This morning, my public health director shared with me the latest intiative from Homeland Security. Apparently, post offices throughout the country are beginning to install anthrax detection equipment. While the technology is pretty nifty, the utlity and practicality of the device leaves much to be desired.

The way it works is that it may take up to ninety minutes to announce a detection. By that time everyone in the office is probably contaminated. And if it registers a false positive, that means all 120 of our local postal office workers will likely have to undergo rather unpleasant and uncomfortable treatment. In the meantime, the detection element is driven to the airport to be helicoptered to a lab in Seattle where it will take several days to confirm the positive detection. What this means is that we can look forward to multiple evacuations of the local post office, with the post office staff ending up in perpetual treatment and the local citizens being routinely frightened out of their wits. Our public health officials are besides themselves with the inanity of this - especially given how miniscule the risk actually is. Its worse than the hundreds of smallpox innoculations we were required to conduct last year for virtually no good reason...not to mention the hundreds of pink rubber boots we had to buy.

Yes. These are your tax dollars are work. Brought to you by the same Bush administration that has this nation at record deficits while its spends hundreds of billions of dollars killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. At the same time our soldiers in harm's way can't get adequately armored vehicles. Can it really get any worse?