NOT THAT YOU ASKED

Since I'm having to write this before election day, I won't be crying on your shoulders or strutting with pride until next week. Just between you and me I think I'm going to be doing more crying than strutting next week, and in a way I'm OK with that. If Tom Cotton is elected Senator, it won't be too long before a lot of the people who voted for him will be crying too.

Let's turn to something that's gotten almost as much hype as the election--ebola. First of all, it doesn't deserve the hype, and it's not nearly the threat the talking heads at CNN, FOX, and MSNBC have made it out to be. More people will die from the flu this year than ebola, and we have a flu vaccine.

First of all, ebola is far from a death sentence. The only person in the United States that has died from the disease is the man from Africa, who lied to his doctors, and waited too long to seek treatment. Everyone else who has gotten the disease, either from treating patients in Africa, or the man in Dallas, have all had complete recoveries from it.

Second, you can only get the disease from coming in contact with the bodily fluids from an infected person. You can't get it from casual contact. The fear people are showing about being near someone with ebola is just like the fear so many people had when AIDS was discovered.

Thirdly, especially around here you're not likely to come in contact with anyone who is infected, or has been to Africa. Not many people from here vacation in Africa.

Speaking of Africa, why do you think ebola has become so widespread over there? Just like I wrote last week, it all comes down to the money. Drug companies and hospitals have had little reason to develop a treatment or vaccine for ebola because it was mostly confined to Africa, and the people who were getting it were to poor to pay for treatment or a vaccine.

Now that the disease has come to America, and people are panicking about it, those same drug companies and hospitals are racing each other to come up with a vaccine or a sure fire treatment. Why? Because they know that Americans are so afraid of ebola right now that they would pay any price to be protected from it. Now that ebola is about to become a money maker, it is only a matter or time, a short time at that, before a vaccine is developed.

Until then, just calm down. If you think you have ebola, go see a doctor. They all know what to look for now. Chances are good that you don't have it, but if you do, early treatment almost always leads to recovery. Oh yeah, thanks to the Affordable Care Act more of you can afford to go to the doctor if you think you have ebola. Don't some of you just hate that?

Anyway, save the panic you have for ebola for a real threat to your health and healthcare, like Tom Cotton becoming a Senator. He doesn't think that the 200,000 Arkansans now have insurance to pay for ebola treatment, should be able to keep it.