After Hurricane, Cheney's Office Diverted Power Crews From Hospitals To Oil Pipeline

I think I'm getting indignation fatigue because every day I am less and less shocked by the outrageous behavior and sick priorities of the Bush administration.

From The Hattiesburg American, via our friends at SmirkingChimp.com, we have the story of the White House ordering power restored to a pipeline rather than have the same crews bring two rural hospitals and a number of water systems back on line.

"I considered it a presidential directive to get those pipelines operating," said Jim Compton, general manager of the South Mississippi Electric Power Association - which distributes power that rural electric cooperatives sell to consumers and businesses.

"I reluctantly agreed to pull half our transmission line crews off other projects and made getting the transmission lines to the Collins substations a priority," Compton said. "Our people were told to work until it was done. We were led to believe a national emergency was created when the pipelines were shut down,"

The Manager of Southern Pines Electric Power Association, Dan Jordan, 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.

Compton said he had to pull workers trying to restore substations that power two rural hospitals - Stone County Hospital in Wiggins and George County Hospital in Lucedale – so that work could instead be done on the Colonial Pipeline project.

You can read the rest of this real-life story of compassionate conservatism at SmirkingChimp.com.