Bush will fight mad cow testing (OMFG, how much more are we supposed to take?!)

[rec_report]

This is *beyond beyond!!*
How much more are we supposed to endure before people realize that it's time for the second American Revolution?!

US on Mad Cow: Don't Test All Cattle

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 29, 2007
Filed at 4:20 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

The Agriculture (Agribusiness) Department tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows.

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive test, too.

The Agriculture Department regulates the test and argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry.

A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. U.S. District Judge James Robertson noted that Creekstone sought to use the same test the government relies on and said the government didn't have the authority to restrict it.

The ruling was to take effect June 1, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday it would appeal -- effectively delaying the testing until the court challenge plays out.
<snip>
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Mad-Cow.html

:grr:

Start *reading!*
Polar Bear

[Sequoia]

1. Fine, fine...just wait till other countries don't want our beef anymore.

[Deja Q]

3. We're not supposed to make, service, or grow anything.

Either it's too expensive to do so, or we're being shut down because of peak oil and a large handful of other tinfoil hat theories.

[Sequoia]

15. Cattle, oil = Texas

Remember when Oprah was getting sued for saying bad things about beef on her show a number of years back and she had to go to court over it? These beef people pay lots of money into Bush's agenda. I'm thinking they don't want cattle tested because they know the cattle are already infected. It takes years to show up in humans.

[lonestarnot]

46. Other countries? Well what if we don't want it anymore?

[gulfcoastliberal]

49. We bullied Japan & S. Korea into accepting our beef on "trade" negotiations

They'll take our tainted meat & like it. I said it before and I'll say it again: we are back to Upton Sinclair's "Jungle" only worse. Every level of government is so obviously corrupted.

[Sequoia]

50. Ah, yes "The Jungle" such a great book.

[Deja Q]

2. Do the lawmakers eat the same foods we do?

:)

[rudy23]

17. No nm

[StarryNite]

4. That sonofabitch!

:grr:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. It would appear were supposed to take a brain riddled with holes

Perhaps bush is attempting to reduce the rest of us to his level?

[rec_report]

7. *Really.* BTW, if the US gov't is fighting in court, it's US taxpayer dollars...

that are paying these maggots to fight to make our food less safe!!
Polar Bear

[Lone_Star_Dem]

13. Nifty! We get to pay for getting spongy brains too boot!

Only in bush's America.

[bdamomma]

48. he is trying to reduce us!!

[rec_report]

6. I gotta say: I am really hoping for Bush and Cheney Halliburton to eat...

a *bad burger!*
:grr:

Polar Bear

[tiptoe]

8. (I suspect Bush/Cheney/Rove would welcome/use the chaos & fear findings of Mad Cow would cause.)

[nashville_brook]

14. yep

[gollygee]

9. What ever happened to the free market system

They think they'll make money off the testing, but they aren't allowed to? It isn't capitalism or the free market when only rich people with connections are free of regulation and governmental control/oversight.

[partylessinOhio]

10. Had enough? IMPEACH!

:evilgrin:

[rec_report]

11. This is beyond outrageous. I can't see how *anyone* can support....

this latest act against the people by the Bush dictatorship.
Impeach Bush/Cheney Halliburton NOW, then lets get the treason trials underway!!
Polar Bear

[indepat]

36. Enough to make one wonder if some don't care any more about killing off Americans by the bushel-load

any more than killing Iraqis by the bushel-load.

[nashville_brook]

12. until there's testing, I see NO REASON to purchase beef

[tiptoe]

16. also seeing "no reason" to eat beef in the US "at the moment":

Stanley Prusiner, Nobel Prize winner who discovered Prions:

Scientist: US Beef Not Safe

March 21, 2004  High Plains Journal
WASHINGTON, D.C. (DTN) -- A key scientist told the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus today that the United States should follow the Japanese model and test every cow for mad cow disease if the meat is intended for human consumption.

"The Japanese solution is the right one," said Stanley Prusiner, the University of California scientist who discovered prions, the infectious agent that causes mad cow disease and its human form, variant Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease.

Prusiner said he would not eat beef "at the moment" in the United States and would eat beef in Japan only if the cow had been "tested by a very sensitive test."

"(Mad cow disease) is the greatest threat to the safety of the human food supply in modern times," he said. "(Variant CJD disease) threatens the safety of the blood supply worldwide."

As a father and an uncle, Prusiner said, he cannot understand why the U.S. doesn't adopt a test-all policy for every cow and bull destined for consumption by humans.

NB: Prusiner warns against eating beef "...in the United States..." Presumably -- and based on video comments re policy in Canada -- that includes beef imported from Canada.

[rec_report]

19. Right! n/t

[JDPriestly]

24. Precisely.

[KamaAina]

18. Fight mad cowboy disease!

[dkofos]

20. And he claims to defend the amerikan sheeple

[InvisibleTouch]

21. It's the factory farms trying to squeeze out the small farmers.

This has been going on for years. Small, more natural farms wanted to test all their cattle years ago, but were told they weren't allowed, because that would make untested meat from the factory farms "suspect" in the mind of the consumer.

Best thing to do is buy free-range organic - though even then, we can't be totally sure what we're getting anymore.

[Systematic Chaos]

32. Genesis fan, by chance?

Sorry to interrupt a serious thread with that question, but I just had to ask, music junkie that I am. :)

[InvisibleTouch]

34. Yes, on occasion...

...and while I love the song too, I chose the DU name for slightly different reasons. It seems to suit my mode of operations around here. :)

[nam78_two]

41. kick.nt

[Error]

22. Someone was high when they wrote this...

look a the the filing time:

Filed at 4:20 p.m. ET

[rec_report]

29. Right, just before the 5PM EDT 'Bush bad news' news dump

The Bush regime does that every day, with the most 'Bush bad news' getting dumped on Fridays at 5PM EDT.
Polar Bear

[JDPriestly]

23. Why should he interfere with the market forces in this way?

If, as Republicans argue, market forces should govern business decisions, why not allow this producer to offer a product that has been tested? How inconsistent of Bush to want to interfere in this.

[tiptoe]

25. Crony capitalism (welfare capitalism) isn't the same as Free-Market-capitalism...

*Co's the former:
May 8 2007 RFK Jr Comments on corporations running government

[tiptoe]

33. transcript of an excerpt of the above Palast/RFK Jr video, Part 8 (with link to Part 7):

May 8 2007 RFK Jr Video comments on corporations running government

...
What happens when you allow corporations to run our government?

What you get is plunder. And I have to say this:

The American people have to understand that there is a A HUGE DIFFERENCE between Free Market Capitalism -- which is a good thing, because it makes us more efficient, more prosperous and more democratic -- and the kind of corporate CRONY capitalism which has been embraced by this White House...

And the reason they shouldn't be running the government is because corporations don't want the same things for America as Americans want. Corporations do not want free markets, and they do not want democracy; THEY WANT PROFITS!

And the best way for them to get profits, too often, is to use our Campaign Finance system -- which is just a system of legalized bribery -- to get their hooks into a public offical, then use that public official to dismantle the market place, to give them monopoly control, and then to privatize the COMMONS...to turn over our Treasury, our Air, our water, our public lands, our wildlife, our fisheriess -- the shared resources of our society that give context to our communities, that connect us to our past, and that are a source of our values and our virtues and our character as a people -- and to turn those over FOR PROFIT to these corporations...

Corporations -- we have to remember this -- LEGALLY CANNOT "do good things"; they cannot "do true philanthropy." They can't do things that are good for our country or for our communities. When you see Wal-mart brnging bottled water down to the Katrina victims, they're not doing that to be "good guys". They're doing it becaue they think that over the long run that the public view of them will be enhanced, and that will enhance their shareholder value and their dividend distribution. If they have another reason for doing it, any one of their shareholders can SUE them, and they will win that lawsuit: It is called "Wasting corporate assets". It is agaisnt the law in this country for a corporation to turn itself into a philanthropy, and if they are caught doing it, their board members will be punished, and their shareholders can sue them...and...We want corporations to be this way, to focus narrowly: We don't want them to turn into philanthropies, becaue nobody would invest in them. We want them to focus narrowly on shareholder value...

...But...

WE WOULD BE NUTS to let them anywhere near our government. Because we designed them to PLUNDER, and that's what they're going to do to us, if we let them run our country...and that's what they're doing now.

And that's why from the beginnning of our national history, our greatest political leaders, Republicans and Democats, have been warning Americans against the domination of corporate America:

Teddy Rooselvelt, a Republican, said America would never be destroyed by a foreign enemy -- by an Osama Bin Laden -- but he warned that our Bill of Rights, our Constitution, our treasured democratic institutions would be subverted by malefactors of great wealth who would steal them from within.
Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican -- in his most famous speech ever -- warned Americans about domination by the Military Industrial Complex.
Abraham Lincoln, the greatest Republican in history, said during the height of the Civil War in 1863 "I have the South in front of me, and I have the bankers behind me. And for my country, I fear the bankers more."
And Franklin Roosevelt during WWII said the domination of government by corporate power is "the essence of fascism."
(And Benito Mussolini, who had an insider's view of that process, said essentally the same thing. He complained that fascism should not be called fascism; it should be called "corporatism"...because it was the merger of state and corporate power.)

And what we have to understand in this country is...

The domination of business by governement is called Communism
and the domination of government by business is called Fascism...

And what we need to do -- what our job is -- is to WALK THAT NARROW TRAIL IN BETWEEN, WHICH is FREE MARKET CAPITALISM and DEMOCRACY...
And hold Big Government at bay with our right hand and Big Business at bay with our left.
And in order to do that we need an INFORMED PUBLIC* that is able to recognize ALL the milestones of Tyranny
...and we need an aggressive and independent PRESS that is willing to stand up and speak Truth to Power...
...and we no longer have that in the United States of America.

Thank you all very much.

*See Part 7- Greg Palast and RFK in NYC- MayDay 2007 for comments on the Fairness Doctrine (FCC regulated in 1928, repealed in 1987) and how the original regulatory debate recalled debates between Thomas Jefferson (who wanted a "universal franchise"...wanted everybody to vote) and Hamilton and Adams and Madison (who wanted to restrict the vote to landed gentry...not because they were snobs, not because they were un-democratic...but they believed the great mass of uninformed, uneducated public would not be forthright in FIGHTING to retain their civil rights that these guys had laid down their lives and their fortunes for...They said "only an educated public, who has a long view, will do that.") And Jefferson agreed and said that an uninformed public would trade a 100 years of hard-fought civil rights for a half-hour of welfare...to the first religous fanatic or demagogue or tyrant who comes along and promises them a $300 tax break (he didn't say that...the last part...but he said the first part...that's what he was talking about)...Jefferson said the remedy is not to deprive the public of their rights, but rather to FORCIBLY INFORM them, whether they want to be informed or not...And that's why the 13 colonies did something that nobody had done in history...which was to impose MANDATORY PUBLIC EDUCATION..."

Also: Vanity Fair, May 2007, for RFK Jr article re Fairness Doctrine

[onethatcares]

26. hmmm, false positives, kinda like

WMDs? right?

[Horse with no Name]

27. I don't know if I can find the stuff I need right now

It is available on search here, but the Secretary of Agriculture had forbidden some of his underlings to test for Mad Cow...yet a couple tested some suspect meat anyway. It DID come back positive for Mad Cow and Johanson (is that his name?) was furious that the meat was tested.
This is more croneyism...Johanson is a cattleman in charge of food safety just like Bush is an oilman in charge of oil prices.
Same song different tune.

[Horse with no Name]

30. Here is some more info on Johanns (Bush croney)

For more info google "Johanns Secretary of Agriculture Mad Cow" and enjoy. :scared:


Despite the confirmation of a third case of mad cow disease" in the United States, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) "intends to scale back testing for the brain-wasting disorder blamed for the deaths of more than 150 people in Europe," reports Libby Quaid. The USDA's John Clifford mentioned the decrease in testing when he announced the latest mad cow case, in an Alabama animal. The lower testing levels haven't been finalized, "but the department's budget proposal calls for 40,000 tests annually," or one-tenth of one percent of U.S. cattle slaughtered. Consumer Union's Jean Halloran called the reduction "a policy of don't look, don't find." The National Cattlemen's Beef Association's Gary Weber said, "The consumers we've done focus groups with are comfortable that this is a very rare disease." The Christian Science Monitor notes that current, higher testing levels are "far lower than the percentage tested in Europe or Japan." The new case of mad cow may delay the opening of Asian markets to U.S. beef.
www.prwatch.org/taxonomy/term/107/9

The Bush administration said on Friday it may allow some injured cattle to be slaughtered for human food, easing a regulation that the Agriculture Department adopted 15 months ago after the nation’s first case of mad cow disease."

So read the first sentence of an April 15 Reuters article. It was one of the first public signs that those responsible for setting agriculture policy are thinking about allowing certain "downed" animals—specifically, those too injured to walk—back into the American food supply, a disturbing weakening of current policy that will compromise animal welfare and possibly jeopardize consumer health.

In December 2003, the first "mad cow"—one infected with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)—was discovered in the United States. Shortly after, then Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman announced that downed cattle—those too sick or injured to walk on their own—will no longer be slaughtered for human consumption. Humane organizations, including The HSUS, welcomed this decision, noting that refusing to allow such “downers” into the human food supply increases the incentive to provide better handling to prevent these animals from becoming “downed” in the first place. It also means animals who are already immobile and suffering will not be dragged with chains or pushed by bulldozers to move them to slaughter. What's more, such a ban serves to protect public health by keeping animals at high risk for BSE and other transmissible diseases such as Salmonella and E. coli out of the human food supply.

During his confirmation hearing in January 2005, the current Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns testified:

“As Governor, I supported Secretary Veneman’s decision to take the emergency measure to ban non-ambulatory disabled cattle from the human food supply after finding the BSE-infected cow in Washington state. From the European experience with BSE, we have learned that certain high-risk cattle, such as those that are non-ambulatory disabled, have a higher probability of testing positive for BSE than other cattle.”

Yet despite his support for the administration’s “downer” ban, Secretary Johanns appears now to be backpedaling. His public comments suggest he is considering allowing animals too injured to walk to be slaughtered for food again.
www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournews/backpedal_on_the_downer_ban.html - 18k -

[Fleshdancer]

28. I think it's time Oprah focused on American beef again

and yes, I'm well aware of how pathetic it is that Oprah Winfrey has to focus on a subject in order to get most of America talking about it.

:grr:

[burythehatchet]

31. we don't want a false pos on cow meat but a false pos on war is fine.

[Nikki Stone1]

38. False positive on WMD is AOK with this administration

Bleh!

[Atman]

35. Nuthin' to worry about...I think he was only talking about Bar'

:shrug:

I dunno...I haven't been following things as closely lately.

.

[Lars39]

37. Print the article out and post it on bulletin boards. Be the news.

These fuckers are trying to cull the herd. :grr:

[rec_report]

39. Too bad the Bush dictatorship isn't 'culled.'

n/t

[nam78_two]

40. K&R.nt

[LynnTheDem]

42. The bush regime; looking out for Big Business as always.

George Bush says "FUCK the American people."

[Liberty Belle]

43. In San Diego, I know 2 people who died of this in the last year or so.

[rec_report]

47. I think that the actual number of cases of mad cow disease is suppressed.

The number of cases is actually much higher than the reported number.
Polar Bear

[dEMOK]

44. Bush Doesn't Eat Texas Beef...

Go figure...

[ima_sinnic]

45. hey, lurking freepers and panty-waist mama's-boy bush lovers:

DEFEND THIS ONE!!

See how your "hero" is watching out for your sorry asses? See how much he "cares" about We The People and the public health of the citizenry? See how wisely he is using your tax dollars?

Or do you live in some fantasyland where SOMEday you're going to "strike it rich" and swagger around in a fake 10-gallon hat and cowboy boots while you count your billions that you made off of untested, possibly suspect beef and get to go to $10,000-a-plate lunches for the Little Fraudmeister?

I double-triple-dog dare you to post ANY KIND OF RESPONSE to this that explains WHY THIS IS A GOOD THING.