Sikmathelioma

 

By Jeff Simpson

Asbestos poisoning - mesothlioma - is a deadly disease!

Mesothelioma (or, more precisely, malignant mesothelioma) is a rare form of cancer that develops from cells of the mesothelium, the protective lining that covers many of the internal organs of the body. Mesothelioma is most commonly caused by exposure to asbestos.^[1] The most common anatomical site for mesothelioma is the pleura (the outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall), but it can also arise in the peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity), the pericardium (the sac that surrounds the heart),^[2] or the tunica vaginalis (a sac that surrounds the testis).

Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked in jobs where they inhaled or ingested asbestos fibers, or were exposed to airborne asbestos dust and fibers in other ways. Washing clothes of a family member who worked with asbestos also creates a risk for developing mesothelioma.^[3] Unlike lung cancer, there seems to be no association between mesothelioma and tobacco smoking, but smoking greatly increases the risk of other asbestos-induced cancers.^[4]

It is a major problem for people who work in the mines for a living! Has our friends to the north have found out, there are risks and serious implications for mining.  

Risk

The risks associated with asbestos are significant, and workers have historically been subjected to concentrations 10–100 times the Canadian legal limit of 1 fibres/cm³ (3, 17, 13). These workers have suffered from a wide range of health effects. Asbestos has a significant risk even at lower concentrations. The families of workers have therefore had elevated rates of asbestos-related diseases from the asbestos inadvertently brought home on the clothing of miners. Radiographs of the spouses of workers exposed to asbestos indicated that 19% of them suffered from pleural changes, and that the only factor of significance in detailed questionnaires was the latent period since first exposure. The microscopic fibres of asbestos are therefore impossible to eliminate from the indoor air environment, and pose a significant risk for the workers, their families and those whose homes contain airborne asbestos.

Implications

The laxness of the regulations concerning the sale, export and mining of asbestos has detrimental consequences for the health of Canadian communities. The Chrysotile Institute continues to receive federal subsidies to mine asbestos in Quebec, and sets safety regulations “in accordance with government” in Canada (1). The safety regulations developed were described in the previous section, and since these regulations protect corporate interests more than community health, there are serious implications for community health.

Since asbestos-related diseases appear many years after first exposure to asbestos (Figure 3), it is often difficult to establish a link between disease and exposure, especially since smoking and genetics are confounding factors in the incidence of asbestos-related diseases. Lawyers and corporations have therefore depended on scientists to prove or disprove this link. Miller (2006) found in his analysis of radiographic readings for asbestosis using International Labour Office classification that evidence has been misused by the media and attorneys to give undue compensation to victims. However, evidence has also been found that victims of asbestos exposure are often misdiagnosed, and fail to receive adequate protection (4). The lack of firm government guidelines for the use and mining of asbestos is therefore of great detriment to miners and their communities.

Figure 3

Delay between the time of first exposure and employee diagnosis with asbestos-related diseases (Kamp and Weitzman, 1999)

Recommendations

Since epidemiological analyses and animal testing have clearly shown that asbestos has health effects through occupational and environmental exposure, it is the responsibility of the government to protect the health of its citizens instead of yielding to economic corporate interests. The government of Canada must stop exporting asbestos to EU countries in which asbestos has been banned, instead of continuing to challenge the rights of these countries to refuse imports using WTO guidelines (36). Although chrysotile is less potent than other forms of asbestos, serious questions must be asked about whether the benefits of economic development in Quebec outweigh the long-term health consequences of exposure to asbestos. One potential way in which these costs and benefits can be better balanced is by forcing companies such as the Chrysotile Institute to assume responsibility for the compensation of people affected by asbestos.

Overall, better monitoring is required, both of the health of miners and their communities and of indoor air quality in buildings containing asbestos. Despite claims that indoor air quality testing of public buildings is unnecessary and unduly frightens the population, the overwhelming risks of exposure and subsequent health effects warrant testing these sites for indoor air quality. It is only through a thorough knowledge of the potential health effects of a specific site that informed policies can be created.

Mesothlioma is no joke, unless of course your right wing extremist Brian Sikma


See Sikma had a crony leak him a preliminary report, that says that there is asbestos on the site and its dangers to the workers and the local community.   Sikma is having a field day making fun of this report because it was worked on by ...... (sit down for this) -----   Scientists and Academics! 

The non-governmental author participating in the report’s creation is Tom Fitz, an associate professor of geoscience at Northland College and outspoken mine skeptic. Northland touts itself as an “environmental liberal arts” college that focuses on climate change, sustainability, and green practices.

(Edit note to Sikma - Liberal arts colleges are not another word for Democratic Colleges) 

Another non-DNR expert whose work was featured in the report is Marcia Bjornerud, a geology professor at Lawrence University. Although she didn’t participate in drafting the report, the DNR panel repeatedly referenced a study of hers from 2012. Tom Fitz helped produce that study.

Why would a geologist have any credibility on geology study?  Especially when a guy who went to mailorder U.com disagrees with said study!   

The reality is this mine is dangerous for the long term health effects of our friends and neighbors in Northern Wisconsin.  However, to advance his extreme right wing, global warming is a hoax and the mine will be perfectly safe and create a gajillion jobs, Brian Sikma and the rest of the right wing cabal are putting your and your children's health and long term well being at serious risk! 

Who cares if your children die of cancer as long as Scott Walker gets re-elected! 

In Wisconsin we not only have to worry about mesothlioma, but also Sikmathelioma(the only thing that matters is electing republicans, no matter how many lives are destroyed in the process)!  

Amen! 

Terrorism or Not Terrorism

By Jeff Simpson

AFP-Wisconsin, our resident Koch brothers Shrill group, is now carrying water for Chris Cline.  Luke Hilgemann will sell out to anyone.    Today on facebook they posted the youtube video of a protestor in Northern Wisconsin, swearing and pulling a camera from someone who worked for the mine.   They posted it with this caption:

Only one way to describe this - Eco-terrorism.

So lets break it down for Luke.

 ter·ror·ism

[ter-uh-riz-uhm] Show IPAnoun

1.the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.

2.the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.

3.a terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.

 Hmmm  




               

Definition of ECOTERRORISM

1: sabotage intended to hinder activities that are considered damaging to the environment

2: political terrorism intended to damage an enemy's natural environment

if you look up the items needed to Mine our pristine Northwoods, no where is a camera part of the essential items.    So grabbing a camera from someone's hands is dumb it is NOT "ecoterrorism! 

So let us sum it up for you:

THIS is terrorism:

THIS is NOT terrorism:

If you insist that the above video IS terrorism, then this also has to be terrorism:

If you insist that the northern Wisconsin incident is terrorism, then THIS also has to be terrorism(PS- Santorum was AFP's guy):

Or Hilgemann is just a hypocritical partisan hack who brings nothing to the table.  



 

Update:  His buddy Parrots him - Bawk Bawk! 

Shrill's Family Tree

By Jeff Simpson

Shrill Labarre, was caught on video talking to her family tree.   One would think that if Shrill had found an Ent, she could have at least found an intelligent one!   I personally would have figured that Shril's family lineage would have been that of a bunch of rocks, but trees make sense also.  

H/T Blue Cheddar:

Unfortunately the three time assembly loser, and failed recall leader, would have picked up on the hint  of her perpetual rejection by her friends and neighbors that they have no interest in anything she has to say.  Unfortunately this time she comes very well funded, to the great dismay of the people and wildlife of Northern Wisconsin. 

By the way Shrill, it turns out Global Climate Change is worse than we even thought! 

Lord Stern, author of the government-commissioned review on climate change that became the reference work for politicians and green campaigners, now says he underestimated the risks, and should have been more “blunt” about the threat posed to the economy by rising temperatures.

In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Stern, who is now a crossbench peer, said: “Looking back, I underestimated the risks. The planet and the atmosphere seem to be absorbing less carbon than we expected, and emissions are rising pretty strongly. Some of the effects are coming through more quickly than we thought then.”

Looks like someone forgot to tell the tree!  

EDIT NOTE:  Looks like we have uncovered the unedited version of Shrillee and the Tree!  Enjoy!

Recall Robin

Robin Vos, is set on changing the recall rules. As we have come to expect from Robin Vos, he is very estranged from the truth.  Let's take a look at what he has to say and help him out.

Thankfully, it has become crystal clear that people across our state have had enough. It's time to recall the recalls.It's completely understandable that there's voter fatigue.

You can tell how "fatigued: the voters were by the impressive 58% turnout! 

When legislators crafted the recall provision for the state constitution in 1926, most state officials except state senators had two-year terms. The recall was intended to be used only in extreme cases and until now rarely was used. It was not meant to remove officials over one vote that a special interest group didn't like.

 Let's ask Marquette Law Professor Fallone:

 This statement is objectively false. The recall provisions contained in the Wisconsin State Constitution were never intended to be limited in such a fashion. The original design of the right of recall is, in fact, intended to permit voters to recall elected officials for virtually any reason so long as the procedural mechanisms of the State Constitution are followed.

 Ouch, Robin Vos is beyond stretching the truth at this point, but lets continue, because now he revises history:

If we don't recall the recalls, lawmakers will be in constant campaign mode, and taxpayer dollars will continue to go down the drain. We also don't want our elected leaders to shy away from the tough votes in fear of being recalled. Following the defeat of the mining legislation this past session, there was an effort to begin recalling state Sens. Dale Schultz and Bob Jauch. While we didn't agree with their vote against the jobs bill, it shouldn't be enough to warrant a recall.

Mr, Vos forgets that he was one of the people who advocated the most, to run fake democrats in the primaries, thus costing our great state hundreds of thousands of dollars:

 “We are encouraging Republicans to vote in the Democratic primaries,” state Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester),

Wait, there is more, (there is always more).   Vos points out that there was an effort to recall Sens, Schultz and Jauch for their vote against the bill that Gogebic Taconite Mining company wrote(which was never a jobs bill).

Yet this is the perfect example for why the recalls do not need to be messed with.  When Shrill LaBarre, tried to recall Senator Jauch, she massively failed.   Which shows that if you do your job and represent your constituents, you will not get recalled.   Also the people in Wisconsin understood that the Robin Vos mining bill was not a jobs bill but a giveaway to the Gogebic!  The people of Wisconsin also understand thatthe Schultz/Jauch bipartisan mining bill, was the actual jobs bill and it is too bad the fitzgerald family would not bring it to the floor for a vote.  Once again the republicans put the blind far right partisanship over the peoplel of WI.

I actually think we do not recall a politician for writing a ridiculous LTE(we would be too busy and there are even more ridiculous letters by politicians than this).  I also think that we should not recall a politician over one vote(for the record, none of these recalls were over one vote).

However, as Vos says "We need to limit recalls to a malfeasance in office"! let's take a look at that.

mal·fea·sance

 [mal-fee-zuhns] Show IPA

noun Law .

the performance by a public official of an act that is legally unjustified, harmful, or contrary to law; wrongdoing (used especially of an act in violation of a public trust).

 We are limiting recalls to malfeasance in office, it doesn ot look good for Robin Vos's career.  Let's look at his record.

1.  Vos has perpetually lied about the recall results in Racine by crying fraud when there is none there! It has gotten so bad that the GAB has pointed out it is HARMFUL to the election process.    

2.  Vos recently blatantly broke the law by accepting tens of thousands of dollars of legal services for "free" and would not reveal who paid for them.   An ethics violation that was very much in CONTRARY TO LAW.

3.  Vos's only real contribution as a member of the legislature is to write bills that personally help him financially.   Which of course falls under the definition of "wrongdoing (used especially of an act in violation of a public trust)".

4.  Vos has spent his time as Wisconsin chair of ALEC, getting flown around the country(also at taxpayer expense) and was a key figure in the top secret, incredibly expensive, partisan, unethical redistricting process.   Which falls under ALL of the definition of Malfeasance.   
  
Is the thrice divorced, ethically void Robin Vos  really the person we want changing our state Constitution? I do however admire him attempting to change the rules, but still allowing for his own recall.   There is a reason that a politician as morally bankrupt and willing to lie as robin vos would want to remove the checks and balances on politicians.  If you are that bad at your job, of course you do not want checks and balances.  


The question is do we let him??

Let's put someone in office who is NOT a clown for the secret moneyed interest of ALEC , someone who cares about morals, and ethics and actually representing their district!   


That person is Kelley Albrecht, find her on facebook here and her website here!