A useful proto-panic

This is bizarre, especially given the complete lack of scientific evidence that swine flu is any more dangerous than any other flu. But, as Rahm Emanuel says, no would-be dictator ever wants to waste a pandemiccrisis:

A “pandemic response bill” currently making its way through the Massachusetts state legislature would allow authorities to forcefully quarantine citizens in the event of a health emergency, compel health providers to vaccinate citizens, authorize forceful entry into private dwellings and destruction of citizen property and impose fines on citizens for noncompliance.

If citizens refuse to comply with isolation or quarantine orders in the event of a health emergency, they may be imprisoned for up to 30 days and fined $1,000 per day that the violation continues.

It’s interesting to see the increasing multitude of factors that now trump the Constitutional rights of Americans. Do Americans still believe they live in the “most free country on Earth”? It is rapidly becoming clear that they do not.