People – get on the horn, email, tweet, whatever to your Congress Critters and Senators about this:
“The groundbreaking study was conducted by genetics researchers who analyzed the genomes of MRSA bacteria from patients and their farm animals, and found the samples to be genetically identical. Published on Tuesday in EMBO Molecular Medicine, the study confirms animal-to-human transmission of MRSA.

Study confirms MRSA transmission from livestock to humans

Here’s the link to the EMBO study results: Animal to human Transmission of MRSA

Louise Slaughter (who represents the Rochester area of Upstate NY) has put forward strong legislation to basically shut down the routine and uncontrolled use of antibiotics in livestock food and water which is causing this. Please take the time to read her release AND the legislation (HR 1150), which contains the history of knowledge of livestock antibiotic use in livestock and the promotion of resistant bacteria.

HR 1150

I leave you with one piece of information which will literally make you ill (because it did me): The USDA ALREADY had study results showing that this routine low-level use of antibiotics in livestock feeds and water would cause the development of reservoirs of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. IN 1977.

In 1977, people. And they did nothing. Read the rest of this entry →

Folks. Watch this.

All the way to the bitter end.

Even when Romney walks out of the frame and is still ranting.

Just keep listening. All the way to the end.

This guy is what the Republican Party has put up to be the president.

Now we know why he won’t go on The View or anything else.

In our last episode, the Vatican had told US nuns that they’re just spending too much time on the poor. Actually, that is not correct, what the Vatican told them is that because they don’t spend enough time speaking out against abortion, they are not toeing the line of the home office. And Bennie and the Jets have assigned a rather nasty Bishop from Seattle to take over the largest organization of nuns in the US to make sure that they clean up their act.

The nuns, understandably have politely disagreed. On the other hand, one of the groups, Network, also has a rather large bone to pick with Paul Ryan, who has referenced his faith in the budget that he is proposing. Because, as we all know, Jesus was all about ‘show me the money’. The nuns are not happy about THAT, either (ok, to be ‘fair and balanced, there has been some noise from “red shoes central” that Ryan is not exactly being true to the faith on this either, but I digress). So, the nuns have decided that what America needs, right now, is a Road Trip.

[Sister SIMONE] CAMPBELL: All over our nation, Catholic sisters are working at the margins of our society to serve people who are struggling in this economy, people who are hungry, people who are left out of the economy, people who have lost their jobs or people working at low wage jobs.

We thought the best way to bring an education to our nation about what’s happening here in Washington is if we went on the road and lifted up their work and the consequences they would face if this Republican House budget goes through.

For more info on the tour (I want a tee shirt, please), go here: Nuns on the Bus. And yes, you can give them money and strangely enough, it is tax deductible.

Erik Prince (Photo: aslanmedia, flickr)

“[Rep. Jan] Schakowsky spoke on the House floor Wednesday about a letter from Prince’s attorneys, dated October 7, 2011, that was delivered by hand to Schakowsky’s office. The letter accuses Schakowsky of making “false and defamatory” statements against Prince.

The letter cites a September 8 article published by the Independent in London about Prince’s Blackwater video game. The article quotes Schakowsky as saying: “If Mr. Prince had not emigrated to the United Arab Emirates, which does not have an extradition agreement with the US, he too would now be facing prosecution.”

“Your statement to [the Independent], which imputes commission of a crime, is per se libelous,” the letter from Prince says, adding: “Your malice cannot be questioned. You have a multi-year history of making derogatory comments about Mr. Prince and his former company, Blackwater. You have abused your Congressional power to request that Mr. Prince be investigated.” …Schakowsky has introduced the Stop Outsourcing Security Act since 2007, as a way to phase out private contractors like Blackwater. “While the problem applies to other private contractors,” she said Wednesday, “there is one company that has become
synonymous with misconduct: Blackwater.”

“Recently,” she continued, “Mr. Prince has launched a video game, called Blackwater, glorifying the discredited company he started. And now, Mr. Prince has adopted yet another heavy-handed tactic: attempted intimidation of a member of Congress.”

The letter from his attorneys, she said, “characterizes my efforts to urge investigations into Mr. Prince as a violation of Congressional power, and describes possible legal action if I persist.”

“I want to make it clear to Mr. Prince that I will not stop working to end our reliance on private security contractors and to investigate any and all allegations of misconduct,” Schakowsky said.” (my emphasis)

Eric Prince Lawyers Threaten Schakowsky Read the rest of this entry →

"Jerk" by Julie Faith on flickr

Here’s classy Eric Cantor, who insisted that FEMA emergency funding be offset by spending cuts elsewhere, ignoring that when it comes to his own district.   Via HuffPost:

“…On Friday, however, FEMA officials found themselves busy answering to Cantor for another reason: He had requested a conference call to get updates on the disbursement of aid requested by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) for his district, which was affected by the Aug. 23 East Coast earthquake.

“Jesse Ferguson, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), quickly criticized Cantor for looking for FEMA aid while the agency was struggling to stay afloat during the congressional funding standoff….

“The only thing worse than Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s outrageous plan to hold disaster relief hostage to his push for radical cuts in job creation is his brazen hypocrisy in trying to convince his constituents back home that he stood with them in the first place,” said Ferguson.

“Perhaps the DCCC should be more concerned with the fact that Leader Pelosi, Chairman [Steve] Israel, and all but five House Democrats voted against $3 billion in aid for FEMA, including over $1 billion in immediate emergency aid,” responded Cantor spokesman Brad Dayspring. “

Uh, no. They voted against Cantor and friends’ efforts to tie that relief to offsets of other spending, because it would have been a bad precedent.  The final agreement deletes the offset.  Classic Cantor.

Shorter Eric Cantor: I want to make sure my constituents get what’s coming. The rest of you slobs, forget it.

I got an email this morning from the League of American Bicyclists saying: The Federal Highway Administration informed state DOTs of another $2.5 billion rescission of funds..Transportation Enhancement and Congestion Mitigation Air Quality funds have consistently been targeted for rescissions. In August of 2010, almost $1 billion of CMAQ, TE and Recreational Trails funds were returned to Washington , out of a $2.2 billion rescission…States have to respond by July 8th – one week from today. So, if you want to save pedestrian and bike programs from being eviscerated by state DOTs, call, fax, or email your State DOT this coming week. Every state DOT has an office of pedestrian and bike programs – go to the DOT web site and find the number and call. Also, call your state legislators and get on their case. Yes we need bridge and road repair but let’s not throw the bike and ped programs out with the bathwater here.

Here’s the Highway Admin’s announcement: Highway Admin Demands Unencumbered $ back
And here is the League’s FAQ on how recissions work:
How Highway Fund Clawbacks Work

Verily, my friends , I say verily unto ye (say “Halleluiah” if you agree – everyone else can just crawl up the aisle), we are truly in a time of troubles. Where no one knows black from white, left from right (no, that’s wrong, Aunt Toby damn well knows left from right, hay from straw, and right from Right Wing and from Tea Party and from Pajama Party and all the other parties out there), and truth from, well everything else. And as St. Breitbart would say, “Truth is what I say it be.”

I don’t know how we got to this place (probably by taking Sarah Palin’s bus), but we are now in a situation where we can read these next two ‘news’ stories and proceed to scratch the collective head (sorry Rep. Weiner) as to which one is ‘real’ and which one is ‘mostly real’ or ‘damn plausible’.

“..Although the(Wisconsin) BadgerCare family planning program doesn’t cover Hartman’s treatment, he was able to afford two different HIV tests, a liver panel and potentially life-saving hepatitis tests through the subsidized program.
But the nearly 7,000 other low-income Wisconsin men who use BadgerCare may soon be out of luck. Scott Walker, the state’s Republican governor, has proposed eliminating men entirely from the program in his latest budget bill. That move could cost Wisconsin all of its federal family planning funds, policy experts warn.

Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee is currently finalizing the language of the bill. In addition to cutting men from BadgerCare, it also includes provisions that increase the age restrictions for BadgerCare eligibility, require parental consent for all patients under 18 years old, reduce the eligibility limit down to 200 percent of the federal poverty line and cut more than $1 million dollars in state funds to Planned Parenthood. ..”

Scot Walker Cuts Men

“All amputees being treated in Ohio Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals will be forced to share prosthetics after Governor John Kasich (R) formally denied a $5,000,000 grant from the federal government late last week.
Under normal circumstances, veterans who lose a limb in battle are fitted for their own custom prosthetics. Without the funds necessary to continue this program, Ohio veterans will now have to share a dozen or so generic prosthetics across the entire state.
Read the rest of this entry →

I don’t know this guy, Tony Schultz. He’s a farmer in Wisconsin and he spoke movingly at the tractorcade in Wisconsin, part of the estimated 70,000 – 100,000 people in Madison demonstrating against Governor Walker’s War on American Families. Now, I’m not a farmer like Tony Schultz; we sort of play around with it here at Chez Siberia, but I know what it’s like to be out in a barn when it’s 20 below and I know what it’s like to have what you do not be appreciated and to not be able to cover your costs. But Schultz puts the dime right where it belongs here – and he speaks passionately to a crowd coming together of workers, public employees and other farmers who know what is at stake. At times, his voice cracks and is hoarse but he’s taking his moment here. Pour yourself a glass of whatever you like and get ready to stand up and cheer for this guy.

Photo of blackboard at Ian's Pizza on State St. in Madison, WI (image featured here under Fair Use)

I know there’s been a lot out there about people, groups, and restaurants in Madison, Wisconsin supporting the people demonstrating against the legislation being put forward by Gov. Scott Walker to take away public workers’ collective bargaining rights. And it’s all very heartwarming in a global sense.

But Aunt Toby wants you to clean off the specs and read this list on the blackboard from Ian’s Pizza on State, Ian’s Pizza on State Order Board which has been fielding and fulfilling orders for pizza for the demonstrators. And I want you to think about what this list actually means, in more than a ‘what the heck; I’ll put a charge of $20 on my credit card.”

There are countries on that list where people are starving, suffering from want, suffering from earthquakes and other disasters, people who we have frankly failed. And they believed enough in what is happening in a town they have never seen, a half a world away, to send food to American workers demonstrating for their rights.

There are countries on that list where people have every right to hate the United States (and probably do) because of what we have done and continue to do, where our military forces have done unspeakable things their families and children. And people in those countries sent food to American workers demonstrating for their rights against corporatism.

There are countries on that list which we fear and demonize and vilify on a regular basis in our media. And people in those countries sent food to our people because they believed in us.

* Sniff * Makes you feel damned humble, doesn’t it? If they can do that, why can’t we get off our butts and fight for what is right and good?

McClatchy reports that HBGary pulled out of a trade show:

An obscure cybersecurity firm from Sacramento has been swept up in a bizarre scandal involving an affiliated company and an alleged plot to discredit liberal critics of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

As the controversy intensified, the Sacramento company abruptly withdrew from a high-profile cybersecurity convention being held this week at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The conference ends today.

The company, HBGary Inc., pulled out because employees “have received numerous threats of violence, including threats at our trade show booth,” according to a statement posted on its website.

Okay, let’s look at this in the calm light of day, before happy hour. Now Aunt Toby has had more former lives than Shirley MacClaine – I think I passed her during a couple of them. In another former life, for a period of about 15 years, I did between 10 and 20 industry trade shows a year. I can tell you Chicago is great; Silicon Valley is NOT.

And I can tell you this about the above excerpt: this is B.S.

These trade shows are closed to the public. The only people who will have the swipe cards to get into the Moscone Center will be:

• trade show booth staffers who have to previously register and will pick up their documents and personally assigned swipe cards when they go to do booth set up, and
• conference attendees, who will receive their documents and cards when they go through conference registration.

Having done a bunch of trade shows there, I know the swipe cards are used as traffic counting devices. The chance that “one of their own” staffers or attendees would walk up and give someone a poke in the nose is basically nil.

However, what the HBGary trade show booth folks did not want to have to deal with were the industry media who would have been there to cover the conference and the trade show and who would have walked up to the booth to ask questions and arrange interviews. And they did not want to have to deal with that. THAT is why they pulled out.