Our apologies

We here at These Bastards spend a lot of time warning and cheering on the apocalypse. Robot apocalypse, financial apocalypse, meteor strikes, supernovas, lizard people, war, war with lizard people, climate collapse, and alien invasion.But one of the ones we've been most interested in is a calamitous viral event or flupocalypse. Not only because we're certain we would survive, but it's also the plotline of one of our favorite books, the Stand. It'd be glorious, a cornucopia of good vs. evil, Boulder vs. Vegas, weird omens, cawing crows on fence posts, deaf guys getting exploded, mildly retarded men stealing nukes, and holy retribution.

That's why we were so excited about the swine flu, or H1N1... or Porcine AIDS. We thought it had the power to cleanse all you rotten bastards from the face of this earth. Well, turns out the panic over it might not have been on the level.

Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, claims major firms organised a "campaign of panic" to put pressure on the World Health Organisation to declare a pandemic.

He believes it is "one of the greatest medicine scandals of the century" — and has called for an inquiry.
...
"The great campaign of panic we have seen provided a golden opportunity for representatives from labs who knew they would hit the jackpot in the case of a pandemic being declared.

What? Pharmaceutical companies hyping a virus to hawk expensive medicine? I don't believe it. I'd get up and march right over to this Wodarg fellow and tell him what's what, but don't you know, I'm not supposed to exert my legs too heavily, what with this restless leg syndrome I'm taking medicine for. Plus the pills for my nonspecific mouth pain disorder make me dizzy and a new ad makes me wonder if I'm suffering the ill effects of coal miner's pinky.

But still, isn't it the point when you discover a possibly dangerous and new type of flu related to that Spanish flu that killed everyone a while back, to overreact to it? Isn't that the point of any possible outbreak; to overreact to it? Isn't that how it gets stopped in its tracks? Isn't that how the fuckers who don't want everyone dead avoid a Stand-type scenario?

Plus, the was reported by the UK's the Sun, which means it was sandwiched in between topless women answering questions about "the issues" and horrendously bad headlines made out of puns, so your mileage may vary. But, if in fact we're all going to live and none of us survivors will be in a pitched battle for all mankind, well, we'd just like to apologize for getting your hopes up. Sorry, we're all going to make it.

On the bright side, there's always bird flu. And SARS, maybe that'll make a comeback. There is hope.

Cheap Blogging Crutch 11.13

Making Health Care Better
The New York Times' David Leonhardt provides us with an exhaustive story on doctors, administrators, and public policy dorks who are doing the hard work of trying to hold down costs and make health care more effective in the current broken system. You may know them by their other title: people who aren't as smart as our elected betters in the Senate. He focuses specifically on the work of Brent James, who probably wakes up every morning, reads about the health care debate, and then has to spend 15 minutes talking himself out of suicide. It's an article that's worth your time.

How the US Funds the Taliban
I bet you're thinking "I'm sure it's just some labyrinthine trail where we find out that things we buy and things we do eventually flow back to the Taliban and terrorist organizations in Afghanistan, meant to teach us a lesson about the complexities of war." Nope! We're just straight up paying them. In cash. Sometimes just to not do anything, sometimes we pay them for protection. Often it's just huge, corrupt payments to Hamid Karzai's family. It's all very sordid and is definitely one of the many, many things your shouldn't think about when we decide to send a bunch more troops over there.

CDC Estimates 22 Million H1N1 Cases In US Between April And October
Oh, you forgot about Porcine AIDS, didn't you? Well it didn't forget about you, infecting maybe as many as 36 million and killing 4,000. Ok, that doesn't sound frightening, but what if I pointed out it was Friday the 13th and said it in a spooooky voice? No? Fuck you anyway, we're all going to die. Might want to think about getting that flu shot.

Al-Qa'ida prefers U.S. to stick around
What would you say if I told you that the United States military and political establishment didn't really understand Al Qaeda or it's political and military goals in reference to Afghanistan. Would you say 'no shit' or 'no fucking shit'? Well, anyway, it basically boils down to how they really, really, really, want us to stay and keep sending troops in. Boy, good thing we're not going to do anything stupid like that. By the way, this is also one of the many, many things your shouldn't think about when we decide to send a bunch more troops over there.

China proves to be an aggressive foe in cyberspace
Hey, while the US is spending trillions on not having health care, building super duper fighter planes, missiles, and various things that Michael Bay totally beats off to, you know what China is spending their money on? Well, infrastructure, energy, and wrapping its tentacles around the world. But militarily? Mostly they're watching Hackers over and over again and taking notes. Aaaand they're pretty much countering any intelligence imbalances and could do major damage to us if we ever started a war with them. In fact they're pretty much already running an undeclared war on us. I'm sure this is a problem a few more F-22's that are built the districts of every congressman on an appropriations committee will solve.

Satire and reality violently smash into each other

The Onion: Obama's Declaration Of Swine Flu Emergency Prompts Pro-Swine-Flu Republican Response

Media Matters: Misinformation pandemic, Beck, Limbaugh fomenting fear about H1N1 vaccine

• Glenn Beck on H1N1 vaccine and fear mongering about the vaccine being mandatory:

Vaccine may turn out to be "deadly."
"I'd do the exact opposite of what the Homeland Security says."
"You don't know if this is gonna cause neurological damage like it did in the 1970s."
Beck suggests government will say "everybody" has to take the flu shot, may "line up" people to get mandatory flu shot.
"U.S. out of my bloodstream."
"If government says it's OK," why are health care workers protesting mandated vaccinations?
Massachusetts Senate bill "could be paving the way for forced vaccinations."
People rejecting vaccines because they don't trust the government.
Obama is "just declaring a national emergency so [they] can take power."


• Rush Limbaugh fear mongering over the H1N1 vaccine:

"You'll be healthier" if you don't listen to the government.
"Screw you, Ms. Sebelius! I am not going to take it, precisely because you're now telling me I must."
Government might be "hyping the number" of H1N1 cases to "create panic and chaos, sell health care."

Sorry Onion, looks like reality is just a little bit funnier than you. Although its funny in a "horrifyingly funny" way, as Beck and Limbaugh are trying to fear mongering and stoke panic in a way that could actually get people killed.

Now normally I'd hear the phrase "Beck and Limbaugh are actually trying to kill their audience", smile politely, and skip down the street whistling a jaunty tune. But, seeing as this might actually result in deaths, I figured not even an obsessive fan of those two deserves a flu death. Plus, I would like to spare these people the indignity of reaching the pearly gates, explaining that they died of the flu because they listened to right wing commentators, then having to endure the spectacle of St. Peter calling over the Holy Trinity and all the angles in heaven to laugh at them.

So let me just say this, even though I know it won't do any good: For the love of God, don't listen to Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, or anyone on Fox News when it comes to science, health, common sense, or really anything. I know that's a large leap for most of you, but try just starting with the science and health parts; it'll probably keep you alive longer. Thank you.

Cheap Blogging Crutch 11.04

Italian court finds CIA agents guilty of kidnapping terrorism suspect
Well that makes one country that's actually serious about prosecuting torture, rendition, and kidnapping in the name of America's war on terror. Surprisingly it's Italy, who can't even convict its openly corrupt prime minister. That's a bit of a shocker. But Italy has tried and convicted 23 Americans in absentia for the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" that resulted in an Italian citizen being kidnapped and tortured. Sadly none of the convicted are named Bush, or Gonzales, or Cheney. Italian courts are also considering putting out international arrest warrants to capture the men. Someone want to roll up a copy of this news and hit the President and the Attorney General over the head with it?

Democrats’ healthcare bill would pay for ‘prayer’ treatment
Ahh Democrats, you could fuck up a one car funeral. Sure, you can't get a good health care bill passed and something simple like a woman have rights over her own body is going to prove to be a challenge, but you can make sure that the bill lets charlatans get money from the government by making "prayer treatments" actual medical expenses. Didn't you get the memo: prayer is basically most people's health care system of choice right now, and it's not because they want it that way. Do you think, maybe, we could just take that money and spend it on, I don't know, something that will actually improve the health of people or drive down medical costs? Or, we could just flush the money down the toilet in deference to the alligator god, who will in turn reward us with a healthy harvest. Doesn't that sound good?

Russia Leads Nuclear Space Race After U.S. Drops Out
Russia is seeking to take the lead in awesome when it has a $600 million nuclear spaceship flying into obit by 2012. Meanwhile the US is still dicking around with rocket fuel. This should allow the Russians to make their rockets twice as efficient and allow them to do longer and more elaborate deep space exploration and missions. We, on the other hand, will fart around in low orbit while Richard Branson and his Virgin: Galactic space tourists get within "flipping the bird" distance at us. The article also has an interesting history of nukes and space, if you wish to sigh at the path not traveled.

Flu fears help Clorox sales
Well at least this pandemic is making someone money, you know, other than the vaccine companies and the conspiratorial conglomerate of Nancy Pelosi/Barack Obama/the Bilderburg Group/the Secret Society of Jewish Bankers/the Yankees/Freemasons who created the disease for their own socialist political ends. Yes, bleach sales are driving a stock spike for Clorox as worried and paranoid parents buy it by the pallet to marinate their pork in it, make their kids drink it, and obsessively and compulsively wash their countertops with it in order to protect themselves from Porcine AIDS. It won't work, they'll all be dead while the last remnants of us fight it out in Boulder and Vegas, but it's nice that Clorox, as well as the makers of Glaad bags and Brita filters have profited in this time of irrational flu panic.

A Material Based on Sharkskin Stops Bacterial Breakouts
How badass are sharks? Even their skin pattern kicks the living fuck out of weak ass bacteria. That's right, using a sharkskin pattern on a protective film cuts the rate of disease and bacteria spreading because those rotten little microbes can't attach themselves to the sharkskin pattern. How slick is sharkskin? Scientifically speaking: slicker than greased goose shit. A man with a PhD said that, honest.

Weekend video/Pandemic scare mongering

Via Wired Science and the sciencey sounding paper “Reconstructing the initial global spread of a human influenza pandemic: A Bayesian spatial-temporal model for the global spread of H1N1pdm” by Andrew Rambaut, Philippe Lemey and Marc Suchard, comes this look at how the global Mexican pig cabals spread their H1N1 Captain Trips-esque superflu. The videos could use some ominous music, perhaps the Imperial March, Flight of the Valkyries or something from the Omen. Still, this does teach us two important things. One: We're all going to die. Two: We need to stop pigs from purchasing airplane tickets.

Cheap Blogging Crutch 09.02

The "Intolerance" Party? GOP Strategists Worry Ideologues Are Bad For The Party's Future
Some within the GOP are waking up to the idea that maybe, just maybe, having Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck as the main faces of your party is...well let's be charitable and say...not good. They want to grab the party back from the ideologues. One thing, no...two things. First, don't you actually have to have ideas to be an ideologue? Secondly, if 58% of your party has problems believing that Barry was born in the US, can you really save the the party from the overwhelming majority of itself?

Health Care Reform: Sick and Wrong
If you're like me, a cheap fucker who can't be bothered to pay actual money for printed material, Rolling Stones has put up this handy little series of video clips whereupon Matt Taibbi explains the reasoning and arguments behind his new "Democrats are rotten fuckers" health care article, currently in the "Why the Beatles Broke Up" issue. This should hold you over until they put the full article up for free and you can spend your precious money on something worthwhile, like cheap gin.

Tort Reform Unlikely to Cut Health Care Costs
Among the smaller arguments made by Republicans arguing against health care reform, is that they'd like to talk about serious reforms but the Democrats have taken the most important issue off the table (tort reform of medical malpractice lawsuits) because they're run by trial lawyers. It's not an argument you hear often because, let's face it, is has none of the zip of "They're gonna kill granny." But now someone has bothered to look at the issue and has come to the conclusion that...it wouldn't reduce costs at all. Oh well, back to the grandma killing well.

Stephen Fry: In search of the planet's most endangered species
The great Stephen Fry has just finished his newest project: searching out and documenting some of the world's rarest and endangered species. A mission he carries out in honor of his friend, the late author Douglas Adams. He has a book coming out about the journey called Last Chance to See, and the first installment on the journey is up on the Guardian website on the search to find the Giant Jumping Rat of Madagascar and New Zealand's Man-Eating Parrot, which, sadly, isn't 6 feet tall.

iPhone App Finds Disease Outbreaks Near You
Oh iPhone, is there anything you can't do? Now, with the help of your fellow citizens, you can be alerted to when any assholes start plaguing your area with their pig-related AIDS, zombie infections, and Entitilitus. When someone sees evidence of a plague outbreak red pin points appear on a Google map along with links to the news story, nearby medical supply depots that sell flu masks in bulk are identified, and links to guns stores where you can buy shotguns powerful enough to take the head off of one of the shambling undead are highlighted.

You are all diseased

Above: An uninfected Carnegie Mellon University student

Complimenting USA Today's Holy Shit We're All Gonna Die feature in today's edition comes news from the Homeland of a Porcine AIDS outbreak at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh's largest virgin enclave and Alma mater of yours truly.

Eighteen suspected cases of H1N1 influenza have prompted Carnegie Mellon University to take action to reduce exposures and prevent a full-fledged outbreak.

In a university e-mail yesterday, officials said 18 students have contacted Student Health Services about having flu-like illness.

Also, not surprisingly:

Classes will continue.

On the bright side, the H1N1 virus is most readily transmitted by close contact and the exchange of bodily fluids, both of which are exceedingly rare occurrences on CMU's campus. So breathe easy, kids. Use your inhalers if you have to.

h/t James

Cheap Blogging Crutch 08.25

The Baucus White Paper: The Plan
To be mad at Max Baucus for the way he has been handling the Finance Committee's health care negotiations is one thing. But if you really want to get mad at him, and I mean blindingly, white hot seeing red mad, just go back and read his white paper from November of last year for his own plans for health care reform. Employer mandates, a strong Heath Insurance Exchange, and a strong public insurance option. In short, a plan that is not only more liberal than any of the bills under consideration, but one that is considerably more liberal (and more helpful) than anything he's even allowing his own committee to consider. Boo this man.

CIA Bio Says 9/11 Mastermind’s Days in N.C. ‘Helped Propel Him to Terrorism
According to CIA reports, it seems that time that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed spent in school in North Carolina sent him on the path towards terrorism by proving to him that "the United States was a debauched and racist country". All I can say is thank God he didn't go to school in South Carolina otherwise those planes might have had nukes on them. Not that he would have had much of a chance at survival in SC. The treacherous mountain of Afghanistan are one thing, but the Appalachians are another.

GOP Tees Up Medicare Manifesto
The GOP is starting up it's campaign to vigorously defend Medicare and Medicaid from any tampering from nefarious Democrats. It's nice that heir contribution to health care is going to be to gin up another fake issue that isn't happening and vow valiantly to defend it from invisible menace. Though it is nice to see Republicans swear their allegiance to a government run single payer health care system like Medicare. If only that massive bit of hypocrisy could be used in some way.

Obama nominates Ben Bernanke for a second Fed term
Ahh, Ben Bernanke is awarded his rightful place and our Eternal Money Overlord. Why? Because I guess he cuts checks to the financial sector better than anyone else. It's certainly not for his predictive power or a magic ability to lower interest rates below zero. It's good to know that everyone thinks he's the right man for the job. Why? Because he has the job. And really, that's all we need to know about him or his many varied secretive actions that incur little oversight.

Hospitals May Face Severe Disruption in Swine Flu’s U.S. Return
Oh sure you thought Porcine AIDS was dead. That's just what the nasty little pig virus wanted you to think. Now it's just lying in wait and according to the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (fresh from their eight year exile at bible camp) infect half the US population within the next year. That's right: THE APOCALYPSE IS BACK ON!!!!! The only question is if it will take the form of the much discussed the Stand scenario, or have new movies like the Book of Eli and the Road presaged our impending post-apocalyptic wandering doom?

What every American should be made to learn about the IG Torture Report
Glenn Greenwald compiles an interesting list of torture tidbits from the IG Torture Report that you should be exited to learn was done in your name. This ought to give you a nice base of outrage for the impending sham investigations of lower level grunts that Eric Holder and the Justice Department are about to undertake.

Take that, Jupiter

The image of Jupiter's new scar, via a comet crash, asteroid impact, or a pissy Grand Moff with a space laser. For your information the hole is the size of the Pacific fucking Ocean. Which is to say that if it hit the earth it probably would have cracked the planet in half, set the entire planet on fire, and made you wish the apocalypse came in the form of a pig based virus. Which, for your information, it still very well might.

So strut a bit earth, God hates Jupiter and reigns His horrible judgment upon its repugnant gaseous heresy. We're still in His good graces.

Oh, you thought this threat was over?

You had forgotten about Pig AIDS. Thought Pig AIDS was blown out of proportion. Thought Pig AIDS didn't have the stones to kill all of humanity. That's just what Pig AIDS wanted you to think. It's back baby and this time it means business. Level 6 business.

The World Health Organization told its member nations it was declaring a swine flu pandemic Thursday -- the first global flu epidemic in 41 years -- as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere.

In a statement sent to member countries, WHO said it decided to raise the pandemic warning level from phase 5 to 6 -- its highest alert -- after holding an emergency meeting on swine flu with its experts.

The long-awaited pandemic decision is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe. It will trigger drugmakers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine and prompt governments to devote more money toward efforts to contain the virus.
...
On Wednesday, WHO said 74 countries had reported nearly 27,737 cases of swine flu, including 141 deaths.

It's clear now: we're already dead and we don't even know it. Even now as we speak a Bruce Willis from the future is traversing our great land trying to find the source of the virus so he can help humanity retake the Earth and move out from the underground cities they've constructed. Captain Pig Trips has won, its time to accept our fate.

Though really WHO, devote more money towards Pig AIDS? It's a waste. We're all gonna die regardless of money spent. Besides, we don't even have the money. Frankly if Pig AIDS wants what money we do have, Pig AIDS better start manufacturing shitty cars or bankrupt itself making credit default swaps on mortgages. we only bust out the scrilla for things that weaken our economy, not our immune systems.

So just in case you thought we dodged a swine flu bullet and were eagerly awaiting a monkey flu or avian flu epidemic: too bad. The global pandemic is here. I'll see you in the mass graves.

The pig flu in photos

via the Big Picture

PSA

No worries, President Obama has deployed a late 70's Green Bay Packers safety tandem to fight Porcine AIDS. We're safe...for now.

Unless they get drawn in by a play action from the Swine Flu, leaving them vulnerable to a deep attack up the middle. Then we're fucked, unless the nickel corner can man up and keep pace with the Pig AIDS the Mexicans lined up in the slot. Actually, you really need to read Vince Lombardi's On Defense and Influenza Type A Pandemics to fully understand what we're dealing with and the only way we have of combating our imminent mucousy death.

Record Straightening

For reasons beyond my comprehension, an otherwise skilled and professional AP journalist occasionally contacts me for comment on whatever the news cycle is gnawing on that particular day. This week it was, naturally, Porcine AIDS ("Swine Flu" to you nonbelievers) and so my take was buried somewhere around the tenth paragraph of this wire piece and published.

The thing is, they cut all of my Texas jokes. And while the Associated Press is held to certain standards of accuracy and decorum, Matthew and I have no such reservations. Thus, we can publish the redacted material here, below the fold. Why? Because we're self-promoting shills. Why else? Because Fuck Texas, that's why.

JN: I am wondering if you have any thoughts about living in NYC during this emerging swine flu threat. Are you changing your habits at all? Avoiding crowds? Public transportation? Washing hands more? Or not. Any thoughts would be appreciated. You can email me or call (I’m writing it today). Hope to hear from you!

SM: Pleasure to hear from you. I hope all is well with the AP now that they're in the business of suing content aggregation outfits, apparently without irony.

[All the stuff that made the cut was here]

And it's not as though I needed a new excuse to avoid the apparent epicenters of the outbreak: Texas, Ohio, all the hot spring break spots in Mexico... oh, and Queens.

Not that it wouldn't be interesting to watch Texans encounter a pig they couldn't barbecue, deep fry, sodomize, or deport. Think there's any truth to the rumor that if you live in Texas and contract swine flu, your life expectancy actually increases?

Seriously, what's wrong with any of that? Loosen up, AP.

In case you were wondering

In case you're wondering where we are in this whole Porcine AIDS/the Stand crisis: we're right after the credits. The disease has already escaped from the secret government facility in Mexico, crows are already mockingly pecking at our toys, and we're right at the pre-solo bridge in Don't Fear the Reaper. Grab your deaf friend and make for Boulder.

About that whole Porcine AIDS thing...

Whilst trolling the Townhall message boards for Tennessee undergrads looking to pull a Specter, I stumbled across the Cliffs Notes to Matthew's "Happy Good Fun Time Guide to the Flupocalypse."

Count the beans, load the shotgun, bolt the door, and read them HERE.

Daily aggregation of Michelle Bachmann's retardation

Because she is an adult of the highest order, Michelle Bachmann decided to take this opportunity of a Mexican outbreak of the swine flu to do what all really smart people do: find the highest ranking Democrat and blame it all on them.

Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann, following Rush Limbaugh's cue, suggested on Tuesday that President Obama was to blame for the swine flu crisis. She went even farther than the talk show host, implying that swine flu epidemics are a Democratic phenomenon that dates back to President Carter.

"I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence."

Oh how brave of her. She doesn't actually have the guts to say it, but she just wants to heavily imply it. Of course, like always, he quick rush to use her deeply researched scientific/historical revelation to blame everything on the Demmycrats and socialism wasn't based anywhere within the realm of the factual. Other than blaming something that was started in Mexico by pigs on Obama (he's an Indonesian Muslim human, not a Mexican pig, remember?), it was actually Gerald Ford who was President when the last swine flu outbreak happened. I'm not saying she's the country's dumbest elected official, I'm just think it's an interesting coincidence she can't seem to get anything right, yet keeps talking.

In another victory for intelligence, John Boehner decided to create the House GOP American Energy Solutions Group, a comically named group that is going to pretend a return to using whales for oil will solve everything. Of course he named Michelle Bachmann to the group, because what better way to signal to the voters that you're serious about tackling energy problems and clean/green energy by making sure an avid global warming denier who continually lies about energy and the environment is front and center.

"[T]here isn’t even one study that can be produced that shows carbon dioxide is a harmful gas. There isn’t one such study because carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, it is a harmless gas. Carbon dioxide is natural. It is not harmful. It is part of Earth’s life cycle." [4/22/09]

"And the science indicates that human activity is not the cause of all this global warming. And that in fact, nature is the cause, with solar flares, etc." [3/22/09]

"[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said that she's just trying to save the planet. ... We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet -- we didn't need Nancy Pelosi to do that." [8/12/08]

"The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. It’s all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax." [3/15/08]

Why wouldn't you want this bright mind making energy policy? At the very least this energy solutions group will make for entertaining fodder. Right after fellow committee members John Shikmus declares CO2 caps as "war on plant food" or an "assault on democracy" and Mike Pence calls caps a "declaration of economic war on the Midwest", Michelle can jump in and say we've angered the Carbon God and must sacrifice livestock to make restitution. It's a solution. It counts.

I see no connection

Enemy combatant

What would you say if the largest and earliest concentration of the swine flu came from a village right smack dab next to one of the largest US owned factory farms for pigs?You'd probably say "I'm sure that's just a massive coincidence that one of the most unsanitary type of mass production farms replete with rivers of pig shit, disease carrying insects, and Mexican food production standards was right next to the place where 30% of villagers came down with a disease called swine flu, noted for it's similarity to a disease found in pigs." If you said that, you're probably part of the American media.

Is Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork packer and hog producer, linked to the outbreak? Smithfield operates massive hog-raising operations Perote, Mexico, in the state of Vera Cruz, where the outbreak originated. The operations, grouped under a Smithfield subsidiary called Granjas Carroll, raise 950,000 hogs per year, according to the company Web site.
...
From what I can tell, the possible link to Smithfield has not been reported in the U.S. press. Searches of Google News and the websites of the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal all came up empty. The link is being made in the Mexican media, however. “Granjas Carroll, causa de epidemia en La Gloria,” declared a headline in the Vera Cruz-based paper La Marcha.
...
According to one community resident, the organic and fecal waste produced by Granjas Carrol isn’t adequately treated, creating water and air pollution in the region. I witnessed—and smelled—the same thing in Hardin County, Iowa, a couple of years ago, another area marked by intensive industrial hog production. The article goes on to say that area residents have long complained of “fetid odors” in the air and water, and swarms of flies hovering around waste lagoons. Like their counterparts who live in CAFO-heavy U.S. areas, they also complain of respiratory ailments. Now, with 30 percent of the area’s residents now infected with the virulent flu bug, people are demanding that state and federal authorities inspect hog operations there. So far, reports La Marcha, the response has been: nada.

The Mexico City daily La Jornada has also made the link. According to the newspaper, the Mexican health agency IMSS has acknowledged that the original carrier for the flu could be the “clouds of flies” that multiply in the Smithfield subsidiary’s manure lagoons.

Seems to me that it would be some sort of news that Mexican authorities were looking at US owned factory farms as the source would be some sort of news. Or note that with the Mexican health agency pegging the source as the fly ridden shit rivers, that Smithfield is one of the biggest polluters on earth and has generated some of the largest fines in EPA history. Doesn't this seem like a lead that should be pursued or at least mentioned? Another byproduct of factory farming and lax environmental regulations that isn't so great? Maybe it isn't to blame, but shouldn't we...rule it out? No? Fine. I'll see you in the hospitals after I come down with this totally random flu that just appeared out of nowhere.