Originally appeared on 10/11/05

Oh no, it's a pandemic attack

     Has the whole world gone insane?  The NY Times recently did a front page article on information it received from an anonymous White House source about how we aren't ready for an outbreak of bird flu.  While I am sure that this would merit front page status to those birds who have their cages lined with the NY Times, this is pretty much a non issue to those humans that read the paper.  Bird flu (so named because it primarily afflicts birds) has had a few  cases pop up in the human species of recent, but those people primarily have been people that have had contact with birds that have the disease, and there is no evidence yet that the disease can be transmitted from person to person, so to bellow out on the front page on one of the largest circulated papers in the U.S. that we aren't ready for something that doesn't affect us seems to me to be pretty stupid.  I know the argument, flu viruses can change and this virus could change into one that can be trasmitted from human to human, but as of now it doesn't.  The sun could go all super nova tomorrow; I am betting that the White House contingency plan for that isn't  all that spectacular either.    The problem is that while we are out chasing our tail screaming about things that we aren't ready for and that by and large we need not be ready for, we are wasting time, money and resources that could be better spent on things that have already happened, such as Hurricane Katrina relief or aid to those who suffered from the earthquake this past weekend.    This is not to say we shouldn't be prepared for future events, such things as beefing up security to help prevent another terrorist attack make sense.  After all, when someone says they wish to do you harm, it is smart to do everything in your power to prevent it, but to throw money at the drug companies to come up with a vaccine to an illness that mostly doesn't affect people seems to me to just be chasing phantoms.  While chasing phantoms may make for a good plot to a Wes Craven flick, it is terrible public policy.