Wisconsin's Premier Public Health Surveillance System Produces Large Numbers in Outbreak Reports

The feel-good, holiday video for the ages: Dr. Christopher
Olsen chats about Wisconsin's public health surveillance system
and Zoonotic disease research at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009. Outgoing Wisconsin
Republicans did not destroy these treasures. This is
cause to celebrate.

Madison, Wisconsin — As humanity contends with the 2018-19 flu season, there is a man-made system that should be hailed: Wisconsin's model public health surveillance program that alerts medical professionals and policymakers to disease threats like Legionnaires’ disease and the flu.

Wisconsin has the best statewide health surveillance, and it's no accident.

The state's public research and public health investments made over generations and spurred on by liberal, secular types at UW-Madison laid the scientific ground to establish a sophisticated public health system, notes Dr. Christopher Olsen, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, at a lecture in Madison in April 2009.

Flooding disasters across the nation this year likely has people here guessing about a causal relationship between recent Legionnaires’ disease cases in Madison and the catastrophic flooding in Madison — a worthy question that generates a reassuring answer.

There is no cause to jump the gun about this hypothetical health problem.

"Legionella bacteria can cause a serious type of pneumonia (lung infection) called Legionnaires’ disease. The bacteria can also cause a less serious illness called Pontiac fever," the CDC notes. "People can get sick when they breathe in mist or accidentally swallow water into the lungs containing Legionella. Most people exposed to Legionella do not get sick. However, people 50 years or older, current or former smokers, and people with a weakened immune system or chronic disease are at increased risk."

The number of Wisconsin's reported cases of disease is always higher than the average state's because our health surveillance systems work better than most.

In June 2009, Wisconsin's H1N1 (Swine Flu) reported cases comprised 19 percent of all confirmed cases of the entire nation. Wisconsin is that good at identifying and reporting public health threats.

Outgoing Gov. Scott Walker (R) and the Republicans have not managed to destroy or degrade Wisconsin's health surveillance system.

But the Republicans did try to remove public service and the search for truth from the University of Wisconsin System mission, a mission that ultimately resulted in today's health surveillance system.

As the state is notified of health news, Wisconsin can be confident scientists and public health professionals work together in a high-minded ethical system to stay on top of health concern.

This state of affairs is an achievement of which Wisconsinites can be proud, no matter the senseless Republican Party's vandalism of the last eight years.

Wisconsin's Pioneering Public Health and Zoonotic Disease Research Position World for Coronavirus Pandemic

 Dr. Christopher Olsen chats about Wisconsin's public
health surveillance system, Zoonotic disease
research and interdisciplinary approach to addressing
pandemics developed at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, in a public address
in 2009.

Zoonotic, animal-to-human diseases like the Coronavirus disease 2019, and public health were focus of pioneering research at University Madison, Wisconsin labs

Madison, Wisconsin — Gov. Tony Evers declared a public health emergency in response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic this week.

As the world contends with this novel (new) Coronavirus, health surveillance programs alerting medical professionals and policymakers to disease threats are working as envisioned here 70 years ago, (Centers for Disease Control Control and Prevention, World Heath Organization, UW–Madison Current Zoonatic Disease Experts).

Wisconsin has the best statewide health surveillance, and it's no accident.

The state's public research and public health investments made over generations at UW-Madison laid the ground to establish a sophisticated public health system, notes Dr. Christopher Olsen, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, at a lecture in Madison in April 2009.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

As authorities are notified of health information and guidance today, the public can be confident scientists and public health professionals work in a high-minded, effective system built on the commitment to public research for the public that flowered here.

This state of affairs is an achievement of which Wisconsinites are proud.

UW-Madison Public Research

Scientists here also discovered that "genetic mixing" of viruses causes Zoonotic Diseases - "diseases caused by infectious agents that can be transmitted between (or are shared by) animals and humans," (Dr. Christopher Olsen) - a process in which animals act as intermediate host of viruses that can be transmitted to human beings.

These virus-mixing hosts provide a "phenomenally powerful way of generating genetic diversity," mutations that sometimes can lead to the creation of viruses that are destructive to human beings, said Dr. Olsen.

The emergence of new disease occurs as ecological, sociological  and environmental conditions change, notes Dr. Olsen, pointing to the insight and work of Robert Paul Hanson, an eminent UW-Madison research scientist, (1949-1987).

Write Thomas M Yuill and B. C. Easterday, cited by Olsen

Bob Hanson insisted that we should expect to see the emergence of new diseases as ecological and environmental conditions and host populations change. He operated on the basic premise that infectious agents must be viewed and attacked holistically because they are components of the ecosystems in which their hosts live. He recognized that no one person had all the expertise required to understand the natural history of diseases, and he was a champion of interdisciplinary team approaches. The problems on which he focused were always real ones that originated in nature, (Page 140, Robert Paul Hanson. National Academy of Sciences. 1996. Biographical Memoirs: V.70. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.)

Thanks to the work of UW-Madison and scientists like Dr. Hanson, Olsen and many other generous minds in Wisconsin history, the world is more prepared for the outbreak of emerging disease like Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) than at any point in human history.

Below is video of lecture at University Place by Dr. Chris Olsen held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on April 17, 2009. Lecture is titled, "Influenza: A Disease at the Interface of Animals and Human Beings."

Wisconsin's High H1N1 Cases Result of Top Surveillance

News last week of Wisconsin's first A H1N1 (Swine Flu) death reveals odd figures on the spread of the disease through the population.

Of the 11,054 confirmed cases in the United States (and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico), 2,071 are reported in Wisconsin, equal to some 18 percent of all confirmed American cases, though Wisconsin has only 1 percent of the American population.

Health authorities point out the influenza surveillance system in Wisconsin that diagnoses such infections is the premier public health program of its kind in the nation, and this may account for the large percentage of reported and confirmed cases in Wisconsin.

One is thankful for all those public research and public health investments our state made over the 20th century spurred on by liberal, secular types at UW-Madison that laid the scientific ground for the political will to establish a sophisticated public health system.

The public health commitment that has our A H1N1 (swine flu) numbers so high was built upon pioneering work in Madison by some extraordinary people like Pete Shult and Jeff Davis.

Said Dr. Christopher Olsen, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Public Health at a lecture in Madison in April:

"Pete (Shult), diagnostic virologist [Director, Wisconsin Communicable Disease Division & Emergency Lab Response] at the state lab of hygiene [Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene(WSLH)] did his undergraduate and PhD studies here at UW and then joined the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene in 1988. Pete has created what I think is the premier influenza virus surveillance public health program anywhere in the country. Together with Jeff Davis, who is our chief medical officer for Wisconsin and our state epidemiologist, we are looked at as a state for having this wonderful model surveillance program."

UW Public Research

Scientists here discovered that "genetic mixing" of viruses causes Zoonotic Diseases - "diseases caused by infectious agents that can be transmitted between (or are shared by) animals and humans," (Dr. Christopher Olsen) - in pigs for example, and that pigs can act as an intermediate host of viruses that can be transmitted to human beings like A H1N1 (swine flu).

These virus-mixing hosts (like swine that are uniquely susceptible to bird viruses and human viruses) provide a "phenomenally powerful way of generating genetic diversity," mutations that sometimes can lead to the creation of viruses that are destructive to human beings, said Olsen.

Olsen and others had conducted a study with results that "strongly support the hypothesis that people associated with swine production are infected with swine influenza viruses more regularly than the small number of zoonotic infections in the literature would suggest," published in August 2002.

Thanks to the work of UW-Madison, our state and the world are more prepared for the outbreak of emerging influenza than at any point in human history.

The current World Health Organization (WHO) phase of pandemic alert is 5.











---
Influenza: A Disease at the Interface of Animals and Human Beings
Christopher Olsen, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Public Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Time: 47:03
- Recorded April 17, 2009

Wisconsin's Top H1N1 Surveillance

Anecdotal news the last few weeks out of Milwaukee that the H1N1 virus is hitting professional families and today's report that the virus is now widespread in Milwaukee is cause for some alarm.

Below is an updated column on the Wisconsin influenza surveillance system that diagnoses such infections and is called the premier public health program of its kind in the nation, perhaps accounting for the large percentage of reported and confirmed cases here.

Wisconsin's H1N1 (Swine Flu) incidents reveal odd figures on the spread of the disease through the American population with 19 percent of all confirmed cases occurring in Wisconsin.

Of the 17,855 confirmed or probable cases in the United States (and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico), 3,407 are reported in Wisconsin, equal to some 19 percent of the U.S. population, though Wisconsin comprises only one percent of Americans.

One is thankful for all those public research and public health investments our state made over the 20th century spurred on by liberal, secular types at UW-Madison that laid the scientific ground for the political will to establish a sophisticated public health system.

The public health commitment that has our A H1N1 (swine flu) numbers so high was built upon pioneering work in Madison by some extraordinary people like Pete Shult and Jeff Davis, according to health and research authorities.

Said Dr. Christopher Olsen, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Public Health at a lecture in Madison in April:

Pete (Shult), diagnostic virologist [Director, Wisconsin Communicable Disease Division & Emergency Lab Response] at the state lab of hygiene [Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene(WSLH)] did his undergraduate and PhD studies here at UW and then joined the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene in 1988. Pete has created what I think is the premier influenza virus surveillance public health program anywhere in the country. Together with Jeff Davis, who is our chief medical officer for Wisconsin and our state epidemiologist, we are looked at as a state for having this wonderful model surveillance program.

UW Public Research

Scientists here discovered that "genetic mixing" of viruses causes Zoonotic Diseases - "diseases caused by infectious agents that can be transmitted between (or are shared by) animals and humans," (Dr. Christopher Olsen) - in pigs for example, and that pigs can act as an intermediate host of viruses that can be transmitted to human beings like A H1N1 (swine flu).

These virus-mixing hosts (like swine that are uniquely susceptible to bird viruses and human viruses) provide a "phenomenally powerful way of generating genetic diversity," mutations that sometimes can lead to the creation of viruses that are destructive to human beings, said Olsen.

Olsen and others had conducted a study with results that "strongly support the hypothesis that people associated with swine production are infected with swine influenza viruses more regularly than the small number of zoonotic infections in the literature would suggest," published in August 2002.

Thanks to the work of UW-Madison, our state and the world are more prepared for the outbreak of emerging influenza than at any point in human history.

The current World Health Organization (WHO) phase of pandemic alert is 6, the peak phase of the pandemic.

---
Influenza: A Disease at the Interface of Animals and Human Beings
Christopher Olsen, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Public Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Recorded April 17, 2009

Biosciences Scare Tea-Republican Party Shills like Tommy Thompson and Walker

Schematic drawing of an influenza A virus

The Republican Party and its subset, the Tea Party, have become so anti-rational that practically any phenomena—macroeconomics, climate science, epidemiology, public health, evolutionary science, one can go on—that are outside its tiny ideological sphere are off limits.

Ed Fallone asks today, Why Isn’t Scott Walker Touting the Biosciences in Wisconsin?, pointing to the promise of stem cells for example, and the biosciences industry generally, studiously ignored by Scott Walker and actively opposed by Tommy Thompson who thinks he ought to dictate the direction of stem-cell research to pioneering scientists like Alan I. Leshner and James A. Thomson.

Thanks to the work of an extraordinary group of scientists working in the great public research institution, the University of Wisconsin-Madison (in the tradition of the Wisconsin Idea), Wisconsin enjoys a model health surveillance program that alerts medical professionals to emerging disease threats.

Walker and Thompson are not cheerleaders for this achievement either.

Science and public health are anathema to Scott Walker and Tommy Thompson, though Wisconsin can boast that we literally lead the world in research and public health systems because of our public commitment to a rational-scientific worldview.

Wisconsin leads the world in the identification of birds carrying the avian flu and often it seems like there are more illnesses in Wisconsin than elsewhere -- but that is because of the excellence of our health surveillance program.

When H1N1 was first discovered it was tracked extensively by Wisconsin scientists, and now that there has been an outbreak of H3N2, a flu strain to which humans are also susceptible, Wisconsin is ground zero for information on this mutation.

As Wisconsin scientists trace and gather information on diseases, the world benefits from the knowledge gained and the vaccines developed. 

In a very real sense, we can say that the Republican defunding of research such as in stem cells, and ideological distaste are making the world physically sicker, as pathologies go untreated. [Recall the Republican debates in which the prospect of a person (without health insurance) dying was actually applauded by the Republican debate audience.]

Consider the State Lab Mission Statement of the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH): "[S]hall develop and provide essential public health laboratory support to communities, agencies and private health providers consistent with the public health goals of the State."

Now, consider Tommy Thompson, Ron Johnson, Scott Walker and the GOP-Tea Party.

These two systems of political forces—one collaborative and scientific; the other ideological, feeding ignorance—do not enjoy a symbiotic relationship.

What drives the Tea Party's worldview onto its radical politics is fear:

Fear of being alive, fear of the other

versus

The joy of discovery and the sharing of our Earth

One hopes this dichotomy—Wisconsin is perfectly situated to use stem cells specifically—becomes a defining political issue.

Wisconsin Points Way for Public Health Research as Ebola Breeds Fear

Wisconsin is regarded as the premier influenza virus surveillance public health program anywhere in the country.

Public research and public health investments our state made over the 20th century spurred on by liberal, secular types at UW-Madison that laid the scientific ground for the political will to establish a sophisticated public health system.

Wisconsin's public health commitment was built upon pioneering work in Madison by some extraordinary people like Pete Shult and Jeff Davis, according to health and research authorities.

The Unites States would benefit from the Wisconsin Idea.

The Wisconsin Idea is unlikely to replicated while Republicans run Congress. See NIH director: Budget cuts delayed Ebola vaccine, treatment.

For a dose of sanity regarding viruses and public health, see:
---
Influenza: A Disease at the Interface of Animals and Human Beings
Christopher Olsen, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Public Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Recorded April 17, 2009

Gov Tony Evers Can Issue New Emergency COVID-19 Order Now: Here's How

B.1.1.7 Mutation Should Be "Treated as a Separate Epidemic," Say Experts as Wisc Court Says All COVID-19 Viruses Are the Same

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — Gov Tony Evers needs to declare a new state of emergency; use the academic resources our state has cultivated to draft justification for the new threat in the specific form of the B.1.1.7 variant [aka U.K. variant, British variant or Kent variant].

This should be done soon in such a formulation that to disagree with the executive action is to disagree with evolution and the scientific community, and the Wisconsin University System in which the population retains pride and support.

On March 31, four rightist Supreme Court of Wisconsin justices issued a sweeping decision, blocking Gov Evers' executive orders declaring an emergency and mandating masks in many circumstances (Jeré Fabick v. Tony Evers 2020AP001718-OA Case History); (Opinions, Decision text); (Executive Order #105, February 4, 2021).

The case is Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Jeré Fabick v.Tony Evers (Case No.:2020AP001718). 

 

The four-to-three decision was issued with a biting dissent authored by Justice Ann Walsh Bradley.

Evers can still declare a new state of emergency, but such a new executive order must be predicated on what the justices regard as new enabling conditions, the four Republican justices held, inventing a new reading of the power of the Wisconsin governor.

 

Jeré Fabick v.Tony Evers is what happens when rightest judges crawl under ideology; deny implications of evolution and declare uninformed views on virology and epidemiology to be judicial policy, in corrupt service to the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Still, the COVID-19 variants' genetics have changed so radically and rapidly, and behave so differently (and destructively) that these mutated biological agents incontrovertibly constitute a new underlying cause and enabling condition for a new executive order declaring a state of emergency.

Jeré Fabick v.Tony Evers

People will die because of the Jeré Fabick v.Tony Evers holding that is, essentially, just another Republican power grab. Outside of Republicans, few believe the majority's opinion is anything beyond what the dissenting opinion describes as:

"[J]udicial immodesty, [that] goes beyond the relief requested and declares Executive Order #105 [Relating to Declaring a State of Emergency and Public Health Emergency​​​​​​] unlawful with scant analysis and without candid justification," (p. 2. Dissent, Walsh Bradley)

The seven justices agree on the authority of the governor to declare a public health emergency and issue emergency orders. 

 

Further, the Court agrees that COVID-19 as a new Coronavirus meets the statutory criteria as a public health emergency.

Beyond a profound disagreement on standing, a primary disagreement concerns the governor's power to declare subsequent multiple states of emergency for what the Republican-supported majority assert is the same "basis," the same "enabling condition," and underlying cause.

The dissent notes two relevant state statutes — Wis. Stat. §323.02(16) and 323.10 — relate to occurrences or imminent threat of public health emergencies, an argument the Republican refuse to engage, beyond a dismissive paragraph.

Gov Evers had declared four separate states of emergencies after the State Health department reported the threat of the Coronavirus and new data indicating spikes in cases and the imminent threat of increased community spread.

The state's case was briefed and argued by the Wisconsin Dept of Justice, brief filed by Hannah S. Jurss, assistant attorney general, and Joshua L. Kaul, Wisconsin attorney general. There was an oral argument by Hannah S. Jurss.

"[Plaintiff] Fabick, a single Wisconsin resident, filed suit as a taxpayer [after the third declaration of a State of Emergency and Public Health Emergency]. He brought his suit as an original action before this court, arguing that the Governor lacks the statutory authority to declare successive states of emergency 'arising from the same public health emergency,'" notes Justice Walsh Bradley (p. 4, dissent).

Gov Evers Can Declare New COVID State of Emergency

The most recent declaration of emergency is Executive Order #105 (Feb), struck down by the Court for relying on the same enabling conditions as past COVID-related declared emergencies.

Though Executive Order #105 mentions the B.1.1.7 variant — [aka U.K. variant, British variant or Kent variant], a COVID-19 virus with many gene mutations — as part of the reasoning for the Feb 2021 declared state of emergency, micro-biologists and epidemiologists note the B.1.1.7-U.K.variant is now dominant in the United States, and in Wisconsin, as noted by the Wisconsin Dept of Health Services, after first appearing here in Jan 2021.

The CDC director on April 12 called for Michigan to "to enact shutdown measures in response to its worst-in-the-nation surge of coronavirus infections," reports the NYT.

Writes Sanjay Mishra: "The coronavirus variant known as B.1.1.7, which studies show is both more deadly and more transmissible than the original version of SARS-CoV-2, is now the most common strain circulating in United States, and its growing prevalence has alarmed prominent epidemiologists (National Geographic).

Mishra continues:

Earlier in the pandemic, not many children were becoming infected with the coronavirus, and they did not appear to be major sources of virus transmission to other age groups. 'That changed with B.1.1.7' says epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. 'We're now seeing substantial numbers of outbreaks in schools and in school-related activities.'

Further, Mishra writes, outbreaks among children in Wisconsin and Minnesota now have experts convinced that this mutated form of the virus presents a new threat in its capacity to infect children, and its capacity to successfully bind to human cells.

A rapidly growing outbreak of COVID-19 in Carver County, Minnesota, has been linked to school-sponsored and club sports activities. In a study done by the Minnesota Department of Health, researchers produced a detailed map of COVID-19 transmission showing that the B.1.1.7 variant caused about a quarter of these cases.

A similar outbreak was reported in Wisconsin, where all the children at a Dane County childcare center who tested positive were 6 years or younger.Now, a growing number of experts want the B.1.1.7 variant treated as a new virus because of its genetically enhanced tendency to attach to human proteins.

Researchers believe the variant spreads so rapidly because B.1.1.7 accumulated a large number of genetic changes—17 in total—including eight in the virus’s hallmark spike protein. The spike protein attaches to the ACE2 receptor protein, which is found on the outer wall of 72 types of human cells. After the virus latches onto the ACE2 receptor, it can enter the host cell, make more copies of itself, and trigger infection.

By binding more tightly to the ACE2 receptors, 'these mutations provide selective advantage to B.1.1.7, so that's why now it is spreading everywhere' says Olivier Schwartz, head of the Virus and Immunity Unit of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France. 'It's a kind of a Darwinian selection process.' ...

Some researchers believe that B.1.1.7 behaves so differently from the original strain that it can even be 'treated as a separate epidemic,' says Ravindra Gupta, a professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Cambridge.

B.1.1.7 also been causing problems in other ways. It carries a couple of genetic mutations in the spike protein called deletions, because they eliminate part of the genetic code, that help this variant escape antibodies during the body’s immune response after an infection.

So, why do Wisconsin Republican judicial policymakers and legislators want the COVID-19 virus treated the same as the radically different mutated strains?

Wisconsin Republicans need to recognize the fact of evolution and help the citizens of the state do everything in their power to slow this progression of the virus, its mutated strains and ensure the governor is not blocked by a corrupt Supreme Court and a corrupt state legislature.

Tony Evers and the Dept of Justice should be using Wisconsin's prominent research and academic resources, cultivated for over a century.  

Wisconsin has the great public research institution, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, home of pioneering public health and Zoonotic disease research. 

UW-Madison has 100s of research scientists and academics, evolutionary biologists, the Dept of Geoscience, the Genetics dept, the J.F. Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution; you get the picture.

The Wisconsin Dept of Justice needs to be prepared to argue the consensus of the scientific community at the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Yes, this new strain should be treated as a new basis for a public health emergency and here's why.

What Gov Evers and Attorney General Kaul need to do is make the legal fight against COVID-19 variants a community fight, a citizen fight enlisting young Genetics and Geoscience students and academics, for example, and make outrageous decisions against our citizenry by corrupt justices come with unacceptable political costs.

In other words, if Republicans want to be on the side of the viruses, and kill our families, they pay the costs.

Starving children is fine with Republicans, as we know by Fabick which would have killed $50 million in funding to help provide food security, without desperate U.S. and Wisconsin negotiations to save the funds.

Basing more opposition to a new state of emergency on the proposition that evolution-in-action does not make genetically mutated strains a new virus, and a threat constituting a new emergency is crazy, and is jurisprudence that can be easily overturned.

Evolution is a fact. The scientific community knows more COVID-19 variants are coming. So does the Biden administration.

Biden's American Rescue Plan signed into law in March provides critical funding "to dramatically increase our country’s sequencing, surveillance, and outbreak analytics capacity at the levels demanded by the crisis," in a nod to virus mutations and evolution, both processes as real and predictable as the misery and devastation already inflicted (White House).

Following a call from Gov Evers and Attorney General Kaul, Wisconsin needs a brilliant project manager with vast interdisciplinary knowledge who can establish that genetically altered viruses are the emergency threat this Pandemic has wrought.

Guess what? In Wisconsin there are 1,000s of such people.

Department of Defense Contracts—Dec. 29, 2017

Here are United States Department of Defense Contracts for Dec. 29, 2017.

Contracts valued at $7 million or more are announced each business day at 5 p.m., eastern, at the U.S. Department of Defense.

From the U.S. Department of Defense, Contracts

Release No: CR-251-17
Dec. 29, 2017

CONTRACTS

AIR FORCE

Raytheon Co., Woburn, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $333,355,700 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for a Surveillance Radar program operations and maintenance follow-on sustainment package that includes contractor logistics support (sustainment); engineering services and technical updates to address equipment obsolescence; transportation and material costs associated with contractor repair and return services; spare and repair parts; support and test equipment; publications and technical documentation personnel training and training equipment; government and contractor engineering; technical and logistics support services; and other related elements of logistical and program support. This award is 100 percent foreign military sales. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (FA8730-18-C-0002).

Lockheed Martin Corp., Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $33,694,111 cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price undefinitized contract action for support of the Korea Peace Krypton prime mission equipment, RC-800 aircraft and technical manuals. This is a sole-source award and involves 100 percent foreign military sales to the Republic of Korea. Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and the Republic of Korea, with an expected completion date of Dec. 31, 2019. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-18-C-3012).

The Boeing Co., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, has been awarded an estimated $17,533,501 for a firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract option (P00009) to a previously awarded contract (FA8105-16-D-0002) for C/KC-135 engineering sustainment support. The contract modification is to establish negotiated prices for option II for the contractor to provide sustaining engineering services for the KC-135 weapon system, including airframe and airframe components, mechanical and electrical systems, subsystems and their components. Work will be performed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, along with subsidiaries in Huntsville, Alabama; and San Antonio, Texas, with an expected completion date of Sept. 13, 2019. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance funds are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity.

Kratos Technology & Training Solutions Inc., has been awarded a $13,947,528 contract modification (P00096) to a previously awarded contract (FA8808-13-C-0008) for control system consolidated production and sustainment.  These services are required to sustain and provide post-production development for the current Command and Control System Consolidated for telemetry, tracking and commanding of current and future military satellite communications satellites.  This contract modification exercises an option period for mission activity and maneuver planning, telemetry processing, commanding, orbit and attitude management, resource management, space vehicle and ground system simulation, security, support planning and execution, training and testing.  Satellite state-of-health operations include launch, early orbit, on-orbit, anomaly resolution, disposal, and backup operations.  Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, with an expected completion date of Sept. 30, 2018. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,913,000.00 are being obligated at the time of modification award. Military Satellite Communication Systems Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, is the contracting activity.

U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND

ABX Air Inc., Wilmington, Ohio (HTC711-18-D-C002); American Airlines, Fort Worth, Texas (HTC711-18-D-C003); Air Transportation International, Irving, Texas (HTC711-18-D-C004); Atlas Air, Purchase, New York (HTC711-18-D-C005); Delta Air Lines Inc., Atlanta, Georgia (HTC711-18-D-C006); FedEx, Washington, District of Columbia (HTC711-18-D-C007); Hawaiian Airlines Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii (HTC711-18-D-C008); JetBlue Airways, Long Island City, New York (HTC711-18-D-C009); Miami Air International, Miami, Florida (HTC711-18-D-C010); National Air Cargo Inc., Orlando, Florida (HTC711-18-D-C011); Polar Air Cargo Worldwide Inc., Purchase, New York (HTC711-18-D-C012); United Parcel Service Co., Louisville, Kentucky (HTC711-18-D-C013); USA Jet Airlines, Belleville, Michigan (HTC711-18-D-C014); Western Global Airlines, Estero, Florida (HTC711-18-D-C015), are 14 Category A offerors that have been awarded an indefinite–delivery/indefinite–quantity and fixed-price contract. This program has an overall five-year maximum ceiling value of $227,925,866 with a contract guaranteed minimum award amount of $2,500 per awardee. This contract is for international commercial scheduled air cargo transportation services. Services encompass time-definite, door-to-door pickup and delivery, transportation, intransit visibility, government-approved third party payment system participation, and expedited customs processing and clearance of less than full planeloads for the movement of regular and recurring hazardous, refrigerated/cold chain (perishable), life and death, narcotics, and other regular recurring cargo shipments. Work will be performed worldwide. The performance period for the base period is Feb. 1, 2018, to Jan. 31, 2019, with four one-year option periods from Feb. 1, 2019, to Jan. 31, 2023. This contract was a competitive acquisition and 14 proposals were received. Funding for this contract is decentralized. The contracting activity is U.S. Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.

ARMY

ICF Inc. LLC, Fairfax, Virginia (W911QX-18-D-0002); and Parsons Government Services Inc., Pasadena, California (W911QX-18-D-0001), will share in a $175,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide the Army Research Laboratory’s Computational and Information Sciences Directorate with the research, development, and technology services to support its mission. Bids were solicited via the Internet with five received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 28, 2025. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

URS Federal Services Inc., Germantown, Maryland, was awarded an $114,541,892 modification (000316) to contract W52P1J-12-G-0028 for maintenance, supply and transportation logistics support services. Work will be performed in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait; and Doha, Qatar, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 2, 2019. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $4,838,834 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Illinois, is the contracting activity.

CRW and Associates LLC,* Bowie, Maryland, was awarded a $66,845,460 firm-fixed-price contract for remote medical record coding services for outpatient medical records. Bids were solicited via the Internet with 20 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2022. U.S. Army Health Contracting Activity, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (W81K04-18-D-0005).

Mindseeker,* Ashburn, Virginia, was awarded a $52,632,100 firm-fixed-price contract for remote medical record coding services for outpatient medical records. Bids were solicited via the Internet with 20 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2022. U.S. Army Health Contracting Activity, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (W81K04-18-D-0002).

Mindseeker,* Ashburn, Virginia, was awarded a $38,066,600 firm-fixed-price contract for remote medical record coding services for outpatient medical records. Bids were solicited via the Internet with 20 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2022. U.S. Army Health Contracting Activity, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (W81K04-18-D-0003).

Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, was awarded a $25,207,324 modification (000502) to foreign military sales (Egypt) contract W52P1J-17-D-0043 for Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor System kits and spares for the Apache Attack Helicopter. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2020. Fiscal 2017 foreign military sales funds in the amount of $25,207,324 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity.

DynCorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $17,389,735 modification (P00175) to domestic and foreign military sales (Netherlands) contract W58RGZ-13-C-0040 for aviation field maintenance services in support of the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Aviation Field Maintenance Division outside the continental U.S. operations. Work will be performed in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Germany, Honduras and Egypt, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2018. Fiscal 2010 and 2018 foreign military sales; and operations maintenance (Army) funds in the combined amount of $17,389,735 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., McLean, Virginia, was awarded a $12,473,773 modification (P00030) to contract W15QKN-14-C-0032 for the continuation of system engineering and technical assistance support services in support of Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems’ Project Management Office Integrated Personnel and Pay System-Army. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2018. Fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $7,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity.

Mindseeker,* Ashburn, Virginia, was awarded a $10,169,960 firm-fixed-price contract for remote medical record coding services for outpatient medical records. Bids were solicited via the Internet with 20 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2022. U.S. Army Health Contracting Activity, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (W81K04-18-D-0004).

General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $9,605,331 firm-fixed-price contract for 33 variants of Stryker deployment kits. Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2019. Fiscal 2016 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $9,605,331 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-16-G-0003).

Tetra Tech - Maytag Aircraft Corp. JV, Pasadena, California, was awarded a $7,711,282 firm-fixed-price contract for recurring maintenance and minor repair (to include emergencies) of Defense Logistics Agency capitalized petroleum systems. Bids were solicited via the Internet with two received. Work will be performed in Yuma, Arizona; Bridgeport, California; Twentynine Palms, California; Barstow, California; San Nicholas Island, California; Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California; San Clemente Island, California; Oceanside, California; El Centro, California; Coronado, California; San Diego, California; Fallon, Nevada; Arlington, Washington; Everett, Washington; Oak Harbor, Washington; Bremerton, Washington; and Port Orchard, Washington, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 30, 2018. Fiscal 2018 defense working capital funds in the amount of $7,711,282 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W912DY-18-F-0056).

DEFENSE FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SERVICE

KPMG LLP, McLean, Virginia, is being awarded a maximum $39,756,805 modification number P00012 to exercise option year one to previously awarded labor-hour contract HQ0423-17-F-0010 for fiscal 2018 financial statement audit services of the Army general fund and working capital fund. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $66,504,293 from $26,747,488. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia, with an expected completion date of Dec. 31, 2018. Fiscal 2018 Army operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $39,756,805 are being obligated at the time of the award. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Contract Services Directorate, Columbus, Ohio is the contracting activity (HQ0423-17-F-0010).

DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY

Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, is scheduled to be awarded a zero dollar blanket purchase agreement (BPA) as a result of General Services Administration eBuy request  for quotation 1225543, for the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application - Composite Health Care System enhancements and sustainment services.  Following the award of the BPA, task order 0001 will be awarded; a $25,040,336 fixed price task order will follow with a performance start date of March 1, 2018.  The award is a result of a full and open-competition GSA eBuy request for quotation issued on Aug. 11, 2017, which was a re-competed sourced acquisition under GSA’s Information Technology Schedule 70.  Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $25,040,336 will be obligated at time of award for the task order. The contractor will ensure all operational readiness objectives and requirements are met for the sustainment of the current Department of Defense Electronic Health Record suite of outpatient and inpatient information technology (IT) applications and systems. The Defense Health Agency, Contract Operations – Health Information Technology San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (HT0015-18-A-0001).

*Small Business

Fetal Tissue Bill Puts Wisconsin at a Crossroads

'Research on fetal tissue offers the promise of potential treatment, vaccines and cures for birth defects and diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes, from muscular dystrophy to Parkinson’s disease, and from immune disorders to killer strains of influenza'—Wisconsin Technology Council
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State Representative André Jacque (R-De Pere, Wisconsin) is another anti-choice, know-nothing hick dominating the rural legislative districts in the gerrymandered Wisconsin legislature. (Miller, Isthmus)

Typical of Jacque's array of dogmas is his crusade to kill fetal tissue research though Jacque cannot offer a coherent, factual argument for his long-held position.

The proposed legislation is Assembly Bill 305.

Science and Public Health Research v. Ignorance and Dogma

Biotechnology research scientists, public health, business and women's group are lobbying hard against Jacque's bill that would ban, among other research, promising lines of investigation involving Pluripotent stem cells. (National Institute of Health)

Jacque postures an expertise in biotechnology research and biomedical ethics bringing him to the conclusion that fetal tissue is "aborted children." (Sommerhauser, Wisconsin State Journal)

Today, the rightwing Wisconsin State Journal ran an editorial deriding Jacque's fact-free zone:

About $76 million in annual research dollars and 1,400 jobs are at stake as the Republican-run Legislature weighs a misguided attack on Wisconsin’s high-tech economy. ...

'The unintended consequences of a unilateral Wisconsin restriction on research would likely be devastating ... to efforts to build a high-tech economy,' a [Wisconsin] Technology Council resolution released Monday reads. ...

Jacque’s proposal also would chase away innovators doing ethical and tightly regulated studies targeting birth defects and diseases such as cancer, diabetes, immune disorders and deadly strains of influenza.

Way to go State Journal, still steeped in Republican land as it runs an editorial entitled "GOP should drop fetal tissue bill." The State Journal and other slanted newspapers helped make the Republican Party, maybe the State Journal should drop the Republican Party.

With current Republican Wisconsin legislators veering into an 18th-century level of scientific understanding, the Wisconsin Technology Council's advice is sorely needed.

The bill is scheduled for a hearing in the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety on September 9. The Wisconsin State Assembly does not have a committee on science and technology.

Of the 12 members of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, a full six are co-sponsors of the bill.

Gov. Scott Walker, another rabid anti-choice Republican, desperate to position himself as more-crazy-than-though in the presidential Republican primary, is considered a wild card—Evangelical and anti-science but open to moneyed interests in the still young field of biotechnology and stem cells.

Pro-science, public health sectors are holding out hope the bill gets dropped or amended.

Crossroads

Wisconsin is at a crossroads: Backward toward fundamentalist-inspired ignorance, or forward to pioneering public health research.

Dr. James A. Thomson is the founder of stem cell science arsing from his pioneering discoveries of primate and human embryonic stem cells, in 1995 and 1998 at UW-Madison. (University of Wisconsin-Madison Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center)

The flight of top researchers from Wisconsin has already begun thanks to the anti-science work of Scott Walker and rural legislative Republicans.

"The word is already out on street that Wisconsin is not the place for science or biomedical research," said Dr. Robert Golden, Dean of the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. "We need to turn that around." (Schneider, Capital Times)

One political party stands in the way of Golden and most of Wisconsin's aspirations: The Republican Party of Wisconsin and Scott Walker.

"Golden told the [legislative committee last month] that the bill, if passed, would shut down life-saving research and poison the climate for investment in biomedical innovation, much of which occurs in Madison," notes the Capital Times' Schneider.

Continues Schneider: "Madison attorney David Walsh, a former member of the UW Board of Regents, isn’t sure conservative members of the committee were interested in much of the testimony against the bill [last month].

"'It is clearly an attack on the university,' said Walsh, whose term ended in May. 'They are trying to criminalize the activities of UW researchers. It’s that simple.'"

Wisconsin Technology Council

Here is the text of the Tech Council's resolution opposing the proposed ban on legal fetal tissue research, a bill that has only Republican co-sponsors.

August 31, 2015

The Wisconsin Technology Council has been on record since 2002 as supporting legislation that encourages high-tech research and company creation, and as opposing restrictions on research that place Wisconsin at a competitive disadvantage. The current debate over fetal tissue research in Wisconsin compels us to reiterate the factors behind our 2002 resolution:

1. Academic researchers who have established an international reputation for their work are driven by a passionate belief that their work will benefit humanity. Many competing institutions are attempting to recruit researchers. If Wisconsin adopts legislation that restricts research, these researchers would likely relocate to an institution in a state or country where no such limitations exist. There will be no net impact on the area of research; it simply will no longer be done in Wisconsin. The adoption of legislation that restricts research will effectively be only symbolic with negative economic and intellectual consequences for the state and its citizens.

2. Technology research in Wisconsin is not conducted in a vacuum. It is performed under the surveillance of ethical and scientific oversight organizations.

3. The unintended consequences of a unilateral Wisconsin restriction on research would likely be devastating to its efforts to build a high-tech economy. Adoption of research restrictions will send a signal that Wisconsin has a hostile regulatory environment for tech-based research. Wisconsin academic institutions and private companies would face new challenges in attracting world-class researchers who might be concerned that their research will be targeted next.

4. Companies and investors will view Wisconsin as having a burdensome regulatory climate and as being a risky place to conduct business. In the process of establishing ineffective regulations, we will undermine one of our greatest strengths, while driving out businesses, including firms that would not have likely been a part of an ethical debate.

Therefore, be it resolved that the Wisconsin Technology Council:

- Opposes the sale of fetal tissue, as currently banned under federal law.
- Supports legal procedures for obtaining fetal tissue from regulated tissue banks.
- Recognizes that researchers across the United States have used fetal tissue since the 1930s to advance medicine. The HEK 293 cell line was derived from a single fetus more than 40 years ago and is still used by researchers everywhere – including nearly 100 labs on the Madison campus.
- Recognizes that such experiments led to development of the polio vaccine, to cite one prominent example. Current studies use fetal tissue to target birth defects and diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes, from muscular dystrophy to Parkinson’s disease, and from immune disorders to killer strains of influenza.
- Recognizes that $76 million in outside research dollars, predominantly from federal sources such as the National Institutes of Health, flow each year to UW-Madison labs that conduct research with fetal tissue. Collectively, those labs employ about 1,400 people.
- Recognizes that poorly drafted legislation related to fetal tissue research would do immediate and long-term damage to Wisconsin’s reputation as a state that welcomes biomedical research.  - Recommends that bills under debate in the Wisconsin Legislature should ensure that legacy cell lines are exempt from additional state oversight.
- Recommends those same bills place oversight burdens on the research institutions themselves, which pay to transport and safely store legally obtained tissue, not individual researchers.
- Recommends those same bills not ban the use or criminalize the use of fetal tissue obtained ethically and according to federal law

H1N1 Virus Still Unpredictable

News that a Wisconsin adolescent died from H1N1 has health authorities on edge, though the virus strain is not as lethal as the normal seasonal flu bugs that hit the world every flu season.

But read between the lines of public health announcements and one perceives worry that the strain could become worse.

The world, with Wisconsin being a model state, has never been as prepared for the surveillance and treatment of a pandemic, but if H1N1 mutates into a more lethal virus, lots of unknowns follow.

On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6 in response to the ongoing global spread of the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus. A Phase 6 designation indicates that a global pandemic is underway. ...

WHO’s decision to raise the pandemic alert level to Phase 6 is a reflection of the spread of the virus, not the severity of illness caused by the virus.

This virus strain mutates of course and it evolves in unpredictable ways with unpredictable traits, and the fear is that it could mutate into a more deadly and aggressive strain that provokes the human immune system in a manner like the 1918 Spanish Flu.

Is this remotely possible? What are the odds? Reading the CDC and WHO sites, one won't find epidemiological odds makers on the capacity of a virus to become more lethal. Such is the nature of evolution.

No one serious is debating evolution now; instead watching how this strain evolves, and using science and rational public health messages to ward off a bad situation.

From the WHO - What You Can Do to Stay Healthy

Stay informed. This website will be updated regularly as information becomes available.
Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.

Take everyday actions to stay healthy.

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.

Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.

Stay home if you get sick. CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

Follow public health advice regarding school closures, avoiding crowds and other social distancing measures.

Find healthy ways to deal with stress and anxiety.

CDC: 'Rapidly Evolving Situation'; WHO Raises Alert

Update: The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General has raised the level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 4 to phase 5, signaling a broader outbreak among world populations. [WHO graphic has phase 4 circled and has not been updated yet.]

The WHO defines a Phase 5 alert as: follows: "Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region. While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short."

The CDC site reads:

This is a rapidly evolving situation and CDC will provide updated guidance and new information as it becomes available.

The WHO Director-General's statement:

Ladies and gentlemen,

Based on assessment of all available information, and following several expert consultations, I have decided to raise the current level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 4 to phase 5.

Influenza pandemics must be taken seriously precisely because of their capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world.

On the positive side, the world is better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history.

Preparedness measures undertaken because of the threat from H5N1 avian influenza were an investment, and we are now benefiting from this investment.

For the first time in history, we can track the evolution of a pandemic in real-time.

I thank countries who are making the results of their investigations publicly available. This helps us understand the disease.

I am impressed by the work being done by affected countries as they deal with the current outbreaks.

I also want to thank the governments of the USA and Canada for their support to WHO, and to Mexico.

Let me remind you. New diseases are, by definition, poorly understood. Influenza viruses are notorious for their rapid mutation and unpredictable behaviour.

WHO and health authorities in affected countries will not have all the answers immediately, but we will get them.

WHO will be tracking the pandemic at the epidemiological, clinical, and virological levels.

The results of these ongoing assessments will be issued as public health advice, and made publicly available.

All countries should immediately activate their pandemic preparedness plans. Countries should remain on high alert for unusual outbreaks of influenza-like illness and severe pneumonia.

At this stage, effective and essential measures include heightened surveillance, early detection and treatment of cases, and infection control in all health facilities.

This change to a higher phase of alert is a signal to governments, to ministries of health and other ministries, to the pharmaceutical industry and the business community that certain actions should now be undertaken with increased urgency, and at an accelerated pace.

I have reached out to donor countries, to UNITAID, to the GAVI Alliance, the World Bank and others to mobilize resources.

I have reached out to companies manufacturing antiviral drugs to assess capacity and all options for ramping up production.

I have also reached out to influenza vaccine manufacturers that can contribute to the production of a pandemic vaccine.

The biggest question, right now, is this: how severe will the pandemic be, especially now at the start?

It is possible that the full clinical spectrum of this disease goes from mild illness to severe disease. We need to continue to monitor the evolution of the situation to get the specific information and data we need to answer this question.

From past experience, we also know that influenza may cause mild disease in affluent countries, but more severe disease, with higher mortality, in developing countries.

No matter what the situation is, the international community should treat this as a window of opportunity to ramp up preparedness and response.

Above all, this is an opportunity for global solidarity as we look for responses and solutions that benefit all countries, all of humanity. After all, it really is all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic.

As I have said, we do not have all the answers right now, but we will get them.

Poisoning Leaves Cursed Betrayal

Industrial Ag threatens the small farmer and society as
never before. Communities are fighting back.

Update II: See also the Petition to EPA to stop Dow from Poisoning our Children with Chlorpyrifos, pesticides used by Big Ag.

Updated - Vietnam War combat veterans—aware of reporting on the vectoring of pathogens and pollutants into Wisconsin society by industrialized 'farming'—advise the current horror inflicted in southeast Asia on Vietnamese victims by unexploded American ordnance (UXO) and Agent Orange should inform public policy, pointing to recent pieces on the topic by George Black, The Nation; see also Haberman, NYT).

Agent Orange from the 1960s still deforming and killing people? Yes, this is still happening in 2015, the magnitude of the horror to which those American veterans who still live in Vietnam attest.

Agent Orange and other defoliants—generally regarded as among the most most toxic molecules ever synthesized by human beings—are extreme examples of mass poisoning, intended to destroy the verdant Eco-system of southeast Asia to facilitate killing southeast Asians held in disfavor of the U.S. government during the Vietnam War.

Dow and Monsanto which manufactured the weapons of Operation Ranch Hand (1961-71) are imprecations to many Vietnam-era veterans, one reason why Republicans in the Bush-Cheney administration targeted and even imprisoned Vietnam-era veterans who "tenaciously [pursued] a claim for [disability] benefits" sustained during their service to our country. (Horton, Harper's Magazine) That administration had to discourage Vietnam veterans from pretending to negative health consequences sustained from the war.

Many veterans with whom I have spoken place Karl Rove behind some of these criminal prosecutions, an unconfirmed fact, but not much happened during the Bush-Cheney administration without the chickenhawk Rove's go-ahead.

You don't have to look too far these days to find a Vietnam War veteran exposed to Agent Orange and other predictable effects of the Vietnam War, the observant might find such men at a community hospice.

Whether American war planners intended to kill, deform and traumatize Americans and Vietnamese or whether killing, deforming and traumatizing are merely predictable consequential side effects of the war, to victims of Agent Orange it doesn't matter.

Dow Chemical Company and Monsanto Company remain today, bigger than ever, business allies with American Big Ag.

Big Ag

This is fitting as Big Ag engages in its own we-didn't-know-the-consequences-our-motives-are-benign PR campaign against local communities such as Bayfield County and the town of Saratoga in Wisconsin. Other examples of Big Ag PR in Wisconsin are legion in America's Dairyland.

Big Ag using antimicrobials on an industrial scale (John Hopkins Center for a Livable Future) in the production of milk for example causes the "evolution and proliferation of antimicrobial-resistant strains of bacteria."

This is one reason why politicians should become serious students of biological evolution—especially the governor of America's Dairyland, Scott Walker—as Big Ag's new model of industrial agriculture represents a case study in which MRSA (Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and other pathogens are vectored into human society as the CDC and health surveillance agencies routinely see human-enhanced evolution of pathogens in action.

As victims of MRSA, Ecoli, and other pathogens proliferate, should Blue Baby syndrome (aka methemoglobinemia now prevalent in Yakima Valley in Washington state, caused by too many nitrates in surface waters and aquifers) come to Wisconsin, the local CAFO operating as LLC business entities will become as obscene to Wisconsin citizens as Dow and Monsanto are to Vietnam combat veterans—like the amiable bunch of crazy bastards of an old unit in Marine Force Recon who operated in southeast Asia and did many things, some of which were legal under international law.

As Wayne Griffiths of Bayfield County (Wisconsin) writes: "As a Vietnam-era military medic I think the we should consider the lessons from Vietnam. In particular I am concerned about the use of chemicals in an environment and the long term health problems they can cause for generations to come. We need to consider what we do today is inherited by future generations."

Scott Walker Wants to Strike out Wisconsin Idea and Public Service

Finding resistance weak, Scott Walker proposes removing Wisconsin Idea and public service language from UW System mission

Update II: Scott Walker said the language removing the Wisconsin Idea is a "drafting error." (Herzog, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

Updated - "The Wisconsin Idea is embedded in our DNA," University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross said in a statement. "It is so much more than words on a page. It is the reason the UW System exists. It defines us and forever will distinguish us as a great, public university. We will work to preserve the Wisconsin Idea in every form."

Will Wisconsin Idea Fellowships be abolished?

Endowments and projects mark the Wisconsin Idea vision. Will these endowments now cease?

How about the "The Wisconsin Idea Seminar[,] a five-day traveling study tour that immerses forty UW–Madison faculty, academic staff, and administrators in the educational, industrial, social, and political realities of Wisconsin. Begun in 1985, the seminar introduces and promotes the Wisconsin Idea and our commitment to use university expertise and resources to address the problems of the state."

This was begun by Chancellor Donna Shalala, who is stepping down as Chancellor at the U. of Miami this year.

The story was first reported by Jonas Persson and Mary Bottari at PRWatch.

What can Scott Walker possibly be thinking?

Is this man so isolated in his anti-intellectual bubble that Walker cannot fathom the value of and identity to Wisconsin that the Wisconsin Idea embodies?

"Search for truth" and "Improve the human condition" must be stricken from the Wisconsin state statute according to Scott Walker's "Freedom and Prosperity" budget.

Walker is amassing $ Millions as he literally proposes to change the books on searching for truth and improving the human condition.

How about the Wisconsin Idea scholarship?

Karen Herzog of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has the story epitomizing Scott Walker's assault on the University of Wisconsin System:

"Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget calls for essentially removing the public service language from the University of Wisconsin System's mission to focus more on workforce development, according to language released Wednesday morning."

The Wisconsin Idea has long been the core philosophy of the UW System, driving campuses to extend their reach into communities and 'every family in the state.'"

Not even Joe McCarthy at the depths of McCarthyism dared take on UW-Madison.

UW officials are stunned.

Throughout the now UW System, the Wisconsin Idea is cherished.

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) message from Director, Charles Brokopp, states "Our laboratory embodies the Wisconsin Idea that brings valuable services, research and education to improve people’s lives 'beyond the classroom' and throughout the world."

Striking the Wisconsin Idea is evidently the big and bold idea of Scott Walker.

Thanks to the work of UW-Madison, the world is more prepared for the outbreak of emerging influenza and disease than at any point in human history, (mal contends) but I guess the concept of public health is frightening to Walker and his crazy ideology.

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene is the premier influenza virus surveillance public health program anywhere in the country, partnered with the University.

Walker never ran on this proposed radical removal of the Wisconsin Idea from the UW System.

Jonas Persson and Mary Bottari at PRWatch:

Walker's executive budget (see below) amends Sec. 1111 of the statutes to remove language specifying that the UW system has a public service mission to “extend knowledge and its application beyond the boundaries of its campus" and to "serve and stimulate society." He strikes language ensuring that the mission of the UW is to extend "training and public service designed to educate people and improve the human condition," as well as the language specifying that "the search for truth" is "basic to every purpose of the system."

Unless Scott Walker's descent into idiocy is met with a united front for one of the world's greatest research and teaching universities, Wisconsin will be dead-set on a trajectory towards the GOP-dominated states of the south.

Reaction cannot be muted. Names must be named; facts must be stated.