Swine Flu's Got Us Bloggin Again...

Yo, we're sorry for the delay. We've been insanely busy with a crazy schedule of intergalactic performances and events..it just happened to be one of the most action-packed, prolific, super beautiful weekends for Bay Area hip hop. .! Not to mention technical difficulties at the station; no internet connection on board puts blogging activities on pause.
Before I forget, shout outs to all the beautiful shows and events that happened this weekend! And the beautiful people - many of them close family of the spacestation crew - that made it happen. ALL of the parties we hit up were off the hook, positively charged and a really good look for the Bay.


So...we have to blog about Swine Flu. This shit is so crazy, right?? And.. after events like this, people who don't blog about them are like instantly pushed into the box of apathetic blog losers who aren't rightly contributing to the independent free media movement. Shame on you, if you didn't blog about Oscar Grant. Anyway...

I can't watch the news right now, I light weight believe watching that many reports about Swine Flu in succession might somehow pass me the illness. (JUST kidding.) H1N1 is really on a MISSION. Resident Evil in real life? Maybe. But, let's get down to the root of it. Smithfield Foods have been literally shitting on people for a loooong time. If you haven't heard, this all-American corporate pig factory (raises 14 million hogs a year, processes 27 million total) has farms all around Veracruz, MX - one of the suspected places of origin of the Swine Flu virus. They were sued $12.6 million in '97 for dumping pig waste in the Pagan River in Virginia, and racking up more than 5000 permit violations for exceeding pollution limits. A press release from the EPA.
That healthy code of conduct was then brought down to Veracruz when the company got on the NAFTA boat and started setting up shop down in Mexico. Thank YOU, capitalism. With Mexico's weak government regulation on U$ corporations - Smithfield Foods side-stepped any future $12.6 million lawsuits.

While I'm not mad that people are being generally more sanitary right now, Swine Flu really highlights a lot that's wrong with the food industry, the free market system, corporate-controlled politics, consumerism...and just all that's led us to this eco crisis of needing to flip how we eat and how we survive together. Stay informed, and stay green!

For more (pretty reliable) info about Swine Flu...
A good, quick blog article by Grist (a green politics blog).
Wired Magazine: Swine Flu Ancestor Born on U.S. Factory Farms
MSNBC: How swine flu virus hopscotched the globe