Useless grandstanding or a conspiracy against our rights?

Bush OKs Bird Flu Quarantine in U.S.:
"WASHINGTON -- President Bush signed an executive order Friday authorizing the government to impose a quarantine to deal with any outbreak of a particularly lethal variation of influenza now found in Southeast Asia."

Particularly lethal means that in mostly poor Asian populations some strains of bird flu have shown a 70% mortality rate. But, to put this in perspective, this is based on 69 reported cases mostly in Vietnam. About 70 million people in Vietnam and about 70 cases of bird flu - hardly looks like a highly virulent strain yet.

I would suggest to the president that he can do more to preserve the health of Americans by getting control of our borders and deporting the 10 million or so illegals in this country. This will reduce the introduction of diseases and take a great deal of pressure off the health care system, especially those parts of it dedicated to the health of the poor and minorities.

It is this kind of silly grandstanding by the president that feeds so much counter-productive internet conspiracy-mongering. I don't credit the "conspiracy to take away our rights" screeds because "PR stunts to give the appearance of useful action" explains this and similar actions so much better.