Can we expect face masks in Congress?

There is no evidence that spending $900 million would have any effect whatsoever on swine flu.

Their leadership is dangerous. Once more, they have allowed partisanship to trump the public good. I was miffed about this at the time--of course preparatory spending was stimulative--like anything else. This example just happened to also be prudent and wise. Thanks, GOP--appreciate your concern for the country.

"Sometimes, these folks just don't think ahead."

The word "ahead" is superfluous in that sentence.

Putting aside the egg on the faces of these three Senators for a moment, there's a deeper undercurrent at work here.

The idea behind a stimulus bill was to bring forward a lot of spending to get the wheels of commerrce turning again. In a lot of respects, it didn't really matter what the money was spent on, though it's obviously nice if they're of enduring value.

That Susan Collins thought that she could get away with saying "What does that have to do with an economic stimulus package?" is just playing on economic ignorance.

Oh, and by the way, how many billions of dollars has the USA spent on, say, missile defence in the past decade? And there's quibbling over less than a billion bucks spent on protecting against a far greater threat to life, one that really can't be negotiated with or deterred?

First, they mock "volcano monitoring" and a volcano erupts. Then, pandemic preparations and swine flu.

Are there any other mocked disasters funded in the stimulus we should be watching for? Was there any funding for SETI? Should we be worried about an alien invasion?

Why think ahead when you can rewrite history later?

I hate to say it, but Al has a point this time. The stimulus vote was not so long ago. On the other hand it is entirely possible that we are currently experiencing the first warning of the pandemic to come during the next flu season. If so, we need for Congress to act now to fund the program.

Put this together with the fact that Publican Senate Minority Leader McConnell and other members of his vile sect are filibustering Gov. Sebelius' nomination to head HHS - how much more evidence do we need that Publicans would rather have Americans suffer than allow Democrats to succeed?

The Repukeliscum are probably hoping that a pandemic would kill more Democrats than Repukeliscum. At this point, it is probably their only chance of surviving 2010 with a positive result.

Cheap political points seems to be the focus of Republicans in our national debates! It can't happen here is not doubt the thoughts of Collins and Rove - so why not attack the stimulus on what they consider petty items, and massage the imagery of waste when prudence was the intent of Obey?

These political operatives and elected officials of the Republic party need to really question whether they are committed to the American way of life, or not! -Kevo

Do a search for the blog posts for February from Washington Monthly and "CDC" comes up 0 times.

COllins name comes up a handful of times but never in context as to the actual items she wanted cut from the stimulus. Sarah Palin comes up 46 times.

Maybe if this blog did a better job informing readers about actual issues instead of regurgitating crappy DNC name calling talking points the public could have pushed back against these cuts at the time.

We're waiting for your link to the NYtimes Geithner piece from today.

I hate to say it, but Al has a point this time. The stimulus vote was not so long ago.

What Al did was miss the point. It is not that the spending would have stopped the pandemic from occurring. It is that it would have been money well spent to boost our preparedness and would have had the benefit of adding a little bit more money to an undernourished economy. So what did we gain by delaying the funding? As it turns out, we saved exactly nothing. We are going to have to spend the money now anyway, after the fact. But whether or not the pandemic ever hit it would not have hurt to be a little bit more prepared. This sort of thing is exactly what government should be prepared to do and it failed to perform as best it could so that it could avoid spending a pittance a moment before it needed to. That is poor foresight.

I am fully confident that after 8 years of management by Bush that the country is fully prepared for a pandemic. Just like it was fully prepared for an attack by terrorists wielding box cutter knives and hijacked jet airliners.

Stupidity is so damned contagious these days. The pandemic started in D.C.

What with all the GOP insights into catastrophes and their impending doom (see volcano monitoring/Mt.Redoubt just 19 days later!, and now this after just 79 days!), we really should scour the GOP's list of irresponsible rhetoric for clues about what might befall us next.
These people are profits...err...that's prophets. Just backwards!

I see TrevorJ had my same thoughts.

GOP epic failures

We'll actually spend *more* money ramping up to deal with this than we would have if we'd prepared properly in advance. So the stimulus "savings" actually turned to be an extra *cost*, which served only the vanity of a few senators.

Sometimes, these folks just don't think ahead.

If they thought ahead, they wouldn't be conservatives. Conservatism is a backward-thinking philosophy.

Are there any other mocked disasters funded in the stimulus we should be watching for? Was there any funding for SETI? Should we be worried about an alien invasion?

Monkey pox? I'm almost afraid to ask.

It does almost seem that we're all being punished for ignorant Republican mockery.

My favorite was in 2001, the Bush administration announced they were getting rid of Project Impact, a Clinton era FEMA mitigation program. Later that day the Nisqually earthquake hit. One of the Project Impact projects was removing a water tower from the roof of a school. The consensus was that if it wasn't removed it would have killed a classroom of students.

Speaking of that Nisqually earthquake, at the time the Seattle area was one of seven cities involved with a test program for teaching people how to retrofit their homes and buildings and/or to bring awareness about the need of such retrofitting. However, Cheney wanted the program stopped, so, when he and the bullet head of FEMA flew over the area, following the quake, they, both announced the retrofitting had done nothing to stop damage. Amazing what one can learn from 5 thousand feet up in a helo in a flyby.

Now, could we change the name of the Swine Flu to The RepuG Flu?

Maybe if this blog did a better job informing readers about actual issues instead of regurgitating crappy DNC name calling talking points the public could have pushed back against these cuts at the time.

You know, if you're so terribly concerned that the blogs you read aren't covering the issues you're concerned about, maybe you should start a blog. It's free, and you could spend your time doing more constructive things than searches on Washington Monthly to find out what Steve's not covering and then complaining about it instead of doing your own research for your own blog posts.

At this point, you sound like the people complaining about a restaurant's food being terrible, and coming in such small portions.

No one could POSSIBLY have foreseen the possibility of a pandemic flu!

Jindal opposes volcano monitoring and an Alaskan volcano that was to be monitored begins to rumble.

Collins fights pandemic preparation and swine flu busts out.

What other stuff did they cut so we know what to look out for?
God seems to be playing jokes on the "Christian" party.

At this point I am wondering just how long it will take for some wingnut to postulate that the Swine Flu pandemic is a Democratic conspiracy because Collins and other GOP stalwarts mocked the item in the stimulus package. Then I am wondering just how much traction that conspiracy theory will get. Will Drudge pick it up first, or will it get air time on Limbaugh or FAUX News?

Even greater foresight: Texas Gov Rick Perry (remember that anti-stimulus secessionist guy?) is now first in fricking line to ask for CDC antiviral stockpiles.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/26/tx-perry-swine-flu/

Since Republicans are too stupid to do things like wash their hands, perhaps the swine flu will wipe out the Swine???

Even greater foresight: Texas Gov Rick Perry (remember that anti-stimulus secessionist guy?) is now first in fricking line to ask for CDC antiviral stockpiles.

Just as SC Gov. Mark Sanford (rabidly anti-stimulus/evil federal gummint spending guy) lost absolutely no time seeking federal funds for disaster relief for that Myrtle Beach wildfire.

Maybe this means that God, unlike the Rethugs (as atlliberal pointed out in the patriostism thread), does have a great sense of irony.

Reality has a well-documented liberal bias.

Sometimes, these folks just don't think ahead.

If they thought ahead, they wouldn't be conservatives. Conservatism is a backward-thinking philosophy.
Posted by: Screamin' Demon on April 27, 2009 at 9:52 AM
***
SD was close; "thinking" period is more than most of the (R)s are capable of. Forget about the logic of forecasting. These idiots are just not bright enough.

I saw a comment on another blog (FDL) where someone from Maine had called Collins' Washington office after they took down the bit on her website about how wonderful she is for having had this provision removed. The commenter told them that she had a cached copy of the stuff they took down and they went ballistic. Apparently they have been taking a lot of heat for that little bit of "penny wise, pound foolish."

Will they learn?

Asking whether or not the money would have prevented the flu epidemic is not the point. Neither is the quibble that it isn't a "stimulus." The money would have gone to help the public health system recuperate after the Bushies had destroyed it and substituted smallpox vaccinations instead.

The public health system isn't just to combat flu epidemics. It is also for making sure people are vaccinated. It is for monitoring outbreaks so that when there is a case of food poisoning, it is recognized earlier when something can still be done to prevent it from being worse. It is for monitoring the spread of disease such as measles outbreaks where for some reason a bunch of parents decide not to vaccinate their kids or cancer hot spots associated with toxic wastes. It serves a host of benefits, not just flu monitoring. Whether or not there was an outbreak, it still needs to be done because our public health system, the surveillance arm of the CDC, is absolutely necessary to the health of our country.

"President George W. Bush asked the U.S. Congress for $7.1 billion on Tuesday to prepare for a pandemic flu, including $1.2 billion for 20 million doses of a vaccine against H5N1 bird flu".

http://tinyurl.com/cajqrd

You folks are completely disingenuous. Admit it. I will bet you this won't even get posted.