Possible Pandemic as Bush Cuts Funding for Disease Control

Published on February 12, 2006 By COL Gene In Politics

Today there are several reports on the spread of Bird Flu in two areas of the world. The concern for a pandemic is growing and we have no significant amount of vaccine in the United States. Can anyone explain WHY Bush would be proposing to cut this funding given our lack of preparedness for a major epidemic in America?

Comments (Page 2)

COL Gene

on Feb 13, 2006

I love how those that support Bush simply ignore all the issued that face our country that are NOT being resolved. Today the House investigation of Katrina documented how Bush and the people he appointed utterly failed the American People.

bakerstreet

on Feb 13, 2006

No, col, you're just a tyrant who thinks your opinion should be imposed on the rest of us. Many people don't believe that the government should be our overlords in any and all circumstance. Some of us wonder when they can't seem to do much else right why folks would even WANT them overseeing our health care.

But that isn't really the point, now, is it?

Daiwa

on Feb 13, 2006

Baker is spot on. I've always smiled to myself at the irony of the demands for universal government-paid healthcare from the same crowd which constantly savages our government as incompetent (whether Democrat-controlled or Republican-controlled).

You'll note that savaging the government appears to have provided Gene with full-time employment. As long as it is the government's responsibility to solve all our problems for us, there will be folks like Gene who believe all would be well if only we had better government; who will always have work to do, since government is not perfectable.

Rightwinger

on Feb 13, 2006

So now Bush is a jerkoff because he's cut funding in the face of the Bird Flu.
A couple months ago, he was a jerkoff because he was using the Bird Flu to misdirect public attention, to deflect it away from the BIG ISSUES and his own slidng popularity.

Liberals and Bush-bashers......never happy.

COL Gene

on Feb 14, 2006

If there is a pandemic Bush and all the other politicians will be falling all over themselves telling us how this is beyond anything we could have envisioned. Being prepared for something like a pandemic is a far cry from universal health. I never advocated ANYTHING like that. However cutting funding when there is a real threat of something as devastating as a pandemic is irresponsible! It is just like ignoring the levies in New Orleans. WE could have spent $30 million to have protected New Orleans and avoided $300 million in damage.

Daiwa

on Feb 14, 2006

It is just like ignoring the levies in New Orleans. WE could have spent $30 million to have protected New Orleans and avoided $300 million in damage.

Gene -

You demonstrate the "bravery of being out of range." The levee problem was an issue of debate and concern long before the 4.3 years of the Bush administration that immediately preceeding their failure during Katrina. You are quite right that they should have been fortified long ago, but I fault the state and the city for not pushing the feds harder for the past 30 years (or, God forbid, taking care of it themselves). Bush had the misfortune of standing watch when the big one finally hit, but it was Congress (that little fitness club up on the hill there in DC) that for years & years failed to take the initiative and fund levee upgrades.

bakerstreet

on Feb 14, 2006

"It is just like ignoring the levies in New Orleans. WE could have spent $30 million to have protected New Orleans and avoided $300 million in damage."

Who is we? My local school system complains they don't have enough money. When I start paying higher taxes you think maybe they should send my money to another state? We don't have a Fat Tuesday and the resulting debauchery to generate the kind of tax dollars that would take.

I think maybe you could make a more logical argument that the folks who were in danger of flooding should have elected people who were less concerned with handouts and more concerned with the safety of their community.

COL Gene

on Feb 15, 2006

Daiwa

You are correct the issue of the levies has been going on for years. However the Bush administration had several studies prepared that clearly showed the need to begin providing the needed work. Let’s look at what Bush did with this information-- He CUT the funding level starting in 2001 and totally ignored the studies his administration prepared documenting the problem. What has been done to deal with the levies since Katrina? The only authorization approved by Bush is to restore the levies to withstand a Cat 3 storm. Why has the administration failed to included in the 2007 budget the funds to begin the rebuilding of the levies to withstand a cat.5 storm?

Daiwa

on Feb 15, 2006

Congress can fix the levies any time it wishes.

Moderateman

on Feb 15, 2006

#16 by COL Gene
Monday, February 13, 2006

love how those that support Bush simply ignore all the issued that face our country that are NOT being resolved. Today the House investigation of Katrina documented how Bush and the people he appointed utterly failed the American People.

as usual you give half information, what they said was ALL GOVERNMENT FAILED, at the state, county and city level too, this is why NO ONE TAKES YOU SERIOUS GENE.

Zoomba

on Feb 15, 2006

And it's also a *POSSIBLE* pandemic... much like the swine flu of years ago. The possibility always exists for some super virus to pop up tomorrow and wipe us all out... and no amount of preparation will save us.

We can't run around like nuts every time someone yells "The sky is falling!"

COL Gene

on Feb 15, 2006

Just the people that blindly follow Bush ignore the issues I am raising. The fact that you ignore theses issues does not make them unimportant or untrue. Neither Bush nor those in Congress that think like Bush are solving the issues that face us. It does not matter what the issue is The levies, the deficit, Trade, health, energy it is all the same-- NON solutions from Bush and the members of Congress. Before you tell me that the Democrats are not providing solutions I will tell you I agree but since the GOP controls Congress and the White House, the real reason we are not solving our problems is in the lap of the Republicans.

bakerstreet

on Feb 15, 2006

No one is ignoring the issues you raise, Col. We disagree with you about them. You really seem nuts when you blindly repeat this stuff over and over when people respond to you.

Rightwinger

on Feb 15, 2006

So then, as an example, if we had elected John Kerry, he could just have waved his hand and the levies would have held, right? Is that what you think?
What if Kerry HAD won, and the disaster was still as epic (which it undoubtedly would have been)?
Would you still be bitching about it and linking it to completely unrelated potential health issues?
No---and why? Because you hate Bush. If he were out of office, you'd have nothing to complain about.
Admit it, Col.----you HATE him. That's the root of your obsession. You's a haytah.
In 2009, when the new president takes office, I'm almost willing to lay odds that you'll cancel your ISP. You won't have any reason to blog.

COL Gene

on Feb 16, 2006

The responses ignore the issues and the results that I document. One more time, I do not hate Bush. I hate what his policies are doing to our country!

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