A friend asked me if I'm worried about Ebola. I think the answer is not so much worry as alertness. Not worrying, just watching for developments. I keep hearing the official line that it's difficult to spread and contact with body fluids is required, but I see a doctor who came down with it was treating maternity patients and supposedly not in contact with Ebola patients. Maybe it's all stock photos, but the medical people all seem to be wearing gowns and gloves with the seams taped. All good precautions. A little Clorox sprayed on the outside of that gown and it should be keeping them safe - if it's spread by contact with fluids.
I've heard that the health systems in those countries are in bad shape due to the impact on medical practitioners. Sending supplies is a great thing but it seems like the best people to send would be civil engineers and companies that can boot up infrastructure.
As for the Islamic State (btw, calling them ISIL - L is the Levant - expands their territory beyond what they have, basically giving them Cyprus, Israel, parts of Turkey and more), I don't see how you shut them down without people on the ground. Of course I don't claim expertise in the military, but to my knowledge, to truly control territory you need ground troops. I recently heard Jay Sekulow, author of the just-released "The Rise of ISIS" while on the new book tour describing a conference he attended about ISIS at Oxford last spring. He said the Oxford professors, doctrinaire liberals who believe negotiation can solve virtually anything, viewed ISIS differently. When asked how to handle them, the professor leading the conference said, "Crush them. There is no alternative".
Tam linked to a Buzz Feed article "Inside the Chilling Online World of the Women of ISIS" yesterday, calling it "almost hypnotically appalling." Reading it was like watching slow motion explosions, knowing that people were dying while you watched. The casual way they approve of taking non-muslim women as sex slaves; the way they refer to "hand cuttings" as if someone were injected with Novocaine to have a mole removed - not having their hand cutoff with a scimitar; the disregard for killing the kuffar (non-Muslim) as if we're non-human; and their celebrating 9/11 ("Happy Boom Boom Day") all combined to make a horrific read. One of these precious princesses posted a picture of the beheading of one of the American hostages and tweeted "If this doesn't bring a bit of comfort and ease to your heart then # Go Check Yourself " (Hashtag deliberately scrambled - SiG)
While I'll be the first to admit that I don't think you end this problem with military means alone, "boots on the ground" seem to be a much more essential part of the solution for ISIS than Ebola. I think if our Commander in Chief had followed the recommendations of the professionals who work for him, ISIS either wouldn't be a problem at all, or it would be a much smaller problem.
So now we're joining with the "Moderate rebels in Syria", whoever they are, to overthrow the Syrian government. Some of those rebels just signed a non-aggression pact with ISIS. And just who do you think takes over that government after that happens?
Graybeard,
ReplyDeleteKnowing full well that you cannot negotiate with evil, there is but one and only one way to deal with it and that is total extermination from the earth. Send the great white light of reason down upon their heads without so much as a nod or wink. They'll be eternally glad that you arranged their appointment with their 72 virgins in hell.
Some years ago, I was driving back to Dallas from East Texas. Happened to stop at an outlet mall on the south side of the highway. There was a bookstore there and I picked up the following book. It is written about the Iranian revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini, but I imagine to applies to all Islamic women.
ReplyDeleteFemale Warriors of Allah / Women and the Islamic Revolution by Minou Reeves. 1989, E. P. Dutton / New York. Check Amazon books to see if its there.
> Is Ebola an aerosol-transmissible disease?
ReplyDelete> We recently published a commentary on the CIDRAP site discussing whether Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) could be an aerosol-transmissible disease, especially in healthcare settings. We drew comparisons with a similar and more well-studied disease, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
> For Ebola and other filoviruses, however, there is much less information and research on disease transmission and survival, especially in healthcare settings.
* * * Ding, ding, ding * * *
> Being at first skeptical that Ebola virus could be an aerosol-transmissible disease, we are now persuaded by a review of experimental and epidemiologic data that this might be an important feature of disease transmission, particularly in healthcare settings.
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2014/09/commentary-health-workers-need-optimal-respiratory-protection-ebola
via WRSA
http://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2014/09/18/more-protection-svp/
73, Jim
When I lived in Alaska a friend and I went rabbit hunting. He told me he used to take his beagle but the damned dog would scare up a bear and get the bear angry and then run back and hide behind him. He had a really good harrowing story of a bear that seemed intent on having them for lunch until they were finally able to dissuade it. I was reminded of the dog story when the first doctor with ebola was flown back to this country. Perhaps we should send or allow Americans to fight these serious diseases in other countries. But if wiser heads decide that we should do that at the very least we shouldn't allow them to come running back once they have pissed off the bear. Until that day when that sick doctor flew into the U.S. ebola virus was not in this country, now it is. WHat happens next may depend upon the acts of some minimum wage guy in the basement of the hospital who burns medical waste. Or it may depend on some chance happening that we couldn't anticipate. But in fact it will be the fault of the decision to allow ebola into this country. We did something very very stupid and I certainly hope millions of innocent Americans don't have to pay for the mistake of some nameless bureaucrat.
ReplyDeleteBoots on the ground to fight Ebola would make sense to any graduate of the Lucy van Pelt School of Medicine.
ReplyDeleteProbably misquoted, from ancient memory: "No germ has ever developed a resistance to being stomped on."
"Boots on the ground for Ebola" Just happen to land right next to the oil pipeline owned by Birchwood Hathaway & Obamas favorite "Democrat" Billion dollar donor CEO Warren Buffet. Ebola is a mass hysteria meme. We have 50000 TOTAL infected in 30 years , with 7000 dead--in 30 years. The "protective suits"(paper suit- paper mask) you see on TV and the internet are USELESS Vs. a BL-4 virus. They would offer NO protection Vs. H1N1 influenza or any other airborne virus, but they do look REALLY scary if you don't know what they are. IMO ISIS is a CIA "black flag" opp. To "encourage" a continuation of the NEO-CON "war in perpetuity" and "protect" the north Iraq oil fields that Mr. Warren Buffet & Co. REALLY want to exploit.
ReplyDeleteEric Wilner, better than 'stomping on it - kill it with fire (napalm, FAE or garden variety flame throwers as needed). And of course suitable quarantine for any/all who may have been exposed. Not sure off hand what the incubation period is but that alone would prevent the potential spread
ReplyDeleteLots of good comments - thanks, all.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to point out, especially re: anon1103, that these recent people brought back to the US for treatment of Ebola do not mark the first time it has been in this country. Although it's a 1994 book, The Hot Zone goes into some stories that score a perfect 10 on the pucker factor scale. There are stories in there that I read 20 years ago (and not since) that still make me cringe.
Two topics worth discussing, but individually.
ReplyDeleteBut Ebola is the top problem. With Ebola there is NO negotiation.It recognizes no religion, race, creed or color. No bullet can stop it. No army can defeat it. No Allah Akbar will curry its favor.
Unless we get serious we could see 200m dead. They are already projecting 1m infected by January.