Posted on 07/04/2007 8:44:56 PM PDT by rickdylan
This is one of those elephant in the living room kinds of problems which people ought to be talking about but don't seem to be. I mean, of all the animals I never would have figured I'd ever feel sorry for or which would ever be scarce or quality as an endangered species or anything like that.....
I mean, you can't find crows in Virginia or Maryland any more, they're gone. We used to have enormous flocks of crows in Alexandria; all gone. We've got one lonely crow living at Southern Towers now, the sole survivor. Likewise I was out at the Isaac Walton League rifle range in Damascus Maryland today, mile after mile of cornfields, and no crows.
West Nile Virus turned up outside the doors of the UN building in 1999. Worldnet Daily notes:
The disease is spread by mosquitoes, which feed off both birds and humans along with other susceptible animals. In most parts of the world where it has surfaced, the virus typically causes illness akin to the flu, bringing fever, headache, muscle aches and fatigue unpleasant, but rarely fatal. The virus has not even proven fatal to all birds in other parts of the world. But the U.S. strain appears nearly 100 percent fatal to birds. They usually die within five days. Once again, this has caused some health officials and scientists, as well as intelligence sources, to wonder if West Nile Virus is not a weaponized virus one perhaps deliberately engineered and delivered to the two biggest targets of Islamic terrorism. Israel was the first place in the world where West Nile virus was associated with killing birds. Until that outbreak in 1997, the virus was known to sicken birds, but not fatally. Israel also was the site of an outbreak of West Nile virus in humans that caused 450 cases of neurological disease in 2000. Despite the risk to public health, West Nile virus is not a danger to most individuals. Researchers believe that out of 150 people infected with the virus, 120 people won't feel sick at all. As hot weather reaches across the country in the coming weeks, scientists are on edge as to whether this summer season will be as deadly as the previous two. In California, two cases of neurological disease and one case of West Nile fever occurred last year, all in the southern part of the state, none fatal. This year health officials expect the virus to spread through California. It has previously hit hard in Colorado and the East Coast. There is increasing evidence of Saddam Hussein's complicity in bringing West Nile virus to the U.S. While some American intelligence sources are still suspicious about claims that Saddam Hussein had an active chemical and biological weapons program, others believe he unleashed that program on the U.S. in the form of West Nile virus. About 85 percent of human infections occur in August and September, and the mosquito is by far the most common route. It is, however, possible to contract WNV through breast milk, blood contact and organ transplants. Symptoms include stiff neck, photophobia, depressed states, altered consciousness and personality change. Movement disorders, including tremors, gait disturbance and Parkinsonism may occur. While it is well-known that WNV is of Middle East origin, what is less well-known is the New Yorker report dating back to 2000 in which Saddam Hussein was quoted by a defector referring to "his final weapon, developed in laboratories outside Iraq ... free of U.N. inspection, the laboratories will develop strain SV 141 of the West Nile virus." There is also a report that the Centers for Disease Control actually sent WNV samples to Iraq in 1985. Is it possible one of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction has actually been deployed against us? Did Iraq have the ability to deliver such a biological weapon? There is increasing suspicion that one of his labs was not in Iraq at all but less than 50 miles from the Florida coast. Cuban defectors say that Fidel Castro's Biological Front studied ways of using migratory birds to spread infectious diseases to the U.S. Saddam Hussein was also known to have close ties to Castro. And, according to Soviet defector Ken Alibek, Cuba, Iraq, Iran and other countries simultaneously received transfers of Soviet biotechnology....."
Interestingly, the U.S. strain appears almost identical to only one other strain in the world the one found in Israel.
It appears highly likely to the point of being a statistical certainty, to me at least, that this clown Saddam Hussein had been sitting there taking various kinds of potshots at us for a number of years before we took him down. Dems and libs who like to proclaim the innocence of Saddam and his regime should be asked where the crows are and why we are seeing deer lying on the side of the road for months instead of days, with no crows to eat them.
pinging anthrax list
Here in Amish country, West Nile wiped out many horses about 3 years ago. They vaccinate now. As many as 70 a day.
Also had a neighbor who was repeatedly hospitalized with it.
Mockingbirds and a bakers dozen other kinds of birds are missing as well. But driving around in Va. and Md. and not seeing a single crow is positively weird.
It's the thought that counts....
Since when is encephahitis a jihadi plot?
algore has locked the crows and bees up in huge underground caverns for maxmum effect of his dire predictions. LOL
We have bunches of Ravens (Corvus coraz) in the desert of California.
Be glad to lend you a few... They feast on the rabbits and pets killed on our roads.
Of course there are many many species in Genus Covus. They interact well with man. I don’t think we have a single species of crow in common with Israel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Corvus
They must have migrated north of the Mason-Dixon with the Baltimore-Washington commuters filling up southern Pennsylvania. Never saw or heard so many crows as this summer.
^
Thanks for the ping.
Microbiology Ping
It appears highly likely to the point of being a statistical certainty, to me at least, that this clown Saddam Hussein had been sitting there taking various kinds of potshots at us for a number of years before we took him down.
In keeping with longstanding policy of keeping the American population in the dark in re terrorism, at least until there is an attack which undeniably is a terrorist attack. (OK City, 9/11).
I would not doubt that in the event of incontravertible evidence that West Nile Virus was in fact a weaponized variety which was planted here by our enemies, the minions of Government on both sides of the aisle would keep the fact quiet to hide their incompetence.
Especially the "co-presidents" who, in order to push their domestic agendae, routinely denied that acts which appear to have been acts of (international) terrorism were anything but the result of Christian whites bent on race war.
The cartoon characters Heckle and Jeckle were magpies, but never mind.
I get the impression that some of our enemies view us as too powerful to attack directly and thus seek to weaken us with a thousand little cuts like this west nile thing.
The crows did take a hit here in Mississippi as did the Bluebirds and many other species of birds but natural selection has occurred and they are rebounding. There is a flock of crows in my pasture as I type....they love my pecan trees...
What we are still missing are the flocks where there are one or two smart crows (of one species) who are fed by a dozen or so stupid crows (of a different species).
We have not had any finches except for a little one that looked like this one:
I've always suspected West Nile was a toxic gift from Saddam Hussein. With a name like that, where else would it come from. At least we killed that dick.
I just wish Saddam had managed to thin out the grackle population in North Texas. Some days, I feel like I’m in a particular Hitchcock film.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.