Free Press calls for investigation of the tularemia found on the mall >>>

[Stephanie]

Interesting connections. How's everybody feeling today?

http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2005/1221

Bob Fitrakis

Did Bush administration attack peace movement with military grade biological bacteria?
October 4, 2005

What do we make of the Saturday, October 1 Washington Post headline "Poison Found in Air During Anti-War Protest"?

***

The wholly implausible "working hypothesis" put forward by Pane is that the bacteria found in rodents, rabbits and other small animals just happened to occur on the same day the trains failed to run on time and more than quarter of a million people assembled to directly challenge the Bush regime's illegal war in Iraq.

***

Unfortunately, tularemia has been long used as a military biological weapon. We should consider the presence of tularemia a shot across the bow to the peace movement from an administration willing to cheat, steal, torture, lie and kill to further its political agenda. Karl Rove, the president's brain, brags of his worship of Machiavelli and will do anything to keep his Texas prince in power.

***

Both the United States and the Soviet Union possessed the military strain Francisella tularensis during the Cold War. Dr. Kenneth Alibek (formerly known as Kanatjan Alibekov) the number two man in the former Soviet Union's biochemical operations describes in great detail in his book "Biohazard" how the Soviets deployed Francisella tularensis against the Nazis in the Battle of Stalingrad.

In another one of those bizarre coincidences, Ken Alibek was also involved in the U.S. anthrax project run by the nonprofit Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio. Considered the DIA's and the CIA's favorite nonprofit contractor, Battelle has been involved, according to the New York Times and the Columbus Dispatch, with manufacturing the infamous trillion spores per gram Ames (as in Iowa) silica-impregnated anthrax. Officially, the work is done for "defensive" purposes in order to produce a vaccine.

***

Unless federal officials are willing to think the unthinkable, but obvious, and have the tularemia samples independently tested, we'll never know whether a deliberate attack occurred against peaceful U.S. citizens exercising their First Amendment rights, or some freakish and bizarre coincidence occurred.

[Melodybe]

1. Little bit of a fever, little bitof head and body aches other than that

I'm fine.

Is anyone dead yet?

We have till the 7th to die apparently.

[Stephanie]

3. Seriously see a doctor if you are feeling sick after being in DC

Get some antibiotics.

[kestrel91316]

28. More important, get tested. Very important that if ANYBODY gets

tularemia, that it be properly documented. Speculation would never get us anywhere. A real case would.

[EstimatedProphet]

7. the Prophetess has the same symptoms.

SEE A DOCTOR. Rule out the Tularemia, or get antibiotics. It is only a rumor that tularemia was spread deliberately, but it is a fact that it was found.

[Melodybe]

8. I don't have health insurance and I don't have the money

I'm going to have to be a lot sicker to go to the doctor.

[shadowknows69]

19. Public health will get you in Mel

They rushed me in in front of 30 people waiting in a waiting room. Just tell them you have concerns about the story you read in the wash post or on abcnews.com someone is taking this seriously enough that they'll make sure you get tested.

[buzzard]

21. How much do they charge for that??

[shadowknows69]

24. I don't think they do.

there was no talk of money or promise to pay from me

[kestrel91316]

29. Mel, call your county health dept and GET THEE to an emergency

room. This is a public health matter and you should not be charged anything if you have no insurance or other means to pay. This is why we pay taxes.

[savemefromdumbya]

10. not dead yet

however I was on a 10 day course of antibiotics for my tooth!

[Ezlivin]

2. So they've moved on from just using anthrax

Remember the last terrorist attack? Yeah, how can you when no one ever, ever mentions it again.

I've got my tin-foil hat on, but nothing this administration did, does or will do can surprise me anymore.

[Norquist Nemesis]

4. How was the air over the Freeper flop?

just curious. :shrug:

[Stephanie]

5. Wasn't that on Sunday?

The tularemia only appeared for one day.

[electropop]

11. The Freepers were expecting 20,000 on Saturday.

As it turned out, they were about 19,600 short. :evilgrin: They were a few blocks down Constitution Ave, so they wouldn't have been at much risk from the attack. Unless it could be transmitted in the close quarters of the Metro. Do Freepers ride the Metro, or did they all drive their gigantic SUVs with Confederate flags on the back window?

[Stephanie]

12. Laura's book fair was on the mall that day, wasn't it?

I bet she wasn't, tho.

[leftchick]

13. she was somewhere else for readings I believe

if she showed on the mall she was probably already on the appropriate anti-biotics.

[electropop]

16. The book fair pretty much disappeared in the crowd.

Totally swamped. Oops.

[Dangerously Amused]

14. Applause Track

By the way, I was in DC for the entire protest weekend and was in my hotel room getting ready to leave for the events at the mall on Sunday when they started broadcasting the Freeper event live. I peeked at the screen while getting ready and was amused to see the tiny crowd of 250 and all the empty chairs and areas cordoned off. I listened to the "please-kill-my-military-son-in-Iraq, anything-else-is-unpatriotic" mom and a couple of others speak, and heard the smattering of applause here and there that 250 people make when they clap.

Then I was in the bathroom and I suddenly heard this HUGE amount of applause coming from the screen, and I was like, WTF?!? I left the bathroom to see what was going on and I saw... the same 250 people at the same event. Only NOW it sounded a lot more like the 20,000 clapping and hooting that they originally predicted.

No, I can't prove it. But I saw it and I heard it. I will swear to it under penalty of perjury, and I will go to my grave asserting that the news media inserted an applause track to manipulate the masses and give the illusion of more support for Bush than actually exists.

What was the station? I don't know. I was on my way out the door and I thought my roommate (from another state) who stayed there after I left got it. If anybody wants, I will check with her.

[electropop]

15. That's horrible.

No coverage of the real event, then tarted-up coverage of the failure. And they wonder why their ratings are plunging. Maybe if they started showing news on the news, they would have viewers.

[Stephanie]

17. So the Freeper pro-war protest was on SUNDAY?

I can't honestly remember - was it Sunday? That wd make more sense WRT the tularemia.

[KerryOn]

25. The freepers meet at...

... the Navy Memorial on Constitution Ave on Saturday morning. When I walked by there were about 200 of them at about 12:00 noon.

They also meet on Sunday on the mall near the capital, right in front of the air and space museum. I went by there about 10:00 am and there were less than a dozen. News reports that evening put there umbers at 400, and I guess there was a clash with a view anti-war protesters later in the day.

[screembloodymurder]

38. You know, it's time we treat the MSM whores like the traitors they are.

They are the enemy of all good patriots.

[LibertyorDeath]

34. 19,600 short

What a bunch of fucking Losers.

History Logic Reality & Common sense are with us.

These maggots have Rove & Shit!

[electropop]

6. Holy crap that's freaking me out.

I was there.

Considering that they have already Anthraxed Democratic members of Congress (very effectively too), and filled New Orleans with bio-soup, it would appear that bioweapons have been selected as the weapons of choice for depopulating real estate and eliminating enemies.

:tinfoilhat:

[savemefromdumbya]

9. just to stop you protesting - clever eh?

so that no one will be brave enough to protest in the streets of Dc incase they get a war-bug? I've heard all sorts of stories on this. I'm OK

[Blue_In_AK]

18. Feeling fine here... n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

20. Please, this is BushCo bullshit

I was there too.

They just want to discourage people from protesting.

Of course, just traveling, especially on airplanes and being in large crowds of people, can cause people to get more colds and the flu.

From what I've read about this stuff is that if anyone was exposed they would certainly know it by now and they would be seriously ill already.

[kestrel91316]

30. It is too soon to say this with certainty. Once the 2 week mark passes,

we are home free. But until then, people with suspicious symptoms should see a physician and get tested.

If we document a single case of tularemia in an anti-war protester, the SHTF.

[DoYouEverWonder]

32. If people had been exposed to tularemia

we would already be seeing cases. Most people show symptoms within 3 to 5 days. The 14 days is just the outside limit. People who buy into this crap now are just helping to feed the monsters, which is exactly what BushCo wants.


Here's some info from the CDC's website.


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Tularemia

Q. What are the signs and symptoms of tularemia?
A. The signs and symptoms people develop depend on how they are exposed to tularemia. Possible symptoms include skin ulcers, swollen and painful lymph glands, inflamed eyes, sore throat, mouth sores, diarrhea or pneumonia. If the bacteria are inhaled, symptoms can include abrupt onset of fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, joint pain, dry cough, and progressive weakness. People with pneumonia can develop chest pain, difficulty breathing, bloody sputum, and respiratory failure. Tularemia can be fatal if the person is not treated with appropriate antibiotics.

Q. Why are we concerned about tularemia being used as a bioweapon?
A. Francisella tularensis is highly infectious. A small number of bacteria (10-50 organisms) can cause disease. If Francisella tularensis were used as a bioweapon, the bacteria would likely be made airborne so they could be inhaled. People who inhale the bacteria can experience severe respiratory illness, including life-threatening pneumonia and systemic infection, if they are not treated.

Q. Can someone become infected with the tularemia bacteria from another person?
A. People have not been known to transmit the infection to others, so infected persons do not need to be isolated.

Q. How quickly would someone become sick if he or she were exposed to tularemia bacteria?
A. The incubation period (the time from being exposed to becoming ill) for tularemia is typically 3 to 5 days, but can range from 1 to 14 days.


http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/tularemia/faq.asp

[kestrel91316]

35. Incubation period is 1-15 days. We are not yet past the window.

I reserve judgement.

[ragin_acadian]

22. i'm just getting over a cold.

but i think that was from being awake for 40 hours by driving back from DC, then going directly to work.

[Cookie wookie]

23. Agree that an independent investigation should

take place. In a country where we had a real media serving the people, this would have been front page news.

There are too many unanswered questions. Has this happened before? What was the strain - naturally occurring or manufactured? How much was found, exactly? Could it have come from natural sources or not?

Why did Homeland Security delay making the information available to the public? Do they have the right to do that -- after all, this is supposed to be a democracy.

I've heard reports of people being sick, including one of our group of 4 who went, but who got sick Friday and spend Saturday in the emergency room in DC rather than at the march. Another of the 4 got a "strange" sore throad on Saturday at the march and still had it when we last spoke a couple of days ago.

With low dose can people get sick but not deathly ill? Would the infection remain in their system to appear later? I've read lots of the information online about tularemia, but none of these medical questions were covered.

Just to let this slide and disappear from view seems insupportable.

[mikelewis]

26. I believe this is Propaganda designed to frighten protestors and...

warn them away from further gatherings. They're trying to induce paranoia.

[Catrina]

27. They might regret doing that because

people may decide that if they are at risk of being attacked at peace rallies, there are safer ways to get their message out, such as staying home from work, millions of people can do that without any effort at all. Or cancelling, by the millions, Cable television.

Then there is boycotting all sorts of things, such as millions of people not buying Christmas gifts. I know I won't be ~ crashing the economy can be done without risking arrest, bio-chemical attacks, tear gas or whatever else they have in mind.

And it's way more difficult to get millions of people to a march, than to have them stay home and participate in such protests.

Millions supported that march, but couldn't all participate. Imo, it's time to move the protests to another level, one in which people from all over the country can participate. In fact, all over the world.

Marching does not bother them. Taking away their money will. And it's way safer for us.

[FreedomAngel82]

31. It's better to be safe then sorry

You never know about these people and the truth about the anthrax ordeal wasn't uncovered was it? :shrug: With this regime anything is possible. Even if it isn't true I at least pay attention and listen.

[screembloodymurder]

39. This isn't propaganda.

It's a threat and attempted murder. Reacting to a threat is not paranoia, it's simply prudent.

[Stephanie]

41. You're right, it's a threat

True or false, it's a threat.

[RummyTheDummy]

33. Would anything these people do surprise anyone?

1. They whacked Paul Wellstone like John Gotti whacked Paul Castelano.

2. They sent anthrax to Democratic members of congress.

Infecting some "peace lovers" with a biological warfare agent isn't that far of a leap from the above.

[Not_So_Right_Wing]

40. Funny...you would say that...

I was just thinking that today and wondering where these investigations are headed. does anyone have any info on whether there was an actual investigation in to the Wellstone crash...?

[McCamy Taylor]

36. Agree we need an investigation. This is a real public health puzzler.

Possibilities include:

1) Military test on civiliam population: the super secret Granite thingie on Thursday could have planted a delivery system in the area designed to test an urban weapon and we (the greater than 100,000 expected at the Mall) were the uniformed civilian test subjects. Pro-the military does this kind of uniformed civilian testing all the time. Con- shades of Joseph Mengeles!

2) Someone planted the tularemia in the CDC filters in order to scare the beejeebuzes out of the protesters in order to discourage future gatherings. PLUS, this could also be used in conjunction with other future bombings, terrorists activity to create a sense of panic in the American people to get them backj "On message" as Karl Rove would say. Would pretty much have to be someone with military connections in order to get the stuff, but that doesnt rule out many people in the * administration since they are all so big on war right now.

So far no one has tested positive for the bug. That doesnt mean that it was not a military test of a weapon, just that the weapon was not effective. However, since tularemia is VERY infectious as tiny doses, if no one contracts it I would begin to wonder if someone seeded the filters in an attempt to accomplish #2.

[peace_on_earth]

37. Can somebody PLEASE post this poll?? About martial law...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/10/05/bush.reax/index.html?section=cnn_tops

I don't think I have posting rights yet, otherwise I would do it myself. But this is important, so I stuck it under the closest topic I could find. It's about how * wants to do away with Posse Comitatus if there's a flu pandemic. CNN interviews people who say this could open the door to martial law!

Here's the poll:

Should there be a U.S. law enforcement role for the military during domestic emergencies?
Yes
No

Current results:

Should there be a U.S. law enforcement role for the military during domestic emergencies?

Yes 53% 65399 votes

No 47% 57065 votes
Total: 122464 votes

[Stephanie]

42. I did >

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4985483&mesg_id=4985483