[Fred Mertz]

At the Pentagon, officials began taking new precautions against anthrax-tainted mail by requiring that all mail be opened, visually inspected, X-rayed and tested for biological or chemical materials. Once checked, mail will be held for up to three days to await test results before delivery inside the building.

Chicken Little must be in charge of Pentagon mail operations.

[Excuse_Me]

This was probably the letter that caused most of the problems at Brentwood. It seemed to be seeping a lot more of its contents out than the Daschle letter. Perhaps when it got to Brentwood after the State department, the Postmaster looked at the addressee and said, "Hmmm. It says Leaky. Make it so, number one," as he handed it to his deputy...

[CheneyChick]

contains at least 23,000 anthrax spores

What I want to know is, who is the lucky bloke who gets to count these spores and what counting method do they use?

[ecomcon]

23,000 Hmmm, that's a damn fine number. Sounds pretty good. Sounds like a lot. Way more than say, 17,000. Or 5,000. Good thing there wasn't something like 36,000 or even 40,500. That would be really a lot.

[jerod]

Wow, that's enough to get 3 people sick with the inhalation form of anthrax. Real nasty.

[Thinkin' Gal]

23,000 Anthrax Spores Found

Sheesh. I just logged on and that was the first thing I saw.

[jerod]

23, 000 spores in my nose,

23,000 spores. If one of those spores should happen to blow,

22,999 spores in my nose.

22,....

[Teacher317]

at least 23,000 anthrax spores, enough for more than two lethal doses

So, if someone licks the inside of the envelope and passes it to a buddy...

"don't bogart the 'lope, dude!"

I wonder if DEA agents will bust down the door and SFAQL.

[NC Conservative]

Can someone tell me if a GOP senator has received anthrax letters? No conspiracy theories. Just curious.

[Terry Mross]

The optical scanner read the zip code wrong? I DEMAND a recount!

[blam]

"- A sample taken from a plastic evidence bag containing a still-unopened letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy contains at least 23,000 anthrax spores."

That just doesn't seem like a lot considering that the average person has 6 billion bacteria in their mouth all the time. (Albeit, tame bacteria)

[horsewhispersc]

Who counted all those lil spores ya can't see!

[meridia]

MSNBC has just announced that the envelope has been successfully OPENED. Now they are carefully examining the contents, hoping that fingerprints can be found. Let's hope so!

[1Old Pro]

there were three times more anthrax spores in the single sample taken from the plastic bag than in any of the other 600 bags of mail examined by the FBI before it found the Leahy letter.

WOW, someone doesn't like Leaky

[Billy_bob_bob]

"...And 'tho the spores were very small, they had to count them all.
Now they know how many spores it takes to purge the senate halls."

Sorry, just couldn't resist. Been thinking of Beatles tunes lately.