The Demon in the Freezer

You shouldn’t be worried about anthrax. Smallpox will be a much bigger problem if it hits our shores, or anywhere else in the world. Read this article if you want a real taste for the damage that terrorists will do to us unless we wipe all of them out soon.

—by Peter Sheerin at 9:22 PM {The Demon in the Freezer—Bookmark this link or e-mail it to a friend—this link will never disappear." rel="bookmark">PermaLink}

JAMA Articles on Bioterrorism

Five articles on bioterrorism by the Working Group on Civilian Biodefense—addressing anthrax, smallpox, plague, botulinum toxin, and tularemia—are online and free of charge. In addition, a collection of the articles addressing bioterrorism published in JAMA and the Archives Journals are available free of charge. On October 25, the CDC published updates on the investigations in Florida, New York, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia in MMWR. These articles also will be published in the November 14 issue of JAMA.

—by Peter Sheerin at 10:13 AM {PermaLink}

Fremont fire fighters get a break

Fremont officials won’t discipline firefighters for fund-raising work—firefighters who collected funds for the NY firefighters in their free time, and after clearing it with the police department, will not be charged with insubordination (their chief, Dan Lydon, had ordered them to stop their collection efforts) or violating the vehicle code.

—by Peter Sheerin at 8:05 PM {PermaLink}

Success with food drop technique!

The method that Dr. Bill Wattenburg pioneered for dropping food packets to refugees (a.k.a. “MREs for Refugees”) was used in Afghanistan yesterday. Articles in the SF Chronicle and on the ABC News web site provide details. Both articles have pictures of the rations.

—by Peter Sheerin at 5:33 PM {PermaLink}

Make immigrants contribute

Antoinette’s proposal sparked one of my own—to make sure that we only grant citizenship to those who are serious about contributing something to this country, require anyone applying for citizenship to complete a short period of service in the military (say 1–2 years). We should exclude from this requirement those over a certain age, and also if they’re younger than say, 15.

—by Peter Sheerin at 8:26 PM {PermaLink}

Idea for catching illegal immigrants

On Bill Wattenburg’s Sunday evening show a caller, Antoinette Olesen, proposed this idea to make it easier to catch legal immigrants who have overstayed their visas or never shown up at school on student visas. The plan is straightforward:

• Require immigrants to post a bond (of say, $5,000) before entering. (Bill suggested that foreign governments be required to guarantee their citizens these bonds in order to receive assistance from the U.S.)
• Private citizens, or any charitable group, could also guarantee the bonds
• For those who aren't lucky enough to reside in countries that guarantee these bonds, private companies could guarantee these bonds for a smaller fee (say, 10%)
• The immigrant gets the bond back after leaving, and forfeits it if they violate the terms of their visa
• If the immigrant skips out, then part of the bond goes to the U.S. Government (to pay for better border security), while the rest goes to any bounty hunter who captures the immigrant and turns them into authorities—just as happens many times each day with those who have skipped out on court bonds

I’ll post a more detailed description soon.

—by Peter Sheerin at 8:18 PM {PermaLink}