Mad Cow
Instapundit opines "I think it's the swine flu of the 21st century, but I'm glad I don't own McDonald's stock." Of course, he is neither a doctor nor a cattle rancher.
Julie who knows about agriculture and rural communities writes "This is a big deal, and it's going to hurt agriculture in every way possible." I think she is much closer to the mark.
This is also very bad news for Bush.
Bad news for Bush? In what way? Did Bush somehow infect the cow with the disease? I certainly don't understand that assertion. Things like this happen, I don't see how it can be directly blamed on the President.
As for this event hurting agriculture, well its not going to help but hysteria about the matter is going to do far more harm to the agriculture industry then the actual event itself. There are nearly 300 million people living in the United States. The slaughter house where the disease was found probably serves less then 1/1,000 of the population. The chances of any of us getting infected meet are very, very slim.
Stay calm and go about business as usual. Reactionary decisions at this point will only do more harm then good.