Headlines - Wednesday September 22

 

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"Great (egg) men change history"

Take a bow, Austin "Jack" DeCoster! The Galtian Genius responsible for the recent recall of half a billion salmonella-tainted eggs may have been responsible for introducing salmonella to America's egg supply:

... Mr. DeCoster's frequent run-ins with regulators over labor, environmental and immigration violations have been well cataloged. But the close connections between Mr. DeCoster's egg empire and the spread of salmonella in the United States have received far less scrutiny….

Farms tied to Mr. DeCoster were a primary source of Salmonella enteritidis in the United States in the 1980s, when some of the first major outbreaks of human illness from the bacteria in eggs occurred, according to health officials and public records. At one point, New York and Maryland regulators believed DeCoster eggs were such a threat that they banned sales of the eggs in their states.
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Records released by Congressional investigators last week suggest that tougher oversight of Mr. DeCoster's Iowa operations might have prevented the outbreak, which federal officials say is the largest of its type in the nation's history, with more than 1,600 reported illnesses and probably tens of thousands more that have gone unreported.
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Fifty years ago, Salmonella enteritidis (pronounced enter-IT-idis) was a minor cause of illness. But in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the number of cases began to grow worldwide. In this country, the Salmonella enteritidis epidemic appeared first in New England, where Mr. DeCoster was the largest egg producer. The first spike of illness there showed up in epidemiological records in 1979. That same year, Mr. DeCoster sold his Maine operation, although it kept the name DeCoster Egg Farms. He provided financing to the new owner, the Acton Corporation, and some of his managers stayed to help run it, according to former employees of the company. Mr. DeCoster began building new egg farms in Maryland.

The first enteritidis outbreak recognized by public health officials came in July 1982, when about three dozen people fell ill and one person died at the Edgewood Manor nursing home in Portsmouth, N.H. Investigators concluded that runny scrambled eggs served at a Saturday breakfast were to blame. They traced the eggs to what the Centers for Disease Control reports referred to as a large producer in Maine; interviews with investigators confirmed that it was Mr. DeCoster's former operation…

Another triumph for St. Ronnie's blessed deconstruction of nanny-state frills like 'food safety'! Most of the people who've died from eating tainted eggs over the past 30 years have been old, chronically ill, or too young to work for their own living anyway—mere parasites draining valuable resources from society's Real Producers, fine Christianist men like Jack DeCoster.

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Krugman: Who You Gonna Believe?

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Larrry Summers to join his own unemployment statistics

 

 

Larry Summers Leaving White House Two Years Too Late. Let the recovery begin!

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Jurassicpork: Richman, Poor Man.

.....When one adds up all the swipes Obama's taken at liberals and progressives and Democrats not to mention the unions, one gets more than an uneasy sense that the Anointed One loathes those on the "professional left" perhaps even moreso than the lunatics who insist on holding up misspelled, racist signs, insist he's a Communist, a Socialist, a Muslim, a terrorist, and a native Kenyan illegally occupying the Oval Office.

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The wackos on the Texas School Board must have been feeling ignored, for they have come up with a new version of crazy: They are going to fight the imaginary pro-Muslim bias of textbooks.

They seem to be referring to the pro-Muslim bias of textbooks that refer to the Crusaders as "invaders", when, in the eyes of the Texas School Board, the Crusaders were nothing more than large armed tour groups which were horribly misunderstood by the locals (in the same way that similarly large groups of enthusiastic German tourists were mistaken for invaders in 1914-1918 and 1939-1945).

Hell, they're even laughing at Texas in Georgia, a state which has previously been eternally grateful to Mississippi and Alabama for keeping Georgia from the bottom of almost all indicies.

If your local school uses Texas-approved textbooks, you might want to ask your own school board why they are using dumbed-down books to educate your children.

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Mysterious Vatican bank probed for mysterious money laundering

Prosecutors have frozen $30 million in sketchy Vatican Bank money that was transferred in a dubious fashion to secret accounts at J.P. Morgan in Germany and the Banca del Fucino in Italy. The pope's bank — officially known as the "Institute for Religious Works," because that's a very ridiculous name for a bank — is led by chairman Ettore Gotti Tedeschi and director general Paolo Cipriani, who are both under investigation for money laundering. Is there any crime Vatican officials don't regularly commit? READ MORE »

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We could get behind the death penalty if only it were applied to people who really deserve it. Like Erik Prince of Blackwater. The Thieves of Wall Street. CIA torturers. War Profiteers. Mortgage Fraudsters. "The US Supreme Court has refused to halt the Virginia execution of Teresa Lewis, scheduled for Thursday. She is the first woman to face the death penalty in the US for five years. Teresa Lewis, who has learning difficulties, conspired with two men to kill her husband and stepson in 2002, leaving a door unlocked so the gunmen could enter the family home. Two of three women in the nine-judge court voted to halt the execution. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor voted against. but there was no other comment from the court. Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell has said he will not commute the death penalty, despite claims Lewis, who pleaded guilty, has learning disabilities."

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Bill Clinton: I Regret DADT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saying that he only reluctantly signed DADT into law when it became clear that Congress would impose an outright ban on gays in the military if he didn't, former President Bill Clinton told CBS News last night that he regretted his role in the creation of the bill. He also said that former Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell was deceptive about how DADT would work. Transcript via the Advocate:

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell was only adopted when both Houses of Congress had voted by a huge veto-proof margin to legislate the absolute ban on gays in the military if I didn't do something else. So there's been a lot of rewriting history saying Bill Clinton just gave into that. That's just factually false. I didn't do anything until the votes were counted. Now, when Colin Powell sold me on Don't Ask, Don't Tell, here's what he said it would be: Gay service members would never get in trouble for going to gay bars, marching in gay rights parades as long as they weren't in uniform. That was what they were promised. That's a very different Don't Ask, Don't Tell than we got."

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The Tea Party website got hacked by 4Chan.

The grizzly bear shot makes me laugh every time I see it.

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No Joke: Al Franken Chokes Up Over Don't Ask, Don't Tell .

Here's John McCain's famous temper flaring up as he tries and fails to justify filibustering the defense authorization bill and a repeal of DADT yesterday.

And this:

Hate mongers of the highest order:

One of Senator Saxby Chambliss' staffers really, really hates gay people.

I've just gotten off the phone with Atlanta Journal-Constitution political writer Jim Gallaway who says that Sen. Saxby Chambliss has confirmed that the "All faggots must die" comment left here on JMG earlier today did indeed come from his Atlanta office. Galloway reports that Chambliss told him his office is conducting an internal investigation.

Yeah, that investigation? Won't go anywhere. Gay-bashing is good politics. As John Cole pointed out, the Senate Republicans (along with two insufferable Dems) did it publicly and on the record with a filibuster today.

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Not surprising coming from this ruthless gang of bastards.

Major health insurance companies in California and other states have decided to stop selling policies for children rather than comply with a new federal healthcare law that bars them from rejecting youngsters with preexisting medical conditions.

Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna Inc. and others will halt new child-only policies in California, Illinois, Florida, Connecticut and elsewhere as early as Thursday when provisions of the nation's new healthcare law take effect, including a requirement that insurers cover children under age 19 regardless of their health histories.

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Insurers said they were acting because the new federal requirement could create huge and unexpected costs for covering children. They said the rule might prompt parents to buy policies only after their kids became sick, producing a glut of ill youngsters to insure.

The argument has been made a thousand times…profit and preserving human life by way of basic health care make incompatible and immoral bedfellows.  And it is not that health insurers and their cronies in the GOP don't understand.  They do.  It is simply a case of them not giving a damn and I can think of no better reason to shun the Republican party than that.

Here's one possible fix for the problem.

In California, the stakes may be particularly high for insurers who abandon child-only policies. A bill awaiting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature would bar such companies from selling insurance in the lucrative individual market for five years. A Schwarzenegger spokeswoman said the governor had not yet taken a position on the measure.

Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), the bill's author, voiced frustration over the insurers' plans and singled out Anthem Blue Cross, whose corporate parent notified brokers nationwide Friday of its decision to exit the child-only business in 10 states, including Colorado, Connecticut, Missouri, Nevada and Georgia as well as California.

"At a time when we are launching a national approach to ensure that all children have access to healthcare, Anthem's actions represent a step backwards," Feuer said. "By threatening to drop child-only policies in California, the company jeopardizes the health of families and children. I call on Anthem to reconsider its plan."

Do the right thing, Gov. Schwarzenegger.  Sign the bill.

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Blue Girl:

I am a realist. I know we aren't going to make historic gains three cycles in a row, but I am not convinced we are going to lose our majorities, either. Hell, I am not convinced it is going to be as bad as the punditry is saying it's going to be.

I just can't believe that the republicans haven't overplayed their hand - and I can't believe that the tea party crazies aren't alienating Independents who care about good government. They have to remember how in January 1995, lobbyists were in the gallery writing their wet-dream legislation whille Newt cavorted with the Power Rangers at the dais. They have to remember that before a crucial vote that would harm the bottom line of big tobacco, John Boehner walked around the floor of the House handing out checks - physically putting checks into the hands of members on the floor of the House - in exchange for votes.

The descriptive phrase "culture of corruption" didn't just come out of nowhere. The republicans earned it. With dividends. And since every time the significant legislation has come up in this congress, republicans have hied their little feet toward their lobbyist buddies to find out what loopholes they wanted inserted.

There is no reason whatsoever to believe that the republicans will behave any differently should they be returned to power. They have already begun acting as if they have already won the election and the lobbyists are back in control. Take for instance the election night shindig the NRSC and the NRCC have planned.

"WOW," wrote Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, in a Twitter message he sent out moments after Politico first reported the invitation.

Officials at the Democratic National Committee went even further, trying to take advantage of the moment.

"At least we're finally getting some truth in advertising," said Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for the D.N.C. "The G.O.P. is owned and operated by special interest lobbyists for corporate America and the wealthy."

The event invitation indicated that sponsors of the reception would get perks that included: "prominent signage throughtout ... the reception," "recognition on all printed & promotional material," and "tickets to VIP lounge."

The Republican party commitees were among a series of organizations which contributed $5,000 to be "co-hosts" of the election-night party.

Their scheme - to get all the top lobbyists in D.C. in one place and collect checks - and insist it isn't a fundraiser. Using corporate donations for their par-tay is definitely a violation of the spirit, if not the letter, of campaign finance law - and some experts think it violates the letter, too.

People have to remember how badly the republicans behaved before. They have to. And if they don't - it is up to us to remind them.  

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If you still wonder why I'm so sure that belief in an invisible sky wizard precludes rational thought, wonder no more:

Yoga can be dangerous to Christians' faith, the president of Louisville's Southern Baptist Theological Seminary warns.

The popular discipline of meditation and stretching is so interwoven with Eastern mysticism that it is "at odds with the Christian understanding," Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler wrote on Monday on his blog.

"Christians are not called to empty the mind or to see the human body as a means of connecting to and coming to know the divine," Mohler wrote. "Believers are called to meditate upon the Word of God - an external Word that comes to us by divine revelation - not to meditate by means of incomprehensible syllables."

Mohler's posture has drawn a mix of bafflement and criticism from those who practice yoga, which is even taught in many churches and which many people see as unrelated to its ancient roots in India.

Mohler isn't your typical mouth-breathing snake-handler; he's the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

And he's just announced that xianity is so fragile, and its adherents so stupid, that their faith will crumble under the pressure of ... exercise.

Guess that explains the epidemic of obesity among freakazoids.

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Arctic ice in death spiral - if only Democrats would do something. Link