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02/08/2004 Archived Entry: "Frist's ricin scare was bogus."
Frist's ricin scare was bogus.
I told K that I'd bet that it was a sham. Time says it pretty much was.
Beyond that, investigators tell TIME that the powder found in Frist's mail room was mostly paper dust, with traces of ricin so minute, they can't even be evaluated for particle size or purity. No envelope or note has been found, and no other piece of mail from the Senate has even a trace of ricin on it. Neither do any door sills, doorknobs, railings or surfaces anywhere in the building. Same goes for air filters, which should catch floating particles.That leads to a couple of theories. Perhaps an envelope in Frist's mail room contained a letter that was forwarded to the DOT, where Fallen Angel's grudge is aimed. Or maybe the letter was simply sent by someone who had previously handled ricin. "Let's say he didn't send us any product," says an investigator. "He's just sloppy. It's on his fingers, on his hands, or he's using the same envelopes, same paper. That may be why we don't have anything."
Replies: 3 people speak up
Has anyone actually counted the number of hours between the purported seizure of computers related to the investigation of the Senate Majority Leader's office hacking Democratic files (http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/state/article/0,1406,KNS_348_2600932,00.html) and the discovery of ricin in the same office (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20232-2004Feb6.html)?
Posted by mcf @ 02/08/2004 10:14 PM NY
I had a sense that it would turn out to be bogus also. It seemed to me that the Republicans needed to come up with some sort of threat to their side to counteract any reminders that might appear pointing out the "Democrats-only" aspect of the anthrax attacks. Well, it's easy to claim such an attack and then later, very quietly say "errr... I guess that wasn't anything deadly after all, just paper dust" and people would just remember the "attack" part of the story. Such is the pattern of dealing with the American mind.
Posted by Thurber Hamm @ 02/09/2004 03:34 PM NY
Ricin is a substance that doesnt aerosolize. Therefore it would not have been found in air filters and the sort. You deal with mail. If you see some type of powder or anything of the type after the mail has been irradiated. You would do the same thing. If you are not aware -- all mail entering the Capitol is irradiated and ricin is not destryoedd in this irradiation process. However, any mail that is sent to the Capitol is usually pretty brittle afterwards. If you send someone a giftcard as I received from a close friend of mine -- it will black and destroyed. I had to call Blockbuster to get a new one.
So, if you think this was a fraud -- I have something to tell you -- WORK ON CAPITOL HILL AND DEAL WITH THE DAILY THREATS OF ANTHRAX, RICIN, BROWNOUTS, ETC. We don't need idiots like you saying that we should ignore everything. You couldn't last a day working on the Hill with all the stress of constant daily threats.
Till then -- watch it.
Posted by Congressional Staffer @ 02/14/2004 12:37 PM NY
