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President Obama puts the Postal Service in charge of dispensing bio-terror drugs
NBC News ^ | 12/30/2009

Posted on 12/30/2009 8:36:10 PM PST by My Favorite Headache

WASHINGTON - If the nation ever faces a large-scale attack by a biological weapon like anthrax, the U.S. Postal Service will be in charge of delivering whatever drugs and other medical aid Americans would need to survive.

In an executive order released Wednesday, President Barack Obama put the Postal Service in charge of dispensing "medical countermeasures" to biological weapons because of its "capacity for rapid residential delivery."

While most likely unrelated, the release of the executive order comes less than a week after a man with alleged ties to al-Qaida tried to bring down a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner. In recent days, Obama has sought to assure the public that his administration is doing what it can to protect the nation from terrorist attacks.

Under the new order, federal agencies must develop a response plan that includes possible law enforcement escorts for Postal Service workers and gives anthrax "primary threat consideration."

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bho44; bioterrorism; postal; postoffice; preparedness; usps
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To: My Favorite Headache

“They do a damn good job of putting package pick up cards in my mailbox...INSTEAD OF WALKING UP TO MY FRONT DOOR AND RINGING MY BELL!!!!!!!!

Lazy isn’t even close to what most of them are.”

When I read your post I had to click on your name to see if you lived in my neighborhood, lol! That’s just exactly what our postmen do as well, it just burns me up because then I have to go stand in line at the post-office while the passive-aggersive postal workers mosey around to wait on other hapless souls who had the nerve to order a package that needs delivering. I am home most of the time during the week so I know these postal workers do not bother to knock on my door.


21 posted on 12/30/2009 8:55:38 PM PST by jim35 (A racist is someone who is winning an argument with a liberal.)
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To: My Favorite Headache

Does that mean my neighbor will get my drugs and I will get hers? Or does it mean it will be dropped in the snow and left there? Or does it mean I will get the drugs long after the need for them? Not that I would trust or use anything the gubmint would distribute anyway.


22 posted on 12/30/2009 8:55:42 PM PST by Merlinator (Take them all down...one czar at a time FUBO)
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To: SueRae

And Next Day Delivery isn’t guaranteed to be next day...


23 posted on 12/30/2009 8:59:53 PM PST by lacrew (The 274th trimester is a very late procedure)
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To: max americana

Pull down your mail box, and we will be glad to discontinue your mail service.


24 posted on 12/30/2009 8:59:55 PM PST by SgtBob (Freedom is not for the faint of heart. Semper Fi!)
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To: My Favorite Headache

Will Barry be emailing out our tracking numbers?


25 posted on 12/30/2009 9:00:39 PM PST by Skywarner (The U.S. Armed Forces... Producers of FREEDOM for over 200 years!!)
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To: lacrew

Unless it is sent via ExpressMail. Guess what the junior Part Time Flex was doing Christmas morning....spreading joy via ExpressMail.


26 posted on 12/30/2009 9:03:46 PM PST by SgtBob (Freedom is not for the faint of heart. Semper Fi!)
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To: My Favorite Headache; All

This actually makes sense.

Who else would you have deliver, door-to-door, cipro or other antibiotics, on a massive basis? And not just leave it in the box, but a ding-dong face-to-face with a little flyer and personal encouragement, take the pills or get Q fever.

The idea has been around for a while, but was not implemented. It’s being done under Obama but was actually talked about during Bush I.

Sure FedEx and UPS deliver packages, but not to everyone in Chicago over a three-day period. The Postal guy fills my box with flyers from everyone from Alpha Beta to Pep Boys every day, and sometimes free samples of deodorant or cookies. Cipro or Erythro would fit right in this model.

Most people would not go to a hospital to pick up their free pills, unless they already have symptoms, in which case they might as well fill out their own toe-tags.

Some day, someone is going to unload a half-kilo of anthrax or similar, and if we don’t have a plan in place ready to go when BioWatch confirms a positive, the casualties will be astounding.

Can anyone think of a better way to deliver pharmaceuticals to an entire city in the shortest time?


27 posted on 12/30/2009 9:04:02 PM PST by DBrow
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To: My Favorite Headache

Fedex will fly it there. They already carry the priority mail. Then you’re on your own. I’ll bet Fedex could get it to your house faster.


28 posted on 12/30/2009 9:05:36 PM PST by ebshumidors (vet, rifleman, 'nuff said.)
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To: lacrew

Aw...too bad. Next Day Delivery is a product of United Parcel Service, AKA UPS. Money back guaranteed with USPS. Unless you get to the window clerk before the last flight out of the nearest airport; that being the case, ship Priority Mail.


29 posted on 12/30/2009 9:10:10 PM PST by SgtBob (Freedom is not for the faint of heart. Semper Fi!)
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To: My Favorite Headache

lol...

We are SO screwed....


30 posted on 12/30/2009 9:10:21 PM PST by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: My Favorite Headache

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

Doesn’t say anything about bioterror.


31 posted on 12/30/2009 9:14:11 PM PST by DannyTN
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To: My Favorite Headache; All
Right. So somebody inform AQ to please not attack on Sundays, holidays, or after 5pm on weekdays.

Barry, have an extra large glass of STFU and go play golf.


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

32 posted on 12/30/2009 9:17:56 PM PST by The Comedian (Evil can only succeed if good men don't point at it and laugh.)
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To: My Favorite Headache

Better them than Napolitano’s crew!


33 posted on 12/30/2009 9:20:46 PM PST by Mr. Silverback (We're right, we're free, we'll fight and you'll see!)
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To: Track9

Sometimes I think this is my mailman.

34 posted on 12/30/2009 9:38:07 PM PST by rdl6989 (January 20, 2013 The end of an error.)
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To: My Favorite Headache

Oh Great! Everyone in our town will already be dead before our pony express gets around to delivery.


35 posted on 12/30/2009 9:39:54 PM PST by jerry639
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To: My Favorite Headache

....the same people who can’t get a letter to the other side of town in 10 days or less are now in charge of watching for bioterror threats?


36 posted on 12/30/2009 9:43:31 PM PST by Tzimisce (No thanks. We have enough government already. - The Tick)
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To: DBrow
The post office does not deliver mail to every residence, whereas UPS and Fedex do.

Anyway, who needs gov drugs? Is this how socialized healthcare will work? How will they know what dosages they should mail to each household? How will we be billed? Will the gov take the money out of our bank accounts?

37 posted on 12/30/2009 9:54:57 PM PST by 1_Rain_Drop
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To: 1_Rain_Drop

BioWatch determines that a large load of anthrax spores has been released in, pick a section of a city.

Everyone likely to have been in the plume needs four high doses of ciprofloxen, now, or the casualty count will be in the millions. This is the problem they are trying to solve, not government health care, socialized medicine or like that. A response to a bioterror attack. We must have a plan. It does not matter who is president, we must have the tools in place to protect large segments of the population. Part of this is dosing the population with prophylactic doses of pharmaceuticals. People have been planning the response to a bioterror attack for decades now.

UPS and FedEx are simply not equipped to deliver a package to every address- they deliver all over, but not a hundred thousand in a week to one zip code. USPS actually does this daily in urban areas, I live in one and they deliver junk mail all the time. If the private parcel companies could deliver junk mail cheaper they would. Instead of junk mail, USPS will deliver antibiotics. It will not be a normal mail situation, it will be a wartime activation.

In this implementation they will knock on every door, even the apartments where the residents have a box at the PO.

I don’t know how it will be paid for. This will be a response to an act of war.

If you, right now, got a robocall that said there had been a tularemia attack (or Q fever or brucellosis or anthrax) in your neighborhood and you had better get cipro or some other antibiotic right away or die, what would you do? Call your doctor for an appointment/prescription then go to the drug store? Imagine the waiting line!

In this plan, there will be massive radio/TV/Cable/Newspaper alerts and a guy at your door with stuff that can save your life (you can of course flush it down the crapper, your choice).

The Amerithrax cases after 9/11 involved possibly two grams of anthrax spores total- it’s potent stuff we have been worried about since 1941. Imagine a kilogram release, look up Sverdlovsk anthrax and see how many died.


38 posted on 12/30/2009 10:21:34 PM PST by DBrow
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To: My Favorite Headache

Will I get overtime for this?


39 posted on 12/30/2009 10:38:44 PM PST by buggy02 (Never take life seriously, nobody gets out alive anyway.)
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To: Secret Agent Man
And yes, that does suck for those of us who want to make up emergency preparedness kits.

They are all easily obtainable from overseas pharmacies.

40 posted on 12/30/2009 11:01:01 PM PST by Prokopton
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