Another busy, thought provoking day, highlighted by word from our President, after over a week of "official" silence. We weren't able to get the entire text of his message until about one o'clock, but I'm thankful we did get it & hope most across the nation will be fortunate enough to have it as well. The local station couldn't get it directly & had to depend on a relayed signal from radio stations across the nation. Whatever works, I suppose & the tranmission we got was clear enough. The radio station waited until they had the message in its entirety, then broadcast it. Andy brought out the old cassette recorder & I decided it was worth while using some some battery power to record the speech. I'm writing it here, verbatim; before I speak of anything else...

My fellow Americans. I hardly know where to start today as I sit here at my desk, speaking to you. There is so much I could say on so many issues & I don't know when or even if I shall be able to speak to you again. So, please bear with me as I try to speak of the many important things that face this great nation.

Before I speak of what is facing us & what lies ahead, a personal note, if you'll bear with me. I was elected your President some three years ago. I've always liked to think of myself as a plain man, a blunt speaker. It's become the nature of this job & most other elected positions, to pay more attention to politics, to opinion polls, to re-electibility than it has been to truly address the needs of American citizens. I have been no less guilty of this than many of my predecessors. I wish I could say otherwise, but I'd be lying if I did. I regret that citizens have become used to lies from its elected & appointed officials. I'm not sure how we started down this long & slippery slope, but now I feel as though we're hanging at the bottom of a hill, dangling over a cliff & there's not much holding us up. Only history will tell us how much damage these lies have done to our national credibility. I fear, we will not look good.

You might be asking what any of this has to do with the crisis we're now facing. I don't have the answer to that. I'll leave it to the historians to figure that one out. It's probably going to prove to be as complicated as anything we've done in the past. But I don't have time to worry about that now, now of do.

Over a month ago, our nation was attacked with a weapon of mass destruction or more accurately, a weapon of mass casualties. Unfortunately, it has spread across the globe & the entire world is now suffering the effects of this attack. Now I'm sure most of you want to know as much as we do about this attack; just how bad it is right now & how bad it's going to be. Some of those answers I have. Some I don't, but I'm prepared to give you the best guesses we have, based on the work & experience of those who deal with these things.

First of all, we had no real warning this attack was going to happen. There were vague threats, but nothing our intelligence & law enforcement agencies could run with; no names, no dates & no specific agent. As you all know, we've had mnay, many vague threats since 9/11. These have been as frustrating to the administration as they have been to all citizens. There's nothing worse than hearing you may be attacked but not knowing where, when or how.

Law enforcement interviewed the first patients who presented to hospitals with signs of smallpox. Most were innocent citzens, people like you or your neighbors. Several however were not innocent at all. They called themselves martyrs & clearly told us they had been deliberately infected in Iraq, then sent to the US & several other Europena countries. They were told to be in the public as much as possible, starting from the fifth day of their infection. They were clear in their statements that this was deliberate & that Saddam Hussein. In fact, before these 'martyrs' were infected, they met with Saddam, ate a meal with him & were told their families would be looked after in perpetuity. He apparently told them that Iraquis wqould be protected from the plague by Allah. The infected Iraquis believed him.

That is why we attacked Bagdhad using an atomic weapon. We did not do this lightly, nor without a great deal of thought. We didn't take the word of these men, but did our best to confirm the information they gave us with other intelligence assets. While I can't tell you we 100% confirmed what they told us, we got enough confirmation to allow us to feel as comfortable as we could with our decision.

And for those who may wonder; no, we weren't comfortable making that decision to use a nuclear weapon. Using any weapon of mass destruction is a grave breach of our collective pact with humanity. I cannot, will not deny that. Is it any justification that such a weapon was used on us first? I think so. Me, both as an idividual & your President. Maybe history will judge that I acted incorrectly, that I made the wrong choice. It has always been stated US policy to respond in kind were we to be attacked with weapos of mass destruction. We were & thus did so; retaliated in kind.

Most of the casualties from the weapon were instant, citizens of Bagdhad vaporized & many others dying shortly thereafter from radiation & other injuries. I deeply regret the necessity of killing so many who surely were not involved in the attack upon us. I would have regretted even more not making a response on behalf of all American citizens. I cannot & do not claim to have responded in this way on behalf of any other nation. That is not my purview. If other nations wlecomed our action, that is their right. Other nations were not happy with our decision & made this point clearly to us. That is also their right.

No matter how any now feels about the bomb, it is done, for better or worse. We did not use the largest weapon at our disposal, in hopes of minimizing the downwind effects on other nations. To those other nations, I have said so formally in verbal communications in the absence of an ability to write to you; to those countries I apologize. You have my most sincere regrets & sympathies for the added trials you now face. I did not choose this action in contempt of your lands, your people, nor your culture & traditions. It's a hard fact that many things we do have regrettable consequences for innocent parties. We are in no provision to render you any assistance as you struggle to recover from the effects of the detonation. It may be at some future time that we may be able to assist you in your recovery. If we can, we most likely will do so.

My fellow Americans, it's certainly true that many nations who had no part of this have & will suffer great losses as a result of the bomb we dropped over Bagdhad. Please remember these nations, these people in your prayers, as I do.

And now, to speak to you of the Outbreak. As best as the Centers For Disease Control and the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases can figure out, we were attacked with three strains of smallpox, perhaps more. One strain was bioengineered, deliberately changed by research scientists in order to shorten the time between a person getting the illness and becoming contagious. What does that mean? It means that after only 5 or 6 days, a person who's infected can infect those around him, those with whom he lives, works and plays. People can also pass on this disease a few days before they themselves feel sick. That has made it easy for this vicious illness to spread. A second, natural strain is one known to have an exceptionally high death rate among children and unfortunately, that is indeed what is happening. A third strain is more prone to lead to more grave forms of the illness. People bleed to death within a few short days of starting to feel sick.

The vaccination program is able to protect most people against those natural strains inflicted upon us. Unfortunately, it only provides protection to about 25% of those who become infected with the weaponized strain. And as of now, we're not sure exactly where this weaponized strain was released. We do know that in the early days of the outbreak, it had many chances to spread across the nation. So, even if you were vaccinated, you may not be protected. However if you still have not been vaccinated, we urge you to seriously consider doing so. Most areas are still running vaccination programs.

Right now, to the best of our knowledge, more than one half of our population is sick with smallpox. Unfortunately, that includes much of the Administration. The Secretary of State is right now fighting for her life at Walter Reed. Please include her in your prayers. The Secretary of Defence passed away yesterday morning, after a valiant fight. Three of our Supreme Court Justices are dead and four others are ill. Many senators, congressmen & heads of agencies are either ill, dying or dead. Many of our medical people have fallen ill. They were as careful as they could be but they're very tired and some made mistakes. Some simply were exposed before we knew what had happened. Having fewer doctors & nurses, lab technicians, laundry workers & room cleaners is hampering our efforts to save lives. Thankfully, many have volunteered to help fill the breach, retired health professionals & those with no families or other claims on their times.

Our military has also been struck hard. We have roughly 1 million soldiers, sailors & airmen now available to us to help us through this crisis. Those we have are trying their darndest to keep supplies flowing, to clear roads & allow our truckers to get through with their crucial loads. They're providing assistance to the medical effort, through the delivery of medical supplies & providing safe passage for doctors & nurses. They're also bringing blood samples to be tested at the CDC, in hopes we can find out something about the engineered version which can hekp us fight it.

The military is also helping with the disposal of the many bodies we're finding ourselves with daily. Right now, 75 million Americans, probably more, are dead. At least that many again are sick & we don't know their outcome. The military is digging burial pits, collecting bodies, identifying them when they can & registering the deaths as best they can. Then, they're disposing of them with dignity & humanity. At most of our burial sites, we have a priest or a rabbi, a minister who prays for the dead & for those they have left behind. This is not the burial any of us would wish for our loved ones, but those dead of smallpox must be cremated if possible & if not, buried deeply & the grave sites disinfected as best we know how.

When this outbreak began, I halted all traffic on our roads & highways. I asked everyone to go home & stay there, safe with their loved ones. I did this on the best advice of our medical experts, many of who have worked long & hard to try & plan for a time such as this. They hoped we wouldn't have to do any of these things, as did I. But now we find ourselves facing our worst nightmares; our citizens, MY fellow citizens & theirs' are sick with a disease that's deadly to so many. From what we understand from state governments across the country & governments of the larger cities, most people are being smart & staying home, isolating themselves from the rest of their fellow citizens in hopes of slowing & eventually stopping this outbreak.

That's a hard thing to do & I appreciate the sacrifices that entails for most. You cannot work & you cannot easily replace precious food, water & medecines. The rationing programs established by the cities, towns & states is, for the most part, working fairly well. The midwest has my special prayers right now. You were hit hard by a snowstorm & we're working as hard as we can to clear your highways in order to bring food into your towns & cities. I can only encourage you to hang in there; we should be able to get food to you within 24 hours. I was going to make a joke when I wrote this, about this being a good time to be on a diet. Laura's a smart woman & she was smart enough to know that this is not a time for that kind of humor. I say this to remind you that while I may be your president, I'm still just a human being. I make mistakes. In my position as President, these mistakes can have grave consequences & I'll admit to you, I'm frightened, both as a man & as your President.

This crisis has brought to us critical issues with which it would be hard to deal, even one at a time. Now, they're all here at once. Transrportation is basically halted. The production of goods, provision of services, that's all stopped for now. Communicating is very difficult. I have contact with all state governments & the governments of our largest cities. It doesn't feel like enough. I feel as though I'm cut off from the heartland, from ordinary people. Rest assured I am doing my best to find out the facts, as quickly as I can, with as little spin as possible. That's another problem with being a politician. It's hard to get information that doesn't have an agenda attached. I've made it clear to my administration that this is not the time for partisanship, that this crisis is outside of political affiliations & personal interests.

We have 27 serving senators able to work right now, as well as 264 Congressmen. Let me tell you ladies & gentlemen, they are working as hard as they have ever done in their lives. I've given each unique responsabilities. We have several medical doctors & nurses serving in Congress. They are working with our infectious disease experts to try & shorten this outbreak & to make sure as few people catch the disease as possible. I have people from the power agencies working with elected officials with a background in the energy industries trying to figure out how we'll get our power systems up & running again. That's going to be hard to do. We're trying to find out how much food we have left in our nation's warehouses & how quickly we can begin once again to produce canned & packaged goods. We're emptying out & delivering grain to bakeries.

Those of you who hunt & fish, all restrictions & game laws are now abolished, at least for the duration of this crisis. Our country is rich in game & although I regret reducing our stocks of game this way, we need the meat it provides us. I urge you to please be careful. Avoid other people in case you or they are incubating smallpox. Know what you're shooting at & wear clothing that won't let you be mistaken for game.

Many ranchers & farmers in different parts of the country have offered their animals to local governments, to be slaughtered & processed & distributed to citizens with no food. I humbly thank them for such a gracious gift. This goes beyond patriotism. It is a gift to humanity. I encourage such actions from those who can provide such assistance to their fellow citizens.

My infectious disease experts aren't sure how long it will be before the worst of this outbreak passes. With care & with some luck, they hope the disease will abate by spring. But no one can promise that. We have yet to vaccinate many people & some cannot or will not be vaccinated. We can't predict how they will fare over the winter. If they can remain isolated in their homes, avoiding contact with others, perhaps they will avoid falling ill. We simply don;t know right now.

Now with so many crucial systems not working or working poorly, you may be wondering how we're carrying on the business of governing our great country. To be honest - not very well, I'm afraid. Now please, that doesn't mean we face imminent attack from other nations, that our security is any more at risk than it is under the conditions of the current crisis. What it means is that many of the government programs you're accustomed to are simply not being carried out. We have neither the staff nor the time to worry about many areas we used to concern ourselves with. To those unhappy with this, well; our time is best spent dealing with what's crucial.

What is crucial? Dealing with this disease. Feeding the nation. Keeping it warm in the cold areas. Our borders are closed & there are no flights from outside the country. Mexico & Canada re also suffering this plague & hardly pose a credible threat. We have little ability to communicate with our embassies in many countries. Our communications sattelites are still up & running, but are being used for only the most crucial communications. Our military is concerned with protecting & preserving what is left of the American people. I'm sure other nations have the same concerns & thus we estimate that threats from abraod right now are minimal. We still worry about more terrorist action, but currently have little or no capacity to deal with such threats.

Governance as we have grown accustomed to is for now, a thing of the past. This nation was founded on the principles of freedom, assuming that each man & woman was best able to judge for themselves how to get on with their lives, how to prosper. For better or worse, this si the state we now find ourselves in. Everybody listening to this, now is the time to be prepared to think for yourselves. You must do what you can to stay dafe in your homes, to stay warm & keep yourselves & your families fed. If you become ill, many, most of you are on your own. The media, in the early days of the outbreak had much good advice about how to care for patients of smallpox & other illnesses. I hope you listened.

We're used to unlimited food of all kinds. No more. You must exercise restraint. Don't empty your shelves & cupboards thinking the military can provide meals for tomorrow. No one can guarantee that, not for the immediate future & perhaps more. We have our children to think about. More than at perhaps any other time, they are our most precious resource, our future. Hold them close to you.

Police your own actions. If you have the means to do so, help your neighbor. You can provide food to the truly destitute among you without risking your own health or safety. At all times, be alert to threats to your well being. Our farmers & those who live in small communities know what it means to come together to overcome tough times. Those who don't have those habits, learn & learn fast. If your neighborhood has remained disease free for several weeks, start to work together. Share what food you have. Teach your children. Worship together. Watch out for each other.

Over time, as the disease abates, local governments will be able to reconstitute & begin restoring order. Their job & your lives, will be simplified if you act as good, responsible citizens. I'm not closing my eyes to the possibility that many will choose to take advantage of this situation. There will be those who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of others. Be aware of this & identify those who would do so. Do not deal with them. Make sure they are known to others. Do not encourage nor condone criminal acts. I'm not encouraging vigilante justice, but I am encouraging communtiy watch. Look after each other.

Elect your own local officials. We don't need special ballots ora whole lot of electioneering. Pick the most qualified among you for positions of responsability. Tolerate no incompetence; too much is riding on our efforts to restore our nation. Grass roots democracy; local efforts for local problems are where we have to start.

There is more I could say today, but I've given people enough to chew on. I have faith in the citizens of our great nation. We're down but not out. We have overcome difficult times before & that spirit remains in our hearts, our souls. Reach deep inside yourself, pray & seek advice from your families. With careful action, planning, hard work & a bit of luck as well as a lot of prayer, we can overcome this crisis. I will try & speak to you again in 2 days. May God bless us all...

Wow, that was a mouthful wasn't it? Lots to think about, to talk about & pray over. The adults all sat outside MT's room & we talked about what this might mean for all of us. Opinions were all over the map & we really didn't come to any hard & fast conclusions. I'm thankful we're safe for now, with all we need. We've agreed to sleep on it, to think through tomorrow, then talk again tomorrow after supper. For now though, I'd better do my rounds. It's almost time for Andy to take his shift.