President Obama's Weekly Radio Address, May 2, 2009 (Video and Transcript)

Government Actions to Address the H1N1 (Swine) Flu Virus



Republican Response

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WHO: Informs countries to activate their pandemic emergency response plans due to the spread of SWINE FLU (Video)

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Vice President Joe Biden: Gaffe or Keepin' it Honest? You Decide. **UPDATE** (Video)

This is about his statement on SWINE FLU. Let's be honest, it is in pandemic mode. It is here in the United States. Folks are bringing it back from Mexico. I, personally, would not be anywhere in confinement, like an airplane. I, personally, think flights at this time should be canceled to Mexico. But that is my opinion.

Obama Administration on talking point mode in regards to Swine Flu, Video

UPDATE

Backtrack time, Biden clarifies his statement.

Biden's spokesperson, Elizabeth Alexander, sought to clarify Biden's remarks in a statement issued shortly after his television interview.

"The advice he is giving family members is the same advice the administration is giving to all Americans: that they should avoid unnecessary air travel to and from Mexico," she said.

"If they are sick, they should avoid airplanes and other confined public spaces, such as subways. This is the advice the vice president has given family members who are traveling by commercial airline this week," Alexander said.

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Mexico City is SHUTTING DOWN due to Swine Flu

Talk about out of control. Pandemic. It is.

Mexico's government is suspending all nonessential activity of the federal government and private business as the number of confirmed swine flu cases jumped.

The decision came as global health authorities warned Wednesday that swine flu was threatening to bloom into a pandemic, and the virus spread farther in Europe even as the outbreak appeared to stabilize at its epicenter. A toddler who succumbed in Texas became the first death outside Mexico.

Health Secretary José Angel Córdova Villalobos announced the move to shut down most of the country’s government and economy shortly after his department reported that confirmed cases of infection with the new strain of influenza had risen. The death toll in Mexico is believed to be 160.

In addition to the deaths, the virus is believed to have sickened 2,498 people across Mexico. But only 1,311 suspected swine flu patients remained hospitalized, and a closer look at daily admissions and deaths at Mexico’s public hospitals suggests the outbreak may have peaked during three grim days last week when thousands of people complained of flu symptoms.

Health Secretary Jose Cordova said nonessential federal government offices will be closed from May 1-5. Friday is a national holiday in Mexico and many government offices are usually closed. He said all nonessential private businesses must also close for that period but essential services like transport, supermarkets, trash collection, hospital will remain open.

Cordova said at a news conference in Mexico City it was up to the heads of individual departments to determine which services were essential and which were nonessential, but he stressed that vital services like police agencies and airports would remain open, as would crucial economic services like telecommunications, pharmacies and public transportation.

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No Border Closures per Secretary Napolitano, Homeland Security (Video)

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Why is Sebelius' nomination being hung up in the Senate?

This is utterly ridiculous.

And this is why Obama needs to go right on with the reconciliation vote on healthcare, if he waits on 60 votes in that senate he will NEVER GET IT PASSED.

Now Napolitano, head of Homeland Security is doing a brilliant job during this crisis, but we need to have a Health and Human Services Secretary, too.

This nastiness of holding up these confirmations is kindergarten mentality at its worst. I don't remember Bush's folks being held up in his first term like this and with this Swine Flu becoming a worldwide epidemic, one would think that Sebelius would be confirmed by now. But we are talking about a senate that held Hilda Solis' confirmation up.

So Kathleen Sebelius will get her confirmation vote as Health and Human Services secretary tomorrow in the Senate — but even with the flu outbreak, her confirmation will still have to clear a big hurdle, requiring 60 votes.

So says the office of GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell, anyway.

As you know, Senate Republicans have been filibustering Sebelius over lingering questions about her views on late-term abortions and some campaign contributions she received from an abortion doctor. Late last week, the Senate Dem leadership announced that in the face of GOP opposition, they had agreed with Republicans to bring Sebelius’ confirmation to the floor for a vote tomorrow that would indeed require the 60 votes.

The outbreak of the flu epidemic had led some Dems to hope that the GOP would drop their filibuster, which would mean the 60 vote threshold would no longer apply. And even GOP Senator Susan Collins called for the Senate to expedite her confirmation today.

But McConnell spokesperson Don Stewart tells me she’ll still have to clear the 60 vote threshold. The question is, Whose fault is this?

Stewart says that the Senate agreement last week has “locked in” the 60 vote threshold. “She’ll have her confirmation vote tomorrow,” he says, adding that “every single Democrat” agreed to that threshold.

But Jim Manley, a spokesperson for Dem Senate leader Harry Reid, says that Senate GOPers could waive the 60 vote threshold if they wanted to. “With consent it could be changed if they agreed, but as of right now I don’t see any willingness to do so on their part,” he said.

Bottom line: The filibuster over an abortion controversy is still throwing a hurdle in the way of this nomination, despite the flu epidemic.

Senate is expected to confirm Sebelius today.

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Republicans stripped flu pandemic money from stimulus bill

Remember, this is not important...sigh....

Remember way back in the day, President Obama delivered his Not Really The State Of The Union address, and the GOP trotted out Future Of The Republican Party Supra-Genius Bobbly Jindal to provide a rebuttal? Well, we all had some laughs, didn't we? Mainly because Jindal was all: "They want to spend stimulus money on volcano monitoring? Why everyone knows that the Hill Witch keeps tabs on our volcanoes by floating chicken bones in her own intestinal ichor!" And then Alaska's Mount Redoubt erupted, suggesting there might be something to this "let's monitor volcanoes with government-funded science" idea.

Well, as it turns out, volcano monitoring wasn't the only worthwhile public safety program that was deemed extravagant in the stimulus package, funding for pandemic preparation was axed as well. And playing a critical role was Susan Collins -- for whom the necessity of obtaining her vote is in inverse proportion to the intelligence she shows in policy making:

Famously, Maine Senator Collins, the supposedly moderate Republican who demanded cuts in health care spending in exchange for her support of a watered-down version of the stimulus, fumed about the pandemic funding: "Does it belong in this bill? Should we have $870 million in this bill No, we should not."

When it rains, IT POURS....

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Swine Flu rises to 40 in US

If you feel sick with flu symptoms, been around ANYONE that has been to Mexico recently, go to the doctor and get checked out. I know that the U.S. don't want to close the borders to Mexico, but this may have to be done because Mexico does not have this epidemic under control, yet. And going to Mexico at this time is definitely a NO, NO.

MSNBC

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Obama cleared of Swine Flu

I wondered when the White House would release a statement, since one man that shook President Obama's hand has since died from Swine Flu not died from Swine Flu, but from another ailment.

U.S. President Barack Obama is clear of any swine flu symptoms after making a trip to Mexico this month, officials say.

Obama visited Mexico, scene of dozens of deaths attributed to a new variant of the swine flu virus, on April 16, shaking hands at one point with a Mexican archaeologist who died within 24 hours of the meeting from the swine flu outbreak, the British tabloid The Daily Mail reported.

But White House spokesman Josh Earnest indicated Sunday that Obama's health is not in danger.

"His doctors have advised him that his trip to Mexico has not put his health in any danger," Earnest told The New York Daily News.

The newspaper said administration aides have refused to say what procedures Obama's doctors have taken, such as whether he was tested for the illness or underwent any inoculations, but one unnamed aide told the Daily News, "I can tell you that the president doesn't have any symptoms, and his doctors advised that there was no need for him to be tested."

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PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY: SWINE FLU (VIDEO)

Government officials have declared a public health emergency in connection with the swine flu outbreak that has killed dozens in Mexico and sickened 20 in the U.S., said the nation’s director of Homeland Security Sunday.

Secretary Janet Napolitano also said border agents have been directed to begin passive surveillance of travelers from affected countries, with instructions to isolate anyone who appears actively ill with suspected influenza.

The number of cases confirmed in the United States by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now 20, including eight New York City high school students. Other cases are in Ohio, California, Texas and Kansas. Patients have ranged in age from 7 to 54. read more here....

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