Last year I wrote a piece for The Simon discussing a government-funded program working to resurrect the Spanish Flu. I found it expensive and a dangerous waste of time; after all, why bring back and modify a disease that ran its course almost a century ago? Creating new strains of pandemic capable of killing millions of people is an absurd use of federal funds, and who stands to gain from that kind of research? Given the federal government's propensity to lie to the people as well as the shaky origin of the 1918 influenza strain that started all this (despite what the name would have you believe, the "Spanish" Flu originated in Fort Riley, Kansas), why shouldn't I have believed it part of a larger agenda?

A year ago my pleas for stringent scientific safeguards (the research is being conducted in an unsecured location) might have seemed silly and myopic. A pandemic never materialized and the story dropped off the radar. Perhaps it was just another "booga booga!" tale designed to freak people out — I've certainly read enough White House press releases to pen some myself.

But it appears timing is everything. On the story's anniversary I received e-mail from a reader suggesting I pull my head from the sand and look at the scientific benefits of investigation the origin of an epidemic. That same day, President Bush suggested that the military oversee quarantine of American cities should the flu hit our shores. Literature preparing people for the next pandemic started appearing with greater frequency, and two days later, Romania and Turkey reported cases of the Avian flu.

Quarantines established? Of course. Fear created? Definitely.

Dots connected for the people? Please.

As I said last year, the flu is the perfect biological weapon. Natural strains alone claim hundreds of lives. The virii spread rapidly through population centers and only need one host to infect all those around them.

Developing new sickness as a means of working towards potential cure is circular and stupid. If the disease hadn't been grown in a Petri dish, why spend millions to search for a cure? Do the means to justify the ends? No. Studying genetically modified contagion won't produce any safeguards for influenzas that mutate in nature. The only scientific benefit derived from such studies is money.

That is why I am not surprised that the story of the Avian flu is resurfacing over a year after it broke. It takes time to really fine-tune both a designer virus and an excuse as to why biosecurity levels in the facilities weren't the highest. Accidentally releasing the flu around the world also takes planning; the reason the Spanish Flu was so effective was because the United States Army kept spreading it via troop deployment.

The reasons for releasing this pathogen have grown in the past year as well. Whereas before I focused almost exclusively on the military benefits of an invisible and deniable killer, it's also easy to see its being used to control the American population as well as make the rich even richer.

President Bush's suggestion that the military institute martial law in civilian populations with an outbreak of the Avian flu is frightening. This is a man so embroiled in scandal, treachery and deceit he nominates personal friends to the Supreme Court for protection during his inevitable war crimes trial. I would not put it past the administration to release airborne samples of the virus in select regions, watch the panic grow and clamp down on civil liberties.

Plans released by Bush's people show that, like Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the government is not prepared to fight an outbreak of this magnitude. The money we donated to the government under the guise of taxation has been thrice spent on illegal wars and empire building. Nothing in the domestic coffers remains to save us... and that's what Bush's handlers want. They think only draconian rule will keep Dubya installed as leader.

Perhaps martial law will be unnecessary. Those who follow the government blindly seem to have no problem surrendering their freedoms when imaginary terrors threaten our borders, after all.

But say pandemic hits North America. Pharmaceutical companies will reap a windfall with their cures and panaceas, manufactured and shipped just in time for those who can afford it to live. Remember what I said about the scientific benefits of building designer death? If you're feeling strapped for cash, cook up a plague then laugh all the way to the bank when you supply the only antidote to the poison you created. Meanwhile, the poor will die, but who needs them?

The idea of population control is hardly new. Henry Kissinger advocated genocide in the 1970s to keep third world countries from industrializing and using their own natural resources — resources the United States needed. King George VI of England felt the same way 30 years earlier. But why do we allow such entrenched mindsets to continue into the 21st century? Why don't people advocate using public funds towards beneficial and positive projects like schools, roads, levee repairs, innovation and peace?

Why do people think researching and spreading death is good?

Now we are sowing what we reap. Regardless of how it happened, the flu we've been tinkering with has made it outside. Naturally it popped up outside the U.S. so the Western World can vilify another country with Patient Zero status. But where it begins is immaterial — we uncorked the genie from his bottle.

The Spanish Flu killed 2½% of the world's population. The version scientists were developing was far more potent. This thing has the potential to devastate the globe. Do you want to feel responsible for that?

Worse still, will we even be around in a year to continue this discussion?

Canon Fodder is a weekly analysis of politics and society.