Cheney restarts power to pipeline at expense of power to 2 hospitals

[AllyCat]

This is what Uncle Dick did when he had to cut HIS vacation short:

---snip---

Dan Jordan, manager of Southern Pines Electric Power Association, said Vice President Dick Cheney's office called and left voice mails twice shortly after the storm struck, saying the Collins substations needed power restored immediately.

Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Mike Callahan said the U.S. Department of Energy called him on Aug. 31. Callahan said department officials said opening the fuel line was a national priority.

---snip---

Compton said workers who were trying to restore substations that power two rural hospitals - Stone County Hospital in Wiggins and George County Hospital in Lucedale - worked instead on the Colonial Pipeline project. The move caused power to be restored at least 24 hours later than planned.

Mindy Osborn, emergency room coordinator at Stone County Hospital, said the power was not restored until six days after the storm on Sept. 4. She didn't have the number of patients who were hospitalized during the week after the storm.

---snip---

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050911/NEWS05/509110304

More at Salon.com for those of you with memberships:

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/index.html?blog

[demnan]

1. How totally fitting!

Just like in Iraq!

[AllyCat]

2. Apparently, people are agreeing with him saying this pipeline

fuels quite a bit of the Northeastern US. However, why would Southern Pines and Cheney's office be dodging the question? Why wouldn't they be trumpeting their fabulous decision to save millions at the expense of a few?

[fasttense]

3. Because they got the power to the pipeline going in 16 hours.

They couldn't help the starving dehydrating NOL refugees for three days.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. They were all over this 'crisis'

Yet they were allegedly unaware of the depth of devastation and human suffering taking place elsewhere in the wake of hurricane Katrina.

If the people who were in the Superdome had been strapped to a pipeline would they have received care sooner?

Which is worse; people suffering and dying due to neglect, or people waiting in line for fuel and paying inflated prices?

Oh, the humanity.

[OregonBlue]

4. Will any dem bring this up on CSPAN? NE oil more important

than lives of dying people in NO? I keep looking and sent the article from Hattiesburg newspaper to Keith, CNN, etc., but so far no one mentions it. Are they afraid of Cheney? On the other hand, I guess they have reason to be.

[madokie]

6. Why don't the pipelines, with all the money they're making btw,

have their own damn generators? geeze

[madokie]

5. What a sorry bunch in the whitehouse we have

I hope what I read here is not true but my gut instinct tells me it is. Cold hearted, criminals is all that comes to mind at the time. The man ask they set guidelines so he can work it in. I also read into it that so he can work with a clear conscience. There's so many people that have been affected by this cabal in ways that are not on the surface, difficult decision they've had to make, decision they will have to wrestle with the rest of their lives. I just want to see this bunch in the whitehouse out, way out. Just go away please
Thanks for posting this even though I'm so upset now.

[AllyCat]

7. What I want to know is when are the Dems going to start exposing the RNC

as the human haters they are? Instead, they just sit back and play nicey-nice. That's what is REALLY pissing me off. There are some good ones, no doubt: Waters, Conyers, McKinney, etc. But really, the rest of them are just sitting there twiddling their thumbs IMO.

[BrklynLiberal]

9. Ironically, these kinds of priorities will mostly hurt those who voted

for Bush. I believe that most of the oil pipelines and such are in the red areas of this country.
If/when they are hit, it will be the pipelines that are first on the list to be protected...just as Bush did in Iraq.