The term “war” should be used to describe battle.

4 Nov

To my loyal readers: 

I’m honored to have S.H. Townsend as a regular contributor to http://www.FreeStatePatriot.  We need to hear what it’s like from someone in the trenches of the so-called “war on women”. I am “greatly” looking forward to her perspective!

This is the first of many insightful columns to come from someone who just may enjoy writing more than anyone I know! While this column was written 2 years ago, I believe you’ll find her style of painting an intimate portrait – refreshing!

   Mark Caserta

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 TRUTHS FROM THE TRENCHES

“Real life realities of today’s conservative woman”

S. H. TOWNSEND 

From author S.H. Townsend:

 I am in the thirty+something year of my life. I’ve been married for over a decade, and I have written a forty book series, and I recently published my first book, Dormiveglia.

I drink too much coffee, I exercise… twice a week. I have two cats, but no children. I don’t embarrass easily, but there are certain parts of my life I don’t put the spotlight on.

I have OCD. GAD, and chronic hemiplegic migraines, and some days, I just have a hard time being me…I can’t remember where this one was from, but I saved them all. Since Ebola has entered the states, I no longer desire to go to medical school:I am a workaholic insomniac coffee addicted perfectionist redhead writer who suffers from OCD and chronic migraines, and aspires to be a best seller and a doctor. Need I say more?

Enjoy her blog as well:

http://confessionsofaredhead-shellye.blogspot.com/

shelley

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This is Ponderous.

 

President Obama was reelected today. I haven’t been this depressed since my husband lost his dream job in August.

 Yes, I am a Republican. Before I continue, I want to make it known that I am not here to debate or argue or badmouth the Democratic Party. People have the right to choose what political party they support, and I am not going to infringe upon that right. I have the right to be a Republican. I always have been, and I probably always will be. So that being said, let me get to the real reason I am composing this blog. Ever since the results of the election were announced, I realize that I have some serious thinking to do.

 Before I go on to this serious thinking, there’s just one thing that bothered me about the election itself. Illegal votes were reported in Hamilton County, Ohio. At this time, no reports have been made as to whether or not the illegal votes have been thrown out and Hamilton County’s ballots have been recounted. I don’t think illegal votes should count, but I’m just an American citizen, what do I know?

 I’m concerned about what is going to happen to my dreams, goals, and hopes, now that Obama has been reelected as president. It’s not that I don’t like Barak Obama as a person, I’ve never met him, and that wouldn’t be a fair judgment call, what I’m concerned about are his policies. Is President Barak Obama a Socialist? I think that’s a fair question because Socialism has been shoved into my face via the media in all forms since 2008 due to the health care reform.

 According to Google, this is what Socialism looks like:

  •  Punishes Success
  • Rewards Laziness
  • Redistribution of Wealth
  • Collective Ownership
  • Large Welfare System
  • Large Invasive Government

Keep in mind, this is not my definition of Socialism, this was provided by Google. It also shows that Socialism can eventually turn to Communism. That’s not what I’m here to discuss at this time.

 Do any of the above aspects and attributes of Socialism fall into Obama’s policies? I know for sure that redistribution of the wealth does fall into his desires for the United States. And forgive me, but I do not agree with the redistribution of my wealth or yours.

 I’m going to use my mother for example. My mother went to nursing school and became an LPN when she was in my age bracket. She had to pay to go to school, save for a few grants. She did not use any loans to pay for her education. She later furthered her education and became an RN. She went back and got several college degrees. She continues to further her education and training for her job. She has money put back for her retirement. Everyone can see that she’s worked hard to get to where she is today.

  Why should she have to share what she’s worked so hard to achieve?

  She did this ALL BY HERSELF. The people with whom she will be forced to share her wealth were not there when she had the ambition to leave her position as a stay at home mum of two so she could become an LPN. They were not there with her those long hours she spent studying. They were not there at her job interview and did not help her get the job. They were not there to help her when she returned to school.

  WHY SHOULD OTHER PEOPLE BE GIVEN HER HARD EARNED MONEY?

 Can somebody please answer that question for me? Why should her money be given to people who did not work for it? I don’t see how that’s fair! Maybe I’m just an evil Republican who has old fashioned values, but I think my mother should get to keep her money that she has worked so hard to earn. I’m her child, and I’m not entitled to it unless she decides to give it to me, and that’s how it should be. I may be poor, but I am not entitled to someone else’s money because I DID NOT EARN IT! It’s as simple as that.

 Here’s another thing, and I don’t know if Obama has been planning on this, but the collective ownership issue is something else with which I do not agree. I’m going to use my landlady as an example. My landlady owns the cottage we live in and we pay her rent. That’s the agreement. It is her cottage. We pay a fee to reside in her cottage. She and her husband built it from the ground up. My husband and I live in the house where she and her husband spent their first years as a married couple. She also owns and lives in (and I think her late husband had a hand in building it as well) the house in front of us. She and her husband obviously worked hard, so why should the government or anyone else have any right to what she and her husband paid off and own free and clear?

  How is that fair to her? And would it be fair to me and my husband if another family decided to move into the cottage with us, since they would have collective ownership of the cottage? It’s private property, and my husband and I are the only other people besides our landlady who have the right to be on the property. It’s the same with cars. I don’t want to share a car that I paid for with other people who did not work to pay for it. They may not take care of it because they didn’t earn it. They didn’t work for it.

  Think about it. How would you like someone using your personal private things, the things that you paid good money for that you worked hard to earn? (Some people don’t even like sharing with their siblings. Imagine having to share your property with people you don’t even know!)

 I also do not think laziness should be rewarded. And believe me, it’s not – at least not for me and my husband. I NEVER want to be rewarded for laziness.

  Do you know how much my husband would get from unemployment after losing his dream job? Only $65.00 per week!  We can’t live on that! Do you know how many food stamps we would get if we signed up for them? Maybe $16.00 if we’re lucky and that’s because the government thinks one of us should have a part time minimum wage job. If one of us had a part-time minimum wage job, the government says we would get close to $200.00 or more. (My husband had a part- time minimum wage job that gave him eight hours per week or less, and do you know how much we qualified for in food stamps? Nothing.)

I have looked for a job since February of 2011. (Writing a book series doesn’t pay anything until the first book is published.) I’ve had TWO interviews since February of 2011. I had a woman look at me and say, “Well, you’re just not going to work.” When I asked why, she snapped at me and said, “I DON’T HAVE TO GIVE YOU A REASON.” So I demanded that she give me my resume back. And she glared at me, and I grabbed it out of her hand and I left!

 TWO INTERVIEWS IN EIGHTEEN MONTHS! Do you know how humiliating that is? And people think I’m not trying? Really? My husband lost his dream job! I was suicidal! We’ve struggled for so long, and this was just such a shocking blow to us. I don’t want to be back on food stamps! I don’t want my husband to be back on unemployment! I DON’T WANT TO LIVE OFF OF THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! I HAVE DREAMS AND THIS IS NOT THE LIFE I WANT FOR MYSELF OR MY HUSBAND! WHAT IS SO WRONG WITH WANTING TO DO MORE THAN JUST SURVIVE?

 Until today, I had dreams. Now all I have are questions. What’s going to happen to my dream now?

 In 2009, I didn’t like the way my life was going, so I decided to change it. I started writing, mostly for an escape because things were really bad. (Now I’m getting beyond the valley of the realness.) My husband and I had nothing but each other, but our marriage was falling apart. He decided to go back to school to better our lives. (That isn’t turning out the way we had hoped it would.) I did not support him because I thought it was a bad idea. I asked him time after time what we were going to do to survive while he was going to school. He gave me one answer and one answer only. He told me that he was going to school and that nobody was going to stop him. (I’m so glad he supports my dream despite the fact that I wasn’t so supportive of his.) I felt like he didn’t really care what happened to us, nor did he love me enough to address my concerns. I resented his lack of concern and he resented my lack of support.

 I started playing game and writing little stories about the characters. One of my friends was totally on board with me. She began adding ideas and listening to me share what was going on in the lives of my characters.

  What was a way of escape became something fun for me to share with my friends. Then, people started saying, “Shellye, you should turn it into a book.” At first I dismissed their suggestions, but when my friend prompted me on numerous occasions to take my ideas and put them into a book, I decided that maybe everyone was on to something. So I slowly began building it into a book.

 Now it has grown into twelve books, and that’s just dividing what I already have into 500 to 600 page books, and I still have at the very least, twelve more to write.

 I’ve worked so hard on this book series. I’ve poured my blood, my sweat, and my tears into it, sometimes all three things, and sometimes in the literal sense. My book has cost me time away from my family and my friends. I have neglected my own needs at times. I’ve had many sleepless nights. There are times I should have been resting, but the story ideas kept coming. There are things I’ve had to say no to because I had work to do. There are calls that I should have been making, but I was in the middle of an important part of the story. There are things I have done and experienced to be a better writer so I can get involved in the character’s emotions and feelings, music I’ve listened to, videos I’ve watched, research I’ve done on things that I am not interested in just to feel what my character is feeling. Countless hours, long days, sleepless nights, and sometimes not leaving my house for days, sometimes ignoring social networking sites. And I did it because I want to be a success. First, I escaped, second, I had fun, third, I believed in myself, and fourth, I want to take care of myself and my family. I think I’ve earned that.

 Does Obama think I’ve earned it? That’s my biggest concern.

 This is what I’ve been told. If I don’t go after what I want, I will never have it. I want to be a best- selling author. Call me pretentious, but I think I have a chance. But now, I’m faced with the possibility of throwing it all away. Forgive me, but I don’t think anyone has a right to my book or its earnings unless they helped me work on it. My supporters have a right to it. My friend and editor, Carrie, she has a right to it. My husband has a right to it. That’s why it’s so important that I succeed, because my husband is counting on me, my family is counting on me, and the people who put work and effort into the book alongside me, they are counting on me.

  I don’t want the government to take that away from me! That’s why I didn’t vote for Obama! I didn’t vote FOR Romney, I voted AGAINST Obama.

  And I don’t agree with Romney’s view of women. It’s true, Republican men in power do not have any respect for women. I know this. Republican males see the world and their political party as a boy’s club. I’ve never agreed with that, and that’s because I am a strong woman. I was raised by a strong woman.

  I didn’t vote for Obama because I don’t agree with Socialism. I voted AGAINST Obama because I believe in Capitalism. If that makes me a horrible person, let the record show that I am a horrible person. Shout it from the rooftops, declare it in your cities and your schools, whatever you have to do, just do it! I take full responsibility for my horribleness!

 I have worked hard, and I dare anyone to tell me that I haven’t! I am sick to death of people and their assumptions. If I hear one more person tell me I’m not going to make it, I may punch them right in the face! (Yes, you may take that seriously. I mean that.) But I’m not going to let the government take it away from me either.

  I don’t want to throw away two years worth of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears… But I will if I have to share credit and/or money with strangers who didn’t work for it or earn it because they don’t deserve it. If I’m wrong, then I’m wrong. If I’m evil, then let it be decreed that I’m evil because I don’t want to share my hard earned wealth with someone who didn’t earn it, or someone who is not entitled to it.

  It is my dream, and I will share my wealth with the people of my choosing. If I cannot, then, I will be the one to make the decision to kill it. I don’t want to see my work go down the drain, but I WILL NOT let the government take credit for it or redistribute my earnings from it! If I succeed, I should be rewarded for it. Not you. Not people who are too lazy to try to get a job (as if there are any real jobs these days); not the government; and yes, you can quote me.

 I thought I was the one who decided where my dream would go from here.

 

Maybe not…

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Scientists try to predict number of US Ebola cases

2 Nov
Nov 1, 10:41 PM EDT

Didn’t the president tell us to trust the science in this case?

By MARTHA MENDOZA AP National Writer
 scientist 1

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Top medical experts studying the spread of Ebola say the public should expect more cases to emerge in the United States by year’s end as infected people arrive here from West Africa, including American doctors and nurses returning from the hot zone and people fleeing from the deadly disease.

But how many cases?

No one knows for sure how many infections will emerge in the U.S. or anywhere else, but scientists have made educated guesses based on data models that weigh hundreds of variables, including daily new infections in West Africa, airline traffic worldwide and transmission possibilities.

This week, several top infectious disease experts ran simulations for The Associated Press that predicted as few as one or two additional infections by the end of 2014 to a worst-case scenario of 130.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a huge outbreak here, no,” said Dr. David Relman, a professor of infectious disease, microbiology and immunology at Stanford University’s medical school. “However, as best we can tell right now, it is quite possible that every major city will see at least a handful of cases.”

Relman is a founding member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advisory board for biosecurity and chairs the National Academy of Sciences forum on microbial threats.

Until now, projections published in top medical journals by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control have focused on worst-case scenarios for West Africa, concluding that cases in the U.S. will be episodic, but minimal. But they have declined to specify actual numbers.

The projections are complicated, but Ebola has been a fairly predictable virus – extremely infectious, contagious only through contact with body fluids, requiring no more than 21 days for symptoms to emerge. Human behavior is far less predictable – people get on airplanes, shake hands, misdiagnose, even lie.

Pandemic risk expert Dominic Smith, a senior manager for life risks at Newark, California-based RMS, a leading catastrophe-modeling firm, ran a U.S. simulation this week that projected 15 to 130 cases between now and the end of December. That’s less than one case per 2 million people.

Smith’s method assumes that most cases imported to the U.S. will be American medical professionals who worked in West Africa and returned home.

Smith said the high end may be a bit of an overestimate as it does not include the automatic quarantining measures that some areas in the U.S. are implementing.

scientist 2

Those quarantines “could both reduce the number of contacts for imported cases, as well as increase the travel burden on – and perhaps reduce the number of – U.S. volunteers planning to support the effort in West Africa,” he said.

In a second simulation, Northeastern University professor Alessandro Vespignani projected between one case – the most likely scenario – and a slim chance of as many as eight cases though the end of November.

“I’m always trying to tell people to keep calm and keep thinking rationally,” said Vespignani, who projects the spread of infectious diseases at the university’s Laboratory for the Modeling of Biological and Socio-Technical Systems.

In an article in the journal PLOS ONE, Vespignani and a team of colleagues said the probability of international spread outside the African region is small, but not negligible. Longer term, they say international dissemination will depend on what happens in West Africa in the next few months.

Their first analysis, published Sept. 2, proved to be accurate when it included the U.S. among 30 countries likely to see some Ebola cases. They projected one or two infections in the U.S., but there could be as many as 10.

scientist 3

So far, nine Ebola patients have been treated in the U.S., and one has died. Seven became infected in West Africa, including Thomas Eric Duncan, the first to arrive undiagnosed and the first to die. He was cared for at a Dallas hospital, where two of his nurses were also infected.

Duncan, who was initially misdiagnosed and sent home from the emergency room, is Vespignani’s worst-case scenario for the U.S.

A similar situation, if left unchecked, could lead to a local cluster that could infect, on the outside, as many as 20, he said.

The foreseeable future extends only for the next few months. After that, projections depend entirely on what happens in West Africa. One scenario is that the surge in assistance to the region brings the epidemic under control and cases peter out in the U.S. A second scenario involves Ebola spreading unchecked across international borders.

“My worry is that the epidemic might spill into other countries in Africa or the Middle East, and then India or China. That could be a totally different story for everybody,” Vespignani said.

Dr. Ashish Jha, a Harvard University professor and director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said he’s not worried about a handful of new cases in the U.S. His greatest worry is if the disease goes from West Africa to India.

“If the infection starts spreading in Delhi or Mumbai, what are we going to do?”

Dr. Peter Hotez, founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, pegs the range of cases in the U.S. between five and 100.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prefers not to focus on a particular number. But spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds said Ebola will not be a widespread threat as some outside the agency have warned.

“We’re talking about clusters in some places but not outbreaks,” she said.

The CDC is using modeling tools to work on projections in West Africa, but “there isn’t enough data available in the U.S. to make it worthwhile to go through the exercise.”

University of Texas integrative biology professor Lauren Ancel Meyers said there are inherent inconsistencies in forecasting “because the course of action we’re taking today will impact what happens in the future.”

Her laboratory is running projections of Ebola’s spread in West Africa.

The U.S. simulations run for the AP had fairly consistent results with each other, she said. And they are “consistent with what we know about the disease.”

scientist 4
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Can we trust Barack Obama?

1 Nov

AND THEN I TOLD THEM

Let’s get folks out to vote November 4th

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Mitt Romney makes Obama look foolish in this debate clip. It only takes 45 seconds…

31 Oct

romney obama

http://conservativetribune.com/romney-makes-obama-foolish/

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A VERY TIMELY PRAYER FOR ALL PATRIOTS TO PRAY AND SHARE.

31 Oct

soldier

Father, I pray for wisdom for all the leaders of the world. Show each of them your perfect will and watch over them to insure it’s accomplished.

If someone refuses to do your will, Father I ask they be removed from their position and be replaced by someone who will hear from You.

God, we place this upcoming election in your hands. May thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

For our nation and, indeed the world, needs you now – more than ever before.

While it seems an impossible task, we know you operate best in the “impossible”.

With God, All things are possible.

 Amen and amen

Mark Caserta: President failed to be proactive in dealing with Ebola

30 Oct

ebola 8ebola 6QUARANTINE

Oct. 30, 2014 @ 12:24 AM

The Obama administration has consistently demonstrated an inability to proactively think a policy through its unintended consequences. And any “common sense” option seems always to be circumvented for the purpose of protecting this president politically. The reaction to the Ebola outbreak has been no different.

Common sense dictates containing the Ebola virus at its source until it can be eradicated. But with an estimated 150 people traveling to the United States each day from West Africa, travel restrictions alone would be insufficient since there are no direct, non-stop commercial flights from countries hardest hit by the virus to any U.S. airport. All new visas to the U.S. for citizens of Ebola-stricken nations would need to be banned until the outbreak has been controlled period.

And as fear of an outbreak in the U.S. escalates, the idea of such a travel ban is gaining momentum among House and Senate Republicans.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, became the latest Republican lawmaker to announce plans to introduce a measure that would temporarily ban new visas for people from the countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The bill, which Rubio plans to introduce when the Senate returns after the Nov. 4 mid-term elections, would go into effect immediately and continue until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention certifies that the outbreak has been contained. It could also be expanded to any future countries experiencing an outbreak of the virus.

But at this point, these precautions are like closing the barn door after the horses have bolted. The Obama administration has mishandled the Ebola situation from the very beginning.

The first Ebola patient, a teenage boy now known as “patient zero,” was identified in the West African country of Guinea way back in December 6, 2013. The boy died from the disease.

By March 24, 2014, authorities in Guinea reported 87 suspected cases of Ebola. Soon after, Liberia and Sierra Leone began reporting cases of the dreadful disease. By late September Ebola was reported as “out of control” in West Africa and “unprecedented” in its scope.

But even by Sept. 16, when Obama reassured Americans the chances of an Ebola outbreak in the U.S. were “extremely low,” he had incredulously failed to institute any travel restrictions from infected regions.

Finally, amid increasing pressure, President Obama instituted restrictions for travelers flying into the U.S. from the heavily impacted West African countries. Beginning last Wednesday passengers will be funneled through international airports in New York, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey. These five airports will reportedly have specialized Ebola screening steps.

In preparation, Governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Chris Christie of New Jersey announced last week a joint policy mandating a 21-day quarantine for anyone flying into their states after having contact with Ebola sufferers in West Africa.

But President Obama should have been more proactive in his approach to dealing with this deadly disease. His hesitation to act has needlessly placed Americans at risk. One can only pray this doesn’t end in catastrophe for Americans.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Mark Caserta: Obama’s policies are on November ballot

29 Oct

obama vote 1

Oct. 15, 2014 @ 09:20 PM

No doubt when President Obama told Mitt Romney during the first 2012 presidential debate that he “liked” the term “Obamacare,” he was confident the appellation would be revered as an historic accomplishment for his administration.

Certainly Democrats have been willing to spend your hard-earned tax money to preserve the president’s aspirations. Bloomberg Government reports the cost of HealthCare.gov has now exceeded the $2 billion mark, while the total cost of Obama’s health care reform is more than $73 billion.

But nowadays it’s difficult to find a Democrat who openly supports any of this president’s policies in their election campaigns, much less Obama’s signature health care legislation. But in a recent speech, President Obama assured Americans his policies were indeed on November’s ballot.

obama vote 2

“I am not on the ballot this fall,” President Obama said. “But make no mistake: these policies are on the ballot. Every single one of them.”

Yes, there are people who now have healthcare who didn’t prior to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

But millions have been forced off their existing plan (despite Obama’s promise this would never happen, winning him the esteemed Politifact “Lie of the Year” Award) into health care exchanges where they’re experiencing less coverage, higher deductibles and fewer choices in providers.

In fact, if the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had scored the ACA correctly, it probably would never have passed! According to Forbes Magazine, 12.5 percent fewer people are uninsured by 2014, rather than the 37.3 percent projected by the CBO.

Additionally, of the millions with canceled coverage, 1 million remain uninsured. And Americans are experiencing far higher premiums than originally estimated while nearly $7,000 will be added in taxes/fees over a decade even for families in the lowest 20 percent of household income.

And all around the country businesses are preparing for the impact of the employer mandate under Obamacare. Understand, these companies will not simply absorb these additional costs. They’ll either cut expenses or raise prices.

Currently hundreds of employers are cutting back on employee’s hours to avoid paying for health care, forcing these individuals into purchasing coverage from an exchange or pay a fine.

obama vote 4

And many people still don’t realize the IRS will be the enforcer for ensuring everyone meets their “shared responsibility payment” as decreed by the individual mandate of Obamacare. And Americans have already seen what IRS leadership is willing to do to propagate this president’s ultra-liberal agenda.

Now, there are points in the ACA which should remain, such as coverage for “pre-existing” conditions. But Democrats failed to engage in the necessary conversation about allowing the free market to work in the insurance industry by instituting healthy interstate competition and tort reform.

Instead, they went right for socialized medicine.

Simply put, Barack Obama and complicit Democrats passed legislation that forces Americans into purchasing a product, despite their wants or needs, so they can “redistribute” the assets as they deem “fair.” They’ve taken the “care” out of health care and made it health “control.”

So Democrats may want to run, but they cannot hide. They gave us Obamacare.

obama vote 3

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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State Department plans to bring foreign Ebola patients to U.S.

28 Oct

STATE DEPARTMENT DOCUMENT REVEALS PLANS

ebola to us

The State Department has quietly made plans to bring Ebola-infected doctors and medical aides to the U.S. for treatment, according to an internal department document that argued the only way to get other countries to send medical teams to West Africa is to promise that the U.S. will be the world’s medical backstop.

Some countries “are implicitly or explicitly waiting for medevac assurances” before they will agree to send their own medical teams to join U.S. and U.N. aid workers on the ground, the State Department argues in the undated four-page memo, which was reviewed by The Washington Times.

“The United States needs to show leadership and act as we are asking others to act by admitting certain non-citizens into the country for medical treatment for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) during the Ebola crisis,” says the four-page memo, which lists as its author Robert Sorenson, deputy director of the office of international health and biodefense.

More than 10,000 people have become infected with Ebola in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and the U.S. has taken a lead role in arguing that the outbreak must be stopped in West Africa. President Obama has committed thousands of U.S. troops and has deployed American medical personnel, but other countries have been slow to follow.

In the memo, officials say their preference is for patients go to Europe, but there are some cases in which the U.S. is “the logical treatment destination for non-citizens.”

The document has been shared with Congress, where lawmakers already are nervous about the administration’s handling of the Ebola outbreak. The memo even details the expected price per patient, with transportation costs at $200,000 and treatment at $300,000.

A State Department official signaled Tuesday evening that the discussions had been shelved.

“There is no policy of the U.S. government to allow entry of non-U.S. citizen Ebola-infected to the United States. There is no consideration in the State Department of changing that policy,” the official said.

Another official said the department is considering using American aircraft equipped to handle Ebola cases to transport noncitizens to other countries.

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“We have discussed allowing other countries to use our medevac capabilities to evacuate their own citizens to their home countries or third-countries, subject to reimbursement and availability,” the second department official said.

The internal State Department memo is described as “sensitive but unclassified.” A tracking sheet attached to it says it was cleared by offices of the deputy secretary, the deputy secretary for management, the office of Central African affairs and the medical services office.

A call to the number listed for Mr. Sorenson wasn’t returned Tuesday.

Mr. Obama has been clear about his desire to recruit medical and aid workers to fight Ebola in Africa.

“We know that the best way to protect Americans ultimately is going to stop this outbreak at the source,” the president said at the White House on Tuesday, praising U.S. aid workers who are already involved in the effort. “No other nation is doing as much to make sure that we contain and ultimately eliminate this outbreak than America.”

About half of the more than 10,000 cases in West Africa have been fatal.

Four cases have been diagnosed in the U.S., and three of those were health care workers treating infected patients. Two of those, both nurses at a Dallas hospital, have been cured.

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Several American aid workers who contracted the disease overseas were flown to the U.S. for treatment.

The United Nations and World Health Organization are also heavily involved in deploying to the affected region, but other countries have been slower to provide resources to fight Ebola in West Africa or to agree to treat workers who contract the disease.

The State Department memo says only Germany has agreed to take non-German citizens who contract Ebola.

European nations are closer to West Africa, making transport easier, the State Department memo said.

Officials said the U.S. is the right place to treat some cases, notably those in which non-Americans are contracted to work in West Africa for U.S.-based charities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“So far all of the Ebola medevacs brought back to U.S. hospitals have been U.S. citizens. But there are many non-citizens working for U.S. government agencies and organizations in the Ebola-affected countries of West Africa,” the memo says. “Many of them are citizens of countries lacking adequate medical care, and if they contracted Ebola in the course of their work they would need to be evacuated to medical facilities in the United States or Europe.”

dr spencer

The memo says the State Department has a contract with Phoenix Aviation, which maintains an airplane capable of transporting an Ebola patient. The U.S. can transport noncitizens and have other countries or organizations pay the cost.

The U.S. has helped transport three health care workers to Germany and one to France.

In the U.S., the department memo lists three hospitals — the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Emory University Hospital in Atlanta — that are willing to take Ebola patients.

According to the memo, Homeland Security Department officials would be required to waive legal restrictions to speed the transport of patients into the U.S. “A pre-established framework would be essential to guarantee that only authorized individuals would be considered for travel authorization and that all necessary vetting would occur,” the memo says.

A Homeland Security spokeswoman didn’t return emails seeking comment.

Judicial Watch, a conservative-leaning public interest watchdog, revealed the existence of a State Department plan this month. When The Times described the document to Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch’s president, he said it is evidence of why the administration balked at adopting a travel ban on those from affected countries.

“Under this theory, there could be people moving here now, transporting people here now, and it could be done with no warning,” Mr. Fitton said. “If our borders mean anything, it is the ability to make sure that dire threats to the public health are kept out.”

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After those initial reports surfaced, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, sent a letter asking for answers. On Tuesday, he said the document The Times obtained “raises more concerns and questions than answers.”

“President Obama should be forthcoming with the American people about the scope of his plan to bring non-U.S. citizens infected with Ebola to the United States for treatment,” Mr. Goodlatte said in a statement.

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Lawmaker claims plans may be in pipeline to bring non-citizens to US for Ebola treatment

28 Oct

WHAT IS OBAMA TRYING TO DO TO OUR NATION?

crisis mode

A top Republican congressman claims the Obama administration is exploring plans to bring non-U.S. citizens infected with Ebola to the United States for treatment.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News that his office has received “information from within the administration” that these plans are being developed. So far, only American Ebola patients have been brought back to the U.S. for treatment from the disease epicenter in West Africa.

Goodlatte warned that expanding that policy could put the country at more risk.

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“Members of the media, my office have received confidential communications saying that those plans are being developed,” Goodlatte said Monday night.

“This is simply a matter of common sense that if you are concerned about this problem spreading — and this is a deadly disease that we’re even concerned about the great health care workers when they come back not spreading it — we certainly shouldn’t be bringing in the patients.”

The chairman wrote a letter last week to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Secretary of State John Kerry asking whether such plans exist, but he says he has not gotten a response.

The details are sketchy, if such a plan even exists.

ebola treatment

A Goodlatte aide told FoxNews.com that “someone in one of the agencies” contacted their office with the tip — presumably, the plan would apply to non-U.S. residents. Who would pay for the transport and treatment is an open question.

In his letter last week, Goodlatte asked whether the administration is formulating such a plan, seeking details and communications among their employees.

The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch also reported, shortly before Goodlatte sent the letter, that the administration is “actively formulating” plans to bring Ebola patients into the U.S., with the specific goal of treating them “within the first days of diagnosis.”

Goodlatte earlier had pushed the president to consider using his authority to impose a temporary ban on non-U.S. citizen travel to the United States from the three African countries hardest-hit by Ebola.

“We think, again, that’s just plain common sense, a practical way to stop this disease from spreading,” he said.

The Obama administration has pushed back on those calls, saying the most effective approach is to stop Ebola at its source in West Africa.

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Ebola can survive on surfaces for almost TWO MONTHS

27 Oct

This just keeps getting worse…but here are some tips for avoiding the virus.

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Tests reveal certain strains survive for weeks when stored at low temperatures

  • Research claims certain strains of Ebola can remain on surfaces for 50 days
  • It survived the longest on glass surfaces stored at 4° (39°F)
  • Centres for Disease Control and Prevention claims Ebola typically lives on a ‘dry’ surface for hours – including doorknobs and tables
  • But when stored in moist conditions such in mucus, this is extended 
  • Survival time depends on the surface, and the room temperature
  • Virus can be killed using household bleach and people must come into direct contact with the sample to risk infection 

By Mark Prigg and Victoria Woollaston for MailOnline

Published: 11:50 EST, 27 October 2014 | Updated: 15:14 EST, 27 October 2014

The number of confirmed Ebola cases passed the 10,000 mark over the weekend, despite efforts to curb its spread.

And while the disease typically dies on surfaces within hours, research has discovered it can survive for more than seven weeks under certain conditions.

During tests, the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) found that the Zaire strain will live on samples stored on glass at low temperatures for as long as 50 days. 

The left-hand charts plot survival rates of Zaire strain of Ebola (Zebov) and Lake Victoria marburgvirus (Marv) on glass (a) and plastic (b) at 4° (39°F) over 14 days. The right-hand charts reveal the survival rate under the same conditions over 50 days. Both viruses survived for 26 days, and Ebola was extracted after 50 days

The tests were initially carried out by researchers from DSTL before the current outbreak, in 2010, but the strain investigated is one of five that is still infecting people globally.

The findings are also quoted in advice from the Public Agency of Health in Canada. 

Ebola was discovered in 1976 and is a member of the Filoviridae family.

This family includes the Zaire ebolavirus (Zebov), which was first identified in 1976 and is the most virulent; Sudan ebolavirus, (Sebov); Tai Forest ebolavirus; Ebola-Reston (Rebov), and Bundibugyo ebolavirus (Bebov) – the most recent species, discovered in 2008.

HOW LONG DOES EBOLA SURVIVE?

For their 2010 paper, ‘The survival of filoviruses in liquids, on solid substrates and in a dynamic aerosol’, the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) tested two particular filoviruses on a variety of surfaces.

These were the Lake Victoria marburgvirus (Marv), and Zaire ebolavirus (Zebov).

Each was placed into guinea pig tissue samples and tested for their ability to survive in different liquids and on different surfaces at different temperatures, over a 50-day period.

When stored at 4° (39°F), by day 26, viruses from three of the samples were successfully extracted; Zebov on the glass sample, and Marv on both glass and plastic.

By day 50, the only sample from which the virus could be recovered was the Zebov from tissue on glass. 

For their 2010 paper, ‘The survival of filoviruses in liquids, on solid substrates and in a dynamic aerosol’, Sophie Smither and her colleagues tested two particular filoviruses on a variety of surfaces.

These were the Lake Victoria marburgvirus (Marv), and Zebov.

Each was placed into guinea pig tissue samples and tested for their ability to survive in different liquids, and on different surfaces at different temperatures, over a 50-day period.

When stored at 4° (39°F), by day 26, viruses from three of the samples were successfully extracted; Zebov on the glass sample, and Marv on both glass and plastic.

By day 50, the only sample from which the virus could be recovered was the Zebov from tissue on glass.

‘This study has demonstrated that filoviruses are able to survive and remain infectious, for extended periods when suspended within liquid and dried onto surfaces,’ explained the researchers.

‘Data from this study extend the knowledge on the survival of filoviruses under different conditions and provide a basis with which to inform risk assessments and manage exposure.’

The researchers do stress that these tests were carried out in a controlled lab environment, and not in the real world, but published their findings to highlight the survival rates. 

Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its Ebola guidelines following the rise in infections. 

Ebola (pictured) was discovered in 1976 and is a member of the Filoviridae family. This family includes the Zaire ebolavirus (Zebov), which was first identified in 1976 and is the most virulent; Sudan ebolavirus, (Sebov); Tai Forest ebolavirus; Ebola-Reston (Rebov), and Bundibugyo ebolavirus (Bebov)

Ebola (pictured) was discovered in 1976 and is a member of the Filoviridae family. This family includes the Zaire ebolavirus (Zebov), which was first identified in 1976 and is the most virulent; Sudan ebolavirus, (Sebov); Tai Forest ebolavirus; Ebola-Reston (Rebov), and Bundibugyo ebolavirus (Bebov)

The centre explained that Ebola is not spread through the air, water, or food and a person infected with Ebola can’t spread the disease until symptoms appear.

The time from exposure to when signs or symptoms of the disease appear, known as the incubation period, is two to 21 days, but the average time is eight to 10 days.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention advises:

• DO wash your hands often with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

• Do NOT touch the blood or body fluids (like urine, feces, saliva, vomit, sweat, and semen) of people who are sick.

• Do NOT handle items that may have come in contact with a sick person’s blood or body fluids, like clothes, bedding, needles,or medical equipment.

• Do NOT touch the body of someone who has died of Ebola.

Ebola is spread through direct contact, through broken skin or through eyes, nose, or mouth, via blood and body fluids of a person who is sick with Ebola, or objects, such as needles, that have been contaminated with the blood or body fluids of a person sick with Ebola. 

Signs of Ebola include fever and symptoms like severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, or unexplained bleeding or bruising. 

Dr Tom Fletcher of the Royal Army Medical Corps, who has treated victims in Guinea and Sierra Leone, says: ‘The initial symptoms are quite non-specific and similar to a flu-like illness. 

‘They include fever, headache and lethargy. This progresses to severe diarrhoea and vomiting.’ 

Officials have emphasised there is no risk of transmission from people who have been exposed to the virus, but are not yet showing symptoms.  

But, specialists at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta found that the virus is present on a patient’s skin after symptoms develop, underlining how contagious the disease is once symptoms set in.

According to the CDC, the virus can survive for a few hours on dry surfaces like doorknobs and countertops and can survive for several days in puddles or other collections of body fluid. 

However, bleach solutions, including household bleach, can kill it.

As Ebola grabs headlines, how close to curing it are we?

Ebola is only spread through direct contact, through broken skin or through eyes, nose, or mouth, via blood and body fluids of a person who is sick with Ebola, or objects, such as needles, that have been contaminated with the blood or body fluids of a person sick with Ebola. It can be killed using bleach 

CDC to release new guidelines for returning Ebola workers

There is no FDA-approved vaccine available for Ebola, but experimental vaccines and treatments for Ebola are under development.

The CDC advises people wash their hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser, to protect themselves. 

It warns to not touch the blood or body fluids, including urine, faeces, saliva, vomit, sweat, and semen of people who are sick. 

Ebola was once thought to originated in gorillas, because human outbreaks began after people ate gorilla meat.

But scientists now believe that bats are the natural reservoir for the virus, and that apes and humans catch it from eating food that bats have drooled or defecated on, or by coming in contact with surfaces covered in infected bat droppings and then touching their eyes or mouths. 

The current outbreak seems to have started in a village near Guéckédou, Guinea, where bat hunting is common, according to Doctors Without Borders.

US Ambassador Power will abide by quarantine requirements

Officials have emphasized that there is no risk of transmission from people who have been exposed to the virus (pictured) but are not yet showing symptoms. But, specialists at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta found that the virus is present on a patient’s skin after symptoms develop

Ebola was once thought to originated in gorillas, because human outbreaks began after people ate gorilla meat. But scientists now believe that bats are the natural reservoir for the virus, and that apes and humans catch it from eating food that bats have drooled or defecated on

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2809803/Ebola-surfaces-TWO-months-Tests-reveal-certain-strains-survive-weeks-stored-low-temperatures.html#ixzz3HP7Z5G4I
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