The Bush suggestion at his press conference Monday that the military
was the public health weapon of choice to combat bird flu is getting a
lot of press, some of it pretty negative. (Picture from Jesus' General)
CNN and other newspapers (e.g., The Boston Globe)
quoted Dr. Irwin Redlener, associate dean of Columbia University's
Mailman School of Public Health and director of its National Center for
Disaster Preparedness, that Bush's suggestion was "dangerous." Pretty
strong words for an academic.
Giving
the military a law enforcement role would be an "extraordinarily
Draconian measure" that would be unnecessary if the nation had built
the capability for rapid vaccine production, ensured a large supply of
anti-virals like Tamiflu and not allowed the degradation of the public
health system.
"The translation of this is martial law in the United States," Redlener said.
The extreme right wing (libertarian) Cato Institute also was critical:
And
Gene Healy, a senior editor at the conservative Cato Institute, said
Bush would risk undermining "a fundamental principle of American law"
by tinkering with the act, which does not hinder the military's ability
to respond to a crisis.
"What it does is set a high bar for the
use of federal troops in a policing role," he wrote in a commentary on
the group's Web site. "That reflects America's traditional distrust of
using standing armies to enforce order at home, a distrust that's
well-justified."
Healy said soldiers are not trained as police
officers, and putting them in a civilian law enforcement role "can
result in serious collateral damage to American life and liberty."
He might add it is also fruitless. If you live in community or region X
and the rumor is loose you will be quarantined, a good proportion of
your neighbors will head for the hills before you can say "Karl Rove."
The hammer will fall (as it did in Katrina) on those who didn't get the
word or couldn't leave. Historically "quarantines" of this type have
translated some of the worst nativist instincts of our country into
disproportionate burdens on minorities and immigrants. Expect the same
here.
The lesson Bush learned from Katrina was that here was yet
another instance with a military solution. The lesson most of the rest
of us learned from Katrina was that the Bush Administration was a bunch
of incompetent clowns, who, in Lyndon Johnson's wonderful description
about Gerald Ford, "couldn't dump shit out of a boot if they had it by
the heel."
By the way---former President Gerald Ford did have the integrity and
character to risk all in protecting Americans from flu. He
did the RIGHT thing with the 1976 swine flu vaccination campaign. It
was a political disaster----but he was trying to protect Americans.
Most importantly, using the military is a phony terror. First,
Bush-league has screwed up everything he's touched; why should this be
any different? Second, the problems with using the military to enforce
quarantines are the same as they were in 1918: one, most of the
soldiers are overseas; two, finding enough soldiers who aren't sick to
do the job. In the end, I can see Bush-league becoming completely
irrelevant during and after a pandemic just as easily as I can see a
totalitarian regime on the other side. The only certain upside I can
see is if the pandemic hits just before next year's elections.
Did anybody notice what happened to the US Constitution? It seems to have gone missing!
RENO Link -- A Washington state woman was bounced
from a Southwest Airlines flight in Reno for wearing a T-shirt with the
pictures of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and
the F-word.The shirt was a play on words taken from the movie
"Meet the Fockers." It had the title of the movie, with the last word
changed to a curse word, according to KRNV-TV in Reno.Lorrie
Heasley said she plans to press a civil-rights complaint against the
airline over Tuesday's action at Reno-Tahoe International Airport.
Heasley said the airline offered to let her continue her flight if she
were to change her shirt, which she refused to do. "I didn't
feel that I should have to change my shirt, because we live in the
United States, and it's freedom of speech and it was based on the movie
'The Fockers,' and I didn't think it should have offended anyone,"
Heasley told KRNV.Southwest officials said other passengers
complained about her shirt, and that rules prohibit offensive
clothing.But the American Civil Liberties Union said Heasley's T-shirt
is "protected" free speech under the Constitution.
The big question is "Does the ACLU have enough lawyers, to keep up with those 'Fockers' in the White House?"
Dares the White House to veto it. Forty-three Republican Senators joined forty-three Democratic Senators to sign the bill:
...Senate GOP leaders had managed to fend off the
detainee language this summer, saying the Congress should not constrain
the executive branch's options. But last night, 89 senators sided with
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a former prisoner of war in Vietnam who led
the fight for the interrogation restrictions. McCain said military
officers have implored Congress for guidelines, adding that he mourns
"what we lose when by official policy or by official negligence we
allow, confuse or encourage our soldiers to forget . . . that which is
our greatest strength: that we are different and better than our
enemies." ...
The Senate's 90 to 9 vote suggested a new boldness among Republicans to challenge the White House on war policy.The amendment by McCain, one of Bush's most significant backers at the
outset of the Iraq war, would establish uniform standards for the
interrogation of people detained by U.S. military personnel,
prohibiting "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment while they are in
U.S. custody...In its statement on the veto threat, the White House said the
measure would "restrict the president's authority to protect Americans
effectively from terrorist attack and bringing terrorists to justice."
But as new allegations of abuse surface, the chorus of McCain supporters is broadening.
McCain read a letter on the Senate floor from former secretary of state
Colin L. Powell, who endorsed the amendment and said it would help
address "the terrible public diplomacy crisis created by Abu Ghraib."
Powell joins a growing group of retired generals and admirals who blame
prison abuse on "ambiguous instructions," as the officers wrote in a
recent letter. They urged restricting interrogation methods to those
outlined in the U.S. Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation,
the parameters that McCain's measure would establish.
McCain cited a letter he received from Army Capt. Ian Fishback, who
has fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Over 17 months he struggled to get
answers from his chain of command to a basic question: What standards
apply to the treatment of enemy detainees?"
McCain said. "But he found
no answers. . . . The Congress has a responsibility to answer this
call."
Despite his victory last night, McCain has two major obstacles
remaining: House GOP leaders object to attaching it to a spending bill,
and Bush could veto it. However, senior GOP Senate aides said they
believe the differences could be bridged, either by tweaking the
measure or by changing the field manual.
The Maryland and Virginia senators voted for the McCain amendment...
Sen. Joseph R. Biden
Jr. (Del.) was among several senior Democrats who told reporters that
Bush risks a further erosion in public support unless he talks more
openly about the challenges in Iraq and realistic plans to overcome
them. "It's time the president tell us how he plans on getting us out
of the hole he's dug us so deeply into," Biden said.
It used to be that to claim self-defence you had to have tried removing
yourself from the threat by the simple act of running away/backing off
(unless you were at home) if running off was feasible. Well now you don't have to do that;
you can "stand your ground". The most likely effect of this new law is to legalise gunfights.
Clark Ramm sees shades of the Wild West in Florida's new law giving
greater legal protections to people who shoot or use other deadly force
when threatened or attacked.
"It seems like everybody ought to be
packing a piece," said Ramm, a visitor from Ukiah, Calif., who found
out about the law Monday from a gun control group handing out leaflets
at Miami International Airport. "I don't know if that's the right thing
to do."
The leaflets begin with the words "An Important Notice to
Florida Visitors" in bold red type by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violence.
"Do not argue unnecessarily with local people," it
says. "If someone appears to be angry with you, maintain to the best of
your ability a positive attitude, and do not shout or make threatening
gestures."
Good for the the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence,
which was the gun control group handing out the flyers. Nothing says
"we're serious" louder than taking aim at a state's tourism industry.
Obviously Florida is super-vulnerable on that front. Jebby complains loudly:
"It's pure, unadulterated politics," Bush said last week of the Brady Campaign's tactics. "Shame on them."
Hell yeah. 'cause kissing the NRA's ass isn't about politics at all, right Jebby?
CNN and other newspapers (e.g., 
