive. Contrary to what you might see on tv or the internet, Liberia and Africa are not just one unending display of misery. People actually live normal lives most of the time. They get up in the morning, eat breakfast, go to work out to their farms

By: mf

mf — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 02:31:05 +0000

Michael Fumento wrote the book, “The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS,” which predicted in 1993 that AIDS would continue to be confined mostly to the homosexual and drug user population. That was in direct conflict with the U.S. government’s “AIDS Doesn’t Discriminate” propaganda campaign, and he was absolutely correct.

Why Ebola’s nothing to worry about
08/05/2014
by Michael Fumento

We’re now witnessing the worst Ebola epidemic ever – and on your list of worries it belongs .?.?. nowhere.

Here’s a rule of thumb about diseases: The rarer and less likely they are to kill you, the more hype they get. The New York Times ran more than 2,000 articles on SARS, which ultimately killed zero Americans.

This is only the deadliest outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease because past ones were so tiny. At this writing, there have been 1,603 reported cases in Africa and 887 deaths.

That’s too many. But every day about 600 sub-Saharan Africans die of tuberculosis, and contagious diarrhea claims the lives of 2,195 children, the vast majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

Malaria, syphilis, AIDS and probably dozens of other diseases each year kill Africans at higher rates than Ebola is killing right now.

more:
http://nypost.com/2014/08/05/why-ebolas-nothing-to-worry-about/