Bending the Third Rail
Because We Should, We Can, We Do
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Sick Plan
The administration, in it's usual competent way, has a plan for tackling the possible attack of the avian flu:
The rules would require airlines and cruise ship operators to collect personal information from all passengers and report sick ones to the government. Critics say the plan is difficult, costly and in violation of passengers' rights.

"What they're proposing is nonsensical," says Tara O'Toole, director of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "The notion of trying to screen airline passengers is wrong. ... People are going to be contagious without being symptomatic."
So instead of investing in research for vaccines, or stocking anti-flu medications, or beefing up the health care system in general, we'll erode civil liberties in a futile attempt to "jail the virus", a strategy that is doomed to failure.

Is there any problem in which the administration doesn't see dictatorial force as the solution?