Congress removes teeth from funding bill.
Shame on the Democrat Congress...Shame on you, you have now rolled over and enabled the "bully" President... yet again, to get his way. Caving in to his demands only feeds the monster. What good does it do to vote for change, and stay the same? I can not believe the lack of courage this Democratic majority has displayed. Arrrggghhhhhhhh. Now what? Another year of bloodshed in Iraq, our children, husbands, wives, fathers, and mothers paying the ultimate price daily in a unfounded and useless war. I HATE THIS! Demand your congressman to bring our troops home. Write Congress today.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Democrats Roll Over
Iraq War Spending Bill, Don't Roll Over Congress
As you are all aware, President vetoed a Iraq War spending bill this first of May, that would have provided $124 billion. For only the second time in this administration's history, he vetoed it. What a bully. When Congress attempted to negotiate on another bill, he stated he would not compromise with them. Again, "BULLY". His my way or the highway, is really beginning to wear on the public. I live in an extremely conservative area of the country, and I am amazed at the amount of locals finally speaking out.
I thought the voters sent a clear message in November 2006, "End the War, bring our troops home". I guess Mr. Bush doesn't get it. If our Congress rolls over and sends a bill with no teeth in it, I think it may spur massive disgusts across the nation. You work for us, isn't it time for Congress to truly represent the citizens?
Although I am certain that no one would ever consider advice from a mere citizen, I have a suggestion for the House and Senate.
"Resubmit the original version of H.R 1291 (emergency war spending bill), this bill would have provided 124 billion to fund the war, EXCEPT...make one amendment. For each day that the White House either refuses to sign the bill, deduct $1 billion from the original $124 billion. That way in 124 days or less, either the war would have the funding with a withdrawal of troops scheduled, or the war would be defunded. Either way, our troops would be coming home."
I am growing more and more disappointed with the President as well as Congress, in the handling of this issue. Come on guys, get it together. We the people are the ones who are suffering. Thomas Jefferson is probably rolling over in his grave.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Is the Prseident AKA Vito Corleone?
Good job Kelly O’Donnell of NBC News, for asking the tough questions, the right questions, the appropriate questions. And still, the President started his infamous “duck and weave routine”. He looked to me like a guilty person, but who knows? By the way, does this constitute a high crime or misdemeanor?
Lawyers and historians are still arguing about the exact meaning of "high crimes and misdemeanors," dividing into three schools of thought about the appropriate definition: (1) serious criminality evidenced by breaking existing law; (2) an abuse of office, and (3) the Alexander Hamilton standard (Federalist 65) of "violation of public trust."
Regardless, here is a transcript of the O’Donnel/Bush dialogue.
Q: There’s been some very dramatic testimony before the Senate this week from one of your former top Justice Department officials who describes a scene that some Senators called stunning, about a time when the warrantless wiretap program was being reviewed. Sir, did you send your then chief of staff and White House counsel to the bedside of John Ashcroft while he was ill to get him to approve that program, and do you believe that kind of conduct from White House officials is appropriate?
BUSH: Kelly, there’s a lot of speculation about what happened and what didn’t happen. I’m not going to talk about it. It’s a very sensitive program. I will tell you that one, the program was necessary to protect the American people and it’s still necessary, because there’s still an enemy that wants to do us harm, and therefore I have an obligation to put in place programs that honor the civil liberties of the American people — a program that was, in this case, constantly reviewed, and briefed to the United States Congress. And the program, as I say, is an essential part of protecting this country, and so there will be all kinds of talk about it. As i say, I’m not going to move the issue forward by talking about something as highly classified subject. I will tell you, however, that the program was necessary. (weave...duck)
Q: Was it on your order, sir?
BUSH: As I said, the program is a necessary program that was constantly reviewed and constantly briefed to the Congress. It’s an important part of protecting the United States, and it’s still an important part of our protection, because there’s still an enemy that would like to attack us, no matter how calm it may seem in America, an enemy lurks and they would like to strike. They would like to do harm to the American people, because they have an agenda. They want to impose an ideology. They want us to retreat from the world. They want to find safe haven, and these just aren’t empty words. These are the words of al Qaeda themselves, and so we will put in place programs to protect the American people that honor the civil liberties of our people and programs that we constantly brief to Congress.
DUCK…DUCK…WEAVE…DUCK
Come on Mr. President, just be honest for a change. Did you send Gonzales and Card to Ashcroft’s room like Vito Corleone would have?
I can only hope we don’t discover a horse’s head in Mr. Comey’s bed.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Spies Like The U.S.
Spies Like U.S.
One would think that the testimony by James B. Comey (former deputy attorney general) an excerpt from a Mickey Spillane novel. Evidently Mr. Comey appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of the inquiry into “Gonzogate”, (Alberto Gonzales investigation and dismissal of federal prosecutors).
Mr. Comey who was second in command in the Justice Department testified that that the eavesdropping program was center to a series of events involving Alberto Gonzales, Comey, John Ashcroft, and Andrew Card.
Mr. Comey stated (acting as attorney general because Mr. Ashcroft had been hospitalized for emergency gallbladder surgery in 2004) that he refused to sign off on a presidential order reauthorizing a program which allowed monitoring of international telephone calls and email of people inside the United States who were suspected of having terrorist ties. He further stated that the events took place over a 48 hour time span.
Here is a synopsis of events:
Evening of March 10, 2004:
Although Mrs. Ashcroft had banned visitors and telephone calls to her husband’s hospital room, she had just gotten a call from the White House telling her that Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales were on their way to see her husband, Mr. Comey testified. “I have some recollection that the call was from the president himself, but I don’t know that for sure,” Mr. Comey said.
A top aide to Mr. Ashcroft calls to alert Mr. Comey about the pending visit of Mr. Gonzales and Andrew H. Card Jr. Mr. Comey orders his driver to rush him to George Washington University Hospital with emergency lights flashing and siren blaring, with intentions of intercepting the pair. The pair were seeking Ashcroft’s signature because of impending expiration of authority the following day.
Mr. Comey phoned Director Robert S. Mueller III of the FBI, who agreed to meet him at the hospital.
When he got to the hospital, Mr. Comey recalled, “I got out of the car and ran up — literally, ran up the stairs with my security detail.”
“I was concerned that, given how ill I knew the attorney general was, that there might be an effort to ask him to overrule me when he was in no condition to do that,”
Upon arriving to Mr. Ashcroft’s room, Mr. Comey noted that Mr. Ashcroft seemed out of it, I think his word were “hardly aware of his surroundings”.
During this time, Mr. Mueller phoned Mr. Comey’s security detail and ordered them to not all Mr. Comey to be removed from the room under any circumstances.
A few minutes after this order, Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card entered Mr. Ashcroft’s room; Mr. Gonzales was carrying an envelope. Mr. Gonzales then began to discuss why they were there, and asked for Mr. Ashcroft’s approval.
Mr. Comey then testified that Mr. Ashcroft raised his head from the pillow, reiterated his objections to the program, then lay back down, pointing to Mr. Comey and stated it did not matter, because Mr. Comey was the attorney general.
Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card left the room, never making eye contact with Mr. Comey. But within a few minutes, Mr. Card telephoned Mr. Comey and demanded that he come to the White House immediately.
Mr. Comey replied to Mr. Card “After what I just witnessed, I will not meet you without a witness, and I intend that witness to be the solicitor general of the United States.”
Theodore Olson (solicitor general) was contacted by Mr. Comey and arranged to go with him to the White House. Mr. Card refused to allow Mr. Olson enter his office, after a private chat with Mr. Card, Mr. Olson was allowed to enter the office and take part in the conversation.
Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Comey and Mr. Mueller all threatened to resign over this incident.
Two to three weeks afterwards, the reauthorization was signed.
This seems to resemble strong arm tactics once seen in the mob or in gangster movies. And yet, the President allows Gonzales to continue in his position as Attorney General. This is bizarre and shameful. What happened to honesty in the White House?
Are You Kidding Me?
One would think that the testimony by James B. Comey (former deputy attorney general) an excerpt from a Mickey Spillane novel. Evidently Mr. Comey appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of the inquiry into “Gonzogate”, (Alberto Gonzales investigation and dismissal of federal prosecutors).
Mr. Comey who was second in command in the Justice Department testified that that the eavesdropping program was center to a series of events involving Alberto Gonzales, Comey, John Ashcroft, and Andrew Card.
Mr. Comey stated (acting as attorney general because Mr. Ashcroft had been hospitalized for emergency gallbladder surgery in 2004) that he refused to sign off on a presidential order reauthorizing a program which allowed monitoring of international telephone calls and email of people inside the United States who were suspected of having terrorist ties. He further stated that the events took place over a 48 hour time span.
Here is a synopsis of events:
Evening of March 10, 2004:
Although Mrs. Ashcroft had banned visitors and telephone calls to her husband’s hospital room, she had just gotten a call from the White House telling her that Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales were on their way to see her husband, Mr. Comey testified. “I have some recollection that the call was from the president himself, but I don’t know that for sure,” Mr. Comey said.
A top aide to Mr. Ashcroft calls to alert Mr. Comey about the pending visit of Mr. Gonzales and Andrew H. Card Jr. Mr. Comey orders his driver to rush him to George Washington University Hospital with emergency lights flashing and siren blaring, with intentions of intercepting the pair. The pair were seeking Ashcroft’s signature because of impending expiration of authority the following day.
Mr. Comey phoned Director Robert S. Mueller III of the FBI, who agreed to meet him at the hospital.
When he got to the hospital, Mr. Comey recalled, “I got out of the car and ran up — literally, ran up the stairs with my security detail.”
“I was concerned that, given how ill I knew the attorney general was, that there might be an effort to ask him to overrule me when he was in no condition to do that,”
Upon arriving to Mr. Ashcroft’s room, Mr. Comey noted that Mr. Ashcroft seemed out of it, I think his word were “hardly aware of his surroundings”.
During this time, Mr. Mueller phoned Mr. Comey’s security detail and ordered them to not all Mr. Comey to be removed from the room under any circumstances.
A few minutes after this order, Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card entered Mr. Ashcroft’s room; Mr. Gonzales was carrying an envelope. Mr. Gonzales then began to discuss why they were there, and asked for Mr. Ashcroft’s approval.
Mr. Comey then testified that Mr. Ashcroft raised his head from the pillow, reiterated his objections to the program, then lay back down, pointing to Mr. Comey and stated it did not matter, because Mr. Comey was the attorney general.
Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card left the room, never making eye contact with Mr. Comey. But within a few minutes, Mr. Card telephoned Mr. Comey and demanded that he come to the White House immediately.
Mr. Comey replied to Mr. Card “After what I just witnessed, I will not meet you without a witness, and I intend that witness to be the solicitor general of the United States.”
Theodore Olson (solicitor general) was contacted by Mr. Comey and arranged to go with him to the White House. Mr. Card refused to allow Mr. Olson enter his office, after a private chat with Mr. Card, Mr. Olson was allowed to enter the office and take part in the conversation.
Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Comey and Mr. Mueller all threatened to resign over this incident.
Two to three weeks afterwards, the reauthorization was signed.
This seems to resemble strong arm tactics once seen in the mob or in gangster movies. And yet, the President allows Gonzales to continue in his position as Attorney General. This is bizarre and shameful. What happened to honesty in the White House?
Are You Kidding Me?
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Is Iraq Ready To Kick US Out?
There has been a flurry of articles printed since last week, concerning a vote by Iraq National Assembly that would set a departure date for U.S. troops. It was leaked somewhat quietly to small newspapers and the mainstream media published tidbits on Saturday.
If I am understanding all of this, and pretty sure I am, Baha al-Aaaji (a supporter of radical ant-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr), has stated that 144 members of the assembly have signed a draft law that would set a departure date for U.S. Troops.
It looks like the bill will be non-binding and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki would probable blow this off. Rather than being a law, it might survive as a non-binding petition.
Regardless, this looks like it might be an insight to what the Iraqi people might really desire. With only 6000 Iraqi troops sufficiently trained, we might see the citizens actively involved in a political movement to remove all coalition forces from the region. I am uncertain why Maliki is steadfast on the U.S. remaining, unless it has to do with monetary support by the Bush Administration. (But, that is just a hunch)
If the Iraqis want us out, and the U.S. voters want us out, how can this administration justify leaving our troops in harms way? It make me sick every time I hear or read about more troops loosing their lives or being injured. For the love of God, bring them home. PLEASE!
Friday, May 11, 2007
Lies, Lies and More Lies
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Anyone remember the announcement made by Defense Secretary Gates back on April 11? Merely one month ago, Secretary Gates announced that all active duty soldiers will spend 15 months in Iraq and Afghanistan, instead of year, and the guarantee that they will be at home for a full 12 months before redeployment. Guess what? ANOTHER DAMN LIE by the government.
According to Stars and Stripes, Members of the 1st Armored Division’s 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry, Company A, will be headed back to Iraq in November. That is only 9 months home, after spending 13 months in Iraq.
Evidently, when Gates was asked Wednesday about the situation, he stammered, sputtered, and could not explain why the Army was sending back the company just nine months after its last Iraq deployment.
So, what was once a pledge to guarantee our soldiers more time with their families and the extra training needed prior to redeployment, is now being referred to as “is a goal”, so states Bryan Whitman from the Pentagon.
Don’t feed us more lies and deceit. This is Bush's war. He has never listened to the Generals on the ground, nor the will of the people.
Bring them home, ALL HOME.
Monday, May 7, 2007
My New Hero
Senator Russ Feingold is my newest hero. He never ceases to amaze me with his strength and willpower to carry on the fight for decency, justice, democracy and credibility. Just when I am seriously doubting any person engaged in politics has any credibility, along comes Senator Feingold to provide me with a gleam of hope.
The following is a statement released by Senator Feingold:
The ink on the President's veto is barely dry, and already, a lot of Washington insiders - including some Democrats -- are saying Congress should just give in to the President. Never mind how hard people have pushed to bring Congress to this point, when we are finally standing up to the President's disastrous Iraq policy -- they want to give up on the binding language in the bill requiring the President to begin redeploying troops from Iraq.
We can't keep giving in to this Administration on Iraq. Every time the Administration gets its way, it means that our troops will remain stuck in the middle of Iraq's civil war, and our national security will continue to be undermined. With so many Americans demanding that our involvement in this war come to an end, backing down is not the answer. No one else should die in Iraq to give political comfort to dealmakers in Washington.
I won't support a supplemental spending bill that doesn't have binding language to redeploy U.S. troops from Iraq. There's a lot of talk right now about Democrats getting the President to sign a bill that only has benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet. But we're long past the point when just setting benchmarks was enough. Even if funding for the Iraqi government is conditioned on it meeting those benchmarks, that misses the main point -- which is that, whether or not the Iraqis meet their benchmarks, we need to get out of Iraq so that we can focus on the national security threats we face around the world. And if those benchmarks aren't binding, then they are nothing more than suggestions. The American people aren't asking us to offer suggestions to the Iraqis -- they are asking us to bring our troops out of Iraq.
The next step to ending the war isn't to give in, but to step up the pressure on the President. I'm pleased to be working with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on a bill to end our open-ended military commitment in Iraq. Now that the President has rejected the will of the American people with this veto, our bill, or some other proposal to end funding for a failed policy, should be the next step to end the war.
We are in the middle of a real test for the new Democratic Congress. No matter what Washington insiders say about cutting a deal or scoring political points, we need to hang tough to get our troops out of Iraq. The President has refused to budge on his Iraq policy from the beginning -- he has repeatedly gotten his way, and our country has paid a terrible price for that. Today, 150,000 U.S. troops are in the middle of a civil war that is straining our military, and hurting our ability to go after al Qaeda worldwide. Too much is at stake for us to back down -- the new Congress has got to stand firm. It's a time to listen to the American people and finally start to bring our troops out of Iraq. Their lives and our national security depend on it. Senator Russ Feingold
Thank you Senator, for truly attempting to represent The People, and not cronies or corporate lobbyists. Keep up the good fight.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
It's True! The Iraq War Is Over
This is a parody.
At 10:00 am CDT, it was announced that the Iraq War is over. Yeah! Finally, peace at last. So I had a friend beam over to Iraq to investigate. (War definition: organized conflict between States). So, did we (U.S.) win? No one seems to know. The press release simply reads "They have surrendered". Therefore, in order to answer the question of "Who exactly are THEY?" I set off on a journey to find out who THEY are and WHERE is the surrender to be signed. Seems to be a reluctance in discussing concessions. My first stop was in Baghdad, one would think this would be the place for such an event to occur. I set up a meeting with the Shia Arab leaders and no one showed. Odd, but not to worry, I made an appointment with some real nice soldiers from the Green Zone, again no one showed. They didn't even seem to know there had been a surrender, therefore it must be taking place elsewhere. I beamed myself to Karbala to meet with the Shia Arab leaders, again no show. This is getting frustrating. But I did meet a nice stray dog, adopted her, and she will continue the journey with me. By the way, her name is "Wilma Mary Diane" (WMD). So, WMD and myself beam to Kirkuk, I waited to make an appointment this time, I'll just find them when I arrive. (smart thinking eh?) We began our search in Kirkuk for Sunni Arab, and Sunni Kurd Big Shots. The locals shrug when I ask where the meeting of the "Big Shots" is to take place. I really searched far and wide to find a Presidential Palace or even an Embassy, all to no avail. Time to beam again. How about Basra? Not a good idea, we just got ran out of town by a bunch of angry Shia Arab all speaking a language I don't understand. Let's get the heck out of here WMD. Beamed by mistake to Al Anbar. Not good, IEDs, mortars, machine gun fire. Nothing but chaos all around us. I tried to tell everyone that the war was over, we almost got hit by a humvee. I called the Embassy in Baghdad, and got a answering machine. Something about "I am sorry we could not answer your call, but we have gone to Jordan on vacation". At last, confirmation that the war is indeed over. WMD and myself need a nap. We decided to beam to Tikrit. We found a lone tree and took a short nap, before restarting our journey. Upon awakening, WMD decided to surrender to the facts that we haven't found who THEY are, nor have we been able to establish where the Peace Treaty is to be signed. WMD finally came to the conclusion that this isn't a war between States, no one actually knows who is fighting whom, why they are fighting, and absolutely "NOWHERE" could be found to sign a surrender. Therefore the War can't be over. And may NEVER be over. Are You Kidding Me?
Friday, May 4, 2007
Just Another Day In Paradise
Aren’t we the luckiest people on earth?
To be represented by a President with such an extensive vocabulary? A President whose grammar could go tit for tat with that of a College English professor?
A President that makes all of our faces shine with pride? Sure!
Only in our dreams does this actually occur!
Here is yet another example of how sad this current administration really is. What a joke!
The president vetoed a $124 billion bill on Tuesday because it included timetables for troop withdrawals, and a House vote on Wednesday fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto, with 222 voting in favor and 203 opposing the override.
In a speech to a construction industry trade group in Washington, Mr. Bush said he was “confident that with good will on both sides, that we can move beyond political statements” and agree on a new measure.
But he continued to criticize Congress for trying to use the bill to dictate timelines for withdrawal.
“The question is, ‘Who ought to make that decision, the Congress or the commanders?’ ” Mr. Bush said. “As you know, my position is clear — I’m the commander guy.”
I have just one thing to say about this. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Iraq Parliament Taking Two Months Vacation
One would think that the Iraqi Parliament has stolen President Bush's playbook. They have announced that they (Iraq Parliament) will be taking July and August off for vacation. You have to be kidding me! This sounds like something President Bush would do. (Page 32 of Bush's Playbook).But don't fret, I have an idea. Let's bring all the troops home during that time. If they aren't serious, why should we be? This can't be happening. What in the heck is going on?
Don't Support Domestic Terrorism
Posted 5/1/07
George Tenet's book: At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA
Please don't support Tenet by actually buying this book. Mr Tenet should not have stood by and allowed the events leading up to invasion of Iraq continue. If, as he claims, knew all, disagreed with large portion of plans, and still allowed them to continue, that would make him a disgrace to our country. A REAL Patriot would have stopped the planning and demanded absolute proof of Iraq's involvement with 9/11. He was best buddies with "W", I think he could have slowed everything down long enough to prove or disprove the intelligence, But that is only my opinion. If he did indeed see what was going on in the White House, then it was his duty to question the President and/or Vice President. One might call this an act of Domestic Terrorism, over 3500 brave soldiers have died because of this war and thousands injured. Refuse to support Mr. Tenet by NOT purchasing his book.
Who Is Ashleigh Banfield Landon? Shouldn't We All Be Like Her?
Posted 4/30/07
Ashleigh Banfield Landon delivered the following speech which destroyed her career. She was instantly demoted by MSNBC and fired less than a year later. It is sad day when a journalist can't be a journalist. These Big Brother media consortium screen, edit, persecute and manipulate these brave journalists. Firing them when the truth is reported. Today's big media believe news is a Hollywood production. Just reflect back on the scripted appearances by the current White House administration. Shame on you MSNBC. Thank you Ms. Banfield for being a true patriot. You are my heroine.
Ashleigh Banfield Landon Lecture
Kansas State University
Manhattan, Kansas
April 24, 2003
"Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President. That was a very kind introduction. I would love to say that I'm a hero and was able to save this woman, but she was fine. I just gave her a quick checkover and she was just fine. But it was quite an adventure, nonetheless, and Chuck and I have a story to tell for the rest of time.
Thank you so much, by the way, for inviting me to be here. This is a real treat and a real honor. The last time I was in Manhattan, Kansas, there were a lot of other stories that were making top headlines, not the least of which were the anniversary of 9-11, the continued hunt for Osama bin Laden, the whereabouts of Elizabeth Smart, and what was to become of Saddam Hussein; and we have some resolution on very few of these stories, but we certainly know at least what Saddam Hussein is not up to these days, and it's leading Iraq.
So I suppose you watch enough television to know that the big TV show is over and that the war is now over essentially -- the major combat operations are over anyway, according to the Pentagon and defense officials -- but there is so much that is left behind. And I'm not just talking about the most important thing, which is, of course, the leadership of a Middle Eastern country that could possibly become an enormous foothold for American and foreign interests. But also what Americans find themselves deciding upon when it comes to news, and when it comes to coverage, and when it comes to war, and when it comes to what's appropriate and what's not appropriate any longer.
I think we all were very excited about the beginnings of this conflict in terms of what we could see for the first time on television. The embedded process, which I'll get into a little bit more in a few moments, was something that we've never experienced before, neither as reporters nor as viewers. The kinds of pictures that we were able to see from the front lines in real time on a video phone, and sometimes by a real satellite link-up, was something we'd never seen before and were witness to for the first time.
And there are all sorts of good things that come from that, and there are all sorts of terrible things that come from that. The good things are the obvious. This is one more perspective that we all got when it comes to warfare, how it's fought and how tough these soldiers are, what the conditions are like and what it really looks like when they're firing those M-16s rapidly across a river, or across a bridge, or into a building.
There were a lot of journalists who were skeptical of this embedding process before we all embarked on this kind of news coverage before this campaign. Many thought that this was just another element of propaganda from the American government. I suppose you could look at it that way. It certainly did show the American side of things, because that's where we were shooting from. But it also showed what can go wrong.
It also gave journalists, including Al-Jazeera journalists and Arab television journalists and Arab newspaper journalists, who were also embedded, it also gave them the opportunity to see without any kinds of censorship how these fights were being fought, how these soldiers were behaving, what the civil affairs soldiers were doing, and what the humanitarian assistants really looked like. Was it just a line we were being fed, or were they really on the ground with boxes of water and boxes of food?
So for that element alone it was a wonderful new arm of access that journalists got to warfare. Perhaps not that new, because we all knew what it looked like at Vietnam and what a disaster that was for the government, but this did put us in a very, very close line of sight to the unfolding disasters.
That said, what didn't you see? You didn't see where those bullets landed. You didn't see what happened when the mortar landed. A puff of smoke is not what a mortar looks like when it explodes, believe me. There are horrors that were completely left out of this war. So was this journalism or was this coverage-? There is a grand difference between journalism and coverage, and getting access does not mean you're getting the story, it just means you're getting one more arm or leg of the story. And that's what we got, and it was a glorious, wonderful picture that had a lot of people watching and a lot of advertisers excited about cable news. But it wasn't journalism, because I'm not so sure that we in America are hesitant to do this again, to fight another war, because it looked like a glorious and courageous and so successful terrific endeavor, and we got rid oaf horrible leader: We got rid of a dictator, we got rid of a monster, but we didn't see what it took to do that.
I can't tell you how bad the civilian casualties were. I saw a couple of pictures. I saw French television pictures, I saw a few things here and there, but to truly understand what war is all about you've got to be on both sides. You've got to be a unilateral, someone who's able to cover from outside of both front lines, which, by the way, is the most dangerous way to cover a war, which is the way most of us covered Afghanistan. There were no front lines, they were all over the place. They were caves, they were mountains, they were cobbled, they were everything. But we really don't know from this latest adventure from the American military what this thing looked like and why perhaps we should never do it again. The other thing is that so many voices were silent in this war. We all know what happened to Susan Sarandon for speaking out, and her husband, and we all know that this is not the way Americans truly want to be. Free speech is a wonderful thing, it's what we fight for, but the minute it's unpalatable we fight against it for some reason.
That just seems to be a trend of late, and l am worried that it may be a reflection of what the news was and how the news coverage was coming across. This was a success, it was a charge it took only three weeks. We did wonderful things and we freed the Iraqi people, many of them by the way, who are quite thankless about this. There's got to be a reason for that. And the reason for it is because we don't have a very good image right now overseas, and a lot of Americans aren't quite sure why, given the fact that we sacrificed over a hundred soldiers to give them freedom.
Well, the message before we went in was actually weapons of mass destruction and eliminating the weapons of mass destruction from this regime and eliminating this regime. Conveniently in the week or two that we were in there it became very strongly a message of freeing the Iraqi people. That should have been the message early on, in fact, in the six to eight months preceding this campaign, if we were trying to win over the hearts of the Arab world.
That is a very difficult endeavor and from my travels to the Arab world, we're not doing a very good job of it. What you read in the newspapers and what you see on cable news and what you see on the broadcast news networks is nothing like they see over there, especially in a place like Iraq, where all they have access to is a newspaper called Babble, if you can believe it. It's really called Babble. And it was owned by well, owned and operated by Uday, who you know now is the crazier of Saddam's sons. And this is the kind of material that they have access to, and it paints us as the great Satan regularly, or at least it used to. I'm sure it's not in production right now. And it's not unlike many of the other newspapers in the Arab world either. You can't blame these poor sorts for not liking us. All they know is that we're crusaders. All they know is that we're imperialists. All they know is that we want their oil. They don't know otherwise. And I'll tell you, a lot of the people I spoke with in Afghanistan had never heard of the Twin Towers and most of them couldn't recognize a picture of George Bush.
So you're dealing with populations who don't know better and who are very suspect as to who these news liberators are, because every liberator before has just reeked havoc upon their lives and their children and their world. So I wasn't the least bit surprised to see these marches and these pilgrimages in the last few days telling the Americans, "Thanks for the freedom to march to Najaf and Karbala, but get out." You know, this wasn't that big of a surprise. I think it may be a surprise though to the Pentagon. I'm not sure that they were ready to deal with this many dissenters and this many supporters of an Islamic regime, like next door in Iran.
That will be a very interesting story to follow in the coming weeks and months, as to how this vacuum is filled and how we go about presenting a democracy to these people when -- if we give them democracy they probably will ask us to get out, which is exactly what many of them want.
But it's interesting to be able to cover this. There's nothing in the world like being able to cross a green line whenever you want and speak to both sides of a conflict. I can't tell you how horrible and wonderful it is at the same time in the West Bank and Gaza and Israel. There are very few people in this world who can march right across guarded check points, closed military zones, and talk to Palestinians in the same day that they almost embedded with Israeli troops, and that's something that we get to do on a regular basis.
And I just wish that the leadership of all these different entities, ours included, could do the same thing, because they would have an eye opening experience, horrible and wonderful, all at the same time, and it would give a lot of insight as to how messages are heard and how you can negotiate. Because you cannot negotiate when someone can't hear you or refuses to hear you or can't even understand your language, and that's clearly what's happening in a lot of places in the world right now, the West Bank, Gaza and Israel, not the least of which there's very little listening and understanding going on. Our language is entirely different than theirs, and I don't just mean the words. When you hear the word Hezbollah you probably think evil, danger, terror right away. If I could just see a show of hands. Who thinks that Hezbollah is a bad word? Show of hands. Usually connotes fear, terror, some kind of suicide bombing. If you live in the Arab world, Hezbollah means Shriner. Hezbollah means charity, Hezbollah means hospitals, Hezbollah means welfare and jobs.
These are not the same organizations we're dealing with. How can you negotiate when you' re talking about two entirely different meanings? And until we understand -- we don't have to like Hizbullah, we don't have to like their militancy, we don't have to like what they do on the side, but we have to understand that they like it, that they like the good things about Hizbullah, and that you can't just paint it with a blanket statement that it's a terrorist organization, because even when it comes to the militancy these people believe that militancy is simply freedom fighting and resistance. You can't argue with that. You can try to negotiate, but you can't say it's wrong flat out.
And that's some of the problems we have in dealing in this war in terror. As a journalist I'm often ostracized just for saying these messages, just for going on television and saying, "Here's what the leaders of Hezbullah are telling me and here's what the Lebanese are telling me and here's what the Syrians have said about Hezbullah. Here's what they have to say about the Golan Heights." Like it or lump it, don't shoot the messenger, but invariably the messenger gets shot.
We hired somebody on MSNBC recently named Michael Savage. Some of you may know his name already from his radio program. He was so taken aback by my dare to speak with Al -Aqsa Martyrs Brigade about why they do what they do, why they're prepared to sacrifice themselves for what they call a freedom fight and we call terrorism. He was so taken aback that he chose to label me as a slut on the air. And that's not all, as a porn star. And that's not all, as an accomplice to the murder of Jewish children. So these are the ramifications for simply being the messenger in the Arab world.
How can you discuss, how can you solve anything when attacks from a mere radio flak is what America hears on a regular basis, let alone at the government level? I mean, if this kind of attitude is prevailing, forget discussion, forget diplomacy, diplomacy is becoming a bad word.
I'm fascinated to find out how we are going to diplomatically fix what's broken now in Iraq because nobody thinks Jay Garner is going to be a leader for Iraq. They don't want him to be a leader. He says he doesn't want to be a leader, but he sure as heck wants to put a leader in there that is akin with our interests here in America so that we don't have to face this trouble again. Clearly it's the same kind of idea we had in Afghanistan with Hamid Karzai. You know, they all look at him as a puppet, we look at him as a success story. Again, two different languages being spoken and not enough coverage of that side.
Again, I'm not saying support for that side. There are a lot of things that I hate about that side but there's got to be the coverage, there's got to be the journalism, and sometimes that is really missing in our effort to make good TV and good cable news.
When I said the war was over I kind of mean that in the sense that cards are being pulled from this famous deck now of the 55 most wanted, and they're sort of falling out of the deck as quickly as the numbers are falling off the rating chart for the cable news stations. We have plummeted into the basement in the last week. We went from millions of viewers to just a few hundred thousand in the course of a couple of days.
Did our broadcasting change? Did we get boring? Did we all a sudden lose our flair? Did we start using language that people didn't want to hear? No, I think you've just had enough. I think you've seen the story, you've' seen how it ended, it ended pretty well in most American's view; it's time to move on.
What's the next big story? Is it Laci Peterson? Because Laci Peterson got a whole lot more minutes' worth of coverage on the cable news channels in the last week than we'd have ever expected just a few days after a regime fell, like Saddam Hussein.
I don't want to suggest for a minute that we are shallow people, we Americans. At times we are, but I do think that the phenomenon of our attention deficit disorder when it comes to watching television news and watching stories and then just being finished with them, I think it might come from the saturation that you have nowadays. You cannot walk by an airport monitor, you can't walk by most televisions in offices these days, in the public, without it being on a cable news channel. And if you're not in front of a TV you're probably in front of your monitor, where there is Internet news available as well.
You have had more minutes of news on the Iraq war in just the three-week campaign than you likely ever got in the years and years of network news coverage of Vietnam. You were forced to wait for it till six o'clock every night and the likelihood that you got more than about eight minutes of coverage in that half hour show, you probably didn't get a whole lot more than that, and it was about two weeks old, some of that footage, having been shipped back. Now it's real time and it is blanketed to the extent that we could see this one arm of the advance, but not where the bullets landed.
But I think the saturation point is reached faster because you just get so much so fast, so absolutely in real time that it is time to move on. And that makes our job very difficult, because we tend to leave behind these vacuums that are left uncovered. When was the last time you saw a story about Afghanistan? It's only been a year, you know. Only since the major combat ended, you were still in Operation Anaconda in not much more than 11 or 12 months ago, and here we are not touching Afghanistan at all on cable news.
There was just a memorandum that came through saying we're closing the Kabul bureau. The Kabul bureau has only been staffed by one person for the last several months, Maria Fasal, she's Afghan and she wanted to be there, otherwise I don't think anyone would have taken that assignment. There's just been no allotment of TV minutes for Afghanistan.
And I am very concerned that the same thing is about to happen with Iraq, because we're going to have another Gary Condit, and we're going to have another Chandra Levy and we're going to have another Jon Benet, and we're going to have another Elizabeth Smart, and here we are in Laci Peterson, and these stories will dominate. They're easy to cover, they're cheap, they're fast, you don't have to send somebody overseas, you don't have to put them up in a hotel that's expensive overseas, and you don't have to set up satellite time overseas. Very cheap to cover domestic news. Domestic news is music news to directors' ears.
But is that what you need to know? Don't you need to know what our personality is overseas and what the ramifications of these campaigns are? Because we went to Iraq, according to the President, to make sure that we were going to be safe from weapons of mass destruction, that no one would attack us. Well, did everything all of a sudden change? The terror alert went down. All of a sudden everything seems to be better, but I can tell you from living over there, it's not.
There are a lot of people who hate us, and it only takes one man who's crazy enough to strap a bunch of suicide devices onto his body to let us know that he can instill fear in even a place like Manhattan. You know, you're not immune from it. One suicide bomb in a mall in a small town in America can paralyze this country, because every small town will think it's vulnerable, not just New York, not just D.C., not just L.A., everybody. And we may not be far from that, and I'm desperately depressed that it's come to this, that it's come to the American shores in the worst way.
I was under the second tower when it came down in New York City on September 11th. I have a real stake in this, and I've got two friends whose remains haven't been found yet at the Trade Center, and that stays with you for quite awhile. It's important that we continue to want to know what happens overseas when we leave. It's important to demand coverage of these things. It's important because your safety and your future and your world and your children will depend on this stuff.
If we had paid more attention to Afghanistan in the '80s we might not have had 9-11. If we hadn't left it in such a mess, we might not have had 9-11 and three thousand people would be alive to talk to you today. If we do the same thing in lraq it is possible that without you even knowing, a brand new federation is formed where deals are made in secret, because the leadership is not allowed to talk about America in good ways, the street would blow up. Because that's essentially what happens everywhere else in the Arab world right now. You can't talk about making deals and allowing the Americans to use your military bases or you will be out like the Shah. Not in the election, of course, but you'd be out like the Shah. And most of these people worry about that. I'm very concerned that Iraq may end up the same way.
There was a reporter in the New York Times a couple days ago at the Pentagon. It was a report on the ground in Iraq that the Americans were going to have four bases that they would continue to use possibly on a permanent basis inside Iraq, kind of in a star formation, the north, the south, Baghdad and out west. Nobody was able to actually say what these bases would be used for, whether it was forward operations, whether it was simple access, but it did speak volumes to the Arab world who said, "You see, we told you the Americans were coming for their imperialistic need. They needed a foothold, they needed to control something in central and west Asia to make sure that we all next door come into line."
And these reports about Syria, well, they may have been breezed over fairly quickly here, but they are ringing loud still over there. Syria's next. And then Lebanon. And look out lran.
So whether we think it's plausible or whether the government even has any designs like that, the Arabs all think it's happening and they think it's for religious purposes for the most part. Again, most of them are so uneducated and they have such little access to media, what they do get is a very bad story, and there's no reason why they shouldn't be afraid as they are. You know, they just don't have the luck that we do of open information.
One of the things I wanted to mention about the technology of this war, because I know that we've got questions that we want to get to, so I'll just tell you a little bit about some of the technology and how that's changed, perhaps not only how the fighters behave, but how we see things.
The tanks and the vehicles that are used in the front lines are so high tech that an artillery engineer can actually pinpoint a target that looks like a tiny stick man on a screen and simply destroy the target without ever seeing a warm body.
Some of the soldiers, according to our embeds had never seen a dead body throughout the entire three-week campaign. It was like Game Boy. I think that's amazing in two different ways. It makes you a far more successful warrior because you can just barrel right along but it takes away a lot of what war is all about, which is what I mentioned earlier. The TV technology took that away too. We couldn't see where the bullets landed. Nobody could see the horrors of this so that we seriously revisit the concept of warfare the next time we have to deal with it.
I think there were a lot of dissenting voices before this war about the horrors of war, but I'm very concerned about this three-week TV show and how it may have changed people's opinions. It was very sanitized.
It had a very brief respite from the sanitation when Terry Lloyd was killed, the ITN, and when David Bloom was killed and when Michael Kelley was killed. We all sort of sat back for a moment and realized, "God, this is ugly. This is hitting us at home now. This is hitting the noncombatants." But that went away quickly too.
This TV show that we just gave you was extraordinarily entertaining, and I really hope that the legacy that it leaves behind is not one that shows war as glorious, because there's nothing more dangerous than a democracy that thinks this is a glorious thing to do.
War is ugly and it's dangerous, and in this world the way we are discussed on the Arab street, it feeds and fuels their hatred and their desire to kill themselves to take out Americans. It's a dangerous thing to propagate.
I hope diplomacy is not dead. I hope that Colin Powell at one point would like to continue revisiting the French. I hope that he has success in Syria at some point with Basha Assad.
Whenever that meeting is going to happen, and I sure hope we focus on the Middle East, and I sure hope that some kind of peace plan is revisited and attention is paid -- American attention is paid to the plight of the Israelis and the Palestinians on an equal basis and that some kind of resolution is made there, because that is the root of so much of the anger. For right or wrong, it's the selling point of all the dictators and despots and leaders overseas. They use that as a pawn any chance they get. Osama loves to sell the Palestinian's cause. I don't even think he cares a hoot about the Palestinians, believe it or not, but he uses it for his cult following to increase his leadership. That is something that we don't understand the power of overseas, and we must. And television has to play a better part in that.
We haven't been back to the West Bank since Operation Defensive Shield last year. It's been a good solid year since we gave you wall-to-wall coverage on what's been going on in the West Bank and Gaza. Hell, we just raided Rafa again. I mean, the Israelis had an incredible raid in Rafa, one of the deadliest in years, but it barely made headlines here.
Again, it is crucial to our security that we are interested in this, because when you are interested I can respond. If I put this on the air right now, you'll turn it off and we'll lose our numbers, as we're finding we're losing now the numbers being so much lower than they were last week.
There is another whole phenomenon that's come about from this war. Many talk about it as the Fox effect, the Fox news effect. I know everyone of you has watched it. It's not a dirty little secret. A lot of people describe Fox as having streamers and banners coming out of the television as you're watching it cover a war. But the Fox effect is very concerning to me.
I'm a journalist and I like to be able to tell the story as I see it, and I hate it when someone tells me I'm one-sided. It's the worst I can hear. Fox has taken so many viewers away from CNN and MSNBC because of their agenda and because of their targeting the market of cable news viewership, that I'm afraid there's not a really big place in cable for news. Cable is for entertainment, as it's turning out, but not news.
I'm hoping that I will have a future in news in cable, but not the way some cable news operators wrap themselves in the American flag and patriotism and go after a certain target demographic, which is very lucrative. You can already see the effects, you can already see the big hires on other networks, right wing hires to chase after this effect, and you can already see that flag waving in the corners of those cable news stations where they have exciting American music to go along with their war coverage.
Well, all of this has to do with what you've seen on Fox and its successes. So I do urge you to be very discerning as you continue to watch the development of cable news, and it is changing like lightning. Be very discerning because it behooves you like it never did before to watch with a grain of salt and to choose responsibly, and to demand what you should know.
That's it. I know that there's probably a couple questions. No one's allowed to ask about my hair color, okay? I'm kidding, if you want to ask you can. It's a pretty boring story. But I just wanted to say thank you, and let's all pray and hope in any way that you pray or hope for peace and for democracy around the world, and for more rain this summer in Manhattan. Thank you all."
Police: Device Near Women's Health Clinic Was a Bomb
Posted 4/27/07
Sources say it contained nails; federal agencies join investigation.
By Tony Plohetski, Claire Osborn and Elizabeth Campbell
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, April 27, 2007
A package found Wednesday in the parking lot of a South Austin women's clinic that performs abortions contained a bomb that could have seriously injured or killed people had it not been spotted by a clinic employee, officials said Thursday.
A terrorism task force made up of local and federal investigators is still trying to determine who left the package near the Austin Women's Health Center at 1902 S. Interstate 35, north of Oltorf Street, and are reviewing footage from the clinic's security cameras.
The southbound access road of Interstate 35 north of Oltorf Street in South Austin was closed much of the evening Wednesday as officials investigated a package found in the parking lot of the Austin Women's Health Center.
During a news conference Thursday, investigators declined to be more specific about the contents of the package — which was in what Austin Assistant Police Chief David Carter called a "carry-all bag" — other than to say that it contained explosive powder.
Two sources familiar with the contents, who didn't want to be identified because of the ongoing investigation, said the device also contained nails. Jimmie Oxley, a nationally known explosives expert and chemistry professor at the University of Rhode Island, said bomb makers often add nails to devices to make them deadlier.
Investigators also would not say how the device was put together or how the bomb would have detonated. Officials have not commented on possible suspects or motives or why the clinic was targeted.
"The device was a dangerous device," Carter said. "We believe it was capable of detonation."
Officials with the Austin Women's Health Center declined to comment on the incident other than to say in a statement: "We are committed to the health and well-being of our patients. Our office will continue to provide the same outstanding health care we have been providing for the last 30 years."
The clinic, founded in 1976, was open Thursday; a sign in front warned against trespassing.
The incident renewed fears among some of another wave of violence against abortion clinics. During a rash of attacks against clinics in the 1990s, a number of doctors and employees were murdered.
It also comes at a time when the abortion rights debate has made national headlines: Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.
The discovery of the bomb prompted increased vigilance among other Austin clinics where abortions are performed and was condemned by people who support and people who oppose abortion rights.
Joe Pojman, the executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, which opposes abortion, said he was dismayed to hear about the device at the clinic.
"It's just plain wrong," Pojman said. "This is very counterproductive to the abortion debate, and it hurts our cause."
People who want to reduce abortions in Texas should concentrate on getting measures passed to prevent unintended pregnancies, said Laurie Felker Jones, the deputy political director at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. Jones called Wednesday's incident "unacceptable."
On Tuesday, as the Supreme Court prepared to rule on the act banning late-term abortions, the professional association of abortion providers in the United States and Canada sent an update to its members, advising them to tighten their clinics' security measures.
"We know from past experience that any time abortion is featured prominently in the news, there is often an increased chance of violence and disruption at clinics," said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation. In Austin, several abortion providers declined to discuss their security measures in detail, saying that it could thwart efforts to keep patients and staff members safe. "Most clinics might have cameras, security videotaping and alarm type of situations," said Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers.
Miller, who is also the executive director of Whole Woman's Health in Austin — one of four abortion providers in Austin — declined to comment on what security measures her business was taking.
"Security is a reality for us every day," she said. There are no abortion clinics in Hays County; there is one in Williamson County, Miller said. Sarah Wheat, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood, said Austin has always been supportive of women's health care, including abortions, at her facility.
"I think when something like this happens, it doesn't fit with the support we have now," she said.
The last major incident involving a Texas abortion provider was an arson at the Fairmount Center in Dallas in 2002. The case has not been solved, according to the group.
In 2003, the construction of a Planned Parenthood facility in Austin was delayed when abortion-rights opponents launched a telephone and e-mail campaign against contractors who supplied goods or services for the construction of the 20,000-square-foot facility on East Ben White Boulevard.
As a result, the building's original general contractor, San Antonio-based Browning Construction Co., withdrew from the project in November 2003. Planned Parenthood opted to serve as its own general contractor and didn't release the names of its subcontractors, aiming to protect them from protesters.
More than 200 arsons and bombings have occurred at reproductive health care clinics across the United States and Canada since the mid-1970s, according to the National Abortion Federation's Web site.
According to the federation, 32 incidents of violence or disruption against abortion providers in the United States and Canada were reported in the first three months of 2007, along with five hoax devices or suspicious packages. In 2006, abortion clinics reported seven bomb threats and four attempted bombings or arsons.
tplohetski@statesman.com; 445-3605
This is insane. This could happen anywhere, even at a clinic that just does women's health (pap smears, breast exams, sti testing). Another example of fundamentalists that pursue a selfish agenda to squelch health care of women.
Hospital Fires Nun
Posted 4/21/07
Covenant Health System of Lubbock recently fired Sister Meg Kopish for having “a difference in management style”.
Sister Meg is a honest, devoted and brilliant individual, who brought integrity, religious guidance and medical management experience to a hospital system that often stumbles in most all of those categories. She was devoted to quality health care to ALL, not just the rich or those with medical insurance. Isn’t that what we all want? To have access to quality health care from health care professionals that care about the well being of each of us.
Sister Meg Kopish was vice president of mission services with Covenant Health System. Sister Meg, who came to Lubbock from St. Louis, Mo., is the first member of an order other than The Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange to hold this position at Covenant. She is a member of the Adorer of the Blood of Christ sisters, which is headquartered in Rome and thus a papal people community. Since arriving to Lubbock she has actively opened her arms to all in need, and strived to insure that Covenants Mission statement wasn’t just something that a paper pusher wrote out of necessity to maintain accreditation.
Sister Meg is also on the board of Hospice of Lubbock.
I have not been able to uncover all those involved in her “Firing”, but I have to wonder if the recent resignation by the President and CEO Steve Hunter is linked somehow. Itis clear that Sister Meg brought accountability to the table. It appears that other Vice Presidents of Covenant were intimidated and threatened by her demands for integrity, accountability, and open arms to our communities. Too bad, because of a few greedy and/or corrupt individuals within Covenant Health Systems organization, our communities will suffer.
I suppose certain management at Covenant do not really believe nor practice the organizations Mission and Vision. Below is Covenant’s Mission and Vision statement, taken directly from their publicized material given at each facility.
“Good Luck Sister Meg, we will ALL miss you dearly.”
History, Mission, Vision, Facts and Statistics
History
Covenant Health System is a member of St. Joseph Health System, one of the most successful not-for-profit health systems in the United States. It was founded in 1998 through the merger of two of Lubbock's most venerable heath care facilities, St. Mary of the Plains Hospital and Lubbock Methodist Hospital System.
St. Mary Hospital was founded in 1937 as the 10-bed Plains Hospital and Clinic, becoming St. Mary of the Plains Hospital in 1939, when the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, California, purchased the facility. Today, St. Mary of the Plains Hospital is known as Covenant Medical Center–Lakeside.
The facility now known as Covenant Medical Center began as the 25-bed Lubbock Sanitarium in 1918. The facility became known as Lubbock General Hospital in 1941, then Lubbock Memorial Hospital in 1945. In 1954, it became Methodist Hospital.
Mission
To extend Christian ministry by caring for the whole person—body, mind and spirit—and by working with others to improve health and quality of life in our communities.
Vision
We believe that to put our mission into practice we must provide the best possible care to all our patients. That means following proven, standardized practices throughout the system, focusing on evidence-based medicine and tracking and reporting outcomes. We work to nurture a culture of safety and expect to rank at the top of our class in providing an exceptional patient experience and successful treatment.
We believe that every interaction—whether it involves Covenant staff, our patients or their families—is a sacred encounter. We come together to provide compassionate care and contribute to the overall good health of the people we serve. We believe that each of the communities we serve should be among the healthiest in the United States, and we are committed to improving access to care.
Our core values are: Dignity, Service, Excellence and Justice.
Facts and Statistics
Covenant Health System is the largest health care institution in the West Texas and Eastern New Mexico region.
Geographic information: Serves a 62-county area with a population of more than 1.2 million people.
Facilities: Three cornerstone facilities, plus a network of 10 leased and managed community hospitals, including Covenant Hospital Levelland and Covenant Hospital Plainview, 20 Covenant Healthcare Centers and Family Healthcare Centers, four mobile coaches and two ECHO/PV vans go out in the community to bring services to the medically underserved.
Our three cornerstone facilities combined—Covenant Medical Center, Covenant Medical Center–Lakeside and Covenant Children’s Hospital—have:
· 1,352 licensed beds
· More than 4,000 employees
· More than 400 admitting physicians
· 497-patient average daily census in FY 2006
· 31,000 discharges in FY 2006
· Over 61,000 Emergency Room visits in two ERs in FY 2006
Community Benefit: Provided $70.24 million in community health and education services in 2006 (includes care for the underinsured).
Hippocatic Oath or Another Fundamentalist Load of Crap?
Posted 4/12/07 
I find it interesting that most all of the crap that spews from the conservative fundamentalist base is mendacious and factitious. That they lie when the truth would have sounded better. My experience with anti-choice individuals and organizations has taught me to always look under the rock they are standing on. I thought I would do a little research on the validity of their latest claims. One of which is "The Hippocratic Oath that physicians swear to, forbids all abortions and euthanasia." Well, all I can say to that is HOGWASH! I hope I can dispel any confusion to their claims.
The most literal translation of the Greek Hippocratic Oath reads:
I swear by Apollo Physician, by Asclepius, by Health, by Heal-all, and by all the gods and goddesses, making them witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture: To regard my teacher in this art as equal to my parents; to make him partner in my livelihood, and when he is in need of money to share mine with him; to consider his offspring equal to my brothers; to teach them this art, if they require to learn it, without fee or indenture; and to impart precept, oral instruction, and all the other learning, to my sons, to the sons of my teacher, and to pupils who have signed the indenture and sworn obedience to the physicians¹ Law, but to none other.
I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but I will never use it to injure or wrong them. I will not give poison to anyone though asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a plan. Similarly I will not give a pessary to a woman to cause abortion. But in purity and in holiness I will guard my life and my art.
I will not use the knife either on sufferers from stone, but I will give place to such as are craftsmen therein. Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will do so to help the sick, keeping myself free from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from fornication with woman or man, bond or free. Whatsoever in the course of practice I see or hear (or even outside my practice in social intercourse) that ought never be published abroad, I will not divulge, but consider such things to be holy secrets.
Now if I keep this oath and break it not, may I enjoy honour, in my life and art, among all men for all time; but if I transgress and forswear myself, may the opposite befall me.
(It does not read ALL TYPES of Abortion) It only refers to pessary. Plus, most medical schools do not even pledge to this oath.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE: ON THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH
The following points are made by Howard Markel (New Engl. J. Med. 2004 350:2026):
1) Although many scholars dispute the exact authorship of the writings ascribed to the ancient physician Hippocrates, who probably lived sometime between 460 and 380 B.C., the oath named for him is simultaneously one of the most revered, protean, and misunderstood documents in the history of medicine.(1) To begin with, it is often misquoted. For example, the mantra of "First, do no harm" (a phrase translated into Latin as "Primum non nocere") is often mistakenly ascribed to the oath, although it appears nowhere in that venerable pledge. Hippocrates came closest to issuing this directive in his treatise Epidemics, in an axiom that reads, "As to diseases, make a habit of two things -- to help, or at least, to do no harm." Secondly, there are many scholars who dispute that Hippocrates even wrote the Oath.
2) Many physicians practicing today are surprised to learn that the first recorded administration of the Hippocratic Oath in a medical school setting was at the University of Wittenberg in Germany in 1508 and that it did not become a standard part of a formal medical school graduation ceremony until 1804, when it was incorporated into the commencement exercises at Montpellier, France.(2) The custom spread in fits and starts on both sides of the Atlantic during the 19th century, but even well into the 20th century relatively few American physicians formally took the oath. According to a survey conducted for the Association of American Medical Colleges in 1928, for example, only 19 percent of the medical schools in North America included the oath in their commencement exercises.(3) With the discovery of the atrocities that were committed in the name of medicine during World War II and the growing interest in bioethics in the succeeding decades, oath taking began playing an increasing part in graduation ceremonies.(4)
3) Today, nearly every US medical school administers some type of professional oath to its share of about 16,000 men and women who are eager to take possession of their medical degrees. Yet it is doubtful that Hippocrates would recognize most of the pledges that are anachronistically ascribed to him. Such revisionism is hardly unique to our era. Indeed, the tinkering with Hippocrates' oath began soon after its first utterance and generally reflected the changing values, customs, and beliefs associated with the ethical practice of medicine.
4) Consequently, there are stark differences between the promises made in the original version and the oaths sworn today. To take the most obvious example, few if any of us now believe in the ancient Greek gods Apollo, Asclepius, Hygieia, and Panaceia, and we therefore no longer pledge allegiance to them. Indeed, the evidence indicates that spirituality in general -- regardless of its form -- now has a distant relationship with medical science: a "content analysis" of the oaths administered at 147 US and Canadian medical schools in 1993 showed that only 11 percent of the versions invoked a deity.(5)
5) There are two highly controversial vows in the original Hippocratic Oath that physicians continue to ponder and struggle with as a profession: the pledges never to participate in euthanasia and abortion.(1) These prohibitions applied primarily to those identified as Hippocratic physicians, a medical sect that represented only a small minority of all self-proclaimed healers. The Hippocratics' reasons for refusing to participate in euthanasia may have been based on a philosophical or moral belief in preserving the sanctity of life or simply on their wish to avoid involvement in any act of assisted suicide, murder, or manslaughter. We have fairly reliable historical documentation, however, that many ancient Greeks and Romans who were confronted with terminal illness preferred a quick, painless death by means of poison to letting nature take its course. Moreover, there were no laws in the ancient world against suicide, and it was not uncommon for physicians to recommend this option to a patient with an incurable disease. Similarly, abortion, typically effected by means of a pessary that induced premature labor, was practiced in both ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. Many Christian revisions of the Hippocratic Oath, especially those written during the Middle Ages, prohibited all abortive procedures. Not surprisingly, the contentious debate over both of these issues continues today, although the relevant sections are simply omitted in most oaths administered by US medical schools. As of 1993, only 14 percent of such oaths prohibited euthanasia, and only 8 percent prohibited abortion.(5)
References (abridged):
1. Edelstein L. The Hippocratic Oath: text, translation and interpretation. In: Temkin O, Temkin CL, eds. Ancient medicine: selected papers of Ludwig Edelstein. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1967:3-64
2. Nutton V. What's in an oath? J R Coll Physicians Lond 1995;29:518-524
3. Carey EJ. The formal use of the Hippocratic Oath for medical students at commencement exercises. Bull Assoc Am Med Coll 1928;3:159-66
4. Smith DC. The Hippocratic Oath and modern medicine. J Hist Med Allied Sci 1996;51:484-500
5. Orr RD, Pang N, Pellegrino ED, Siegler M. Use of the Hippocratic Oath: a review of twentieth century practice and a content analysis of oaths administered in medical schools in the U.S. and Canada in 1993. J Clin Ethics 1997;8:377-388
So, onward through the fog. Keep up the good fight, to save and maintain every woman's right to choice. As President William Clinton once stated "Abortion should be safe, legal and rare."
Future Leaders of the United States of America? I HOPE NOT!
Posted 4/10/07
The UnbelievaBUSH corruption continues.Every day brings to light just how deep the corruption goes.
Monica Goodling, top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, is the center of the Gonzalesgate. Well, well, well, one would think that the President would want to be surrounded and supported by the best and the brightest minds in the nation. But, I suppose that isn’t true. For instance: Ms. Goodling graduated from Regent University of Law (founded by televangelist Pat Robertson) in 1999. Bush must owe a lot of favors to Robertson, either for votes or donation. The law school was founded in 1986 and accredited in 1996. . It has traditionally admitted just about anyone who applied. And only 40% passed the bar exam, ranked dead last among law schools. The 2007 law school review read that Regent has improved to a ranking of 168th out of the 181 ranked. Regent now has a 61% bar exam pass rate. That doesn’t sound like a super great place to be picking our leaders. It has now been discovered that the Bush administration has hired 150 Regent alumni since Bush took office in 2001. WHAT? Yes it is true. Goodling herself, had scant prosecutorial experience, her qualifications to evaluate the performance of U.S. attorneys is under fire. It use to be that the DOJ jobs were given to the best legal minds in the country. Not anymore. In 2001, Bush chose Kay Coles James (the dean of Regent’s government school) to head the Office of Personnel Management.—essentially the head of human resources for the executive branch. After that, Regent alumni began to feel the halls of DOJ. “No wonder the President gets bad legal advice.” It didn’t hurt that in 2002, John Ashcroft, then the AG, changed the longstanding rules for hiring lawyers to fill vacancies in the career ranks.
Previously, veteran civil servants screened applicants and recommended whom to hire, usually picking students from elite schools. In a recent Regent school newsletter, a 2004 graduate described being interviewed for a job as a trial attorney at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in 2003. Asked to name the Supreme Court decision from the past 20 years with which he most disagreed, he cited Lawrence v. Texas, the ruling striking a law against sodomy because it violated gay people’s civil rights.
As the dean of a tier four, and one of the lowest ranked law schools in the United States, Jeffrey Brauch of Regent made no apologies in a recent interview for training students to understand what the law is today, and also understand how legal rules should be changed to better reflect :eternal principles of justice<’ from divorce to abortion rights.
Come on, this is insane. This whole bunch needs to be fired. Our government needs a complete overhaul. Each day that passes brings a whole new revealed piece of corruption, cronyism, repayment of favors and general ass-kissing. How much longer can this continue?
President Bush's Temper Tantrums
Posted 4/4/07
Stop the Insanity. I truly believe this President has lost what little mind was left. He looks and sounds like a two year old throwing a temper tantrum. “Do my way, do it my way, do it my way”. (Stomping feet up and down)
"They need to come back, pass a bill," said Bush during a press conference about Congress' efforts to attach conditions for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq to a war spending bill.
The President said Congress' traditional spring recess over Passover and Easter holidays has delayed the passage of emergency Iraq war funding.
"The Democrats in Congress … have left Washington for spring recess without finishing the work," said Bush. "They need to come off their vacation, get a bill to my desk, and if it's got strings and mandates and withdrawals and pork, I'll veto it and then we can get down to business of getting this thing done," he said.
Should you open up that can of worms Mr. President?
President Bush plans to spend Thursday through Sunday at his ranch for an extended Easter weekend. In 2005, Bush was roundly criticized for taking a lengthy vacation of nearly five weeks away from the White House -- one of the longest presidential retreats in at least 36 years -- when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and left New Orleans engulfed in floodwater.
He is already the most-vacationed president this nation has ever had, having spent 405 days, or nearly two out of every five of them since he took office, at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. We‘re not even counting time at Camp David.
And the president‘s hypocrisy on this subject hardly ends with days off, it barely begins there. There‘s his argument that the time for funding the troops is running out, Mr. Bush stated it has been 57 days since he sent Congress his funding request, warning that if lawmakers fail to act soon, quote, “The price of that failure will be paid by our troops and our loved ones.”
The reality is, after Mr. Bush submitted the previous two emergency supplemental bills during the last Republican-controlled Congress, some 86 days, and then 119 days elapsed, respectively, before he signed those measures into law. He said nothing about how long the Republicans had taken to blank-check him on those bills.
"In a time of war, it's irresponsible for the ... Democratic leadership in Congress to delay for months on end while our troops in combat are waiting for the funds," continued the President, adding that the delay could result in the Army being "forced to consider cutting back on equipment, equipment repair and quality of life initiatives for our Guard and Reserve forces."
WHAT? You sent our troops into combat knowing they were not sufficiently trained, did not have armored humvees, did not have body armor and no exit plan. Are you kidding me? Now you want to blame the Democratically controlled Congress. Give me a frigging break.
It should also be noted that both previous funding bills were chock-full of pork, a fact that undercuts even more of Mr. Bush‘s feigned outrage on 4-3-07. Suffice to say, whatever has gone wrong in the war in Iraq and in the separate fight against terrorism, Mr. Bush tried to blame it on Democrats in Congress.
Second, the president insinuated that Congress was taking a remarkably long time to deliver a bill to his desk. 57 days, he said. Think Progress, meanwhile, informed us Tuesday that previous Republican "emergency" bills took as long as 86 and 119 days to reach his desk.
Then there's the pork. President Bush suddenly hates earmarks, which is weird since he signed a steaming Hastert-sized pile of spending bills loaded with pork from the formerly Republican controlled Congress.
Let’s try to take a quick look at his rubber stamped pork filled spending bills that his Republican controlled Congress sent to him.
I borrowed the following information from CAGW, thanks for uncovering these facts.
2006 (from Citizens Against Government Waste)
_$46,908 for Hampton Jitney, Inc. (What exactly is a Jitney anyway?..Taxi?)
_$500,000 for the Arctic Winter Games
_$1,000,000 for the Water-Free Urinal Conservation Initiative (conserving urinals now?)
_$1,000,000 for the CLOSED Philadelphia Navy Yard
_$5,600,000 for the Ernest Gallo Center (wine and alcohol research)
_$3,400,000 for the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, "which was initially designed to capture energy from the aurora borealis [northern lights], but is now being configured to heat up the ionosphere to improve military communications." (I'm wondering if heating up the ionosphere is such an awesome idea.)
_$8,270,000 for breath alcohol testing equipment
_$10,000,000 for the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium
2005 (from Citizens Against Government Waste)
_$200,000 for the Military-Civilian-Education and Sexual Health Decision-Making Program
_$1,000,000 to restore Woody Island and historic structures
_$1,000,000 to eradicate Brown Tree Snakes
_$1,603,084 in handouts to the hugely profitable Greyhound Bus company (2004)
_$5,000,000 for the U.S. Secret Service National Special Security Event Fund (this is for the Secret Service to protect Super Bowl football players)
_$5,000,000 for the CLOSED Bayonne Military Ocean Terminal (used by Royal Caribbean cruise ships, the movie A Beautiful Mind and the TV show Oz)
_$5,500,000 for the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program
And on further into the speech he actually stated:
Bush: “In other words, suiciders are willing to kill innocent life in order to send the projection that this is an impossible mission.”
(Is that a word? Does anyone really say suicider?)
“But nevertheless, I strongly agree that we've got to continue to make it clear to the Iraqi government that this is – the solution to Iraq, an Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself, is more than a military mission. “
“It's precisely the reason why I sent more troops into Baghdad: to be able to provide some breathing space for this democratically elected government to succeed. And it's hard work, and I understand it's hard work.”
What? (Scratching my head) More than a military mission, so he sent in more military????????
I absolutely think he has cracked.
Oh..... even better, look at the picture of Bush yesterday, Cheney is hiding in the bushes behind him. "PAY NO MIND TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN, I MEAN BUSHES". Talk about creepy. Cheney looks like "The Penguin" smirk, smirk smirk. Where is Batman? He was here. Make the bad men go away..........
"Good Job Tex"
Posted 4/3/07
Looking through a few statistical sites the other evening, I ran across some interesting facts on our beloved Texas. Isn’t it a joy to be from a state with such gleaming statistics?
Comparing Texas to the rest of the United States:
The lowest percentage of population over 25 with a high school degree or higher.
Lowest expenditure per capita on library operations.
Lowest number of paid librarians per capita.
Lowest percentage of children in excellent or very good health.
Lowest percent of occupied housing units with fuel oil, kerosene, as principle heating fuel.
Third lowest percentage of people over 25 years old who have completed high school (including equivalency).
Third lowest percentage of U.S. citizens (of those reporting) between 18 and 24 years old who voted in the 2004 election.
Third lowest percentage of eligible voters over 18 who voted in the 2004 election.
Fifth lowest percent of women 18 and older who report having had a pap smear within the last three years.
Forty-fifth (45th) health index by state. This rate states 1-50 on being the healthiest state in the U.S.
Forty-fifth ranking for best states to live in.
We also have:
Sixteen percent abortion rate.
15.6% binge drinkers
51.7% casual drinkers
5.2% heavy drinkers
Chlamydia rate is 317.7 per 100,000
24% obesity rate
Loss of natural teeth 16.6%
Prevalence of poor mental health 34.3%
Don’t fret. Texas has several top rankings.
Number one in the nation in:
Lethal Injections
Total executions 1977-2004
Total executions 2005
Total executions since 1930
Lynchings
Women under the jurisdiction of State or Federal correctional authorities
Coal consumption
Gasoline consumption
Oil consumption
Teen birth rate per 1000
Texas is number two (2) in:
Burglary
Forcible rape
Chlamydia rate
Gonorrhea rate
Suicides
Iraq war casualties
Estimated number of illegal immigrants
Population
Texas is number three (3) in:
Aggravated assault
Violent crime
Obesity rate
Exports to China
Texas in number four (4) in:
Sexual orientation hate crimes
Cumulative AIDS cases all ages
Deaths due to HIV
Texas has achieved the dubious distinction, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, of having the dirtiest air in America, of ranking 47th in water quality, and having the seventh-highest rate of release of toxic industrial byproducts onto its land.
A few more great facts about Texas.• Texas spends almost 3x the dollars per prisoner ($20,000/yr) as they do per school student ($7,100).
• #1 in pollution, 50th in open space protection.
• #2 in income inequality between the rich and poor.
• #48 in the amount of bank deposits that re-channel back into the community as business loans. (In other words, the banks rake it in but don't loan in the 'hood)
• 50th in residential electric bill affordability.
• 1st Percentage of Uninsured Children
• 2nd Income Inequality Between the Rich and the Poor
• 1st Percentage of Population without Health Insurance
• 47th Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) Scores
• 50th Percentage of Population over 25 with a High School Diploma
• 50th Percentage of Non-Elderly Women with Health Insurance
• 44th Rate of Women Aged 40+ Who Receive Mammograms
• 5th Cervical Cancer Rate
• 43rd Women's Voter Registration
Texas has the highest rates for home insurance,
Isn’t time that we, as Texans and neighbors to other states that care about the environment and health of others, to step up to the plate and change how we all alive? We should be trying to improve our State and the Earth and not have the belief that it is up to someone else to do it. Just because you are Texan doesn’t mean you should destroy lives and the environment without guilt. It is truly a disgrace to read the published statistics regarding our State and its citizens.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Another Democrat off the list.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Another Democrat off the list.
Posted 3/30/07
It is hard to believe he stated this. Unbelievable...puts his foot in his mouth.
Tavis Smiley Show March 21 2007
Tavis: Alberto Gonzalez happens to be a member of your community. Is this guy gonna survive? He's the first Hispanic to have that job.
Richardson: Yeah, I know. I'm rooting for him, I like the guy, I know him. I hope he survives, but he's got to clean up his act and at least know what's happening in his department. He, at that press conference, said "Well, I didn't know anything about this." When you're heading a Cabinet agency—I did at the Department of Energy—and it's very hard to do that, 'cause you got thousands of people working for you.
But you gotta know what is happening with U.S. attorneys, because these are the top Justice Department attorneys in every state. So, he's gotta get more engaged, he's gotta clean up his act, he's gotta be forthcoming. I think the Congress needs to really investigate, but if I were the White House, I'd say "I'm gonna let Karl Rove testify, I'm gonna put everything on the table, I'm gonna let Harriet Miers, the former legal counsel.
I'm gonna have Alberto Gonzalez. They shouldn't be testifying in private. They should do it openly before the American people. That's a separation of powers. We should do that.
Tavis: It occurs to me now, listening to you talk about your friend who you know, Mr. Gonzalez, it draws a stark contrast between—I haven't checked where all the other candidates are, but I know Obama is on record very clearly saying Gonzalez should step down. I suspect other Democrats running for president are maybe saying the same thing. That's a contrast between you and others on whether or not this guy should step down.
Richardson: That's right. I do believe that it's up to a president to make those decisions about Cabinet members. Obviously, Alberto's very damaged, and he's gotta be frank and testify and do what has to happen. But I think that's up to the president.
Tavis: So you would not call for his stepping down right now.
Richardson: No, no. And you know what? Part of it maybe is because he's the highest-ranking Hispanic ever.
Tavis: But wrongdoing is wrongdoing, though. If he did wrong.
Richardson: Well, I think it's more a lack of attention, lack of a plan, lack of being thorough. He's too much the president's lawyer. He's too much of a political person. And I recognize that.
Tavis: Maybe, to your point, Governor—and I've had this thought. It's not my conversation, it's yours. Maybe Gonzalez was the wrong guy from the beginning, to the point you've just made now, which I've made any number of times. You had to know that this is the president's boy. This is his guy. They've been hanging out for years in Texas, he's White House counsel, he was involved in the—we know what he did before about writing on the torture and how to get around.
He is the president's guy. What makes any president think—or makes the Congress think—they approved this guy, they gave the guy confirmation—that this guy could be an independent voice at the Justice Department? I didn't see that anywhere in those confirmation hearings.
Richardson: They probably shouldn't have confirmed him. I don't think the president should have given him that job. He was White House counsel. He might have been an excellent ambassador to Mexico. He's very loyal to the president. I've had conversations with him on immigration. I thought he was very competent.
But he obviously was not engaged with his department. So, I do believe that if he doesn't come forth and testify and be frank with the American people and tell the Congress, then the president should remove him. But I just think, Tavis, that this is a presidential decision. You can pick your Cabinet. And if somebody's not performing, let him go.
And I don't agree with the president saying virtually that Alberto didn't do anything wrong, and that the Congress shouldn't have access to Karl Rove and to Harriet Miers. They should. But there's a human side to me. The guy's a very, very—came up from a very poor family, he's the highest-ranking Hispanic ever. Maybe I'm waiting a little more so that he cleans up his act before I join everybody else and try to, I guess, make some political hay out of this.
Am I reading into this? Or does this smell like he would favor race over justice?
YOU DID IT........KEROACK IS GONE
Posted 3/30/07
Thanks to everyone's diligent activism Dr. Keroack is out the door. Thanks to all of you who kept the pressure on him.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A controversial U.S. health official, Dr. Eric Keroack, has stepped down from his position overseeing programs that include birth control for poor women, the Health and Human Services Department said.
Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. John Agwunobi released a brief statement on Thursday saying that Keroack, who was appointed last November to oversee a $280 million program that provides birth control to poor women, had resigned.
``Yesterday, Dr. Eric Keroack alerted us to an action taken against him by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Office of Medicaid,'' Agwunobi said in a statement released late on Thursday. ``As a result of this action, I accepted his resignation as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Population Affairs.''
Keroack had been criticized by Democrats in Congress because he had worked for clinics in Massachusetts that opposed the use of birth control. HHS has said that Keroack has in fact prescribed birth control to women as part of his practice.
Keroack never responded to requests for interviews to clarify his stance on prescribing birth control to women.
HHS did not give any details about what action Massachusetts took against Keroack.
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America welcomed the news.
``It's a good day for women's health. Keroack was unqualified to run the nation's family planning program,'' PPFA president Cecile Richards said in a statement.
``The Bush administration must replace Keroack with a legitimate, mainstream public health expert who supports family planning and access to birth control. More than 17 million women in our country need access to affordable birth control. The nation's family planning program should be run by a champion for women's health and safety,'' Richards said.
As head of the Office of Population Affairs at HHS, Keroack oversaw a program that funds birth control, pregnancy tests, breast-cancer screening and other health services for 5 million poor women annually.
Keroack previously served as medical director for A Woman's Concern, a chain of Boston-area pregnancy clinics that discourage the use of birth control and advocate abstinence as a way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
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