THE BUSH MAN HAS SOLD US DOWN THE RIVER

Has the Bush administration got you properly worried about terrorism? Well, if you really want something to worry about when it comes to terrorism, look no further than to Nature. Possibly coming at us is an avian flu pandemic potentially capable of killing tens or even hundreds of millions of people on the planet including, for example, you and me. So far this disease has been 50-70% fatal to those who have contracted it.

Certainly, you say, the drug companies are competing with each other to come up with a vaccine to protect us against such a formidable calamity. But you would be wrong. Apparently, there is not sufficient profit in producing flu vaccines. They're just not particularly interested.

Well, then, the Federal Government, whose only reason for existence is to protect the citizenry, will come to our defense. Wrong again. Read this Executive Order signed by our compassionate Conservative president:

Executive Order: Amendment to E.O. 13295 Relating to Certain Influenza Viruses and Quarantinable Communicable Diseases

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 361 (b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 264 (b), it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Based upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Surgeon General, and for the purpose set forth in section 1of Executive Order
13295 of April 4, 2003, section 1 of such order is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection: "(c) Influenza caused by novel or reemergent influenza viruses that are causing, or have the potential to cause, a pandemic."

Sec. 2. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities, officers, employees or agents, or any other person.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

April 1, 2005

So you see, when it comes to the mother of all terrorism, Mother Nature, the Bush man has sold us all down the river.

11/05/2005