This link talks more about zoonosis: what happens when a disease leaps from its accustomed nonhuman prey into a person, as happens with bubonic plague, bird-flu, Ebola and Marburg virus. Zoonotic diseases can infect more than one species, unlike, say, smallpox, which predominantly afflicts humans.

Link


And, we still don't know the exact mechanism that causes zoonsois, and which diseases are more likely to make the animal-to-human jump. And we're going to be tinkering with animal DNA/RNA/mRNA and whatnot? When we can't even keep genetically modified crops spreading their genes to other plants? Does this even make sense, except in the minds of some bean-counters in the uberprofitable multinational corporations, where the highest priority is the money that can be made?!?!

Ok... The attendant has given me my nightly hypospray; I'm calm now. I tell you, it only makes sense if the health and safety of the population is not a concern. But then again, why is any of this surprising? Especially when you consider that as fast as the human genome is mapped, it is being patented?!? Yikes!!!!

September 8, 2007

Largest Chauffeur-Driven Protest in Capital's History


Demanding further intervention from the Federal Reserve to protect
their endangered fortunes, thousands of the nation's leading hedge
fund managers marched on Washington today.

Dubbed "The Million Mercedes March," the protest was said to be the
largest chauffeur-driven demonstration in the capital's history.

Limousines started jamming the streets of Washington at approximately
ten in the morning as irate hedge fund owners converged in front of
the Federal Reserve building to demand stronger action to protect
their imperiled riches.

Chanting "No Rate Cut, No Peace," the furious money managers
were pepper-sprayed by police as their protest threatened to take a violent
turn.

Tracy Klujian, a hedge fund manager from Greenwich, Connecticut, said
that simmering anger in the hedge fund community was "a powder keg"
waiting to explode.

"We have yet to see the ripple effects of this crisis," Mr. Klujian
said. "When these guys have to freeze their trophy wives' shopping
allowances, there's going to be hell to pay."

Mr. Klujian's words seemed almost prophetic as a mob of angry trophy
wives looted a Ralph Lauren boutique in East Hampton, New York later
in the day, stripping the establishment of its entire fall collection.

If the Fed fails to intervene, Mr. Klujian warned, an ugly situation
among the nation's wealthiest money managers will only get uglier.

"A lot of these guys are mad as hell right now," he said. "But wait
until they're down to their last billion."

Elsewhere, FEMA announced that it would commemorate the second
anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by returning phone calls from 2005.