The Dumbest Thing I Have Heard Today

[Shammrog]

With the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico, certain border guards on the U.S. Mexico border want to wear surgical masks to help protect themselves against infection.

They have been told that they can't; the surgical masks make them look (per the DHS) "intimidating."

E-Y-E R-O-L-L

[bjornolf]

You should say that like Ron White. That TOTALLY sounds like on of his jokes. Like "drunk...in...pubLIC". ;)

That's pretty bad, though. If they want to protect themselves, they should be allowed to. The security agents (I didn't want to call them TSA cause I don't know if other countries call them that) at a lot of airports outside the US already wear them, even before the whole SF thing. Something to do with SARS I think.

Oh, and we have a rolleyes emoticon. :roll:

[colchar]

Can you imagine the lawsuit if, God forbid, one of them were to catch it and die?

[rockymtn devil]

Can you imagine the lawsuit if, God forbid, one of them were to catch it and die?

Two words: sovereign immunity. Tough to sue the government for damages.

Is there any indication that workers on the border are more likely to be infected? If so, give 'em masks or give them death (sorry, been watching the HBO John Adams series and am in a revolutionary mood)

The stupidest thing I've heard today (actually it was spoken yesterday, but I just heard it today) is a Justice of the United States Supreme Court insinuating that a piece of legislation had to be wrong because too many members of Congress supported it (390-30 in the House; 98-0 in the Senate). He cited Israeli law as support.

[bjornolf]

Well, since many of the cases have been in Texas, including the first death in the US, and most of the cited cases have been in Mexico, they might be at risk more than the average schmoe in say, Kansas City.

[rockymtn devil]

Well, since many of the cases have been in Texas, including the first death in the US, and most of the cited cases have been in Mexico, they might be at risk more than the average schmoe in say, Kansas City.

Fair enough, although there have been cases in places like Kansas and Ohio. Again, if it is an increased risk, give them masks. My initially suspicion arose from the fact that many have used this situation to score political attacks on illegal immigrants (blaming it on the immigrants when the evidence strongly suggest otherwise). I saw potential for this thread to go down that path. With that said, much of the US-Mexico border is a vast, barren, uninhabited wasteland which, given its lack of fellow humans, is probably safer than, say, Denver or Kansas City or Cleveland or Raleigh, where you are more likely to run into humans.

[bjornolf]

I figure it's the border guards at the official border checkpoints in places like Texas and California that they're talking about, where they come in direct contact with thousands of people every day.

Just watch the new Cops style show about them. It's actually pretty interesting.

[rockymtn devil]

I figure it's the border guards at the official border checkpoints in places like Texas and California that they're talking about, where they come in direct contact with thousands of people every day.

Just watch the new Cops style show about them. It's actually pretty interesting.

That's exactly who it is. I realized that after my post when I did a little poking around to see if the story was true (it isn't). The head of US Customs recommended the use of masks by customs workers at the border earlier this week. If there is someone preventing it, it's at a low level and is, at the very least, someone opposing the recommendations of superiors. It does not appear--as was originally noted on FNC, but I don't believe any other outlets--that there is actually a DHS policy preventing the masks from being worn.

In fact, FNC has since run the real story: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04 ... cal-masks/

It further appears that the issue of whether or not the masks can be worn predates the swine flu outbreak by at least 16 months (http://www.nbpc.net/images/bargaining/n ... -09%29.pdf). So this is a longstanding negotiation issue between the Union and Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.

Haven't seen the show. Is it the one on ABC?

[captmojo]

Dumbest....mmmm.....
"If it weren't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college."
stolen from Lewis Black stand-up act

[cl15876]

Dumbest....mmmm.....
"If it weren't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college."
stolen from Lewis Black stand-up act

Lewis Black is funny as shit! I hope he doesn't have a coronary 1 day when he performs! would be a real show killer!

[Miles]

True Story. Chinese government orders it's citizens to smoke more cigarettes to boost economy. This is just horrible.

[cl15876]

True Story. Chinese government orders it's citizens to smoke more cigarettes to boost economy. This is just horrible.

Doesn't this help the NC tobacco industry and the overall US GNP for export increase?

[Miles]

True Story. Chinese government orders it's citizens to smoke more cigarettes to boost economy. This is just horrible.

Doesn't this help the NC tobacco industry and the overall US GNP for export increase?

Quite the opposite. It is designed to combat outside competition by forcing individuals and groups to purchase Chinese manufactured cigarettes. To make matters worse, citizens must smoke locally-made cigarettes. So if you smoke a Chinese-made cigarette from the "wrong" region, you can still be fined.

[captmojo]

I've heard that S-Chip, designed to be paid for by tobacco taxes, needs to find somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 million NEW smokers to fund it. Then, just help it along, the government raised the tax rate on tobacco products.