Patterico's Pontifications

10/13/2014

Putting The ‘Chick’ In Chicken!

Filed under: General — Dana @ 6:32 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Here’s a little Ebola relief: Kelly Atlas of Oakland, who is a member of the animal liberation activist group Direct Action Everywhere, interrupted diners at a French brasserie called Bluestemspoke with an emotional plea for her “little girl” – who happens to be her pet rescue-chicken…named “Snow”. Yes. With increasing nuttiness emotion, she begged customers to think about her “little girl” and all the other little girls like her when considering what was on their plates:

“She was very abused for her entire life,” Atlas says. “She was terrified.

“She has a very determined look in her eyes wherever she goes. And she was hurt and abused her entire life because of this establishment and establishments like it.”

The tears continuing to stream and the emotion heightening, Atlas goes on to tell restaurant patrons how she saved Snow’s life. “Someone was going to murder her,” she says. “I went in there with other humans and I took her out of there and if I hadn’t, she wouldn’t be with me right now. She would be gone, just like all of her sisters.”

Someone was going to murder her and I can see you smiling and I can see you laughing but to her this is not funny.”

In response to the reporting on this, Direct Action Everywhere released this statement:

Direction Action Everywhere: “Violent corporations and traditions tell us that animals such as Snow are just things,” DxE activist Wayne Hsiung said. “But Snow is a living, breathing individual with the same feelings that your dog has – or that you and I have. And people across the world are waking up to that reality.”

*Customers, annoyed that their food had gone cold, clucked at Atlas as they flew the coop choosing instead to eat at at a neighboring joint. Kentucky Fried Chicken. Seems they all got a hankering…

–Dana

*That last part may or may not have happened… I wasn’t there. No harm, no fowl…

Wendy Davis Has No Shame Or Is Just Really Dumb

Filed under: General — Dana @ 5:53 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Last week, we saw the new Wendy Davis political ad and Patterico’s thorough examination of the ad’s claims against opponent Greg Abbott. Davis received a lot of criticism for using her opponent’s disability against him, but without batting an eye, defended it:

“This ad is about one thing. And one thing only. It’s about Greg Abbott’s hypocrisy.”

“In 1984, Greg Abbott sought out and received justice following a horrible injury, rightly so … receiving millions of dollars. And I’m glad, he deserved justice for the terrible tragedy that he endured,” Davis said during the press conference. “But then he turned around and built his career working to deny the very same justice that he received to his fellow Texans rightly seeking it for themselves.”

A Davis pollster not only defended the ad, but also claimed it is working:

Joel Benenson, the pollster for Democratic Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis, is defending a controversial TV ad released by the campaign that has been panned by political pundits and campaign operatives on both sides of the aisle.

“I’m confident that the ad is effective and working and is consistent with the strategy of our ads in this campaign that depicts Greg Abbott as an insider repeatedly siding with insiders and against average Texans,” Benenson, who served as President Obama’s chief pollster in the 2008 and 2012 elections, said in an interview with the Texas Tribune Sunday.

Today we find that Davis has dug an even deeper hole for herself:

It’s a pretty shameful new low. There is really nothing to say other than the woman’s actions and choices speak for themselves.

I prefer to consider Abbott’s remarks on life after his accident. He examples a fortitude, discipline and acceptance of his present circumstance that is completely inspiring. This is a man who has learned how to live and appreciate life fully, completely and without excuse:

“After my accident, I had to rebuild my strength. I would roll up an eight-story parking garage — spending hours going up the ramps. With each floor, it got harder and harder. But I wouldn’t quit. Just one more, I would tell myself, just one more. I see life that way. And it’s how I will govern Texas. To get to the top, we must push ourselves to do just one more.”

–Dana

NIH: We Could Have Developed an Ebola Vaccine But for Budget Cuts

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 11:23 am



A few days ago, I noted that the CDC had claimed that, absent budget cuts, they would have been able to detect, identify, and contain Ebola. I noted some past comedic expenditures by CDC that show that they aren’t exactly careful with the public’s money — employee fitness centers with zero-gravity chairs and mood-enhancing light shows, and multi-million dollar boondoggles named after Senators who showered money on them.

The government bureaucrats are getting more aggressive in their claims. Now they say they could have, no doubt, developed a vaccine but for budget cuts by Republicans. Here’s NIH Director Francis Collins talking to HuffPo:

Frankly, if we had not gone through our 10-year slide in research support, we probably would have had a vaccine in time for this that would’ve gone through clinical trials and would have been ready.

Time for us to get a little more aggressive about showing how NIH has wasted our money. Courtesy of Noah Rothman at Hot Air, we see that Twitter user “CounterMoonbat” is on the job, with numerous examples of NIH waste, including:

  • $325,525 for a study concluding that wives would argue less with their husbands if they would just calm down quicker.
  • $386,000 to massage rabbits to determine the best length of time for a massage. (Judging from feedback from Mrs. P. the correct answer is: there is no set length of time. Just keep going. I just gave you that insight for free!)
  • $939,771 to find out why fruit flies fall in love.
  • $666,905 to see why people like watching Seinfeld re-runs.
  • $350,000 researching how golfers perform better when using their imagination”

Obama, who just racked up his 200th round of golf in office, would be interested in that one.

Still more examples here from Erick Erickson.

Government is the only enterprise which fails and then asks for more money, citing its failure as justification for extra cash. A business that did that would quickly go under.

Government funding of science is wasteful. Private industry spends money on basic science for many reasons, but when government comes along and spends money, it actually reduces total spending on science. I think there is an argument for a very basic CDC to prevent outbreaks of disease, but 1) they could do it on far less money, and 2) it’s high time they focused on that core issue and left research to private industry.

UPDATE: This post actually relates to the NIH, not the CDC. (Thanks to Art Deco.) I changed it in the headline and in three places in the post. All the examples, however, relate to the NIH and not CDC and are valid responses to the claim by the NIH director.

Pushback Against CDC Claim That Ebola-Infected Nurse Breached Protocol

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 10:42 am



You mean, it’s possible the protocol is not perfect? Thoughtcrime!

Some healthcare experts are bristling at the assertion by a top U.S. health official that a “protocol breach” caused a Dallas nurse to be infected with Ebola while caring for a dying patient, saying the case instead shows how far the nation’s hospitals are from adequately training staff to deal with the deadly virus.

. . . .

Some experts also question the CDC’s assertion that any U.S. hospital should be prepared to treat an Ebola patient as the outbreak ravaging West Africa begins to spread globally. Given the level of training required to do the job safely, U.S. health authorities should consider designating a hospital in each region as the go-to facility for Ebola, they said.

“You don’t scapegoat and blame when you have a disease outbreak,” said Bonnie Castillo, a registered nurse and a disaster relief expert at National Nurses United, which serves as both a union and a professional association for U.S. nurses. “We have a system failure. That is what we have to correct.”

Well. “You” don’t scapegoat and blame. But members of the federal government do that as easily and naturally as they breathe. Scapegoating and blaming is currently classified as a part of bureaucrats’ autonomic nervous system.

Dr. Gavin Macgregor-Skinner, an expert on public health preparedness at Pennsylvania State University, also disagreed with the talk of a breach of protocol, saying it just puts the onus on the nurse.

“I think that is just wrong,” said Macgregor-Skinner, who helped the Nigerian government train healthcare workers when a traveler from Liberia touched off an outbreak of Ebola this past summer.

“We haven’t provided them with a national training program. We haven’t provided them with the necessary experts that have actually worked in hospitals with Ebola,” he added in reference to U.S. hospital staff.

Always trust content from Patterico.

Thanks to CardioNP for the link to the story.

National Journal Reports on Mitt Romney’s Joke About Obama

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:40 am



Here it is:

President Obama went to the bank to cash a check and he didn’t have his ID. And the teller said you’ve got to prove who you are.

He said, “How should I do that?” She said the other day Phil Mickelson came in, he didn’t have his ID but he set up a little cup on the ground, took a golf ball, putted it right into that cup so they knew it was Phil Mickelson. They cashed his check.

And then Andre Agassi came in. And Andre Agassi didn’t have his ID either. He put a little target on the wall, took a tennis ball and racquet– hit it onto that target time. We knew that was Andre Agassi so we cashed his check.

And she said to him, “Is there anything you can do to prove who you are?” And Obama said, “I don’t have a clue.”

And she said, “Well, Mr. President, do you want your money in small bills or large bills.”

Hey-o!


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