Bush Considers Military Role in Flu Fight (But cuts CDC funding)

[gatorboy]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051004/ap_on_he_me/bush_avian_flu

Bush Considers Military Role in Flu Fight

WASHINGTON - President Bush, increasingly concerned about a possible avian flu pandemic, revealed Tuesday that any part of the country where the virus breaks out could likely be quarantined and that he is considering using the military to enforce it.

"The best way to deal with a pandemic is to isolate it and keep it isolated in the region in which it begins," he said during a wide-ranging Rose Garden news conference.

The president was asked if his recent talk of giving the military the lead in responding to large natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and other catastrophes was in part the result of his concerns that state and local personnel aren't up to the task of a flu outbreak

(snip)

Bush made clear that the potential for an outbreak of avian flu is much on his mind, and has had him talking with "as many (world) leaders as I could find," consulting a book he read over the summer on the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed 40 million and meeting with staff and experts.
--------------------------------------------------

Bush read a book about it over the Summer? Riiiigghht.

If he is so worried about this, why does he keep slashing the Center of Disease Control's budget?

First in February cutting it by $6.9 billion
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/05/politics/05cuts.html?ex=1265259600&en=9e29f1ce6b837f69&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland
And now with cuts to pay for Hurricane Katrina, who does he think he's kidding?

[shance]

1. These people will use any excuse to militarize our country.

Simply amazing.

Wake.up.America.

[converted_democrat]

2. Spot on! Bush's new answer for everything, use the military. n/t

[murielm99]

5. Yes, They want to try out martial law during the next hurricane,

or flu outbreak, to get the bugs out of the system. Then, when they know how to use it effectively, the Constitution will be shredded, once and for all.

[louis-t]

3. "outbreak on his mind" equals

"how can I make money off this?"
Flu fight, flu fight, flu fight, flu fight, flu fight....

[JDPriestly]

4. Isolate bird flu?

Does he propose to shoot down all the birds that carry the virus? Wouldn't it make better sense to increase to the maximum the funding for research into this flu, vaccines, etc.? Apparently the flu virus is known and has been isolated. I say that because it seems to have a name. How about requiring farmers and agricultural authorities to test each poultry carcass for the flu virus before placing them on the market?

Aren't quarantines usually imposed in a restricted manner on the specific individuals or households who manifest the disease, i.e., scarlet fever, tuberculosis, smallpox? Can you imagine the economic effects of quarantining so much as a single urban area, much less any larger area, in the U.S.? Come on, Bush. Are you really that desperate. Let's see some leadership, some realistic problem solving here.

I think Bush has finally dived over the top into the abyss of insanity. His "solutions" to problems are getting weirder and weirder as the pressure on him mounts, as his Karma encircles him, as he continues to pretend to be what he isn't. Is his obsession with using military troops for something as inappropriate as this the result of some deeply seated need to compensate for feelings of sexual or some other sort of impotency?

Do you suppose Bush's nomination of Miers is some sort of paranoid acting out of his fear of her knowledge of all his mistakes? Bush is not in his right mind, I fear. This idea is just bizarre.

While I am rambling stream-of-consciousness style, may I add that we really need to find out just why Bush stopped flying the big planes. I suspect that he had panic attacks. And it seems to me that he has been having a series of such attacks since he took office. I wonder if he is getting help with this problem. The flu may turn out to be a major problem, but his remarks do nothing toward preparing people, especially our public health authorities, to take precautions. Bush is just scaring everyone because he is scared. Instead of threatening to call out troops, he should be using his energy to get the input of and cooperation from experts on epidemics, local public health authorities and the agricultural experts and community to nip the flu in the beak so to speak. Of course, if he did that he would have to acknowledge the value of a scientific approach to things. And if he did that, he might lose even his 43% approval rating.