as well as the police demand for complete access to GPS data on automobiles. As soon as someone said "we'll track the police cars too, for efficiency" - which actually makes sense - they raised hell and and claimed it was unfair.

The police in Queensland must be different from the ones in the rest of the world or... This is just an update of the 'shake the tree and see what falls out' approach the police have used for years. A pinch of misdirection and a few claims of "proactive public service' gives them the legal means to knock on any door and do a quick eval of the home or business and occupants. Hmmm, husband seemed a bit dodgy... you see what the neighbors have to say about him, I'll check myfacetube using his network, har har. Remember, after lunch we need to make a couple actual 'security' calls to keep the quota numbers on track. ..."I can assure you the Queensland Police is going to do this. I'll make sure it gets off the ground." - Detective Superintendent Brian Hay of the Queensland Police. "You are young, life has been good to you. You will learn" - Sweeny Todd.

Well, I've got some pig and cow parts in me and I have not developed any 'many new deadly diseases such as this'. If you were in my shoes and alive because of this great technology, you'd probably have a different outlook on the ethical questions. Viruses 'pass the gap' from bird to pig to man (and back, too) all the time and apparently have since animals were domesticated. You are certainly entitled to have uninformed opinions and make doomsday predictions but you'd better hope you never need any extra parts - the human ones are hard to come by.

It's called reassortment. Different viruses in the same host exchange genes and form new viruses. The Great Influenza, by John M. Barry, is a detailed and highly readable nonfiction account of the 1918 flu that explains this and many other complexities of influenza. Read it while you still have time.

Didn't Sweden just pass some anti-smoking laws? That should solve the problem...

Huge difference! Fingerprints are a match or not, period. DNA matching requires experts, with their own agenda, and results are probabilities, not absolutes. Just a few months age a researcher in the US noticed two identical samples, one was from a black man, one from a white man. I know this is highly improbable - but it happened.

This is just a maneuver by the administration that sets the bar for AGW response so far out in wackyland that anything else seems reasonable by comparison. They know that there would be massive resistance (by The Rest Of The World, see above) if this was seriously considered. AGW, real or not, is making a lot of people rich, and those folks don't lead by example. This is not a problem that 'wants' to be fixed - it's making far too much money and keeping the pols in power. The result will be either 1) cook the numbers = yay it worked = reelect us, or 2) cook the numbers = still trying to save the earth = give us more money and reelect us. Want to bet which one happens?