The House of Representatives Republican majority has become a party committing sedition, undermining the economic stability and security of America, and they will never be able to recover from this, as they face repudiation by all sensible Americans! 70 percent oppose the government shutdown, and only 24 percent now perceive the Republican Party in a favorable light, and only 17 percent see Speaker of the House John Boehner in a positive fashion!
With the government shutdown nearing two weeks, we are seeing many desperate people who have no paycheck forthcoming; businesses that are going bankrupt for lack of customers at national parks and monuments and other government buildings that bring millions of tourists annually; undermining of our ability to be prepared for bad weather, disease outbreaks, monitoring of food and drug imports; and so many other manifestations of what has become a total disaster!
The House GOP has also undermined any respect for our government, and sowed hatred toward our President, putting him in greater danger of assassination by their poisonous condemnations of everything emanating from the White House since January 20, 2009!
And the Senate and Gubernatorial Republicans do not get a free ride from guilt in this mess, as they have shown no concern for the effect on ordinary people by their insensitive, uncaring statements and policies!
And the Tea Party Movement and its heroes—Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and even Marco Rubio–are scarred by their reckless, seditious behavior—and their future dreams of the White House are guaranteed to fail, without any doubt!
The likelihood is that the Tea Party lunatics will break with the GOP, which is the only hope for the revival of the Republican Party, but will benefit the Democratic Party for years to come!
Barack Obama is totally correct in refusing a six week extension of the debt ceiling, without an ending of the government shutdown immediately! And the irony that the six week extension would end on November 22, the 50th Anniversary of the John F. Kennedy Assassination, is totally reprehensible!
Obama’s approval rating is going up while GOTea rating is going down.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/10/heads-gop-rasmussen-president-obamas-approval-ratings-rising-51.html
Yes, the Republican Party is in deep decline, and if they do not kick the Tea Party out, and let them become a third party fringe movement, they are done for the long term future nationally!
Professor Feinman here is an update on my post regarding the CDC and disease tracking.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/11/2770331/salmonella-usda-regulation-fail/
WHY THE USDA IS NOT RECALLING SALMONELLA CONTAMINATED CHICKEN THAT IS SICKENING HUNDREDS
It’s because the have no power to do so!!!
Thanks Republicans!
CREDIT: AP
As an especially vicious salmonella outbreak sickens hundreds across the country, U.S. Department of Agriculture regulators have declined to crack down on the poultry processing plants that spread the pathogen. On Monday, the USDA threatened to close the California-based Foster Farms facilities, but decided to keep the plant open under scrutiny on Thursday night after Foster Farms submitted a plan for “immediate substantive changes to their slaughter and processing to allow for continued operations.â€
The outbreak has sickened at least 300 people in 17 states, and 42 percent of the victims have been hospitalized — twice the normal hospitalization rate for salmonella. Yet neither state nor federal regulators have issued a recall order, stating the chicken is safe if fully cooked.
Industry publication Meatingplace interviewed Daniel Engeljohn, a USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service official, about the decision to keep the infected meat on the shelves. Engeljohn pointed to a federal court decision in 2001 that crippled the USDA’s ability to take meaningful action against meat processors that violate food safety standards. The notoriously conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the USDA did not have the authority to shut down Supreme Beef, a meat processing plant that repeatedly flunked tests for salmonella contamination. The justification for this ruling was that the meat was safe if it was cooked properly. Thanks to this decision, the USDA has only the power to ask the company at fault to recall their products voluntarily.
Left toothless against dangerous meat operations, the USDA has instead launched several public health campaigns to teach people how to cook the almost-certainly pathogen-riddled meat without getting sick. Companies face no incentive to change sketchy food safety practices — but warnings to cook meat fully, use a meat thermometer, and wash any dishes that have come into contact with raw meat have become the new norm for American meat consumers.
The latest outbreak is a stark example of this dynamic. Foster Farms’ official statement asks consumers to see their tainted chicken as a learning experience: “The alert that regulators issued based on illnesses over the past seven months emphasizes the need to fully cook and properly handle raw poultry.â€
Similarly, the California Department of Public Health has asked consumers to take on the risk rather than ask Foster Farms for a recall that would cost the company millions: “The CDPH has not requested Foster Farms to recall chickens because, with proper handling and preparation, this product is safe for consumption…Provided that consumers do not cross-contaminate fully cooked chicken with raw chicken juices, it is safe to consume.â€
Meanwhile, the poultry industry lobbied for drastically weakened poultry inspection rules. The USDA’s proposed poultry plant rule replaces federal food inspectors with internal inspectors who work for the company, and speeds up the assembly line so that inspectors will only have a third of a second to examine each chicken. Inspectors in test plants said they observed many poultry plant employees ignoring birds covered in fecal matter, and were reprimanded if they tried to remove diseased birds, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the USDA’s justification for this rule was based on inaccurate and antiquated data.
This is criminal behavior, and needs to be prosecuted by the Department of Justice, against these companies, and also the politicians who are causing this health crisis by their reckless behavior!
Hello Professor,
My friend who cohosts the radio show i guest on said, “I will NEVER abandon the fight for truth, economic and social justice, and what was once idealistically known as “the American Wayâ€!
We all have seen the degrading of the Working Middle Classes’ standards of living while being cheered on by the ignorance of the Teabagger factions.
This lemming segment that is buying into the Koch Brothers propaganda are pro actively destroying not only everyone’s quality of life that our fathers and grandfather’s fought and died for to obtain the five day workweek, overtime pay, medical and retirement benefits. Lifestyles that we grew up with but are no longer accepted as being basic workers rights; but more importantly our children’s and grandchildren’s working life, the employees abuses will even be worse than we are seeing today.
I agree ONE HUNDRED PERCENT with your friend, and of course, Engineer, with you! 🙂
Professor,
To put a little levity in the situation and I know your like
of the Golden Oldies, and the two individuals most responsible
for the recent mess, so I’ve updated the lyrics to the old Frankie Ford classic
and renamed it Lee-Cruz:
Old Man McConnell is-a in my shoes
It’s no use sittin’ here singin’ the blues
So go be my guest, you’ve got everything to lose
Won’t you let me take you on a Lee- Cruz
CHORUS:
Whoo-ee, whoo-ee baby
Whoo-ee, whoo-ee baby
Whoo-ee, whoo-ee baby
Won’t you let me take you on a Lee Cruz
Bridge:
I feel like jumpin’; baby, won’t you join me, please?
I don’t like beggin’, but now I’m on bended knees
Verse 2:
I gotta keep movin’, honey, I ain’t lyin’
My heart is beatin’ rhythm and it’s right on time
So be my guest, you’ve got everything’ to lose
Won’t you let me take you on a Lee- Cruz
(chorus)
(bridge)
Verse 3:
I gotta keep a-rockin’, take the country off track
I gotta boogie-woogie put a knife in its back
So be my guest, you’ve got nothin’ to lose
Won’t you let me take you on a Lee- Cruz
(chorus, then repeat its last line and fade)
(thank ya vury much ; )
Thanks so much, Paul! HAHAHA! 🙂