Compassion has felt the burden

Of a body wracked with pain,

Has wandered on and off the path,

And then returned again.

Compassion has borne the brunt

Of senseless, brutal jests,

And known the fears and agonies

That life presents as tests.

Compassion has been the lonely child,

Crying for comfort in the night,

Facing all the demons alone,

And praying for the light.

Compassion has known the struggle

Of healing bitterness and hate,

Refusing to pass the poison on,

Walking through freedom's gate.

Compassion has been the face of

Every human pain and sorrow,

Compassion has held the dream

Of horizions and tomorrow.

Compassion knows no judgement,

Having walked all roads in time,

And praises every weary warrior,

For the mountains they have climbed.

My daughter Aine and I were walking in the woods today playing a game. She was pretending that there were monsters in the forest and that they were coming to eat us. We had to be vigilant. We had to defend ourselves. I asked her "What is the plan? What are we going to do if we see one of the monsters?" She replied, "Feed them."

"Feed them?" I said.

"Yes," she said. "If we feed them they won't want to eat us."

I think she has the answer there. Imagine if President Bush took that $40 billion that Congress gave him and used it to feed people. Heck, take $20 billion to fix up US security and clean up New York and use the other half to feed people. And not just feed them with food.

So, when Danzig began his speech Nov. 17 at the Hoover Institution conference about biological and chemical weapons, the situation he described didn't sound outlandish. He asked those present to imagine a year, call it 18. Troops are massing at Fort Riley in preparation for war. Some start to get sick. Flu-like symptoms worsen until a number begin to die. The illness spreads to the civilian population, races through the units of U.S. allies and even hits the enemy.

"In a matter of months, deaths in the United States exceed one million," Danzig said.

The kicker? That chilling scenario was real. In 1918, as the United States fought World War I, an influenza epidemic struck, hitting U.S. troops, then spreading to civilians. About 600,000 people died, a number proportional to 1.4 million in today's population.

If something like that happened today, "we would be unable to tell if it's man-made or natural," Danzig warned.

Mary LeBaron in January. Mary's eyes remained rolled back most of the time and her body was rigid and twisted before nutrient therapy.

“How many deaths will it take 'till we know

that too many people have died.

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind.”

-- Bob Dylan

There has been much written in the press the last couple of weeks about the threat from terrorists if they commandeered a crop duster to spread biological warfare agents. Yet few writers have mentioned that these planes are used for this purpose every day, but not by terrorists. Instead, they are used by licensed operators who are spraying deadly chemicals on our lands and on our children.