The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged swine flu

Stay Home if You Have Swine Flu, Unless You Work at Wal-Mart

By | 11.04.09 | 9:07 am

During the summer, when swine flu was not yet a widespread reality in the United States, giant retailer Wal-Mart made the news for being in talks with the government about possibly distributing the swine flu vaccine through its extensive network of stores.

But now the swine flu has Wal-Mart More…

Immigration Needs an Overhaul, Not a Shift

By | 05.04.09 | 9:04 am

The Obama administration’s announcement last week that it was making a slight shift on immigration policy, to target employers who hire illegal workers rather than the workers themselves, is a good move but not nearly good enough, The New York Times wrote in a powerful Sunday editorial.

At the More…

Scientific Reports Suggest Possible Link Between Swine Flu and Industrial Pig Farms

By | 05.01.09 | 3:49 pm

Since bloggers at Grist and Biosurveillance first starting pointing to a subsidiary of the U.S. pork producer Smithfield Foods as a possible source of the swine flu everyone’s now so panicked about, the mainstream media has started picking up on the story.

Although Smithfield is still denying More…

Swine Flu Rhetoric Part of Broader Anti-Immigration Strategy

By | 05.01.09 | 6:00 am

If the anti-immigrant reactions to the outbreak of swine flu are any indication, advocates for immigration reform are going to have an uphill battle in Congress this year.

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship held its first hearing on Comprehensive Immigration Reform. The More…

Obama Security Team Member May Have Swine Flu

By | 04.30.09 | 2:22 pm

Breaking news from The Washington Post:

A member of the security advance team for President Obama’s recent trip to Mexico is suspected of having contracted the swine flu, a senior White House official says.

U.N. to Investigate Industrial Pig Farm in Mexico as Possible Swine Flu Source

By | 04.29.09 | 11:20 am

United Nations food inspectors are going to Mexico to investigate reports that industrial pig farms were the source of the swine flu outbreak, the BBC reports.

As I wrote yesterday, based on some excellent reporting in Grist and elsewhere, local residents in La Gloria, Mexico, where the More…

Health Expert: Closing Borders Won’t Stop Swine Flu, But Could Undermine Treatment

By | 04.29.09 | 10:33 am

Lawmakers and immigration restrictionists advocating closure of the border with Mexico to prevent the spread of swine flu into the United States may want to stop and listen to what Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and a longtime adviser More…

Arizona’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio Instructs Deputies to Protect Themselves From Illegal Immigrant-Borne Swine Flu

By | 04.29.09 | 8:51 am

It was the perfect opportunity for Maricopa County, Ariz. Sheriff Joe Arpaio. After all, it’s been more than a month since he was in the national spotlight when the federal government announced that it was investigating his office in Maricopa County for racial profiling and other civil rights abuses More…

Smithfield Pork’s Got Problems

By | 04.28.09 | 1:21 pm

If Smithfield Foods, which I wrote about in an earlier post, rang a bell, it may be because the company has recently gotten some bad press for its troubled labor relations. The problems are heating up with the company’s latest announcement that it’s closing six plants and cutting More…

Right-Wing Restrictionists Blame Illegal Immigrants for Swine Flu

By | 04.28.09 | 12:49 pm

It was just a matter of time, but right-wing bloggers, restrictionist immigration groups and now even some politicians are blaming illegal immigrants and the government’s failure to keep them out for the swine flu pandemic.

Michelle Malkin writes, “hey maybe we’ll finally get serious about borders now,” adding that she’s More…