The ministry said the turkey came from a small private poultry farm of about 20 turkeys on the tiny island of Inousses off Chios which belongs to the Chios prefecture.

The only question about what happens next is virulence. This WILL make a jump to human transmission, and based on the spread rate among birds (which don't move around as randomly as we do) and assuming transmission among humans is as easy, this will be global at the same time we realize it has made the shift.

The question is, how to deal with it. Quarantine won't be of any use, by the time it's known, it will be too late. It's viral, which means there isn't really a treatment. If a vaccine can be developed, that would make an enormous difference, but that's not a sure thing, and the numbers required would be astronomical.

Best case scenario? The version that makes the leap isn't especially virulent and it's like an average flu. 35-50,000 dead. A more realistic answer? 350,000-5,000,000 (one to two odrers of magnitude worse). Worst case? Decimation. We'll see what happens.

Greece says has detected one case of birdflu

Lehigh's biology department sought to distance itself from Behe in August, posting a statement on its Web site that says the faculty "are unequivocal in their support of evolutionary theory." He earned tenure at Lehigh before becoming a proponent, which lets him express his views without the threat of losing his job.

Wow, they picked a professor that the rest of the college has basically disowned. That's a ringing endorsement!

Prof Speaks at 'Intelligent Design' Trial

Spc. Robert Loria of Middletown, N.Y., lost his arm in Iraq, but instead of a farewell paycheck from the Army he got a bill for nearly $1,800

If this is not the most asinine thing I've seen this year, it comes damn close.

Lawmakers Help Wounded Soldier Get Home

"Valerie Flame," by that line of reasoning, is a reference for how to deal with the person who is punching holes in everything Judy has done.

I posted this as a link rather than writing the idea here.

Judy vs the Times

"It's bad enough the administration bribed a journalist to promote their policies, but now it looks like taxpayer dollars were handed over for work that was never done," said Lautenberg.

Jeez, not only are they pulling payola to push their ideas, they're giving it to people who don't even do what they were bribed to do.

CNN.com - Armstrong Williams contract referred to U.S. attorney - Oct 14, 2005

It's not that I doubt that Karl Rove is capable of profound evil -- this is the man who used John McCain's adoption of a Sri Lankan orphan to spread the word in South Carolina that McCain was the father of an biracial bastard

Interesting analysis on Valerie Plame and why it was done. But the real point is, this was something done deliberately.

The Blog | Mark Kleiman: Why

Stephen Ulph, an analyst at the US-based Jamestown Foundation, said the letter presented a number of problems. There had been no clarification as to how it was intercepted and no independent corroboration of its authenticity. He also found it remarkable that a letter between two al-Qaeda leaders should spell out strategy in such an explanatory way, as if these basic details were the subject of doubt.

And here are still more people who don't buy it...

FT.com / Home UK - Experts query authenticity of ‘al-Qaeda letter’

Mr. Ridge said: “More often than not we were the least inclined to raise it. Sometimes we disagreed with the intelligence assessment. Sometimes we thought even if the intelligence was good, you don’t necessarily put the country on (alert)… there were times when some people were really aggressive about raising it, and we said ‘for that?’”

Terrorism for political gain 101. Real? Fake? Beats the hell out of me but it smells like cod.

The Nexus of politics and terror - Bloggermann - MSNBC.com

"We're briefing the mayor, ratcheting up security, talking about when to go public - and Homeland Security is downplaying the whole thing while their people are telling friends to stay out of the subways," a police source said. "It's pretty bad."

It seems that at the same time that Bloomberg is saying "we have a threat" and Homeland Security is saying "This isn't confirmed," internally, they're telling their friends things they don't tell the rest of the public.

What the hell is going on here? Government "of the people, by the people, but for the few?"

Daily News Exclusive: Terror tip for rich

ibenez wrote:

The results suggest that marijuana, or its derivatives, could actually be good for the brain.

Uhm.... sweet!

Unless of course you work with me, in that cause I deplore the use of all drugs... bad bad drugs!

Results also suggest that actual marijuana has no such effect. Doh!

RE: New Scientist Breaking News - Marijuana might cause new cell growth in the brain