Bush Administration Priorities: Get Gas to the Northeast! You Can Wait On Power To Those Mississippi Hospitals.

When Katrina hit, it flooded NO. The storm also knocked out two power substations in Collins, just north of Hattiesburg.... crucial to Atlanta-based Colonial Pipeline, which moves gasoline and diesel fuel from Texas, through Louisiana and Mississippi and up to the Northeast.
....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 told him that opening the fuel line was a national priority.

All well and good, but it turns out that putting the focus of attention on keeping the gasoline (read:OIL) markets functioning in a timely manner in the Northeast, delayed the restoration of power to two Mississippi hospitals by at least 24 hours. Now, 24 hours can be a long time in a hospital. Especially if you're on one of those pesky life-support machines that insist on electricity to operate. Lots of things can happen while you're waiting for a machine to force your next breath. Like, well, death, for instance.

One thing you gotta say for the Bush Administration: They sure can make the tough decisions. For instance, the decision to possibly sacrifice a few lives in Southern hospitals to keep the economy steadily funnelling into the hands of Big Oil and Corporate/Industrial America.

Here's an editorial from the Hattiesburg American.