Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Bush to Americans: You are on your own!

Bush and the lockstep Rethugs in Congress have done zero to prepare for a natural disaster, even after the Katrine debacle.

These people should all be hung.

USNews.com: A large-scale disaster like a major hurricane or pandemic flu could overwhelm the nation's healthcare providers:

"Brian O'Neill is paid to worry. As vice president of emergency services for the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, he is charged with making sure his organization's 15 hospitals are prepared for a nightmarish list of naturally occurring and man-made threats. What would happen if there were a repeat of the Long Island Express, the 1938 hurricane with 121-mph winds that destroyed 4,500 homes and killed 700 people? What if healthcare workers battling infectious disease in protective gear got overheated and exhausted? What if staffers were stranded in their homes by the weather? If any of these situations became a reality, the system's emergency preparedness center, located in an inconspicuous, low-slung building in the Long Island town of Syosset, would spring to life. Emergency workers would don the reflective vests now draped over chairs, consult binders filled with contingency plans, and examine chain-of-command charts. 'We plan for everything,' O'Neill says, 'and hope for the best.'"

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