Monday, October 26, 2009 Morning

President Obama has declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency. About 1,000 people have died from it. The government estimated a few months ago that up to 120 million doses of the vaccine would be available by mid-October. So far, only 11 million have gone out. In some locations, angry crowds were sent home after waiting for hours in line. Well, all I can say is, I hope they enjoyed their first taste of government-run health care.

There’s one issue, though, where I have to defend President Obama. He’s been taking some flak because his own daughters haven’t been immunized. That’s not really fair. The CDC recommends that kids age 6 months to 18 years get vaccinated, but currently, only children who have weak immune systems from chronic medical conditions are getting the vaccine. So you can slam the Administration for there not being enough vaccine for every child, but at least give the Obamas props for not demanding that their kids jump the line.

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We’re hearing a lot out of Washington about evil insurance companies rolling around in their obscene profits. But exactly how much profit do they make? You might be surprised.

The A.P. did a fact check and found the average health insurance company profit margin last year was 2.2 percent. Granted, that’s still a big chunk of money. But percentage wise, it’s about one-third the profit margin of Hershey’s chocolate, and about a fourth as much profit as Coors beer, Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell are raking in. And those facts might give us a clue as to WHY there’s so little profit in providing Americans with health insurance.

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Las Vegas might get rescued by a cowboy. Over 40,000 people jammed ticket websites to get into Garth Brooks’ first 20 post-retirement shows in Vegas. The entire run sold out in just five hours. Let’s hope Vegas can think of some way to persuade Garth to stay a little longer.

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Finally, today, a salute to two Huck’s Heroes: Cara and Alan Baxter of Tecumseh, Oklahoma. When a man who ran a local puppy mill died, his widow got overwhelmed and ended up with 150 dogs in filthy cages. The Baxters volunteered to save them. They scrubbed cages, fed dogs and went to work around the clock, finding every dog a good home at no charge. At last check, there were only 11 dogs still needing homes, and Cara said her phone was ringing off the hook. She says it’s all worth it because the dogs are happy and in better places. But the Baxters probably wouldn’t turn down any small donations to help pay their dog food bill. After all, they had to buy 300 pounds a day.