So are we totally screwed, or is this yet another distraction from the upcoming indictments?

Either we're at high risk from an avian flu pandemic (in which case the Bush Administration has completely screwed up, ignoring the threat while focusing on nonexistent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq), or else HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has been assigned the job of Chicken Little (so to speak):

The likelihood of a human flu pandemic is very high, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said as he began a tour of Southeast Asia to coordinate plans to combat bird flu.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has swept through poultry populations in many parts of Asia since 2003 and jumped to humans, killing 60 people, mostly through direct contact with sick fowl.

While there have been no known cases of person-to-person transmission, World Health Organization officials and other experts have been warning that the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people. In a worst-case scenario, they say millions of people could die.

Three influenza pandemics have occurred over the last century and "the likelihood of another is very high, some say even certain," Leavitt said Monday after meeting with Thai health officials to review the country's preparations against the disease.

"Whether or not H5N1 is the virus that will ultimately trigger such a pandemic is unknown to us," he told a news conference.

"The probability is uncertain. But the warning signs are troubling. Hence we are responding in a robust way."

This "robust way" consists of C-Plus Caligula asking his friends in Big Pharma to maybe sacrifice a new Ferrari this year to push vaccines and antiviral medications out to market. Democratic lawmarkers note how the Bush Administration is a day late and a mess o'dollars short on this:

A group of Democratic senators wrote Leavitt on Friday that they believe the U.S. response to the threat of a pandemic has been inadequate. Specifically, they said the government has not stockpiled enough medication to treat viral infections once they occur.

"While other nations have ordered enough antiviral medication to treat between 20 and 40 percent of their populations, the federal government has only ordered enough to treat less than two percent of Americans," the six lawmakers wrote.

The lawmakers asked Leavitt to explain why the U.S. preparations are "behind those of other countries" and to "explain your plan to provide sufficient protection for the American people." The letter was signed by Sens. Harry Reid of Nevada, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Barack Obama of Illinois.

And of course there's the martial law that Bush has been dying to implement since taking office. There may be millions of dead Americans, but he'll finally get the dictatorship he's wanted for so long. And that's what's really important to this "pro-life" president.