Taking money from research on Ebola to fund research on Zika is just plain stupid.
10
"Perversely, while not doing much to contain the virus, some House members have seized upon it as a pretext to weaken environmental regulations. Republicans have introduced a bill that would allow businesses to spray pesticides on or near waterways without first notifying regulators, as now required by law. Once called the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act, the bill was recently given a more ominous name, the Zika Vector Control Act, the idea being that with Zika lurking around the corner, local governments should be able to use pesticides more easily."
Another fine example of GOP "compassionate largesse". What a surprise!
Next, the GOP will acknowledge the reality of global climate change and recommend erecting giant coal powered fans to cool the world's atmosphere. It is truly great to have a political party so tellingly attuned to scientific knowledge and so selflessly dedicated to promoting the public welfare.
Another fine example of GOP "compassionate largesse". What a surprise!
Next, the GOP will acknowledge the reality of global climate change and recommend erecting giant coal powered fans to cool the world's atmosphere. It is truly great to have a political party so tellingly attuned to scientific knowledge and so selflessly dedicated to promoting the public welfare.
8
House Republicans have a very finite supply of "compassionate largesse". What little they have, by and large, has already been bought and paid for by their donor class. What little yet remains after that basic transaction, is sharply targeted by their own ideological agendas--agendas never subject to revision in the face of facts--which evidence slight concern for public and communal, as opposed to private and ambitiously individualistic, welfare.
5
The way to get help for Zika and other health issues is to couch it in terms of benefits for the unborn. Almost sure to get support.
3
I am willing to spend more on fighting Zika if Obama and the Democrats will tell us specifically how it will be paid for. Putting it on the Federal credit card is not acceptable or an option. Instead of cutting Ebola funding should we cut Social Security, Medicaid, ground another fighter wing or dry dock a carrier group? Should we eliminate tax loop holes for Hollywood or funding for Planned Parenthood, after all that funding has been made redundant by Obama care hasn't it? Should we cut the transportation budget or eliminate the Department of Commerce or the Department of Education? How? Adults pay their bills and their own way. Kids don't.
I challenge liberal Times readers to tell us how they will specifically pay for additional funding instead of engaging in emotional binges or gratuitous attacks on Republicans.
I challenge liberal Times readers to tell us how they will specifically pay for additional funding instead of engaging in emotional binges or gratuitous attacks on Republicans.
5
You were told, when the President's letter was published. You simply refuse to pay attention. Yes, in detail. Look it up.
So fine...oil companies get about 4 bil a year. Let's start with that. It's cover this, voer Ebola resarch again, and get the NIH budget back up toward where it should be.
What's childish is to be penny wise and pound foolish, and to--as you'll be doing by this fall--scream your head off about them libs doing nothing to warn you, and handle the problem.
So fine...oil companies get about 4 bil a year. Let's start with that. It's cover this, voer Ebola resarch again, and get the NIH budget back up toward where it should be.
What's childish is to be penny wise and pound foolish, and to--as you'll be doing by this fall--scream your head off about them libs doing nothing to warn you, and handle the problem.
11
Taxes, particularly on the highest earners in the US who benefit the most from government spending but don't think they should pay for infrastructure, foreign intervention and trade deals that protect their interests abroad, grants on research that provides a lot of private industry's products (think pharmaceuticals, electronics, Worldwide Web etc) and the money the US government spends on purchasing goods and services that props up US industry.
The government is a major provider and customer of US industry and the wealthy benefit most from that industry. Who will benefit most from the billions spent on Zika, the companies that will do the research and implement the solutions.
The government is a major provider and customer of US industry and the wealthy benefit most from that industry. Who will benefit most from the billions spent on Zika, the companies that will do the research and implement the solutions.
9
It's not only yahoo legislatures that must be blamed.
There has also been noticeable and reprehensible self-censorship -- to some extent even a conspiracy of silence – in the mainstream media (yes you too, Jake Tapper) concerning the need to have abortion accessible to a woman stricken with the tragic burden of bearing a Zika microcephalic fetus. That silence spares the darkest forces of cruel religious fundamentalism from making themselves marginal and laughable by having to explain, in broad daylight, that such a defective fetus is a "gift from God".
There has also been noticeable and reprehensible self-censorship -- to some extent even a conspiracy of silence – in the mainstream media (yes you too, Jake Tapper) concerning the need to have abortion accessible to a woman stricken with the tragic burden of bearing a Zika microcephalic fetus. That silence spares the darkest forces of cruel religious fundamentalism from making themselves marginal and laughable by having to explain, in broad daylight, that such a defective fetus is a "gift from God".
7
Zika is not just a local, National, or Regional threat it is a Global 1 as is Ebola or MERS,etc.The countries that did, for now, succeeded in arresting the spread of Ebola have a reasonably functioning State structure.Liberia,Seralion,etc. were a civil war ravaged Nations some 20 yrs ago.When Ebola surfaced they were peaceful enough to invite WHO's,US's, Europe's or MSF's experts and these experts were in a safe enough environment to deliver a united and frontal attack against Ebola and the result is containment.Still the heroic Nurses and other Health Workers r not paid or not adequately paid.Commenter SW talks about not funding the stabilization efforts in and around Libya.But with several failed Nations and a flow of refugees from W. to N. Africa, M.East etc. to EU Epidemic becoming rampant and run away is not necessarily a phenomenon with Zero Probability. Hence the title of this Editorial is appropriate and draining the fight against Ebola to water the against Zika can not be a wise one.US has the best expertise and experts that know how to contain say the spread of Malaria who understand well the landscapes of the countries so far visited by Zika, as well as Africa's tropical areas ( I can cite 1 retired ,from AED, Washingtonian who is 1 of the very best ).Congress can best do its share of ( collaborating with the Exec Branch ) sheltering Americans from Zika and working towards securing a healthy World by listening to the best in the pertinent areas of expertise.TMD.
4
Very high minded. Now, how do we pay for it?
1
We chop one of those bases the Pentagon says we don't need any more.
6
The virus can mutate. By the end of the summer, Brazil could have millions infected. The Olympics refuses to withdraw from Brazil Summer 2016, money involved. When the virus mutates it is any one's guess how it will mutate. The more people are infected the higher the probability. Ebola and Zika were expected to go global this summer with an increase in travel. If the Olympics is played in Brazil, there will be an increase in the spread of the Zika virus. Do we wait until Congress gets infected or their children? This Congress has become infected with their own egotistical power. November 2016 can't come soon enough, unfortunately, it will be after the long summer.
5
If Obama wanted $1.9 Billion, he should have asked for $7.5 Billion. Then he could have negotiated with those dastardly villains on Capitol Hill to get the money to do the job. Maybe we need a guy in the Oval Office who knows how to cut a deal with his adversaries.
1
What a waste! To think of the wars that could be funded with the money wasted on this Zika nonsense!
Take Iraq for example, trillions of tax dollars wisely diverted & invested to fund a horrifically bloody war against the wrong country (it could be argued that Saudi Arabia, our oil ally, was to blame for 9/11 but Iraq had nothing to do with it), which was unnecessary (whether Hussein had WMD or not), which resulted in the creation of ISIS, and destabilized most of the Mid East region & parts of Europe (so far), except for Iran, our "enemy", which is on the verge of developing nuclear weapons and now has filled the vacuum to dominate whatever is left in the Middle East. And the reason for all this horror was cheap access to fossil fuels which are destroying our planet.
And all of this was done with the strong advocacy & support of people who consider themselves fiscally conservative and pro-life.
Let's steal from Ebola & Zika to fight another unnecessary war.
Take Iraq for example, trillions of tax dollars wisely diverted & invested to fund a horrifically bloody war against the wrong country (it could be argued that Saudi Arabia, our oil ally, was to blame for 9/11 but Iraq had nothing to do with it), which was unnecessary (whether Hussein had WMD or not), which resulted in the creation of ISIS, and destabilized most of the Mid East region & parts of Europe (so far), except for Iran, our "enemy", which is on the verge of developing nuclear weapons and now has filled the vacuum to dominate whatever is left in the Middle East. And the reason for all this horror was cheap access to fossil fuels which are destroying our planet.
And all of this was done with the strong advocacy & support of people who consider themselves fiscally conservative and pro-life.
Let's steal from Ebola & Zika to fight another unnecessary war.
14
Winston Churchill said that Americans do the right thing after they've tried everything else. Well, while the Republicans are trying everything else, people in the US are being infected by and exposed to the Zika virus. So if everybody is willing to get on board to support affected infants throughout an expensive life of caretaking, forget the preventative measures. Unbelievable shortsightness by Republicans, as usual. They are probably having a prayer session right now requesting that it all just go away. And for those that are minimizing Ebola, they are probably the same people that demonized Obama rather than the ridiculous hospital in Texas which had no idea what to do.
9
This mosquito species is already endemic in the southern US. Travel to these states for women of child bearing age and their partners will rapidly become an issue. What will happen when Zika is actually detected in mosquitos on the US mainland?
7
What could really change things for the better would be if there could be funding to find a cure for the pervasive microcardia in the Republican party.
28
This is the Republican House's "Katrina Moment". We know the costs of not confronting this aggressively to mitigate disaster will deliver the certainty of preventable human suffering and a breakdown in public trust for government to act responsibly to protect its citizens. We also know the "clean-up" costs in our healthcare system for this bio-infectious storm will dwarf the prevention costs that the Republican House is running away from for alternative of their "shortcut".
So voters, this is your moment. Who do your trust to protect the American people ? We are facing a building wave of infectious disease from Zika virus.
Who do you trust to guide Americans away from another "Katrina Moment" ?
This is not a failure of "Government". It's Republican House leadership failure.
So voters, this is your moment. Who do your trust to protect the American people ? We are facing a building wave of infectious disease from Zika virus.
Who do you trust to guide Americans away from another "Katrina Moment" ?
This is not a failure of "Government". It's Republican House leadership failure.
12
I for one am heartened by any Congressional resistance to the pharmaceutical/industrial complex, whatever the underlying motive may be. The Zika scare, like the measles scare, the polio scare, the chickenpox scare, etc., going all the way back to the smallpox scare, are simply propaganda tools in the marketing of vaccines. I know plenty of NYT readers think anyone who opposes vaccines is irrational, but when pressed I have never found any pro-vaxxer who could provide one shred of substantiated evidence that vaccines are safe, or that they've ever done anything to stop the spread of infectious disease. All one gets are solemn pronouncements from "experts," so designated because they say what their masters bid them. Sure, vaccines have had their mythic conquests, but that's all they are: myths. Smallpox, for example, always raged most lethally in the most heavily vaccinated populations. Polio abated in part because of a dramatic cutback in the use of DDT, and in part because it was redefined out of existence. There is little evidence to support the notion that the Zika virus causes microcephaly, but there is plenty of evidence that toxic overload from vaccines, pesticides, air and water pollution, etc,, as well as malnutrition, cause mothers to give birth to babies with underdeveloped brains. What we should be scared about is that, in this country alone, over 200,000 people -- that's the official figure, probably an underestimate -- die as a result of medical error each year.
Do you really think society would be better off without vaccines? How about 3rd world countries that really suffer from a lack of vaccines? How is this thinking any different than Boko Haram's way of thinking?
6
The bit about smallpox raging because of vaccination shows a level of willful stupidity that is absolutely amazing.
For openers, my boy, it's called "vaccination," because Edmund Jenner used what was in effect an attenuated strain of the virus, cowpox, as the world's first vaccine. It's named after cows, ace.
The Zika/microcephaly link has now been established.
Your claims about vaccines not being known to be safe is even stupider than the other two nonsenses.
Here's hoping that despite your ignorance, you don't get anybody's child maimed or hurt or killed with this nonsense.
For openers, my boy, it's called "vaccination," because Edmund Jenner used what was in effect an attenuated strain of the virus, cowpox, as the world's first vaccine. It's named after cows, ace.
The Zika/microcephaly link has now been established.
Your claims about vaccines not being known to be safe is even stupider than the other two nonsenses.
Here's hoping that despite your ignorance, you don't get anybody's child maimed or hurt or killed with this nonsense.
15
Perhaps Obama should consider jettisoning his plans to continue arming our adversaries (including his new plan for Libya) and instead ask that these billions of dollars be redirected to fight the Zika virus.
3
On the same day that we learn that the CDC is tracking hundreds of pregnant American women with the Zika virus, we learn that Congress is not providing adequate funding. I remember the Ebola hysteria. There was absolute panic, and of course, the blaming of Pres. Obama. Perhaps the funds from the Benghazi Committee, the Planned Parenthood Committee, and other witch hunts would be better spent helping real women, real families, and a terrible threat? In Brazil, abortion drugs were confiscated from women who were afraid they had on contracted Zika. Maybe that's what the GOP Congress will try next?
And Catholic bishops in South America (unlike Pope Francis) still prohibit contraception. Do conservatives who forced the Hobby Lobby decision consider that women exposed to Zika have no health rights still?
And Catholic bishops in South America (unlike Pope Francis) still prohibit contraception. Do conservatives who forced the Hobby Lobby decision consider that women exposed to Zika have no health rights still?
38
Recall how the U.S. got involved in the Second World War? When FDR was telling Americans that calamity was lurking just around the corner, no one, especially these Conservatives in Congress, agreed that it was time to take precautionary measures, until the Japanese struck at Peal Harbor. Like our entry into WWII, unless the Zika virus hits the main land, these politicians, I believe, won't take its destructive nature seriously.
9
It will hit the mainland. KA
2
The cdc just announced that 157 pregnant women are now infected with the virus in this country.The bias against republicans is becoming moronic.The House did the correct thing.In fact,now that the illness is spreading across america your paper should immediately print a retraction for your ignorant biased editorial!
Not following your line of reasoning. Now that they've announced over one hundred pregnant women on the mainland have been infected, that's all the more reason the House should have allocated substantial funds to Zika research and not less than half of what was estimated to be needed to seriously combat the virus.
11
Yes and all of the infected women were infected by travel outside the country to Zika areas or they had unprotected sex with someone who did.
I'll suppose the cherished label of "conservative" might incur an embarrassing connotation when voters realize what has seemingly so foolishly been legislated.
BTW: I would not be completely surprised if the prohibition of DDT is lifted, as I read somewhere that at least one mosquito poison isn't working.
BTW: I would not be completely surprised if the prohibition of DDT is lifted, as I read somewhere that at least one mosquito poison isn't working.
1
They will probably change their tune as soon as one of their relatives has a baby born with microcephaly. Then they will rush out to the local abortionist with dispatch.
9
If the baby is already born with a small head, why would anyone rush out to an abortionist?
1
It's ironic House Republicans, most of whom self-describe as pro-life, are so cheap and short sighted when offered this chance to invest in protecting babies and expectant mothers from Zika. This hypocrisy is a morally bankrupt and a huge embarrassment for our nation, the richest in the world. Bottom line for Congress: Life doesn't matter more than loyalty to one's political ideology.
40
I see that the right-wingers are arguing that a) the President's letter "wasn't detailed enough," and b) we're just wasting money, money, money.
Here's a link to the President's letter.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/22/letter-president-...
And after you read it, which you won't, here's a question: you figure waiting till Zika's well-established in this country, and we have a couple hundred microcephalic kids, as well as a hundred people or so killed or permanently disabled, will cost more or less than $1.9 billion?
Here's a link to the President's letter.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/22/letter-president-...
And after you read it, which you won't, here's a question: you figure waiting till Zika's well-established in this country, and we have a couple hundred microcephalic kids, as well as a hundred people or so killed or permanently disabled, will cost more or less than $1.9 billion?
17
House Republicans have little hesitation at allocating funds or tax cuts at the drop of a hat for a pet cause, but somehow a pending public health crisis that can seriously affect unborn babies gets a shrug and empty pockets. What have we come to?
28
Nature has come up with new diseases during my life time.
Nature's activity is the evolution of living life. Diseases are part of this evolution.
We're going to be actuated to new diseases for as long as there is life on this planet.
There will be more calls for funds to treat and cure new diseases.
I'm always in favor of funding adequate amounts.
I grow up as a child in the 50's and I saw and heard continuous warnings to stay away from public pools, that summer time is when polio would strike. I saw iron lung machines and partially crippled children walking with braces. I feared polio and had no way to have any understanding of it and why there are such diseases.
However, from the deepest fear intuitively felt within me came a great sense of relief and calm when my mother explained the shots were so I wouldn't get polio.
To the GOP House: You're playing with a volcano and it is rumbling louder every day. The mosquitoes in the south have already arrived and are breeding. The funds: If not for Zika, what will it take to move your sense of survival for yourselves and your families.
Also, some one needs to put funds for the health of our and the worlds bee colonies. If they go we won't have to worry about diseases anymore.
Nature's activity is the evolution of living life. Diseases are part of this evolution.
We're going to be actuated to new diseases for as long as there is life on this planet.
There will be more calls for funds to treat and cure new diseases.
I'm always in favor of funding adequate amounts.
I grow up as a child in the 50's and I saw and heard continuous warnings to stay away from public pools, that summer time is when polio would strike. I saw iron lung machines and partially crippled children walking with braces. I feared polio and had no way to have any understanding of it and why there are such diseases.
However, from the deepest fear intuitively felt within me came a great sense of relief and calm when my mother explained the shots were so I wouldn't get polio.
To the GOP House: You're playing with a volcano and it is rumbling louder every day. The mosquitoes in the south have already arrived and are breeding. The funds: If not for Zika, what will it take to move your sense of survival for yourselves and your families.
Also, some one needs to put funds for the health of our and the worlds bee colonies. If they go we won't have to worry about diseases anymore.
23
We must give grudging admiration to the Republicans for taking the long view and providing strategically for the future. Clearly they're expecting microcephalic babies to become lifelong Republicans.
10
Humans have always, and always will, argued with Mother Nature.
She is simply trying to come up with various ways to control human
population growth.
She is simply trying to come up with various ways to control human
population growth.
3
In short the Times and Democrats are sore that the House did not give Obama a $1.9 Billion slush fund. His request was very short on spending details. Instead, acting like responsible adults the House balanced interests and costs in the public interest not in the interest of Democrat connected contractors. Democrats are outraged. To think we might actually worry about where the money is going and how it will be paid for. Totally outlandish.
5
Actually, the President's letter requesting the emergency funding--three months ago--was detailed. You could look it up, but you won't.
Another thing you could do is take a look at the CDC's projections of the way this virus will spread--it's already in Puerto Rico pretty good, and cases have shown up on the mainland--and what its human costs will be.
What DOES it cost to support a microcephalic child their whole lives, you figure?
But you won't. You'll scream about spending the dough, and then you'll scream about how the Black President drew a feckless red line after the virus--which, in a small way, you helped along--arrives for real.
Another thing you could do is take a look at the CDC's projections of the way this virus will spread--it's already in Puerto Rico pretty good, and cases have shown up on the mainland--and what its human costs will be.
What DOES it cost to support a microcephalic child their whole lives, you figure?
But you won't. You'll scream about spending the dough, and then you'll scream about how the Black President drew a feckless red line after the virus--which, in a small way, you helped along--arrives for real.
37
I'm sure you are equally concerned about defense spending and tax expenditures, right? Not a penny of extra spending in these areas until every cent of waste is squeezed out, correct?
31
Absolutely. unlike Democrats who will spend on anything without thought as long as Obama says so and usingf other people's money makes them feel good about themselves.
1
It's bizarre given the Republican Party conservatives are also so opposed to abortion, an option many women would seek if they learned they were carrying a fetus suffering from microcephaly. But rational thought never seems to drive these decisions. I would have expected a rational analysis of the potential implications and costs at the very least, as empathy is so lacking.
44
The Obama request failed to provide any detailed specifics regarding spending. In effect the Obama request amounted to nothing more then a $1.9 billion slush fund controlled by Obama himself and unconnected to "science". It's bizarre that you are okay with that and robotically support anything Obama does without question. How would you fund the spending?
1
William, you fail to recognize that you're not living in the Kansas where Dorothy grew up.
6
Look, it has to be paid for somehow. The Editorial Board screeches when the sources don't advance its liberal agenda. Cut Social Security and pay for it that way if you prefer.
3
Diverting funds from ebola research is idiotic. Having the funds available only until September is idiotic. In which world do these people live?
17
How about two less F-35s? Or wait, I know...let's get rid of those billions in oil comoany subsidies.
30
In a very few years such arguments over spending like this will be a moot point. The amount of money necessary to spend on our debt service will consume every dime of discretionary spending. I know Democrats do not like to face such realities but just think about it for a minute. If the FED raised interests to their normal, historical level, the Federal government would be utterly bankrupt. That is how bad things are. Not only will we not be able to fund things like virus research, we will not be able to fund our military, security services or anything else. We have to begin making serious, adult choices about spending if we are to remain a free, prosperous people.
3
This is a wonderful example of macroeconomic ignorance. Reminds me of a high school English teacher I had many years ago who was sure rockets could not operate in space ..... they would have nothing to push against.
13
The debt did not cause the 2008 recession. When Bush, the insincere, took over we were in the positive.
The debt has risen, in the most part, because of unfunded wars. Go figure.
Put a trillion of their cost into the infrastructure and see how the economy, the middle class on down, the poor to have a route out of poverty due to jobs increase and you will see a healthy economy able to with stand increases in the interest rates, including what will be garnered in savings plans for the people..
The debt has risen, in the most part, because of unfunded wars. Go figure.
Put a trillion of their cost into the infrastructure and see how the economy, the middle class on down, the poor to have a route out of poverty due to jobs increase and you will see a healthy economy able to with stand increases in the interest rates, including what will be garnered in savings plans for the people..
9
We did that in 2009. Remember all of those shovel ready jobs? How did that work out?
In the USA, the poor and to a large extent, middle class, are being diverted, largely by design, mostly through the media. Their attention towards looking after their own economic interest's, are instead directed towards caring about other issues like, abortion, gay marriage, gun control and fear of other religions, which dominate the social conversation. These issues are very decisive and arise from a collectively manufactured elite consensus and very little to do with reducing income inequality. It is, to some extent, an understandable and acceptable strategy because voting decisions are multidimensional. But given the enormous amount of private money that is used in politics and media, one can’t but think that the aim of these investments is very similar. In the case of politics, influence is through the shaping of public opinion so that it agrees with the funders, such as the issue if “Obama was born in America”. This creation of “false consciousness” takes place through ideological “brain-beating”, where the media bombards people with issues like, abortion, welfare queens, gun rights, gay marriage and threats of Islam. These issues are meant to distract popular attention away from basic economic and social problems, like unemployment, war profits, globalization, the 1%, and their billion dollar tax loopholes. This culture war has a deliberate function, and that function is to mask the real shift of economic power towards the rich.
15
The Congressmen who voted against proper funding to fight this serious disease should be sent to the Hague and tried for crimes against humanity. I don't care whether or not the rest of the world cares about the suffering of Americans from another preventable disease, the point is to get them away from this country, and unable to do further damage.
23
How will these House Republicans will respond when they or one of their family members suffers from Zika?
28
How will you respond when your children and grandchildren are impoverished and their future stunted by your demands for reckless, unfunded spending?
3
Exactly. The mosquito bites all in sight. These people behave as if they are immune to it. If they are let them share their immunity secret.
5
The CDC projections are based on the statistics already known in countries like Brazil's out brake.
I would imagine when Zika strikes the southerners and they are afraid to leave their house without a set of complete micro-netted clothing and their new born aren't normal and their family members and friends develop neuro diseases, well, I think they will be enraged for the lack of funding be they GOP or not.
I would imagine when Zika strikes the southerners and they are afraid to leave their house without a set of complete micro-netted clothing and their new born aren't normal and their family members and friends develop neuro diseases, well, I think they will be enraged for the lack of funding be they GOP or not.
3
Adults can fend for themselves, fetuses cannot.
Life isn't fair, but adults of had a chance to live their lives, though some of them may be short. The limited resources the government directs actual sickness should be directed to those who have not yet had that chance.
Life isn't fair, but adults of had a chance to live their lives, though some of them may be short. The limited resources the government directs actual sickness should be directed to those who have not yet had that chance.
1
"In the Air" and clueless--not to mention ungrammatical.
2
The Times could do us all a favor by telling us how much our representatives know about science and why they don't respect trained scientific advice. The results will horrify us. The stupidity of the House's vote is mind boggling. But I'm sure they'll change their minds when their daughters present them with their first grandchildren, damaged as a result of the mothers haven been bitten by the Zika mosquito.
37
We can't fight both ebola and zika but we can fight wars all over the place. I am assuming we can all figure out which is cheaper?
The unintended consequences of wars not well thought out are metastasizing all over the Middle East and now increasingly in Europe. The unintended consequences of not pursuing solutions to ever more virulent infectious diseases will see them metastasize all over the globe. I shutter to think of how zika could spread with the upcoming Olympics in Brazil.
This present Republican led House of Representatives has to be the least imaginative, most anti-science group of fools ever to fill its seats. More money for bombs and a bloated military bureaucracy and less money for the defense against growing pandemic health emergencies on a warming planet is a prescription for disaster.
And the band played on. KA
The unintended consequences of wars not well thought out are metastasizing all over the Middle East and now increasingly in Europe. The unintended consequences of not pursuing solutions to ever more virulent infectious diseases will see them metastasize all over the globe. I shutter to think of how zika could spread with the upcoming Olympics in Brazil.
This present Republican led House of Representatives has to be the least imaginative, most anti-science group of fools ever to fill its seats. More money for bombs and a bloated military bureaucracy and less money for the defense against growing pandemic health emergencies on a warming planet is a prescription for disaster.
And the band played on. KA
28
Vote them out of office...!
7
Thank you for the straight out of Charles Dickens beautiful evocative image of a ..."House of Representatives dominated by penurious reactionaries."
In our divided limited power democratic republic there is no well financed active we the real people lobby for or against either the Zika or Ebola virus or their victims. Particularly in this era of politically partisan misgovernment and mismanagement by corporate plutocrats pretending to be people and their money which is presumed to be speech. Ebola is a relatively rare and deadly danger to blacks in Sub-Saharan Africa. Zika is becoming more widespread but it seems to be only a danger to fetal development.
Medical research is not free nor fast and furious. The viral threat to Americans is not clear nor immediate. The House of Representatives is full of scientific cretins who must constantly raise money and visibility to stay in power. Cost benefit analysis calls for caution, confusion and conflation.
Until such time as asking "Am I my brother's keeper?" or "Robbing Peter to pay Paul." becomes untenable because we personally know or are familiar with all of the key characters. Once upon a time HIV/AIDS was seen by some as divine deadly "justice" for sinful evil human beings. But the multi- billion dollar President's Emergency Fund For AIDS Relief first put in place by the humanitarian empathetic impulse of George W. Bush in Sub-Saharan Africa is saving millions of lives. See Matthew 25:31-46
In our divided limited power democratic republic there is no well financed active we the real people lobby for or against either the Zika or Ebola virus or their victims. Particularly in this era of politically partisan misgovernment and mismanagement by corporate plutocrats pretending to be people and their money which is presumed to be speech. Ebola is a relatively rare and deadly danger to blacks in Sub-Saharan Africa. Zika is becoming more widespread but it seems to be only a danger to fetal development.
Medical research is not free nor fast and furious. The viral threat to Americans is not clear nor immediate. The House of Representatives is full of scientific cretins who must constantly raise money and visibility to stay in power. Cost benefit analysis calls for caution, confusion and conflation.
Until such time as asking "Am I my brother's keeper?" or "Robbing Peter to pay Paul." becomes untenable because we personally know or are familiar with all of the key characters. Once upon a time HIV/AIDS was seen by some as divine deadly "justice" for sinful evil human beings. But the multi- billion dollar President's Emergency Fund For AIDS Relief first put in place by the humanitarian empathetic impulse of George W. Bush in Sub-Saharan Africa is saving millions of lives. See Matthew 25:31-46
10
I believe it is more accurate to vies the primary characteristic of Sub-African Continentals as the people of S-A-C. Skin color is not that which is the fundamental description of a member of the human species.
1
@ James
Agreed. But then there is the historical American reality that separated the enslaved and the Jim Crowed from the free by their "racial color".
It is more accurate to view human skin color as a DNA genetic evolutionary biological product of chronological ecological isolation upon the one and only East African born human race primate ape. There are neither black nor white people only colored human beings.
Neither color nor geography nor ethnicity nor faith nor national origin nor socioeconomics nor politics nor education are "race".
Unlike most African Americans, including President Obama, Maria Teresa Thierstein Somoes-Ferreira Heinz-Kerry was born and raised in Africa.
Unlike most West African Americans, Barack Obama knows the name, nationality, faith, education and African and American history of his black East African ancestor.
Are you a birder like me? I like your bird.
Agreed. But then there is the historical American reality that separated the enslaved and the Jim Crowed from the free by their "racial color".
It is more accurate to view human skin color as a DNA genetic evolutionary biological product of chronological ecological isolation upon the one and only East African born human race primate ape. There are neither black nor white people only colored human beings.
Neither color nor geography nor ethnicity nor faith nor national origin nor socioeconomics nor politics nor education are "race".
Unlike most African Americans, including President Obama, Maria Teresa Thierstein Somoes-Ferreira Heinz-Kerry was born and raised in Africa.
Unlike most West African Americans, Barack Obama knows the name, nationality, faith, education and African and American history of his black East African ancestor.
Are you a birder like me? I like your bird.
1
The Times fails to point out two salient points:
1. The Obama request failed to provide any detailed specifics regarding spending. In effect the Obama request amounted to nothing more then a $1.9 billion slush fund controlled by Obama himself.
2. No where in this editorial does the Times nor did the Obama administration in its request point out any funding source for this budget item. Where is the money to come from when we are already about $20 trillion in debt?
I am sure the Times would agree that there should be a reasoned, sensible, judicious response to this public health problem that doesn't involve throwing billions in the air and hoping a little of it lands where it is needed. Adults are careful about their spending and have to worry about paying their bills. Their children do not.
1. The Obama request failed to provide any detailed specifics regarding spending. In effect the Obama request amounted to nothing more then a $1.9 billion slush fund controlled by Obama himself.
2. No where in this editorial does the Times nor did the Obama administration in its request point out any funding source for this budget item. Where is the money to come from when we are already about $20 trillion in debt?
I am sure the Times would agree that there should be a reasoned, sensible, judicious response to this public health problem that doesn't involve throwing billions in the air and hoping a little of it lands where it is needed. Adults are careful about their spending and have to worry about paying their bills. Their children do not.
3
President Obama's request is 25 pages long, with detailed legislative language. You can read the request at https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/budget_amendme....
13
25 pages of broad spending under the rubric of various Federal and International agencies. No details whatsoever. What about that $295 million for whatever...,ah, other stuff...
1
All of the right wing fanatics of the United States are claiming that this nation is financially bankrupt. These actions by the Republican congress, or lack of action against the Zika virus, prove that this nation is morally bankrupt, with prostrate worship of the all mighty dollar.
45
So our $20 trillion debt growing by billions every day isn't real? The real immorality is committed by persons who fail to take adult responsibility for our endless spending and instead put the burden on future generations.
1
They just don't want the general public to know how MUCH money they have made in this" bankrupt economy." Now, they want to hang onto it by not paying even fewer taxes, and doing so legally. Survival of the richest.
10
We certainly must do everything within reason to prevent any health catastrophe -- whether it be Ebola or Zika. And, we must never discriminate about whose lives are worth protecting. We must also be flexible enough to shift resources from non-heath care issues to health care issues if circumstances warrant. We must also never use a crisis to achieve objectives unrelated to the crisis - that is cynical exploitation. Still, the pie is only so big and Zika is on our doorsteps, whereas Ebola is a geographically more remote threat.
9
Funny. The party of 'life' puts millions of pregnant women and their babies at risk of death and lifelong debilitating disease to save money to give the 1% larger tax breaks. And GOP cut funding from Ebola which they screamed about as being Obama's fault (everything is Obama's fault by the way) and it would kill hundreds of thousands if not acted upon. Republicans did little then and they are doing less now. I guess the party of anti-science is now the party of anti-medical. It'll be an interesting spin that republicans put on this disaster as babies in their home districts encounter Zika. I am sure they will find a way to blame Obama while shuffling some cash to the 1%.
72
What can you expect from the Tea Party-manipulated House? Two years ago, when the Ebola was devastating West Africa, and threatening to Go Global. It did nothing. According to CDC, Doctors Without Borders, the UN’s WHO, and others warned of a potential global pandemic. But, our House—most of which are not Economists, Scientists or Doctors—countered with an asinine plan. Happily, President Barack Obama knew better then to listen to them.
They suggested that the U.S: terminate all direct flights, of which there were none; harass the doctors and nurses returning from the Region by quarantining even those without symptoms and isolate ourselves from Africa. Trump suggested that Obama apologize to the American People and resign. Luckily, the President had a better Plan.
He dug-up funds somewhere, contributed to the world-wide effort fighting that dangerous disease; used medical science when quantizing, treatment and combatting, supported medical professionals who could go help, and he deployed 3,000 military to West Africa to assist with non-medical support.
What would a President Trump have done?
https://thetruthoncommonsense.com
They suggested that the U.S: terminate all direct flights, of which there were none; harass the doctors and nurses returning from the Region by quarantining even those without symptoms and isolate ourselves from Africa. Trump suggested that Obama apologize to the American People and resign. Luckily, the President had a better Plan.
He dug-up funds somewhere, contributed to the world-wide effort fighting that dangerous disease; used medical science when quantizing, treatment and combatting, supported medical professionals who could go help, and he deployed 3,000 military to West Africa to assist with non-medical support.
What would a President Trump have done?
https://thetruthoncommonsense.com
43
We know what a President Romney would have done by his awful "47% takers" comment, which implied genocide against the elderly, the poor, people of color, and LGBTQ people through malign neglect, in total willful unawareness of public health. This would save more money for the "deserving" white rich donor class, instead of spending the money on manpower, materiel, and transport Uncle Adolph did on the Final Solution.
A President Trump in the thrall of the GOP donor class (as his M.O. is using other people's money to put his Name Brand on things) would do the same.
A President Trump in the thrall of the GOP donor class (as his M.O. is using other people's money to put his Name Brand on things) would do the same.
6
Right now, too much money is being spent on Ebola.. It is entirely appropriate to re prioritize and spend more on Zika than on Ebola.
Plus, Obama himself diverted money from Ebola to Zika.
This editorial is another collection of half-truths used to manipulate the public. Pathetic.
Plus, Obama himself diverted money from Ebola to Zika.
This editorial is another collection of half-truths used to manipulate the public. Pathetic.
4
Richard,
Yeah, trying to protect the public health is a core governmental function. That's why we have those laws about vaccines. Also, I hear the mosquito is the NJ state bird. When Congress fails to act responsibly (and that's what's happening), I hope your wife isn't pregnant when Zika migrates north.
To put it into perspective, Congress is fighting about an amount of money here that the Pentagon spends in about half a day, every day. Oh, and this does highlight, that other thing that liberals are always saying. You know, that Republicans only care about babies before they are born, not after?
Yeah, trying to protect the public health is a core governmental function. That's why we have those laws about vaccines. Also, I hear the mosquito is the NJ state bird. When Congress fails to act responsibly (and that's what's happening), I hope your wife isn't pregnant when Zika migrates north.
To put it into perspective, Congress is fighting about an amount of money here that the Pentagon spends in about half a day, every day. Oh, and this does highlight, that other thing that liberals are always saying. You know, that Republicans only care about babies before they are born, not after?
36
Actually, the mosquito is Alaska's state bird. Or, maybe it's the deer fly. As long as their own families are not at risk, so what?
8
the mosquito is the NJ state governor
3
More proof that the GOP only cares about fetuses and nothing about real live people.
61
More proof that the Democrats think like children and are willing to engage in reckless, unfunded spending and to immorally burden our children with our responsibilities and debts.
1
Apparently GOP does not care that fetuses may be affected by the Zika virus (and Ebola for that matter). So the GOP does not care about real featuses either.
11
William Boyer: And those unfunded wars that the U.S. were lied into by your heroes Bush and Cheney, you are quite happy to leave those as responsibilities for your children???? Nothing like the pot calling the kettle black. And the Bush tax cuts for the rich, which were to create millions of jobs - where are they? I guess to you reckless spending like food stamps that you people insist should be withheld from starving children. Your hatred of people is too evident.
11
Fools.
Doesn't Congress have any foresight? What happens if Zika hits the US and 1,000 babies are born with intellectual and developmental disabilities? Aside from the obvious tragedy to families, this could cost the country approximately $150,000 per year in Medicaid, per child, for the balance of their lives. Say the average of these children lives to be sixty. That's $150,000 X 1,000 X 60. That comes to $9,000,000,000 and doesn't take into account cost of living or increased costs of treatment. Now let's say that twice as many babies are born with Zika, or four times as many.
The Republicans in congress pretend to believe science is little more than a rumor. They could look at the babies born with Zika if they wanted proof, but that doesn't suit their agenda. They prefer to deny science in all matters, and elevate rumors like voter fraud to facts that must be treated as crises. They have no concern for the tragedies in the lives of Americans, only pushing the whims of the wealthy few and strengthening their party's hold over our country.
Doesn't Congress have any foresight? What happens if Zika hits the US and 1,000 babies are born with intellectual and developmental disabilities? Aside from the obvious tragedy to families, this could cost the country approximately $150,000 per year in Medicaid, per child, for the balance of their lives. Say the average of these children lives to be sixty. That's $150,000 X 1,000 X 60. That comes to $9,000,000,000 and doesn't take into account cost of living or increased costs of treatment. Now let's say that twice as many babies are born with Zika, or four times as many.
The Republicans in congress pretend to believe science is little more than a rumor. They could look at the babies born with Zika if they wanted proof, but that doesn't suit their agenda. They prefer to deny science in all matters, and elevate rumors like voter fraud to facts that must be treated as crises. They have no concern for the tragedies in the lives of Americans, only pushing the whims of the wealthy few and strengthening their party's hold over our country.
74
Democrats pretend we are not $20 trillion in debt and have to pay our bills like grown ups. Where would you get the $1.9 billion from?
2
Do you think a bill collector is going to show up at the door? A government's finances are not the same as a household's.
15
You, and the Republicans, can twist those numbers to fit your conclusion. And you do it, every day.
8
The ability of government to solve all ills to which humanity is heir is not limitless. The argument about the proper degree of focus on fighting Zika as opposed to Ebola in terms of the resources we focus on the efforts is merely illustrative of this curious conviction by liberals that the resources commanded by government to do so ARE limitless.
I imagine if Zika becomes enough of a problem in the minds and lives of our people, that we’ll find more money to combat it, regardless of where we find it. But this notion that everything is Priority-One is uniquely the liberal’s and is one of the things that the people increasingly are rejecting for its manifest irrationality – or am I mistaken in counting 34 Republican governors (which can’t be gerrymandered), about two-thirds of our statehouse chambers in Republican hands, a Republican U.S. House and a Republican U.S. Senate (which can’t be gerrymandered)?
Making choices is WHAT we elect representatives to do, understanding as we do that there are limits to what any government can do with the resources we rationally allot to collective needs.
I imagine if Zika becomes enough of a problem in the minds and lives of our people, that we’ll find more money to combat it, regardless of where we find it. But this notion that everything is Priority-One is uniquely the liberal’s and is one of the things that the people increasingly are rejecting for its manifest irrationality – or am I mistaken in counting 34 Republican governors (which can’t be gerrymandered), about two-thirds of our statehouse chambers in Republican hands, a Republican U.S. House and a Republican U.S. Senate (which can’t be gerrymandered)?
Making choices is WHAT we elect representatives to do, understanding as we do that there are limits to what any government can do with the resources we rationally allot to collective needs.
2
Yes, it is all about choices and priorities, and clearly the party you favor prioritizes business, the military-industrial complex and the wealthy over all else, including public health.
57
If the 500 richest Americans put their minds to it, they could solve virtually every ongoing problem we have in this country, and they would barely notice a reduction in their circumstances.
23
Amusing. The biggest part of the Federal Budget, by far, is for social programs and entitlements.