Dick Armey hit it right on the nose.

Remember? See my blog of August 16. Last summer, former US Representative Dick Armey – now chair of FreedomWorks – predicted:

“In September or October there will be a hyped up outbreak of the swine flu which they’ll say is as bad as the bubonic plague to scare the bed-wetters to vote for healthcare reform. That’s the only way they can push something (i.e., ObamaCare) on to the American people that the American people don’t want.”

And here it is, October 25th. And what are the headlines today?

“Obama declares swine flu a national emergency”

"As a nation, we have prepared at all levels of government, and as individuals and communities, taking unprecedented steps to counter the emerging pandemic," Obama wrote in Saturday's declaration.

He said the pandemic keeps evolving, the rates of illness are rising rapidly in many areas and there's a potential "to overburden health care resources."

So there you have it: H1N1 has now become a national emergency. How can the great nation of America expect to survive this crisis without the Community Organizer’s plan to care for us all? Surely now, Americans will back away from their opposition to socialized medicine and its $1 trillion cost. Surely now everyone will welcome The One as he seeks to tend us in our sufferings.

But let’s put this in perspective.

So far, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 800 people have died of “swine flu”.

Not to minimize in any way at all the tragedy of any of these deaths, consider this:

In 2008 (latest year for which statistics are available):

631,636 died of heart disease
559,888 died of cancer
121, 599 died of accidents of all kinds
72,449 died of diabetes
72,432 died of Alzheimer’s
56,326 died of influenza and pneumonia – even before H1N1
45,344 died of Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis (kidney diseases)
34,234 died of septicemia (blood poisoning)

And how about this? Every DAY 36 people die and another 700 are injured in auto crashes involving a drunk driver.

In all, every year over 16,000 people die from alcohol-related auto accidents.

For that matter, suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death in the U.S. Every year 33,300 unfortunate souls top themselves.

Better yet? According to the National Academy of Sciences, each year somewhere between 44,000 and 98,000 people died from medical malpractice – doctor and hospital “mistakes”.

Once ObamaCare is in place, with fewer doctors and hospitals attempting to care for millions of additional patients – which you’ll be paying for, with higher taxes, higher insurance premiums, lower deductibles, and finally with your life when they decide you’re no longer worth keeping alive – once ObamaCare is in place, how many more patients will die of sloppy medical and hospital care?

Don’t even think of letting the Community Organizer’s attempt to scare you into supporting his insane plan succeed.

Keep up the pressure, America.

NO to ObamaCare, now – and then for heaven’s sake, clean out the House and a third of the US Senate in 2010.