High-Country Health Food and Cafe in Mariposa California

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'Click' Here to Visit: 'Yosemite Bug Health Spa', Now Open.
'Click' Here to Visit: 'Yosemite Bug Health Spa', Now Open. "We provide a beautiful and relaxing atmosphere. Come in and let us help You Relax"
'Click' for More Info: 'Chocolate Soup', Fine Home Accessories and Gifts, Located in Mariposa, California
'Click' for More Info: 'Chocolate Soup', Fine Home Accessories and Gifts, Located in Mariposa, California
'Click' Here to Visit Happy Burger Diner in Mariposa... "We have FREE Wi-Fi, we're Eco-Friendly & have the Largest Menu in the Sierra"
'Click' Here to Visit Happy Burger Diner in Mariposa... "We have FREE Wi-Fi, we're Eco-Friendly & have the Largest Menu in the Sierra"
'Click' for More Info: Inter-County Title Company Located in Mariposa, California
'Click' for More Info: Inter-County Title Company Located in Mariposa, California

SST LTROne kind of blame game is to insert elements into a bill that you know the other side will not accept and blame them for not supporting the bill. Those elements are called poison pills. That’s the case with funding for zika.

The CDC came up with a plan to fight zika that would cost 1.9 billion dollars. Last January President Obama asked congress to appropriate the money citing the urgency to get going on the issue. First congress stalled. When public concern became too big to ignore, they came up with a 1.1 billion plan. However, the republicans came up with several poison pills that they knew would cause the democrats to reject the bill. Of course, they then blamed the democrats for not passing the bill.

What we need now is a clean bill without the added crap. According to a CNN report that I just read, the zika damage so far is

2721 confirmed zika infections

35 of them acquired from local mosquitoes

1,595 of them pregnant women

16 babies with microcephaly brain malformations.

I found the CNN article at www.cnn.com/2016/09/07/opinions/playing-cynical-politics-with-deadly-zika-garrett.

Most of the damage so far has been in Puerto Rico, but now it has reached the mainland, starting in south Florida. The frantic effort to contain the outbreak in Florida may or may not succeed. 

I went to our local congressman’s web site to see what he had to say about the zika virus. Apparently, Tom McClintock does not consider the issue important enough to address. A search for “zika” or “zika virus” in his web site came up empty.

Voter registration in Mariposa County is 45% republican, 30% democrats, plus a scattering of other affiliations. That allows McClintock to coast to electoral victory regardless of how well he deals with important issues. McClintock’s opponent in the coming election, Dr. Bob Derlet, is a physician that understands the threat that zika poses.

The issue could become very personal with me. I have a pregnant granddaughter living in Alabama. The mosquito that carries the zika virus flourishes in the hot humid environment of Alabama. When a pregnant woman catches the virus and the virus travels to the baby developing in her womb, it eats away at the baby’s brain causing major damage, the dreaded microcephaly brain malformation. I haven’t heard of zika in Alabama yet, but it will happen.

Cameron Burley
Mariposa, CA.