As if the state didn’t have enough problems, CNN reports that Suspect tomatoes traced to Florida or Mexico

(CNN) — Investigators looking for the source of a salmonella outbreak linked to tomatoes will focus on farms in Mexico and Florida, federal health authorities said Friday.

Since April, more than 500 people have contracted the same strain of salmonella, linked to raw tomatoes.

The tracebacks “have taken us from point of consumption all the way back to certain farms in Mexico and Florida,” said Dr. David Acheson, associate commissioner for foods at the Food and Drug Administration.

The agency will send teams of investigators to farms in both locations this weekend as well as to the pathways from those farms in an attempt to determine where the contamination occurred, he said.

The tomatoes may not have been contaminated on a farm, he stressed; the contamination could have occurred in a packing shed, warehouse, supplier chain or distribution center.

This should pretty much wipe out the market for Florida vegetables.

Today at 3:59PM [CDT] was the Summer Solstice, technically considered the “first day of Summer”, but the mid Summer by much of Europe.

Many Wicca celebrate the day as Litha, while computer programmers honor their predecessors, the druids, who build the first solid-state computing devices, the megaliths, like Stonehenge.

The Slavs celebrate St. John’s Night, Иван Купала [Ivan Kupala], the battle between the White god [Белобог – Belobog] and the Black god [Чёрнобог – Chyornobog] for control of the Sun. The Black god always wins and the night begins to expand.

The sound track to the battle is Иванова Ночь на Лысой Горе [Night on Bald Mountain ] by Модест Петрович Мусоргский [Modest Petrovich Musorgsky], which everyone should play very loudly.

Via Andante from some time ago, I ran across Archaeoastronomy which tracks all of the important solar events.

…and they are rants, not raves. Some might call them shrill and they are not G rated.

Atrios names Obama, Wanker of the Day.

upyernoz says: “it’s official, obama backs the bullshit FISA ‘compromise.'”

Emptywheel notes Obama Replied – “He told me to fuck off.”

Digby wonders if we have been Sistah Soljah’d ?

[Read more →]

Democratic House Leadership

The full list of 105 Stalinists is below the fold.
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CNN reports: House approves overhaul of wiretap laws

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The House on Friday approved a bipartisan plan to overhaul the nation’s wiretapping laws.

The House vote was 293-129, with more Republicans than Democrats voting for it. The bill now moves to the Senate.

Here’s the House votes page, so you see the names of the Stalinists, including Nancy Pelosi, who approved violating your rights under the Fourth Amendment and allowing criminals to walk free.

Nice leadership on this issue from the “presumptive” Democratic nominee for President. I guess the supporting the Constitution would have interfered with his “bi-partisanship”.

Great Outdoors

I need my space.

[Editor: Ringo is outside pretty much full time. She likes to dash around and climb trees, so the inside cramps her style.]

Friday Ark