European planners are warning that the continent is long over due for a deadly strain of influenza.

Experts warn that countries are not ready to cope with another pandemic as virues continue to mutate into potentially killer strains.
It is educational and sobering to walk through Canada’s cemetaries and look at the gravestones from 1918.

50 thousand Canadians succumbed that year. 20 million people died world-wide.

Pat Buchanan
Pat Buchanan who knows opportunity when he sees it, continued on with his Canadian bashing yesterday, calling Canadians whiners and free-loaders.
Sticks and stones sir, sticks and stones. Colby Cosh has the transcript from the SovietCanuckistan show, and thinks it’s a pretty lame thing to get worked up about. I tend to agree. I’ll qualify by saying that I suspect most of his American audience wouldn’t care to check out facts, preferring the pablum of name calling soundbites.

The Ottawa Citizen has a pretty good opinion peice on US cable news, and it’s affects on both countries relationship and attitudes. I disagree it will ‘ever go away.’
Daimnation also weighs in, suggesting we lighten up and then traces some of Buchanan’s words back to thier less than stellar sources.

Depressed Canucks
Canadians are the seventh-largest market for pharmaceutical sales in the world.
We pop 40% more anti-depressants SSRI’s (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) such as Paxil and Zoloft than in 1997. We are also big consumers of addictive benzodiazepines, another class of antidepressant primarily used to treat acute anxiety.
What should be disturbing about this report is the demographics of the increased drug use.

Dispatches is back and posting some Canadian content. Blogs are full of the US elections, so this is appreciated. Or is it? Now, where did I put those benzodiazepines?

Indonesia
Indonesia is the country of islands. Sumarta was rocked yesterday by a quake that was measured from 5.3 to 7.7. Existing in the ” Pacific ring of fire,’ the country gets severe quakes and aftershocks. At least 48 people have been injured, officials expect the number to rise.

In Southern Italy about 3 thousand people have fled their homes as powerful aftershocks measured at 5.3 rock the area after this weeks killer quake. Most of the relief workers and disaster experts are helping residents in the Mount Etna area after the active volcano caused tremors in Sicily.

Moscow Theatre
Here is an eye witness report from a Urkanian hostage in the Moscow theatre.
Link via LGF

Iran
Iran has its first female bus driver. She joins 12 other women who run a female taxi company. The taxis are only allowed to carry women and children under 12.

Police Log
Another edition of the Arcata Eye’s World’s Wackiest Police Log for your perusal. I enjoy a dose of common sense served with a good laugh. A log entry:

Monday, September 30 6:05 p.m. Somehow, a mattress burst into flames in an alley at 12th and H. Human involvement seems likely.