The August Review

It would seem that if Katrina and Rita were not enough reason for Bush to federalize emergencies, the mere possibility of a bird flu pandemic should do the trick. The launching of two discrete and separate press barrages gives us indisputable proof of what is really on the President's mind, namely, killing the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 and squashing States Rights.

This writer’s recent article, Bush Off Base With Plan to Federalize Emergencies raised a few eyebrows. It warned that the President’s plan to federalize emergencies would open the door for domestic police action by U.S. military troops.

Maybe you could call the first presidential attempt, just a few weeks ago, an anomaly. Perhaps you could cut the President some political slack because he was just doing his own damage control after two major hurricanes crushed the south coast.

Forget about hurricanes -- now its bird flu. 

It's front page, prime-time news all over America. One headline states Bush says federal troops might be needed to help stop bird flu pandemic.

What? Troops MIGHT be needed? Bird flu MIGHT turn into a pandemic?  Drug companies MIGHT fail to produce effective vaccines? Millions of Americans MIGHT die? 

If there was ever an example of the modern adage "blowing smoke", this would do just fine!  This entire argument is based on pure speculation about non-events.

Truly, something seems to be on the President's mind these days, and it's not hurricanes or bird flu -- it's getting authority to federalize emergencies so that U.S. Federal troops can be called in to exercise force against American citizens (in this case to "quarantine" the masses.)  

In short, it's about centralizing federal power.

What Bush actually said in the Rose Garden on October 6 was

"I'm concerned about what an avian flu outbreak could mean for the United States and the world. One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move. So that's why I put it on the table. I think it's an important debate for Congress to have." 

Congress is already bogged down, almost crushed, with issues like the war in Iraq, Supreme Court nominations and the energy crisis. These things are based on facts, not hypothetical futures. So why is this all of a sudden such an urgent and important debate? Obviously, it isn't!

Finally, some thinking people are waking up. 

One such critic is Dr. Irwin Redlener, associate dean of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and also director of its National Center for Disaster Preparedness. He says "The translation of this is martial law in the United States" and calls it an "extremely Draconian measure". He also notes that what should be done is to build the capacity for rapid vaccine production and to not allow further degradation of the public health system.

Good for you, Dr. Redlener (and all the others who understand and are speaking out about how outrageous this is.) 

But don't let anyone think that criticism from any quarter will get this off the President's mind. All rhetoric and criticism aside, President Bush seems firmly bent on having his own way in this. 

The target is not emergencies, bird flu, hurricanes Katrina or Rita. Rather, it's the eradication of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 and the degrading of State's Rights that have long been a stumbling block to the globalization process being structured by elite globalists.

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