01.31.11
The poor sod
UPDATED
Over the course of the war on terror DD has seen US white men banged up regularly for the sin of being ricin kooks.
No matter how much print is on the web indicating that it’s unwise, from a legal standpoint, to pound castor seeds, they do it.
And if they then run into the law in any way, even though they’re not really interested in terrorism — just fools, they get sent over for it.
Just before the weekend, this sad item from exurban Ohio:
The FBI has announced the substance found in a Coventry Township home was ricin.
The Akron office of the FBI received a tip on Monday about a possible hazardous substance at a house in the 2000 block of South Main Street. The next day, the FBI’s Hazardous Materials Response Unit from Quantico, Virginia and the FBI’s Pittsburgh Hazardous Response Team searched the home.
According to a news release from the FBI on Friday, FBI labs confirm the hazardous substance was ricin, which can be deadly if ingested or inhaled . The toxin is derived from the castor bean.
The FBI said during a news conference Friday that an arrest has made and 54-year-old Jeffery Levenderis, of Coventry Township, will appear in Akron federal court on Friday.
Levenderis used to live at the house and another person was in the process of moving in. He faces one count of having a dangerous or toxic substance. Authorities do not believe this has any connection to terrorism.
Castor seed powder in a jar, no matter how small or old, means a prison sentence.
The prosecution generally argues that turning castor seeds into powder is a significant step in trying to make a ricin weapon, even though it only changes the state of the stuff, not being any kind of purification.
Juries accept it. Judges accept it. Go to jail, hopefully for not too long.
There was a time in this country, not really too long ago, when the castor seed mill was a part of renewable industry.
Castor seed mills were not regarded as things turning out potential stock for WMDs. And they were not lethal places to work.
The war on terror rewrote that history in the US. Castor seeds are now a fearful evil unless they are attached to the decorative plant.
White guys, here is a public service announcement:
Don’t pound those castor seeds. Whether it’s intellectual curiosity or a desire to arm yourself in self-defense via a stupid recipe found on the Internet or in The Poor Man’s James Bond, if the police run across you, the FBI and/or Homeland Security get called. Local hazmat teams show up. Then it gets really ugly.
Thanks and a tip o’ the hat to RMS.
White US ricin kooks are deadeningly predictable. To a man they seem to believe the’ve found something really interesting on the Internet. However, what they’ve actually found is a terribly stupid way to guarantee jail time.
From the Akron Beacon Journal newspaper:
A federal affidavit alleges Jeffrey Levenderis boasted of making ”weaponized” ricin 10 years ago and told FBI agents he took up the challenge because he heard ”90 percent of persons who tried to make ricin died trying and he wanted to see if he could do it.”
The affidavit says officials were tipped off about the ricin by Robert Coffman, a former police officer who is buying Levenderis’ foreclosed home and became the suspect’s confidant …
”Levenderis stated that he used acetone, as well as coffee filters and turpentine, to make the ‘poison,’ ” according to the affidavit. ”Levenderis further stated that he used a plant extract that was green with seeds on it while wearing yellow dish-washing gloves.”
The affidavit said he also used plastic sheeting, a mortar and pestle, protective clothing and glass jars. He got the plant from a local nursery.
The document said ”he had produced a high-grade, weaponized ricin. When asked what made the ricin ‘weaponized,’ Levenderis stated that the ricin had been ground down to a fine powder for airborne delivery.”
This is the famous Internet/Kurt Saxon recipe from The Poor Man’s James Bond, one that’s been responsible for sending white guys over for pounding castor seeds and washing them with acetone for virtually twenty years.
On the back of Saxon’s book:
“It is your right to share with enemies, the knowledge contained in this wonderful book. It is completely legal to sell it or buy it. If it were not so, I would have told you.”
To which one might add: If you’re a reader acutely interested in the stupid ricin recipe, you’ll be completely legal when you’re sharing a jail cell. If it were not so, I would tell you.
Again, thanks to RMS.
Chuck said,
January 31, 2011 at 9:41 pm
So when my mother fed me a spoonful of castor oil ostensibly to relieve er, “irregularity”, she was really trying to poison me with a bioweapon?
I thought it was about the worst thing that I’d ever tasted, but didn’t know that it was lethal…
DD said,
February 1, 2011 at 1:28 am
No. There was/is never ricin present in castor oil. The toxic protein isn’t in the oil component of the castor seed.
It’s purely the lubricant that does the ‘work’.
Chuck said,
February 2, 2011 at 9:39 am
I take your point.
If it were otherwise, we’d have had a lot more fatalities among the ranks of WWI flying aces, who apparently did (counter to the Hollywood version) enjoy abundant “lubrication” as an occupational hazard.