http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/anthrax-news/ en-us Sat, 2 Jan 2010 01:03:46 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419263/posts Here’s some news I missed.Edward Jay Epstein reported on December 21 that the FBI’s anthrax case has fallen apart. In 2008 the FBI declared that Dr. Bruce Ivins, who died an apparent suicide in July 2008, was the perpetrator who sent anthrax-laced letters to members of Congress and others just days after the September 11 attacks. The FBI’s investigation, apparently the most lengthy it had ever conducted, was directed primarily at scientists who had access to anthrax materials. But, Epstein reports, it turns out that Dr. Ivins did not have access to the sophisticated form of anthrax used in September... Washington Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419263/posts#comment Sat, 2 Jan 2010 01:03:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418090/posts WASHINGTON, DC, December 30, 2009 (ENS) - President Barack Obama today ordered federal agencies to establish a national system for dispensing medical countermeasures in the event of a large-scale biological attack, "with anthrax as the primary threat consideration." The U.S. Postal Service would be responsible for delivering the medical countermeasures, such as antibiotics, to residents for self administration across all communities in the United States, according to the President's Executive Order issued today. Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis, which can cause human disease through ingestion, through the skin, and by inhalation. Although... ens-newswire.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418090/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 02:29:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417817/posts BOSTON — A New Hampshire woman who is critically ill with gastrointestinal anthrax most likely swallowed spores while participating in a community drumming circle, state health officials said Tuesday...The woman was among some 60 people who attended the drumming session on Dec. 4 at the United Campus Ministry near the University of New Hampshire in Durham...Investigators found traces of anthrax on two African drums and an electrical outlet in the room where the event took place, Dr. Talbot said, and are theorizing that the woman swallowed spores that were aerosolized by the drumming. The state has not identified the woman... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417817/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:13:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409001/posts WASHINGTON — The U.S. Capitol Police are investigating a suspicious package with a powdery substance that was found at the office of Sen. Max Baucus. The Montana Democrat is chairman of the Finance Committee and a leader in the Senate's health care debate. Police spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider said there were no reports of illness. Schneider said the substance is being tested. An Associated Press photographer at the scene, in the Hart Senate Office Building, heard officers say there was a threatening note with the package. Schneider would not confirm there was a note. AP Google http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409001/posts#comment Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:44:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395581/posts Socialized medicine’s finest hour arrived on October 16, 1975, by the marshes of Bhola Island off the coast of Bangladesh. There, in the frame of three-year-old Rahima Banu, the World Health Organization finally cornered smallpox, the most dreadful killer on the planet. Then as now, there was no known cure for the highly contagious smallpox, but vaccinating others on Bhola Island kept the virus from skipping to new human hosts, and little Rahima was the last one left. We have been slouching down the road to pharmaceutical serfdom ever since. Where that has left us will become clear one windless... City Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395581/posts#comment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:53:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395060/posts November 26, 2009, 0:00 a.m. Apocalypse When?Our enemies are contemplating attacks worse than 9/11. By Clifford D. May The Heritage Foundation recently convened a meeting of experts to discuss “Weapons of Mass Destruction and America’s Communities,” the various ways our terrorist enemies might attack us and our allies in the future, and what might be done to stop them. You can imagine what a merry gathering this was. The most obvious concern: the spread of nuclear weapons. Within the group, there was consensus that if Iran, the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, is not prevented from acquiring nukes, the... National Review Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395060/posts#comment Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:28:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2356886/posts WASHINGTON (AP) - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius appealed anew Wednesday for widespread inoculation against a surging swine flu threat, calling the vaccine "safe and secure." Sebelius unconditionally vouched for the safety of the vaccine, saying it "has been made exactly the same way seasonal vaccine has been made, year in and year out." Appearing on morning news shows to step up the Obama administration's campaign for vaccinations, Sebelius said that "the adverse effects are minimal. ... We know it's safe and secure. ... This is definitely is a safe vaccine for people to get." My Way News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2356886/posts#comment Wed, 7 Oct 2009 17:38:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2327530/posts "Men sleep peacefully in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." George Orwell's truth comes to mind as one reads that Eric Holder has named a special prosecutor to go after the "rough men" who, to keep us sleeping peacefully at night, allegedly went too far in frightening Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, engineer of the September 2001 massacres. Yet, it seems now indisputable that those CIA interrogators, with their rough methods, got vital intelligence that saved American lives, as Dick Cheney has consistently contended. According to The Washington Times, which reviewed the newly... The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2327530/posts#comment Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:45:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2306537/posts WASHINGTON -- A panel of experts convened for a second day on Friday to probe the scientific process used by the FBI to identify used to identify the anthrax used in the deadly, 2001 mailings. The meeting featured presentations from three experts who worked on the case. Scientific methods were explained, and the 15-member panel was asked to use the study as a means to prepare for future attacks. A lawmaker also addressed the group, criticizing the FBI's handling of the country's first, widespread bioterrorism event. "If the technical and scientific procedures are as flawed as the non-technical procedures, they... The Frederick News-Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2306537/posts#comment Sun, 2 Aug 2009 17:10:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2274523/posts Laboratory Says Security Is Tighter, but Earlier Count Missed Dangerous Vials An inventory of potentially deadly pathogens at Fort Detrick's infectious disease laboratory found more than 9,000 vials that had not been accounted for, Army officials said yesterday, raising concerns that officials wouldn't know whether dangerous toxins were missing. After four months of searching about 335 freezers and refrigerators at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Frederick, investigators found 9,220 samples that hadn't been included in a database of about 66,000 items listed as of February, said Col. Mark Kortepeter, the institute's deputy commander. The vials... The Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2274523/posts#comment Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:15:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2271185/posts In this deeply disturbing interview, the trailer trash torturer who appalled the world by appearing in shocking 'souvenir' photographs remains utterly unrepentant and says she has 800 MORE torture photos that could rock the White House Normally, not much happens in Keyser, West Virginia, but today the folks in this quaint little railroad town, nestling in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, are spoilt for choice. Either they can whoop and holler along to fiddle music at the annual Strawberry Festival or head down to the bookshop, where a local 'celebrity' - as her agent-cum-lawyer describes her - is signing... Mail Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2271185/posts#comment Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:11:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2267791/posts Rob Rossi loved baseball. Exiting the trolley near Petco Park, he admired all the new residential development around the stadium. Rob and his son Charlie took their seats and joined 42,000 happy San Diegans singing "Take me out to the ball game." Charlie cheered when the Padres scored their first run of the evening. Rob hardly noticed the small plane circling slowly overhead. On Saturday, Rob woke up with a splitting headache. His chest felt like it was on fire. Why is it so hard to breathe? And today is Charlie's Little League game! "Daddy," his son gasped from the... San Diego Daily Transcript http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2267791/posts#comment Tue, 9 Jun 2009 05:45:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2241441/posts In case you haven't heard, we're all going to die. You, me, everyone we know, and possibly all our pets are all doomed to die from the latest in a long line of fatal pandemics, the swine flu. The experts are on TV every day relaying pant-soiling fact after pant-soiling fact about the upcoming apocalypse. I, for one, look forward to dying from swine flu, just like I died from bird flu in 2006 and SARS in 2003. Fortunately for me, I'm prepared for the upcoming viruspalooza. You see, I've watched dozens of virus-related disaster films, and I am as... Den of Geek http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2241441/posts#comment Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:58:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234983/posts If you live in L.A. and didn't die in a terrorist attack, you may owe it to the CIA's use of the "enhanced interrogation techniques" that are currently under fire from the Obama administration and the left-wing fringe. In a compelling Op-Ed in Tuesday's Washington Post, Marc A. Thiessen disproves Barack Obama's hollow claim that such techniques "did not make us safer." Rather than following the MSM lead and merely parroting the Obamatons' talking points after the release of previously-classified memos this week, Thiessen actually examined the documents. Thiessen concludes that Obama's contention is "patently false. The proof is in... American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234983/posts#comment Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:32:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2231114/posts A video every US citizen should see. The video at this link is 8 minutes long and very scary. http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0861ff3eabea1ceb73e4&sp=2 http://www.tangle.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2231114/posts#comment Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:48:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2208230/posts More than seven years after the first bio-terror attack on the United States, Congress is considering creating a commission to probe the government's response to the anthrax-laced letters that killed five people. Representative Rush Holt, a Democrat, has submitted a bill that would create a bipartisan commission to investigate the government's handling of the 2001 attacks, which also exposed 17 people to the powdery anthrax spores. "Myriad questions remain about the anthrax attacks and the government?s bungled response to the attacks," Holt said in a statement. Holt said in a statement that the commission would review an investigation conducted by... AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2208230/posts#comment Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:49:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2194504/posts Chemical composition of spores doesn't match suspect flask. The deadly bacterial spores mailed to victims in the US anthrax attacks, scientists say, share a chemical 'fingerprint' that is not found in bacteria from the flask linked to Bruce Ivins, the biodefence researcher implicated in the crime. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) alleges that Ivins, who committed suicide last July, was the person responsible for mailing letters laden with Bacillus anthracis to news media and congressional offices in 2001, killing five people and sickening 17. The FBI used genetic analyses to trace the mailed spores back to a flask called... Nature http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2194504/posts#comment Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:32:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2194187/posts A professor from Kuwait, the country liberated from Saddam Hussein's attack squads by the United States in the first Gulf War, has outlined on Arab television a potential terror attack that would involve smuggling anthrax from Mexico into the U.S. and killing 330,000 people in 60 minutes. WND http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2194187/posts#comment Thu, 26 Feb 2009 02:06:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2183184/posts Army officials have suspended most research involving dangerous germs at the biodefense laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md., which the F.B.I. has linked to the anthrax attacks of 2001, after discovering that some pathogens stored there were not listed in a laboratory database. The suspension, which began Friday and could last three months, is intended to allow a complete inventory of hazardous bacteria, viruses and toxins stored in refrigerators, freezers and cabinets in the facility, the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. The inventory was ordered by the institute’s commander, Col. John P. Skvorak, after officials found that the database... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2183184/posts#comment Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:44:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2168856/posts !3 envelopes, some distributed within the building, most at mail room Fox News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2168856/posts#comment Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:20:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148012/posts No food, no drink, no bathroom. For 10 hours, Eric Witt, the Governor's head of media industries development, a receptionist and a New Mexico State Police officer were locked in the Roundhouse's reception area after an envelope containing a suspicious white powder was opened. "I was walking by the front desk when she opened the thing. She goes 'Uh oh. White powder,'" Witt said. "I go, 'Don't move.'" Everybody froze. Well, everybody except the officer who came in to find out what was happening. He tried to escape, he said, "I tried to walk out, and they said, uh uh,... Albuquerque Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148012/posts#comment Sat, 13 Dec 2008 03:58:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2147149/posts Yazid Sufaat helped Zacharias Moussaoui obtain the visa he used to enter the United States and funded him, housed two 9/11 hijackers while they were en route to the U.S., acquired tons of ammonium nitrate for the Singapore bombing plot, and, in 2001, attempted to obtain Anthrax for al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Now, he is walking around Malaysia a free man. Reuters, December 10, 2008: KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (Reuters) — Malaysia has released five men held on suspicion of terrorism, including one who has been linked to the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, the country’s home minister said... 9/11 Families for America http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2147149/posts#comment Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:04:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2141528/posts "WASHINGTON — The United States can expect a terrorist attack using nuclear or more likely biological weapons before 2013, reports a bipartisan commission in a study being briefed Tuesday to Vice President-elect Joe Biden. It suggests the Obama administration bolster efforts to counter and prepare for germ warfare by terrorists. "Our margin of safety is shrinking, not growing," states the report, obtained by The Associated Press. It is scheduled to be publicly released Wednesday. Click here for the report. The commission is also encouraging the new White House to appoint one official on the National Security Council to exclusively coordinate... Associated Press via Foxnews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2141528/posts#comment Tue, 2 Dec 2008 17:25:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2138571/posts Authorities probing the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks fixed on now-cleared scientist Steven J. Hatfill primarily because confidential informants said they had talked with him about his purported involvement in Rhodesian bioweapons initiatives, according to court documents released yesterday. The documents cover searches of Hatfill's residence, his car, a rental storage facility in Florida and property owned by his then-girlfriend. But they are perhaps most notable for the sparseness of their details and for the lack of a direct connection between the scientist and the notorious crime. washingtonpost. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2138571/posts#comment Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:07:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2136248/posts U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings’ Washington, D.C., office was shuttered in 2001 after anthrax spores were found, so he’s “very sensitive” to the investigation into the crime, he said. Now, Cummings said he supports a review of the investigation. U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., proposed legislation in September to create a congressional commission to investigate the attacks and the federal government’s response. “Whatever we have to do to get to the bottom of this anthrax issue, we need to do it,” Cummings said. Holt’s bipartisan commission would mirror the 9/11 commission and make recommendations on how to prevent such attacks and... baltimoreexaminer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2136248/posts#comment Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:37:52 GMT