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Put Johanns Out to Pasture. Now.

Mike

Well-known member
Mad Cows, Lunatic Politicians, & The Case For Traceback

MSNBC reports that US Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns said last week that he believes that there are, at maximum, a total of between four and seven cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), better known as mad cow disease, in the entire United States. Johanns said this estimate is based on new testing data compiled by the Us Department of Agriculture (USDA), and that once it is reviewed by an independent panel, a reduction in BSE testing will almost certainly be the result.

“The data shows the prevalence of BSE in the United States is extraordinarily low,” Johanns told reporters on a conference call. “In other words, we have an extremely healthy herd of cattle in our country.”

While there have been just three cases of BSE identified in the US, MSNBC notes that "the brain-wasting disorder infected more than 180,000 cows and was blamed for more than 150 human deaths during a European outbreak that peaked in 1993."

However, MSNBC reports that to USDA is cooking the numbers to some degree - the first case in the US, "a Canadian cow found in Washington state, is not included in the testing analysis. Including that animal would have revised the estimate of infected cows upward to five to 11 nationwide."

USDA announced in late March that it planned to scale back its BSE testing, but then changed its institutional mind because Johanns suddenly realized that he wouldn’t be able to persuade a BSE-paranoid Japan to reopen its borders to US beef if he was simultaneously reducing the US surveillance effort. Japan, which tests every cow, for BSE, currently has a ban on US beef imports.

According to the new MSNBC report, Johanns now says "there is little justification for keeping up the higher testing levels, which rose to about 1,000 samples daily, from about 55 samples daily, after mad cow turned up in the U.S. The current level is around 1 percent of the 35 million cattle slaughtered last year in the U.S.
"Johanns pointed out the testing is not supposed to protect food from mad cow disease; testing is supposed to show how prevalent the disease is."
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that in a speech to the World Meat Congress last week, Gary Johnson, McDonald's senior director for worldwide supply chain management, called for mandatory cattle traceback programs that would assure consumers about the safety of the meat they consume.

"Consumer trust in the safety of the food they eat across the entire food chain including the proteins is the single most critical factor for our industry," he said.

Calling the expense of a traceback program "essential" and a "down-payment on consumer trust," Johnson said, "Any company that can't build and maintain their public trust doesn't have to worry about any other trend in the food industry - that company will simply not be in business any more."

The Journal notes that the US beef "industry is lumbering toward adopting programs that can trace back retail beef to cattle on farms, but not without some industry opposition - and considerable intransigence in some quarters." And, it reports that the willingness of other countries – notable Australia – to invest in traceback programs could and should put competitive pressure on the US to do the same thing.

KC's View: Whenever we read a quote from Mike Johanns, we are reminded of what writer William Goldman once said about the movie business in his book, "Adventures in the Screen Trade."

"Nobody knows anything."

And then seems to go extra for USDA.

Not only does the USDA not factor in the first case of mad cow found in the US, it clearly has not factored in any cases of mad cow that it has not yet found.

Johanns says that testing is not supposed to protect food from mad cow disease, but just show how prevalent the disease is.

And then he wants to scale back testing.

We think that the only thing that should be scaled back is Johanns' period of public service. Put him out to pasture. Now.
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
Not long ago, I had a conversation with my Congressman, Tom Osborne. I told him how disillusioned I was with the USDA and particularily Mike Johanns, who was, I thought, a pretty good governor for us in Nebraska and that I had really expected him to clean up USDA and do things right. I said that I thought Mike would do a better job than Veneman, but it seemed nothing had changed. Tom was quiet for a few moments as I could see he was choosing his words carefully. Then he said, "Mike's problem is that he has the same people below him and the same people above him that Secretary Veneman had."

I realized at that point that I probably owed Anne Veneman an apology. I don't think the problem with that outfit lies with the secretary - it's a much, much larger problem than that.
 

Econ101

Well-known member
Sandhusker said:
Not long ago, I had a conversation with my Congressman, Tom Osborne. I told him how disillusioned I was with the USDA and particularily Mike Johanns, who was, I thought, a pretty good governor for us in Nebraska and that I had really expected him to clean up USDA and do things right. I said that I thought Mike would do a better job than Veneman, but it seemed nothing had changed. Tom was quiet for a few moments as I could see he was choosing his words carefully. Then he said, "Mike's problem is that he has the same people below him and the same people above him that Secretary Veneman had."

I realized at that point that I probably owed Anne Veneman an apology. I don't think the problem with that outfit lies with the secretary - it's a much, much larger problem than that.

I think you hit it there, Sandhusker. This is precisly why they will not hold hearings and also why this issue has not been publicized very much in the national press although it has been one of the themes in the criticism of this administration and in the operation of GIPSA.

Past GAO reports have recommended that the bureaucrats in these agencies be moved so that the connections and power structures leading to captive agency do not happen. Those recommendations have obviously been ignored. I suspect Agman knows more than he lets on about some of these issues.

I respect the generals who have come out so strongly as opposed to hacks like Veneman that have played the game.

Bush is running his administration off of the reputation of the Republican party and he has some help from congress in that regards. It is starting to crack. It is really too bad. Many of us thought his integrity would allow him to combat Potomac Fever but it seems otherwise.

The recent skits with Bush's doubles were funny, but that does not allow him to escape the obvious failings of integrity in the administration. The double thing was a little ironic if you think about it. It was Clinton's "trick".
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
I'm a right-leaning registered Independent and 90% of the time I vote Republican. However, I've had enough of Bush. Actually, more than enough. Never has any Republican cemented the perception that the Republican party is for big business at the expense of the little guy more than Bush. He's not even trying to hide it.

That reminds me of another conversation I had with Congressman Osborne. I said that I didn't consider myself anti-trade or a protectionist, but the administration's obsession with trade had me concerned and I felt we were losing common sense and adopting a "trade at all costs" policy. Tom didn't defend Bush, he simply said, "It does seem that trade is about all that's important in Washinton anymore."
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Sandhusker said:
I'm a right-leaning registered Independent and 90% of the time I vote Republican. However, I've had enough of Bush. Actually, more than enough. Never has any Republican cemented the perception that the Republican party is for big business at the expense of the little guy more than Bush. He's not even trying to hide it.

That reminds me of another conversation I had with Congressman Osborne. I said that I didn't consider myself anti-trade or a protectionist, but the administration's obsession with trade had me concerned and I felt we were losing common sense and adopting a "trade at all costs" policy. Tom didn't defend Bush, he simply said, "It does seem that trade is about all that's important in Washinton anymore."

You summed up my feelings quite well Sandhusker- I agree....The sad thing I see is that the Republican party is falling apart with this obsession for Big Business and Global trade....A huge split is occurring that may not be fixable by 08....Many of the local small businessmen that have been lifelong Republicans are not sure where or if they even fit into the current policy direction.......
 

Mike

Well-known member
Lou Dobbs, whom I respect his views, summed it up this morning.

He said that "Corporate America" has taken over the Election Process, the Executive, Congressional, and Judicial Branches of government in the USA.

It is evident by the "Fence Sitting" going on in the immigration squabble.
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
Mike said:
Lou Dobbs, whom I respect his views, summed it up this morning.

He said that "Corporate America" has taken over the Election Process, the Executive, Congressional, and Judicial Branches of government in the USA.

It is evident by the "Fence Sitting" going on in the immigration squabble.

Exactly, Mike. How can there be any fence-sitting when the topic is ILLEGAL aliens. It's pretty sad and very alarming.
 

flounder

Well-known member
While Veneman expressed urgency, in May 2005, Secretary Michael Johanns announced

that full recording of animal movements would be delayed until 2009.9 This extended

timeline reversed the expedited implementation promised by Secretary Veneman.

In a February 2006 meeting of a cattleman’s association called R-CALF, the NAIS

coordinator Neil Hammerschmidt said that the 2009 timeline would not be met, as the

agency had “no one working on rules to implement a mandatory program.”10 In a letter

to the Center for Science in the Public Interest in March 2006, USDA “clarified”

Hammerschmidt’s remarks by saying that “broad support for the NAIS will motivate a

majority of stakeholders to voluntarily participate. . . . Such market incentives could

obviate the need for our Agency to take regulatory action to make participation

mandatory.” Thus, Hammerschmidt was right – USDA had already decided that animal

identification and tracking programs would not be mandatory.

Failure to Follow Through on Cattle Feed Standards



snip...full text ;



http://www.ombwatch.org/regs/2006/cowsense.pdf

TSS
 

Econ101

Well-known member
reader (the Second) said:
Sandhusker said:
Not long ago, I had a conversation with my Congressman, Tom Osborne. I told him how disillusioned I was with the USDA and particularily Mike Johanns, who was, I thought, a pretty good governor for us in Nebraska and that I had really expected him to clean up USDA and do things right. I said that I thought Mike would do a better job than Veneman, but it seemed nothing had changed. Tom was quiet for a few moments as I could see he was choosing his words carefully. Then he said, "Mike's problem is that he has the same people below him and the same people above him that Secretary Veneman had."

I realized at that point that I probably owed Anne Veneman an apology. I don't think the problem with that outfit lies with the secretary - it's a much, much larger problem than that.

When he took the job, I felt it was a waste of a good resource for just this reason. The administration decides policy. The Cabinet implements it at their agencies and organizations. The lobbyists and other special interest groups influence policy and in this administration the influence is across the board and more weighty than in some administrations. Not to mention the issues with civil servants and the entire bureaucracy.

No real oversight hearings asking the tough questions to get to good law and policy is also a problem. You can not put it all on the decider. He has to have help to get away with what he and the adminstration gets away with.

He is either really, really stupid and this emperor has no clothes, or he is corrupt up to his eyeballs. My personal feeling is the former with those surrounding him the latter but it looks as if there has to be a mix.

The retaliation against enemies (valerie plame, leakers on the "secrets" of the administration like wire tapping, secret torture prisons, etc..), and the gross mismanagement direct from the top show duplicity.
 

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