Well I'm back after my little trip to the hospital.... (Mono, Flu, and Bronchitis yaa!).
As for the comments about me eating crow.... the main angle of my first post was to point out that the man that was so intractable, accusatory, and reactionary last year was now asking for understanding and calm this year... the old two-faced PR shuffle.
Okay I've done some searching to try and find more background info on the history of BSE in North America..... I could only find a Canadian timeline though:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/madcow/
Kind of interesting info.... it sounds like they went full bore when the BSE case surfaced in Canada last year. I have to wonder though (as Justamom and AGDee do) why it sounds like the feed source wasn't checked and referenced at that time.
I'd also like to know why the Dec.23 animal was actually slaughtered though; shouldn't it have been passed by if it was as the USDA says "non-ambulatory" (ie. it could walk under it's own power). Hopefully enough questions will be asked as a result of this that the NA beef industry re-examines it's standards and practices.