Is it possible for Bachmann to get stupider?

Maybe so - somehow, she just keeps moving the bar.  She’s become Rush’s goto for stupidity amplification.

And, of course, the facts show that Ford, not Carter, was president in 1976. FAIL.

And, of course, the facts show that Ford, not Carter, was president in 1976. FAIL.

Score!

The swine flu “outbreak” was in 1976,  Carter didn’t take office until 1977. 

She makes me ashamed to say I live in Minnesota.  I don’t even live in her district and I want to apologize to the country for her existence.

I thought “Mexican flu” was from drinking the water.

I’d figured that Bachmann was trying to argue that Democrats ginned up these “crises” for political gain, but I think Amanda’s “dog whistle of sin for the fundies” is probably more on the mark.

“Adept at speaking in dog whistles” is the best new expression I learned all week.

consider that brand-new vegetarian diet

Yes, we wouldn’t want anyone to take advantage of a health emergency to push an agenda…

Snark mode off.

Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman said the reference to pigs is offensive to both religions and “we should call this Mexican flu and not swine flu,” he told a news conference at a hospital in central Israel.

The stupid and arrogance in that statement is pretty dense.
1. Why is Litzman worried about offending Jews and Muslims, but not Mexicans?
2. How thin-skinned do Jews and Muslims have to be to be “offended” by a disease named after swine?
3. Who died and put Litzman in charge of language for the whole world?

Atheist just beat me to it, Jesus Christ that Litzman quote is so offendingly stupid.

Jewish and Muslim traditions eschew pork.  So why would naming a derogatory event related to pork offend them?

Republicans think everyone is bone-crushingly stupid, I swear.  It seriously gets on my nerves.

I didn’t realize, as a Jewish person, that I wasn’t supposed to SAY “Swine”.  Also, if pigs are ritually unclean, doesn’t a disease named after them sort of, I dunno, make sense?

The Litzman quote is just weird, yeah.  The others insisting on “Mexican Flu” are the usual racist, immigrant-bashing crowd; it makes sense that it would come from them.

1. Why is Litzman worried about offending Jews and Muslims, but not Mexicans?

Cause he’s a government official in a country where there are lots of Jews and Muslims, but no Mexicans. I’m more concerned with why U.S. politicians seem to be eager to offend Mexicans.

2. How thin-skinned do Jews and Muslims have to be to be “offended” by a disease named after swine?

I hope what you’re saying here is that Litzman is an idiot to think that Muslims and Jews would be that thin-skinned and not thinking this guy actually knows what he’s talking about. I’ve seen this guy mocked all over Jewish blogs in the last few days.

3. Who died and put Litzman in charge of language for the whole world?

Yitzhak Rabin.

I kid. Mostly. Apparently he’s from one of the right-wing religious parties that Bibi brokered with to become Prime Minister. He didn’t even want the health ministry portfolio, but it was what was left over after all the people who really mattered got all the good stuff. So there he is, dispensing this wisdom to the world. Basically, “religious moron.”

I did read someone suggest that maybe he said that because he didn’t want Israelis to think they didn’t have to worry about it because there is almost no pig farming in Israel, but I find that reading, uh, overly charitable. Most Israelis haven’t been to Mexico in the last few weeks, either. I think most people - certainly not all, but most people - can understand how diseases can start one place or under one set of circumstances and be carried around the world by another set of circumstances and that once you have people in your country who are sick, you can catch that disease from those people, regardless of what you call it.

IIRC, the 1976 flu was also (more commonly?) termed “Mongolian Flu”.  The previous outbreak in 1968 was “Hong Kong flu”, and in both cases the names came from where they first came to the attention of health authorities.  This is coming from memory, after reading a CDC newsletter on the subject.

Although (again IIRC) many strains of swine flu seemed to originate in Mongolia. The reason proposed at the time was that it was one of the few remaining places where pig livestock and humans lived in close proximity, so that viruses could be passed back and forth.

IFthat hypothesis is valid, then while “factory farms” have much to answer for, it would be the old subsistence farms that be the problem as sources of flu variants.

The resemblence of Ms. Bachmann to Miss Piggy, however, is completely coincidental.

Consider also that the interests of a giant American agribusiness are at stake when you read articles about attempts to rename this flu something that distracts from the likely pig-based origins.

This, by the way, is so spot on. Apparently the CDC is going with H1N1. I can understand their desire to do something really neutral and just get on with the fucking public health response already, instead of getting bogged down in a semantic debate, but the semantics do matter.

In re Litzman,

The 1918 flu was called the Spanish Influenza because that’s where it began (or at least appeared to begin), and, as Snarki points out, there is a tradition of naming flues by their origin.  It’s entirely possible that Litzman, not being an American, might not realize the racist connotations that we see in naming it Mexican flu.

That said, I still don’t get his reasoning.  Calling it Swine Flu is entirely consistent with the notion that pigs are unsanitary.

Although (again IIRC) many strains of swine flu seemed to originate in Mongolia. The reason proposed at the time was that it was one of the few remaining places where pig livestock and humans lived in close proximity, so that viruses could be passed back and forth.

I think the theory is that people are essentially living in close proximity because of things like the pig shit lagoons.  Get a bunch of those, combine them with some flies, contaminate the ground water, and you have a lovely disease vector just waiting to happen.

(This is based on what little I’ve heard in the news, so if one of our resident scientists has actual information, fire away!)

I’m a little paranoid today because poor G. was up all night sick to his stomach, but it probably has a lot more to do with the sushi he ate last night than the flu.

KeithM, comments like yours make me wish I didn’t even bother to put the effort into writing jokes, and then I remember that people who get it don’t leave comments reassuring me of that.

Bachmann IS swine flu.

How the eff did this vacuous ignoramus get elected to anything?

What a disgrace.

This just in -

Angry gods make thunder in the sky.

Earthquakes are caused by the Great Turtle shifting his shell.

Volcanos are caused by not meeting this quarter’s virgin-sacrificing quota.

Yet again, certain people conclude that causation and coincidence are the same.

So they’ve already blamed immigrants and Jimmy Carter.

Is there any way they can blame black people and gays, too? Cause I know that’s next on the list.

In this case, she’s quite clear that the nation sinned in electing Obama over McCain, and god is delivering his swine flu punishment.

And the fact that her god is punishing Americans by killing Mexicans first makes complete and total sense to them.

Someone really needs to clear up the 1976 God Flu.  It was punishment for Ford pardonning Nixon and not following through with law and order.  Authoritarian God wants authority.

Oh, and does this mean we get to blame Reagan for AIDS? Cause that started in the early 80s.

Mnemosyne,
there’s a 12 hour stomach bug going around.  Kids are bringing it home from school, but (from what I’ve seen) it hits the adults harder. 

It’s not just the pigs to humans vector that is important for new flu strains, but transmission from humans back to pigs.  Well, at least that was the idea.  I’m sure DNA testing has clarified the picture.

“Oh, and does this mean we get to blame Reagan for AIDS? Cause that started in the early 80s.”

Of course not.  Blame is always placed on the nearest Democrat, so somehow that’s Carter’s fault too…

1.  The whole Swine Flu deal is going to go over right up there with Y2K.  Everytime there is a large flu outbreak of any strain, several hundred people die of it.  It’s almost like the media has to sell commercials on the back of some panic.  It is not 1919.

2.  I’m so glad Bachmann got re-elected.  What’s a deliberative body without at least one reliably outspoken idiot.  I’m wondering though about the people in her district.  Is there a large insane asylum with voting rights?  Or are there an inordinate amount of voters with a very black if sophisticated sense of humor.

We’ll concede that Carter didn’t take office until after the ‘76 swine flu kicked off under Ford. However! The Spanish flu epidemic that killed 50 million or more people worldwide in 1918-20? That was on Woodrow Wilson’s watch, and he was a Democrat.

I’m pretty sure the kings and queens and emperors who were in charge during the medieval bubonic plague epidemics were also Democrats. I’d have to check Wikipedia to be certain.

========

My local paper doesn’t shout “No Swine Flu Here Yet.” Mine says “Swine Flu Closes Chicago School.” But hey, that school is, like, three miles from me, so why fret?

They should be calling it ManBirdPig Flu, if they want to get specific.  Or Frankenswine Flu, since it’s apparently a weird transcontinental multi-species hybridized virus, the type unlikely to appear in nature until someone drops a beaker of it.

I mean Mexican pig farm, sounds plausible, kind of gross actually (I don’t eat pig), but somebody pleez essplain how the bird from the other side of the world got in there, and how the virus can even be called an (any) animal flu if no animals are actually sick from it.

Anyway, it’s not a pandemic.  Rest assured that so long as cases are being reported in the media as individual events, it’s not a pandemic.  Maybe when the government-issued plastic caskets are placed out in the street for pickup, or at least when news of it is presented in terms of overall body count.

Bad Kitty:  My GOD, I know.  SHS ‘84, you?

“Is there any way they can blame black people and gays, too? Cause I know that’s next on the list.”

Guarantee that the first terminal case (and likely the first diagnosed case) in either Iowa or Vermont will get linked to God’s wrath over gay marriage. Any bets?

I’d be curious to find out if this strategy of promising divine punishment to intimidate the flock to vote as they’re told is something new in American history, or it’s been a feature of past resurgences of fundamentalism.

I was watching Dangerous Beauty yesterday (based on the life of courtesan Veronica Franco) and when the plague strikes, the religious fanatics blame Veronica and the other courtesans (and general sin in the city) for the disease.

Lymis, I’m surprised that they’re not blaming the New York cases on Patterson considering trying to legalize same sex marriage there.

Hedonistic Pleasureseeker [what other kind is there?], please read up a little on flu viruses before you go around saying things like “it’s apparently a weird transcontinental multi-species hybridized virus, the type unlikely to appear in nature until someone drops a beaker of it.” That is total bullshit. The genetic variations and inter-species movement of flu viruses are some of the best-understood subjects in microbiology, and no one in the field is saying that there’s anything unnatural about this one; EVERY new strain of flu is a “transcontinental multi-species hybridized virus.”

I don’t blame anyone for not having a good understanding of these things, but there’s no excuse for repeating confusing shit that’s certain to make people paranoid without finding out what you’re talking about first.

Slightly OT:  the nurse at my place of work keeps writing breathless e-mails about this potential epidemic, but she keeps calling it “swain flu”.  I guess we are all in danger of becoming love sick.

I honestly hadn’t thought about the “God’s punishment” angle.  Our local paper’s letters and cartoons keep pushing the whole “Democrats are blaming Republicans for swine flu, even though it’s their fault” angle, so I was assuming Bachmann was playing into that.  We have some crazy anti-immigrant/anti-Mexican people around here, and they would like to blame the swine flu on NAFTA.  Ironically, it sounds like some of that blame is indirectly appropriate (if US-owned factory farms turn out to be the source), but not for the reasons they say….

I was 7 freaking years old when the 1976 Swine Flu scare happened and distinctly remember President FORD talking about it on the teevee.  Bachman would have been in her 20s at the time.

What’s NOT being reflected here so far is the fact that what’s being attributed as a Mexican issue (filthy, overcrowded hog containment) is actually MAINSTREAM practice, even here in the good ole USA!!

Prepare to be shocked!

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/21727641/boss_hog/print

Enjoy.

Yeah, Mexican Pig Flu is just a mile north and two miles east of me.

Well, suspected Mexican Pig Flu.  They’ve closed the school and sent tests off to the CDC.  We’ll know in 24-36 hours if it’s pig flu or flu flu.

Gave the 8 y/o a small bottle of hand sanitizer, b/c all the trees are blooming now, so allergies are rampant and will be widely misunderstood to be Pig Flu.  Will that get him zero-toleranced out of school since it has alcohol in it?

By the way: What is called “stomach flu” has NOTHING to do with the influenza virus. If your coworker or classmate comes down with diarrhea and/or vomiting, it’s NOT swine flu. It’s probably a bacterial or (less commonly) viral disease, possibly foodborne. Usually not transmissible from person to person.

What might be influenza, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health memo we got from my kid’s school: (1) Fever or feverishness, and (2) recent onset of one or more of the following: (a) runny or stuff nose, (b) sore throat, (c) cough. In other words, a vague respiratory bug accompanied by fever. No fever? It’s probably just a cold.

I hope what you’re saying here is that Litzman is an idiot to think that Muslims and Jews would be that thin-skinned and not thinking this guy actually knows what he’s talking about. I’ve seen this guy mocked all over Jewish blogs in the last few days.

Sorry for being unclear. Yes, that is exactly what I meant, not that I really think Jews and/or Muslims are truly that thin-skinned.

I’m really hoping that this event leads to a major attitude adjustment.  Unfortunately, a metric fuck-load of people will have to die. 

I’m a pessimist, but I still manage to silver-line my worst case scenarios.

There’s a lot of people in the center and on the right who are about to get a big fucking “told you so!”  For years now, many have been saying that global warming was going to increase the risk of disease.  People have been saying that our continued inducing of poverty of in the developing world or even just our less well off neighbors (it seems it is a heated debate about how to classify Mexico) would lead to political instability that would spill over into our country.  There’s even people who have said that our factory farming methods would end poorly, though some say because of the disease potential for things like this while others have said the shitty food would kill us.  Barack Obama and his people even wanted pandemic flu preparedness money in the stimulus and the budget and the Republicans nerfed it!

Despite all the evidence, did anyone listen?  No.  They just kept thinking they were invincible, they were righteous.  I hope these fuckers are about to fucking learn their damn lesson.

I apologize for the vitriol and steam-blowing, but my chronic sniffles and my feature set are garnering dirty looks.

The 1918 flu was called the Spanish Influenza because that’s where it began (or at least appeared to begin)

The Spanish flu actually started in Kansas and was spread across the world by the US military.  Spain was just the only country suffering the pandemic that didn’t feel a need to censor knowledge of it so they wouldn’t be seen as vulnerable during the war (they weren’t fighting).

there’s a 12 hour stomach bug going around.  Kids are bringing it home from school, but (from what I’ve seen) it hits the adults harder.

We’re pretty sure it’s the combination of sushi and four beers, but it’s still no fun for anyone.  Luckily we both work close to home, so I’m going to check on him at lunch and make sure he’s okay.  Even “just” salmonella can be nasty—I had a friend who had to be hospitalized when I was in high school.

KeithM, comments like yours make me wish I didn’t even bother to put the effort into writing jokes, and then I remember that people who get it don’t leave comments reassuring me of that.

When the part I quoted comes from the following sentence:

Consider that brand-new vegetarian diet while also considering the ocean of pig shit and decaying pig flesh that the children who are the main victims of the flu have been exposed to.

and that the ocean of pig shit is a serious issue in regard to pig farms (and apparently this Mexico-based one, as the company involved has a prior history of being careless with their waste in the US) , I suppose one might consider it possible that teh funny was lost in translation.

From the recently revised version of Leviticus, Chapter 11:

Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.

Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.

I’d be curious to find out if this strategy of promising divine punishment to intimidate the flock to vote as they’re told is something new in American history, or it’s been a feature of past resurgences of fundamentalism.

I was watching Dangerous Beauty yesterday (based on the life of courtesan Veronica Franco) and when the plague strikes, the religious fanatics blame Veronica and the other courtesans (and general sin in the city) for the disease.

Jasmine, I could be wrong, but I took Amanda’s question to mean “is it new within American history/fundie tradition”; blaming sinners for plagues is older than time (see: Old Testament).

(And given the Old Testament, my answer would be No. Jonathan Edwards prolly has something on it in one of his sermons, but I can’t be bothered to check).

I think the religious aversion to calling it Swine Flu is based on the misconception that you can catch it from eating pork.  In the most extreme religious places, just being suspected of sinning can be huge trouble, and often the people in these places are less educated and don’t understand how this flu spreads.  In a place where people can be beaten for just the suspicion of adultery, these people don’t want to get something that would make it seem like they ate pork.  I’m not saying that we should change the name of it, but I can understand why some people would want to change the name.

And it would seem Jasmine and I both misread the question…

I think Jews and Muslims could feel bad about HAVING a swine flu. I mean if you considers pigs unworthy and you have one of their diseases, what does that make you ?

Of course the entire thing is silly for anyone non fundy whacko religious

Bachmann and Litzman really have an opportunity to demonstrate their piety to their constituents here. I’d happily suggest that they both inject themselves with the swine flu virus, and then refuse medical treatment in favour of letting the Invisible Bearded Sky Man™ cure them. That’ll show us evil secular humanists, with our “reason” and “science.”

Hi Hob,

My handle is actually an inside joke based on something that happened over 20 years ago, an epithet thrown at me by a godbag family member who didn’t know he was being redundant. I’ve been wearing the handle as a badge of honor ever since.

Anyhoo!  Yes I know all that.  HOWEVER. My understanding, from what I’ve read from the field geeks, is that this is a weird virus that has, up to now at least, only been seen in lab settings.

I’m trying to ignore the schizophrenic flipping between ZOMGPANIC911!!!1 and the “virus random occurrence, move along nothing to see here - hey look another case!” messages that the MSM is putting out, and focusing more on the background observations of people who work in the field.  I probably should have kept the links. I’ll do better next time.

Donna Diva says: I was 7 freaking years old when the 1976 Swine Flu scare happened and distinctly remember President FORD talking about it on the teevee.  Bachman would have been in her 20s at the time.

Obviously, Bachman has the mind of a 6 year old!

Pet peeve:  Pandemic means “Epidemic over a wide geographic area and affecting a large proportion of the population.”  Yet, according to msnbc, there are a whopping 91 cases identified in ten states.  I guess that I just can’t see how 91 cases in ten states constitutes “affecting a large proportion of the population.”

To be fair, every one of the networks I have seen on this story have (mis)used the word “pandemic.”

Orange, according to the CDC are:

The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. In the past, severe illness (pneumonia and respiratory failure) and deaths have been reported with swine flu infection in people. Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions.

I could see how this could be a Y2K thingy all over again, yet I am still worried.  We have been due for a pandemic for sometime now, and some of the people I love are immune comprimised, so it is hard for me not to worry.  It is just a shame that da fundies immediate response is to blame the supernatural instead looking at the most probable cause, factory farms.  Hopefully not many people will die during the outbreak.  Perhaps this will be an opportunity for people to look more closely at agribusiness practices and eat no meat or meat that is procured in an ethical way, but I am expecting to be disappointed.

The fact that Michelle Bachmann and I both attended the same college leaves me deeply shamed and embarrassed.  Michelle, honey, Ford was prez during the last swine flu outbreak, not Carter.  How does someone who would fail American History 101 get elected to Congress?

And we won’t even go into Yakov Litzman and his Language Follies.  Sheesh.

I was watching Dangerous Beauty yesterday (based on the life of courtesan Veronica Franco) and when the plague strikes, the religious fanatics blame Veronica and the other courtesans (and general sin in the city) for the disease.

OT, but LOVED that movie.

That, or you don’t get the dryness of my humor.  Obviously, it wasn’t eating pig that caused the flu, at least directly.  (The *amount* of pork people consume is a major factor, of course, because if people were moderate there wouldn’t be a demand for factory farming.)  But those pictures are disgusting, and the crack about vegetarianism was a way to illustrate that.  Perhaps someone should create software to translate vivid language, irony, jokes, and metaphors to plain spoken language for the easily offended.

Dana, that definition doesn’t add that pandemics and epidemics are relative.  At least, according to the information coming from the Mississippi All Hazards Preparedness conference this week.  You have one whenever the cases are more than what is expected.  No one expected this strain of virus, so it’s by default going to earn those appellations.  In the example that was cited to me, rabies was used.  Rabies is rare in the US, so an instance in which only a few people get infected is an epidemic.  It’s only that because there’s more than can be expected based on statistics.  The pandemic label comes in because multiple nations are affected.  The words are accurate, but they’re heavy words.  As much I loathe the man, Haley Barbour had a point when he said that the news coverage may end doing more harm than the disease.

To be fair, every one of the networks I have seen on this story have (mis)used the word “pandemic.”

Yeah, there have been fewer than 100 cases of Swine Flu in the United States, but a lot of people are panicking.  There are hundreds of thousands of cases of typical flu in the Unites States each year, with thousands of deaths.  Yet one of my co-workers got sick and was immediately afraid she had Swine Flu.  While it is important to watch out for Swine Flu, if you personally get sick, it’s much more likely to be the normal flu or some other disease.

Nobody has suggested “Smithfield Flu” yet?

I think Captain Trips might be a good name.  A little (or a lot) of overkill, but why not…?

Is there any way they can blame black people and gays, too? Cause I know that’s next on the list.

Don’t forget the abortionists!

naw, Mike, we gotta save that for something more virulent.

Orange, did you get anything other than a flyer?  Cause it totally freaked out my 8 y/o and I had to spend 15 minutes explaining how viruses work and why he shouldn’t be afraid to go to school.  Seems to me they could have said something to the kids that can read to let them know the world wasn’t ending.

(I’m in North Park, btw, how bout you?)

One wonders why they might call something like the swine flu the “swine flu”.

maybe they’ll get lucky. If they pray really hard, god will reward their faith to encourage a renaming of it from “swine flu.” Because that’s offensive to the good christians in agribusiness, and to jews and muslims apparently. So we’ll get a new name.

Like “The Great Dying.” That’s a definite step up in the name.

KeithM:

Jesus, man, I’m dense as lead and I got it.

Amanda:

You might try JOKE FOLLOWS:  or IRONY follows:

Also include link to Websters with definition of JOKE or IRONY.

To be fair, I don’t know a single Christian who has even made any connection to swine flu being a punishment..It’s a shame that a few bad apples have to spoil the whole barrel.
NJ drug charges

I’ll propose F3: factory farming flu.

I’m so glad Bachmann got re-elected.  What’s a deliberative body without at least one reliably outspoken idiot.  I’m wondering though about the people in her district.  Is there a large insane asylum with voting rights?  Or are there an inordinate amount of voters with a very black if sophisticated sense of humor.

We have friends who live around there, and one of them recounted the following statement by a neighbor at a cocktail party: “Politically, we’re pretty conservative. We don’t recycle.”

Or are there an inordinate amount of voters with a very black if sophisticated sense of humor.

Given that a lot of Minnesotans are Scandinavian in heritage (Me!) that might be true. But re-shaping that world into a Coen Brothers movie only provides entertainment for so long. Then a howling fat man must come in and perhaps murder and main people to get things back on track.

JohnL, thanks for the clarification. I just get so tired of people conflating the flu virus that people get flu shots for and the “stomach flu” that has nothing to do with influenza.

Caren, my kid wasn’t perturbed by the flyer. He’s pretty chill, though. I’m at the Uptown/Lakeview border. Two more confirmed cases on the North Side! Good thing winter is over so our hands won’t be so chapped from all the hand washing.

Considering this ocean of pig shit - is there any way to outsource an American prison to a facility built in the middle of it?  Perhaps to be used for financial crimes and those guilty of war crimes?

As I understand it, flu generally *is* a hybrid of viruses that attack birds, swine, and humans… because that’s the only way we can get it. Birds were the original flu carriers. Then humans kept them in conjunction with swine. The viruses hybridized with pig viruses and the swine flu came into being. Because humans and swine are more closely related than humans and birds, it’s easier for their viruses to hybridize with viruses we carry—thus creating a human-to-human transmittable virus.