Typhoid Mary and Freedom!
Okay, I hope you’re not eating while you read this. Seriously.
North Carolina Republican Senator (you’re cringing already, aren’t you) Thom Tillis has decided that requiring restaurant employees wash their hands after going to the bathroom is an infringement on … FREEDOM!
Tillis was discussing this idea with a friend, who seemed, I am fairly certain, a little taken back.
Tillis said his interlocutor was in disbelief, and asked whether he thought businesses should be allowed to “opt out” of requiring employees to wash their hands after using the restroom.
The senator said he’d be fine with it, so long as businesses made this clear in “advertising” and “employment literature.”
And it would say something like, “Come to Starbucks, where we guarantee a little pee in your coffee.”
Okay, so how is requiring the business to have their employees wash their hands any different than requiring the business to post a sign or advertise if they don’t? Unless, of course you quietly eliminate the advertising stipulation when no one is looking.
Republicans: Guaranteeing the freedom to pee in someone’s soup!
Thanks to Claudia for the heads up.
Do the R’s have a contest to see who can say the stupidest thing?
1Not only are the adults not in charge with these guys. They haven’t even mastered the concepts that are clear to pre-schoolers.
2Don’t overlook the possibility that this stunt is merely to keep the reporters occupied while Tillis works on far more dangerous stuff out of the limelight. Take it from one of his unwilling constituents, this is a man with the sense of social responsibility of a pile of hot goat poop.
3The inmates are running the asylum.
4These clowns have no idea what makes a first-world country different from a developing country, do they?
5That settles it. Don’t eat out in North Carolina.
6Tillis is going to get whacked up side the head from every direction, especially among the women folk in general, and from those engaged in healthcare. He ain’t gonna like it. He probably does not understand that regulations covering sterile procedures are state and local business so he can just take his little federal level hide and pound sand. And I definitely do not plan to visit North Carolina EVER!
7JJ was spot on with Typhoid Mary. She actually spread typhoid through many households she worked in because she didn’t wash her hands after going to the potty.
Tony Bourdain actually wrote a book about her that is quite a good read:
http://www.amazon.com/Typhoid-Mary-Anthony-Bourdain-ebook/dp/B0045I6TQM/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422993175&sr=1-11&keywords=anthony+bourdain
8What I wouldn’t give to make this idiot’s next cup of coffee… 🙂
9Obviously there’s some requirement to be absolutely ignorant of any kind of science when you sign up to run for office as a Republican. And that even applies to people who are allegedly doctors. I’m pointing at you on that one, Rand “vaccines cause mental disorders” Paul.
This has to be why the GOP wants to stiff education: so kids will grow up ignorant and vote for any dumb jackwagon who comes down the pike.
You could be born stupid, but we’ll all born ignorant and it’s our duty to overcome that. Publicans don’t understand that and don’t want to.
I can excuse ignorance, but not WILLFUL ignorance, especially not when it’s proud of its ugly self.
10How about if someone peed in his vegetables? Gives them a tangy flavor.
11It’s not the pee part that concerns me. Urine is relatively germ-free.
You know that really, really unpleasant intestinal virus that’s most noted for outbreaks on cruise ships? Also hits schools, hospitals, nursing homes…. I probably picked it up on public transportation and from a supermarket cart. You know how it spreads? People using the bathroom and not washing hands.
12Rhea, “Publicans” serve spirits, as in booze. They are fine folks and we like them a lot. I’m pretty sure you meant “Republican” which is a whole different kettle of fish.
Publican (noun)
1. Chiefly British. a person who owns or manages a tavern; the keeper of a pub.
2. Roman History. a person who collected public taxes.
3. any collector of taxes, tolls, tribute, or the like.
OK, so maybe under definition 3 (I sit corrected), but it is definition 1 that almost anyone knows, especially in the British Isles.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/publican
13I’m Lex’s neighbor (not next door, but we live in the same city, Greensboro, and I follow his blog), and he’s 100 % right about Tillis. He’s not as stupid as his mouth might make him out to be right now. Take a long look at what happened here in North Carolina during Tillis’ tenure as Speaker of the House in our General Assembly.
I bet the North Carolinians who sat on their hands during the last election and allowed this yahoo to get elected rather than Kay Hagan are going to have huge regrets about this.
14Rhea is right on the money again. I just read a quote that went something like “Some people drink from the fountain of knowledge and others only gargle.” I don’t think most republicans even catch any of the spray from it.
I’ll just keep washing my hands, thanks.
15@Miemaw
16I already carry food and water when I am forced by circumstances beyond my control to travel behind the Cotton Curtain. The only exception is Nawlins and there I figure a virus or infectious agent would have to be able to survive in a high alcohol environment. So, no worries all around.
Disgusting! The first thing one learns in ANY safe serve class is to wash your hands after using the bathroom. And,common sense tells you that away from work too. Oh,wait. Common sense and politicians. Right…My bad.
17I think this idea needs to be tested somewhere before implemented, and I think the Senate restaurants and cafeterias would be the perfect place to start.
Then Senator Tillis can see for himself how well the idea works, while gaining valuable feedback from his fellow diners and Senators.
I have to say this is one of the rare instances in which I’m with Ronald Reagan: Trust, but verify. Because when you opt out of hand washing, there’s too much uh oh, in.
18Oh blech.
19… and it just gets stupider.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/03/mo-brooks-measles-immigrants_n_6607218.html
Yes all those illegal immigrants head right for Disney cause they have money coming out of the ying yang.
20And Mothers all over facepalmed this revelation!!
I’ll bet Momma has some choice words on the subject!
21Thom Tillis must be mentally ill.
22Well, of course all of this Tillis/Christie/Paul talk is about how government shouldn’t force kids to get vaccinated. You know how dangerous all that government interference is, don’t you? All that concern about health and safety. Next we’ll hear that seat belts are just an unnecessary government intrusion, that stop signs are just silly distractions, that, dammit!, kids shouldn’t have to go to school. There’s no end to how much government interferes in our lives. Let’s just get rid of it!
23Anyone else thinking of that Seinfeld episode?
24SusanF, I wanted to come up with an equivalent for the GOP people who can’t seem to pronounce or spell the word “Democratic” and say things such as “the Democrat Senator.”
My choice, with which you may disagree, is “Publican,” in the Biblical sense, since many of the miseducated GOP seem so fond of that book which they haven’t actually read more than about ten verses of. They drop a syllable, I drop a syllable.
“The name pubicani was used popularly, and in the New Testament exclusively, of the portitores . The system was essentially a vicious one. The portitores were encouraged in the most vexatious or fraudulent exactions and a remedy was all but impossible. They overcharged whenever they had an opportunity, ( Luke 3:13 ) they brought false charges of smuggling in the hope of extorting hush-money ( Luke 19:8 ) they detained and opened letters on mere suspicion. It was the basest of all livelihoods.”
http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/smiths-bible-dictionary/publican.html
As far as publicans who run pubs, many of them are fine people and no slur on them is intended.
25Another politician I wouldn’t care to shake hands with.
26Boy, somebody must have peed in his Cherrios and he liked it!
27Good Lord when are the people in the south going to start voting for smart people in the republican party? The republican party in the south has become the Palin party of dumbing down. Come on republicans stop voting for stupid. Goodness sakes I can’t believe someone would actually say not to worry about employees washing their hands when they cook. Gee wiz I am always washing my hands before I cook and especially when I’m finished in the bathroom and go back to cook.
28Y’know, somedays I come here and read this stuff and feel like Rip Van Winkle or Alice down the rabbit hole. How did I wake up in Nutville? Are these buttholes for real?
Got a crazy idea? No problem. There’s a SAP for that!
29@Scott: Yes!
30I volunteer to pee in Thom Tillis’ soup. Or coffee. Or whatever.
31Too much of the right wing has been infected with automatic contrarianism, which means that their brains so often work on autopilot. No thought necessary, just disagree with every regulation because, you know, freedom!
32How ’bout we add to this gem of wisdom by removing the requirement that doctors wash their hands. I mean, it worked so well in previous centuries and people like Tillis seem determined to return us to those times.
33Rhea, I’ve always liked re-pubic-an, since they’re so focused on below the belt issues.
34Wasn’t that a real special chocolate pie they served in The Help? Maybe he needs a slice of that pie?
35I like the idea of starting this dim idea in the Congressional dining halls. In fact, instruct the employees not to wash their hands at all. Let’s see how long it takes…
36Wingnuts remind me there rilly was a reason to run hogs in cattle yards after feeding cattle shelled corn.
37I hope someone pees in Tillis’ next cup of coffee.
38This twit made it onto the pages of this AM’s Washington Post. He is being publicly counseled that should he not continue on in Congress that he not try out for a job as food server. He could never handle the requirements. Handle. Get it?
39Welcome to North Carolina where our food is served with love and a free helping of disease or food poisoning.
40God, I hate these people with every fiber of my body.
41This brings up an interesting question. Does having those signs in the restrooms have any affect on employees hand washing rates? If you didn’t have signs, would fewer employees wash? We are assuming that the presence of those signs is effective. Does anyone in TWMDBS know?
42Karen and Lex, I am also living near Greensboro NC, Tillis won Hagan’s seat by about 30,000 votes I think, however the republicans in charge managed to stop about 340,000 dems from voting, what with closing down voting places and such. I think we have to apologize to the country for having him in Washington.
43No one there knew who he was, now I have heard him called Typhoid Tillis, when the Washington Post ran the article about him they had about 1700 comments in no time flat.
Jesus, how we will suffer 6 years of him!
Thom didn’t pass Public Health 101 did he?
Joan, Karen and Lex, I am in Wilkes County. Not only do I have to suffer Typhoid Tillis I also have to suffer Virginia Foxx. She of the “everything looks just fine and dandy in Iraq through my (corporate paid for) rose colored glasses.” We have had no viable D to oppose her. I am embarrassed every time I hear her speak in public.
44What did “Flo” say in the TV series Alice about the last chance for food,water and ptomaine(talking about Mel’s Diner). Maybe Tillis confuses ptomaine with Potomac.
45