The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth

In the United States, the usual oath required of all those who will give witness in court asks: "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

[Interestingly enough, one of the first links on a Google for "Oath in Court" gave the above link about the oath in Cambodia and:

In the Cambodian legal system, an oath to tell the truth is also required. Because Buddhism--the prevailing religious belief in Cambodia--does not believe in a god, the oath is typically sworn to Buddha, the spirits of the courtroom, or the ghosts of famous Khmer warriors. The wording threatens dire punishments for those who would testify falsely:

"If I am home, let fire destroy my house for 800 reincarnations; if I am in a boat, let it sink for 800 reincarnations; when I become a ghost, let me eat bloody pus, or swim in boiling chili oil for 800 reincarnations."

We can return to this.]

In my humble opinion, Truth is the single most important commodity in the polity. When Truth starts to bend too far, the basic social contract starts to disintegrate into chaos.

However, many people assume that the human state is one where people tend to lie. I guess that I will take exception to that but maybe it should be qualified.

Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the ego, and lessens the frictions of social contacts.
Clare Booth Luce
US diplomat, dramatist, journalist, & politician (1903 - 1987)

There has to be some Truth out there. What would happen if the nurse reported every temperature on her shift as 37 degrees? First off, I would be suspicious. Secondly, I would have a tough time doing my job. So, maybe there are degrees of Truth, as there are degrees of murder, and University degrees. I'd opt for a Third Degree Truth (if it wasn't extracted using the Third Degree, referring, I guess, to an unusually stringent questioning.)

Maybe it is just politics that admits to bending the Truth. So, it is with a great deal of irony that one observes the Attorney General of the United States approving torture, ostensibly to get at the Truth of what the inmate knew (presumably Attorney Generals take an oath to tell the truth from the word go; they don't have to take one at every session of court. Maybe they should.)

As we all know, though, confessions obtained under torture are notoriously unreliable. In this case, unreliable means not truthful. [It will be interesting to see if the current prime suspect, 23-year-old Ahmed Abu Ali has his confession from Saudi Arabia used against him. The court doesn't want to look at his back with its marks of torture. They aren't interested in the Truth. This should be very a very interesting trial. Sorry, Michael.]

But the real place that Truth should appear is in the press. It makes absolutely no sense to report a story as the Truth when it is not. Skeptical reporting, i.e. investigative journalism, may be the backbone of our democracy. It is the very nature of politicians to dissemble and only holding their feet to the the fire will keep them even slightly honest.

The Truth behind Watergate was essential. It led to dire consequences for a number of men. And the real crime was that Richard Nixon lied. The same attempt was made to pillory Bill Clinton on his supposed lie about sex. [I say supposed because I cannot imagine a sane adult who has never bent the truth about sex. Maybe some Saints, and I don't mean those that play for New Orleans. There is no Truth in this arena.]

So, where does that bring us? I think that we are in a very bad state when it comes to the Truth. There are many out there, especially in blogland and talk radio that feel that the Truth is something that, well, can be finessed. The appellation of "reality based" comes from the assertion by an administration official that they "created" their own reality. Excuse me, reality is not created as some would mold playdough. Reality comes shooting down the pike from that place called the Future. It usually is overwhelming and, in spite of a million prophets, and that includes all those cranky old men with beards in the Bible and Koran, NO ONE can predict the future. NO ONE.

It is just not possible for our country to continue to function if, at its core, there is a lie. The irony, of course, is that these people who are doing the lying are ostensibly Christians.

JOHN 8:332 NKJ
32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Isn't Freedom something that we seem to be dispensing pretty regularly recently? At the end of smart bomb, but dispensing anyway.

I just can't see where we are going. Maybe I am a lemming, way back in the pack. What I would like to be is going the other way, shouting "excuse moi."

Can you imagine George W. Bush saying:

"If I am home, let fire destroy my house for 800 reincarnations; if I am in a boat, let it sink for 800 reincarnations; when I become a ghost, let me eat bloody pus, or swim in boiling chili oil for 800 reincarnations."

I can't.

Project 60: A Day-by-Day Diary of WWII

I have continued to find this review of WWII on a day by day basis fascinating. We can thank BartCop for the link. Here are two quotes from the current link without comment:

Franklin Roosevelt celebrates his fourth inauguration at a luncheon meeting where cold chicken salad is served and he makes a 15 minute speech promising to continue to work for victory and making the world peaceful and secure.

American soldier Private Eddie E. Slovik was shot by firing squad for desertion. He was the first American executed for desertion since the Civil War and the only one to be executed in WWII.

Obeying the Professor

Instructions from my master:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around and look for the “coolest” book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you.

Pediatric Clinics of North America Vol 51 #6 (2004)
p. 1523 (no 123)
"An understanding of normal cardiovascular hemodynamics and a knowledge of the cardiac cycle are necessary to understand the more complicated hemodynamics and flow patterns of specific cardiac abnormalities."

Let me just add that one of the more interesting heard murmurs (what this is all about) is the "mammary arterial souffle"

Onward and upward with the Star Fleet.

Someone addressing an earlier CPAC

Bits and Pieces

Probably the most significant issue raised by the JimJeff Gannon affair is the lack of coverage in the main stream media. There is no doubt in my mind that if this had happened in the Clinton White House, we would already have Ken Starr sniffing at various behinds. Why has our press decided not to do its job?

An equally baffling lapse in the media is condemnation of Michelle Malkin for racism. She is the author of "In Defense of Internment: The Case for 'Racial Profiling' in World War II and the War on Terror." Today is the annual Day of Remembrance which points to the treatment of the Japanese in America during WWII (poignantly described in "Snow Falling on Cedars.") Liberal Avenger points us to this excellent article in the LA Times showing how racism never dies.

The Conservative Political Action Conference is in full swing. This Nuremberg Rally is reviewed in Salon. In the presence of, among others, the Vice President of the United States, a speaker made the following, unchallenged statement:

"We continue to discover biological and chemical weapons and facilities to make them inside Iraq."

If you don't think this is scary, then scary doesn't mean anything to you. "Other attendees included: the Swift Boat Veterans, venomous CPAC regulars like Ann Coulter, Oliver North and Michelle "In Defense of Internment" Malkin."

Billmon is back on the air and as acerbic as ever. He's either the brightest guy around or he has an infinitude of time. His posts are a series of quotes, all pithy and, at least to my feeble intellect, devastating. I particularly liked his parsing of George Orwell's 1984 a la 2005

Finally, I am baffled by the inability of Democrats in both Congress and the Maryland General Assembly to come to terms with the reality that is America. Maybe focusing on Social Security and slot machines has achieved the Republican's desired goal; distraction from the real issues.

I see so many people hunkering down for the long haul.

Intelligence?

Of Squirrels and Men

First thing off, we have to deal with the age old concept of a free will. Consider, for the moment, a concert pianist. There is absolutely no way that each of the thousands of notes that goes into playing a Beethoven Sonata could be the end result of a decision of free will. Allow me a gigantic leap and we can dispense with the overwhelming majority of human actions, from walking to kissing, as the neurological response to an external stimulus. Complicated? You bet. Understood? Not in my lifetime. But a response just the same.

Where free will might come into play is in actions that a human makes as a result of perceived situations, that is, in predicting the future. But even then, one can make an argument that, just as a squirrel stores nuts for the winter, this action in view of a future situation may be a simple response. Sophisticated? You bet. But a response just the same.

Now the above argument is just the bare bones of a more in depth analysis of human response. But it gets me to where I want for a consideration of the current political hysteria in Maryland and D.C.

Consider, for the moment, taxation and slot machines. Deep in their chambered hearts, Republicans believe in free will. They believe that the riches they enjoy are the result of their superior decision making in the tournament of life. Consequently, because they made these decisions of their own free will, what they have is theirs. Property. Goodies. Money. You name it. As their leader Boy George reiterates ad nauseum, they own it.

Furthermore, they believe that some people (a hell of a lot in my county) are poor because they made the wrong decisions. And they don't have property, goodies, money, you name it, because free will is the great administrator. They hardly own a thing.

Taxation in this scheme of things is taking something from those who won and giving it to those who lost. (Never mind that taxation is, as many have pointed out, integral to our civilization.) For the Red of Heart taxation is the negation of free will and it is a moral issue. We will return to this in the future vis a vis corporate taxation.

But slot machines are not taxes in this scheme. One supposedly approaches a slot machine with a free will. One inserts the quarter and pulls the handle, hoping beyond hope to outsmart the laws of chance and hit a jackpot. Slot machines are a desperate measure for the poor. [It would be informative to see how many rich Republicans actually play the slots. Why would they? There is no desperation.]

But, in my mind, this may not be the way it really is. As outlined above, pulling the arm on a slot machine is the equivalent of storing up Hickory nuts in your lair. It is a reflex generated by, in this case, desperation. It does not involve free will. Furthermore, as many have pointed out, it may be the same driving force to squander your few quarters on slots as to squander them on the lottery. The end result, in terms of revenue, would be a wash.

The distribution of wealth in Maryland is horribly unequal and becoming more unbalanced every day. Slot machines are a tiny band aid that take advantage of human nature's reflex desire for a free lunch. We need to make the tax code more equitable.

Friday Crab Blogging ("we gona git ya")

Taking a Stand

Finally, we are starting to do something. Paul Krugman says it best:

For a while, Mr. Dean will be the public face of the Democrats, and the Republicans will try to portray him as the leftist he isn't. But Deanism isn't about turning to the left: it's about making a stand.

And who and what are we standing against? Who are the bad guys? Pharyngula (and SKB) tells us:

1. Glenn Reynolds (and who knows how he got to where he is) agrees with an article that states:

This newly ever-growing Western left, not only in Europe, but in Latin America and even in the US itself, has a clear goal: the destruction of the country and society that vanquished its dreams fifteen years ago. But it does not have, as in the old days of the Soviet Union, the hard power to accomplish this by itself. Thanks to this, all our leftist friends’ bets are now on radical Islam. (emphasis added) What can they do to help it? Answer: tie down America’s superior strength with a million Liliputian ropes: legal ones, political ones, with propaganda and disinformation etc. Anything and everything will do.
[ed: Sorry, this is a load of crap]

2. and this from Hindrocket:

Jimmy Carter isn't just misguided or ill-informed. He's on the other side.
[ed: Carter makes Reagan look like the phoney he was.]

3. and this:

MSNBC host Keith Olbermann and former Social Security associate commissioner James Roosevelt Jr. examined how FOX News Washington managing editor Brit Hume and other pundits distorted a quote by Roosevelt Jr.'s grandfather, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in order to claim that the former president would have supported privatizing Social Security.
[ed. Bush is going to lose big on this.]

and so on....

South Knox Bubba lists 11 "hits," any one of which should make a true Democrat's blood boil.

It would all be quite exciting if if weren't so tragic.

A few Billion here, a few Billion there

Apparently the President has submitted a little request, just a little one, mind you, to Congress to tide him over in his little adventure in that little country over there that begins with "I" (no, not Iran Dr. Rice). In any case, here is a little exercise I had to do so I could pass the No Child Left Behind Test in Maryland:

US Population in 2000 = 281,421,906
MD Population in 2001 = 5,311,508
Voila! Maryland has 1.9% of the US population.

Since we are a Blue State, we pay more of our share, but let's just assume its proportionate: we are coughing up $1.55 Billion for the country formerly known as Iraq.

Our Medicaid Budget (most of which goes to the oldsters, though everyone thinks it goes to kids) = $2.6 Billion.

Now, lemme see. Hmmm. 1.55 divided by 2.6, carry the one:

Uncle George is asking for 60% of our Medicaid Budget.

Gee, ain't arithmitic fun.

[Oh, by the way, Maryland. you're going to have to trim that budget a weenie bit. Fiscal responsibility, you know]

Paging Dr. Eberle; Dr. Eberle

Robert R. Eberle, Ph.D is now in the building.

Don't Ask the Media Who's Winning the War
by Robert R. Eberle, Ph.D. http://www.gopusa.com/
31 March 2003
............
A reporter asked Secretary Rumsfeld: "Is it possible that you've miscalculated the desire of the Iraqi people to be liberated by an outside force and that because of their patriotism or nationalism, that they'll continue to resist the Americans, even after you prevail militarily?"
Secretary Rumsfeld responded, "Don't you think it's a little premature -- the question? (ed. comment: No)
............
The topper was a question asked to Secretary Rumsfeld about numbers of killed and wounded soldiers: "The casualty figures currently officially released by the U.S. military show 28 dead and 40 wounded. Now the proportion of wounded and dead would be -- would seem to be historically way out of skew, because the number of wounded is usually far more than the number killed in action. Is there -- can you explain why that would be, or -- and is there any effort to either unreport or underreport casualties from the battlefield?"

With that question, even the usually unflappable Don Rumsfeld was left in a stupor. He responded by saying: "Oh, my goodness! Now, you know that wouldn't be the case. There's no -- no one in this government, here or on the ground, is going to underreport what's happening. That's just terrible to think that. Even to suggest it is outrageous. Most certainly not! The facts are reported." (ed comment: the facts? Anyway, the ratio now is like 1,200:10,000:100,000(Iraqi Civilians))

But stroll along through the paths of yore to:

Kerry's Anti-War Record Discussed at White House Briefing
2/10/2004 | Jeff Gannon

JEFF GANNON (Talon News): Since there have been so many questions about what the President was doing over 30 years ago, what is it that he did after his honorable discharge from the National Guard?
etc.,

but you know the quote
And in a comment:

To: Jeff Gannon
How did you get your Cahones past the metal detectors???

Yes, Jeff. How DID you get your Cahones past the White House metal detectors?

Two Years Ago

Where we're at

Every now and then we should all sit back and try and put the pieces together.

Politics has never seemed so close to our lives as now. I suspect that this is a function of the media, first television and now the InterNet. I am not sure that it is good for someone who is not directly in politics to be so immersed in what is happening on a day to day basis. But, that is what has happened for a lot of us.

For instance, while John Kennedy's assassination is one of the dominating images of my college days, the political ramifications of this event (the ascendancy of Lyndon Johnson; the Great Society programs that flowed from that momentum; etc) were pretty much lost on me. Many Americans don't realize that, as a president, Kennedy wasn't very effective. Glamorous, yes. Effective, no. Esquire magazine ran a piece that caused big stir after his assassination called "Kennedy without Tears."

It wasn't until the Vietnam War was in full swing (1967-68) that many of us became politically involved. Even then, our political protest was unorganized, at least until the 1968 election.

One of the more interesting events I remember during those times (1965) was a formal debate about our involvement in Vietnam that took place between an American team and a team from Oxford. The American team was composed of, among other notables, Bob Shrum, my classmate at Georgetown and late of the Kerry team. I think McGeorge Bundy was involved too. At that time, we all supported the American intervention there. Sort of like the support that many Americans gave George Bush for Iraq.

I feel that, at that time in the 1960's, we all were still under the sway of anti-Communism. Graduates from High School in the 1950's were given a copy of J. Edgar Hoover's "Masters of Deceit." We looked for fellow travelers under every rock. But then, gradually, not in small part a result of so many of us being drafted, and dying, things began to change.

The vanguard of the change in the late 60's was the youth. Again, one can be cynical and say it was because their ox was being gored. There is no doubt in my mind that, if the draft was reinstated, you would once again see a youth revolution. While there are certainly many die hard Republican youths around, just as I had friends that that were Goldwater Republicans, the natural tendency of youth is to be liberal, unless they are brainwashed. Of course, this is a debate that we should engage in: is the youth of America today brainwashed? I don't think so. Remote, maybe. Brainwashed, I doubt it.

I focus on the late sixties because it is the only place I can see hope for our battered country. While there was violence in the youth and peace movement (see Medium Cool)in comparison to other societies that changed rapidly, that violence was paltry. When one thinks of the violence and force that was needed to change German and Japanese societies during WWII, the change in America during the late sixties, early seventies was benign.

Unfortunately, as opposed to societies in Germany and Japan, the change was not lasting. We did not renounce State violence as a means to an end. The same ideological fervor that drove Hoover and Nixon I see recapitulated in Rove and Bush (unintelligent leaders always have their Svengali's and Rasputins).

But, we have the potential in our society to change. We have demonstrated it. And, there are at least 50 million of us in this country that want to alter our course. The question, as always, is how to do this.

As we grew up, in the naive 50's and early 60's, we believed that the business of America was accomplished by the people of America working through a democratic government. There just wasn't any question in our minds that this was the way things were. And, believe it or not, things may well have been, at least a little, like that.

No longer. I cannot believe that we live in a true democracy. The last two presidental elections have been a farce. There is ample evidence that the 2000 election was stolen and there is mounting evidence that the 2004 election was deeply flawed. Furthermore, when 50% of the population does not agree with what you are doing, one cannot claim, as Bush does, to have a mandate.

So, what to do? Where do we go from here? How do we change this abberation that America has become back into a country that espouses the ideals of its founders and reflects the true soul of the American people?

I don't know. But I am going to find out.

Here comes the Death Sta.....sorry, Social Security Reform

Friday Crab Blogging

Is This Funny?

"Attorney General Alberto Gonzales started his first week on the job. Remember those two naked statues that John Ashcroft had covered up when he took the job?

Well they're naked again but now they have leashes around their necks."

--Jay Leno

This is not funny.

Swift Boats for Ehrlich

I realize that politics is dirty. But, Martin O'Malley is a cool guy. He actually leads a band (O'Malley's March) that played for a street party last summer in our little town. He is someone whom I would like to see as our Governor here in Maryland. He is a good Democrat. But then, of course, the Karl Rove surrogates get to work:

BALTIMORE — Mayor Martin O'Malley yesterday denounced rumors of infidelity, as his wife stood by his side and described how the rumors spread on the Internet by an aide to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. were affecting their children

I am sorry, this is it. This is not about Martin O'Malley, this is about the slime machine that reaches all the way from the White House into every home in America. This is War on the American people. We stood by while they destroyed Kerry, we are not going to stand by while they destroy O'Malley.

To the barricades.

Thick as Sludge

There is no doubt in my mind that the story of Jeff Gannon could not have been invented even by our most intrepid writer. Now this tidbit has come to light from Kos:

White House-credentialed fake news reporter "Jeff Gannon" from fake news agency "Talon News" was cited by the Washington Post as having the only access to an internal CIA memo that named Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a covert CIA agent. Gannon, in a question posed to Wilson in an October 2003 interview, referred to the memo (to which no other news outlet had access, according to the Post). Gannon subsequently has been subpoenaed by the federal grand jury looking into the Plame outing.

So, this guy who turns out to be an idiot, who can't keep a job, who owns a gun but lives on Capitol Hill (illegal), who got a daily pass to Scotty's press conference and could always be counted on to ask the softball question, who did ask the softball question to Bush recently, is now implicated in a serious breach of national security. Jeesh!

The most intersting thing, though, is that Kos has his Kossacks running around like ten thousand Sherlock Holmes getting the skinny on this turd. Wow!

Hold the pickles!

Its hard when you are used to Dinty Moore Beef Stew to appreciate truly great food. And then there's this:

After 11 years as White House chef, Walter Scheib III has been pushed out of the kitchen by First Lady Laura Bush. While Scheib says he wants to leave on a positive note, insiders say that the 'top toque' was unhappy at the Bush's insistence that he give up all French recipes and cooking techniques, and create an elaborate inaugural menu paying tribute to the brand names of a dozen top Bush campaign and GOP donors.
..............
While Mr. Scheib was gracious in his parting words, saying that it had been an honor to serve the first lady, sources close to the chef say that his relationship with the first family had grown increasingly tense since he was asked to stop using French recipes and cooking techniques after France refused to support the US-led invasion of Iraq.
..............
Tensions were further exacerbated, say sources close to the chef, by White House orders that Scheib create a special inaugural menu to honor the brand names represented by more than a dozen top GOP and Bush campaign donors. Scheib was reportedly vocal about his unhappiness over having to create dishes that featured such ingredients as Coca-Cola, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and Pilgrim's Pride Whole Butter Basted Turkeys.

The menu that Scheib ultimately composed, served at three candlelight inaugural dinners, is a testimony to the chef's ingenuity. He brined the Pilgrim's Pride turkeys in Coca-Cola, before stuffing them with sweet-and-savory stuffing made from Dunkin Donuts old-fashioned cake doughnuts. (Emphasis added)

Excuse me, excuse me, EXCUSE ME, but
Krispy Kreme Donuts are not Dunkin Donuts!

Jesh, what kind of idiots are running our country?
I bet they don't know a Shiite from a Sunni.

And Fried Rice will never convince the French to love her.

From the people who brought you Fallujah

This by way of South Knox Bubba:

EPA EMBRACES HUMAN PESTICIDE DOSING WITHOUT SAFEGUARDS
Ethical Rules “Non-Binding”— No Standards to Protect Infants and Fetuses

Washington, DC —In a notice slated for publication in the Federal Register, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will formally adopt an open door policy of accepting experiments conducted by pesticide companies and chemical manufacturers using human subjects, according to a draft posted by EPA late last Friday. At the same time, the agency is indefinitely delaying development of ethical rules to protect test subjects, instead relying on its political appointees to flag immoral or unsafe practices on a “case-by-case” basis.

“At the request of chemical companies seeking to justify higher exposure limits, EPA will sanction dosing of infants, pregnant women and other vulnerable persons with commercial poisons,” stated Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) Executive Director Jeff Ruch....

I wonder if Jenna and NotJenna would volunteer. This way they could avoid the draft.

I don't know how you all feel, but it is starting to unravel.

Good Ideas from "Meat Ax" Cheney?

Maybe Social Security is a smoke screen. What they are really trying to do is Afghanistanize America:

The budget seeks savings from about 150 programs, including Amtrak, environmental protection, American Indian schools, farmers' subsidies and Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the poor and disabled. (italics can't vote)

Pathetic, I say. Pathetic. Really shows those "family values."

Darwin was Wrong

There is no evolution, at least of intelligence in America.

I was looking for a succinct summary of the Social Security ballyhoo and, as usual, Krugman has it here:

A few weeks ago I tried to explain the logic of Bush-style Social Security privatization: it is, in effect, as if your financial adviser told you that you wouldn't have enough money when you retire - but you shouldn't save more. Instead, you should borrow a lot of money, buy stocks and hope for capital gains

Then there is more:

So people are expected to take a loan from the government and use it to buy stocks, and if that turns out to have been a mistake - well, too bad.
................
Do you believe that we should replace America's most successful government program with a system in which workers engage in speculation that no financial adviser would recommend? Do you believe that we should do this even though it will do nothing to improve the program's finances? If so, George Bush has a deal for you.

If this idiocy gets through Congress in the present form, as well it might, we will be entitled to all the scorn intelligent life elsewhere can heap upon us.

Maybe the Creationists are right: God blessed America with dumbness and it ain't going to change.

(Oh, and I have a Bridge for sale)

The New Science

There's some really bright guys out there. Then there's Toby Alexander (by way of Pharyngula by way of TBogg):

I knew that DNA controlled every function in the body, but when I found out that DNA was originally composed of 12 strands instead of the current 2, I became very interested in learning how to activate the 10 dormant strands. I studied many works from different sources about this, and decided to go through the activation process myself first, before I incorporated it into my healing practice.

I first studied all of the Human Genome papers to get science's current knowledge and understanding about our 2 strand chemical DNA - which isn't a whole lot since they only studied 1.2% of the actual DNA inside the body and ignore the other 98.8% that they call "junk DNA". Science still thinks we evolved from pond scum and chimpanzees! I then came across progressively more advanced and detailed information from pre-ancient texts that described the histories of various human races and the DNA that these races had. This then led me into the study of 15th dimensional unified physics and the structure of universal dimensions, planetary merkabas, and how our holographic reality is actually created from our DNA.

As my frequency got higher..........

Well, you get the idea.

Oh, I forgot to tell you, he's the next Science Advisor to the POTUS. Frisssbe! I wanted that job.

Lemme on this list

This just in:

Some Barred From Bush's North Dakota Speech
Friday, February 4, 2005; Page A08

Not everyone was welcome, apparently, at President Bush's speech in North Dakota yesterday.

The Fargo Forum reported that a city commissioner, a liberal radio producer, a deputy Democratic campaign manager and a number of university professors were among more than 40 area residents who were barred from attending the Bush event. Their names were on a list supplied to workers at two ticket distribution sites.

Spreading freedom around the world (not so fast, there, North Dakota).

Watch Georgie Boy put our First Amendment into the wood chipper.

For want of a nail.....

After all the rhetoric, just as in the presidential election, it all comes down to a few votes. Wampum reminds us that if we want to defeat the insanity of private accounts, we need at least six Republican Senators to go against their party. At least two of the six are already leaning towards this, Snowe and Specter:

Those ten Republican Senators, Snowe, Specter, Chaffee, DeWine, Warner, Voinovich, Smith, Collins, McCain, and Hagel, will determine whether or not Democrats need to resort to a filibuster to defeat private accounts in the Senate.

Let's not let another Ohio occur. For want of a nail.....

Friday Crab Blogging

The Nuremberg Precedent (IV)

We need go no further than this quote from 1999 to see how far we have fallen:

Nuremberg has never fulfilled its brightest promise -- a permanent international tribunal for war crimes. Various efforts have been made in the ensuing half century, but all have languished. Only recently, with the establishment of the U.N.'s International Criminal Tribunal that is addressing war crimes in the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, have the ideals set at Nuremberg taken a tangible form.

The final business of Nuremberg remains unfinished

George W. Bush is adamantly opposed the the International Criminal Court (though to be fair, the first vote against it occurred during Clinton's administration). However, it gets worse:

In an unprecedented diplomatic maneuver on 6 May, the Bush administration effectively withdrew the U.S. signature on the treaty. At the time, the Ambassador-at-large for War Crimes Issues Pierre-Richard Prosper stated that the administration was "not going to war" with the Court. This has proved false; the renunciation of the treaty has paved the way for a comprehensive U.S. campaign to undermine the ICC.

In addition:

...the Bush administration negotiated a Security Council resolution to provide an exemption for U.S. personnel operating in U.N. peacekeeping operations.
...the Bush administration is requesting states around the world to approve bilateral agreements requiring them not to surrender American nationals to the ICC. The goal of these agreements ("impunity agreements" or so-called "Article 98 agreements") is to exempt U.S. nationals from ICC jurisdiction. They also lead to a two-tiered rule of law for the most serious international crimes: one that applies to U.S. nationals; another that applies to the rest of the world's citizens.

Through thick and thin, Americans have always felt that our civilization was the rule of law. With George W. Bush, Condelezza Rice, and Alberto Gonzales, this rule has been fractured beyound repair. The Spirt of Nuremberg has been water-boarded.

Phoey!

The Nuremberg Precedent (III)

The Nazis were masters at propaganda. They had had two decades of observation of the first modern Total-propaganda State, Bolshevik Russia. They learned their lessons well. So it is no wonder that we encounter statments in December, 1945, at the Nurember Trials such as the following:

SIR HARTLEY SHAWCROSS (Chief Prosecutor for the United Kingdom): .... Hitler, the leader of the Nazi conspirators who are now on trial before you, is reported as having said, in reference to their warlike plans:

"I shall give a propagandist cause for starting the war, never mind whether it be true or not. The victor shall not be asked later on whether he told the truth or not. In starting and making a war, not the right is what matters, but (in) victory the strongest has the right."

Recently, many have castigated Senator Boxer for having stated that Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) were the only reason why the Bush Adminstration took us to war. Unfortunately, as loyopp has pointed out, (January 27, 2005), while this may have been true in the minds of many, including the Senators who voted for the resolution, it may not have been the actual case. This is discussed in great detail by Mad Kane.

However, in reading Rice's comments, one must be struck by the propagandistic tenor of her contentions which she must have known were inflated.

Surely Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld, etc. felt that these inflated contentions would disappear in the aftermath of finding even one WMD and their invasion would be "justified." After all, Hitler did have some more or less valid issues with Poland and the rest of Europe (especially the treatment of Germany after WWI).

The only important factor here is the InterNet. In less than 100 years the world has gone from domination by propaganda to the ability to skewer such propaganda in a moment. Unfortunately, the unconnected masses (and I include Senators) have yet to learn.

Ann Coulter on a date

The Election In Iraq

It appears that the election in Iraq went better than had been expected. Of course there was loss of life, including a British plane being shot down. And, the Sunni didn't vote in number sufficient to indicate their presence (it would have been foolhardy to vote in a Sunni area and risk you life for naught.)

However, the anticipation that real control in Iraq will be passed to the Iraqi is proably destined to be squashed. For one thing, it is known that most people there want the US to leave. Yet, it is probably true that we are building permanent bases:

Chicago Tribune March 23, 2004
14 `enduring bases' set in Iraq Long-term military presence planned

In-Depth Coverage
By Christine Spolar

From the ashes of abandoned Iraqi army bases, U.S. military engineers are overseeing the building of an enhanced system of American bases designed to last for years.

It will be interesting to see how these two opposing ideas: the US leaving Iraq and the US building permanent bases will work out in the short and long run.

Stay tuned.

The Nuremberg Precedent (II)

I was wrong in a previous post. The Nazi organizations were indicted at Nuremberg. However, it was not possible to convict the subordinates under this indictment and the principal actors (Goering, etc.) were all tried as individuals.

The Indictment of Nazi Organizations
The indictment of Nazi organizations was designed to deal with the problem of what to do about the hundreds of thousands of people who had been members of organizations such as the SS and the Gestapo. The idea was to find them to have been criminal organizations, then hold hearings to determine the extent to which a member was guilty.

At the conclusion of the trial against the 21 individuals, the International Military Tribunal spent a month hearing testimony about the organizations.

The indictment of the organizations, however, raised a fundamental legal question: the legitimacy of creating a system of guilt by association. Although members of the criminal organizations were later tried by German denazification courts set up by the U.S. occupation government, no one was ever punished solely on the basis of the tribunal convictions.
Three of the six indicted organizations were found guilty. They were: the SS, the Gestapo and the Corps of the Political Leaders of the Nazi Party.

Three of the organizations were not convicted. They were: the SA (Hitler's street thugs, known as brownshirts, whose power had dwindled in the 1930s); the Reichsregierung (Reich Cabinet) and General Staff and High Command of the German Armed Forces. The latter two organizations were determined to cover relatively few members so that it was deemed better to deal with them as individuals.

In spite of this, it raises serious questions about what we, as citzens of a democracy and thus responsible for our leaders, may be held accountable for vis a vis the War in Iraq. It is no secret that the German people, to this day, are held to blame for Hitler and his terrorism.

Through the years Germany has been desperate in its desire to be forgiven. To some extent it has a point. No nation has undergone greater self-examination about its direct role and complicity in mass murder than Germany has. There have been endless acknowledgments and meaningful gestures of restitution. Germany has been in an arrested state of moral inquiry, continually examining its character, seeking some clarity about the madness it once mindlessly saluted.

Given their good faith, the Germans are understandably left wondering: Is forgiveness ever forthcoming, or is our guilt eternal?

What we in America have done is to abandon this sense of responsibility that pervaded the world after the horror of WWII.

There was much discussion of the War in Iraq as a "just" war. This has a long history in the Catholic Church and is discussed here. It is my firm belief and that of many others that, at this time, there can be no justification for the War in Iraq under the Just War rubric.

If the War in Iraq is not "justified", then it is a war of aggression. Nuremberg addressed this next:

Count Two: Waging Aggressive War, or "Crimes Against Peace"
This evidence was presented by the British prosecutors and was defined in the indictment as "the planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of wars of aggression, which were also wars in violation of international treaties, agreements, and assurances."

This charge created problems for the prosecutors. Although Hitler had clearly waged an aggressive war, beginning with the invasion of Poland in 1939, Count Two was based on allegations that the Germans had violated international agreements such as the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928. Signatories to that agreement had renounced war as an instrument of national policy (as opposed, say, to defensive war), but the pact did not define "aggressive war" and did not spell out the penalties for its violation.

(The Anschluss and the invasion of Czechoslovakia were not held to be aggressive wars because Hitler had manipulated the political situation in each nation in order to avoid an invasion.)

The Soviet Union also had broken the Kellogg-Briand Pact by invading Finland, Poland and the Baltics, and had schemed with Hitler to sign the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in 1939 (which secretly divided Poland).

Robert Jackson, the chief U.S. prosecutor, wanted the International Military Tribunal to create new international law that would outlaw aggressive war. Clearly, the premise that it is possible to outlaw war is a questionable one

This is potent stuff. The United States was the founding member of the United Nations. The United Nations did not vote to approve the War in Iraq and, in addition to the aforementioned Kellog-Briand pact, it seems to me that we have violated the spirit if not the letter of international law.

The question comes down to "what did George W. Bush know and when did he know it." For months after the invasion, the administration continued to spout the contention that weapons of mass destruction existed. If they are now say, as Condelezza Rice did at her confirmation hearings, that they really didn't feel that, one simply has to go to this link at the White House web page to see how disrespectful of the truth that is (link courtesy of loyopp).

What I am trying to do here, and it is an impossible task, is to remove myself from history and look on the current situation as if it had happened 50 years ago and the Bush Administration had been hauled before an International Court for the crime of an aggressive war. And I had been implicated because I was an American Citizen and sat by and did nothing.

Friday Crab Blogging

Faster than a Speeding Bullet:

This was in our local paper yesterday, but I don't have a link. You can find this link here:

HMOs pass on new tax to public
By Robert Redding Jr.and Marguerite Higgins
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Health maintenance organizations in Maryland have begun passing onto their customers a 2 percent tax on their premiums, just two weeks after the Democrat-controlled General Assembly enacted the HMO tax.

Now, excuse me. I paid my malpractice premium for the first quarter at the 35% increased rate. I haven't gotten a refund. I am not ever sure I am going to get a refund. Isn't this just jumping the gun a little, you greedy bastards? (got to make that 35 million)

The Nuremberg Precedent

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on where we stand, there is a precedent for judging the current actions of the highest officials of the US Government with respect to their decisions in regard to other human beings, namely those captured in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is important to note that Nuremberg, the trials for war crimes, was not against the organization to which the Nazi officials belonged, (in 1945-46, that no longer existed), but against individuals. Perforce, the individuals were judged vis a vis their actions as human beings with the criteria for judgment being the generally assumed laws of humanity. Most of the defendants were hung.

There are a number of web sites devoted to the Nuremberg Trials. I will be perusing these in the coming days to extract relevant information. Let me start with the following quote from here:

SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: You know what Aktion Kugel was: That escaped officers and noncommissioned officers, other than British and American, were to be handed over to the police and taken to Mauthausen, where they were shot by the device of having a gun concealed in the measuring equipment when they thought they were getting their prison clothes. You know what "Aktion Kugel" is, don't you?

GOERING: I heard of it here

Here the practice of taking prisoners to another facility to suffer a fate which the primary facility would not be responsible for is exposed. Is this not what happens to prisoners which we send to other countries via the "special airplane" which seems to ply its way between Guantanamo and countries that may use torture as a first resort?

Is not Goering here trying to escape responsibility by saying "I first heard of it here?"

Think about this. Is it not possible that some larger force might in the future have US government officials in the docket questioning them in this manner about our own extra legal maneuvers? Certainly the Nazi officials were doing what they felt they needed to do to guarantee their "security." Yet they were held for a personal, not institutional, responsibility.

The responsibility of the German people as a whole was not, to the best of my knowledge, addressed at Nuremberg. But that does not exonerate us. What responsibility do we now hold to confront injustices that may be similar to those existed in 1945?

I will answer that. I, you and the rest of America hold that responsibility and we had best get on with it in any way that we can.

Our Senate did not adequately confront either Condelezza Rice or Alberto Gonzales for the part that they have played in, if reports can be believed, the ongoing torture of captives.

This will not go away. It happened. It has to be addressed. Either now or later.

That Silly old UN

There they go again:

U.N. Report Calls for Help to Ease U.S. Budget and Trade Deficits
By Elizabeth Becker
The New York Times

Wednesday 26 January 2005

WASHINGTON - The United Nations on Tuesday urged all the major industrial countries, especially Japan and the nations of Europe, to help the United States reduce its deficits by spurring their own economies to grow faster.

In a report, "World Economic Situation and Prospects 2005," the United Nations said that the budget and trade deficits of the United States were putting the global economy off balance.

It echoed warnings by the International Monetary Fund and other financial institutions in saying the United States cannot continue to carry its huge debts.

I have only one response to give for my country:

"MORE TAX CUTS, PLEASE"

(and don't forget that we can always cut Medicaid)

Wait a minute!

Carlos Delgado OKs $52M Deal With Marlins

And we can't fund Medicaid?

I give up.

Vancouver

Ennui Stopper

Trust me, just go here.

Calling Senator Santorum; Red Alert; I repeat; Red Alert

Coward

What should one make of this report that appeared the day after the inaugural address?

Bush to Seek Cuts in Medicaid, Benefits

Fri Jan 21, 6:59 PM ET White House - AP

By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) is readying a new budget that would carve savings from Medicaid and other benefit programs, congressional aides and lobbyists say, but it is unclear if he will be able to push the plan through the Republican-run Congress.

White House officials are not saying what Bush's $2.5 trillion 2006 budget will propose saving from such programs, which comprise the biggest and fastest growing part.

This is a man who instigated two rounds of tax cuts to the tune of $2.2 to $3.2 Trillion. He is a man who has involved us in a massively costly war ($150 Billion at last count, this would go a long way towards helping children in America rather than Haliburton in Iraq.)

But mostly, it is the mark of a coward to go after children. If this is an expression of his much vaunted "values," I'd say he wouldn't know a value if it smacked him in the face.

Shame, shame, shame on you George W. Bush.

Good Points

EG (who we still wish would do a political blog in MD) and Corndog have good points:

EG:

I don't consider nuclear weapons treaties to be an issue these days. Not with the ability to make dirty bombs, a weapon agreement isn't necessary and will be ignored by terrorists. The scare in Boston (and who says the 'informant' got the right city? Could it really be Boise or Baltimore or Birmingham?) with a potential dirty bomb shows how our enemies can use home-made bombs and destroy our way of life. If the right 'informant' said there are dirty bombs in fifty U.S. cities at this moment, the country would go into utter hysteria.

I really must strongly disagree with this. It is true that a dirty bomb will induce hysteria, because the American people have absolutely no tolerance for inconvenience. If they had to live one day in Baghdad the Iraq problem would be solved in an instant. But the reality is that dirty bombs will kill very few people. So, they are not a very good terrorist ploy. I'm pissed off at Kerry for a lot of reasons, but his concept that we can eventually come to live with terrorism contained is, to me, a valid one. It is a little like someone who lives with cancer by getting chemotherapy.

The biggest threat is nuclear weapons. The comparison of a dirty bomb to a nuclear bomb is like a pea shooter to, well, a nuclear bomb. Detonation of a nuclear bomb anywhere will mean the end of civilization as we know it. You can't live with nuclear weapons going off. They are just too terrible.

At the present time, force as in the US Army will never, under any circumstances, rid the world of nuclear weapons. Iraq is, in spite of its horror, an excellent example of the limits of overwhelming force. The US Military could wipe Iraq off the face of the earth several times over (and some people want to do this), but it can't subdue an indigenous rebellion. And, I can guarantee you, this rebellion will very soon have nuclear weapons. And they will use them.

The only course, in my mind, is the one that was agonizingly successful for so long during the Cold War. Diplomacy. The above ground test ban treaty in 1963 was the hallmark of postwar (WWII) diplomacy. The ABM treaty was another (and jerkhead abrogated it). If we could fully implement the CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty) we could move to eliminating nuclear weapons from the face of the earth. As it is, they will soon be available to terrorists. I am as sure of this as I am that the sun will rise and set.

Corndog says:

Can you answer one question? Whenever free-market conservatives discuss why we can't go to a single-payer system, they claim that such a system would be less efficient financially than the current hodge-podge. Given the executive salaries you've given an example of, can this possibly be true? Aren't the administrative costs of Medicare and Medicaid a tiny fraction of those like United HealthCare or MAMSI? Am I missing something? Or are they? Like honesty.

Good point. Let me talk about MAMSI. Back in the dark ages (1995-1996) MAMSI was on the dock. They were up for certification by the organization that does HMO's. They flunked. Immediately before this was announced (and their stocks took a dive) many on the Board of Directors sold off large amounts of stocks. This was about as clear a case of insider trading as you could want. Although some other stockholders took them to court, the big boys got off with a mild hand tap.

At that time, one could find out a lot about MAMSI on the InterNet. They were required to post their 10K's and a lot of information about their financials. It turned out that much of the stock was owned by about 40 guys (and gals), most of who were on the BOD. At that time, they set up a "Stockholders Compensation Fund." Interestingly enough, this was in New York, not Maryland. The last time I heard (1997) they had $300,000,000 in the fund. After about this time, they suddenly became very reluctant to post information on the web and only gave the minimal numbers to satisfy the SEC requirements. I gave up following it. Suffice it to say that "fund" grew, and grew. Remember, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland had an $800,000,000 fund amassed to "capitalize" a transition to for-profit. They still have it after getting slapped down by the Maryland Insurance Commissioner when they tried to pull a fast one (see my previous posts on this).

One has to assume that the "fund" disappeared into the pockets of the stockholders of MAMSI when it was bought by United HealthCare. I can guarantee you it didn't come to doctors and it certainly didn't go to those poor suckers that buy UHC insurance. What is important here is the magnitude of the numbers. $300,000,000 would completely solve all the problems of health insurance in the state of Maryland. Instead, it went into the pockets of a few jerks who, in addition, got massive tax breaks in the last four years.

You are certainly correct. In spite of the fact that Medicaid and Medicare are government programs and fraught with bureaucracy, they have traditionally had a low overhead. One of the best run government programs of all time was the Tennessee Valley Authority back when it was started in the 30's. I know because my father worked for it then. Now, of course, it has gotten into deep water (see the frequent posts on South Knox Bubba for this).

Thus, what we are seeing is what happens to any ideological and economic system in the long run. Because of human nature, i.e. Greed, humans will drive any system to its limits. This happened to Roman Imperialism, Feudalism, British Imperialism (particularly in India; read the Raj Quartet), Communism and now Capitalism. It is a fact of life.

The question, of course, is "What do we do now?"

Did he see the next picture? He's responsible, you know.

An Iraqi child screams after her parents were killed in the car they were riding in at a roadblock. The children survived.

Getting Serious

After the non-event of yesterday, we should face the reality of what is America with no reservations. It is true that we all have our own view of reality. However, there is enough of a correspondence in that view so that we participate in a social contract. It is my opinion that that social contract is frayed and in danger of tearing with momentous consequences for our polity. Here are my reasons:

1. The War in Iraq: It is very telling that George Bush did not mention Iraq in his inaugural speech yesterday. This would be tantamount to Lincoln not mentioning the Civil War, Wilson WWI or Roosevelt WWII. It is just incomprehensible. It shows a disconnect with reality. The War in Iraq is the defining event of these years and we must extricate ourselves from there as quickly as possible. It is clear that there will be a civil war in Iraq after the attempt at elections on 30, January (in 9 days). What we will do then is unknown. There will be four sides: the US and Britain, the Shiites, the Sunnis and the Kurds. Standing in the wings will be Iran and Syria. It will only be because of exhaustion if a more terrible bloodbath than the present one does not ensue.

There is only one solution. That is for the US and Britain to relinquish control to the United Nations who would then deploy troops from Arab nations as security. What other option is open?

2. Social Security: This is a non-issue. It is solvent at 100% until 2042, at least. Let us move on from this attempt to line the pockets of the investment bankers.

3. Health Care: At this point, we need a national health plan. The current mess will just get worse if we do not radically alter the system. At the crux of this is the insurance companies. They have grown from the benign, not-for-profit organizations when I was young (principally Blue Cross and Blue Shield) to the voracious megacompanies of today. It is telling that in Maryland there are only two companies that account for 80% of the private coverage. This is not competition in the free market, it is unchecked greed. While America is not ready for the Canada solution (though it would be the best), we need to take the possibility of fabulous wealth for a few out of the system. As I have pointed out before, the CEO of United HealthCare, one of the two companies mentioned above, makes $38,000,000 a year CASH, with $500,000,000 in stock options. This just can't continue to be the case when people around me are suffering from lack of medical care.

4. The Environment: The current course will not even get us to 2042. The contention that science is invalid by those who are not scientists (our President) reminds one of the Ludites. Science is science and not open to opinion. The overwhelming consensus amongst environmental scientists is that we need to do something and do it fast. Our inability to deal with emissions, our reliance on oil, our rape of forests (including the Amazon) is about as shortsighted as a people could be. I realize that it is radical, but I am of the opinion that natural resources belong to everyone. Of course if that ownership is administered but the current cabal in Washington, they will continue to deteriorate. Achieving a coalition in Congress of Democrats and Republicans who care for the environment is the only solution.

5. Nuclear weapons: All of the above is made trivial by the possibility that rouge nations, ourselves or Israel will start using nuclear weapons. Our efforts to stop the proliferation of weapons has received a severe setback in recent years. We have abrogated treaties (the ABM treaty in particular) and refused to sign treaties (the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty). We have sent the signal to the rest of the world that it is o.k for ourselves (and Israel) to develop these weapons of mass destruction but not for anyone else. Unfortunately, the rest of the world isn't buying it. In addition to Pakistan and India, it is pretty certain that North Korea has them. It is only a matter of time before others start pitching them at one another.

We should immediately forswear first use of WMD. We should sign the treaties an negotiate new ones. The only thing that I can think of that might force us to do so is if Israel launches a weapon at its Arab neighbors. This will wake up the world.

6. Education: I am sorry, No Child Left Behind is a disaster. We need to immediately stop this foolishness of testing and begin to really address the problem of education. As long as we have a President that laughs at intellectual achievement (and science) this won't happen. But perhaps a more understanding Congress will be able to turn the tide.

It doesn't sound good for the U.S.A. I suspect we are facing even worse straits than in 1778, 1861, 1917, 1941 or the Vietnam war.

But, we must survive. I'm going to work for it.

Friday Crab Blogging; "doe see doe and allamand left"

Soft Target

Our Dear Leader

He never mentioned the 600 pound gorilla sitting on his shoulder in the speech. He used the word "freedom" 27 times.

What Jenna Heard

According to TTBogg, the chochlear cells of Our Dear Jenna were shocked, shocked I say, by hearing the "F" word at the inaugural kiddy prom. The offending agent was a cad named Brett Scallions (faint wiffs of halatosis cued here) who has the cheek to also mouth the following lyrics (his hit tune "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)"):

Don't fall away and leave me to myself
Don't fall away and leave love bleeding in my hands, in my hands again
And leave love bleeding in my hands, in my hands
Love lies bleeding

Oh hold me now I feel contagious
Am I the only place that you've left to go?
She cries her life is like
Some movie in black and white
Dead actors faking lines, over and over and over again she cries

Now, what are we hematologists to make of this? That this dude took a box cutter to his nymphette and now has a transplant candidate in hando that he can't get rid of? (Oh Montezuma, where are you when we need you). And, plus that, it is soooo tacky. He doesn't even mention gloves (that the stews wear now to serve your pretzels). Oops, he feels "contagious." Must have got that virus that is going around. Didn't get his flu shot like uncle Dick. So sad.

I know a dead actor who liked to fake his lines.

Its going to be a long, long, long four years.

Hee, Hee, Hee

Find it here:

The White House has been mum on Jenna’s job search (odd since they’re usually so forthcoming), but the Post believes Jenna has started work not as a teacher, but as a teacher’s aide because she doesn’t have the qualifications necessary to take over a classroom under the stringent requirements of No Child Left Behind

.

Kinda Sleazy - Fried Rice in the pan

In the clearing stands a Boxer.......

From Transcript of remarks between Senator Boxer and Doctor Strangel..., sorry, Rice....

Fried Rice in November, 2002 (with mushrooms):

Sen. Boxer: "Now, perhaps the most well-known statement you've made was the one about Saddam Hussein launching a nuclear weapon on America with the image of, quote, quoting you, "a mushroom cloud." That image had to frighten every American into believing that Saddam Hussein was on the verge of annihilating them if he was not stopped."

Bush in November, 2002:

"If the Iraqi regime is able to produce, buy or steal an amount of highly-enriched uranium a little larger than a single softball, it could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year."

Fried Rice on July 30th, 2003:

"It was a case that said he was trying to reconstitute. He's trying to acquire nuclear weapons. Nobody ever said that it was going to be the next year."

Fried Rice on October 10th, 2004:

"The intelligence assessment was that he was reconstituting his nuclear program; that, left unchecked, he would have a nuclear weapon by the end of the year."

Now Dr. Rice didn't like all this veracity:

Senator, I have to say that I have never, ever lost respect for the truth in the service of anything. It is not my nature. It is not my character. And I would hope that we can have this conversation and discuss what happened before and what went on before and what I said without impugning my credibility or my integrity.

I'm sorry Dr. Rice, you clearly have no credibility or integrity to impugn. But, you got confirmed anyway. So, I guess we've got four more years of you and General Tso's Chicken.

And Senator Boxer, You Go Girl!

Utterly fascinating

Deep Doo Doo

We be in Deep Doo Doo (D to the three) when we look at what is going to happen to medical care for a lot of Marylanders, those with Medicaid. Of course, Our Dear Gov (Ehrlichiosis) doesn't really give a damn about all these citizens, since they didn't cough up a single centavo for his campaign coffer.

Item 1: What happened in Tennessee on 10 January.
As reported in the Washington Post:

Tenn.'s Retreat On Medicaid Points to Struggle
Planned Cuts May Signal National Trend

In a nutshell, a Democratic governor who was elected on a platform to "reform" Medicaid, has taken the ax to it in a big way. While he promises to protect kids, he has "announced he is cutting 323,000 low-income adults from the program and limiting services for 400,000 others." There is much more for the interested reader in this article that is directly related to Maryland but we will...

Fast forward to Maryland....

Item 2: While campaigning on a platform of strengthing Medicaid (see the Maryland Health Care for All site here) and stating: "And Maryland's health care for the poor -- once a model for other states -- must be rebuilt and adequately funded." -- Candidate Ehrlich, (on his website), Oct. 2002, ODG has demanded that the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene cut 12% of its budget so that the State can balance the 2006 budget as required by law. There is no doubt in my mind that ODG will use the example of Tennessee to press for cuts in all healthcare, including Medicaid, to accomplish this.

Item 3: What's on the table.
Well, just about the whole health program is "on the table." (why isn't the rest of the Maryland government "on the table?" I'll tell you, you can go after Medicaid because children don't vote, and poor people don't stock the campaign chest.)

1. Reduce local Health Care Funds: $7,300,000 (our local Health Department has already been cut to the bone)
2. Eliminate various microbiolgy and other tests: $133,000 (sometimes the state lab is the ONLY place that runs a vital test)
3. Eliminate Chesapeake Bay Tests: $327,000
Eliminate Lead Poisoning Prevention Program: $180,000
(Yessssireee! What's our State doing in Public Health anyway???)
4. Eliminate Medical Day Care: $18,000,000
Eliminate Kidney Disease Program: $10,700,000
Eliminate REM (Rare and Expensive Disease): $3,150,000
Eliminate MCHP Program: $46,959,000
Eliminate coverage for pregnant women over 185%: $3,000,000
(ODG is running for the title of "The Great Eliminator")

And so on..

Let me repeat: The CEO of United HealthCare made $38,000,000 (Yes, that is 38 MILLION) in cash (plus millions more in stock options) in 2002. One man. One of many CEO;'s

Let me repeat: Maryland has spent close to $3,000,000,000 (Yes, that is 3 BILLION)for the War in Iraq; about $530 for every man woman and child.

And to administer the coup de grace (as if anything they did was at all graceful) ODG has hired the man who is responsible for the problem in the first place! As reported in the WaPo last fall, ODG hired S. Anthony McCann to replace Nelson Sabatini, the Secretary of Health since 2002. This guy McCann overseered (and I use that word tightly) the transfer of the Medicaid program to the individual States during the Reagan Administration (1988) where it got farmed out to the MCO's whose CEO's make such small salaries. Damn.

So, tell me Our Dear Gov, why are you trying to balance your budget on the backs of the poor and children?? Didn't I hear the words "Compassionate Conservative" wafting up the Northeast Corridor from the Blanca Casa?

Eh? What did you say? I'm waiting....

Our Pres

The Post: Why do you think bin Laden has not been caught?
W : Because he's hiding.

Eeeeeeeeeeow! My brain is splitting into 10 to the 29 pieces.

Bill Clinton at his best

There is probably no more fitting a memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr. than Bill Clinton's speech of 1998 that Digby has published. It is pretty moving, even for an old curmudgeon like me.
Excerpts:

Most of us who are old enough remember exactly where we were on Aug. 28, 1963 I was in my living room in Hot Springs, Ark.
(the day of MLK's "I have a dream" speech. ed)
......................
I remember weeping uncontrollably during Martin Luther King's speech. And I remember thinking, when it was over, my country would never be the same and neither would I.

There are people all across this country who made a more intense commitment to the idea of racial equality and justice that day than they had ever made before. And so in very personal ways, all of us became better and bigger because of the work of those who brought that great day about.
......................
And the words continue to echo down to the present day, spoken to us today by children who were not even alive then. And, God willing, their grandchildren will also be inspired and moved and become better and bigger because of what happened on that increasingly distant summer day.
......................
Even if you're not a pacifist, whenever possible, peace and nonviolence is always the right thing to do.
......................
The night before we took action against the terrorist operations in Afghanistan and Sudan, I was here on this island up till 2:30 in the morning trying to make absolutely sure that at that chemical plant there was no night shift. I believed I had to take the action I did, but I didn't want some person who was a nobody to me, but who may have a family to feed and a life to live, and probably had no earthly idea what else was going on there, to die needlessly. I learned that, and it's another reason we ought to pay our debt to the United Nations, because if we can work together, together we can find more peaceful solutions. Now I didn't learn that when I became President; I learned it from John Lewis and the civil rights movement a long time ago.

And the last thing I learned from them on which all these other things depend, without which we cannot build a world of peace or one America in an increasingly peaceful world bound together in this web of mutuality, is that you can't get there unless you're willing to forgive your enemies.
......................
All of you know I'm having to become quite an expert in this business of asking for forgiveness. And I ----. It gets a little easier the more you do it. And if you have a family, an Administration, a Congress and a whole country to ask, you're going to get a lot of practice.

But I have to tell that in these last days it has come home to me again, something I first learned as President, but it wasn't burned in my bones -- and that is that in order to get it, you have to be willing to give it. And all of us -- the anger, the resentment, the bitterness, the desire for recrimination against people you believe have wronged you -- they harden the heart and deaden the spirit and lead to self-inflicted wounds.
And so it is important that we are able to forgive those we believe have wronged us, even as we ask for forgiveness from people we have wronged.

And I heard that first -- first -- in the civil rights movement. "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

It is almost inconceivable what 6 1/2 years have brought.

Torture

Torture in any form is evil. It is not, and cannot, be justified. The prohibition on torture emerges from the Judeo-Christian belief in the sanctity of the human being. In should be one of the Commandments of our civilization. But then there's this:

The Normalization of Horror

American Gulags Become Permanent

by Ted Rall

01/12/05 "ICH" A new documentary, "Hitler's Hit Parade," runs 76 minutes without narration. Comprised entirely of archival footage, the film prompts its reviewers to remark upon Hannah Arendt's famous observation about the banality of evil. German troops subjugated Europe and shoved millions of people into ovens; German civilians went to the movies, attended concerts, and gossiped about their neighbors. People lived mundane, normal lives while their government carried out unspeakable monstrosities.
Sound familiar?

And this:

A Justice Department memo from August of 2002 leaked to the Washington Post and published by that newspaper on June 13 constitutes prima facie evidence that the US government adopted a policy of torture in connection with its so-called “war on terrorism” and its operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The memo gives the lie to the official claim that responsibility for the use of torture against Iraqi prisoners held by the US at Abu Ghraib prison rests with a few “bad apples” among rank-and-file military guards. The torture of prisoners has been carried out with the knowledge and approval of officials at the highest levels of the Bush administration.

White House officials decided to employ torture with full knowledge that they were violating longstanding and specific prohibitions against such methods under both international and US law.

The memo was written for Alberto Gonzales, the counsel for the president, and prepared by officials in the Justice Department. On Sunday night the Washington Post posted on its web site a draft version dated August 1, 2002 and entitled “Re: Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 USC Sections 2340-2340A.” It is signed by Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee. According to the Post, it was commissioned by the CIA. But the fact that it is addressed to Gonzales links it directly to President George W. Bush.

The defining link in this, of course is Alberto Gonzales. He apparently will be confirmed as Attorney General in the near future (after the coronation).

This is an insult to me, to the world and to all the people who have ever been affected by torture including those in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Iraq. It also may be the final step in going over the line. The last straw. And any other cliche that you can think of.

But mostly, it is evil.

What Howard Hughes saw

Thanks George, I knew you could do it:

The Women, Infants and Children nutrition program was funded at $4.7 billion for the fiscal year beginning in October, enough to serve the 7.9 million people expected to be eligible. But in 2006, the program would be cut by $122 million. Head Start, the early-childhood education program for the poor, would lose $177 million, or 2.5 percent of its budget, in fiscal 2006.

Friday Night Crab Blogging

Maryland Politics

Lets support EG in his desire to have a political blog for Marylanders (of the proper sort, of course,.... smile!). Actually, I would suggest South Knox Bubba as a model for such a blog. We could have Friday Night Crab Blogging (instead of those damn kittens, dogs and birds).
And, instead of the Rocky Top Brigade we could have the Marshy Bottom Watermen.

Oh, Well.

Fact: Did you know that the cost to Marylander's of the debacle in Iraq was approaching 3 BILLION dollars? And our gov can't even find a few cents for the schools. Damn.

Finally, EG says:

I suspect the Democrats to fight over who will challenge Erhlich in 2006 and then lose the race. Erhlich is still popular in the state (I don't know why) and the Democrats will pit candidates frm Baltimore against Montgomery County with PG County as the deciding vote

Of course this is true. The definition of a Democrat is "One Who Shoots Oneself In the Foot." Who knows, maybe we won't!

What can one say?

EG has some questions and deserves some answers, if I can:

EG says:
I have some questions about this (I must admit that I didn't follow the entire stream of events regarding this topic but I realize this has been simmering for years):

1. Did Ehrlich propose an alternate measure that was acceptable to the medical establishment?
2. I thought Doctors gave to the Republicans and Lawyers to the Democrats. How is it the Republicans couldn't come up with a plan that was suitable to the entire medical community?
3. Do you think the Doctors will make an issue of this in the 2006 elections?

1. Interestingly enough, the differences between the two sides was not too far except for (a) the amount of tort reform and (b) how to finance the malpractice "fix." The gov wanted to finance the "fix" (a slush fund) out of general revenues including some fly-by-night sources. (One idea that was floated was to levy a new tax on drunk drivers. However, this would have been $30,000 per arrest; not an idea that has a lot of oomph.) The Legislature decided to remove the exemption on a tax that certain medical insurance companies enjoyed. They had that exemption ostensibly so that they would offer insurance to people at a lower cost. As I pointed out in my blog, this is pretty bogus. The insurance companies are not hurting. Remember, the CEO of the second largest in Maryland (United HealthCare) makes $38,000,000 in cash per year. So, the conclusion is that the gov is in political debt to the insurance companies via his commissioner.

I'll be honest, I think we only see a very small piece of the iceberg that is politics in Maryland. There is so much behind what is done that we never know that my comments are probably 180 degrees off. Its fun to blog, though.

As for true tort reform, i.e. a significant limit on the amount that people (and lawyers) make from the malpractice game, this will never come about as long as we have a legislative process. The simple reason is that almost all of the representatives and senators are lawyers! In fact, the law office of the leader of the house of representatives brings malpractice suits against doctors (talk about a conflict of interest). They are not going to vote against themselves no matter how much their constituents holler and scream.

2. Many in the medical community liked the Republican plan; it just didn't have a chance because of what I just said. It is true that docs usually support the Republicans and lawyers support dems; I'm not sure of why this is since it is the lawyers who are now rich and the docs are increasingly poor (relatively speaking, of course). Actually, the docs are mostly foreign. My friend tells me half the medical school class at GW in D.C. is from India! Ironically, the best medical school in the world is now in Bombay.

3. Docs are a miniscule voting block. Patients don't understand the politics any better than we do. I'm a dem because my father was a Roosevelt dem. I'm not sure I would listen to my doctor on how to vote. Very few people listen to me when I talk politics.

Thanks for the comments and keep up the fight.

Things

There are several developments that deserve comment:

1. In the current Maryland Malpractice Saga, the Governor has vetoed the bill passed by the Maryland legislature in a special session. It wasn't a good bill; but it was something. Apparently the orthopedic surgeons and the neurosurgeons joined the governor in support while the Medical Society (Med Chi), the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a host of others supported the bill. This is irony, since one of the provisions of the bill is to provide more money for orthopods to see Medicaid patients. Not that they don't make enough money as it is (10 times what I make). The legislature may or may not have enough votes to override the veto. I can assure you that, if its not overridden, all hell will break loose in Maryland medicine. Stay tuned.

2. Bush continues to push for a privatized Social Security. This is one of the stupidest things that I have ever read about. Not only is any worry about the program not coming around for about 40 years, but even then it is solvent. The only winners in the program live on Wall Street.

3. If Bush is able to get his tax cuts made permanent, the country will go down the drain even farther than it is (we are currently at that little curve the drain makes at the bottom of the sink). This is another exercise in greed. How do all those people out there justify their vote for this idiot? Values? Ha Ha x 10 to the 29th power.

4. It is almost certain the Ehrlich, our governor, will start to cut Medicaid since he can't seem to find money any place else. This is just peachy. Doesn't anyone else see the irony of a governor of Maryland named Ehrlich as in Ehrlichia chaffeensis, carried by ticks and the cause of a brain fever. He causes brain fever in me.

5. The citizens of Washington, D.C., will have to pay 11 million dollars out of their collective pockets for security during the inaugural celebration (for which the Bushites are putting out 50 million). First of all, the citizens of Washington, D.C., voted overwhelmingly against this jerk (about 90%). Therefore, it is highly unlikely that any of them have been invited to the festivities. In addition, it is one of the poorest cities in the country for its size and, even if they were invited, they couldn't afford it. So, why do they have to pay for security?

In addition, why doesn't Bush win some friends in the world and cancel the parties and donate the money to the Tsunami Relief? Why, because he seems to think that the world exists as his playtoy.

6. Which brings up Iraq. Iraq is has been spiraling out of control now for almost a year. Every day brings new atrocities and the death of innocent people and children. But, Bush is still sponsoring elections on January 30. With the amount of carnage that occurs on a daily basis escalating, one would have to be foolhardy to go to the polls on that date. There is not one chance in 10 to the 29th power that the election will be meaningful. But, of course, as Ohio demonstrated, no one gives a crock about whether elections are meaningful (or fair; or valid) except the Ukrainians. Face it. We should pack our bags and leave. This will precipitate a civil war and we will be the cause. Anyone who collaborated with us will be killed. Don't we remember France after WWII? Or worse, what the Russians did to the Rumanians.

Ah, well. Can't say that life doesn't have its ups and downs.

The Malpractice Crisis in Maryland

We are in the deep throes of politics concerning the malpractice crisis in Maryland. I know for a fact that there are physicians that are adversely affected and who are leaving practice. Others are restricting their practice to patients that don't present such a risk. For example, why deliver babies when you can just do gynecology and make a living. Delivering babies puts you at substantial risk; enough to make your malpractice premiums $120,000 a year. This is a lot of money. But, not that much. Why:

NEW YORK - Randy Johnson and the Yankees reached a preliminary agreement Thursday on a $32 million, two-year contract extension, leaving a physical as the last step needed to finalize Arizona's trade to send him to New York.

In some scenarios, it is just $32 million that is needed to avert the malpractice crisis in Maryland.

The politicians just don't get it. Our local representative suggests that we increase the fine on drunk drivers. Sounds like a good idea until one reads that it would have to be $30,000 per arrest to help with the crisis.

The current funding mechanism is the cancelling of an exemption that HMO's enjoy. What's wrong with that? According to our representative, this is a regressive tax on the poor. As I tried to point out previously, this is the baloney argument.

United Health Group Stock for the last year (referred to in a post below)

This is referred to in a post below; the data for United Health may be understated

I wish my retirement account looked like the blue line

Malpractice Reform

The Maryland Legislature had an emergency session last week and passed a malpractice reform bill. The main provision was to hold the increase in malpractice insurance premiums for physicians to 5% (down from 35%). Medicaid reimbursements are also going to go up, but I'm not holding my breath. (This affects me more than just about any physician in Maryland since about 40% of my practice is Medicaid.)

Our local legislative representatives Haddaway and Eckardt, along with state senator Colburn all voted against the bill. The reason, which is the same reason that the governor is going to veto it, is because the mechanism of financing the cost of the two major provisions is to cancel the exemption HMO's (Health Maintenance Organizations) and MCO's (Managed Care Organizations) have of a 2% tax. The Republican governor and the Republican senator and representatives claim that this will increase the cost of health insurance on poor people.

POOOH!

First of all, let's disabuse ourselves of the fantasy that HMO's and MCO's can't afford a 2% tax. There are two large MCO's that cover probably 80% of the private insurance in Maryland. These are Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which is a publicly owned company, and United Health Group, traded on the NYSE (UNH). As you can see from the graph above, United Health Group's stock has gone from about $60 a share to $88 a share in one year. Not bad. In addition, the CEO is getting his hand on the goodies:

William W. McGuire
Chairman and CEO
United Health Group Inc.

In 2002, William W. McGuire raked in $37,888,157 in total compensation including stock option grants from United Health Group Inc..

And William W. McGuire has another $501,556,217 in unexercised stock options from previous years.

As for BCBS of Maryland, they tried to convert to a for profit entity and the CEO, a Mr. William Jews, would have obtained a massive bonus in the $20 million range. As it is:

Maryland's CareFirst CEO William Jews made a base salary of $1 million when the company filed its conversion application. He also received perks such as health, disability and life insurance, a leased car, and a country club membership.

[Actually, this whole article,Who Benefits? The Role of Executive Compensation in Health Care Conversions, is worth reading and I have reproduced one of the graphs above.]

This whole thing has been an exercise in politics as usual. The Governor knew going into it that the only source of funds was the tax if he didn't want to dip into the general revenues. As it is, he is threatening to shut down many services that benefit the poor in order to achieve his mandatory balanced budget. He was going to take the money from the general funds which pay for Medicaid. The old rob Peter to pay Paul trick.

What really comes out of this, though, is that our state Senator and Representatives are deep in the pocket of the rich. They think it is more important for United Health Care to make its billions than for the poor kids in Maryland to get decent health insurance. This is irony to the extreme since Colburn and Eckardt come from Dorchester County, one of the poorest counties in Maryland.

You know, if doctors disappeared tomorrow, we would not have medicine.
If politicians disappeared, we would have World Peace.
If insurance companies disappeared, we would think we had died and gone to heaven (complete with 77 virgins or their equal).

Happy New Year!

Here's wishing the best for everyone and their own.

All we can do is work harder for what's best in all of us: our children.

Dr. C.