http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/13/AR2005101301783.htmlCharlie the Krackpot Krauthammer's column today offers some of the worst fear mongering (and worst logic) I've seen in awhile.
Let me say at the outset that I take the avian flue threat very seriously. While there are some here who think its some sort of BFEE scam, the fact is that independent, reputable scientists and medical experts are very concerned.
That being said, Krauthammer's column seems to suggest that while avian flu is a big threat, an even bigger threat has been posed by efforts by the scientific community to deconstruct the virus. At least that's how I read the column. Worse, the big bogey-man in Krauthammer's column is that we've now made it possible for our "enemies" (i.e., the terra-ists) to synthesize bird flu and kill us all.
Charlie's apparently been losing too much sleep over the self-inflicted self-destruction of his boys in the White House. Our "enemies" are so freakin' sophisticated that the last time they tried to blow up anything they did it with some Maxwell Smart style sneaker bomb that didn't even work. Sure they're going to synthesize and distribute bird flu without managing to give it to themselves and the rest of the arab world first.
And while I have no doubt that the leadership of various Islamic groups are recruiting suicide bombers, I don't think that they are all that interested in dying themselves. And once you let a killer virus out of the bag, you have no assurance that you aren't doing exactly that.
OF course none of this occurs to Charlie the K. He's just trying to find something to talk about other than the collapse of his little world.
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