Where Are My Keys?

"No viable threat of it spreading in the US"..

A second health care worker at a Dallas hospital who provided care for the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S. has tested positive for the disease, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Wednesday.

The department said in a statement that the worker reported a fever Tuesday and was immediately isolated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Health officials said the worker was among those who took care of Thomas Eric Duncan, who was diagnosed with Ebola after coming to the U.S. from Liberia. Duncan died Oct. 8.

The department said a preliminary Ebola test was conducted late Tuesday at a state public health laboratory in Austin, Texas, and came back positive during the night. Confirmatory testing was being conducted at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

The statement said the health care worker, who wasn't identified, was interviewed to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures. It said others who had interactions with the worker or possible exposure to the virus will be monitored.

Officials have said they don't know how the first health worker, a nurse, became infected. But the second case pointed to lapses beyond how one individual may have donned and removed personal protective garb.

"An additional health care worker testing positive for Ebola is a serious concern, and the CDC has already taken active steps to minimize the risk to health care workers and the patient," the CDC said in a statement.

Still nothing to worry about..

“I would say that in the 30 years I’ve been working in public health, the only thing like this has been AIDS,”

Dr. Tom Friedman, Director of the CDC

The lady in Spain that has Ebola (the first known case of the disease being transmitted outside of West Africa) had a dog that was put down.  Let's assume the dog had Ebola as well, and sniffed/licked/swapped saliva with another dog (or dogs) on the daily walk, and then those dogs became infected, carrying the virus back into their master's homes.

Is that such a leap to consider?

POTUS is sure lucky this guy isn't in the Senate anymore..

This guy was really pissed about how unprepared the USA was to deal with "bird flu", and took the Bush Administration to task for it:

The failure to prepare for emergencies can have devastating consequences. We learned that lesson the hard way after Hurricane Katrina. This nation must not be caught off-guard when faced with the prospect of an avian flu pandemic. The consequences are too high.

The flyways for migratory birds are well-established. We know that avian flu will likely hit the United States in a matter of time. With the regular flu season coming up shortly, conditions will be favorable for reassortment of the avian flu virus with the annual flu virus. Such reassortment could lead to a mutated virus that could be transmitted efficiently between humans, which is the last condition needed for pandemic flu.

The question is will we be ready when that happens? Let’s make sure that answer is yes. I urge my colleagues in the Senate and the House to push this Administration to take the action needed to prevent a catastrophe that we have not seen during our lifetimes.”

The current Ebola outbreak is significantly worse than H5N1 was.  Where is that young Senator now, to hold this Administration's feet to the fire?

"What would you do in the last hour of your life?"

 

Wasn't MMGW supposed to result in more hurricanes?

I guess no one remembered to tell Mother Nature:

The statistical peak of the Atlantic hurricane season has arrived and for the first time since 1992 there isn’t a named storm in the basin.

While forecasters are watching a pair of potential systems, neither is likely to grow into a tropical storm by the end of today. So far, four storms have gotten names in the Atlantic this year.

In records going back to 1851, Sept. 10 is the day when the odds are greatest there will be at least one tropical storm or hurricane somewhere in the Atlantic.

Still, it would be a mistake for everyone to let their guard down, said Gerry Bell, lead hurricane forecaster for the U.S. Climate Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

“The season isn’t over and it is not shut down,” Bell said by telephone. “While it is weaker than average we already had one hurricane strike North Carolina this year. We need people to stay prepared.”

It is also too early to tell if there is a larger shift under way in the Atlantic that could herald in an era of fewer storms, he said.

Since 1995, the basin has been in the midst of what is called the warm phase of the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation. This means it has been warmer than normal and the chances for weaker storms to grow stronger are enhanced, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

I'm sure this is nothing to worry about..

11 Commercial airliners go missing:

Islamist militias in Libya took control of nearly a dozen commercial jetliners last month, and western intelligence agencies recently issued a warning that the jets could be used in terrorist attacks across North Africa.

Intelligence reports of the stolen jetliners were distributed within the U.S. government over the past two weeks and included a warning that one or more of the aircraft could be used in an attack later this month on the date marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against New York and Washington, said U.S. officials familiar with the reports.

“There are a number of commercial airliners in Libya that are missing,” said one official. “We found out on September 11 what can happen with hijacked planes.”

The official said the aircraft are a serious counterterrorism concern because reports of terrorist control over the Libyan airliners come three weeks before the 13th anniversary of 9/11 attacks and the second anniversary of the Libyan terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi.

Hey, Candidate Obama? How do you feel about Presidential vacations?

 

 

Oops.  Is there anything this guy hasn't lied about?

Remember when this happened under Bush?

Me either.

And the Media collectively yawns..

The US Embassy in Libya gets evacuated, the President goes golfing.

Do your damn jobs.

Remember how Obama "saved GM"?..

It was announced today that an additional 7.6 million U.S. vehicles are being recalled.  GM stock is trading around $37 today (you'll recall it needed to hit around $55 a share for the taxpayers to break even on their "investment").

GM has been getting hammered with recalls, as evidenced by a simple search on Google.

At what point will GM encourage consumers to buy a different brand of vehicle?

GM is number one in one category: number of vehicles recalled in a single year!

Remind me again of why we didn't let this company go bankrupt?  I wonder if GM will need a taxpayer bailout to finance the over $2.5 billion in claims it will have to pay out?

As I wrote this post, I went back to see what effect the news was having on GM stock.  It's dropped to just over $36, and trading has been halted.