Of mice and men dying Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the post office Ah, terrorism. What a lovely framework for our every thought these days. One wonders if we'll ever get back to the days when we didn't fear a sudden violent death at the hands of foreign extremists - or a slow, wasting one at the hands of God-knows-who domestically… I'm talking, of course, about the postal strikes from late 2001 that sickened more than 20 and killed 5 Americans, including 2 postal workers. Remember, whoever executed those attacks is still out there. Why do I mention this now? Well, not to alarm anyone, but according to an April 25th article from the Associated Press, samples of killer bio-toxins - including anthrax and bubonic plague - have disappeared from TWO separate New Jersey labs within the last year. In one instance, a private laboratory that conducts bio-terrorism research for the U.S. government in Newark lost track of 3 mice infected with the bubonic plague. Even more distressingly (to me, anyway), a government-run lab facility in Trenton admitted recently that they could not account for 2 vials of deadly anthrax bacteria they'd had in their possession since just after the 2001 mail attacks. This lab is reportedly highly secure, with only 11 people having authorized clearance to handle the samples… Of course, the Garden State's Health Department blames these missing vials on a clerical error. And as for the missing rodents, the lab in question offers this gem of an excuse along with several other equally shaky explanations: The mice were eaten by other lab animals! Naturally, the FBI and local authorities claim they believe no crimes were perpetrated in these disappearances, the AP piece maintains. Now come on, do they take us for complete idiots? According to the article, over 300 labs in the U.S. and over 16,500 people have security clearances that grant them access to deadly bio-toxins readily adaptable for terrorism purposes. So how come this happened twice in the same state - and nowhere else we know of - within the span of a year if something nefarious isn't going down? Keep reading… [ADS/BLURBS] I'd like to remind folks of this troubling fact: ALL SEVEN of the anthrax letters (including the 2 mailed along with pro-Islamic notes to U.S. Senators) that caused those 22 infections and 5 deaths in the fall of 2001 were mailed from exactly the same area as where the 2 anthrax vials disappeared from in the last year: Trenton, N.J. If this is just dumb luck, a coincidence, what are the odds of that? As near as I can figure, they're about 1 in 8,100,000. That's the number of facilities the U.S. Postal Service leases for its post offices, distribution centers, or whatever (around 27,000) times the number of labs that have access to some kind of deadly bio-toxin (300 or so)… Still believe there's no crime going on here-like the FBI claims it does? Another thing: Why isn't the mainstream media on this like white on rice? I'm writing these words to you more than 24 hours after this story broke on the AP, and there hasn't been a peep about it I've heard in the major newscasts - or anywhere online except the Drudge Report. Why? Could it be that the major media has a political agenda of its own, and that agenda isn't served by any news that validates the costly War on Terror? Look, such information transcends agenda. Whether you or I agree with the current presidential administration's stance on terrorism or not, I think you have a RIGHT to know about it when deadly bio-toxins are once again at large amongst us… And right now, they may well be once again. Always ready - and always reading between the lies, William Campbell Douglass II, MD | 
