EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! EVERYONE FROM STREET!

Geez, if all the people dying over the fall from poultry-induced listeria wasn't an emergency, what is? Apparently it's when a bunch of chickens in California get an avian-specific disease that might cripple the industry. Then it's a full-blown POULTRY EMERGENCY. As the article notes, "the emergency declaration clears the way for businesses to receive financial aid," in other words, taxpayer dollars. Once again, the birds get killed, the people get ripped off, the fatcats get rewarded for investing in the death industry. Welcome to 2003.

UPDATE 1/17: POULTRY EMERGENCY spreads to Nevada

UPDATE 2/6: Arizona declares POULTRY EMERGENCY

UPDATE 2/14: Ann Veneman has formally declared an "extraordinary emergency" in all three states. About 1,600 state and federal officials are randomly stopping cars in search of infected birds. Folks. Is it just me?