Researchers in New York believe they have solved one of the great mysteries of the flu: Why does the infection spread primarily in the winter months?
The answer, they say, has to do with the virus itself. It is more stable and stays in the air longer when air is cold and dry, the exact conditions for much of the flu season.
“Influenza virus is more likely to be transmitted during winter on the way to the subway than in a warm room,” said Peter Palese, a flu researcher who is professor and chairman of the microbiology department at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and the lead author of the flu study.
So all that stuff about “Dress warm”, “Put on your coat”,” Wear your mittens”, etc was useless? Someone tell my mom…
Looks like U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr.’s honeymoon is over.
An ad sponsored by Focus on the Family and the Pennsylvania Family Institute, which appeared in newspapers across the state — including the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era — last week called on Casey to return to his pro-life roots.
Headlined “Prodigal Senator?,” the ad slammed the younger Casey for voting against the Mexico City Policy, which prevents U.S. funding from going to overseas groups that promote abortion, and for voting against a ban of funding for domestic family planning agencies that perform abortions.
And the ad contrasted the younger Casey’s votes with the “principled stands against abortion” taken by his father, the late Gov. Bob Casey Sr.
“The ad is misleading and partisan,” Casey spokesman Larry Smar said Friday. “Sen. Casey is a pro-life Democrat who voted in favor of a measure that will reduce the number of abortions and does not allow funding of overseas abortions. He doesn’t need a lecture about his father from partisans who supported his 2006 opponent [former Sen. Rick Santorum].
Casey’s vote “supported international family planning efforts that would prevent unwanted pregnancies. It would not allow U.S. dollars to be used for overseas abortion services or counseling; the 1973 Helms amendment prohibits the use of U.S. funds for those purposes.”
Why do they do this? Because these groups really don’t want to reduce the number of abortions through family planning, they want to increase the number of pregnancies carried to term. It’s all about punishing women for having (gasp!) sex.
$24 billion has been spent, and at least $178 million wasted, on the failed Coast Guard Deepwater program;
over $600 million has been allocated for unworkable radiation border scanners;
$1.3 billion has been lost on the USVISIT program, which was never fully implemented; and
projected $2 billion loss on the SBInet “virtual fence” border program.
PDF avail
and we won’t mention “that DHS purchased iPods for “data storage,” dog booties for hurricane recovery and designer rain jackets for munitions training, only to learn the iPods were lost, the booties unused and the firing range closed during rain”.
The looting of taxpayer dollars through greed and incompetence has been done on such an epic scale that is almost incomprehensible…all that money plus the 9 extra Trillion we are in debt and not one single thing to show for it, nothing built or improved in the last 7 years, nothing.
Facing increasing evidence of military progress in Iraq, some Democratic congressional leaders are eyeing a shift in legislative strategy that would abandon a link between $50 billion in additional war funding sought by President Bush to a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops. Instead, they would tie the measure to political advances by the Iraqi government.
[…]
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) is examining a new approach, releasing war funds in small increments, with further installments tied to specific performance measures for Iraq’s politicians. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) also is searching for a new approach…
Yeah, or what if [conservative blogger] Hugh Hewitt called?
That’s when you start going, “Hmm . . .” Because they do reach people who are influential.
Well, they reach the president’s base.
That’s what I mean by influential. I mean, talk about a direct IV into the vein of your support. It’s a very efficient way to communicate. They regurgitate exactly and put up on their blogs what you said to them. It is something that we’ve cultivated and have really tried to put quite a bit of focus on.
why flu is a winter thing: NYT
So all that stuff about “Dress warm”, “Put on your coat”,” Wear your mittens”, etc was useless? Someone tell my mom…
apparently Bob Casey isn’t anti-choice enough for Focus on the Family and Co. From the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal:
Why do they do this? Because these groups really don’t want to reduce the number of abortions through family planning, they want to increase the number of pregnancies carried to term. It’s all about punishing women for having (gasp!) sex.
Or maybe they don’t really want to win the fight. Then they would have to go to the trouble of finding a new wedge issue to pretend to be for.
if you didn’t hear it, the npr iowa democratic debate is available at npr.org.
highlights and complete debate. listen on-line or download. 2 hrs.
lTMF’sA
and we won’t mention “that DHS purchased iPods for “data storage,” dog booties for hurricane recovery and designer rain jackets for munitions training, only to learn the iPods were lost, the booties unused and the firing range closed during rain”.
your tax dollars at work.
lTMF’sA
The looting of taxpayer dollars through greed and incompetence has been done on such an epic scale that is almost incomprehensible…all that money plus the 9 extra Trillion we are in debt and not one single thing to show for it, nothing built or improved in the last 7 years, nothing.
led by the odious duo of emanuel and hoyer:
with demoRATs like these, we don’t need any RATpublicans.
lTMF’sA
[Via Romensko]