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Plagued by fear: First of seven parts
Cleveland Plain Dealer ^ | March 26, 2006 | John Mangels; Science Writer

Posted on 03/27/2006 8:47:25 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen

Plagued by fear: First of seven parts

Dr. Thomas Butler was the government's go-to guy if you were worried about a plague attack - and in the hair-trigger months after Sept. 11, 2001, a lot of federal officials were. For parts of three decades, he had treated the Black Death's bloated victims in the Third World. He'd plumbed the bacteria's dark secrets in university labs in Cleveland, and later in Lubbock, Texas, searching for better ways to blunt its lethal kiss. After Jan. 11, 2003, none of that mattered.

Sunday, March 26, 2006
John Mangels
Plain Dealer Science

On a Saturday morning in January 2003, Dr. Thomas Butler rode an elevator to the fourth floor of Texas Tech University's Health Sciences Center in Lubbock. He exited, turned right down a hallway lined with worn blue carpeting, and walked to a door marked 4c141. No security cameras or fingerprint readers recorded the scientist's arrival. Butler didn't have to punch in a code, pass through an airlock, or pull on a protective biohazard spacesuit.

The sign next to the entrance was the sole indication of what waited inside, but only if you knew your Latin and your history. "Hazard by type: Yersinia pestis," it read.

The 61-year-old researcher twisted a key in the standard office lock, as he'd done so many times before, and stepped into the room with the world's most prolific killer.

The killer in Tom Butler's lab resided in 180 screw-capped glass vials, each about the length and width of an index finger. They stood in rows in blue wire racks that were scattered atop the room's cluttered counters.

If you looked closely at the vials, you would see they were half full of a filmy, yellowish goo that resembled solidified chicken broth.

(Excerpt) Read more at cleveland.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 20100903; 4c141; blackdeath; miamiintl; plague; thomasbutler; thomascbutler; thonmasbutler; vials; yersiniapertis

1 posted on 03/27/2006 8:47:31 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
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To: Stand Watch Listen

Later Read.


2 posted on 03/27/2006 8:51:21 AM PST by marvlus
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Link to continuing series...

Plagued by Fear: Second of Seven Parts

3 posted on 03/27/2006 8:57:01 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
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To: Stand Watch Listen

I'm sure it's a gripping read, but I quit reading as soon as I saw the term "neocon" and the slam against the Bush administration "going after science." It's a hit piece.

}:-)4


4 posted on 03/27/2006 9:00:53 AM PST by Moose4 ("I will shoulder my musket and brandish my sword/In defense of this land and the word of the Lord")
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Perhaps more a reflection on me than anything else, but I can't read this over-wrought prose.

IMO, the journalist is trying far too hard to slowly tell a dramatic story. Seven parts? That's because the reporter is hoping to win a pulitizer, not because the story needs that many words.

I see it as Dinosaur Media (again). I don't have time to slog through this stuff. I'm not at my breakfast table, munching on toast while while wife scrambled some eggs for me.

But YMMV.

5 posted on 03/27/2006 9:04:34 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (Never question Bruce Dickinson!)
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To: Stand Watch Listen; jimbo123; Cindy; Shermy
MIAMI — A scientist has been detained at the Miami International Airport after screeners spotted a metal canister in his luggage that looked like a pipe bomb, prompting an evacuation, a government official said.The FBI and Miami-Dade police were interviewing the 70-year-old man, the official said Friday. No explosives have been found. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.--------- Update:Police question scientist in Miami airport scare By JENNIFER KAY (AP) – 45 minutes ago http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g97Co_9SzfHKWHGxnE0S9-kAwuoQD9I0DUN80 11 posted on Friday, September 03, 2010 8:39:36 AM by jimbo123

Thomas C. Butler, convicted disease doctor, center of Miami International Airport scare BY ALIYAH SHAHID DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Friday, September 3rd 2010, 1:19 PMRead more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/09/03/2010-09-03_thomas_c_butler_convicted_disease_doctor_center_of_miami_international_airport_s.html#ixzz0yUfYWAB9 15 posted on Friday, September 03, 2010 2:55:25 PM by jimbo123

Supposedly, according to one freeper, in 2010 before getting off the flight from Brazil he was teaching at Al Faisal University.

6 posted on 01/18/2011 10:37:05 PM PST by piasa
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To: piasa

I went to the FR url and got this response:

“This article is temporarily offline.”


7 posted on 01/18/2011 11:25:46 PM PST by Cindy
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To: Cindy

Yeah... a LOT of articles I’ve been reading lately go offline within a minute of my clicking on them. It’s weird. you get one shot or two shots at reading them and then they are gone. I thought it was just me and my funky half dead computer.


8 posted on 01/18/2011 11:31:07 PM PST by piasa
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To: Cindy
Yeah... a LOT of articles I've been reading lately go offline within a minute of my clicking on them. It's weird. you get one shot or two shots at reading them and then they are gone. I thought it was just me and my funky half dead computer.

[Now this article did it that I just posted to! As soon as I hit send I probably won't be able to get to it again if it flows the usual pattern.]

9 posted on 01/18/2011 11:33:37 PM PST by piasa
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To: Cindy

So much for that theory, it worked this tme. Maybe the net is just getting overloaded with all the u tube video watching going on.


10 posted on 01/18/2011 11:36:29 PM PST by piasa
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To: piasa

It’s not you.


11 posted on 01/19/2011 1:23:45 AM PST by Cindy
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