More on the flu

The swine have gained a majority in their hostile takeover. Now Erinn has come down with flu symptoms. The kids are gradually improving, which is a bright spot in this gloomy story, but with Erinn down, three of the four of us are sick. The aggressively defensive strategy seems to be working for me so far, but none of us are out of the viral woods yet.

We will never know for certain if this actually was H1N1, but regardless of the name, it overran my family like a charging bull moose. Within a few hours of the first symptoms, my kids were burning with fever and aching all over. Erinn got the bonus of an unbearably sore throat. Headache, loss of appetite, and a deep, painful cough are also part of the symptoms. If anyone needs convincing that a vaccination is a good thing, talk to me.

You can get more facts about the flu, and Canada's explanation of why the vaccine contains thimerosal here. I was able to get my H1N1 shot today. Not in time to save me without an aggressively defensive strategy, but sooner than many others are getting it. There are some benefits to being a firefighter.

The nurse wouldn't vaccinate my laptop though, so I'll still have to watch out for digital swine flu.

On a lighter note, I started another blog, sort of. I don't expect to update it regularly, but when I do, I will post a link here. It's a blog of cartoons, some I've posted before, some I haven't. Check out the first installment.

On a more serious note, the jihadist movements in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan continue to defy reason. Obviously they are upset with Western interference in their countries. . . and I don't blame them for that. It's their tactics that I don't get. Here is what I imagine a friendly conversation between two Jihadists would sound like:

Taliban Jihadist 1: Hey dude, this American occupation of Afghanistan really sucks.

Taliban Jihadist 2: Yeah, it sucks in Iraq too. Especially since they got rid of the dearly beloved and wonderfully benevolent dictator Saddam. What are we going to do about it?

Taliban Jihadist 1: Let's bomb a market full of women and children. Killing and maiming a few hundred of our beloved countrymen goes right along with Benevolent Saddam's philanthropical beliefs.

Taliban Jihadist 2: Brilliant idea! That will show people how marvellous our Jihadist Utopia will be after these blasted democratic Americans go home. Speaking of democracy, are you running in the next election here in Pakistan?

Taliban Jihadist 1: Elections? Are you kidding? Why would we want to ask the people who should run the country? They always favour those wackos that want a stable and prosperous Pakistan. No sir, I'm sticking to my bombs, thank you very much.

And now they are trying to bring their Utopia here. You undoubtedly heard about the raid in Dearborn. These folks - Americans and Canadians - want an Islamist state in North America. It makes sense actually. Democracy has obviously failed. People here have food and homes and freedom. Why wouldn't we want an Islamic Utopia that saps the life out of it's citizens and catapults them back to the dark ages?