Paranoia pandemic: Conservative media baselessly blame swine flu outbreak on immigrants
SUMMARY: Conservative media personalities have baselessly blamed Mexican immigrants for spreading swine flu across the border, despite the fact that several reports have indicated that U.S. swine flu patients had recently traveled to Mexico.
Following an outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and subsequent confirmation of dozens of cases in the United States, conservative media personalities have baselessly blamed Mexican immigrants for spreading the disease across the border, continuing their long-standing trend of scapegoating immigrants while discussing major news stories. However, Rear Adm. Anne Schuchat, M.D., the interim deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's science and public health program, stated in an April 26 media availability: "I know that we have confirmation of disease in people who have traveled to Mexico, and I don't know the numbers, but I know that that is definitely the case in some of our cases, and that's an important factor to consider." Indeed, several media reports on U.S. swine flu patients indicated that they had recently traveled to Mexico.
Examples of conservative media figures blaming Mexican immigrants for the spread of swine flu into the United States include:
- During the April 24 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage stated: "Make no mistake about it: Illegal aliens are the carriers of the new strain of human-swine avian flu from Mexico." Savage also stated, "If we lived in saner times, the borders would be closed immediately." Savage went on to theorize that the outbreak might be part of a bioterrorism threat: "[C]ould this be a terrorist attack through Mexico? Could our dear friends in the radical Islamic countries have concocted this virus and planted it in Mexico knowing that you, [Homeland Security Secretary] Janet Napolitano, would do nothing to stop the flow of human traffic from Mexico?" Savage continued: "[T]hey are a perfect mule -- perfect mules for bringing this virus into America. But you wouldn't think that way, would you? Because you are incapable of protecting America's homeland, Napolitano." Savage also stated: "How do you protect yourself? What can you do? I'll tell you what I'm going to do, and I don't give a damn if you don't like what I'm going to say. I'm going to have no contact anywhere with an illegal alien, and that starts in the restaurants." He added, "I will have no any illegal alien workers around me. I will not have them in any of my properties, I will not have them anywhere near me."
- During the April 27 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Neal Boortz asked: "[W]hat better way to sneak a virus into this country than give it to Mexicans? Right? I mean, one out of every 10 people born in Mexico is already living up here, and the rest are trying to get here. So you give -- you give -- you let this virus just spread in Mexico, where they don't have a CDC." Boortz went on to say: "So if you want to get that epidemic into this country, get it going real good and hot south of the border. And, you know, then just spread a rumor that there's construction jobs available somewhere, and here it comes. Because we're not gonna do anything to stop them from coming across the border."
- In an April 25 blog post titled "Hey, maybe we'll finally get serious about borders now," syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin suggested that the outbreak was due to the United States' "uncontrolled immigration," writing: "I've blogged for years about the spread of contagious diseases from around the world into the U.S. as a result of uncontrolled immigration. We've heard for years from reckless open-borders ideologues who continue to insist there's nothing to worry about. And we've heard for years that calling any attention to the dangers of allowing untold numbers of people to pass across our borders and through our other ports of entry without proper medical screening -- as required of every legal visitor/immigrant to this country -- is RAAAACIST." Malkin added: "9/11 didn't convince the open-borders zealots to put down their race cards and confront reality. Maybe the threat of their sons or daughters contracting a deadly virus spread from south of the border to their Manhattan prep schools will." Contrary to Malkin's suggestion, an April 27 Associated Press article reported of the New York City high school students infected with swine flu to whom she referred: "Officials think they started getting sick after some students returned from the spring break trip to Cancun."
Additionally, on the April 27 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Fox News host Glenn Beck stated: "Gee, it would be nice if we had border security now, wouldn't it?" Beck went on to assert: "But if you are a family and you're down in Mexico and you're dying and those in America are not, why wouldn't you flood this border? Why wouldn't you come across this border? It's exactly what I warned of -- different scenario, different reason of -- I was talking about economic collapse. People start to come and rush this border, then what happens? Gee, it would be nice if we had some border security."
Media Matters for America has previously documented that CNN host Lou Dobbs repeatedly defended the false claim by CNN correspondent Christine Romans that the United States has seen a dramatic increase in leprosy cases, which Dobbs said was caused in part by "unscreened illegal immigrants coming into this country primarily from South Asia." Media Matters also noted that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly replied, "You might be right," to a caller on his radio show who claimed that with the numerous diseases "the illegals" purportedly bring to this country, "each one of those people is a biological weapon," and that the impact of illegal immigration "equals and surpasses the impact of 9-11."
From the April 26 CDC media availability:
OPERATOR: The next is from Mike Stobbe, the Associated Press. Your line is open.
STOBBE: Hi, thanks for taking the question. Of the 20 U.S. confirmed cases, how many have been to Mexico? And also, do you have any information on the transmission -- you said you believe transmission is occurring from person to person. Is it occurring past the initial infection -- like person A infects person B but is it then infecting person C? Do we know that yet? Also, I have a follow-up.
SHUCHAT: You know, I know that we have confirmation of disease in people who have traveled to Mexico, and I don't know the numbers, but I know that that is definitely the case in some of our cases, and that's an important factor to consider. We have a lot of travel to Mexico back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico, and we certainly are looking for illness in those people, so we have asked people to test and we're finding some illness.
From the April 24 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:
SAVAGE: It is The Savage Nation, Rock 'n' Roll Friday. What a horrible day it is. It gets worse by the day. Each day this administration brings America closer to the brink. One moronic professor after another, destroying America's dignity and past, let alone our safety. Now, I'm going to talk about the horrible, horrible story of illegal aliens bringing a deadly new flu strain into the United States of America. Make no mistake about it: Illegal aliens are the carriers of the new strain of human-swine avian flu from Mexico. Make no mistake about it: Our incompetents at the CDC will hide this from you. Make no mistake about it: This is a disaster. Now, if you thought Turista was bad, wait until you get human-swine avian flu from Mexico.
This is the latest zoonotic infection, and I will explain to you, my listeners, on The Savage Nation what a zoonotic infection is. This is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, human, and avian viruses. It is an Influenza A virus. It is real. It is real -- it's a knockout punch. The question to me is -- there's only one question in my mind, which is this: Is this a terrorist attack? Did these demonic terrorists make a new form of Influenza A virus never before been seen, which is a mixture of human, swine, and avian viruses mixed together? I don't know. We don't have enough information. But what you do learn today on this program, and I suggest you listen very carefully -- you're not going to learn on any other talk show or television show in America, and that is because I have an actual Ph.D. in epidemiology, human nutrition, and medical anthropology from the University of California at Berkley. Does that make me the world's leading virologist? Not at all. But it certainly makes me aware of what's going on.
[...]
SAVAGE: This new Influenza A virus is potentially fatal -- I will tell you that right now. There should be no trade and no travel between Mexico and the U.S. If we lived in saner times, the borders would be closed immediately. We wouldn't worry about money. We wouldn't worry about making sure that the heroin addicts get their fixes tomorrow. We wouldn't worry about the fact that stockbrokers in New York won't get their snow tomorrow. What we'd be worried about is the public health. But since we no longer have a public health department in America, since the CDC has long been compromised and has become anything but a public health agency, more like a -- well, there's no longer a public health agency. Public safety is the last thing on its agenda; the most important thing is the gay agenda and making certain that nobody talks about AIDS.
[...]
SAVAGE: What is interesting to me is that Mexico has not suffered a serious flu epidemic before, which leads me to ask something that the dingbat running Homeland Security, who is attacking U.S. Marines, returning soldiers, anti-abortion activists and anti-immigrant activists. Why don't you do your job, Napolitano, you bum you? And why don't you ask yourself, you dumb fool you, could this be a terrorist attack through Mexico? Could our dear friends in the radical Islamic countries have concocted this virus and planted it in Mexico knowing that you, Janet Napolitano, would do nothing to stop the flow of human traffic from Mexico? And they are a perfect mule -- perfect mules for bringing this virus into America. But you wouldn't think that way, would you? Because you are incapable of protecting America's homeland, Napolitano.
[...]
SAVAGE: Talking about the new flu strain that is emerging out of Mexico, and our incompetent and corrupt CDC has issued no travel restrictions. Do you hear this? No warnings have been issued about travel to Mexico by our corrupt, incompetent so-called scientists at the CDC. Yet in Mexico, 6.1 million students were kept out of daycare centers, but in America the lying thieves in the U.S. government have nothing to say because the bottom line is more important. You cannot stop the flow of people, drugs, and whatever. After all, our commerce depends upon on this flow of drugs, so you can't tell people not to go or come from Mexico. This virus has a unique combination of gene segments not seen in people or pigs before. The virus contains human virus, avian virus from North America and pig virus from North America, Europe, and Asia. No one's ever seen it before.
I ask you a question: Where is the dumb moron Janet Napolitano, head of the Homeland Security Department? Why are they not looking into this as a possible terrorist attack on America? Now you say, how could this be? Because the demons in the Islamic world have been trying to modify the influenza virus for years. We've been told about this for years. Some of these scientists are very clever, and they also know because of the open borders policy with Mexico, because of the corruption in the U.S. government, it's very easy to bring a altered virus into Mexico, put it into the general population, have them march across the border. They know the U.S. government is corrupt and incapable of protecting its people. They can't stop anything because they don't want to stop anything.
The question is, what are we going to do about this? How do you protect yourself? What can you do? I'll tell you what I'm going to do, and I don't give a damn if you don't like what I'm going to say. I'm going to have no contact anywhere with an illegal alien, and that starts in the restaurants. You want intelligence? Stop eating at restaurants where they have undocumented workers in the kitchen. You're risking your life, moron. You want to be a good liberal? Go and have some wonderful food tonight and pay no attention to the kitchen. Go ahead, idiot. Go ahead, go and eat in a restaurant now with illegal aliens all over the kitchen and you don't know if they were in Mexico yesterday or two days ago because your wonderful government doesn't give a rat's behind who's in the kitchen or whether they wiped their behind with their hands. All they care about is that the borders remain open, for obvious reasons. No, no, no, I'll start with restaurants. That's it; the door slams shut for me. That's number one. Number two, I will have no any illegal alien workers around me. I will not have them in any of my properties, I will not have them anywhere near me.
From the April 27 edition of Cox Radio Syndication's The Neal Boortz Show:
BOORTZ: Also, is anybody out there interested in the swine flu? Belinda? Are you -- I'm not yet.
BELINDA SKELTON (executive producer): I mean, it's a little frightening that -- what, they're not having good results with the antibiotics for this?
BOORTZ: Well, there is the -- there's the bioterrorism angle. What better -- lord --
SKELTON: Are you looking up for the black helicopter?
BOORTZ: Lord, forgive me for I know not what I am about to -- what better way to sneak a virus into this country than give it to Mexicans? Right? I mean, one out of every 10 people born in Mexico is already living up here, and the rest are trying to get here. So you give -- you give -- you let this virus just spread in Mexico, where they don't have a CDC. Now, I'm just -- look, I'm just -- I'm thinking out loud here, folks. They don't have the inoculation programs. They don't have -- they don't have the ability down there to fight a burgeoning epidemic as we do in this country. So if you want to get that epidemic into this country, get it going real good and hot south of the border. And, you know, then just spread a rumor that there's construction jobs available somewhere, and here it comes. Because we're not gonna do anything to stop them from coming across the border. I can guarantee you, political correctness being the way it is in this country, if this was -- how many -- how many Mexicans have died of this thing now? But if this was a full-fledged, deadly, killer epidemic in Mexico right now, we still would not close the borders to this country. We still wouldn't line up the troops and close the borders because that would be a very politically incorrect thing to do. Besides, it would be racial profiling. So on the bioterrorism, on the bioterrorism angle, hey, you know, who knows what's going on?
From the April 27 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program:
BECK: Mexico is in real trouble. What happens to a country that is in that much of an economic dire strait when they say no public events for possibly four weeks? What happens when the economy stops in Mexico because of an emergency in Mexico where no one can spend money? No one can go to a soccer game, a movie, go out to eat, nothing, for four weeks. What happens to that economy? Gee, it would be nice if we had border security now, wouldn't it? What happens if there is a rash of deaths in Mexico and it's not -- they're not dying here? And maybe it's because it mutated differently down there, maybe it's because we have better health care here -- I don't know. But if you are a family and you're down in Mexico and you're dying and those in America are not, why wouldn't you flood this border? Why wouldn't you come across this border? It's exactly what I warned of -- different scenario, different reason of -- I was talking about economic collapse. People start to come and rush this border, then what happens? Gee, it would be nice if we had some border security.
I was thinking the same thing
Its so predictible.
Of course it would be predictable. If you have a neighboring country that has a serious illness outbreak and you don't want it entering your country and infecting your people wouldn't you want to close the borders too? I didn't hear the illness started in Paraguay or Canada, did you?
I'm waiting for them to call it the Mexican Flu.
Same here canaan! I wondered how soon Lou Dobbs and other xenophobes would turn this issue into a 'let's bash illegal immigrants' campaign. Each and everyone of them stepped up to the plate for the most crass and vile comments. Now, they'll use the swine flu to scare the bejesus out of their ignorant base.
-- how long will it be before the media right insist that the border be closed? -- canaanxing
-- Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) said the border should be closed until the threat is resolved.
"The public needs to be aware of the serious threat of swine flu, and we need to close our borders to Mexico immediately and completely until this is resolved," Massa said in a statement. -- TheHill.com
OK wes that was pretty good.
... until the threat is resolved...
Not bad though, wes. Not a bad response at all.
Looks like it is easy to derail these guys from debating how to govern this nation to blaming a group of people they don't like. Unless it is election time and they need the latino vote.
How long before they crow about how GW kept us safe from Bird Flu and here we are three short months into the anti_christ's administration and we're facing certain death from the swine flu?
I think during the bird flu scare, they told us to do more than just wash our hands. At least they kept an eye on who was entering the country. Not like this time where it doesn't seem to matter that the flu originated in Mexico but we secure the Canadian border.
Floyd, time to start using that thing between your ears. The majority of the cases of Swine flu in the United States were not transmitted by illegals. It was carried across the border by kids on spring break in Cancun.
Americans, visiting Mexico, brought the virus back to this country. Sealing the border would not have made any difference at all.
I know the right likes to interject illegal immigration into any and all topics. In this case, it only shows how idiotic the right is behaving.
And Clinton and Bush I and Reagan and Carter and Ford and Nixon and.............
Xenophobic morons, each and every one.
there are plenty of reasons why we need to slow immigration, but this isn't one of them. you can't blame this outbreak on anyone. it's one of those things.
they don't seem to have any problems blaming an entire group of people ( or a nationality ).
The right won't be happy until every last person is categorized, classified and recorded. The last time someone got an idea like that the results were less than desireable...
To them, this outbreak is just another dirt-cheap opportunity to blame society's problems on everyone else except white conservative Christian Americans.
Exactly pete592! Notice they have blamed every class of people except wealthy, white male conservatives?! Racism at it's best.
Thank you! If it is a good idea, you shoudn't need to scrap the bottom of the barrel to be convincing.
Lets just blame every thing bad that happens on Americans. Well, just on white, conservative, christian Americans. You left leaning wimps make me sick, uh oh maybe its just the flu.
Errrr. That was my point, I don't think Mexico blamed us for AIDS. Hey disease happens. This is global partly because of globalism. We are mixing up everything - labor, invasive species, culture, food and germs. The alternative is fortress America: North Korea or pre Perry Japan. God the capitalist markets hate that! Better blame the immigrants!
So in other words, Savage wants no contact with Mexicans - how can he spot an illegal? Obviously racial profiling.
He would be happy to know I ate McDonald's today...
Josef Megele was a doctor too. So was Paul Pot, if I remeber correctly.
No, he does not.
He holds master's degrees in medical botany and medical anthropology, and he earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in nutritional ethnomedicine.
Which, in eblgish, means: Herbalism and Naturopathy. And seeing how, as As Michael Weiner he has written books on herbal medicine and homeopathy, I'd say it's pretty clear that he's got no idea what he's babbling about. He's got a PhD in pseudo-science.
So you're wrong. He's a nutcase, who has ZERO qualification to speak abotu medicine. Period.
And Olbermann's degree is from Cornell. He took the same classes as those who did not enroll in the "ag college," as Bobo the Sore Toe so ignorantly stated. He got the same Ivy League degree as the rest of the Cornell student body, but paid a hell of a lot less for it. That makes him at least as if not more qualified than Weiner the quack any day.
a state land grant ag college.
What specifically is your problem with "state land grant ag colleges?" Other than the fact that many of them are well respected institutions? And if NiceguyEddie is correct (I don't know one way or another) then your man Savage got his Ph.D from a land grant college.
Maybe you should sit down, take a deep breath, and have a big cup of STFU.
" I have an actual Ph.D. in epidemiology, human nutrition, and medical anthropology from the University of California at Berkley."
Wait... I thought his Ph.D. was in nutritional ethnomedicine. If that's basically the same thing, pardon my ignorance on college degrees.
It's not. It's basically more herbalism, alternative medicine, homeopathy and naturopathy, as practive by ancient peoples. In other words: Pseduo-scientific nonsense as far as the practice of MEDICINE is concerned. It's a sub-study of ANTHROPLOGY.
Somehow, this is the fault of Obama, Napolitano and immigrants. Also, possibly Nancy Pelosi. I just KNOW it!
Somehow, this is the fault of Obama, Napolitano and immigrants. Also, possibly Nancy Pelosi. I just KNOW it!
I love it when Michael Savage talks about swine/avian flu as an expert, so my question to him is, is that happens when pigs fly?
Just in case the above post gets deleted for language use of a bad word... I repost it again... with a minor update in naming Michelle exactly what I think of her, although the first words fits her better!
"9/11 didn't convince the open-borders zealots to put down their race cards and confront reality."
Really.... you crazy nut?? Open boarder zealots huh....
Lets see.... the Republicans were in complete and total control of the government at that time... the Democrats had little if any power (that even if they had any, they were to damn spinless to have put up much of a fight!)
So Michelle... you must be screaming at the very party that you so handedly defended these last eight years or so... what's changed?
Oh yes... the Democrats are now in charge... for exactly the same pathetic idiocy that you have displayed, along with all the other right-wing lunatics...
Brilliant!
This is my first time posting on Media Matters in a long time, what has been disheartening for me, has been the fact that the tenor of the articles here, is exactly the same sort of thing one would expect when Brock was a neo-con. Did he really have an epiphany, or was this just a continuation of his same old, same old?
This article, didn't even reference the fact that there have been 40 cases in the US since Friday, the MSM misrepresented the facts all weekend, it's now 45 known cases as of today. By Friday, Europe, China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Australia and other countries had quarantined anyone arriving from Mexico, and had banned all pork from Mexico, and from US states, California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Kansas. While the US govt and media told us that pork was safe to eat, the foreign govts informed their people that such imports of pork could contaminate other meat when processed, surfaces in stores, and infect the public in that way.
The earliest cases of this outbreak weren't tourists on spring break, but Mexicans who were here illegally, in border towns in California and Texas. Googling on the subject brings up articles and reports from local news media sources.
Mexico is already under fire by it's own people and media, because it KNEW about the swine flu epidemic in it's country back in February, and has been avoiding treating the poor who were spreading it in their country. President Calderon has been playing games, avoiding dealing with it, and not informing us about it, until he couldn't avoid telling us.
You wouldn't listen to those who advocated having unprotected sex, you won't criticize those foreign governments, for restricting travel to, and visitors from Mexico, yet you wish to muddy the waters of the discussion.. why? Is it because it might cut the profits of the US Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable? The historic enemies of even the minimum wage, food, product and drug safety provisions, wage standards, workplace protections and environmental laws.. the health of the American citizenry should be secondary to corporate profit, to your investments perhaps? If so, then you all represent the same mindsets of the democrat party, when it was the party of slavery, the kkk and Jim Crow. If this is Brock's neo-con influence, I've got news for you, he's as unstable as he was when he was flailing around about Clinton's sex scandals back in the day.
When there is a pandemic, like this, countries do restrict entry into the country. Mexico is an extremely wealthy country, they can afford to treat their own people. No Americans are under the delusion that Mexico is a poor coutnry any longer. They were given 3 million jobs, that Americans used to hold, they claimed that those jobs would create a large middle class, that they could tax, and use that revenue to improve the lives of their people. The same corrupt Mexican governmetn that knew about this swine flu epidemic in February, has avoided honoring it's promises.
Perhaps that doesn't bother you at Media Matters, but as nothing more than a propagandist site, you don't report in the public interest, rather, you lie for your own agenda. It is insane to allow the traffic of illegal aliens, into the US during a pandemic, what's more, given the rapidly declining pool of jobs in our country, it makes no sense to allow more illegals to enter, we need to enforce our laws.
Yep, their collective heads are in the sand. This isn't your brothers Avian Flu or SARs, this virus has the abilty to mutate. If the flu doesn't get 'em the hubris will.
Border towns unconcerned
Will Barry O'Gump act in a timely manner or will he continue to brush this off and "hope" it goes away?
Who is Barry O'Gump?
you cannot get flu from meat. but maybe you might want to put a mask on when you eat your hamburger.
You can't get the swine flu from eating pork, even if we identified affected pigs, which we have not.
What's the matter, Mary? Got the sniffles? I'd hate to see the racist propoganda you spew when you got the clap.
Despite your ability to write a coherent sentence, yours is one of the most uninformed posts I've ever had the pleasure to read.
Mexico is an extremely wealthy country...
If you say so. But then why are so many of their citizens coming into the U.S.?
Your so full of it. These articles that say this flu came from "illegals" where are they, you postd none. What disheartens me is the ignorance and hate from people like you. I bet you never even gave it a thought that a weaker strand started in this country and moved south have you? You see I spout my opinions just like you , but where is your proof?
"The earliest cases of this outbreak weren't tourists on spring break, but Mexicans who were here illegally, in border towns in California and Texas. Googling on the subject brings up articles and reports from local news media sources..."
I live in a so-called border town, please post the articles you googled that said this flu outbreak was caused by people here illegally? Also please post the articles you found that said this outbreak was caused by eating pork?
"This is my first time posting on Media Matters in a long time,"
Do us all a favor...
Make it another long time before you do so again!
Actually... Offer up some links to those 'local' stories you speak of, because I have to question your accusations... and then go away.
FYI: Cooking any pork thoroughly that you may buy at the store, that might be infected with this flu virus... will be safe. You need only take a few precautions...
However, this is in no way a defense of the pork industry or any other industry that skirts the laws or tries to influence laws in their favor or puts profits over safety... I despise those people and the politicians over the years that have sold us all out for a few dollars!
Mary Mary Mary, the disease does not stop at borders. New cases will come in from all points of entry. To use your safe sex analogy, stopping this would be the same as complete abstinence. Not realistic is it?
The quarantine approach, to be effective, would be to shut down globalism. Not a popular conservative approach at all. Notice the New york cluster is from tourism.
Same crowd that blamed homosexuals for AIDS 20+ years ago. They always have to blame somebody.
Savage: "Is this a terrorist attack?"
My God, this man is beneath contempt. Hey Savage, I hear they are poisoning our wells and sacrificing children on their unholy Sabbath. Why not run with that for a while, you medieval moron?
You don't get swine flu from eating pork.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-flu-box25-2009apr25,0,5114253.story
Widely reported by Michael Savage...
since when do people who come over for a visit get full medicals before coming into the country? I nver see that when I come back from england. You get medical when you apply for residency, not for a normal visit. Conservative misspeak again?
HIs PHD is not in Epidemiology.
it's in Nutritional Ethnomedicine. It's about as close to Epidemiology as is driving a bus.
Now my curiosity is piqued: What IS nutritional ethnomedicine? Is it (a guess) the foods believed in various cultures to have health benefits? If so, then no, that's not related to epidemiology at all.
Still, does the fact that Savage Wiener was able to earn a PhD at all suggest he was once not a raving lunatic of the sort you'd expect to find shrieking and yelling on a downtown street corner?? Or is he some sort of nutritional-ethnomedical savant?
The first human-swine flu death in Texas was a baby that was born in Mexico or in other words an illegal immigrant. This baby had came into the US from Mexico 2 weeks ago, via Brownsville and then on into to Houston. It is very sad, but the fact is that if our gov't had temporarily closed the borders when it was first informed of the outbreak (which was in March), we could have prevented this family from traveling 350 miles and possibly infecting others along the way. We must try to at least SLOW the transmission of the swine flu by temporarily closing the borders. This is not about the right or the left, this is about the safety of US citizens (or at least it should be).
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/CDC_Swine_flu_claims_1st_victim_in_TX
The first human-swine flu death in Texas was a baby that was born in Mexico or in other words an illegal immigrant.
Where in the article you linked to does it say the child was an illegal immigrant?
Being born in Mexico and being in the United States does not automatically mean "illegal immigrant." So, no, not "in other words."
Clearly the infection sources have been identified as tourists (European and U.S. citizens). But, that also seems unlikely in the future because the illegals don't go "back and forth" freely and therefore, obviously with no frequency. Illegals, while a threat to our hard-won worker rights, do not seem to me to be likely inter-country disease spreaders in this Swine Flue situation or any other future situation.
That is ridiculous. The epicenter of this epidemic is in the country of Mexico. It is irresponsible to do nothing when we know that there is great potential that people from that country could carry this disease with them as they come here illegally. Illegals are sent back to Mexico daily. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,459265,00.html
And they return http://www.rand.org/news/press/2008/09/08/, http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/16/local/me-crackdown16
It's that simple. If a family of 6 living next door to you had two of their kids sick with the flu would you encourage the other 4 to come over for dinner?
That is right, no doubt, absolutely, positively, and howdy. Immigrants are the cause of the drugs use. The came over with drugs, on Christmas no less, and twisted poor American arms to vacuum cocaine out of taco shells. I am positive.
Such fear-chirpping only limits progress. Ultimately, the feather-plucking right-wing, is afeared of not regaining prominace. The true puppet-master, the Federal Reserve.
They promote war, it is a money maker. People do not equate, in the ultimate plan, globalization. One currency, and all submit. We can change it, with a resource based economy, not a monetary system. Question authority, expect results, and Vote!
Rep Paul Brown, (Bag of Rocks-Georgia) was on CSPAN this morning to talk about this. He was asked to comment on the fact that a two-year old toddler had just died of the swine flu. His instant response- the FIRST WORDS OUT OF HIS MOUTH- was "well, first of all, we don't know if this boy was from Mexico, if he was the child of illegals, or not. But what we do know is, we have to get control of our border."
He went on for several minutes, talking about Illegals, Mexico, the Border, and Pandemics. Then he took a call chastising him for blaming immigrants for the swine flu.
His response? To chuckle and tell the caller, "well, I think you misunderstood what I was saying...I wasnt blaming illegals... you misunderstood." He then proceeded to blame illegals again for the swine flu outbreak.
Another caller phoned in to accuse him of scapegoating. Rep Brown's response? "Just like the last caller....you misunderstand what I'm saying...I never intended to blame immigrants...."
Brown was then asked about the nomination of Kathy Sebelius as HHS secretary- "I'm against it, because she's very pro-abortion...." A caller said she was stunned that Brown is a practicing physician, and asked him "did you take the Hippocratic Oath?" Brown's response: "(Laughing) well, the fact is that a lot of people don't take the Hippocratic oath when the graduate from med school, because the oath says I won't perform abortions."
Seriously. Congratulations, Georgia. Brown's not only an idiot, but he's a cowardly liar who won't even defend his own words, moments after they've been uttered.
Whether or not this is a right-wing scare for a tighter border, and why wouldn't it be, but here is the link from a San Antonio, Texas news paper that confirms the child was from mexico city. The article says he was visiting relatives in Brownsville. But nothing is said to confirm or deny whether he was legally here or not.
Besides, New York had the most cases of swine flu at the time the article was written. I don't think we need to close the border of New York.
This is an issue, it's my concern that it's just now being recognized. It appears the medical community has been aware of this for some time and just didn't care till enough people died.
Maybe better baseline care for all should be the focus, not just pill pushing like so many doctors due today.
So what you are so eloquently insinuating is that: we shouldn't close the borders during a flu pandemic when we know that thousands upon thousands of people who, orginate from the country where the epicenter is, enter our country illegally everyday?
I tell you what....I agree. Let's just simply remove all border control enforcement and encourage people from a country suffering from a flu epidemic to come on over. We should do this because there is no proof so far that those who enter here illegally have brought the flu with them, therefore we should allow them to enter at will and figure out what to do later when we see that these people bring disease with them. Gotcha.
Closing the border is a stupid idea for the reasons listed in this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/health/30contain.html?ref=science