Teacher's MLK Day Smack Down Of Paul Ryan And The Tea Party Says It All

By Randa Morris

A social studies teacher refused to accept an award from Congressman Paul Ryan on MLK Day; Watch the video to find out why the story resurfaced this week.

There are hundreds of examples that could be pointed to, which would illustrate best why the Tea Party should quietly excuse themselves from speaking about Martin Luther King (MLK). 

Their legacy of racism, attacks on the working class, cuts to the social safety net, and contrived attempts to repress the votes of minority citizens, all contrast sharply with what MLK stood for. 

Yet maybe no person or event can explain it quite the way a Wisconsin teacher did, two years ago, when he refused to accept a Humanitarian Award from Congressman Paul Ryan.

Ryan attended an MLK Day ceremony in Racine, Wisconsin.

It goes without saying that Paul Ryan was hoping for a bit of good PR, when he attended a 2012 Martin Luther King Day Ceremony. The ceremony was held at Gateway Technical College, in the Congressman’s home state of Wisconsin. Paul Ryan was there to present a well known and respected teacher, named Al Levie, with a Humanitarian Award, named after himself. But Congressman Ryan didn’t exactly get what he was hoping for, as Al Levie refused to accept the award.

“He had no business even being here.”

Levie said of the Ayn Rand loving politician. Levie referred to Congressman Ryan as a “lackey for the one percent.” He pointed out how hypocritical it was for Paul Ryan to be delivering a humanitarian award, on a day which was set aside to honor the memory of Dr. King.

“He (Ryan) cuts and slashes healthcare, while Martin Luther King dedicated his life – and he died for – people to have adequate healthcare to have adequate jobs,”

Unlike Paul Ryan, Dr. King stood up for the working class.

In the video, Levie further highlighted the difference between Martin Luther King and Paul Ryan by saying

“King made it very clear that he was on the side of working people. Ryan, on the other hand, he has absolutely no affinity for the working class.”

Al Levie teaches social studies and is on the executive board of Voces de la Frontera, a Wisconsin based non profit that works for immigrants rights, and justice for low wage workers. He is also on the board of the Racine, WI Chapter of the NAACP.

Al Levie’s video says it all.

Sure, we could point to Sarah Palin’s ridiculous comments about how President Obama was playing the ‘race card’ by talking about MLK. We could point out that the Tea Party chose to launch a sexist attack against Wendy Davis, on a day when the rest of the country was paying tribute to a man who faught for civil rights.

We could bring up the demographics that exist within the Tea Party, highlighting the fact that the party itself is almost entirely made up of white people.

But instead of all that, we thought we’d bring back Mr. Levie’s video. This teacher does an awesome job of highlighting the differences between small people like Paul Ryan and great men, like Martin Luther King.

Levie’s video ends with the words “For him to come to an event where somebody of King’s stature is being honored, is wrong.”

Watch Al Levie refuse to accept Paul Ryan’s Humanitarian Award.

The radical Martin Luther King that we need today

As the nation rediscovers poverty, it’s time to replace the safe, airbrushed icon with the revolutionary he was

By Joan Walsh

 

State troopers stand shoulder to shoulder on the steps of Alabama's State Capitol on March 25, 1965, barring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from entering. (Credit: AP)

When Nelson Mandela died last month, I envied South Africans who had worked alongside him for freedom: Americans haven’t gotten to see many of our icons of justice get that old. My immediate thought was of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated at 39, though Bobby and John Kennedy, Malcolm X and Medgar Evers, quickly followed.

But the inescapable image was King. Even if the freedom struggle of the 1960's didn’t end up letting King grow old like Mandela, let alone lead his country as President, it was hard not to compare the two, especially since Mandela so often declared his debt to his younger American ally.

King and Mandela had much in common, but one thing stands out this week: As they were lionized globally, both were deradicalized, pasteurized and homogenized, made safe for mass consumption.

Each was in favor of a radical redistribution of global wealth. Each crusaded against poverty and inequality and war. Both did it with an equanimity and ebullience and capacity to forgive and love their enemies that made it easy to canonize them in a secular way. White people love being given the benefit of the doubt and/or being forgiven. I speak from experience.

But now, as the country turns again to issues of income inequality and poverty, and economic populism is said to be having a “moment,” maybe it’s time to remember Dr. King, the radical. The one who died trying to ignite a Poor People’s Movement that he saw as the natural outcome of the civil rights movement. The one who tried to branch out to fight poverty and war, but at least in his lifetime – and so far in ours – didn’t succeed.

* * *

I loved pretty much everything about the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington last year, except how the right got it so wrong. It seemed to be the beginning of a movement to reclaim the real MLK, especially among liberals. King was of course celebrated hugely, but so were lefty heroes who never get enough credit, like Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph.

There were stories about “The Socialists Behind the March on Washington,” as well as about the media’s and the Kennedy administration’s wrongheaded fears of violence.

---

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Coming off of that gorgeous 50th anniversary celebration, though, where we remembered the triumph of King the strategist and organizer, let’s remember the King who tried and, by common measures, failed. Wasn’t feted, wasn’t lionized.  King was always a radical, but at the end of his life, he was something of an outcast, criticized by liberals, the left and the right.

Forget about the right, for now: King crossed some Democrats and labor leaders when he turned against the Vietnam War in 1967, after his unparalleled Riverside Church speech. He knew the war was not only wrong, but was making Johnson’s alleged “War on Poverty” fiscally impossible.

Meanwhile a growing black power movement mocked King’s commitment to nonviolence and integration. Even some close allies in the civil rights movement blanched when he joined Marion Wright Edelman and other organizers to start a Poor People’s Campaign later that year – a movement of black, white, Latino, American Indian and Asian people mired in poverty, to fight the war and get the help they deserved. They were to march on Washington and set up a camp there in April 1968, the month King was assassinated.

Harry Belafonte tells a story in his amazing memoir, “My Song,” about King being challenged by his SCLC deputies on his accelerating radicalism generally, and the Poor People’s Campaign specifically, just a week before he died. Describing King as a “socialist and revolutionary thinker,” Belafonte says he clashed with close ally and future Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador Andrew Young, over not only the Poor People’s Campaign, but King’s thoroughgoing critique of capitalism.

Belafonte quotes King telling the group, gathered at the singer/actor/activist’s New York apartment: “What deeply troubles me now is that for all the steps we’ve taken toward integration, I’ve come to believe that we are integrating into a burning house.”

When Belafonte asks what that means they should do, an exhausted King tells him:   “I guess we’re just going to have to become firemen.”

Assassinated a week later, King wouldn’t get to lead the Poor People’s Campaign. But almost 50 years later, most of us who think the way he did are still firemen in a burning house, constantly fighting the fires set by radical Republicans to make life worse for the people King cared most about, never getting around to building the sturdy, welcoming, capacious, fire-resistant dwelling that lives in our political imagination. King would be proud of our accomplishments, and also a little bit sad for us. Or maybe I’m just projecting.

* * *

Some of King’s closest living allies have been trying hard to right the reverend’s record. “There have been and continue to be efforts to ‘neuter’ or ‘de-radicalize’ the Dr. King who delivered his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech in August, 1963,” says his longtime lawyer and speechwriter Clarence B. Jones.

Though the dream speech, which Jones helped write, was itself radical, he sees King’s April 1967 “Beyond Vietnam: Time to Break the Silence” speech at Riverside Church as “the ideological turning point for King.”

Harry Belafonte likewise thinks much of American political culture “is guilty of dealing with Dr. King’s life and story in grievously superficial ways. What gave us all strength to do what we did was his radical thinking.”

Acknowledging that King’s turn against the war and toward cross-racial, anti-poverty organizing was “controversial” among his closest colleagues, Belafonte notes: “It was controversial, but controversy wasn’t something he shunned; controversy became the system through which disagreement and debate could be heard. He was comfortable with that. He welcomed it. That aspect of his history is never really discussed.

“The vested interests don’t want us speaking of Dr. King in radical terms,” Belafonte continues. “The great tragedy and irony of it all is that the public hungers for voices that are driven more by these moral concerns.”

I’ve never waded into the debates over whether King was a “socialist,” though Belafonte and another close ally Julian Bond say he was (to the chagrin of Glenn Beck, who of course tried to hijack the March on Washington anniversary a few years back).  Socialism has been such a stigmatized and divisive and practically irrelevant notion in my lifetime (even though I worked for a socialist newspaper!) that I’ve never needed to claim King for its roster. But whatever we call King’s point of view, stripping him of his very obvious economic radicalism distorts not only his history but all of ours.

And as a younger generation shows more curiosity about political solutions that aren’t on the agenda, it may limit King’s appeal, too. A 2011 Pew poll found 49 percent of Americans 18 to 29 say they have a positive view of socialism vs. 43 percent with a negative view. Capitalism is underwater among that age group, with 46 percent positive and 47 percent negative. And here’s one of King’s most famous, resonant quotes about capitalism, from his August 1967 speech: “Where Do We Go From Here?” (I like this version, because it’s punctuated by his SCLC audience’s replies):

I want to say to you as I move to my conclusion, as we talk about “Where do we go from here?” that we must honestly face the fact that the movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. (Yes) There are forty million poor people here, and one day we must ask the question, “Why are there forty million poor people in America?” And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising a question about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. (Yes) And I’m simply saying that more and more, we’ve got to begin to ask questions about the whole society. We are called upon to help the discouraged beggars in life’s marketplace. (Yes) But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. (All right) It means that questions must be raised. And you see, my friends, when you deal with this you begin to ask the question, “Who owns the oil?” (Yes) You begin to ask the question, “Who owns the iron ore?” (Yes) You begin to ask the question, “Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that’s two-thirds water?” (All right) These are words that must be said. (All right)

Now, don’t think you have me in a bind today. I’m not talking about communism. What I’m talking about is far beyond communism. (Yeah) My inspiration didn’t come from Karl Marx (Speak); my inspiration didn’t come from Engels; my inspiration didn’t come from Trotsky; my inspiration didn’t come from Lenin. Yes, I read Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital a long time ago (Well), and I saw that maybe Marx didn’t follow Hegel enough. (All right) He took his dialectics, but he left out his idealism and his spiritualism. And he went over to a German philosopher by the name of Feuerbach, and took his materialism and made it into a system that he called “dialectical materialism.” (Speak) I have to reject that.

What I’m saying to you this morning is communism forgets that life is individual. (Yes) Capitalism forgets that life is social. (Yes, Go ahead) And the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism, but in a higher synthesis. (Speak) [applause] It is found in a higher synthesis (Come on) that combines the truths of both. (Yes) Now, when I say questioning the whole society, it means ultimately coming to see that the problem of racism, the problem of economic exploitation, and the problem of war are all tied together. (All right) These are the triple evils that are interrelated.

Labels don’t matter, but solutions do. Rather than remembering King solely as a civil rights leader, we must reclaim him as a radical advocate of economic justice, looking to lead a multiracial movement of poor people to complete the unfinished business of the civil rights movement.

As King put it plainly, “What good does it do to be able to eat at a lunch counter if you can’t buy a hamburger?”  Post-integration, too many black people couldn’t sit down at integrated lunch counters and buy a hamburger; 50 years later, too many people of every race have the same problem.

We are ready for the radical King now. President Obama, perhaps belatedly, has declared income inequality “the defining issue of our time.” Even poverty seems back on the agenda. The man who may be doing the most to advance these issues right now isn’t a politician or a rabble rouser; it’s Pope Francis, who’s been hailed by everyone from Obama to Paul Ryan (Ryan gets him wrong) as helping us make the issue of poverty central to our politics.

“If Dr. King were alive today, he would be in Rome visiting Pope Francis holding a joint press conference to summoning the world to aid the poor eradicate poverty,” Clarence Jones says. The President promises he’s going to the Vatican to meet the new pope, and that’s a start.

For now, though, all these years later, King’s allies and inheritors are still fighting fires in a burning house. It’s time to rebuild the house with room for everyone, and keep it safer from the fiery danger of injustice.

Joan Walsh is Salon's editor at large and the author of "What's the Matter With White People: Finding Our Way in the Next America."

More Joan Walsh.

Marco "Gulp" Rubio now odds-on favorite to be 2016 GOP nominee

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Kornacki: Complete Dawn Zimmer (Hoboken New Jersey Mayor) Interview: Is She Lying Or Telling The Truth?

January 18, 2014 clip from Up With Steve Kornacki featuring the complete interview with Hoboken, New Jersey (NJ), Mayor Dawn Zimmer, who makes explosive allegations against Republican Chris Christie's Lieutenant Governor, Kimberly "Kim" Guadagno.

Zimmer claims Guadagno tied Hoboken's receipt of requested Hurricane Sandy federal relief money to Mayor Zimmer's approval of a particular development project that favored a developer with ties to Christie crony, former New Jersey Attorney General, David Sampson.

Sampson also happens to be a major player in the Christie - George Washington Bridge lane access shutdown scandal ("Bridgegate").

Hoboken NJ Mayor says Christie administration withheld Sandy funds

(CNN) - In another controversy surrounding New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer said Sunday that Christie directly ordered the withholding of Superstorm Sandy recovery funds unless she backed a redevelopment plan he favored.

By Leigh Ann Caldwell, Chris Frates and Cassie Spodak, CNN

Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," Zimmer said she was told by a member of Christie's administration that Sandy relief funds hinged on her support for a real estate development project and that the directive was coming directly from Christie.

"She said that to me -- is that this is a direct message from the Governor," Zimmer said, referring to Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who Zimmer said approached her in a parking lot in May to deliver the message.

It's "stunning" and "outrageous," but true, the Hoboken mayor told CNN's Candy Crowley. "I stand by my word."

Later in the day, she released a statement saying that she had met with the U.S. Attorney's Office for several hours at its request and provided the office with her journal and other documents.

"As they pursue this investigation, I will provide any requested information and testify under oath about the facts of what happened when the Lieutenant Governor came to Hoboken and told me that Sandy aid would be contingent on moving forward with a private development project," she said.

Zimmer said the Christie administration wanted her to approve a project by The Rockefeller Group, a real estate developer with ties to Christie's administration.

When asked by CNN to respond to Zimmer's accusation that Christie had a direct hand in the threat, Christie spokesman Colin Reed refused to address it and instead referred to a previous statement, which said Zimmer's allegations that relief funds were withheld is based on partisan politics.

The allegations come as other controversies revolve around Christie's administration. In one, evidence mounts showing that Christie aides were involved in tying up traffic in a town at the foot of the George Washington Bridge in what may have been an act of political retribution against another mayor. In another, the Christie administration hired a firm for post-Sandy tourism ads that cost nearly twice as much as the next highest proposal.

This is the first time Christie has been directly connected to the controversy.

Christie administration pushes back

In his statement to CNN on Saturday, Reed blasted Zimmer's claim that the funds were based on the real estate project. He said her accusations are false, adding, "It's very clear partisan politics are at play here as Democratic mayors with a political ax to grind come out of the woodwork and try to get their faces on television."

Reed went on to attack the cable news channel that first broke the news Saturday. "MSNBC is a partisan network that has been openly hostile to Governor Christie and almost gleeful in their efforts attacking him," Reed said.

MSNBC said its story is based on an interview with Zimmer "and e-mails and personal notes she shared with MSNBC."

The Governor's spokesman also said the Mayor and Governor have had a "productive relationship," noting an August tweet by Zimmer saying she's "very glad Governor Christie has been our Gov."

Christie marches on as controversy at home unfolds

Zimmer's comments Saturday and Sunday are a change from what she told CNN just last week, when she said that while she wondered whether Sandy aid funds were being withheld because she didn't endorse the governor's re-election, she concluded that "I don't think that's the case."

"I don't think it was retaliation and I don't have any reason to think it's retaliation, but I'm not satisfied with the amount of money I've gotten so far," Zimmer told CNN last week, not mentioning her concerns about the redevelopment project.

But Sunday morning, Zimmer told CNN's Crowley that she didn't speak out before because she didn't think anyone would believe her, adding that she is now "offering to testify under oath."

Zimmer admitted to supporting Christie in the past, saying she is not a part of "the Democratic machine." But the information around the George Washington Bridge scandal -- involving lane closures at the entrance to the busy bridge, apparently for political retaliation -- prompted her to speak. She said she sees parallels between her story and the bridge controversy: "The Christie administration using their authority to try and get something."

Zimmer said Guadagno appeared to feel guilty for delivering the message.

"I believe if and when she is asked to testify under oath, the truth will come out, because I believe she will be truthful and she will tell the truth," Zimmer told Crowley.

Zimmer also said she is speaking because she wants Hoboken to receive an appropriate level of funds in the second round of recovery dollars about to be released.

Sandy recovery funds

After Sandy, Hoboken was 80% underwater. Zimmer told CNN last week that Hoboken received only about $300,000 of the roughly $100 million in state funds the city requested for flood prevention.

Reed, Christie's spokesman, told CNN that Zimmer asked for $100 million from a roughly $300 million pot of money for which there was $14 billion worth of requests.

Since that request, Reed said, Hoboken has been approved for nearly $70 million in aid. The city has also been identified as a pilot community for a federal program to prevent flooding, one of only four such projects in New Jersey.

Zimmer, however, had a different account of allocated funds. She said the $70 million given to Hoboken was through flood insurance and other mechanisms that did not need approval from the state. She received only $300,000 in Christie-approved funds, she said.

CNN received images of journal entries from the Mayor's office that Zimmer told CNN she wrote at the time.

See the journal entries

In one, Zimmer writes that the conversation with Guadagno left her upset and shattered the image she had of Christie.

"I thought he was honest, I thought he was moral -- I thought he was something very different. This week I found out he's cut from the same corrupt cloth that I have been fighting for the last four years. 

I am so disappointed -- it literally brings tears to my eyes," the journal entry says.

Zimmer also wrote that Guadagno told her she needs "to move forward with the Rockefeller project. It is very important to the Gov."

Reed, asked by CNN about Zimmer's comments on Guadagno, said, "Mayor Zimmer's characterization of her conversation in Hoboken is categorically false."

Three days after the purported Guadagno comments, state Community Affairs Commissioner Richard Constable was on a panel with Zimmer, discussing Sandy relief.

Zimmer told MSNBC that Constable leaned over and told her, "If you move (the redevelopment project) forward, the money would start flowing to you."

In a statement to CNN, Constable spokeswoman Lisa Ryan said, "Mayor Zimmer's allegations that on May 16, 2013, in front a live auditorium audience Commissioner Constable conditioned Hoboken's receipt of Sandy aid on her moving forward with a development project is categorically false."

Debate about redevelopment

Zimmer's claims center around a property owned by The Rockefeller Group, which had its plan for "redevelopment" of a three-block area of Hoboken rejected by the city's planning board. Instead, the panel voted to classify the area owned by the company as available for "rehabilitation." The "redevelopment" label was sought because its tax incentives offered a much more lucrative deal for the development company.

Aides and advisers to Christie have ties to Wolff & Samson, the law firm representing The Rockefeller Group.

The Hoboken Planning Board rejected the "redevelopment" plan three days before Zimmer was allegedly first approached by Guadagno.

Zimmer provided MSNBC with a 2012 e-mail from Wolff & Samson's Lori Grifa -- previously commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs -- to Hoboken's lawyer that shows her lobbying on behalf of the project: "Our client, The Rockefeller Group, has specifically asked us to speak with you regarding its property in Hoboken."

Grifa is not the only connection between the Christie administration and The Rockefeller Group. The Samson in Wolff & Samson is David Samson, chairman of the Port Authority, who was appointed by Christie. Samson was recently served with a subpoena in the George Washington Bridge case by an investigative committee seeking relevant documents.

The Rockefeller Group told CNN, "We have no knowledge of any information pertaining to this allegation. If it turns out to be true, it would be deplorable."

The law firm, in a statement, denied Zimmer's allegations and said it did nothing wrong: "The firm's and Ms. Grifa's conduct in the representation of our client was appropriate in all respects. Further, Ms. Grifa notes that while DCA Commissioner, she never met with Mayor Zimmer or The Rockefeller Group to discuss the Hoboken project."

Zimmer told MSNBC that she couldn't agree to The Rockefeller Group proposal because "there are fundamental problems with the site in northern Hoboken, including traffic and flooding issues, that would be magnified if the plan were to go forward.

A spokesperson for The Rockefeller Group told CNN that it still hopes to develop the site under the designation of "rehabilitation," but that this is "contingent on the plan the city comes up with."

Another investigation?

As word of the allegations spread Saturday, the chairman of the investigative committee tasked with looking into the George Washington Bridge scandal weighed in.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski, D-Middlesex, told CNN: "This certainly has attracted our attention. 

We need to obtain all relevant facts, confer with our special counsel and determine the committee's best course of action."

Stopping Trans-Pacific Partnership is crucial to save American jobs

The need to keep jobs at home is clear. Ed Schultz exclusively sits down with seven members of Congress to discuss stopping the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Meet The Republican Millionaire Who's Pushing For A Higher Minimum Wage

By Nathaniel Downes

Meet Ron Unz, Republican Millionaire and one-time candidate for US Senate. The former publisher of The American Conservative recently appeared on MSNBC in order to continue his call to raise the minimum wage.

The Never Ending Sorry: Late-Night Comedy Roundup

Chris Christie: Media Darling?

Christie’s “Bridgegate” scandal is only boosting his esteem in some pockets of the media. John Fugelsang and Mike Papantonio discuss why the media is taking a soft focus.

Unemployment Rate Falls to 6.7%

By Taegan Goddard

The U.S. economy added just 74,000 jobs last month — way below expectations by economists — but the unemployment rate sunk to just 6.7%.

Wall Street Journal:

“Put December 2013 as the month in which the country’s labor data officially became a mess. What are we to make of a number that came in so far below expectations after a very strong November, all at the same time that the unemployment rate dropped all the way down to 6.7%.

How on earth are we supposed to read a discernible, meaningful trend in his morass of contradictions?

One thing’s certain, it's a reminder that month-to-month data reactions are dangerous.”

Chris Christie's Top 5 Practically Believable Alibis For Bridgegate

Who was the real target of the Christie staff's political retaliation?

Chris Hayes plays out Rachel Maddow's stunning theory of who was the real target of the Christie staff's political retaliation.

Random Observations on Chris Christie's Epically Long Press Conference

1. Just for shits and giggles, let's take Christie at his word at his press conference answering questions about his staff's involvement in limiting access to the George Washington Bridge as political retribution against the mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey. Let's believe everything he said (even though he said he had just heard about the scandal at 8:50 the previous morning and insisted twice that he had lost sleep over two nights which, unless he's living some kind of Groundhog's Day, isn't possible unless he knew that something was going to break, in which case his whole press conference was a lie, but, still, let's pretend, shall we?).

Even looking at what he said in the most generous light possible, what we're left with is a governor who, by his own admission, has surrounded himself with people who are dishonest, who prefers to remain ignorant about problems, who is more concerned with personal betrayal and hurt feelings than public consequences, and who is out of touch with the day-to-day operations of his own government. In other words, he's all bluster and no substance, an incompetent boob. In otherer words, he reached under his gut, took out his tiny penis, and fucked himself in front of the press. In otherest words, the round man waved bye-bye to the Oval Office.

2. But what he said was actually a pretty disturbing portrait of rampant narcissism, as is Christie's way. There was Christie presenting himself as the poor fool, the victim of a lying woman (with its underlying implication of "C'mon, everyone. Bitches be crazy"). He said of Bridget Kelley, "I've terminated her employment because she lied to me." And for no other reason. That's fucked up right there. The sin wasn't mucking up the traffic of the busiest bridge in the United States for some phantom political game. It wasn't delaying ambulances, police, and school buses. No, it was that she lied to Sultan Christie.

Is that too far? Look at the transcript. No less than a half dozen times does Christie refer to Kelly's "lies." And Christie said he didn't ask Kelly why she conspired with David Wildstein to screw the entry lanes to the GWB from Fort Lee because she might be called to testify before a legislative committee? No, fuck that. Again, taking him at his word, you don't ask because you don't want to know.

3. Advice to Chris Christie: When there's ample video evidence, recorded proudly by your own staff, of you being a bully, don't say, "I am not a bully."

4. Advice to Chris Christie, Part 2: Stop giving civics lessons in your press conferences. Yeah, we fuckin' get it. "Politics ain't bean bag" or however the fuck you wanna put it. Really, fucko? We delicate pussies would have never figured that out without you informing us. Oh, and without watching TV news once during our lives.

5. Advice to Chris Christie, Part 3: Yeah, you may have 65,000 state employees. But you don't have that many in your own office. So just stop equating your deputy chief of staff with the poor schlub inputting mailed-in tax forms in some basement office in Newark. You know what Kelly's job was. Or see #1.

6. Advice to Chris Christie, Part 4: In general, stop pretending you don't know people. Port Authority official Wildstein? Mark Sokolich, the mayor of Fort Lee? Dude, Sokolich backed you on a couple of things. He's one of those Democrats you always tout as making you so glori-fucking-fied bipartisan. There's a photo of you with him. He was elected and reelected at the same time as you. You look like the liar you are when you say such things.

7. And what the fuck exactly is the atmosphere in the governor's office if your minions feel free to do such fuckery?

8. What the Rude Pundit didn't hear amid the apologies and the "Buck stops with me, but, you know, I was lied to, but, sure, the buck stops with me, even though, hey, I was lied to" was Christie saying that anyone should be investigated for possible criminal charges, like misuse of government funds, for starters. We already know what David Wildstein will do under oath: take the Fifth so he doesn't, well, shit, incriminate himself. Someone's gonna be offered immunity and a deal, which leads to...

9. Yesterday, the Rude Pundit said what he thought happened to make the bridge debacle possible. But he's calling "bullshit" on the whole press conference. He's calling "bullshit" on Christie's whole internal investigation, which looks like it'll have the same momentum as OJ Simpson looking for the "real" killers. It was an act of political preservation, delivered with braggadocio and pomposity ("Look how good I am at apologizing"). As such, it'll fool the idiots and the simpering reporters who laughed at Christie's exasperated jokes.

But, somewhere not so very far away, Hillary Clinton just started shifting strategy to how she'll defeat Rand Paul in the general.

// posted by Rude One @ 2:15 PM

Christie’s Waterloo

The George Washington Bridge fiasco is a deeply damning window on the governor's administration

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

The presumptive presidential candidate is facing criticism for his alleged role in the political scandal.

In the best possible light, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie built a top staff of lying thugs who threatened lives and safety to serve his political ends. If not, Christie is a lying thug himself.

Emails and text messages among his close aides made public Wednesday documented that in September they gleefully engineered George Washington Bridge lane closures to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for failing to endorse their boss’ reelection.

Local officials say the gridlock they caused delayed ambulances in responding to four calls, including one involving an unconscious 91-year-old woman who later died.

Christie’s presidential ambitions are all but kaput, as he will be lambasted and lampooned as a man of low character and horrible judgment — again viewing him in the most favorable way.

RELATED: CHRIS CHRISTIE 'EMBARRASSED, HUMILIATED' BY BRIDGE SCANDAL

The Port Authority’s sudden, unannounced closing of bridge entrance lanes produced hours-long backups for four days. They ended only after Executive Director Patrick Foye discovered the shutdowns, which were later traced to rogue orders issued by Christie PA appointee David Wildstein, a high school buddy, and to a cover-up by Bill Baroni, Christie’s top person at the bistate agency.

Bill Bramhall/New York Daily News

For months, responsibility remained clouded. During that time, Christie made light of the charges. He joked that the press was suggesting he had moved traffic cones personally. Last month, he described the affair as “not that big a deal.” He supported Baroni’s story that the lane closures were part of a traffic study.

His aides’ communications, made public Wednesday, put the lie to that.

“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” the governor’s deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly wrote to Wildstein on Aug. 13, starting the chain of irresponsible actions.

RELATED: 'WORST EXAMPLE OF PETTY POLITICAL VENDETTA': SOKOLICH ON CHRISTIE GW BRIDGE CLOSINGS

“Got it,” Wildstein replied.

He closed the lanes on Sept. 9, bringing traffic to a standstill. Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich then began pressing Baroni for help.

Mel Evans/AP

Christie will address the press on Thursday after emails and text messages revealed his administration may have closed highway lanes to exact political retribution.

“Presently we have four very busy traffic lanes merging into only one toll booth,” he texted. The bigger problem is getting kids to school. Help please. It’s maddening.”

That provoked a cold-hearted exchange among Christie’s people.

RELATED: PRESIDENT CHRISTIE? CROSSING THAT BRIDGE

“Is it wrong that I am smiling?” an unidentified aide texted Wildstein.

“No,” he wrote back.

And he added: “They are the children of Buono voters,” referring to Christie’s Democratic opponent, Barbara Buono.

John Moore/Getty Images

Lane closures along the George Washington Bridge in September were political retaliation against a Chris Christie opponent, personal emails suggest.

When Foye began to undo the closures, Wildstein wrote Kelly, “The New York side gave Fort Lee back all three lanes this morning. We are appropriately going nuts. Samson helping us to retaliate.”

Wildstein was referring to PA Chairman David Samson, Christie’s appointee.

Also looped in to lie about what had happened were Christie’s press secretary, Michael Drewniak, and campaign manager Bill Stepien. Late Wednesday, Christie said:

“I am outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was I misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge.

“This type of behavior is unacceptable and I will not tolerate it, because the people of New Jersey deserve better. This behavior is not representative of me or my administration in any way, and people will be held responsible for their actions.”

Give full credit to his statement, and Christie stands as a hardball-playing governor who horribly misjudged or distorted the character of those around him and compounded the felony by trying to skate by their wrongdoing without full investigation. Take his denials of knowledge with skepticism, and the man is a monster.

Emails Linking Chris Christie To Illegal Retaliation Scandal Threatens To Sink 2016 Hopes

By Justin "Filthy Liberal Scum" Rosario

Governor Chris Christie is in hot water over emails definitively linking his staff to the Fort Lee lane closures scandal. Buh-bye 2016! – Image: DonkeyHotey @ Flickr

Well crap! Looks like NJ Governor Chris Christie’s goon squad foolishly left an email trail implicating themselves in the Fort Lee lane closures scandal.

Quick summary if you haven’t been following the story:

Over the summer, the mayor of Fort Lee declined to endorse Chris Christie for re-election. Then, on the first day of school in September, “someone” closed three lanes leading from Fort Lee to the George Washington Bridge, turning the town into a parking lot. Governor Christie, of course, denied any involvement with the lane closures. But, unsurprisingly, his staff was so full of hubris they sent a number of emails pretty much announcing they were, indeed, retaliation:

A series of newly obtained emails and text messages shows that Gov. Chris Christie’s office was closely involved with lane closings on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge in September, and that officials closed the lanes in what appeared to be retribution against the mayor whose town was gridlocked as a result.

Mr. Christie has insisted that his staff and his campaign office had nothing to do with the local lane closings, and said that they were done as part of a traffic study.

But the emails show that Bridget Anne Kelly, a deputy chief of staff in Mr. Christie’s office, gave a signal to the Port Authority to close the lanes about two weeks before the closings occurred.

“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” she emailed David Wildstein, Mr. Christie’s close friend from high school, and one of his appointees at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the bridge.

Just how clear are we that the Fort Lee lane closures were retaliation by Chris Christie?

It’s very clear that Fort Lee was being punished. The reaction of Chris Christie’s cronies to the NY Port Authority undoing the lane closures is pretty much the final nail in the coffin:

After the lane closures were reversed by New York officials at the Port Authority, New Jersey officials expressed panic that their plan was not causing enough trouble.

“The New York side gave Fort Lee back all three lanes this morning. We are appropriately going nuts,” Mr. Wildstein wrote to Ms. Kelly. “Samson helping us to retaliate.”

“What??” she emailed back.

“Yes, unreal. Fixed now,” he emailed

You don’t go “nuts” and “retaliate” over a “traffic study” being disrupted. Seriously, to have this much of a concerted effort going on to maintain lane closures and claiming the Governor Christie DIDN’T know that Fort Lee was being screwed strains credulity. So yeah, Chris Christie’s in deep political hot water and that’s not good.

Chris Christie not running in 2016 is bad for America.

I’m actually really pissed off about this. Not because I liked Christie (I don’t) but because he would have been skinned alive in the primaries. I know that sounds strange but let me explain.

I don’t like the governor for his economic policies but his social policies are not in line with the GOP’s rabid bigotry. At all. Chris Christie refused to demonize Muslims, hasn’t dropped jokes about Obama being black and while he didn’t support marriage equality, he didn’t jump up and down about how gays are destroying the country.

The spectacle of Governor Christie being annihilated for not being a rabid bigot would have been epic because he would have gone down swinging. The “liberal” media likes to pretend the GOP is not overflowing with hate, but it would have been impossible for them to gloss over the rage that would have been thrown at Christie.

And Chris Christie is the not the kind to keep his mouth shut for party unity. He would have been on every talk show complaining, loudly, that the party has been taken over by fanatics and idiots. What a glorious sight that would have been.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates rips Obama in memoir

 

Sony PlayStation 2 'Resident Evil Outbreak' Series Online Multiplayer Servers Revived 10 Years Later

By Cauterize

Although the Sony PlayStation 2 never really boasted that many online experiences, what was on offer was an early example of what we've all grown so accustomed to today. The Resident Evil: Outbreak games brought along some fantastic multiplayer survival carnage - something you can enjoy once more through all new unofficial servers.

The recently launched Outbreak Server is now allowing anyone who happens to have access to the Japanese versions of the games to get their PlayStation 2 back online. According to the server's frequently asked questions, all you need to do is simply change the DNS records within the game's network settings menu and log in with your Outbreak Server details.

If the thought of enjoying one of Capcom's early online titles again (or even for the first time) sounds tempting, then make sure you have either a PlayStation 2 capable of playing Japanese releases with a PS2 Network Adapter (if your console is the original fat model), or a suitable emulator. The Japanese versions of the games can be easily found on eBay too.

Crack smoking mayor wants 4 more years

Earning the title of Ed Schultz's Pretender tonight, shamed Toronto Mayor Rob Ford files for re-election, forgetting all of his terrible & entertaining actions.

Meet the Americans Who've Lost Their Unemployment Benefits: "I'm Thoroughly Petrified"

By Dana Liebelson

When Congress reconvenes next week, lawmakers will have to decide whether to extend federal unemployment benefits for about 1.3 million Americans. These emergency benefits—which Congress let expire shortly after Christmas—are part of a 2008 program that allows workers who have been out of the job for more than six months to receive an emergency extension on their payments up to 47 weeks.

If Congress fails to renew these benefits, only a quarter of jobless Americans will be receiving any benefits at all, according to the Huffington Post.

As these charts show, the United States is looking at the worst long-term unemployment crisis since soup kitchen lines peaked during the Great Depression. Americans who have been unemployed for more than six months are often hit with major financial and personal hardship. Around 10 percent must file for bankruptcy, more than half report putting off medical care, and many say they have, "lost self-respect while jobless."

But who are these Americans who have lost their benefits? Some reached out to Mother Jones. Here are their stories:

Name: Anonymous
State: New York

"My benefits run out this week. I'm thoroughly petrified…I am the nice girl you went to high school with who was in the advanced classes, graduated with an A average, and went on to college. I'm the girl who always worked through high school, college, law school, and grad school. I never thought I would end up a welfare mother, but here I am. I want you to know how I got here and why I can't get out. I want you to realize that your nasty comments on social media about the losers demanding entitlements and benefits and hand-outs as compared to your 'hard-earned money,' hurt more than you know. Those comments may also be hurting your friend or colleague or relative. I'm not alone in this situation. I do not want benefits, or hand-outs, or entitlements. I want a job. I want to be able to pay my own way. I want to be self-sufficient again and earn the money I receive through hard work. I don't want to lose my house or have to talk to another debt collector. But in the meantime, I am grateful that some of our lawmakers saw fit to protect the vulnerable in times of need."

Maureen "Momo" Kallins

Name: Maureen "Momo" Kallins
State: Washington

"I am 65 years old. For three years I worked as the General Manager and the Business Manager of a small public access television station in Washington State. I lost that job in January 2013, which supported half of our household. (I have two sons, 26 and 24, and I live with my husband.) I was awarded unemployment insurance of less than half of my salary that month, which was extended after six months. I have applied for numerous jobs but never even get an interview. A friend of mine in the film business said recently, 'When you apply for a job at 50 people laugh at you. When you apply for a job at 65 people just look at you like you are crazy.' Presently I am adding to my video resume and trying to build a business. I sincerely hope that the members of Congress can agree to extend these benefits and throw us a lifeline."

Name: Carol Watterston
State: Nevada

"After being laid off after seven years [at my job], I have now been unemployed since November 9, 2012. I job hunt for full-time employment everyday. I've been to multiple interviews and nothing has worked out. I've even attempted going back to school but I have bad credit and can't afford it…I'm already struggling to pay my rent, my bills, my car insurance and feed myself and my pets. I have never been one that expects or wants any kind of charity, and this situation I'm in is degrading and shameful, but I have to do whatever is necessary for survival. However, I have a lot more than other people on this planet. I have a roof over my head, I have food in my fridge, I have a car, and I have a very supportive family, which I'm thoroughly thankful for."

Tara Dublin

Name: Tara Dublin
State: Washington

"I was a very popular DJ on the radio in Portland. When I lost that job, I could not find another job in local media. The radio station that fired me has not replaced me. As a single mom of two sons (15 and 10 years old), it was imperative to me that I show my kids that we don't roll over and die when bad things happen; we fight. And I've been fighting for the last four and half years. In the time since I lost that dream job, I've had small opportunities, but nothing long term. I'll get a voice-over gig just when a bill is due…I worked holiday retail sales at Nordstrom but wasn't rehired for this season, and despite applying for every retail and waitress job I can find, I have yet to be hired. I'm on the verge of losing my house yet again, and I am terrified, I don't ask for a lot out of life—just to be in a job that makes me happy and pays my bills."

Name: Anonymous
"I lost my marketing communications specialist position in April and have not landed a job in nine months of looking, despite working at it diligently and investing in expensive job-hunt strategy and technique classes. I am 61. I believe my age and the reasonably good salary I was earning were factors in losing my job. I was replaced by a 20-something who could be paid a lower salary. I just do not get the assertion I see in so many news stories that eventually, long-term unemployed people just stop looking for work. Who can afford to do that? How can they live?"

Name: Jeff
State: Indiana

"I have an associate degree in hotel and restaurant administration. Right now I live in an old mobile home in pretty bad condition, but at least it is a sheltering place. I do not have a high standard of living, so really my only worry about not having a job and losing my unemployment benefits is becoming homeless. I only have rent, car payment and insurance, utilities, and food as expenses. I also worry about my three cats because I don't want to see them suffer because of what is happening to me. I have pretty much been taking care of myself since I was 13, and the thought of not having a roof over my head is terrifying…I do think Congress needs to extend benefits, because people are suffering and it would be a catastrophe to let all those who are hurting slip even lower."

Name: Anonymous
State: Washington

"I had a baby in July 2012. I was on unpaid maternity leave until November 2012. I was informed that I would be getting laid off in October 2012. I was in a unionized position but I got bumped by a more senior union member. We had insurance through my work. So we went on COBRA for $1800 a month. The unemployment benefits extension was covering the COBRA payment. Now we'll be paying for COBRA out of pocket. And we have another baby on the way. I know I'm one of the lucky ones out there. I have enough in savings and an overall family income that I can make a choice to stay with the expensive COBRA, so that I don't have to deal with this hassle [of changing to Medicaid] mid-pregnancy."

And here are some stories from other news outlets:

• David Davis, Virginia: "That’s one goal, to avoid living on the street or in my car." (The New York Times )
• Adaline Irizarry, New Jersey: "If I don’t get an extension, I’m screwed. I think a lot of people are in that situation." (The Star-Ledger)
• Celeste, New York: "I don’t buy books; I get everything from the library. We go to maybe one movie a year." (Buzzfeed)
• Kaitlyn Smith, California: "I have to keep the house at 55 degrees even though I have two little girls, ages 2 1/2 and 1 1/2." (Los Angeles Times)
• Mary Lowe, Ohio: "We didn't do anything for Christmas—50 bucks for our daughter, that was it." (CBS News)

Hey, Liz Cheney - SEE YA!

CNN: She's Outta Here!

By Susie Madrak January 5, 2014 9:06 pm

CNN reports that Liz Cheney is withdrawing from Wyoming's Republican primary.

Who knew that Liz and Caribou Barbie had so much in common?

New York (CNN) - Liz Cheney, whose upstart bid to unseat Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi sparked a round of warfare in the Republican Party and even within her own family, is dropping out of the Senate primary, sources told CNN late Sunday.

Cheney, the eldest daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, began telling associates of her decision over the weekend and could make an official announcement about the race as early as Monday.

Cheney's surprising decision to jump into the race, an announcement made in a YouTube video last summer, roiled Republican politics in the Wyoming, a state Dick Cheney represented in Congress for five terms before moving up the Republican food chain in Washington.

Enzi was a low-key presence in Washington who was elected in 1996 and, with few blemishes, amassed a conservative voting record in the Senate. He expressed public annoyance at Cheney's decision to mount a primary challenge. A number of his Senate colleagues quickly rallied to his side and pledged support for his re-election bid.

There was little public polling of the race, but two partisan polls released last year showed Enzi with a wide lead, an assessment mostly shared by GOP insiders watching the race.

The California GOP's fake health care website

Posted by Jim Hightower

Listen to this Commentary

In this wicked world of woe, there are hucksters, flim flammers, plain ol' crooks… and Republican members of the California Assembly.

This last bunch of scoundrels went out of their way to monkey wrench the rollout of President Obama's new health care law. Obama's computer geniuses were making a hash of the initial rollout in October, but the sign-up was finally smoothing out – and with any Obama success, GOP lawmakers automatically start tossing monkeywrenches.

This time, the tool they tossed is a fake website created by California Republican legislators in August to look like the state's official health exchange site, where people can sign up to get coverage under the Affordable Care Act. When things finally got worked out on the national health care exchange in November, the Repubs mailed a pamphlet to their constituents, directing them to the decoy site, calling it a "resource guide" to "help" them navigate the ACA sign up process.

Far from help, however, the faux site is a trap. It's filled with boilerplate Republican propaganda against the law, gimmicks to discourage viewers from even applying for the health care they need, and a rash of distortions and outright lies. There's so much bunkum on the site that its fine print includes a disclaimer saying they don't vouch for "the quality, content, accuracy, or completeness of the information" it provides.

The silliest thing about the lawmakers' blatantly political ploy is that even if it convinces some people to forgo the ACA's benefits, who does that hurt? Not Obama – but their own constituents! I know there's no IQ requirement to be a state legislator, but what were they thinking?

We can laugh at their low comedy, but if you're a California taxpayer, congratulations: You paid for the GOP's bogus website and mailings.

"A bogus Health care website, courtesy of the GOP," www.msnbc, December 4, 2013.

"California Republicans Defend Fake Obamacare Site," www.abcnews.com, December 3, 2013.

"California GOP creates fake health care website to discourage constituents from obtaining insurance," www.dailykos.com, December 2, 2013.

"Email from Ed H." December 16, 2013.

Prego Italian Sauce Recalled for Possible Spoilage

By News Desk | January 1, 2014

The Campbell Soup Company is recalling around 300 cases of 24-ounce jars of Prego Traditional Italian sauce because of possible spoilage.

The products were delivered to retailer distribution centers in Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

The recalled products were manufactured on Dec. 15, 2013, and have an expiration date of June 16, 2015. The time code on the top of the lid range from “CT BJ ZV 0330” to “CT BJ ZV 0449.”

Consumers who have purchased a recalled product are advised not to eat it and to return it to the place of purchase for a refund.

No other Campbell products are affected and no illnesses have been reported in connection with the product. However, due to the time involved in tracing an illness back to a specific food product, it is impossible to say if any illnesses have occurred.

How local police departments are spying on us now, too

It's not just the NSA anymore. Here's how local law enforcement collects your call data, even if unrelated to crime

By Michael Price

By now, it’s well known that the National Security Agency is collecting troves of data about law-abiding Americans. But the NSA is not alone: A series of new reports show that state and local police have been busy collecting data on our daily activities as well — under questionable or nonexistent legal pretenses. These revelations about the extent of police snooping in the U.S. — and the lack of oversight over it — paint a disturbing picture for anyone who cares about civil liberties and privacy protection.

The tactics used by law enforcement are aggressive, surreptitious and surprising to even longtime surveillance experts.  One report released last month made front page news: an investigation by more than 50 journalists that found that local law enforcement agencies are collecting cellphone data about thousands of innocent Americans each year by tapping into cellphone towers and even creating fake ones that act as data traps.

A new report by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law details how police departments around the country have created data “fusion centers” to collect and share reports about residents. But the information in these reports seldom bears any relation to crime or terrorism. In California, for example, officers are encouraged to document and immediately report on “suspicious” activities such as “individuals who stay at bus or train stops for extended periods while buses and trains come and go,” “individuals who carry on long conversations on pay or cellular phones,” and “joggers who stand and stretch for an inordinate amount of time.” In Houston, the criteria are so broad they include anything deemed “suspicious or worthy of reporting.” Many police departments and fusion centers have reported on constitutionally protected activities such as photography and political speech. They have also demonstrated a troubling tendency to focus on people who appear to be of Middle Eastern origin.

---

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Like the NSA – their heavy-handed Big Brother – these fusion centers cast a wide net and risk civil liberties for paltry returns. And all of it is happening without sufficient oversight or accountability. In other words, no one is watching Little Brother.

How did it come to this?  In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, all levels of government – federal, state and local – embarked on a massive effort to improve information sharing. Federal taxpayer dollars fueled the transition into a new role for state and local police as the eyes and ears of the intelligence community.

The ad hoc system that has developed — of individual police departments feeding information to federal authorities — has been plagued by vague and inconsistent rules. For one thing, there’s a lack of agreement about what counts as “suspicious activity” and when that information should be shared.
The goal, in theory, is to reveal potential terrorist plots by “connecting the dots” of disparate or even innocuous pieces of information. But in practice, such programs often infringe on civil liberties and threaten safety, producing a din of data with little or no counter-terrorism value. In Boston, for example, the regional fusion center fixated on monitoring peace activists and Occupy Boston protesters but may have been unaware that the FBI conducted an assessment of bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev based on a tip from Russia, or that local authorities had implicated him in a gruesome triple homicide on the anniversary of 9/11.

In fact, a 2012 report by the Senate Homeland Security Committee found that much of the information produced by fusion centers was not only useless, but also possibly illegal. Indeed, more than 95 percent of so-called suspicious activity reports are never investigated by the FBI.

We can do better. First and foremost, there must be a consistent, transparent standard for state and local intelligence activities based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity – the traditional bar for opening an investigation. The federal government should make this standard a prerequisite for sharing suspicious activity reports on its networks. State and local police should adopt it as well.

Second, stronger oversight and accountability is necessary across the board. At the federal level, Congress should tie continued funding for fusion centers to regular, independent and publicly available audits to assess compliance with privacy rules. State and local elected officials should also consider creating an independent police monitor, such as an inspector general, to safeguard privacy and civil rights.

To be sure, cooperation between levels of government is essential, and state and local law enforcement have an important role to play in keeping Americans safe. But the current system is ineffective, wasteful and harmful to constitutional values.

It is time to recalibrate the system and make the state and local role in national security efficient, rational and fair.

Michael Price is counsel in the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.

  More Michael Price.

Speaking to the 70% doesn't work for Jake Tapper

Earning the title of Ed Schultz's Pretender, CNN's Jake Tapper began the new year by criticizing new NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio for not reaching out to righties.

 

Duck Dynasty or Dollar Dynasty?

A&E Network has ended Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson suspension after his hateful remarks. Michael Eric Dyson and Mike Papantonio discuss the networks decision to bow to dollars over morals.

Pet Food Safety: When Pet Food Makes Pets and Humans Sick

By James Andrews | December 30, 2013

Between late 2011 and spring 2012, dozens of people across 20 U.S. states and Canada were falling ill with apparent Salmonella infections all coming from the same source. For nearly six months, the illnesses slowly cropped up around North America, with health investigators unable to connect the dots with how they were being caused.

It wasn’t until April 2012 that the puzzle finally came together, when the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development performed a routine test on a retail product that came up positive for Salmonella. When they checked the exact strain against a federal disease database, they realized the food had been sickening people for half a year.

But the food in question was not something like raw chicken or leafy greens — it was dry dog food.

More specifically, Diamond Naturals Lamb Meal & Rice, produced at a Diamond Pet Foods plant in South Carolina.

Soon after, the Ohio Department of Agriculture found another contaminated bag of a different formula. And then the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found more when inspecting the South Carolina facilities.

The plant-wide contamination resulted in one of the largest pet food recalls in recent history and actually encompassed nine brand names, including Canidae and Natural Balance. The company expanded the recall eight times — eventually including cat food — and FDA inspectors found additional contamination at another Diamond plant in Missouri.

Ultimately, 49 humans tested positive for Salmonella from the pet food. But the actual number ill could have been closer to 1,500. (For every person who actually tests positive for Salmonella, another 30 are estimated to have been infected, according the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

That outbreak was a reminder that contaminated pet food poses a threat to not just dogs and cats, but their owners as well. A few years earlier, in 2007, at least 62 people fell ill in a Salmonella outbreak linked to pet food manufactured by Mars Petcare, which owns brand names such as Pedigree and Whiskas.

When a new pet food outbreak makes headlines, readers often ask how humans end up getting sick.

Pet owners don’t need to eat kibbles to get sickened by contaminated food.

Most people who fall ill from pet food do so by handling contaminated food or having contact with infected animals. Thorough hand washing after serving pet food or touching pets is always recommended to avoid potential pathogen transmission.

Of course, food-borne illness outbreaks can work both ways. Among the patients testing positive for Salmonella in the 2008-2009 peanut butter outbreak was one dog.

Because dogs and cats are almost never tested for food-borne pathogens such as Salmonella or E. coli, it’s impossible to know how many get sickened when big outbreaks strike a pet food product.

Only two dogs were tested positive for Salmonella in the Diamond outbreak, for instance.

When dogs or cats do become infected with a food-borne illness, they typically suffer the familiar symptoms, such as diarrhea (sometimes including blood or mucus), vomiting, dehydration and lethargy. But some pets may serve as carriers without showing any symptoms, shedding the pathogen in their stools or harboring it on their fur or saliva.

Parents are often advised to take extra precaution with pets around young children for this reason, due to children having developing immune systems that are especially susceptible to pathogenic transmission. Of the patients in the Mars Petcare outbreak, 39 percent were less than one year old.

It’s possible that children could crawl on floors where pets have been eating contaminated food or treats, or simply come into contact with a pet that has fecal contamination in its fur.

These pet-to-human contamination scenarios are one of the many reasons the FDA is proposing to overhaul safety rules on pet food manufacturing as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act. Read more on Food Safety News about the changes FDA is proposing, the reactions FDA has received, and 10 changes that have been recommended by experts.

The pet food safety series on Food Safety News is sponsored by ABC Research, a company that conducts testing on pet food products. Read more about ABC Research pet food testing on the company blog.

McDonald's: Low-paid workers, high-flying execs

By Jim Hightower

Listen to this Commentary

In this season of generosity, I'm sure that you get as much joy and deep internal satisfaction as I do just by knowing that we – all of us taxpayers together – contribute day-in and day-out to a very big global cause: Super-sizing McDonald's.

The world's largest hamburger chain is a needy charity case, because without your and my generous tax support, the Big MacBosses in charge would have to pay a living wage to their 800,000-plus American workers.

But, thanks to us, the $27 billion-a-year hamburger-flipping flim flammers can get away with paying poverty wages – then send their workforce to get food stamps, Medicaid, child welfare payments, public housing, and other tax-funded poverty benefits. This public subsidy of the Golden Arches adds up to a very golden $1.2 billion a year. What a creative business plan! Who says giant corporations aren't enterprising?

Well, sniff the chain's top executives, we operate on razor-thin profit margins, so we can't afford to throw money at workers. Really? Last year's $5.6 billion in profits doesn't sound thin to me. Also, note that McDonald's more than tripled the pay of its new CEO last year, elevating him from $4.1 million to $13.8 million.

But what really galls its workers (whose low wages and forced part-time schedules mean they average less than $12,000 a year) is that the taxpayer-subsidized profiteer laid out a fat $35 million in October to add a brand new executive jet to its corporate fleet. This one is a "Bombardier 605" with the full package of luxurious amenities, and it cost $2,500 an hour to fly it.

Just flying one hour on the Bombardier cost more than the combined hourly wages of more than 300 McDonald's workers. Remember, you're subsidizing this. To tell the chain's CEO that this is immoral, go to www.OurFuture.org.

"McDonald’s Wants Another Corporate Jet, Not Raises For Low Wage Workers," www.alternet.org, October 24, 2013.

"Tell McDonalds to Stop Buying Luxury Jets Until They Pay Workers a Living Wage," www.ourfuture.org, October 2013.

"Supersize Those Wages, McDonald's," www.huffingtonpost.com, August 13, 2013.

"The rebellion of restaurant workers is challenging the deplorable low-wage ethic of the fast-food behemoths" www.hightowerlowdown.org, November 2013.

The Benghazi fable is unraveling like cheap thread

The year began and ended with Benghazi

 

The GOP’s Benghazi obsession began and ended the year of 2013, with tense hearings on Capitol Hill in January and now, a new report in the New York Times that seriously challenges many of the right-wing conspiracy theories on the attack. The Atlantic’s Steve Clemons and Media Matters’ Eric Boehlert discuss.