Swine flu shot protests may spark next round of Tea Parties:

http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7522

Published Wednesday, September 30 2009

If Trends Research Institute Director Gerald Celente is right another volley may have been fired in what he is calling the "Second American Revolution."

In August while most everyone's attention was still focused on the Tea Parties, Celente was already in fast-forward trend identification mode.

Here's part of an e-mail trend alert he sent to clients, "While there are many wild cards that could light the fuse, The Trends Research Institute forecasts that if the threat of government-forced Swine Flu vaccinations is realized, it will be the fourth shot (of the second American Revolution). Tens of millions will fight for their right to remain free and unvaccinated."

News reports about this issue have slowly registering it. The Wall Street Journal cited it Saturday. Headlines in Wednesday's papers stepped up the tempo as they heralded the protests of New York state health care workers who have been told to take the swine flu shot or lose their jobs.

But the issue is already beyond the New York state lines.

According to a UPI report , Hospital Corp. of America, with clinics and hospitals in 20 states including Tennessee and Virginia, is requiring its 120,000 employees to be vaccinated.

It's likely as reporters begin checking with their local health care providers they will find the same thing at other institutions. If so, hundreds of thousands of nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers could be ordered to become vaccinated as the second wave of the H1N1 pandemic spreads this fall. And the mandate trend from health care providers to their workers is fueling concerns and rumors that the H1N1 vaccine may become mandatory for everyone.

Lori Price of Citizens for Legitimate Government, a Connecticut-based group that opposes government expansion. "It's all part of an encroachment on our liberties," Price told The Wall Street Journal in a story published Saturday.

Celente says the Tea Parties and the fiery town hall health care meetings in August were just two of the symptoms of a larger issue. "America is seething. Not since the Civil War has anything like this happened. But the protests are either being intentionally downplayed or ignorantly misinterpreted.

"The White House and the media have labeled protestors "conservative fringe elements," or as players in staged events organized by Republican operatives that have been egged on by Fox news and right-wing radio show hosts.

"Health industry interests opposed to any reform are also being blamed for inciting the public. But organized or spontaneous is not the issue. While most protestors exhibit little grasp of the complex 1000 page health care reform document (that nary a legislator has read either), their emotion is clearly real and un-staged.

"Rightly or wrongly, the legislation is regarded as yet another straw on the already overloaded camel's back. A series of gigantic, unpopular government-imposed (but taxpayer-financed) bailouts, buyouts, rescue and stimulus packages have been stuffed down the gullet of Americans. With no public platform to voice their opposition, options for citizens have been limited to fruitless petitions, e-mails and phone calls to Congress, all fielded by anonymous staff underlings."

It would be a mistake to attribute the anger to Democrats or Republicans or President Obama. It's broader. if the current satisfaction ratings and opinion polls are right much of it is focused on a discontent with Congress and the various levels of government. According to the Harris Poll, Congress 81 percent of poll respondents think Congress is doing a poor job.

The bottom line according to Celente is the legislation is another instance of government taking another piece out of the citizens' lives and making them pay for it; again telling them what they can or cannot do.

He predicts that what he's calling the Second American Revolution "will become the most profound political trend of the century - the trend that will change the world" even if it is still invisible to the same experts, authorities and pundits who didn't see the financial crisis coming until the bottom fell out of the economy.

Clente predicts that with the "ubiquitous camera-equipped cell phone, universal access to YouTube, and millions of twitters and tweets, the uprisings cannot be ignored, contained, managed, spun or edited down in the media or spun to a more favorable viewing from politicians. "A false flag attempt, a genuine crisis, or a declaration of war, may slow the momentum of the "Second American Revolution," but nothing will stop it." he writes.

That was what Celente was telling his clients in August. He bases his trends identification business on the idea that currents events can point to trends that are missed by traditional economic or social science studies. In his book Trend Tracking, Celente says anyone can identify trends by disciplined reading news stories and applying some equally disciplined interpretations. The three things that first qualify a group of news stories on the same topic as an issue to watch is the issue has to have "social, economical and political significance."

While there's no one in the trends business with a 100 percent record, this element of the ongoing swine flu story is something to watch during the coming weeks.