the "Comfort" hospital ship will leave port NEXT Sunday!! it has not

[rodeodance]

even left port yet-per msnbc just now.

[rodeodance]

1. then Andrea Mitchell gets on and says how unhappy Jr is about how

things are going and he is on his way way to speed things up.

[rodeodance]

3. so new Repug talking point. Jr unhapping and he is fixing it now

[Waya]

4. You're joking.....

.....next Sunday? What the hell?

[rodeodance]

6. heard them say it but they gave no reason for the slow response.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

7. They'll be dead by then...

Or rescued by other means. Thanks for nothing.

[Clark2008]

16. Mitchell's a whore. Ignore her.

[demnan]

2. WTF?

Take your time, dudes. Not like they really need help!!!! :grr:

[rodeodance]

5. I am so angry about msnbc just played out this scene! Bush to the rescue.

[MissMarple]

8. Why isn't that ship ready to go ALL the time? Do we have others?

Where are they?

[Pepperbelly]

10. it's not that easy ...

stuff breaks down ... ship pulls into its home port and the begin doing jobs that need doing to keep it seaworthy. There aren't any new ones and the ones we have are pretty old, built in '76.

However, because of their mission, they are generally kept on a 5 day alert where they should, in theory, be able to get underway in 5 days. They are crewed by civilians.

Plus, if they don't also on-load an assload of supplies, they would be remiss, IMO. But these things aren't speed demons either. If they can break 10 knots, I will be surprised.

[MissMarple]

12. Do you know how many hospital ships we have?

It's just that as the richest nation of earth, we seem to be strangely vulnerable on so many fronts.

[Pepperbelly]

14. 2 ... one on the east coast in Baltimore ...

one in the pacific in San Diego.

[MissMarple]

20. The United States of America has TWO hospital ships?

How unfucking believable. And pardon my directness.

Thank you, Pepperbelly.

[Pepperbelly]

22. Mercy and Comfort ... nt

[MaineDem]

9. I heard New Orleans is to be totally evacuated by this Sunday

What good will the Comfort do if it arrives a week from then???

A morgue perhaps?

[MissMarple]

11. And how are they going to manage that???

There is no way, they will leave people to die.

[OregonBlue]

13. Going to go helpout all those desperate people in Florida!!

[OregonBlue]

15. Oops, I meant all those desperate "white" people in Florida

[DarkmoonIkonoklast]

17. all those desperate RICH white people in Florida...

[DarkmoonIkonoklast]

18. oh yeah, and the coke dealers...can't forget his frat brothers!

those good ol' boys from Hi Blowa Sno!

[Zen Democrat]

19. Will there be anyone in NO by the time it gets there?

Sounds like a futile exercise at this point.

[MaineDem]

21. I heard this morning that the USNS Mercy is going there, too

I think the name is the Mercy. It's the sister-ship to the Comfort.

Sounds like the "field hospital" at the airport is overtaxed. Maybe these ships will give them the needed state-of-the-art medical facilities they don't have now.

It still seems way too late though.

[OneTwentyoNine]

23. WTF,is that the ship that was supposed to be in NO on Wed Sept 7th??

I was agast when I heard the time frame for that ship,but I guess that was as fast as they could get their seeing how it was DAYS after the disaster before it was called.

I wonder if thats the same ship--this is just BEYOND belief....

[Stinky The Clown]

24. Unless she was ready to go, it is a specialized task to get these ships

underway ......



http://www.comfort.navy.mil/index.html

Not only is it a matter of getting a ship ready to sail, the medical supplies must be aboard .... fresh medical supplies, not those left over from its last mission. Also, much of the (medical) crew is civillian. This isn't like a ship of the line that is always ready to go (like the USS Bataan, which has been on station since ... Tuesday?).

Not making excuses ...... just pointing out that the Mercy and the Comfort are verfy specialized ships.