No, not Kevin Costner. This has nothing much to do with the typical G+G=A fare, so I'll keep it brief:
The Department of Homeland (In)Security is considering a plan to have postal route carriers deliver antibiotics to residences and workplaces in the event of a "catastrophic biological event" (I think we can take this to mean a successful bio-terror incident). What does this mean? This means there is at least one smart individual with one good idea -- awash in a sea of dullards floating miserable strategies -- in the American terror-response bureaucracy. The US Postal Service is, and has been, a shining beacon of efficient execution in American federal institutions. Way back when, "back in the day" as you kids say, when Ross Perot offered to, for a fee, overhaul the US Postal Service, I declared, Good God! Don't let that man anywhere near the post office. There's nothing wrong with the Postal Service.
What I want to know is who this son of a bitch is. Let's make him, or her, president. Hell, let's make him God.
Sounds like someone at the DoHS is channeling Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo. Postal carriers are the mizusumashi/water spiders/whirligigs of the U.S.
Posted by: Exick | 02/26/2004 at 08:38 AM
' The US Postal Service is, and has been, a shining beacon of efficient execution in American federal institutions.'
Yeesh! Going by my experiences with them, I dread to think what the rest of the federal institutions are like. Seriously -- it's the *least* efficient postal service I've dealt with in the developed world, across 3 continents.
Posted by: Justin Mason | 02/26/2004 at 09:30 AM
From reports I can find, it looks like the man with the plan is named Gerry McKiernan. Or maybe he is only the mouthpiece for the Postal Service.
Posted by: Thomas | 02/26/2004 at 10:05 AM
From reports I can find, it looks like the man with the plan is named Gerry McKiernan. Or maybe he is only the mouthpiece for the Postal Service.
Posted by: Thomas | 02/26/2004 at 10:07 AM
Thomas, thanks for the source. I wonder if he is indeed the brains are only the spokesman.
Justin, do you have any idea of the sheer volume of mail the US Postal Service handles compared to the post in other developed countries? Yet typically the mail gets there and gets there on time. And I hope one of the countries to which you're referring isn't Italy. At one point, they had a most efficient method of dealing with an ever-increasing backlog of undelivered mail: they took it all out and burned it.
Posted by: san | 02/26/2004 at 10:48 AM
I thought the men behind the Postal Service were Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello...
har har har
Posted by: Andrew | 02/26/2004 at 01:14 PM
Has anyone heard of that band? What is it? Oh: Death Cab for Andy. That's the one.
Posted by: san | 02/26/2004 at 05:56 PM
I don't know if I should be flattered or insulted.
Posted by: Andrew | 02/26/2004 at 06:28 PM
whoa. I never realized that "sanford may" and "san" were the same person. That makes WAY too much sense.
Posted by: Andrew | 02/26/2004 at 06:34 PM
Let's just hope they don't let contract out UPS to deliver antibiotics, lest we come home from work during an outbreak to find a little yellow and brown delivery notice taped to our front door.
"Sorry we missed you! Please sign to have Sarin antidote delivered."
Posted by: Mike | 02/27/2004 at 06:35 AM
Mike: spot on!
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