There had been no confirmed deaths in the United States related to swine flu as of Tuesday afternoon. But another virus had killed thousands of people since January and is expected to keep killing hundreds of people every week for the rest of the year.

That one? The regular flu. [CNN]

Remember the old Pink Panther movies, with Peter Sellers? Something would annoy him — The Phantom, a parrot, whatever — and he would call it Swine …. Like “Swine bird!” Cracked me up.

So I say that at least the swine flu has stolen a few news cycles from the swine recession and the swine waterboarding.

I can’t find a youtube with Sellers saying Swine anything, but I found the one where he says, “does your dog bite?” This is one of the funniest little scenes ever to get stuck in my head, and make me laugh at inappropriate moments.