Things you already knew
1. The medical branch of the United Nations, the World Health Organization last week issued swine flu an official pandemic of the highest degree, level 6. What is strange about this? The scaling system is entirely on the spread of the disease and not on the severity. So while H1N1 is definitely an effective vector, its definitely not lethal like the pandemic viruses in The Stand or Outbreak. The WHO has accepted that the meter of a pandemic needs to include more factors.
2. The legislative and executive branches of the federal government have aproved a bill to move cigerette regulation to the FDA, a change from regulation from the occasional consumer activist lawsuit. Whats funny about this? The FDA won’t have power to regulate the nicotine content of cigarettes but only the sugar additives that make them sticks so tasty. This wooden horse legislation was sponsored by Philip Morris.