Excellent point from James Taranto at the Wall Street Journal:

Eleven Americans, ranging in age from 9 to 50, have come down with swine flu, the Associated Press reports: "All those people either recovered or are recovering; at least two were hospitalized."

In Mexico, however, the toll has been much worse. "About 70 deaths out of roughly 1,000 cases represents a fatality rate of about 7 percent," the AP notes. This is far higher than the 2.5% fatality rate from the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-19, although the latter was many orders of magnitude more widespread, killing 40 million people world-wide.

"The Mexican rate sounds terrifying," the AP writes. "But it's possible that far more than 1,000 people have been infected with the virus and that many had few if any symptoms." Which is somewhat, though not entirely, reassuring.

The AP dispatch is titled "Swine Flu Worse in Mexico Than US, but Why?" There's no definitive answer, but here's one of the possibilities:

Access to medical care has been an issue in Asia, where a rare bird flu--which does not spread easily from person-to-person--has killed more than 200 over the last several years. Maybe Mexican patients have also had trouble getting medical care or antiviral drugs, some have speculated--even though the government provides health care.

Wouldn't this paragraph make more sense if it ended ". . . because the government provides health care"?

This idea idea of socialized medicine (or National Health care) is very troubling for this country. Our health care industry may not be perfect, but its success in defeating disease and treating people with the most advanced equipment is second to none. It may be expensive, but no one is turned away from emergency care. There is no outrageous waiting period for treatment that in many other "socialized" countries could extend to a year or more for a simple MRI and the emphasis on care is still in the physician's hands, and not instead in a Washington bureaucrats.

I've already written about how the Obama/Daschle plan would effect me, but I think it's prudent to repeat. I have been diagnosed with what is called "end-stage renal failure." Now, to my personal credit, my lab results over the past few months have shown a remarkable turnaround - so much so that I may lose that label (which is a very rare occurrence).

However, should I being once again to decline in my kidney function, I will need to go on dialysis until such time that I can get a new kidney.

According to the Obama/Daschle plan, the decision to receive a new kidney will not be up to my physicians, or even to UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing). Instead, it will be decided by a pencil pusher in D.C. who will determine if my life is worth the expense. The reason is because it will not be my insurance company who will provide the money, but EVERYONE in this country will have to pay a share.

Therefore, the bureaucrat in Washington will act as judge, jury and executioner. So what do you think will happen in my case? Do you really think they will allow me to receive a new kidney? Seriously, after having a stroke and a heart transplant, it's more than likely that I will be told my "life" is not worth the additional expense to the taxpayer.

On top of that, the Obama/Daschle plan will completely phase out private insurance and will kill off the private insurance industry.

Whoever saw the movie "Logan's Run" and thought that was simply fantasy should begin to reconsider. Obama is making it harder to stay alive while he makes it easier to abort children. This is not the direction a nation that wishes to endure should be traveling. You may say that I am exaggerating, but aside from saying "because", what valid argument could you possibly make to dispute this?

In other words, for all the "stop the smears" campaigns and all the "hope and change" rhetoric, what exactly has Obama done in his 100 days in office that has made America and better or safer? Maybe that isn't a fair question because he's only been in office for 100 days. However, on the other side of the coin, I can clearly see many different things he has done to weaken America and make it far less safe.

This President, I'm sorry to say, is a complete failure and come 2010, his party must be defeated so thoroughly that they have no hope at regaining power in our generation.