Impolite Company

Swine Flu and Industrial Farming of Pigs

The other day, a friend of mine asked me about the possibility of a link between swine flu and CAFO's.  I'd seen some buzz around the sustainability and organic corners of the internet and forwarded a post by Tom Philpott in Grist, Swine Flu Outbreak Could be Linked to Smithfield Farms but with the huge caveat that I didn't see any real evidence that lead to his speculations.  I told her that was the reason I hadn't posted any of that stuff on ImpCo, because I didn't see anything other than finger-pointing without evidence.  Now the Columbia Journalism Review has posted a nice little summary of the action on the Swine Flu/CAFO front for any of you who want to look at the vacuum of information, the tiny little bits of evidence and the discussion in the mainstream medium over the possibility of a connection between swine flu and huge pig operations, Swine Flu and CAFO's?

Clearly, it is too early to make bold pronouncements about CAFOs’ role in abetting the epidemic that has now spread to seven countries. As a front-page article in The New York Times on Wednesday pointed out, even “La Gloria may not, in the end, be the source of anything.” And Yulsman, who originally chided the press for ignoring factory farms, wrote a follow-up postdecision to slaughter all of the country’s 300,000 pigs despite no confirmed cases there, or an article in criticizing CNN’s Headline News for hyping the threat they pose. Many worry that jumping to conclusions can lead to panic or incite unnecessary and costly control measures. (Take, for example, Egypt’s The Washington Post about the threat to the global economy.)

That said, now is the perfect time for journalists to begin investigating CAFOs in a responsible fashion. That means doing things a little differently than the early blog posts, which tended to have a finger-pointing tone, did not deliver much context about evidence and controlling for alternative hypotheses, and did not call experts to test their theories.

The Flu Wiki

As the Swine Flu situation continues to develop, I'll keep trying to post links to good sources of information, both on the basics of disease transmission and so-forth and on the ongoing situation.  Effect Measure has posted a link to The Basic Science of Flu Wiki, a resource for all the basics and more.  They've also got a segment of the Wiki devoted to current events in flu, The Flu Wiki Forum.  There are plenty of scary numbers out there and plenty of things for us to obsess about if we want to scare ourselves shitless.  These sites give us some context for the situation and I'm convinced that more and contextual information is going to help us keep level heads over the next few weeks.  We need to be both concerned and informed about the possibility and dangers of a pandemic--to be concerned without being informed leads to poor decision-making personally and policy-wise; to be informed without being concerned leads to no one acting soon enough or aggressively enough.  So we need both.  As it has been from the beginning of this crisis, my go-to source of info is Effect Measure.

Women in Science: Letters to Our Daughters Project

Just passing along a little tidbit that sounds pretty interesting from Isis the Scientist over at the On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess blog.  She's trying to put together a collection of her scientific forbears--women who came before her, paved the way for her and inspired her to pursue a career in science.  From what I've read, there's a very sad dropoff of interest in science and math by girls as they transition into their teenage years--part of the socialization process that informs them what they're supposed to be interested in.  So I'm thrilled at all steps taken to strengthen a connection between young women and the sciences and I think that Isis's idea is a good one, The Letters to Our Daughters Project:

When I was a graduate student, I took a physiology class in which I was given the assignment to recreate my scientific family tree. When I did, I found that my family tree is composed some brilliant scientists. But, my family tree is also composed entirely of men, plus me. The same is true of the tree from my postdoc. I have scientific fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, but no aunts, grandmothers, or mothers. As I considered my career path in science, I found myself wanting and needing the perspective of more senior women scientists.

The inspiration for my Letters to Our Daughters Project comes from my hope that we can recreate our family tree here, creating a forum where the mothers and aunts in our fields (which I hope to not limit to physiology, but that's where I'll start because that's who I know) can share their wisdom with us. I think there is a wealth of information among these successful women and I hope to use this forum to share it with young scientists who are yearning for that knowledge.

What's Your Government Doing?

The Obama Administration has posted a number of reports from federal departments on their results so far in reforming government and reinvesting in America.  If you're interested in any of these areas, follow the links below, Taking Stock:

• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Defense
• Department of Education
• Department of Energy (pdf)
• Department of the Interior
• Department of Health and Human Services (pdf)
• Department of Homeland Security
• Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Department of Justice
• Department of Labor
• Department of The Treasury
• Department of Transportation
• Environmental Protection Agency
• United States Trade Representative (pdf)
• United States Mission to the United Nations (pdf)

Time Out for History

Sometimes righteous anger can be a beautiful thing.  For instance, a FB friend of mine ranted about the kids on public transit yesterday who were bullying the transgendered person and how she told them off.  Nice!  This morning I read a post via The Edge of the American West (I believe the poster is one of The Edge's author's advisees) that laughingly and snarkingly takes down some historical fictions making the rounds these days in the guise of Truth.  He addresses the Boston Tea Party, the Right to Secede, We're not a Christian Nation, waterboarding and smiling at Chavez.  Here's the author's intro, U.S. History for Dummies:

So, as a public service of sorts, and because, after this morning's revelations, I've reached the limit of craven and/or patently stupid falsehoods that I can feasibly ingest over so short a time, some "U.S. History for Dummies." I expect most everyone who comes by this site with any frequency knows all this, but ya never know. Apologies for the didacticism in advance -- if this were this a Coors Light commercial, this would be where i vent. (And thanks to Lia for the timely visual tax lesson, above.)

What's that crytic comment about the visual tax lesson?  I must indirectly thank Lia as well because I'm going to reproduce it here.  It's an image from a Tea Party with arrows and small captions pointing out all the things that the protestor's tax money helped pay for in the small scene:

Hedgehog Launch

Unfortunately yesterday I figured out how to find this crazy flash game I ran across months ago and got minorly addicted to.  It's this silly thing in which you try to launch a hedgehog into space using a launch band and other supplies you are able to purchase by launching yourself into the air and collecting coins while remaining aloft by bouncing off airborne platforms of some sort or another.  Sound kinda weird?  Probably is but it is fun and I mention it to you now only because I've gotten my all time low mark of getting the hedgehog into space in just five short days--I got all kinds of lucky:  Hedgehog Launch Flash Game.

Michelle Bachmann: The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Minnesota Representative Michelle Bachmann is at it again, flaunting her ignorance before the nation and making vague insinuations that Democrats are responsible for everything that goes wrong in America, including Swine Flu!  In the following clip, she notes the interesting fact that there was a swine flu outbreak back in the 1970's under Pres. Jimmy Carter (and doesn't bother pointing out there was a small outbreak a couple of years ago in Ohio:  Did the California H1N1 Swine Flu Come from Ohio?).  Thanks to Pharyngula for pointing out Bachman's lunacy, thanks to PajamasTV for giving Bachmann a platform and now lets roll the video:

Sen. Cornyn's Take On Specter

Sen. John Cornyn has been wrangling with Specter ever since he became the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and took on the challenge of trying to retain the GOP's senate seats and snag a few more.  There were questions as to whether the committee would endorse Specter or throw their support behind his challenger and there seemed to be some personality clashing between the two.  With Specter's switch, Cornyn's job becomes that much more difficult and solidifies the momentum running against the GOP--apparently I'm not the only one that Cornyn isn't doing a very good job representing.  He's flubbing his work in trying to be the chief GOP electioneer in the Senate as well.  Sound desperate much?

“Senator Specter’s decision today represents the height of political self-preservation. While this presents a short-term disappointment, voters next year will have a clear choice to cast their ballots for a potentially unbridled Democrat super-majority versus the system of checks-and-balances that Americans deserve.”

Being a former state supreme court justice, a former judge and all that, you'd think that Sen. Cornyn would remember that the system of checks and balances enshrined in the Constitution has nothing to do with party affiliation and everything to do with tensions between federal and state governments and the tension between the three branches of government.

Democratic Senator Arlen Specter

I'm not going to make any predictions about how Specter's switch will affect the Congress, though I think it might loosen things up a bit, as the GOP will have less of a chance to filibuster things and so Reid will have less of a stick with which to beat Senators into line.  And with less of a chance to successfully block things, individual Republicans may feel more easily led to engage in debate.  But that's all crackpottery.  Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com has some numbers (doesn't he always have some numbers?), this time on how voting patterns change after a Congressman switches parties, What Kind of Democrat Will Arlen Specter Be?  Read the rest of the post, not just this blurb, because that's where the real goodies are!

There are both aggravating and mitigating circumstances that may affect Specter's positioning. On the one hand, he seems to have made the switch more or less unabashedly for electoral reasons, even alluding to the polling in his statement today. This suggests that he'll be no more and no less Democratic than he can get away with. On the other hand, the parties are now more polarized than they once were, and so crossing the aisle may mean more than it once did. Prior to this party-switch, Specter's DW-NOMINATE scores had gradually been moving away from the center as it had become harder to stake out a position as a moderate Republican.

Swine Flu--In Depth Information

I've already spent more time talking about swine flu than I thought I would but this is just a little heads-up to a site that's giving good information that gives you the context to understand the conversation about swine flu from an expert who can explain to lay people.  The site is Effect Measure and a number of notable online resources have referred to it.  For instance, Revere writes about flu pandemics and how you can't track one by assuming that it's going to act like an earlier one in Swine Flu:  Flu Pandemics, You've Seen One, You...:

As we keep looking, we will find cases, so the total will rise, probably on a daily basis. Like poll numbers, it is probably wise not to pay attention to daily fluctuations but look at the big picture. Right now the big picture isn't visible, but with the passage of days or a week, it should become clearer. The current spate of cases could burn itself out as warmer weather ensues. Flu is a highly seasonal disease, for reasons we don't understand. That wouldn't mean we were home free, however. Wherever flu hides in the "off season" (flu does find work in the southern hemisphere's winter), it can come back the following year. Those familiar with 1918 know there seems to have been a milder "herald wave" the previous spring which came back like a freight train in August. CDC is well aware of this possibility and should this outbreak wane will clearly urge and engage in continued preparation in the event this evolves in the same way.

This is analysis from senior public health figures that hasn't been filtered through a sensationalist media source and it's worth your time if you're curious.

Sen. Specter to Switch Parties

MSNBC is breaking news that Sen. Arlen Specter is in talks to switch parties, which would give the Dems a fillibuster-proof majority once Franken is seated in Minnesota.  It appears that the Washington Post is reporting it's a done deal, Specter to Switch Parties:

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter will switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat and announced today that he will run in 2010 as a Democrat, according to a statement he released this morning.

And now it's official:

"I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary," the Pennsylvania senator said in a statement.

"I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans," Specter said, adding that the "change in party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats that I have been for the Republicans."

Sen. Cornyn is doing a bang-up job lining up candidates to retake the Senate in 2010!

Tyson

Yesterday's Fresh Air took a look at Mike Tyson and "Tyson" the new movie out that is essentially a one-and-a-half hour long form interview with the man and all his demons.  You can catch the radio show via this link, Charting the Career of Mike Tyson, and the player pop-up includes links to the rest of the Tyson interviews.  There is much about Tyson that I loathed but I will watch this movie when it becomes available--the excerpts were fascinating and it sounds like an incredibly candid conversation with a pretty articulate subject.  The film was shot while Tyson was in rehab and so he's particularly vulnerable and introspective. 

A Wild Boar Once Bit My Sister

Okay, I can't really claim any kinship to Eileen Smith of In the Pink fame(?) but she captures the proper amount of hysterical mania we should be feeling over The Swine Flue, Save Yourselves:

To anyone who’s freaking out about the swine flu, you’re not alone. Last night, I called the pharmacist begging for Tamiflu, telling him that I had just been bitten by a wild boar. This morning when I got on the elevator, I quickly pressed close door when someone came running up saying, hold the elevator! and refused to help them when their arm was almost cut off. (Seriously, just wait for the next one.) I’m sitting at my desk wearing a surgical mask and yelling at anyone who comes in my office to get out before they infect me.

And for the uninitiated, the title is a take-off on the credits from Monty Python & the Holy Grail:

Wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yer?

 See the løveli lakes

 The wonderful telephøne system

 And mani interesting furry animals

    The Producers would like to thank The Forestry Commission
    Doune Admissions Ltd, Keir and Cowdor Estates, Stirling
    University, and the people of Doune for their help in the
    making of this film.
    The Characters and incidents portrayed and the names used
    are fictitious and any similarity to the names, characters,
    or history of any person is entirely accidental and
    unintentional.
            Signed RICHARD M. NIXON

 Including the majestic møøse 

 A Møøse once bit my sister ...

 No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møøse
 with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given
 her by Svenge - her brother-in-law - an Oslo dentist and
 star of many Norwegian møvies: "The Høt Hands of an Oslo
 Dentist", "Fillings of Passion", "The Huge Mølars of Horst
 Nordfink".

Waterboarding: 30 to 35 Seconds and it works!

The idea that waterboarding worked on Abu Zabaydah entered the conversation on torture and waterboarding back in 2007 when John Kiriakou was interviewed by ABC and made the claim that within 30-35 seconds of Zubaydah being waterboarded he started cooperating and answered every question from there on out.  The New York Times has a piece detailing what Kiriakou said back then and how it doesn't match up with the information we're learning from the memos that have been released.  The interview made it sound like using waterboarding was like flipping a switch--once subjects experienced it, the truth poured out of them.  This is far from true and it has yet to be demonstrated that these torture techniques are effective in producing results and it will continue to be my argument that even if some good information came out of the program, it was never worth the price to our reputation.  Also, any good information was so intermingled with bullshit claims in order to give the interrogators what they wanted to hear that the value of the good information was diminished. 

Anyway, the article is How ABC Interview Shaped a Torture Debate:

His claims — unverified at the time, but repeated by dozens of broadcasts, blogs and newspapers — have been sharply contradicted by a newly declassified Justice Department memo that said waterboarding had been used on Mr. Zubaydah “at least 83 times.”

Some critics say that the now-discredited information shared by Mr. Kiriakou and other sources heightened the public perception of waterboarding as an effective interrogation technique. “I think it was sanitized by the way it was described” in press accounts, said John Sifton, a former lawyer for Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group.

During the heated debate in 2007 over the use of waterboarding and other techniques, Mr. Kiriakou’s comments quickly ricocheted around the media. But lost in much of the coverage was the fact that Mr. Kiriakou had no firsthand knowledge of the waterboarding: He was not actually in the secret prison in Thailand where Mr. Zubaydah had been interrogated but in the C.I.A. headquarters in Northern Virginia. He learned about it only by reading accounts from the field.

Place 1: Cavazos or Riley?

The Statesman has an article on the City Council Place 1 candidates today, Place 1 Candidates Differ in Focus:

Perla Cavazos wants to make Austin City Hall more attentive to the needs of all residents along the economic spectrum. Chris Riley wants to help Austin evolve from a sprawl-oriented city into a more eco-friendly place with better transit options.

The two are vying for Place 1 on the City Council, the seat occupied by Lee Leffingwell, who's running for mayor. Election day is May 9.

Riley, an attorney, and Cavazos, a public policy analyst, don't differ much policywise. Both say they'll fight for basics, such as good social services and affordable housing. They've split endorsements pretty evenly. And both served on the Planning Commission, a group that helps shape city policy about land use.

But they have different backgrounds and interests.

Burnt Orange Report Endorses Riley:

The values expressed in that statement strongly guide our choice of Chris Riley over Perla Cavazos in this election. Our staff has met with and talked directly with the candidates on multiple occasions. We see how the candidates have reacted to questions in multiple forums. Those interactions and experiences lead us to the following conclusions.

Chris Riley wants, needs, and deserves to be on the city council. His passion for good city government is obvious. His vision for a model next-generation city that respects our environment is clear. His values are rooted in the Austin of old, the one he was born in raised in, while his education and lengthy public service give him the credibility to plan for the Austin of tomorrow. Chris Riley brings more than a new vote to the council, he brings a new perspective. He lives what he advocates.

The Chronicle also endorses Riley, Chronicle Endorsements:  May 9 Municipal Election:

Perla Cavazos has also been a breath of fresh air on the campaign trail, and she has legislative experience as well as serving a term on the city Planning Commission. Her personal background enables her to see city life from a perspective uncommon on the dais. When she discusses mass transit and "affordable housing," Cavazos speaks for families who measure transportation and housing affordability from paycheck to paycheck, not in the euphemistic terms of "median family income." Moreover, as a Hispanic woman, she ably represents a demographic segment of the city finally coming into its own for leadership and power. All this acknowledged, we believe her experience does not yet match in breadth or depth that of her opponent. We expect she will continue contributing to the city and broadening her experience, and we encourage her to return to the council contests before too long.

So does the Statesman in their endorsement article:

While little separates Cavazos and Riley in their campaigns, Riley has more experience and we believe is ready for the City Council. Cavazos has a good career ahead of her and with a bit more seasoning will be an even better candidate.

I don't see anything in any of these endorsements that would dissuade me from voting for Cavazos because it truly sounds like a situation where we have to choose between two good candidates.  And that's a nice problem to have.

Austin Parks & Rec Should Support Community Gardens!

I just got an email from the Sustainable Food Center requesting our support in letting the Austin Parks and Recreation Department know that we support community gardens and we think they should continue their efforts to encourage more of them in Austin.  As it's in the form of a press release, I'm just going to copy it into the blog, including the links to the city and let you have at it:

Community gardens are an essential part of a vibrant, livable, and sustainable city. They offer space for residents who live in apartments or have a shady yard to grow fresh, healthy food.  Community gardens help unite neighborhoods, contribute to neighborhood beautification, and connect urban dwellers with nature. They facilitate communication, foster intergenerational and cross-cultural connections, encourage physical activity and provide therapeutic benefits. The impact of these spaces is immeasurable and invaluable.   The number of community gardens in Austin is small compared to other cities of similar size and development pressures are putting community gardens in Austin in jeopardy.  An opportunity though to promote community gardens in Austin is here.  The Austin Parks and Recreation Department is seeking input about its Long Range Plan for Land, Facilities and Programs, 2010-2015.  Let Austin PARD know that you want it to support community gardens by sending your comments to longrangeplan@ci.austin.tx.us.  Use the sample message below or write your own.  Be sure to submit your comments by April 30, 2009.   I would like to commend the Austin Parks and Recreation Department on its recognition of community gardens as a growing trend in Austin (PARD Long Range Plan, p. 176).  PARD has shown great initiative in devising guidelines for community gardens in parks.  I urge the PARD to continue this momentum by keeping the recommendation to provide additional land for community gardens and farmers' markets (Ch. 10) and by including a recommendation to adopt the draft Austin Parks and Recreation Community Garden Information Packet (Appendix Ch. 6 Supporting Documents Public Meetings) in the Long Range Plan for Land, Facilities and Programs, 2010-2015.  I also request that PARD incorporate community gardens as an activity or special use in Ch. 2 PARD Definitions and Standards; include Deep Eddy Community Garden when discussing existing facilities in Planning Area 2 in Ch. 3 Existing Facilities; continue to consider community gardens in planning for park and trail development; and work with other city departments to increase their support of community gardens as well.   Thank you for your support of community gardens in Austin!         Sincerely,   To read the Austin Parks and Recreation Department Long Range Plan for Land, Facilities, and Programs, visit: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/longrangeplan.htm.  To comment, send an email to longrangeplan@ci.austin.tx.us before April 30, 2009.

About Sustainable Food Center With roots dating back more than 30 years, SFC is involved in every step of the local food system from seed to table.  Our mission is to cultivate a healthy community by strengthening the local food system and improving access to nutritious, affordable food.

Ohio Food Revolutions

Not sure if I have any regulars from Ohio who still come around here (or ever did!), but I just ran across an article in The Ethicurean which I'm linking to here, JUST FOR YOU!  Nourishing Ohio's Downtowns through Community-Food Partnerships:

Central to a thriving downtown food economy is the open-air farmers market. The market can grow stronger by finding ways to work with the other businesses in the downtown district rather than directly competing with them. Schaller mentioned that there’s a conundrum in the rising demand for farmers markets: a shortage of farmers. ACEnet helps establish small markets in targeted areas to support one or two farmers. The market supplements consumer demand for fresh produce with community-garden growers and small-market or backyard gardeners.

Another Ohio smackeral of something after the fold:

Swine Flu Information

There's going to be a whole lotta hoopla over swine flu in the near future--it's actually already started.  I probably won't talk about it much, unless the brou-ha-ha gets too silly and I have to mock it.  But I do think that more information is better and you can follow the links in the follow widget to Center for Disease Control and Department of Health and Human Services resources on swine flu:

How serious is swine flu infection?
Like seasonal flu, swine flu in humans can vary in severity from mild to severe. Between 2005 until January 2009, 12 human cases of swine flu were detected in the U.S. with no deaths occurring. However, swine flu infection can be serious. In September 1988, a previously healthy 32-year-old pregnant woman in Wisconsin was hospitalized for pneumonia after being infected with swine flu and died 8 days later. A swine flu outbreak in Fort Dix, New Jersey occurred in 1976 that caused more than 200 cases with serious illness in several people and one death.  CDC--Swine Flu and You.

Austin Early Voting Locations

All of the Austin early voting locations are listed on the other side of the fold, complements of the Travis County Elections Division.  Early voting will be open until Tuesday, May 5 and the general election is on Saturday, May 9th.

Friday Project

In case anyone noticed, I reneged on my blogging responsibilities because there were some other things I needed to do (well, "wanted" to do is probably more accurate).  The main thing was I had a project or two in mind for the front yard and Friday was the day (I was also entertaining some friends the next day and let's just say the house needed a little bit of a clean-up).  I looked in my picture files and could not find a "before" picture to use, and I think for good reason.  The problem was my mailbox.  There was this scraggly bush growing next to it that tended to crowd the mailbox and limit access to it--I'm sure my Friendly Neighborhood Postal Employee didn't like this (how am I so sure?  He left a note once!) and it just looked ugly.  Plus, it was impossible to mow underneath the bush because of its bushiness, which multiplied the ugliness. 

Recently, a friend of mine mentioned that he had about 3/4's of a yard of pea gravel that he'd been trying to get rid of for about a year.  I immediately thought of the mailbox and some other areas in my yard where I'd love to have some little gravel paths and so I decided to adopt the pile of rocks.  Friday was the day and so thanks to Brandon for supplying the pea gravel (and helping load it, despite having a bad back) and thanks to Bill for providing the truck, I'm happy to announce that my mailbox now looks like this:

If you want to take a gander at the big ol' pile o' rocks, it's on the other side: