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Good morning and happy Monday. Welcome again to the Monday Morning News Kick Off column on got geoint? As always, we try to summarize all the key news stories to get your week off to a productive start. Of course we will touch upon the ongoing political battle regarding controversial C.I.A. interrogation techniques, but the big story is the swine flu and the recently declared state of public emergency. Scroll down to learn more.

Swine Flu State of Emergency Not That Severe??
As human beings, we are all very susceptible to fits of panic and overreaction. Perhaps that is what Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was trying to avoid when she said that the U.S. government-issued state of public emergency sounded more severe that it is? Napolitano told reporters yesterday that “this is standard operating procedure and allows us to free up federal state and local agencies and their resources for prevention and mitigation.”

Mapping Swine Flu Online; And Following It on Twitter
Speaking of swine flu, our friends at the Directions APB blog came out with this story about the mapping of the outbreak. The blog also points out that Healthmap.org as a great destination for tracking the spread of the flu. In addition, Healthmap.org is offering updates via Twitter here. Just as we were writing this post, the Twitter feed highlighted stories of Australia reporting 5 cases and Canada reporting 6 cases. So, no need to panic, right?

Oklahoma Man Arrested for Twittering Death Threats
Speaking of Twitter, an Oklahoma City man who announced on Twitter that he would turn an April 15 tax protest into a bloodbath was charged with making interstate threats last week. According to the Threat Level blog, this appears to be first criminal prosecution to stem from posts on Twitter. Frankly, we are surprised that it took this long for something like this to happen on Twitter. Surely, this guy is not the only crazy person on the microblogging site.

Why Politicians Should Not Use Twitter
Speaking of Twitter, in case you missed the Sunday NY Times Magazine, here’s an article about why politicians should refrain from using the microbloggiing site. Here’s what the writer Matt Bai had to say about Twitter: “If Twitter doesn’t turn out to be just the latest political fad (like, say, psychographic polling, or Ron Paul), then it just may be the worst thing to happen to politics and its attending media since a couple of geniuses at CNN dreamed up “Crossfire” back in the 1980s.” Strong words indeed. Do you all remember our coverage of Rep. Hoekstra’s Twitter gafe? Perhaps even more reason for politicians to avoid using Twitter?

McCain: “Time to Move On” from Torture Memos
The debate about whether or not the C.I.A. interrogation techniques actually worked continues to rage. From Real Time with Bill Maher to the Op-Ed pages of the NY Times and Washington Post, this debate was happening everywhere this weekend. And, one piece of news from a former Presidential candidate came out that broke through the clutter — in our humble opinion. Sen. John McCain called for the United States to “move on” from the torture memos released earlier this month. Indeed. It is time to move on. What do you all think?

Hope you all have a productive week!

Tags: CIA interrogation techniques, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Interrogation memos, Oklahoma City man arrested on Twitter, Politicians and Twitter, Swine Flu, Swine Flu state of emergency, Twitter, USGIF