Last week Barack Obama declared the H1N1 virus a national emergency giving hospitals more leeway to act quickly in meeting the needs of patients with the swine flu. The declaration eases federal restrictions on processing paperwork such as asking less questions on Medicare/Medicaid forms in an effort to speed up treatment.

The emergency declaration is in response to the “many millions” of widespread cases of swine flu across America. Though many of the cases have been mild, and only 1,000 H1N1 deaths have been confirmed in the U.S., including 100 children.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends children below the age of 18 be vaccinated against the H1N1 virus.

Yet the White House says the First daughters will not be vaccinated against the swine flu due to “their risk,” which I assume to mean the Obamas feel that Sasha and Malia are not at risk to contract swine flu.

Could that be because there have been far greater illnesses and deaths caused by the regular flu this year? Not to mention, HIV/AIDS will kill more people this year than the H1N1 virus.

All of which leads conspiracy theorists to ponder why Obama called this national emergency when there kind of isn’t one.

Is this an attempt to divert attention away from Obama’s other problems such as Afghanistan, health care and the tripling national deficit? Or is it, as others argue, an attempt to circumvent the Bill of Rights, to rob us of our right to be safe from government search and seizure?

As you know, under a national emergency, police have the power to enter any home or office without a search warrant. It also gives the government power to force vaccinations on the entire population — and the power to arrest you if you don’t take the shot.

Since the swine flu was declared a pandemic last Spring, there have only been 5000 deaths reported worldwide. AIDS killed 2 million people worldwide in 2007 alone.