I think we should all invest in hand sterilizer gel this year. And I think that if our Duh President is actually thinking ahead about a health threat, it’s a pretty damn scary one. He actually read a book recently about the great influenza pandemic of 1918 – the one my mom barely managed to survive when she was 3. She’s been telling me about that one all my life; there’s a china chocolate cup that she keeps in a special place on the hutch in the dining room. Apparently when she was so sick, she was given hot chocolate to drink out of that cup and cried. The cup was so pretty and delicate, she was sure she was a goner because they’d never let her use it for every day.

Chicago Tribune | President Cites Flu Epidemic Risk, Suggests Role for Troops

WASHINGTON — President Bush expressed concern Tuesday about the threat of a global flu epidemic and said Congress should consider letting the U.S. military play a broader role in enforcing quarantines and other emergency measures.

Bush said the possibility of a virulent new strain of avian influenza spreading rapidly around the world raised difficult questions about a president’s ability to direct an effective domestic response and the federal government’s authority to carry it out.

At work I’ve been kvetching about how closely packed we are now after the consolidation, and how as soon as flu season starts all the kids in day care are going to get sick, and then their parents will get sick but come to work anyway, and then the rest of us will get sick (but have the sense to stay home).

Then this morning, there were a couple of stories on NPR that got me thinking:

Health officials are recommending that high-risk patients, including the elderly and health-care workers get their flu shots early this year. But there is growing evidence that the best way to slow the spread of the flu would be to vaccinate young children.

And related stories:
CDC Issues Flu Vaccine Recommendations

Where Germs Lurk In Grade School – where we learn that teaching kids to wash their hands and not put their fingers in their noses will keep America safe.

My sister Timmy will correct me if I’ve screwed up yet another family anecdote. I hope Mom gets her flu shot as soon as possible, and that we do not have to get that china cup off the shelf anytime soon.

UPDATE: Oh, and this seems like a really good idea, doesn’t it?

Researchers reconstruct deadly 1918 flu strain

Okay, usually I’m not one for seeing a lot of humor in blasphemy. But then I don’t see a lot of humor in intolerance from a son, when a famous father is known for… these types of things.

CNN.com – Franklin Graham sees?’revival’ for New Orleans – Oct 4, 2005

Graham, the son and designated successor of the Rev. Billy Graham, said he doesn’t believe the devastating storm was a punishment from God for what he sees as the city’s ties to satanic worship and sexual perversion.

“I’m not saying that God used this storm as a judgment,” Graham said.

But he said the city’s Mardi Gras revelry and ties to voodoo were adverse to Christian beliefs.

“New Orleans has been known for years as a party town,” Graham said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from his office in Boone, North Carolina. “It is a city that has strong ties to the gay and lesbian movement, and these types of things.”

On Monday, Graham delivered a similar message in an appearance in Lynchburg: “There’s been satanic worship. There’s been sexual perversion. God is going to use that storm to bring revival. God has a plan. God has a purpose.”

Graham’s comments, reported by The News & Advance of Lynchburg, were made at Thomas Road Baptist Church’s Super Conference 2005 at Liberty University. Both the church and the university were founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell.

Okay, if you know your fundie playbook, this was your cue for the leetle bitty hairs on the back of your neck to stand up.

I think I’ll try to contact an old friend in the Lynchburg area who may be feeling a little… besieged just now.

Either way, I’m PSYCHIC.

Okay, the Chicago White Sox are playing the Boston Red Sox today, first game of the AL division championships. Several of my cow-orkers are very excited and nervous just now.

Actually, the White Sox were doing alright until just now when I walked into the break room to watch a couple of minutes with a rabid Sox fan. During the time it took to eat 1 (one) candy bar, 2 errors were committed and the Bosox scored 2 runs (with 2 outs and a man on). Gee, it was 6-0 Chisox when I unwrapped the candy bar, I feel like it’s my fault. Sorry, cow-orkers.

UPDATE: Top of the sixth inning, a couple of homers later it’s 12-2 Chisox. See what happens when I don’t watch?

UPDATE II: Final score appears to be 14-2, Chicago White Sox.

A tanker truck exploded in flames in the Bronx a short time ago – I was watching live TV via CNN at lunch. They don’t know much about it and were carefully not saying “terrorism” or anything, but it’s totally disrupted traffic and rail in the Hunts Point area, near a bridge. Apparently Amtrak runs some trains near there and the power is out along the line. There may have been a second truck and it was probably just a collision, but still.

Smoke over New York? Not happy news at all.