BREAKING : SECOND POSITIVE TEST FOR ANTHRAX : PBC

Telephone call and previous thread | 10/8/2001 | Centurion2000

[Sabertooth]

"Could they spread anthrax via the published papers somehow?"

As swampy as Florida is, they're investigating contamination via amphibians.

[Salamander]

ROFL! An amphibious anthrax assault team? Thank you for the (very nervous) giggle.....:)) (Feeling Even Sillier) Salamander

[Sabertooth]

No worries.

For more fun and fear, check out...

Anthrax Case 2 -- Thread II

[Salamander]

I suspect I've already seen that one. I'm still wandering around rather haphazardly here.....:)) The thread where everyone posted their "suspicious symptoms" really lightened my mood. I love this place. The posters are bright *and* witty....:) Salamander ( Feeling Somewhat Less Silly, Now )

[Sabertooth]

If you want to have some fun, check out the Brady Boomers threads. There are several of them. Pretty amusing trips down memory lane.

[Salamander]

I'm partial to the Beverly Hillbillies. The Bradys were just too "unreal".....:)) Appalachian Salamander

[Clinton's a rapist]

And what would the real target be? The Lantana Beach Holiday Inn? Two people who worked in the same office at the newspaper with the second largest circulation in America, but the real target is somewhere else. I'm not buying.

My point is, if this was the work of the terrorists, the fact that they lived just a few minutes away is obviously not a coincidence. So, there are two possibilities. The real reason they located in the Boca Rotan area was because (a) the ultimate aim of their mission in this country was to take out the National Enquirer, or (b) they hit National Enquirer offices because they happened to be nearby. I assert that (b) is the more reasonable inference. In which case, this was just a test and the real target(s) was/were/is/are (you fill in the blank).

[Caipirabob]

You're right, of course. It's just that most people who I know, love and make my life significant are in this area. It's difficult not to be...concerned.

[lavaroise]

I advise people to put ultraviolet germicidal units and their air vents. (as done in hospitals)

[Hugh Akston]

Then that would be six too many.

The goal is not to figure out what is an equivalent price to extract payment. The goal is to minimize further attacks will be made against us in the future.

The best way to do that, IMO, is to have the most fearsome response possible that does not cause World War III.

[Dane]

Another possibility. Could it be a reporter at the Sun procured or produced anthrax for a story.

I mean a headline "We produced Anthrax for a $100" is not exactly out of the realm for the supermarket tabloid the Sun.

[Kevin Curry]

I mean a headline "We produced Anthrax for a $100" is not exactly out of the realm for the supermarket tabloid the Sun.

I doubt that they would actually do it. They would just write that they had done it. It's too much work and takes too much time to actually do it. They have too many puerile articles to write and too little time as it is.

[Fulbright]

The real target was the National Enquirer. Consider the blank filled in.

[Clinton's a rapist]

I don't mean the test target. I mean the real target.

[Black Cat]

And you should be concerned -- we all should. But we should be concerned to learn the facts, not to jump at shadows. In an earlier note, someone suggested that it was ominous that the terrorists were active at an airfield very close to the building where the spores have been found, but it was reported today that, at least in the case of ringleader Atta, no trace of anthrax was found on any of his possessions.

And if I may invoke the old rule of following the money, it really IS in the best financial interests of the news organizations to stir up fear of biological attacks -- it attracts viewers. I've seen all sorts of sensationalism since this started. Shepard Smith this afternoon did a lead in for the upcoming programing as follows:

Anthrax, will it spread out of control? What can you do to protect yourself? Stay tuned!"

What did he do there? He asked a question designed to inspire fear in the viewers -- even though by now most people know that anthrax is not contagious -- and then offered to provide a solution if people would keep watching. It's good programming but lousy journalism...

And if you saw the news this evening, you saw the result -- anywhere people saw dust, they panicked. A post office was closed because of dirt on an envelope! The line has been crossed from rationality to irrationality, and when that happens, the terrorists win.