Where’s the Outrage?

Authorities: Powder in dorm likely not ricin
Students in Texas show no signs of poisoning, officials say

(CNN) — Authorities doubt that the whitish-brown powder found in a roll of quarters at the University of Texas at Austin is ricin because no one has shown symptoms of exposure to the powerful poison, an EMS spokesman said late Saturday afternoon.

“Pretty sure this is not ricin, but we’re going to let the labs [confirm] that,” said Mike Elliott, district commander for Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services. “No one has shown any signs or symptoms at all. With ricin, we should have seen some if there was actual exposure to the individuals.”

While an initial lab test showed the substance discovered Thursday was ricin, two other tests did not, he said.

The preliminary tests were conducted Friday at a state lab, and a sample was flown to a federal government lab Saturday afternoon, FBI spokesman Special Agent Richard Kolko said.

The FBI is leading the investigation, but “at this point we have no reason to believe there is any terrorism nexus in this investigation,” Kolko said earlier Saturday.

A coin box from a washing machine in the dorm was taken for testing because the student who discovered the suspicious powder found it in a roll of quarters being used to do laundry at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Elliott said at a news conference that the quarters were given to the student by the student’s mother, who got them prewrapped from the bank.

The student reported it to the university police department, which notified the school’s office of environmental health and safety, which collected the powder and sent it to a state laboratory, the school said in a written statement.

“It was immediately cleaned up, using appropriate decontamination procedures,” an official said.

Final tests were being conducted at an Army laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland, said Courtney Boeln, spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

No one at the university who may have been exposed has shown any symptoms, which would usually appear within six to eight hours, said Dr. Adolfo Valadez, medical director for the Travis County Health and Human Services Department.

“The exposure risk, we feel, is low,” he said.

Valadez speculated that because of the humid weather in Austin, the powder clumped, further mitigating the risk if it turns out to be ricin.

The residents of the Moore-Hill dormitory, about 390 people, were moved to another dorm, a school official said.

Highly toxic
Ricin is a potent poison. As little as 500 micrograms of ricin, which would be about the size of the head of a pin, can kill an adult.

In an infamous 1978 incident, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian writer and journalist who was living in London, was killed when a man attacked him with an umbrella that injected a ricin pellet under his skin.

Also, according to the CDC, “Some reports have indicated that ricin may have been used in the Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s and that quantities of ricin were found in al Qaeda caves in Afghanistan.”

Ricin is made from the waste “mash” produced when castor oil is extracted from castor beans.

If inhaled, ricin would cause difficulty breathing, fever, cough, nausea and chest tightness within a few hours.

Heavy sweating might follow and fluid could build up in the lungs, resulting in low blood pressure and respiratory failure, perhaps leading to death.

If swallowed, ricin could cause vomiting and bloody diarrhea, resulting in severe dehydration and low blood pressure.

It also may cause hallucinations, seizures and blood in the urine. Within a few days, the person’s liver, spleen and kidneys might stop working, resulting in death. No antidote for the poison exists.

The CDC said it was not involved in the investigation. Boeln said the Texas Department of Health has not requested CDC assistance.

Sophomore Rachel Herbert was visiting a friend Friday night at the dormitory when the initial test results came back positive and officials ordered the building evacuated.

“It’s a little terrifying,” she told a reporter.

CNN’s Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/25/UT.ricin/index.html  

Tags: Terrorism by ecthompson
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February 26, 2006
A Growing Afghan Prison Rivals Bleak Guantánamo
By TIM GOLDEN and ERIC SCHMITT
While an international debate rages over the future of the American detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the military has quietly expanded another, less-visible prison in Afghanistan, where it now holds some 500 terror suspects in more primitive conditions, indefinitely and without charges.

Pentagon officials have often described the detention site at Bagram, a cavernous former machine shop on an American air base 40 miles north of Kabul, as a screening center. They said most of the detainees were Afghans who might eventually be released under an amnesty program or transferred to an Afghan prison that is to be built with American aid.

But some of the detainees have already been held at Bagram for as long as two or three years. And unlike those at Guantánamo, they have no access to lawyers, no right to hear the allegations against them and only rudimentary reviews of their status as “enemy combatants,” military officials said.

Privately, some administration officials acknowledge that the situation at Bagram has increasingly come to resemble the legal void that led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling in June 2004 affirming the right of prisoners at Guantánamo to challenge their detention in United States courts.

While Guantánamo offers carefully scripted tours for members of Congress and journalists, Bagram has operated in rigorous secrecy since it opened in 2002. It bars outside visitors except for the International Red Cross and refuses to make public the names of those held there. The prison may not be photographed, even from a distance.

More from this NY Times story

Tags: Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine), Terrorism, War on Terror by ecthompson
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February 26, 2006
Dubai Expected to Ask for Review of Port Deal
By DAVID E. SANGER
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 — After two days of behind-the-scenes negotiations with the Bush administration and Congress, the Dubai company seeking to manage terminals at six American ports is expected to announce by Monday a deal inviting the government to conduct a broad new review of security concerns, senior administration officials and a company adviser say.

If an agreement is completed, the state-owned company, Dubai Ports World, will “voluntarily” ask the Bush administration to pursue the lengthier, deeper investigation that Democrats and Republicans in Congress have been demanding since controversy over the transaction erupted at the beginning of the week.

The White House plans to portray the action as the company’s own decision, giving administration officials a face-saving way of backing away from President Bush’s repeated declarations in recent days that there is no security risk in having the port terminals operated by a company controlled by the emir of Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates.

The people who discussed the negotiations, two senior administration officials and the company adviser, spoke on the condition of anonymity because final details had not been worked out. Dubai Ports lawyers and lobbyists spent Friday and Saturday talking with Congressional leaders, including the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee.

The goal was to try to delay, if not circumvent, a collision with Republican leaders who have been threatening to support some form of Congressional action next week, possibly including a bill to block the company from taking over.

more from the NY Times article

Tags: Border Security, Bush Administration, Economy by ecthompson
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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A substance discovered by a student in a University of Texas dormitory has tested positive for ricin, a potentially deadly poison, officials said.

The chunky powder was found at the Moore-Hill dormitory Thursday and reported to university police, officials said. Tests for ricin came back positive Friday. Officials don’t know where it came from, said campus police spokeswoman Rhonda Weldon.

“We were very concerned as soon as we heard about the positive testing late this evening,” Dr. Theresa Spalding of UT Health Services said Friday.

Ricin is extracted from castor beans and can be added to food or water, injected or sprayed as an aerosol. It can be in the form of a powder, mist, pellet, or it can be dissolved in water or weak acid.

Some students and staff were potentially exposed, according to a university statement, but have not shown any symptoms. Symptoms can include anything from difficulty breathing, fever, cough, nausea and sweating to severe vomiting and dehydration.

The dorm was sanitized and inspected, and students were cleared to return, the university said.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Terrorism by ecthompson
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a company in the United Arab Emirates is now in charge of security at six of our seaports? The president feels so strongly about this that he is willing to use a veto to make sure that this deal goes through. Is this not the craziest thing you’ve ever seen?

It is my opinion, that the United States should be in charge of the security of the United States. Not Great Britain, not France, not Dubai and not China.

Tags: Border Security, Domestic Issues, Other Political Thoughts, Talkin' out Loud by ecthompson
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Last week, besides shooting Mr. Whittington in the face, there were two other major news stories which surrounded Vice President Cheney. First, was the revelation that Scooter Libby testified under oath that a superior instructed him to release classified information. If one looks at the government structure. There are only a few people who are superior to Mr. Libby. The vice president, the president, Andy Card, the Chief of Staff, Condoleezza Rice who was the president’s national security adviser and possibly Donald Rumsfeld. That’s about it.

During the Britt Hume interview, Vice President Cheney was asked about releasing classified information. Vice president Cheney stated that he had the authority (thru the President) to classify or declassify anything that he saw fit to declassify. Only the president had the authority to change his decision. This was an amazing revelation. So, any document that was classified by the CIA, the FBI or the State Department could be declassified by Vice President Cheney unilaterally without consultation with anyone else.

So how is this in the best interest of the United States?

Tags: Other Political Thoughts, Security by ecthompson
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This is a book by former Congressman JC Watts, Jr. Wow, this book was difficult to get through. I think that is important to read both progressive and conservative points of view. This book, unfortunately, is more of a self-serving vehicle than anything else.

I had the opportunity to hear Congressman Watts in Tyler, Texas in 2004. I had heard that he was a dynamic speaker.  I’d heard of him since I was in college. We were both in college at approximately the same time. He was playing for Oklahoma University and was their star quarterback. I was a struggling premed student at Emory University. I had seen him play on television many times. So, I was interested to hear what insights he would have. Unfortunately, he stood up and gave a canned Republican, neoconservative lecture. Parts of his lecture had already been used by Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Bush and Dick Cheney. There was nothing new. There was nothing insightful. As a whole, it was very disappointing.

So, I decided to go buy his book. The first hundred or so pages really have nothing to do with why he became a conservative. Instead, they tell us a little bit about how he grew up. In spite of having two parents at home, who taught him the difference between right and wrong, Mr. Watts fathers 2 children, out of wedlock during his senior year in high school. Of course, each child has a different mother. He does berate himself for several pages but the bottom line, to use his own words, he’d been “heedless and irresponsible.” He did marry the mother of one of the children. The other child was raised by his aunt and uncle.

Mr. Watts uses a combination of bad analogies, non sequitur’s and illogical conclusions to make most of his points. He argues against welfare because it failed “miserably” then cites the stat of 450% increase in the number of out of wedlock births. This is the same man who fathered two children out of wedlock but was not on welfare. He also states “that my faith is an integral part of who I am” but as an adult male in his 30s he punches out a guy at the YMCA for hassling someone else. Violence? I’m not seeing the morality here.

The most interesting section of the book, in my opinion, has to do with why he now opposes unions.  Mr. Watts was not a great quarterback in Oklahoma. He was a great running quarterback. The NFL was not that interested in him. Therefore, he was forced to look at the Canadian Football League. His agent negotiates a contract. Mr. Watts begins to play and begins to get paid in Canadian dollars. He is surprised by this (in spite of the fact that he’s playing football in Canada). He talks to the team about some mistake. Then, when he gets nowhere with the team, he goes to the player’s Association. They state that there is nothing that they can do for him. This is what outrages Congressman Watts. Why? He talks about individual responsibility in this book but yet in his own example he did no background work on contracts in Canada. He did not ask any lawyers to oversee the contract. He did not talk to any players. Basically, the team and his agent took advantage of his naïveté and he blames the Players Association for this.

Congressman Watts’s book is an interesting read. It is interesting to find out how logic gets twisted in order to justify one’s actions. Read it at your own risk.

Tags: Books, Other Political Thoughts, Talkin' out Loud by ecthompson
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Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist, has written a fascinating book. He argues that the dotcom bust of the 90s was not really a bust. Instead, hundreds of miles of fiber-optic cable was laid. when the companies that laid the cable went belly up then someone else could come in and by the cable for pennies on the dollar. This brought the price of the Internet down substantially. With cheap Internet access (high speed), it now became feasible to outsource certain jobs to India, China and the Philippines.

I like this book. It is very insightful. But, I must be honest, Mr. Friedman is a little verbose. Although one example of his point may convince you, Mr. Friedman feels obligated to give you 2, 3 and sometimes 4 examples in order to drive his point home.

No, the world is not flat but high-speed Internet access is helping to level the playing field. The book breezes over the poverty problem that is not fixed by the “new” economy.  This is a huge problem with this book.  All ‘n all it is a good … long read.

Tags: Books, Other Political Thoughts by ecthompson
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So, I wasn’t going to comment on this but it has been handled so badly by the Bush administration that I really feel that I have to.

Cheney shot a high ranking, rich republican friend over the weekend with a shotgun. The exact circumstances remain unclear. They were out hunting in South Texas. the called an ambulance. Why not a copter? As a trauma surgeon I’ll tell you that in Texas copters are called at the drop of a hat. The patient is taken to a local hospital and not a Level I or II trauma center which is equipped to handle these situations. Why? (wanted to keep this quiet maybe?)

Mr. Whittington, the victim, was too much for the little hospital so the patient was transported to Corpus Christi. A level III trauma center. I don’t know what tests were done in the hospital but what is interesting is what Cheney does. If you had shot someone by accident wouldn’t you be concerned? Wouldn’t you insist on going to the hospital with that patient? If not in the ambulance then following behind in your car? Cheney doesn’t none of these. He stays at the ranch then has dinner. The local police come to interview Cheney but the secret service sends them away. What’s up with that? Cheney too sick? too intoxicated? too full of remorse to speak with the police? Explain to me how this isn’t elitism at its worst!

During the interview 2 days later with Britt Hume, Cheney states that he had only one beer at lunch. Now, this may be true BUT if I had a dime for every trauma patient that told me the one beer story I would be retired now in Hawaii!!

Did Mr. Whittington get the best of medical care? I don’t know enough of the details to comment. I can only say that if you or I had been shot and a helicopter would have been called and we would have been taken to the nearest Level I or II trauma center. That’s all that I know.

Tags: Bush Administration, Medical Ethics/Issues, Talkin' out Loud by ecthompson
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So, I’m surfin’ around because I don’t want to do whatever I’m supposed to do and a come across the Think Progress web site (Great Progressive blog). Been there before but I found a clip from Bush’s April 2004 visit to Buffalo. In this speech where he is selling the virtues of the Patriot Act, our President says:

“Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires — a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we’re talking about chasing down terrorists, we’re talking about getting a court order before we do so. It’s important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.”

Well, I figured that this clip was bootlegged from a Democrat that happened to sneak into the speech but NOOOO. The whole speech (transcript and video) is on the White House’s web site.

How crazy is that? I can prove that the President lied to a bunch of folks in Buffalo by using the White House’s web site.

Tags: Domestic Spying by ecthompson
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From WaPo:

Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), who ran an insurgent campaign calling for change in the face of a widening corruption scandal, was elected yesterday to succeed Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) as House majority leader in an upset over the acting majority leader.

Boehner’s victory over Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a longtime DeLay ally, stunned even the Ohioan, said House members attending the closed-door election. It sent a clear signal that most House Republicans were eager for a relatively fresh face to lead the party in an election year when the GOP’s decade-long control of the House is under threat.
——————–
Now is this really a change? Is Boehner a clean break from R’s corruption? Was he the guy who are handing out tobacco lobby checks on the floor of the House? Boehner has as many as 24 former staffers who are now Washington lobbyists (salon.com).

Tags: House of Representatives by ecthompson
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