All right arrogant liberals, time for you all to shut up.
President Bush:Avian flu has developed some of the characteristics needed to cause a pandemic.... If the virus developed the capacity for sustained human-to-human transmission, it could spread quickly around the world.
WHO:Experts agree that another influenza pandemic is inevitable and possibly imminent.
CDC:Many scientists believe it is only a matter of time until the next influenza pandemic occurs.... [It] has been estimated that in the United States a "medium-level" pandemic could cause 89,000 to 207,000 deaths.
Okay, so the President's timeliness with his bird flu address is questionable following the Libby and Miers debacles, but I am tired of all the liberals labeling it as a distraction only. Avian influenza is real, and, without preparedness and luck, will make anyone forget about the tragic tsunami of last year, Katrina, or the Kashmir earthquakes.
Expert Michael Osterholm on MSNBC:
Spanish flu, could kill 150 million people--2.5 percent of the world's population--in a matter of months. Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota calls that scenario "the single greatest risk to our world today." Governments--indeed, civilizations--have collapsed from less; even if you survive, Osterholm asks, "what happens to you when the global economy shuts down?"
Now the president's plan:
$1.2bn for the government to buy enough doses of the vaccine against the current strain of bird flu to protect 20 million Americans
$1bn to stockpile more anti-viral drugs that lessen the severity of the flu symptoms
$2.8bn to speed the development of vaccines as new strains emerge, a process that now takes months
$583m for states and local governments to prepare emergency plans to respond to an outbreak
This afternoon Harry Reid shut down the senate to talk about the systematic misinformation leading up to Iraq by the President and his administration. What he did was, less then four hours after the bird flu speech, manage to turn the attention back to Libby's indictment. An important show of strength for the Democrats, yes. What he also did was shove aside the most important issue of the next year (or hopefully two or three). I ask why he couldn't have waited until tomorrow. Give the most pressing health concern in history at least one press cycle please. We have waited a year (and yes, that is a tragedy), why not wait another day, when the only news will be Charles and Camilla at the White House?
Now we have countless comments on this site about the bird flu as a distracter or deflector of the important issues. I say to you: "Shut up!" President Bush has ignored the growing situation in South East Asia too long, and we can ask the why now question for him too. The important thing is that he is addressing it now or whenever. So I ask you not to detest this Administration for having a plan to fight bird flu. If you must detest the plan itself as
some have:
It's not strong enough, said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who helped lead Senate passage of $8 billion in emergency funding for pandemic preparations last month.
''Stockpiles alone aren't enough without the capacity to make use of them,'' he said, calling for steps to help states, cities and hospitals prepare for a flood of panicked patients.
''There is a gaping hole'' in the plan, added Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who said the nation should stockpile enough Tamiflu for half the population, not the quarter that would be covered if the states added their share under Bush's plan.
I dare say that the president knows more about the risks of avian flu than many of us do, and for this I am embarrassed. So shut up about it being the fear of the month, and instead actually read a little, and get prepared.
