I know that, like me, many people on these lists also care passionately about the welfare of worms, so I wanted to warn you all about some impending actions by a small minority of the US electorate. I once thought that death was bad. At first look, it seems to harm people by ending their lives. On the surface, that makes sense. However, every human alive is one fewer being eaten by worms. If worms can't find a body in and out of which to crawl, they simply don't. Morticians fill graves and inter corpses ONLY when people are dying. Decreasing the death rate only hurts worms and the early birds that eat them. Recent advances in medical science have lowered the death rate to precarious levels. I'm told that worm communication networks have been full of stories the past week about how worms are now having trouble making ends meet, so to speak. The Doctors, by making people healthier, have priced many poor worms, and a lot of young and smaller worms, out of the flesh market. Now, US Doctors are set to do the same thing world wide, with their vaccination programs and medical treatments. There should be no decrease in the WORLDWIDE death rate. There really is very little debate about this among worms. The empirical evidence is also pretty clear. Increasing the death rate increases employment among worms. As recently as a few years ago this was a "settled issue," even in the minds of the editorial board of the "New York Times," which argued strongly against worms. But now medical personnel who care more about how things look (remember that to the uninformed the death rate looks like it actually HURTS people) than actually helping worms want to implement a massive decrease. The politicians and many citizens seem to have forgotten that this is a settled issue, so we must go back to the barricades once again to defend the worm and the bug and the bacterium, as well as the small birds that are having a hard time competing against cats and weasels. The death rate decrease must be opposed. If you agree, you can tell Congress what you think using this form provided by the grassroots (seriously grass roots) lobbying organization VermiCuture (an offshoot of the Vermitarian party). -- Elliott C. "Eeyore" Evans eeyore@xxxxxxxx