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Scary Isn’t a Kid in a Halloween Costume

Posted by WALTER BRASCH, PH.D. in Media, Politics, Society.
Oct 20th, 2009 | Comments

by Walter and Rosemary Brasch

One of the joys of Halloween is to dress in scary costumes and pretend to frighten others, who pretend to be frightened. But with less than two weeks until an evening of trick-or-treating, it’s possible there won’t be anything scarier than what’s already happened in the country.

We are being told to fear the swine flu virus, and then learn that the vaccine, which was supposed to be available in mid-October, won’t be ready for awhile.

It makes little difference anyhow, since about fifty million Americans don’t have health insurance and couldn’t afford the cost of vaccinations or treatment.

The ogres of health reform, also known as Republicans and the insurance industry, have already frightened Americans by spewing lies and hatreds no costumed kid could ever top.

The teabaggers, thousands of Americans dressed in work clothes but who seem to despise the working class, disgorge even more lies, half-truths, fear, and hatred, along with spurts of poisonous doses of racism and bigotry, since they have to blame someone for their own problems.

The minority party has long since ceased being the loyal opposition and are now just bitter and venomous cogs in the progress of society. These pseudo-patriot reptiles who have taken over the Republican party have further shown just how disloyal they truly are when they hissed at the President of the United States for winning the Nobel Prize and then cheered that Chicago lost the Olympics bid to Rio de Janiero. The increase of hate isn’t likely to level off soon.

Also not leveling off are unemployment, bankruptcies, housing foreclosures, and the problems caused by increased homelessness, all of which began increasing more than two years before Barack Obama became president. As long as the Party of No, with the assistance of Blue Dog Democrats, can block reform, don’t look for an eight-year-old wearing a devil’s costume to be the scariest thing around.

American taxpayers have doled out billions to banks, which have figured out new ways to scam their customers and clients. The taxpayers have also bailed out auto manufacturers who had frivolously spent more than a fleet of drunken sailors while not being able to figure out how to get their own operations in ship-shape competition.

Americans, who are struggling just to survive, are being tricked by banking, insurance, and investment portfolio executives who are wearing Cheshire cat grins while they continue to reap in millions in taxpayer-provided bonuses for being incompetent and inefficient.

The fear instilled by the 9/11 attacks led Americans to willingly yield some of their Constitutional rights, while pretending that such laws as the PATRIOT Act would protect them from further harm. The fear of the past eight years that has led to the theft of six Constitutional amendments is scarier than any costumed pirate.

Frightening is also having a mass media that prefer to do play-by-play reporting on the latest celebrity break-up or coupling, real or imagined, rather than looking into critical social issues.

Indeed, ghosts, goblins, and things that go bump in the night don’t stand a chance of competing on Halloween with the fear that now exists in our country.

[Walter Brasch's latest books are Sex and the Single Beer Can: Probing the Media and American Culture and Sinking the Ship of State: The Presidency of George W. Bush. Rosemary Brasch is a former secretary, labor union staff grievance officer, college instructor of labor studies/labor history, and Red Cross national disaster family services specialist. The Brasches are syndicated columnists. You may contact them through www.walterbrasch.com]

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Father_Time

Yeah, could not agree more.

I wonder by what date martial law will be declared?

CStanley

Please stop the fearmongering and politicization of a viral illness.

The reality is that most people will need to rely on hygiene for prevention of H1N1, not because of lack of health insurance but because there will not be adequate supply to vaccinate the entire population. Ability to pay is not even close to being the limiting factor. Populations most at risk will need to be first in line for the available vaccine, and public health clinics will be providing the vaccine for those populations at no or very little cost.

Here is the information from the CDC website:
Where can persons who are uninsured or underinsured receive 2009 H1N1 vaccine?

In addition to public health departments and the mass vaccination clinics they sponsor, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), also known as Section 330-funded Health Centers (HCs), receive federal funding to provide healthcare to underserved populations, regardless of ability to pay, It is expected that the costs associated with administering 2009 H1N1 vaccine to existing health center patients would be borne by the health centers as part of the general expectations of their grants. As with all services they provide, Health Centers may charge a small fee. However, public health departments are encouraged to provide funding to FQHCs and other types of HCs to cover the costs of vaccinating uninsured persons who are not health center patients, but who seek 2009 H1N1 vaccination at these clinics as an alternative to other vaccination providers. For health centers in your area, visit http://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov. Additionally, providers may elect to provide the vaccine to uninsured or underinsured persons without charging an administration fee.
Who will pay for the administration of 2009 H1N1 vaccine of uninsured or underinsured persons?

Federal funds are being provided to public health authorities to ensure that uninsured or underinsured persons can receive H1N1 vaccine free of charge (see above). Patients without insurance coverage for 2009 H1N1 vaccine may be vaccinated in a private provider’s office if they are willing to pay the vaccine administration fee out of pocket, or if the provider chooses to administer the vaccine without charge. Patients who cannot afford to pay a vaccine administration fee are encouraged to seek vaccination through their public health department, mass vaccination clinic, or through a CCV.

DaGoat

The reality is that most people will need to rely on hygiene for prevention of H1N1, not because of lack of health insurance but because there will not be adequate supply to vaccinate the entire population. Ability to pay is not even close to being the limiting factor.

You're right - the vaccine itself will be free and the only potential charge should be an administration fee, which will be covered by insurance or often waived completely if you get it from a health clinic, church, etc.

The whole H1N1 situation is a mess though, and it's a mess that falls at the feet of the Obama administration. You are right there won't be enough vaccine. Moreover, the vaccine is going to be too late for many people as H1N1 is already hitting Iowa pretty hard (and we are one of the later states to get hit). The state lab is refusing to ID influenza strains any more unless the patient is critically ill because they are overwhelmed. Information has not gotten to the public very well, and many people don't know if they should get the vaccine or not, or what to do if they think they might have the flu.

On top of that, the vaccine suppliers had to stop producing seasonal vaccine to make more H1N1, meaning there are shortages of seasonal vaccine. This means people will not be adequately vaccinated for the still-to-come seasonal influenza. In an effort to handle two influenza strains, the government has failed at adequately handling either .

CStanley

I somewhat agree, but I'm not inclined to lay this at the feet of the Obama administration. Having a new strain and producing and distributing a new vaccine alongside the regular seasonal one is an overwhelming task. I don't see how we can have the level of preparedness to be able to flawlessly implement such a plan in the years when this does occur, and resources would sit idle during the normal years when there's not an additional potentially pandemic strain.

I think potentially there'll be room for criticism, but I'm not inclined to pile on or politicize in that direction either.

DLS

Team Obama is flubbing something else, but that's merely one of a number of things.

There is no excuse for hype or worse about the H1N1 virus or vaccine supplies, nor is there any excuse for the disgusting lowering of standards to where people are expecting the media to tell them all they need to know and what they need to do, augmenting the role of government as a surrogate parent and family. It's not only immature and low-IQ, but downright disgusting.

As to the additional litany of examples of leftist whining here, Brasch-ness illustrates the Left's childishness once more, simply the milder-mannered counterpart to the more brazen clenched-fist and irritating (when not laughable) exclamations of OUTRAGE! [tm]. [snicker]

DLS

"H1N1 is already hitting Iowa pretty hard (and we are one of the later states to get hit)"

I'd hate to think about what's happening in places with big metros and with inner (Democratic) cities; will this come back to bite them, to the extent this really is ineptitude or a series of blunders?

Then there is the issue of actual neglect or worse, for other, political reasons to think of:

Don't be surprised if (real) health care and so many more other things now are not only neglected, but deliberately so (if not truly cannibalized) to find funds to redirect to spend on other things -- like health care "reform," or more "stimulus"-aimed, frantic, amaturish-to-much-worse attempts to prop things up or keep things from getting much worse on a very short-term basis, until after the 2010 elections.

The same reasoning lies no doubt behind some of the deliberate postponement of the more unpleasant consequences of proposed health care "reform" and other measures -- some until after 2010, some until after 2012. This is no accident. Postponing the unpleasant until after these elections helps retain the votes of the easily fooled (keeps up the Dem vote totals).

Father_Time

WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!

BOOGA WOOGA.....!

Nobody is fear mongering. It's called pulling your head out of the sand and is required reading for a liberal, open minded, society.

DLS

"It's called pulling your head out of the sand"

The reality is, often, the opposite: HUA.

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