Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
OneNewsNow reports that a mysterious white powder that was sent to the Christian Broadcasting Network turned out to be a harmless food additive:
Authorities say a white powder substance that was mailed to the Christian Broadcasting Network headquarters in Virginia, causing several employees to be isolated for six hours, was whey protein powder.Virginia Beach fire spokesman Tim Riley says lab work determined the powder was the kind used by body builders, not a biohazard such as anthrax or ricin.
Upon hearing the test results, Pat Robertson immediately used the whey powder to make an "age defying shake" and leg-pressed 4000 pounds.
Politics
Comments
I bet if you baked it into small individual crackers and got some pointy-hatted pompous ass to bless it, it would miraculously turn into 2000 year old holy-zombie meat.
Posted by: Wallace Turner | July 10, 2009 9:34 AM
I lift weights and have for most of my life (I'm 49). The way Robertson did his leg presses to make such a claim is not the proper way to do a leg press. If his knees are not close to hitting his body on his negative downward move prior to pushing the weight up and way (the positive move), than he is not doing a leg press. It's the equivalent of picking up your ball in golf out of a sand trap and tossing it towards the pin or pushing a car in neutral.
Man, I hate that exercise, if you do it right it's a painful, exhausting exercise, even worse than dead lifts.
Posted by: Michael Heath | July 10, 2009 9:37 AM
Maybe this was meant as a message to CBN employees that they're too out of shape and need to exercise?
Or that they're wimpy and emasculated? Hey, maybe that Sarah Palin basher on WND sent it!
Posted by: Adrienne | July 10, 2009 9:38 AM
I'm sure this will be used in certain circles as more evidence of the terrible persecution Christians must endure these days.
Posted by: Taz | July 10, 2009 9:51 AM
They were probably alerted to the powder by the words "Free Sample" on the easy-open single-serving packet.
Posted by: rpsms | July 10, 2009 9:53 AM
... and they probably thought that Sam Ple was a terrorist suspect held at Gitmo.
Posted by: paulh | July 10, 2009 10:11 AM
Michael, yeah when I was in high school I was excited to leg press 2000lbs as a 150lbs weakling. Only later did I discover my error and begin doing the thigh-frying exercise correctly.
Posted by: chris | July 10, 2009 10:12 AM
s/thigh-frying/knee-destroying/
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | July 10, 2009 10:39 AM
To be fair, if a 'bioterror hoax' like this were mailed to the ACLU, say, there'd be plenty of anger. I don't like CBN at all but this sort of thing isn't the way to register your disapproval.
Oh, well. As Larry Niven wrote, "There is no cause so noble it will not attract some kooks." Glad no one was hurt.
Posted by: Ray Ingles | July 10, 2009 10:43 AM
CBN richly deserves criticism, but they most certainly do not deserve terroristic threats like this. I hope the catch whoever did this.
Posted by: DaveL | July 10, 2009 11:09 AM
Ever think that the CBN was being whey too sensitive? ;) -DJ
(Well someone had to say it...)
Posted by: DingoJack | July 10, 2009 11:19 AM
This just in:
Reuters reports CBN sent curdled dairy products, Arachnid attack feared imminent! - DJ
"The Devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon!
where gott'st thou that goose look?" Macbeth. (act V, scene III ).
Posted by: DingoJack | July 10, 2009 11:31 AM
I strongly agree with Ray and Dave. This isn't a laughing matter. It is incredibly inappropriate and disgusting behavior. I hope they catch whoever did it and prosecute them to the full extent of the law.
Posted by: Joshua Zelinsky | July 10, 2009 11:38 AM
I, too, hope the catch the terrorist who sent it - but I'd rate the odds at at least 50-50 that he/she will turn out to be a fan of CBN out to make their opponents look bad.
Posted by: BobApril | July 10, 2009 12:31 PM
I hope you were being sarcastic, Bob, because that's exactly what a CBN wingnut would say if the ACLU had received a fake bioterror package.
Posted by: tacitus | July 10, 2009 2:04 PM
tacitus,
I've no idea how Bob feels or what his experience has been.
My two cents: The folks who find the CBN and it's programming, support, and goals distasteful are far more likely to shake their heads and walk away or roll their eyes. Whereas the folks who attack the ACLU are legion, frequently loony and often foaming at the mouth.
Anyone else with other ideas are clearly free to voice them but that has been my experience generally.
Posted by: MikeMa | July 10, 2009 4:40 PM
Ed, I could see that punchline coming from here in Iowa.
Posted by: Paul Lundgren | July 10, 2009 8:47 PM
tacitus, they're not called Liars For Jesus™ for nothing. The story of the boy who cried wolf does not only apply to boys and wolves. If it turns out to be real, it's horrible and whoever did it should be locked up. If it's fake, I would be less than surprised.
Posted by: tincture | July 11, 2009 1:40 AM
Not being a legal expert (perhaps James Hanley, Kehrsam or someone could help me here), but under what US law, precisely, is it illegal to post whey, chalk dust, calcium Ascorbate and/or many other white powders*?
If the powder were a bio-hazard then it would be a terrorist attack, if the white powder was sent to create panic and alarm, then it was a terrorist attack. Since we have no idea where the powder came from, nor the intent of the person(s) who sent it, what we have here is a letter with a powdery residude, not a terrorist attack per se.
In fact, since there has been no substantive investigation, let alone a trial nor a prosecution, do you think we might just be jumping to conclusions here? - DJ
*Note to future terrorists: Pack your Anthrax with lamp-black or orange chalk-dust or potassium permanganate- it's the white powder that makes it illegal clearly! [rolls eyes]
Posted by: DingoJack | July 11, 2009 2:12 AM
Dear CBN,
Since I bin taking all them steroids and protien supplimints, I got real strong for the army of jesus. My problem is that since saint sarah resinged my limp willy is gome on strike.
Sorry about the dust on this letter. I find the whey works better if i snort it.
Brad.
Posted by: eddie | July 11, 2009 6:32 AM
Oh boy. Even I don't feel comfortable with this joke. Ed, I'm a little shocked.
And eddie, you couldn't pay me enough to click that link. It's 5:00 in the morning, I have total insomnia. You said something about Sarah Palin and a resigned willy and no way am I clicking that link.
(Someone tell me what it says, though!)
Posted by: Leni | July 11, 2009 6:42 AM
Oh, horseshit. After the 2001 anthrax attacks and the resultant public mental image of envelopes containing unidentified loose powder, I think it's perfectly reasonable to suppose that anyone who mails an unidentified loose powder to an unsuspecting recipient is either making and attack or a threat of an attack until proven otherwise.
Posted by: DaveL | July 11, 2009 9:30 AM
DaveL - Take these two examples:
a) A business man is writing a letter to Senator H Clinton asking her to investigate a possible terrorist attack. The letter is subsequently found by a conscientious person in the street who, finding the address on the letter, places it in a envelope, addresses it, adds a stamp and posts in on.
b) On the other side of the country, in San Deigo, a lecturer in economics, during a break between classes, writes an angry letter to her bank manager demanding to know why money had been removed from her account. She looks over the letter, checks her watch and realises the time. Hurriedly she cleans the blackboard erasers, erases the notes for the last class and begins wiring out new notes. As the first of her students file in she turns, notices the letter and sticks it in an envelope and places in her pocket. Later that day she addresses it, adds a stamp and posts it.
Both are subsequently found to contain unsigned notes and a white powdery residue. In the first case asbestos and gypsum, in the second calcium carbonate. Should the person who posted the letter found on Nassau* and the lecturer be arrested?
We don't know the all the circumstances, let's not jump to conclusions. - DJ
*The writer of the letter in the first case would be difficult to arrest, having been killed in the Twin Towers, hence the roofing material in the letter.
Posted by: DingoJack | July 11, 2009 10:17 AM
DJ,
How many times have the above two examples happened?
How many times have people mailed loose powders as an attack, fake or otherwise?
Further, the substance was whey powder, not something that would plausibly be floating around someone's writing desk so as to innocently deposit itself on a letter.
Now, if the letter was marked with its sender's real return address, then I'll concede that a terrorist threat is the less likely scenario.
Otherwise we would be perfectly justified in assuming the letter was sent for the purpose of causing panic and alarm.
Posted by: DaveL | July 12, 2009 8:45 AM
Leni, the link is just pointing over at ERV blog on SB, where limp willy is the nickname given to a particularly persistent troll. A bit like heddle but without the palin crush.
Posted by: eddie | July 12, 2009 1:57 PM
DaveL - How many times has white powder been sent to the CBN? Um - once. Is a single incident proof of a pattern of terrorist acts? Nope. Is whey powder used commonly in body-building drinks, cakes and the like? Yep. So is whey a mysterious and automatically suspicious substance? Nope.
We still don't know where, how or why the powder was sent to the CBN, let's not get ahead of ourselves shall we? - DJ
PS: I think it's possible that someone on the inside sent it. I have zero evidence, just a gut feeling.
Posted by: DingoJack | July 15, 2009 3:23 PM