[Lenore]

(Southbury-AP, Dec. 10, 2004 8:31 AM) _ Politicians are known for pressing the flesh, but Mark Cooper wants nothing to do with it.

The first selectman in Southbury CT, Cooper held a news conference yesterday to announce that he won't be shaking any hands until after flu season is over.

He says he doesn't want to be rude. But he doesn't want anybody blaming him for getting sick. If someone offers him a hand, he says he'll fill it with a brochure on how to stay healthy this winter.

http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=2675514

[CanadaSue]

I've got mixed feelings about it. It IS a good message to pass on by someone in the public eye. As long as it's not phrased in such a way as to make people worry about something terrible looming now..

[Lenore]

I think it's a good idea.
Now if we could get people to cough and sneeze into their shirt sleeves instead of their hands, we wouldn't have to worry about handshakes. ;)

[FireDance]

Yep, always love all those winter church things like holding hands in the service or communion - bad, bad ideas. I suppose one could always get by that by whispering "sorry, AIDS" or something. Of course, they wouldn't hear the rest of the sermon and you would probably go to the bad place for it, so maybe that's a little over the top.

['plain o joe']

Rub elbows....

[Lenore]

:lol: joe.

The vulcan greeting would suffice.;)

[booger]

If he's concerned about givng them a bug, why is he going to hand them a pamphlet that's he's just been handling?