And since PA has already elected an anti-choice senator and does seem to be just Philly on one side and Pittsburgh on the other, with Alabama in between, I remain pessimistic that a Sestak challenge could upset the Obama-/Rendell-backed candidate.

As for trusting Specter, I haven't since I read yrs ago about his authorship of the MBT, and his difficulty, when questioned by at least one honest well-prepared journalist, to adequately defend same.  And not since I read that he then went back to Philly using his "fame" from the commission work to run against his old DA boss, switching parties to do so.  (afaik, the only WC staffer to immediately use that stint to seek political office)

I personally don't think the swine flu is any more dangerous than any other flu -- except that we don't have a vaccine for the high risk groups.

And, because I just wanted to check her facts out...

About 1,300 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the United States each year. The vast majority of cases in the United States are in travelers and immigrants returning from malaria-risk areas, many from sub-Saharan Africa and South Aisa.

The World Health Organization estimates that each year 300-500 million cases of malaria occur and more than 1 million people die of malaria, especially in developing countries. Most deaths occur in young children. For example, in Africa, a child dies from malaria every 30 seconds.

About 1 million people in the US have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic through 2007.

The number of influenza-associated (i.e., flu-related) deaths varies from year to year because flu seasons often fluctuate in length and severity. CDC estimated that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States. This figure includes people dying from complications of flu.

SNIP

What are flu-related deaths?

Flu-related deaths are deaths that occur in people for whom influenza infection was likely a contributor to the cause of death, but not necessarily the primary cause of death.

SNIP

CDC does not know exactly how many people die from flu each year. There are several reasons for this: First, states are not required to report individual flu cases or deaths of people older than 18 years of age to CDC. Second, influenza is infrequently listed on death certificates of people who die from flu-related complications [12]. Third, many flu-related deaths occur one or two weeks after a person's initial infection, either because the person may develop a secondary bacterial co-infection (such as a staph infection) [1,8,11] or because influenza can aggravate an existing chronic illness (such as congestive heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) [3]. Also, most people who die from flu-related complications are not tested for flu, or they seek medical care later in their illness when influenza can no longer be detected from respiratory samples. Influenza tests are only likely to detect influenza if performed within a week after onset of illness. For these reasons, many flu-related deaths may not be recorded on death certificates. These are some of the reasons that CDC and other public health agencies in the United States and other countries use statistical models to estimate the annual number of flu-related deaths

Big house equating to higher energy consumption and therefore hypocracy.