Good discussion folks.

However, it is fairly safe to say that this is not a free-for-all.

A blog tends to be "controlled" content in some form or another, otherwise it is merely a bulletin board and even those often have moderation.

Even with that said, there is a specific theme or approach to most blogs or we wouldn't all have this one on our RSS/Favorites.

So, point is moot. Boing Boing, do what you will and we will either follow or fall off.

Thanks,

For whatever it is worth, I cannot "unsee this" now.

I do want to know what it is or is from and who did it, but it is unpleasantly like being drunk in the Douglas Adams sort of way.

-James

Hmmm,

Any chance of a march on Andrew Oliver's house?
Nah, that would be too uncivilized.

I guess the Stamp Act lives.

Why don't we hold our politicians accountable?

JGB

NOEN, not sure if:

"...After all, if you pass a law that says a substance is safe then it IS safe. That's called reality, right? Right?..."

Is meant to be a trolling statement or agreement.

You are absolutely correct. My point, however, is that the bats don't need to be the ones "diseased" for lack of a better term, nor do the insects they eat.

A disruption MUCH, and I mean MUCH further down the food chain may be the real culprit.

While I am an environmentalist and a realist, I am a scientist first. Since there is NO reliable control group that points to the "tipping point" prior to this incident, it is a mad dash.

To hypothesize is phenomenal. Have at it. What we need, however, is a mad-dash approach attacking several seemingly unrelated food chains at once. It is better to study the entire chains of each individual chain and to not necessarily call it a "bat disease".

That was my point.

Again, not certain if you and I agree or you were bating, just wanted to add a point that is missing from most of the news-reporting community, including blogs.

I am certain there are a few entomologists out there that are talking with CDC, as well as scientists with a broad base knowledge of bacteria, fungi, etc. Lets hope.

Good luck to us all.

JGB

I've studied this for some time... actually it is a huge problem.

Bees are dying off, Bats are in trouble, and crops will be failing very soon.

This is not doom and gloom speculation, but pure science.

The problem, most likely,is not in the bats, its in the food chain. The disease is harking back to an earlier issue on the food line, this is almost certain. What isn't certain is where.

With the bees, and hive collapse, there is a certain marker present in fallen hives (supposedly). However, that is not determined to be causal... only present in the populous.

Amazing how dust mites attacked the bees and some bizarre fungus is on the bats. Indication - folks - that potentially, something very far down the food chain is attacking the hosts above them.

With pests not kept in check, US importing grain for the first time in its history, and some idiot in government pushing ethanol (never put your food supply in competition with fuel supply), this is
really all the bad news we need right now.

Lets hope this remains isolated to NE and runs a quick course, so it doesn't affect the migration routes (yes, some bats migrate)

Good luck to us all.

James B.