Good morning, all.

Don’t blame Jay Cohen for this mess.

The career Navy man turned Homeland Security undersecretary of science has drawn serious fire for his mishandling of everything from process to tax dollars since he was appointed to his post in August 2006. Time and time again, he has refused to separate himself from the vast array of politically motivated stooges speckling this administration. So the fact he muddied up the site selection of the National Bio- and Agro-Defense facility with politics should come as no surprise.

Jay Cohen was just doing his job.

In fact, we should view his actions as a blessing. At least we know now that we’re playing a crooked game.

So, let’s decide if we want to keep playing.

For almost a year now, the death lab freedom fighters have been spamming anyone who’ll listen with forwards and links regarding the National But not in Athens Facility.

Personally, I don’t mind – I get NBAF Google alerts, but hey, maybe I missed it – so whatever anyone wants to send me, keep it coming. I can understand, though, why Athens-Clarke Commissioner Andy Herod finally snapped.

Activist Nancy Zechella sent a link about the Connecticut attorney general opposing the NBAF to Mayor Heidi Davison, all 10 commissioners me and Flagpole news editor Ben Emmanuel. It was the organic straw that broke the free-range, grass-fed, humanely raised camel's back.

B-sides, demos, outtakes and rarities from Thursday’s National Biological Armageddon Facility hearing hearing.

• The AJC’s Ken Foskett picked up on something I may have missed: it looks like the cost of building the NBAF rose from $525 million to $680 million. The higher figure is found here (click on site cost analysis and scroll down to page 27) in virtually illegibly small type buried at the bottom of an otherwise redacted chart. I guess that explains how I skipped over it, and why AJC reports make the big bucks. The Homeland Security guy I talked to today plead ignorance and said he’ll get back to me. I should have something for y’all early next week.

The anti-NBAF crowd put on a warm-up for Thursday’s National Bringing the Apocalypse Facility hearing today by staging a small protest this afternoon along South Milledge Avenue. Grady Thrasher sent pictures, which I may post later if time allows.

Meanwhile, local officials steeled themselves for the inevitable confrontation. Everyone who supports the lab is prepared to be jeered at, booed and shouted down, Athens Area Chamber of Commerce President Doc Eldridge said.

“We’re going to get our teeth kicked in,” he said.

Eldridge, Mayor Heidi Davison, and several commissioners said they are coming to one or both hearings to reiterate their support. Despite incessant pressure from a handful of hard-core FAQ members – I get copied on a dozen e-mails a day – they are not going to cave.

You've just won a lifetime supply of pus-filled livestock!

If the Department of Homeland Security is fudging the data to bump up a politically well-connected state onto its list of finalists for the terror plague death factory (NBAF), that illustrates why a lot of people are uneasy about this project.

Is ignoring your own internal criteria and ratings really a good idea when what you’re building will house germs could potentially (slim chance, yes, but still) kill thousands of cows, pigs and deer for miles around?

If the top brass at DHS are willing to tell their own site evaluation team to go fly a kite, what other aspects of the lab’s operation will be subject to political rather than scientific considerations?

Are we getting the straight scoop here?

Sunday’s Associated Press report that the process for narrowing down sites for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility was flawed certainly lends more power to opponents of locating the federal research facility in Athens.

From reading the story, it sounds like a Bush political appointee with the U.S Department of Homeland Security and certain members of Congress have bent the rules and acted capriciously in compiling the short list of possible NBAF sites. The First Dolt’s political flunky elevated a Mississippi community that scored a lower overall evaluation than nine other sites, including a second one in Athens.

It shouldn’t be hard to understand why some of the folks opposed to putting NBAF in Athens harbor a mistrust of the Bush administration and federal government bureaucracy.

As if you didn’t have enough to be afraid of regarding the possibility of the Home Security Administration building the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Athens. Now comes the Montauk Monster. Check here and
here.

I don’t really think MM has anything to do with NBAF, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see this oddball flotsam become a poster for opponents of NBAF, seeing that the questionable creature was found on a beach in the Hamptons, N.Y. near Plum Island, N.Y. . Plum Island serves as home for the high security Animal Disease Center which will be replaced by NBAF. Other bloggers have suggested the correlation.

Manhattan, Kansas’ hearing on the National Bio- and Agro-Defense facility is scheduled for today, and the local paper, the Manhattan Mercury, has wall-to-wall coverage.

The Mercury sent a reporter to Butner, N.C. who details widespread opposition to NBAF there. Apparently the News & Observer in nearby Raleigh deemed it unworthy of coverage. Scooped in your own backyard!

Anyway, the Granville Non-violent Action Team make Ed Tant look like Alex P. Keaton. One resident held up a sign reading “Accident? They’ll help us like they helped New Orleans.” No one from the consortium recruiting the terror lab even bothered to show up.

CQ on NBAF

Grady Thrasher and Kathy Prescott are going global.

The founders of the local anti-NBAF group For Athens Quality of Life made their way up to Washington Thursday for the Department of Homeland Security’s first public hearing on its draft environmental impact statement for the National Bio- and Agro-defense Facility.

The D.C. newspaper Congressional Quarterly interviewed them.

“We don’t think it should be on the mainland because the release of foot-and-mouth would be a catastrophic event,” Thrasher said. “We don’t want it in our community. But we don’t want it anywhere else, either.”

Is Glenn gone?

Not likely, but House Speaker Glenn Richardson is having a bad week.

First, his BFF Barry Fleming gets run over by the Jesus Train. Now, there’s a rebellion brewing against him.

Among the freedom fighters: State Reps. Tommy Benton, R-Jefferson, and Terry England, R-Auburn.

"’I think we've got the votes,’ Benton told (the Braselton News, of all people). ‘If we are unsuccessful with this, you'll probably see my office in the island of Nod somewhere with the others.’ Benton is correct. The oldest rule in politics definitely applies in challenges to a Speaker - if you shoot at the king you'd better finish the job.’”