Ron Paul is -- or was -- an ob-gyn doctor. So he should know, right? And he says all this swine flu H2ON9 or whatever scary flu talk is, well, just that -- scare talk. Just another facet of an ongoing plot by the federal government to frighten the public and assume more control over the lives of Americans.

In a regular video report to supporters (see below), the 11-term libertarian-like Texas Republican congressman says simply: "The government shouldn't be in the medical business."

He describes a similar outbreak of swine flu back in 1976 when Democrat Joe Biden was already a senator but Barack Obama was just a teenager. Paul says he was one of two votes against federal involvement in flu-fighting back then.

"There was a panic," he recalls, "and they said it was going to sweep the nation and the government came up with some flu shots and the government was going to inoculate everybody and save the world from this disaster."

According to Paul, one person died in the swine flu outbreak that year while more than 25 died as a result of bad reactions to the flu shots. Which sounds like scary stuff to those of us sneezing into our bent arms and compulsively washing our hands this morning. By late today word of mouth and exaggerated e-mails will have the number of those 1976 deaths up to 250 or worse.

Not to mention the secret highway being planned from Mexico across Texas to connect with Canada. But that's another conspiracy.

"Here we are once again," Paul says, "swine flu coming up and everybody's panicking. It's practically like we've been attacked by nuclear weapons. I mean, press conferences on the weekend! And how did the Department of Homeland Security get into the medical business?"

Paul, who's even older than another unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate John McCain, paints the outbreak of panic over the outbreak of flu as another bid by the new Democratic administration to grow government unnecessarily. He has more to say in the video below.

"The big question," the shirt-sleeved Grandpa Paul lectures, "is, does bigger government always solve these problems? It usually makes them much worse."

Which is, of course, a totally ridiculous assertion. Look at how well the federal government handled the Hurricane Katrina aftermath.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Ron Paul greets an infant. Credit: Associated Press

