Song in my head: All we need is hate.......Tom Schaller


ALTER-ABLED NEWS

In the last few months I have read criticism of John Kerry's health care plan, or lack of a plan. I don't know how I missed this because I read a lot of daily news and blogs but John Kerry recently gave a speech to a school of registered nurses in training. By reading the transcript I felt that Kerry understands how unaffordable health care can be if you have no insurance. As I am in my last month of being uninsured before Medicare starts for me his speech gave me a glimmer of hope......heres a taste......

Well I’m here to tell you we can do something about that. Our health care system is badly broken. And I have a health care plan that covers nearly 95% of all Americans. But today, I want to focus on the part of my plan that deals with the most serious part of the health care crisis – costs. It’s a plan that will cut soaring premiums, cut the waste, cut the greed, and cut Americans a break. And it’s a plan that finally makes our health care affordable, our businesses more competitive, and America stronger.

Today, regular check-ups are emptying family checkbooks. Waiting for a doctor’s bill is causing as much anxiety as waiting for a diagnosis. And cutting through endless red tape and paperwork is wasting millions that could be spent on better care.

Here in the Erie area, you’re seeing plants close down that provided good jobs and quality health care to their employees for years. A lot of these jobs have moved overseas, where the cost of health care isn’t nearly as high. And for the companies that stay, the price of health care is rising too fast for folks to afford.

Read the whole speech, here.

Song in my head: He ain't heavy....he's my brother.....Neil Diamond


ALTER-ABLED NEWS

Attorney General John Ashscroft has been trying to mfuck with Oregon's most progressive laws...medical marijuana and assisted suicide. An important federal appeals court ruling last week may help protect doctors who prescribe either medical marijuana or life-terminating drugs to terminlly ill patients...

Assisted-suicide ruling may affect medical-marijuana use

The decision by a federal appeals court on Oregon’s assisted-suicide law last week could have implications for other medical-practice issues, particularly medicinal use of marijuana.

In 2002, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the federal government and for doctors in California, who were threatened with punishment and potential loss of their licenses to prescribe medication if they recommended medical marijuana to their patients.

The court ruled that doctors had a right under the First Amendment to the Constitution to discuss the issue with patients.

Oregon and California are among the 10 states — mostly in the West — with medical-marijuana laws. Vermont’s Legislature cleared its bill last week, and the governor will let it become law without his signature.|Link|

Song in my head: In Birmingham they love the governor......Lynyrd Skynyrd

In remembrance of my father, a police officer killed in the line of duty, I receive a quarterly publication listing law enforcement officers who lost their lives. As we spend this weekend mourning the soldiers who lost their lives, remember the cops who put their lives in danger daily. Here are a few officers who lost their lives recently.

Deputy Ruby Rainault, Age 54
Lunenberg, VT

Deputy Rainault was killed November 24, 2003 when she made a u-turnto help a stranded motorist and was broadsided by a truck. Survived by husband and 6 children.


Officer Russel Simpson, Age 51
Bandon, OR

Officer Simpson drowned December 22, 2003 while attempting to save a boywho had been swept into the ocean while walking along the beach. Survived by wife.


Trooper Nikky Green, Age 35
Oklahoma City, OK

Trooper Green was shot and killed December 26, 2003 after he stopped to check on a vehicle parked on the side of the road. When he discoveredthe suspect had been cooking meth he attempted to arrest him and was shot. Survived by Wife and 3 children

Song in my head: Just as every cop is a criminal...And all the sinners saints...As heads is tails....Just call me lucifer....’cause I’m in need of some restraint.....Rolling Stones


ALTER-ABLED NEWS

* Bush urges computerized medical records|Link|

Is that the best he can do to improve the health care crisis? One scam after another......

* Bush's health care scam |Link|

Song in my head: Mama don't let your babies grow up to be bloggers.......Worldwide Pablo

MAD COW NEWS

It has been more than a week...lets see what the USDA has been up to ensuring beef consumers they won't get a brain wasting disease....We had negotiations with Japan regarding BSE testing....seems like the talks are stalled until next month......

BSE discussions conclude in Japan

As U.S. and Japanese officials ended two days of BSE Technical Working Group discussions Wednesday, the two sides remain divided over safeguards against bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Peter Fernandez, the Agriculture Department official who led the U.S. delegation, called the meeting "an important first step in restoring beef trade between our two countries," but said the countries disagreed on some areas, without being more specific.
At the meeting, Japanese officials reiterated that a strict inspection scheme was necessary to ensure food safety, Agence France Press reported.

The two countries are locked in a debate about how to restore American beef exports to Japan, which were cut off after a cow in Washington state tested positive for BSE last December.

The group is expected to meet again next month in the United States. (LInk via FSNet listserv, by subscription)

and the USDA sugarcoats the meeting...

Press statement by Dr. Peter Fernandez Chairman, US BSE Technical Working Group Associate Administrator, Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA
USDA News Release No. 0198.04 |Link|

This first meeting of the US/Japan BSE Technical Working Group was an important first step in restoring beef trade between our two countries. Over the past two days, we and our Japanese counterparts have engaged in a frank and open dialogue on our respective BSE surveillance and control systems.
We had the opportunity yesterday to visit a modern, well-run slaughter facility in Gunma prefecture. This was a valuable opportunity for our team to see first-hand the SRM removal and testing procedures that Japan has implemented. This visit was followed by a day and half of meetings in which we were able to openly discuss the areas of main importance, including the definition of BSE, SRMs, surveillance, feed bans and country risk categorization. We found many areas where we are in agreement, and some areas where further discussion is needed. This meeting has been very productive and provided a good start to this process. We look forward to continuing our discussions next month when we host the next meeting in the United States.

and the WaPo writes...

USDA allowed Canadian beef in despite ban

The U.S. Agriculture Department, according to this story, allowed American meatpackers to resume imports of ground and other "processed" beef from Canada last September, just weeks after it publicly reaffirmed its ban on importing those products because mad cow disease had been found in Canadian cattle.
The story says that in the next six months, a total of 33 million pounds of Canadian processed beef flowed to American consumers under a series of undisclosed permits the USDA issued to the meatpackers, permits that remained in effect until a federal judge intervened in April. |Link|

Woopsie....USDA screwed up.....

USDA admits problems with Canada beef imports
May 20, 2004
Reuters/AP
WASHINGTON - According to these stories, U.S. Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Thursday scolded the U.S. Department of Agriculture for its performance in protecting consumers against mad cow disease after the agency admitted it allowed Canadian beef imports that went beyond previously announced restrictions.
The stories note that USDA said about 10 million pounds of beef were allowed into the United States from Canada since last summer, including hamburger, bone-in beef and processed beef. Last August, the USDA announced that it was only allowing boneless beef from young Canadian animals into the United States.
Following a briefing by USDA officials on Capitol Hill, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, was cited as saying the USDA admitted "mistakes were made" and products were allowed entry that were not on public lists.

33 or 10 million? Freaks..., and the UK, Canada, and Japan know little regarding the incubation period of vCJD...

Thousands may be vCJD carriers, UK scientists fear
May 20, 2004
Reuters
LONDON - A UK government-funded study in the Journal of Pathology was cited as reporting that around 4,000 people in Britain may unwittingly be carrying the prion protein responsible for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD).
The story says that scientists examined more than 12,500 appendices and tonsils removed in the late 1990s from people in the highest risk group, mainly aged in their twenties.
Dr David Hilton, one of the authors of the study, was cited as saying that three of the samples tested positive for vCJD and calculated that this would suggest that 3,800 people in Britain could be carrying the infective agent.


Reassurance is crucial in mad-cow disaster
May 21, 2004
The Vancouver Sun

The discovery a year ago this month of one sick cow has, according to this editorial, cost the Canadian economy more than $6 billion so far and the crisis is far from over.
The editorial says that documents obtained by the Vancouver Sun have raised troubling questions over whether the federal government has done all it can to prove to the world that BSE is once again under control in Canada.

Experts are forecasting 60 more cases of mad cow
May 16, 2004
The Japan Times

A Cabinet Office report, complied by an expert panel under the government's Food Safety Commission, which met Friday, was cited as estimating that about 60 more cases of mad cow disease are expected to occur in Japan, with the number likely to peak in 2005 and 2006.
The story notes that Japan has so far confirmed 11 cows to have been infected with the disease, officially called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, since the first case in September 2001 |Link|

consumers had been promised new cattle feed rules 4 months ago....

FDA not yet ready to announce mad cow feed rules

WASHINGTON - Rae Jones, a spokeswoman for U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine, was cited as saying the FDA will not say when it will announce the new safeguards that it promised four months ago to protect the U.S. animal feed supply from mad cow disease, adding, "No announcement today," and "no time frame for when announcement will be made."
Earlier in the day, two food industry officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the FDA could announce its proposed rules as early as Friday. They said the FDA may first publish regulations for the food supply, then issue the feed rules later.
A USDA official indicated to congressional staff on Thursday that FDA action was imminent, according to a Senate aide who attended the briefing. (Via FSNet listserv)

and because the USDA made a big woopsie last month....

BC-US-Mad

The U.S. Agriculture Department will implement measures to ensure that all condemned cattle, determined unsafe to eat, are tested for mad cow disease, Reuters reported Friday citing a department official.
"Food safety officials at U.S. beef plants would be able to order testing of suspect cattle without first consulting regional veterinarians," Reuters said, quoting the official of the department's Food Safety and Inspection Service.
The action was in response to revelations of the department's failure last month to test a condemned cow at a Texas slaughterhouse for mad cow disease, even though the animal showed symptoms associated with the brain-wasting illness, Reuters said. (Via FSNet listserv)

and an important study shows......

Mad Cow-Like Proteins Found in Sheep Muscle

Malformed proteins called prions that are thought to cause brain-wasting diseases like mad cow have been found in low concentrations in sheep muscle, French scientists reported.

But the researchers at the National Veterinary School in Toulouse emphasized that the findings did not mean that lamb or mutton posed any danger to people, according to The New York Times .

Up to now, the proteins had been found exclusively in animal brains and other body parts that people don't normally eat.|Link|

further proof the USDA screwed up....

Following USDA's admission of failures on mad cow

Following admissions by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that it violated its own mad cow disease prevention regulations by allowing high risk Canadian meat into the U.S., independent cattle producers joined the nation's leading consumer advocacy organizations today in calling on USDA to maintain the current ban on Canadian beef and cattle imports until a scientific risk analysis can be conducted by a balanced panel of experts under the auspices of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). After bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) -- also known as mad cow disease -- was detected in a native Canadian cow last May, USDA banned imports of cattle and beef from Canada.

The Consumer Federation of America and Public Citizen were joined by the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund - United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) in urging USDA to halt a proposed regulatory change that would permit the resumption of cattle and beef imports from Canada until the NAS risk analysis is completed, and public hearings can be held on the issue. R-CALF and the consumer groups said both USDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should oversee the NAS study to ensure it addresses both animal and human health.

In a letter sent today to Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman, the groups also called for tracking and testing of all Canadian cattle now in the U.S., for a definitive study to determine the actual prevalence of mad cow disease in the Canadian cattle herd, and to test all Canadian cattle slaughtered for beef destined for the U.S. Consumers Union, the independent, non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports, separately endorsed the proposals.
"The Bush Administration's actions in response to BSE-infected cows in the U.S. and Canada raise questions of both competence and integrity (Press release from FsNet listserv)

I'll take a Whopper....hold the meat.

Song in my head: I'm wasted and I can't find my way home.............Blind Faith

A friend died today. An animal friend. A pet of 32 years. Andy the mule. Andy and I would ride the trails in forests on beautiful spring days like today. More sure footed than a horse, he was my trusty trail mate, my auto pilot who always knew the way home, when I wasn't paying attention to the forks in the trails. He always got us home. Andy was a hinny mule. A cross between a stallion and a female donkey(ginny). More rare than an ordinary mule bred by a mare and a jack. This morning Andy broke out of his pasture which was typical of him. He made it to the outskirts of the garden and laid down. For eternity. We had to get a back hoe to bury him. I called my ex husband and broke the news to him. He asked if we had buried him yet. I said, "yes". He mentioned how he wanted his hide to make a drum out of and I squealed "You can't do that, he's our friend". I wish I could brush him one last time, saddle him up and clip clop around the fields of grass, make clicking sounds to urge him into a slow trot, feed him the old apples from the back of my fridge. The sense of freedom I felt while riding made me feel more alive than anything else. The end of an era for me. Andele Andy......

Song in my head: Dip dip dip dip dip dip dip dip Um um um um um um.......Get a job...........The Silhouettes

Song in my head: Fearless Leader comes to town a-riding on pony...stuck a feather in his ass and called it Denny Hastert....Jo Fish

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CONVENTION SCHEDULE
New York, NY

6:00 PM Opening Prayer led by the Reverend Jerry Falwell
6:30 PM Pledge of Allegiance
6:35 PM Burning of Bill of Rights (excluding 2nd Amendment)
6:45 PM Salute to the Coalition of the Willing
6:46 PM Seminar #1: Getting Your Kid a Military Deferment
7:30 PM First Presidential Beer Bong
7:35 PM Freedom Fries served
7:40 PM EPA Address #1: Mercury: It's What's for Dinner
8:00 PM Vote on which country to invade next
8:10 PM Call EMTs to revive Rush Limbaugh
8:15 PM John Ashcroft Lecture: The Homos Are After Your Children
8:30 PM Round table discussion on reproductive rights (men only)
8:50 PM Seminar #2: Corporations: The Government of the Future
9:00 PM Condi Rice sings "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man"
9:05 PM Second Presidential Beer Bong
9:10 PM EPA Address #2: Trees: The Real Cause of Forest Fires
9:30 PM break for secret meetings
10:00 PM Second Prayer led by Cal Thomas
10:15 PM Carl Rove Lecture: Doublespeak Made Simple
10:30 PM Rumsfeld Lecture/Demonstration: How to Squint and Talk Macho Even When You Feel Squishy Inside
10:35 PM Bush demonstration of trademark "deer in headlights" stare
10:40 PM John Ashcroft Demonstration: New Mandatory Kevlar Chastity Belt
10:45 PM Clarence Thomas reads list of black Republicans
10:46 PM Third Presidential Beer Bong
10:50 PM Seminar #3: Education: A Drain on Our Nation's Economy
11:10 PM Hilary Clinton Pinata
11:20 PM John Ashcroft Lecture: Evolutionists: A Dangerous New Cult
11:30 PM Call EMTs to revive Rush Limbaugh again
11:35 PM Blame Clinton
11:40 PM Laura serves milk and cookies
11:50 PM Closing Prayer led by Jesus Himself
12:00 PM Nomination of George W. Bush as Holy Supreme Planetary Overlord

-Author unknown link found here.

Song in my head: Well I've never been to Spain........Three Dog Night


ALTER-ABLED NEWS

~National Healthcare Action Day June 19, 2004

On Saturday, June 19th, tens of thousands of people -- those who have health insurance and those who don't, those who fear losing coverage and those who have too little -- will join together across the country to bridge the gap in health care.

From the Golden Gate Bridge to the Brooklyn Bridge, take part in a national action to call for quality, affordable health care for all!


Rising Rx prices, costly effects

Increase in co-pays for drugs results in people skimping on their medications, a new study says |Link|


Vermont to be 9th Medical Marijuana State |Link|

Drug WarRants comments: Oh, and patients will be allowed to grow 3 plants -- perfect for the medical marijuana patient who gets sick occasionally.

Three plants is pathetic for a chronically ill patient considering, crop failures (fungus, molds, pests), equipment problems, or just a bad grow. Oregon is working on a new initiative to improve Oregon's medical marijuana program. Voter Power is sponsoring an initiative that would increase amounts, add naturopaths and nurse practitioners as qualifying signers, and allow dispensaries. Find out more, here.

Song in my head: Fish and Potter...Fish and Potter....They want reservoirs that still have water...Neither one's a phony....So let's get rid of Francesconi....Jack

Via New Scientist.....

Scientists warn over sarin exposure in Iraq

Scientists have warned that even low level exposure to sarin nerve gas in Iraq puts people at risk of a debilitating form of Gulf War Syndrome. They say a simple blood test can assess the risk, and veterans' groups claim the US Army is ignoring the danger.

Proof that some of Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons still exist finally came on Monday, when a chemical shell containing sarin was discovered in Baghdad. It had been rigged to booby-trap a US military convoy and exploded before it could be disarmed, resulting in "minor exposure" for two bomb disposal experts. |Link|

Song in my head: Fire! Fire on the mountain.....Grateful Dead


24 years ago last week, I had newly located myself to Corvallis, Oregon after escaping the island fever of growing up on Long Island, New York. My first week was truly memorable as Mount Saint Helens blew. Now as I live 20 miles from a dormant volcano I think of the synchronicity of events that create a modern day myth.......

The evening of May 18, 1980 in Corvallis Oregon was one of choices for me. My older hippie brother was driving up to Portland to go see BB King, and I was tempted to take the hour and half drive north to see this legend. The Grateful Dead were playing in Portland also that night and as a 19 year old music appreciater I had opportunity to get a ride to that show, too. I ended up being a homebody and not going to either, but I received a few first hand accounts from my bro and friends who were at either show.

But what I can only imagine is a bunch of deadheads coming out of a Dead concert and the sky raining dusty ash. And when I ask my friends at the Dead show.....they giggle and say they danced to Fire on the Mountain that night.


ALTER-ABLED NEWS

Texas Puts Mentally Ill Killer to Death

A mentally ill killer was executed Tuesday evening after Gov. Rick Perry rejected a parole board's highly unusual recommendation to commute his death sentence or delay the execution.

Kelsey Patterson, 50, also lost an appeal to the Supreme Court in the hour before he was put to death.

A diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, Patterson was condemned for a double slaying almost 12 years ago. His lethal injection renewed the legal quandary of whether it is proper to execute someone who is mentally ill when the Supreme Court says it is unconstitutional to execute someone who is mentally retarded |Link|

Aren't most killers mentally ill?


Disabled Alter-abled hunting permits focus of ire

In some areas of the state, the ballooning number of permit holders — more than 14,500 were issued statewide during the 2003 hunting seasons — is making it nearly impossible for state wildlife biologists to manage big game. |Link|

Hunters with vision problems .....? Isnt that inheritantly unsafe?


I'm feeling so special lately....skippy the brush kangaroo has linked to me twice in the last few weeks. (here and here). The first time he got my blog name right, the second time he called me Annie's Annuals. Considering all the alternatives no biggie... skippy the brush kangaroo!!

Song in my head: I'm getting married in the morning....................Last One Speaks

ALTER-ABLED NEWS

Court: Disabled Alter-abled People Can Sue States |Link|

So, how did our Supreme Court Justices vote?

The unequal treatment of disabled persons in the administration of judicial services has a long history, and has persisted despite several legislative efforts to remedy the problem," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote.

He was joined by Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.

[...]

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, chief architect of that states rights push, dissented in Monday's case. Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas also dissented

Song in my head: What ya gonna do when they come for you...Alpha Blondy

ALTER-ABLED NEWS

Third National Clinical Conference On Cannabis Therapeutics To Take Place Next Week May 13, 2004 - Charlottesville, VA, USA |Link|

The conference theme, “Cannabis Use Throughout the Life Span”
Topics that will be examined and discussed by researchers and clinicians from
the United States, Canada, The Netherlands, Israel and the United Kingdom.


Childhood use for behavioral problems
general pediatric applications
use during pregnancy
dependence and addiction risk
traumatic brain injury treatment
pain, movement disorder and other symptomatic treatments
delivery modalities
clinical trial reports
hospice use and other medical and legal issues will all be addressed

Song in my head: Paper cups, minimum wage....Just walk on out the door...Take this job and shove it.....I ain't working here no more......Bohemian Mama

Singing: She's got a chicken to ride......Joel Veitch


ALTER-ABLED NEWS

I have forgotten, until today, to post about National Uninsured Week May 10-16.........Since I am in that uninsured zone myself it's an important issue to me and Lying Media Bastards

Then, at the very least, a nationalized health care system, and the decapitation of all former health insurance CEOs. And we should probably put those heads on pikes. And those pikes should be put outside the New York Stock Exchange.

and The Bloviator:

While the President and his Administration spend all of their time trying to spin their way out of revealed horror after revealed horror related to the Iraqi invasion, they have done nothing to help the more than 20 million working people in the United States who continue to live without health insurance, and the more than 40 million men, women and children who lack the security which health insurance can provide.


It will be two years come July, 2004 when my application for permanent disability was accepted. Hence, my journey into using Medicare coverage with added prescription coverage will begin. Thank goodness there is a government website that will guide me through the bureaucracy! But I have been doing my own research.......

*Drug discount cards offer savings, confusion |Link|

* Web Site Shows Variation in Drug Prices
|Link|

*Mistakes Reported in Drug-Cost Comparisons |Link|

*Drug card needs health warning |Link|

Ugh.

If anyone has a chance to end up in an emergency room it would be myself, an alter-abled, one-eyed, trick kneed, fatigued, uninsured American. Thank Jah it hasn't happened yet.

Uninsured pour into Oregon hospitals

The trend will likely push up employers' and insured patients' costs, and more state health plan cuts may worsen the problem

After a year of Oregon Health Plan cutbacks and a sluggish economy, the number of uninsured Oregonians treated in hospitals is soaring, the hospital association reported Thursday. |Link|

Song in my head: Locked up at Guatanamo Bay watching the weeks roll away...........The Compassionate Conservatives


*MAY 19 ~Stick it up Their Butt Behind Day

It has been calculated that if everyone in the United States did not purchase a drop of gasoline for one day and all at the same time the oil companies would choke on their stockpiles. At the same time it would hit the entire industry with a net loss of over 4.6 billion dollars which affects the bottom lines of the oil companies.

Therefore, May 19 has been formally declared "Stick it Up Their Behind" Day and the people of this nation should not buy a single drop of gasoline that day.

I'll play. I'm broke anyway.

Speaking of busted....ex Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt has disgraced himself.

Slice it any way you want, though, it still comes out to hush money and statutory rape. |Link|

Willamette Week, who broke this story, calls it rape too.....

In Oregon, if an adult has sex with someone under the age of 16, it is considered rape. (According to law-enforcement officials, however, the statute of limitations for prosecution has long since passed.) |Link|

Song in my head: Don't it always seem to go.............Joni Mitchell


Mad Cow Update

It's been awhile since I have had the energy to sit down and form a cohesive thought. Pain and fatigue prevent a daily blogging schedule. So lets pick off where I left off and see if our beef supply is safe yet. Last week a downer cow in Texas was not sampled for BSE. Woops! And the NYT writes a scathing editorial....

More mad cow mischief

The federal Department of Agriculture is, according to this editorial making it hard for anyone to feel confident that the nation is adequately protected against mad cow disease. At a time when the department should be bending over backward to reassure consumers, it keeps taking actions that suggest more concern with protecting the financial interests of the beef industry than with protecting public health.
|Link|

and a new book asks:

Do burgers fry your brain?

Dying for a Hamburger:Modern Meat Processing and the Epidemic of Alzheimer's Disease

Ingeborg Boyens, who has written extensively about food and agriculture and whose most recent book is Another Season's Promise writes in this review that in Dying for a Hamburger, Murray Waldman and Marjorie Lamb propose the case that Alzheimer's is an epidemic that will turn retirement for many Baby Boomers into a dead zone of dementia and that the blame for this lies at the feet of a meat industry that has encouraged the spread of a prion-triggered illness similar to mad cow disease. |Link|

And this interesting article explains how Californian health officials weren't notified for a week that mad cow tainted meat might have been shipped to their state. Woops!

Beef recall confusion frustrates California health officials

Jeff Farrar, who heads the California Food Safety Section of the state Department of Health Services, was cited as saying he thought it took more than two weeks for him to find out that beef potentially tainted with mad cow disease made its way into California, and that wasn't the way it was supposed to be.
It turned out, the story says, that Farrar, was wrong. Still, DHS officials learned a week late, Dec. 29, that meat from an infected Holstein in Washington state, which was recalled Dec. 23, might have been shipped to California grocery stores and restaurants.
But the slow communication between state officials and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which handles all food recalls, was the first of several frustrations for state health officials who, according to documents obtained by The Bee, tried to get recall details but sometimes received incomplete responses—or no response at all.
The story says that the experience has left DHS officials wondering about the terms of an agreement they signed with the USDA to keep beef recall details from the public in exchange for information about where the meat went and how much was sold, consumed or returned.
USDA spokesman Steve Cohen on Friday was cited as acknowledging it took a week for the department to notify California officials of the recall, but, he said, it wasn't for lack of trying, adding, "California wasn't notified until December 29. It was around the holidays, and I don't think anybody was in their offices. We tried to reach them." (article from FSNet listserv, by subscription)

Senator Harkin (D-Iowa) does not like the proposed USDA testing plan for BSE.

Harkin challenges USDA's BSE testing plan

Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) challenged Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman Monday to prove that USDA's plan to test for bovine spongiform encephalopathy is statistically valid.
In a letter sent to Veneman's office Tuesday, Harkin cited concerns about both the scope and efficacy of USDA's proposed new testing system for BSE, spurred, in part, by the department's recent failure to test a suspect cow in Texas for BSE.
"The Texas cow case calls into question the effectiveness and reliability of USDA's current and proposed surveillance system," Harkin said. "Despite this cow showing symptoms raising concerns about BSE, USDA allowed this animal to be shoved out the back door. USDA needs to correct this immediately to protect American consumers and cattle herds and to restore confidence in our BSE safeguards. We simply cannot tolerate a BSE testing system that fails to give valid answers to critical questions for U.S. consumers and foreign customers." (link from FSNet listserv)

And finally, it looks like the inspectors need inspecting....

USDA issues 'gag order' to inspectors after Texas BSE testing problem

The Agriculture Department has issued an order to inspectors in Texas not to talk to outside parties about bovine spongiform encephalopathy after BSE testing policies in the state were violated, United Press International reported.
UPI said it had obtained the order, which was sent by e-mail on May 6 by Ijaz Qazi, circuit supervisor for USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service's Dallas district, which covers all of Texas.
The order said: "All BSE inquiries MUST be directed to Congressional Public Affairs Phone #202-720-9113 attention Rob Larew OR Steve Khon. This is an urgent message. Any question contact me. Ijaz Qazi."
The National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, the national inspectors union, said the "gag order" is a violation of inspector's free speech rights and said it is considering legal action against USDA for breaching the labor agreement they have with the agency, according to the report.
USDA officials did not immediately return a phone call for comment. UPI reported that Qazi said the order was not issued in conjunction with the Texas case, and that it was a routine agency practice to refer reporters to the Washington office.
Both the USDA and its Inspector General have opened up investigations into the Texas case amid allegations that an offsite supervisor overruled an inspector at Lone Star Beef in San Angelo, Texas, who wanted to have an animal displaying signs of the brain wasting disorder tested for BSE.

Want your McBSE with fries?

Song in my head: Don't give me that do goody good bullshit........Pink Floyd

Song in my head: Unforgivable, in every way ..........Mad Kane

Song in my head: That's why I'm riding on the Cherry Beach Express...The Pukka Orchestra


MAD COW UPDATE

It has been a couple of days since I reported about a "sick" cow in Texas that was not tested for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). On May 4 the Food and Drug Administration sent out this press release:

On Friday, April 30 th , the Food and Drug Administration learned that a cow with central nervous system symptoms had been killed and shipped to a processor for rendering into animal protein for use in animal feed.

FDA, which is responsible for the safety of animal feed, immediately began an investigation. On Friday and throughout the weekend, FDA investigators inspected the slaughterhouse, the rendering facility, the farm where the animal came from, and the processor that initially received the cow from the slaughterhouse.

FDA's investigation showed that the animal in question had already been rendered into "meat and bone meal" (a type of protein animal feed). Over the weekend FDA was able to track down all the implicated material. That material is being held by the firm, which is cooperating fully with FDA.

Cattle with central nervous system symptoms are of particular interest because cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, also known as "mad cow disease," can exhibit such symptoms. In this case, there is no way now to test for BSE. But even if the cow had BSE, FDA's animal feed rule would prohibit the feeding of its rendered protein to other ruminant animals (e.g., cows, goats, sheep, bison).

FDA is sending a letter to the firm summarizing its findings and informing the firm that FDA will not object to use of this material in swine feed only. If it is not used in swine feed, this material will be destroyed. Pigs have been shown not to be susceptible to BSE. If the firm agrees to use the material for swine feed only, FDA will track the material all the way through the supply chain from the processor to the farm to ensure that the feed is properly monitored and used only as feed for pigs. |link|

And I'm not the only one curious as to why this animal wasn't tested. From the NYT:

Calls for federal inquiry over untested cow

U.S. consumer groups were cited as calling for a Congressional investigation yesterday into the death of a cow with symptoms of brain damage at a Texas slaughterhouse last week.
The story says that the cow, which staggered and collapsed after passing an initial visual inspection at Lone Star Beef in San Angelo, Tex., was condemned as unfit for human consumption and under federal regulations should have been tested for mad cow disease.
Instead, it was sent to a rendering plant to be made into animal food and byproducts.


The LA Times gives support to beef consumers.....

Let beef consumers decide

The conventional angle on mad cow disease in the United States is, according to this editorial, that the story began Dec. 23, when the degenerative, neurological disorder was discovered in a single cow in Washington state, then began wrapping up a few weeks later when it was determined that the cow had been born in Canada and that it had probably acquired the disease by eating something banned in the U.S. — cattle feed containing meat from cattle and other ruminants. That, at least, is the story the livestock industry likes.

[...]

The blanket testing for mad cow disease that Creekstone proposes, and many other nations have implemented, can be debated on the basis of risk and probability. But, as with costly organic food or milk from cows not fed growth hormones, the decision should be the consumers.


And consumers received further food safety protection by extending the ban of Canadian beef.
From FSNet listserv, by subscription:

Major victory for food safety as USDA agrees to continue ban on most Canadian beef products USDA agrees to extend judge's order maintaining ban on most Canadian beef due to risk of mad cow disease

and the USDA hasn't been sticking to its own rules...

Under pressure from Canada and large multi-national meat packing corporations, USDA had sought to circumvent its own rulemaking by quietly allowing shipments of Canadian beef that are at higher risk of carrying Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, than boneless cuts of beef. Instead, USDA agreed to extend a restraining order that had been granted in a suit filed by Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA).

The USDA is only providing a minimal amount of safety to our food supply.

Song in my head: Old red wine, not worth a dime.......The Who


ALTER-ABLED NEWS

Study: U.S. Health Care Not Always Tops

A new study challenges a widely held view in the United States that Americans have the best medical care in the world. |link|

Best? Ha! A country that makes disabled alter-abled people wait for 2 years before they are eligible for medicare (doctor visits)?? You can't work because you're sick and have no health care coverage for two long years. It makes no sense. None.


Reading is Phundamental

Ah, the pleasure of a book. Give me a delicious page turner to read in the sun on a weekday afternoon. Instead of working, there is a gap filled with books from the trashy to the great. It is not uncommon for me to have 2-3 books going at once. The past few days have been filled with rereading an old autobiography, first published in 1965, Yoga, Youth, and Reincarnation by Jeff Stearn. Jess' journey into the practice of yoga is led by Marcia Moore, a dynamic yogi, psychic, astrologer, mother, wife, and teacher. Last night , after finishing the book I was curious about Marcia Moore and googled her name. I found this article from this year. Much to my horror, I discovered that Marcia Moore was murdered in 1979 in the state of Washington. True Crime writer, Ann Rule considers her death one of the great unsolved crimes. She was married to her fourth husband at the time of her death. Her body has never been found; her head has been found with a single bullet hole.
Fascinating person, fascinating death.......

As Ann rule says....

Marcia Moore was a woman who lived her whole life on another plane," Rule said. "She was into yoga, reincarnation, and into drugs that would take her mind into another reality."

Singing: And the beat goes on...........................................Sonny and Cher


Why I Don't Eat Beef

An important editorial from today's Oregonian confirmed some of my suspicions on the safety of eating beef. U.S. policy on mad cow in question summarizes my fears regarding the bureaucrat(s) (see Ann Veneman) legislating our food, and inefficiencies within the USDA inspection system. Introducing BSE infected cattle into our food system can occur very easily.....

the United States imported millions of cattle each year from Canada and Mexico. But as the scientists pointed out, U.S. trade regulations gave agency officials no way to guarantee that the imported cattle were disease-free.

"Maybe they don't pose any risk, but what if they had been fed contaminated starter ratios as calves in Mexico?" the scientists' report said. "Even if they would not live until patent clinical stages, they would introduce infectivity into the system."


Meanwhile down at the ranch.....a sick cow is suspect of BSE |link|

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is gathering information on a cow that was ordered destroyed at a West Texas meatpacking plant, a USDA official said Friday.
USDA spokesman Ed Loyd said he didn't have confirmation on why the cow was killed Wednesday, and said it wasn't immediately clear if a tissue sample had been taken for a test for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease.

Except someone screwed up and look what happens to the sample.

Via FSnet, by subscription,

USDA: Mad cow testing procedure violated in Texas

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was cited as saying on Monday that the federal government's mad cow testing procedure was violated when a condemned cow in Texas was sent to a rendering plant before tissue samples could be collected for testing.
A USDA veterinarian at a Lone Star Beef plant in San Angelo, Texas condemned the animal "after observing the cow stagger and fall, indicating either an injury or potentially a central nervous system disorder or other health condition," USDA said.
USDA said no part of the animal, killed on April 27, entered the human food chain.
"Standard procedures call for animals condemned due to possible CNS (central nervous system) disorder to be kept" until federal officials collect samples for testing, the USDA said. "However, this did not occur in this case," according to a USDA statement.
The statement did not explain why standard procedures were not followed and USDA officials were not immediately available for comment

They wouldn't be hiding something, would they? And another meat packer petitions the USDA to allow 100% testing of their cattle.

Gateway petitions USDA to allow it test all of its cattle for BSE

May 3, 2004
Meatingplace.com
Daniel Yovich
http://www.meatingplace.com/
Gateway Beef Cooperative President Robbie Meyer said he has mailed U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman a letter requesting permission to perform voluntary bovine spongiform encephalopathy testing of 100 percent of the cattle slaughtered at Gateway's facility.
The letter, a copy of which is posted on the Overland, Mo.-based co-op's Web site, says co-op officials believe 100 percent voluntary testing for BSE is a viable way for independent processors to compete by reestablishing their niche market share. Last month, USDA declined to approve a similar petition from Arkansas City, Kan.-based Creekstone Farms, which had reached an agreement with the Japanese government that the company's beef would be welcome for import to that country if all of it were tested for BSE.

Song in my head:..... and though the news is rather sad..........The Beatles