Sidewalks, Swine Flu , Space, True Confessions

More windy, wet, and gloomy weather, resulting in further delay of the outdoor renovations.
Rain rain go away and come back when the work is done!

Today was my regular office stint. While at the mall for my morning break, I noticed a huge line stretching all the way from one end to the other and up to the second level. At first I thought people were lined up to buy tickets for a hot concert. Turns out they were waiting to get a Swine Flu shot. A thirteen year old boy died on the weekend from swine flu, which has parents in panic mode. Not that I blame them. This flu is hitting young people the hardest. On my way home I took a short cut through the mall and the line was still huge. A public health nurse was making an announcement that there would be a clinic everyday next week, all day. I guess she was hoping that some would hear that and come back another time. Nobody budged.

One thing that really upsets me about this Swine Flu is an annoucement on the business news, that Glaxo Smith Kline is making huge profits thanks to the vaccine.

Then on the evening news there was a story about possible cuts to the NASA budget or at the very least, cancellation of any possible trips to the moon. Should space exploration be funded by public money? We always hear that private enterprise is best. That is the arguement against a public health care option in America, so why not private money for a trip to the moon? Bored rich people can pay millions to travel to the space station, a publicly funded project. Why not let them take over the whole thing? Funny how something as important as health is left to for profit corporations, but space travel is somehow better suited to government funding. Or is it that the corporations will sit back, wait and see when they can make a buck off of it, and then whine (or should I say lobby) to privatize.

Finally, a few comments about celebrity true confessions. Normally I could care less about what the beautiful people, who's mirrors are covered in lip prints, are up to. However, I'm really getting weary of tell all books were individuals admit to cheating and cover ups, ten years after the fact. Yeah when the money was rolling in and you were getting lots of attention, you never had this crisis of conscience. Now you have had a very long think, have decided that what you did was bad, and you feel so terrible. Guess it's a good way for you to flog some books too. Crystal Meth!
How pathetic is that?

Time for some vapour I think ;) ;)