The Best Laid Plans....

One of the less well thought-out "homeland security" programs seems to have faded into a well-deserved oblivion.

Government officials said today that both the civilian and military smallpox vaccination programs had virtually come to a halt, the military program because it has vaccinated everyone it can and the civilian program because few people volunteered for it.

Fear of side effects and ignoring compensation issues for health care workers were two strikes against the program.

Personally, I never did see any convincing evidence that there was any threat from smallpox in the first place. But what did I know? I didn't think that Iraq was an imminent threat to the security of the United States and...oh yeah, it wasn't.

Now, as we learn more and more about the lies we were told to justify the invasion of Iraq, one can't help but wonder if the whole smallpox scare was just another Bush administrated ploy to sow more fear throughout the land. Naa!