According to the Union of Concerned Scientists recent newsletter, the antibiotic resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that has been an increasing problem in hospitals around the world is now infecting apparently healthy schoolkids outside of hospitals. This is a major development. Up until now anti-biotic resistance was only occasionally a problem outside of hospitals (so-called community-acquired" cases). This may be changing. According to the Centers for Disease Control, MRSA was responsible for almost 19,000 US deaths in 2005.

Another part of this development is also important. Evidence from Europe indicate that the community-acquired cases of MRSA are often associated with livestock operations. This is yet further evidence that the idiotic practice of pouring massive amounts of antibiotics into the feed of healthy animals is contributing to the public health risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria that treatens our children and people with a compromised immune system.

While progressive sentiment is strong is the land (most people when asked, for example, favor single-payer universal health insurance, nowhere on the political agenda), progressive institutions are not. Our leaders are blown like dry leaves by the force of concentrated power, even if their personal convictions might lead them elsewhere.

Congress has just enacted a multi-Billion “stimulus” package to put cash into people’s hands and pump money into the economy so as to deter the looming (but technically not-here-yet) recession. The basic stories are reported in the NY Times and Washington Post . The package price is between $152- and $168 Billion; bringing to mind Everett Dirkson's remark: "a billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking about real money". The package passed is better than that bargained for by President Bush and Speaker Pelosi. There are problems with the package.

It throws from the train the weakest and poorest of us: no food stamp increases and no extension for longer term unemployed. The George Bush-Nancy Pelosi vision of compassionate conservatism shuts out the poor. Money for the poor and unemployed would have been the quickest spent and produced the most economic activity for each dollar spent.

Do you have to be a Nobel-prize winning economist like Joseph Stiglitz to understand that a fast, effective way to spend our way out of the Bush-GOP-invented economic swamp is to put cash into the hands of the poor? Food stamp increases and extension of unemployment insurance benefits could be done quickly by Congress and would be spent right away by the lower-income people they’d reach.

Yet, of course, the Bush-Pelosi plan doesn’t include them. It could be a worse plan, of course but its mechanism, tax refunds, will take five months (best case) and it directs the pump-priming cash to people who might well bank it instead of spending it. Indeed two-thirds of the money in the Bush-Pelosi plan goes to higher income while only a third goes to poorer people. ( Andrew Leonard at Salon tracks the saddest-funniest food story: Republicans saving the poor from fatness by blocking boost in food stamps. Who knew?) Many, many (too many?) updates (5 sets) are at the end of the post. Also Take Action! Urge a progressive stimulus package! Link at the end. .

This has led progressives like economist-columnist Paul Krugman to pan the Bush-Pelosi deal:

In an era when all Americans favor universal health care, (even a majority of Republicans) why don't we have it already? I asked four progressive Congress Members from the New York area, who were not endorsers of John Conyers' "Medicare For All" bill, HR 676, what were their views of that universal single payer plan. I asked Joe Crowley, John Hall, Nita Lowey and Nydia Velazquez.

While I got some information about the views on all four, the answers of only three are below. John Hall (Northern Westchester, Putnam, Duchess, Rockland & Orange), perhaps wisely, decided he wanted to post his health insurance views directly. (You may have noticed he's signed on as a new blogger on the lower right hand side of the page).

SiCKO, the Michael Moore documentary on health care and health insurance opens Friday to a chorus of articles, publicity, and policy debates. Shamelessly building Harvy Weinstein's movie promotion, I called the offices of four fairly progressive New York Congress Members: Joe Crowely, John Hall, Nita Lowey and Nydia Velazquez. None of them are co-sponsors of HR 676 -- the bill introduced by Rep. John Conyers. (For a description of the bill click here, for a list of current co-sponsors click here "Why doesn't the Congress Member support HR 676?" I've received answers which I plan to post tomorrow. In the meanwhile, check out these SiCKO assessments from The Nation and from Truthdig. Then, go see SiCKO and call your Congress Member in the morning. Or, more immediately, click here to sign onto the AFL-CIO campaign to improve health care.

Last night, at Judson Memorial Church, I went to a party thrown by Progressive Source Communications