| I never suggested the Postal Service employed discriminatory standards, or that the postal workers are migrant farmworkers or worse. I don't know how you could have gotten that from what I said. What I am implying is that our preparadeness for a biowar attack is so pathetic that the authorities try to downplay the threat by erring not on the side of caution, but on the side of falsely calming individuals who may be at ground zero for the attack. I don't know if you heard the press conference today about the postal office situation, but when the spokesperson was asked why the workers were not tested (I don't even mean treated, I mean TESTED), she said that she was told by health authorities that you can't get anthrax from an unopened letter, thus there was no need to test. Now, this is an outrageous statement for anyone to make, especially someone who is charged with protecting the public's health. They clearly did not know what type of anthrax they were dealing with, but should have erred on the side of safety and at least tested the workers from the post office who delivered the mail to the capital, whose workers they not only tested, but TREATED. Two deaths later, and given what happened, all that I am suggesting is that this type of irresponsible behavior on the part of public safety officers would probably not have been accepted if the post office had been in Georgetown, or Beverly Hills, or any number of other places where there is much more political and financial influence than in Brentwood. |
