i know this is true for a fact

i have many many many friends in the service industry. some have benefits (insurance that is) but almost NONE of them have sick time, paid sick days.

there are a LOT of immigrants in the business too. it's not unusual for them to work well over 8 hours a day, 6 and 7 days a week. while they get paid MORE than the flat $30.00 a day mentioned in the article (i mean they get paid by the hour and it's NOT 3.00 unless they are waiting tables and/or getting tips), most of them do NOT have the medical coverage.

of course this effects both men and women, however, women are going to get hit a lot harder.

it's idea to stay home when one is sick. SOME PEOPLE CANNOT STAY HOME WHEN THEY'RE ILL


A Sick Situation
-Judith Warner

Early this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that anyone with flu symptoms stay home from work or school.

President Obama reiterated that advice at his press conference on Wednesday night. “If you are sick, stay home,” he said. “If your child is sick, keep them out of school.”

“I know it sounds trivial,” the president said, after asking families to start taking other “very sensible precautions” like washing hands and covering up during coughs. “But it makes a huge difference.”

The president’s admonition to the sick to stay home didn’t sound trivial to Silvia Del Valle, a 42-year-old restaurant worker in Miami.

It sounded impossible.

When I spoke to her Thursday morning, Del Valle was sick in bed with a cough and a fever. Was she planning to go to work, I asked her, Obama’s press conference still fresh in my mind.

“Yes,” she said. “I need to go. Because if I don’t go, I lose my job.”...........

just in case you're one of those

evil hearted id-jits who are blaming people with perhaps a darker skin color than yours and perhaps a different accent than yours (and different language even) for bringing that nasty pig virus across the border, ponder this why don't cha (who really owns that pig shite anyway? NOT the mexicans. i'm guessing it's the effing gringos)

Residents near Smithfiled farm insist area played role in flu
The Virginian-Pilot

From Pilot and wire reports

The people of La Gloria, Mexico, a town of 3,000 in the Veracruz mountains, believe their community is ground zero for the swine flu epidemic, even if health officials deny it.

Their suspicions point toward pig farms co-owned by Smithfield Foods Inc., which Tuesday reiterated that no signs of the flu had been found in its pigs or workers in Mexico.

The town is home to Mexico's earliest confirmed case of swine flu, a 4-year-old boy who was among more than 450 residents who complained of respiratory problems. They blame contamination spread by pig waste at the Granjas Carroll de Mexico breeding farms, which are half-owned by Smithfield..........

Swine Flu May Come From Corporate Pig Poop

By Daphne Eviatar

Although the mainstream media in the United States hasn’t picked up on it, at least one Mexican newspaper and some U.S. bloggers are reporting that swine flu may have originated from mounds of porcine fecal matter at the Mexican subsidiary of U.S.-based Smithfield Foods — the world’s largest pork packer and hog producer.

As Tom Philpott at Grist writes, Smithfield operates massive hog farms Perote, Mexico, in the state of Vera Cruz, where the outbreak originated. According to the company Website, the operations are part of a Smithfield subsidiary called Granjas Carroll, which raises some 950,000 hogs per year.

Grist refers back to the Website Biosurveillance, which has this fascinating piece of information in its timeline of the swine flu outbreak:

Veratect reported local health officials declared a health alert due to a respiratory disease outbreak in La Gloria, Perote Municipality, Veracruz State, Mexico. Sources characterized the event as a “strange” outbreak of acute respiratory infection, which led to bronchial pneumonia in some pediatric cases….officials indicated that 60% of the town’s population (approximately 1,800 cases) has been affected. [...]..............

she's effing INSANE

why why why is she serving? why did the people elect her? there is a great big difference between being a conservative and being someone living in an alternate reality

you know every now and again

i try to watch him. i get about 30 seconds in and must either shut the tv off or change the channel. i can't do it, not even for research or comparison purposes. i really can't decide if it's all an act though. i'm leaning toward YES it is

More Beck paranoia: Links Obama administration's swine flu public health emergency declaration to already scheduled Sebelius confirmation vote

Published Mon, Apr 27, 2009 12:51pm ET by Media Matters staff

from the cdc

here are some faqs on swine flu

remember though (and your moms told you this when you were a kid) WASH YOUR HANDS

wash 'em frequently. wash 'em all the time. 80% of the cases of flu are spread by hand. so WASH 'EM

wash 'em after touching that grocery cart. that door to enter work or school.

oh and don't hang in crowds for a while