The one American I dislike more than Dick Cheney is Sean Hannity, Fox News faaar-right-wing attack-dog No #1. Sean Hannity can be relied onto provide cheerleading services for Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney as and when is required, just as he makes it his business to stoke Anti-Obama rhetoric whenever he sees an opportunity, which is all day, every day. I digress. You’ve probably noticed that lots of people have been sick this winter. I was supposed to meet with a friend last week, but she texted to say she was at the Doctor, surrounded by people wearing face-masks. Yikes, no thanks. Ten days ago, my partner Leigh began feeling unwell. By night-time she was experiencing the full range of flu-symptoms. The shivers, a fever, body aches and generally feeling like crap. She went to the doctor, who helpfully confirmed that she did indeed have a case of the flu. There was a pretty decent chance that it was swine-flu, now the prevalent form of flu in NZ, but as GPs are no longer bothering to test individual cases, she was sent on her way with a couple of prescriptions for Tamiflu and the usual instructions to rest and take it easy. We went to the pharmacy to get our Tamiflu, the doctor had thoughtfully provided a second prescription for myself with the recommendation that I take it as a preventative measure. Not wanting to come down with the Swine, I was grateful. Until we were charged $150 for two prescriptions of Tamiflu. Ouch! Still, I took my dose of the anti-swine and it worked. I didn’t get sick and I didn’t experience any of the side effects that many people apparently do. What irks me is that the people making money out of the swine-flu hysteria are Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfield who own shares in the company that makes the drug. There are all sorts of conspiracy theories surrounding Tamiflu, the US government and pharmaceutical industry. Where the real truth lies is too murky to try and explain here but you can bet Cheney and Rumsfield have manipulated the system to line their own pockets. The irony is now that Obama is in power and trying to give Americans the free heathcare they so badly need, the Republicans are spinning it into a socialism deathsquad nightmare. If you get sick this winter, my advice is don’t bother with the Tamiflu. Just suck it up and take a few well-deserved days off work. One more day in bed will do you the world of good and you’ll save yourself $75.
