Summary: Conservatives’ decades-long efforts to delegitimize and shrink the US government have had many successes, such as decreasing public confidence in the Republic’s institutions (except the military) and decaying infrastructure (except for the military). Sadly we are blind to this slow relentless attack on the Republic, even when we see the effects on this news. Like today.
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President Obama wants an aggressive capability to respond to future Ebola cases in America. It’s probably unnecessary, now that the health care system has been alerted and mobilized, but the intensifying fear-mongering by Republicans (e.g., “If you want to live, ignore the CDC“), combined with calls for him to take bold actions, forces his hand. Can he call upon the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, especially its Centers for Disease Control?
Apparently not. In the New America the only organization with the resources for large-scale action is the military. The CDC’s 2014 budget of $6.9B is slightly greater then DoD’s PR and community relations spending, estimated at $5B.
See the news in Barbara Starr’s broadcast on CNN. Here’s CNN’s follow-up story:
The U.S. military is forming a 30-person “quick-strike team” equipped to provide direct treatment to Ebola patients inside the United States, a Defense Department official told CNN’s Barbara Starr on Sunday. A Pentagon spokesman later confirmed portions of the official’s information.
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The team will be under orders to deploy within 72 hours at any time over the next month, the official said. The Department of Health and Human Services requested the military team, and the Pentagon has given verbal approval, the official said. The team will include five doctors, 20 nurses and five trainers, Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a statement.
The Pentagon has been working to determine what assistance it could offer the civilian health care sector following a White House meeting last week during which President Barack Obama said he wanted a more aggressive response, according to two Defense officials.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered chief of the Northern Command, Gen. Chuck Jacoby, “to prepare and train a 30-person expeditionary medical support team that could, if required, provide short-notice assistance to civilian medical professionals in the United States,” Kirby said. Jacoby is already working with the military on the joint team, Kirby said, and once formed, it will head to Fort Sam Houston in Texas for up to seven days of training in infection control and personal protective equipment. The training, provided by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, will begin “within the next week or so,” Kirby said. The team will remain in “prepare-to-deploy” status for 30 days, he said. It will be able to respond anywhere in the U.S. if “deemed prudent by our public health professionals,” he said.
This is a sad admission for a developed nation (but quite typical of a Third World nation). It’s another data point showing the militarization of America. Our foreign policy is largely set and implemented by the military, whose resources dwarf those of the State Department (e.g., there are more members of military bands than Foreign Service Officers). Our police are equipped and trained with military gear. Much of our space program has become a DoD project. And our R&D is increasingly run by DoD (DARPA, the NSA, the CIA, and the military).
Other posts about Ebola
- What you need to know about Ebola. Debunking the myths.
- An epidemic afflicting America: fear about Ebola. Avoid the carriers. Facts are the antidote.
- While Americans panic at shadows, Ebola strikes hard at Africa
- Lessons from Ebola. Let’s hope we learn.
- DoD shows its strength, mobilizing to protect us from Ebola (a sad story about America).
- We awake from fears of an Ebola pandemic in America. Now let’s ask who’s responsible…, 21 October 2014
- Good news about Ebola and its terrifying mortality rate, 5 November 2014
America seen as we are, on TV
This is America’s government in action, in peace and war, foreign and domestic:
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