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Thanks for your comments.

One thing I would like to make clear: I am stopping participating in any meaningful way on these Avian Flu threads. There have been too many times some Emergency Management cowboys (why is it always MEN?) will make fun of my social status (retired nurse) and ask me where I got my freaking microbiology degree, when I try to share serious knowledge I've learned from hours of reading with other posters who have done the same.

Furthermore, these cowboys can't take sarcasm, they dish out name-calling and don't seem to be able to handle it back without whining, they insult anyone who disagrees with them, and they make it about their Cartmanesque "authoritah." There are many of these posters on these threads, as all the regulars know, and their disruption makes it impossible to discuss real risks in a meaningful way.

As many of you know, this happened on a fairly serious thread last Sunday. It was NOT fun for me. I don't like it. That kind of flame response to a serious issue that could indeed affect us all is NOT worthy of Free Republic. I had my words twisted and thrown in my face, and I'm finished with that.

Furthermore, I'm not immune to being drawn into flame wars--it's not difficult to push my buttons. There is a lot on my personal plate right now that I'm taking care of--so my finger is often on the posting trigger, and if somebody wants to get my goat, they likely can without too much fuss.

My deepest regret is that no honest discussion of H5N1 can take place without these disruptors who seem to know it all, even as they dismiss a threat they clearly have not explored.

Just a review: Y2K was averted by a lot of expensive toil by a lot of committed people. The fact that it didn't happen doesn't mean it wasn't a risk.

SARS cost billions. Toronto's experience should be a cautionary tale for the entire world. We (the US) simply lucked out, and for that, I am grateful to God. Anyone who thinks it wasn't a huge concern in the US didn't work in the health care industry. And SARS is a coronavirus (like the common cold viruses) on steroids. It could return.

H5N1--a lot of people who think they know it all have read a few FAQs and look no further. They are exactly like the folks in NO who thought they had all the time in the world to deal with a remote possibility of levee failure. Those people, who frequently disrupt H5N1 threads with their little bit of knowledge and a big star on their chest, think it is their sworn duty to interrupt those serious discussions in any way possible.

Frequently, because I have been, in the past, a prominent poster on potential threats to American health, those very same people will decide that if they can shut me up, prove me wrong, make me mad, and push me enough, they'll somehow win some freaking prize.

Well--fine. They win. This is my Avian Flu opus. I am off the threads. Let the ignorant prevail--I hope they're right and I'm wrong.

Now, I'm saying I'll never post another Avian Flu article. I don't care if Free Republic posters are ignorant, any more. I won't participate in the threads, because the disruptors have decided that since I am nothing more than a retired nurse, I don't have the credentials to comment or make observations about their positions without getting hammered. And these are people with NO medical experience or training.

Please don't ping me to any more of this. Look at the first part of this thread, and the stupid jokes! There are other places to go than FR for serious information on Avian Influenza, and that's where I'll be.

FR is a great place, but not for any serious discussion of emerging diseases or threats to national health. I'm sticking to the other threads.

Good night.