Good try anyway

Good start anyway (via AABB newsletter):

HHS lays out government’s disaster-response plan

The HHS on Thursday released a plan intended to speed up the government’s response to the next biological disaster, such as a pandemic or a nuclear attack. Recommendations include “the development of at least three influenza vaccine candidates whose manufacture does not depend on virus grown in eggs or cells” and the creation of cross-agency groups that will brainstorm and implement disaster-response ideas. The plan also supports the quick translation of research data into clinical use.  Reuters (8/19)

CRDAMC Looking for woman exposed to rabies in Central Texas

From a release from CRDAMC Public Affairs

FORT HOOD, Texas -Fort Hood, Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center, and the Texas State Health Department request your help in identifying a family that may have been exposed to a rabid cat. The animal may have been found near the Fort Hood Post Exchange.
Authorities are looking for a young white female, approximately 5 feet 2 inches, with dark blond hair who drives a black, long-bed four-door 2009 or 2010 Chevrolet Silverado pickup. On July 19, she dropped off a gray tabby cat and six kittens at the Animal Control Facility on Fort Hood.
The woman had two small children and an older woman in the truck. This individual may be able to identify others who came in contact with the cat before July 19.
If you have knowledge of this person, please contact Beverlee E. Nix, DVM, Texas Department of State Health Services, Zoonosis Control Program, Temple, Texas 254/778-6744, or Dr. Charles Lucey, Darnall Army Medical Center Preventive Medicine Services, 254-288-9193.

Axis of Justice calls out Toronto

I guess Miami should be very proud to have the abusive behavior of local governments named “The Miami Model”

The Toronto police even went one step further this year, claiming that they were arresting people on a just-recently-passed law prohibiting people from getting near the official security fence. People were outraged that this new secret law was passed and not publicized. Until it turned out there was no such law. Yes, police made up their own law, arrested people for breaking it, and then admitted that they’d lied about the whole law thing anyway.

via G20: More Lies and Abuse | Axis of Justice.

US to business: “Take our weapons – please”

This is a real problem and Scott highlights the problem of allowing contractors to keep software proprietary.  He doesn’t have to point out what happens when a company that designs weapons and is then acquired by a foreign company, or off-shored – and then we’ve lost control.  This problem is bubbling much as the crappy home loan problem bubbled.  Eventually someone will be crying “whodathunkit?”  John Scott thunk it – that’s who.

For years, the U.S. military has been losing an asymmetric battle that involves not improvised explosive devices, bullets or al-Qaida, but instead swarms of defense industry contractors seizing control of taxpayer-funded ideas because government policy and regulations were engineered to buy iron and steel, not to deploy a software-based military.

via Pentagon Is Losing the Softwar(e) – Defense News.

Dr. Gupta dances around ethnic blood and marrow donations

The reason is that they don’t register to donate as much. That’s what has to change.  It’s not an easy message to send in a sensitive way but to obtain the supplies for more people of other ethnicities to be helped, we all need people of those ethnicities to sign up, donate, and get involved:

Caucasians have more access to marrow transplants than blacks Caucasians who need bone marrow transplants have 40% more chance of having the procedure compared with their black counterparts in the U.S., according to a study. Reasons for this could include cultural beliefs, lack of financial resources or insurance and inability to find a match, the researchers said.  CNN/Paging Dr. Gupta blog (5/24)

MacLeish : Fort Hood shooting reveals stress

Here is an excellent editorial by a person that really cares for our troops with his eyes open.  I especially appreciate that he focuses on the Fort Hood community and its strains, not just one maniac:

Despite the conventional wisdom, there is no medical evidence that combat stress and post-traumatic stress disorder lead people to commit mass violence. Thus the second part of Starr’s statement rings true as well: Soldiers need help without stigma. The stigma comes from the image that a veteran’s advocate I know calls “the crazy vet” — the soldier who commits uncontrolled violence at home after doing or suffering violence on orders abroad. Troops, vets and military spouses are keenly aware of the danger and ambiguity of the stereotype, even as they invoke it to convey their feelings of anxiety, empathy and urgency. It is unfortunate that the “crazy vet” is the image that our culture furnishes for talking about the connection between the horrors of war and the mental anguish that follows. It means that complex challenges confronting those struggling with trauma are expressed in terms that reduce soldiers to helpless victims or potential monsters.

via MacLeish: Fort Hood shooting reveals the stress troops and families deal with every day.

Good on Wichita Falls’s Times Record News

One of the most balanced articles I’ve read about the effect of donating locally to support operations elsewhere. If everyone was donating when they could, the blood supply (and money supply to helping organizations) would be fat and easy on all.

Perhaps few assumed their blood donations would arrive in Killeen, Texas, but realized the trickle-down effect of stepping up during a time of national crisis. Any donations locally would relieve the stress of transporting and supplying blood to the affected region.

National disasters can, then, impact local supplies.

via Our opinion: Local blood donors respond to tragedy » Times Record News .

MHS Blog – COL Rentas nails it

Like he said (my underline):

There are many reports throughout Texas and in other farther regions where donor centers may ask for your support while citing the need at Fort Hood. Please remember that while some donor centers local to the Fort Hood area may be asking for these donations to maintain supplies after having provided support in anticipation of a continuing need at Fort Hood, the need has been met. Any critical need for blood donations to the Armed Services Blood Program will only be released through official military channels.

via MHS Blog – Armed Services Blood Program Thanks Donors .

GunGod Nut has a helpful suggestion

Ms. Anti-Gun control shoulda-woulda-coulda Suzanna Hupp throws her two cents in on the shootings at Fort Hood, since no tragedy is enough to make the GunGod nuts shut up.

Suzanna Hupp, a former state representative whose parents were among the Killeen Luby’s massacre victims in 1991, said allowing soldiers on base to carry arms would not prevent attacks like Thursday’s, but would likely reduce the damage.

via Fort Hood assault prompts variation on typical gun control debate – PoliTex.

Sure, Mrs. Hupp – that’s just what we would need, 100 Soldiers with guns in their pockets, shooting in all different directions and running out of the building with guns in hand. I’m sure that it would make it so much easier for the cops to shoot the right person as they run out of the SRP site.

ASBP on Fort Hood Tragedy

Diplomatic erudition:

There are many reports throughout Texas and in other farther regions where donor centers may ask for your support while citing the need at Fort Hood. Please remember that while some donor centers local to the Fort Hood area may be asking for these donations to maintain supplies after having provided support in anticipation of a continuing need at Fort Hood, the need has been met.  Any critical need for blood donations to the Armed Services Blood Program will only be released through official military channels.

via ASBP: The Armed Services Blood Program thanks supporters during the Fort Hood Tragedy .

(I should probably make a disclaimer here that I work for ASBP and Col. Rentas.  My opinions are my own however, even if informed by the information from ASBP.  Visit www.militaryblood.dod.mil for the real deal information.  [I think I may need work on my disclaiming skills])