Why, God? Why?

Stay Tuned for the new ABC drama movie: "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America!"

ABC has unveiled its top-secret, made-for-TV movie about avian flu for the May sweeps rating period.

"Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America" stars Stacy Keach, Joely Richardson, Ann Cusack and Justine Machado in a tale about what could happen if the virus starting moving among residents of the United States, the New York Post reported Tuesday.

Co-producer Diana Kerew said they kept the film under wraps because of "its topicality."

"The world changes very quickly, and we wanted to make sure at the point we were ready to unveil (the film) that we were accurate and up-to-date," she told the Post.

Although the film airing May 9 is fictional, "We've included a lot of information we believe people need to know," co-producer Judith Verno said.

Yeah. We need to know how the avian bird flu is going to wipe out humanity as we know it and how there will be those saints that rise above the panicked masses to lead us to safety.

Oh, how I'd like five minutes with the studio heads that approve crap like this.

Comments

[Don Philpott]

US Threatened

The United States is threatened as never before. We are waging a war on global terror, we have entered a cycle of new Katrina-like killer storms and we face new health threats such as pandemic flu that threatens to kills tens of millions worldwide.
Whether we are threatened by a terrorist, by a series of natural disasters or a major epidemic, we must, both as a nation and as individuals, guard against economic chaos. Businesses must develop contingency planning so they can mitigate the effects of any emergency and survive -- and tax dollars must be spent wisely.
Wasteful spending affects every American citizen. It raises our taxes, thus depriving us of personal choices as to how we might spend our income. It depresses the economy in critical areas where those tax dollars should be applied. More importantly – it dilutes the security for you and me for which it is intended.
Taken to the extreme, the pork-barrel politicians and the greedy state, regional and local representatives who misspend homeland security funds give aid and comfort to the fanatical enemy that is dedicated to destroying our infrastructure and bankrupting our society.
On a moral and humanitarian level, misuse of these funds restricts our capability and capacity to respond to both man-made and natural disasters, such as terrorist sabotage or attacks and hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and earthquakes.
Second, in terms of national concern, we must be aware of the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction, or WMD. Technology is such that more dedicated fanatics could feasibly threaten us physically, economically and psychologically with nuclear, biological or chemical WMDs. The attack on 9/11 demonstrated that the homeland is vulnerable ... and that thousands may be slaughtered – and many more severely injured – by the willful acts of just a few zealots.
You probably recall the anthrax scare that the United States experienced just a few years ago as the deadly chemical arrived in personal mail of various politicians and average citizens. A few deaths caused by the agent created waves of fear across the country, causing disruption of mail services and costing huge sums to detect and decontaminate.
Do you recall the symptoms? Do you know what to look for? Do you know whom to call if you receive a suspicious piece of mail?
Third is the threat of natural disasters that range from horrific earthquakes, to monster storms and tornadoes, to the possibility of a pandemic outbreak of disease. As we witnessed during Hurricane Katrina, when destruction is so widespread and inclusive, it may become impossible to draw upon government, our friends and neighbors ... or anyone else besides ourselves for sustenance, shelter or anything else for days, weeks and possibly months.
Man-made and natural disasters are also a greater threat to most of us than terrorism – and cost U.S. taxpayers and victims dearly. Still, there is much that one may do to minimize exposure to such threats and to mitigate the damage done to your loved ones and your property if they are caught in one of these disasters.
Then, finally, there are those more personal threats such as anarchy, murder, hostage taking, assault, carjacking, home invasion, robbery, accidents and disease. How do you minimize these threats ... what can you do?
Learn more by visiting www.isamericasafe.com. It will help you to sort through the threats to the homeland that you and your family may face and then assist you in developing a plan to eliminate or minimize your exposure, say Robert Jordan and Don Philpott co-authors of the book Is America Safe?

[Dean Ob]

Gotta disagree that we are "close to the jack". We've had EEG-based biofeedback devices for decades. The notion of using physiologic parameters for control is not new and is certainly nothing like the vision Gibson and others have given us, namely that conscious experience is moved to some artificial virtual world. To more fully realize the vision, we would need to input as well as output. For the input part, think about the sci-fi movie "Until The End of The World". There are very, very crude experimental artificial vision devices out there on one or two sightless individuals, but those systems have in no way improved quality of life for them. They do not perceive colored light and they can't even detect edges. In fact there have been medical complications and infections from the implants. We are further along in the auditory domain but still, we are not close. So calm down. The humans who may eventually "jack in", are not even a glimmer in your great-great-grandchild's eye.