Saturday, October 08, 2005

U.S. 'Woefully' Unprepared for Flu Pandemic & Republican Abuse of Power Continues in Today's Details 10/8/05

- A plan developed by the Bush administration to deal with any possible outbreak of pandemic flu shows that the United States is woefully unprepared for what could become the worst disaster in the nation's history. A draft of the final plan, which has been years in the making and is expected to be released later this month, says a large outbreak that began in Asia would be likely, because of modern travel patterns, to reach the United States within "a few months or even weeks."
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- Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D - NY), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, responded today to the Republican Leadership's deliberate attempt to thwart the will of the American people and to undermine the democratic process during a vote on the Gasoline for America's Security Act.

"Once again, on an issue of critical importance to the American people, the Republican Majority has chosen to trample the democratic process and manipulate the outcome of a vote on the Floor of the House of Representatives, after the vote was completed."

"This is an unethical subversion of our democracy. The Republican Leadership has brought shame on themselves and the House of Representatives."

"Today, we all see how the Republican culture of corruption has destroyed the credibility of this government and directly impacts the lives of each and every American."

Rep. Mike Simpson (R - ID), Speaker Pro - Tempore of the House, held open a five - minute vote on HR 3893, the Gasoline for America's Security Act, for over forty minutes. For nearly all of that time, Republicans were unable to produce a majority vote in favor of the bill. Rep. Simpson repeatedly stated that he was using his discretion to hold the vote open until all Members had voted. But as soon as Republicans had gained the needed number of votes to pass the Act, he closed the vote. The final vote total was 212 to 210.
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- Officials in New York and Washington sought to explain on Friday why each made starkly different public statements as the news spread on Thursday about the threat to the New York City subway system, describing an apparent gap in perception brought on by different agencies' different roles. "It is very different being an analyst in Washington looking at data as opposed to being here in New York where you have to take responsibility to protect people's lives," Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in Brooklyn on Friday.
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- An October 7 New York Times article explored in detail Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers's tenure as chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission but failed to make a key connection between her dual roles with the lottery commission and with the re-election campaign of then-Gov. George W. Bush. While Miers was chairwoman of the commission, the former executive director filed suit, claiming that he was fired to ensure that allegations were not made public that then-Gov. Bush had gained acceptance into the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 as a result of political favors. At roughly the same time -- and also during her tenure as chairwoman -- Miers was paid by Bush's re-election campaign to investigate Bush's Guard record in order to deflect allegations that Bush received preferential treatment.
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- At least 746 people were killed and hundreds more injured when a magnitude 7.6 earthquake -- estimated to be the most intense in the region in the last century -- jolted residents of the south Asian subcontinent. But officials warned the death toll from Saturday's quake could be in the thousands in Pakistan, India, the Pakistani- and Indian-administered areas of Kashmir, and in Afghanistan.
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-Radio host Bill Bennett continues to modify his explanation for his controversial remarks that if "you wanted to reduce crime -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." As Media Matters for America has previously documented, Bennett initially defended his remarks by falsely claiming they were based on a theory endorsed by Steven D. Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics (William Morrow, May 2005).

Now, Bennett has offered a new defense -- liberals were outraged over his comments because they hit too close to home. On the October 5 broadcast of the nationally syndicated Focus on the Family radio program, Focus on the Family founder and chairman James C. Dobson suggested that the "[reason] the left has reacted so viciously to you [Bennett] is that their own abortion movement is rooted in racism." Bennett agreed and expanded on these remarks by stating that "this is the sort of thing, I think, that was probably in their minds. On a conscious or subconscious level, that had something to do with the viciousness of the attack. In using this noxious hypothetical, I hit too close to what they believe, not what I believe."

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