Good Riddance

Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in federal prison for running a fraudalent investment scheme that bilked thousands out of billions. Or maybe even millions out of billions. His greed ruined lives, and at least one person killed himself over the loss. He wasn't alone, but so far he has refused to implicate anyone else in the crime. Since it's been going on since the early 1990s, I'd guess that someone else knew about it along the way. Or someones. Since he was audited, I'd guess that bribery might have been involved. Those people should be caught, tried, convicted, and sent to prison for a long time. In fact, any time that Madoff (who is in his 70s) can't serve should be tacked on to the other crook's time.

OK, maybe that's a bit extreme, but there should be plenty of prison time handed out to anyone who took part in this in anyway.

In other, less enlightened, societies, he'd be executed. He's lucky that he's going to spend the rest of his worthless life in prison.

Government Run Health Care

UPDATE: Another Op-Ed, this one by the usually reliably liberal Joan Vennochi in today's Boston Globe.

Note that this legislation was passed while Mitt Romney was Governor. The Massachusetts law was touted as a national model, and yet it has added a lot to the state's budgetary problems.

Washington can’t be as adventurous. Costing out a national healthcare plan, and figuring out how to fund it, is the current fault line for Obama. The president insists he can overhaul the healthcare system without adding to the deficit.

He should take this final lesson out of Massachusetts: Be honest about cost in the good times and make sure you can cover it in the bad.

To put it bluntly, the President is lying like a rug.

There is an excellent Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal today entitled, The Dangers of Fannie Mae Health Care .

In it the author comments on why the short term advantages of government run health care will be outweighed by the long term problems it will cause.

Turning to public plans like Medicare and Medicaid for more efficient administration is a fool's errand.

That is the key point of the article, the rest is supporting evidence.

The U.S. is unique because it alone is the source of half of world-wide profits that provide the payoff for the complex, lengthy, and expensive process of developing new treatments. When other nations construct their health-care systems, they ignore the impact of their pricing policies on R&D incentives. As the dominant R&D funding wellhead, we do not have that option.

So, Europe and most of the rest of the world can under invest or even non invest in medical technology secure in the knowledge that the US will bear the R&D costs while they reap the benefit at much lower cost.

Where have I heard something similar before? Oh wait, I know. Much of Europe under funds their military, secure in the knowledge that the US will pick up their defense costs by making sure we have a strong military.

Ironic that they use the money they save underfunding their military to try to fund the health care. Which is still underfunded because it's "free".

Anyway, read the entire article, it's very thought provoking.

Above all else, always remember, TANSTAASFL!

Or as the bumper sticker says, "If you think health care is expensive now, wait until it's free".

Addition To The Blog Roll

Life Under the lights is a new to me blog. Actually he found me and posted a comment on my Michael Jackson post yesterday.

He's got some good stuff, so go read. I'll wait here.

Michael Jackson

In the normal scheme of things, I wouldn't give a rat's ass about the death of Michael Jackson. Other than being sick of the great hoopla the media is making about a celebrity death, I'd just shrug and say, "What ever."

I'd say that I'm tired of the media circus, but I beat the rush and was tired of it before he died. In general terms that is.

Specifically, in this case I'm tired of the elephant in the living room, or more crudely the turd in the punch bowl of his life. Which of course is allegations of pedophilia. Or child molesting if you prefer.

Rather I'm tired of most media outlets not wanting to discuss the issue.

I don't care how talented he was as a singer and performer. His legacy will forever be blighted by the allegations, the millions of dollars in hush money he paid out, the unsavory behavior.

No one is so talented that behavior such as his can mitigated by it.

If it turned out that my favorite country singer engaged in the same behavior, I'd erase every MP3, break every CD, and forever more banish his music from my life. I wouldn't like it, but I couldn't countenance enjoying his music knowing that he was responsible for ruining some young person's life. Because, no matter how much money he may have paid out, the fact remains that he betrayed a trust and destroyed someone's innocence.

Which is all I have to say on the subject.

Iran Update

President Feckless leapt into action today and retracted an invitation for Iranian diplomats to attend a July 4 cook out at the White House.

That will teach them.

Meanwhile in Tehran, government thugs are murdering their own citizens.

Unimaginable Horror In Tehran Today

An Iranian blogger (whose URL I will not publish) live blogging from Baharestan Square in central Tehran today captures but brief glimpses of the unimaginable horror that took place today. Bus loads of protesters were stopped and unloaded from their buses by "black-clad police" and literally herded. When the massing was sufficient, as the barely controllably distraught Tehran caller to CNN described first hand, hundreds of the regime's Basij thugs poured out of an adjoining mosque and commenced a massacre with axes, clubs, guns and gas.

No doubt there will be a "tsk tsk" coming from the apologist for thugs in chief any day now.

Just imagine what he's going to be like when there is a crisis that directly threatens the United States or it's citizens.

Victim Selection Fail

Princeton woman, 77, escorts armed intruder from home at gunpoint

MACHIAS, Maine — A 77-year-old Princeton woman faced down a man armed with a sawed-off shotgun and sent him running after she pointed her own gun at him, according to court documents.

Oooops, not exactly what he had in mind, I'm sure.

This guy might be inept, but he's dangerously inept. He did previous time for armed robbery and presumably is willing to use weapons and violence. However he let his guard down and Mrs. Gatchell got the drop on him.

Eventually Doris Gatchell returned home. Moore hid the firearm from view as Doris Gatchell entered the front room, the affidavit said. The two women then went into the kitchen, and Vanessa Gatchell told her mother that Moore had a gun and she “thought he was going to shoot them both,” the affidavit said.

Doris Gatchell retrieved her own gun and, according to the court documents, went into the front room and stood behind Moore’s chair.

Personally, I think that Mrs. Gatchell would have been completely justified in shooting this worthless piece of crap. She showed great restraint in just showing him the door.

Then again she comes from the part of Maine where people are self reliant. Where they have to be because the police aren't around the corner. Mrs. Gatchell knows that and did what she had to do and then called the police.

All of which she was able to do because she owns a gun and knows how to use it. I'm glad we didn't get to find out what would have happened to the Gatchell women if neither had a means to protect themselves.

Remember, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

More About Neda

Don't Worry. It's Just One Bullet and It's Over

For the record, her name was Neda Agha-Soltan and she was 26 when thugs working for the Iranian Fascists murdered her. That's only about a year older than my daughter, which might be why I'm so obsessed with this.

The government yesterday blocked a wake for her in a central Tehran mosque for fear that the outpouring of grief would lead to more anti-regime protests, her fiancé, Caspian Makan, told the BBC.

"The authorities are aware that everybody in Iran and throughout the whole world knows about her story," Makan said.

"They were afraid that lots of people could turn up."

Much like Tiananmen Square 20 years ago, the world is watching this. Constantly and in real or near real time. Unlike 20 years ago a repressive regime can not stop the flow of information.

If this revolution succeeds and we should all hope that it does, Nema's death will be the tipping point and her face will be the face of the revolution. The Iranian despots can block TV, they can block the Internet (or some of it), they can violently suppress protests. What they can't do is stop the flow of information internally and to the rest of the world.

Freedom loving people around the world, and particularly one who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, should speak out against this regime and for the people of Iran who want to live in freedom.

That the man in the White House won't speak forcefully says a lot about him, and what it says isn't at all good. On this day forward on this blog, and I hope others, he will be known only as President Feckless.

What's Going On In Iran

Because I don't watch network news, or read The Boston Globe, NYTs, or WaPo, I don't know what coverage the Lame Stream Media is providing.

UPDATE: "Her Name Was Neda"

Warning: This is pretty graphic and shows the death of this young woman. If that sort of thing is too disturbing, please don't watch.


Here is a video I found on You Tube via Instapundit.



Student protesters shot on camera.



Women with gun shot wound placed in ambulance.



The government in Iran has imposed a media blackout, but via the blogs, Twitter, cell phones, satellite phones, and other new media the images are getting out to the world. Everyone of those people are risking their lives not only protesting, but filming and posting about what is going on.

And You Tube, don't forget You Tube. Plenty of video there.

I don't know what will ultimately happen in Iran, I don't think that anyone does. Of course in crises such as this words are of limited importance. Still, when someone as powerful as the President of the United States speaks, or in this case really doesn't speak, it matters.

Maybe we shouldn't intervene or get involved in the internal affairs of other nations. That seems to be the message from the left. However, regime change in Iran would at the least delay their plans and might even change the direction that nation takes.

Either way, you have to admire the people who have the guts to stand up to the Iranian government.

Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton Were Right

During the campaign, they warned us. Both separately told us the Barack Obama would not be ready for that 3:00 AM call. Biden told us that in the first six months of the Obama Administration there would be international crises and it would look like Obama wasn't prepared.

Well, it's here and he's not. First North Korea, and now election upheaval in Iran. Obama, ever the great orator, isn't even doing that well. He and his legions of greatly experienced sycophants don't seem to have any idea how to deal with any of this. His strategy for the Middle East? Threaten Israel, our only real ally there. The economy? By year's end we'll see the stimulus bill, GM and Chrysler take overs, and the health care reform, for the expensive boondoggles that they are.

Then add in questionable ethics, such as firing the Americorps Inspector General and stifling a Department of Justice probe into voter intimidation by the Black Panthers. I guess politicalization of the justice system was only bad when the left thought that George Bush was doing it.

The Not Ready For Prime Time President.

Oh, I forgot his most important weapon. Blaming the previous President. Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that said "The Buck Stops Here". Apparently with this President, the buck just keeps floating around in limbo.

I'm A Mean Bastard

Seriously. I was standing outside of Fenway Park last night waiting for a friend to show up so we could go in to the game. A young man, well dressed, presentable, clean shaven, and very polite walked up to me and told me his cell phone was broken. He asked if he could use mine for a minute to text his friend inside the ball park. Seems his friend had his ticket and he couldn't find him.

Being the caring, compassionate sucker mean bastard I am, I said, "Sorry, I don't do that." He shrugged and walked away, passing through the turnstile showing the ticket he'd just told me he didn't have.

Now, why would I turn down a simple request from an innocent looking stranger. Other than the aforementioned mean bastard thing, that is?

Because I had no idea who this guy was, who he was texting, or what he was going to text about. Or who he was going to call and what he was going to say. In other words, I had no reason to believe that he wasn't going to use my phone to facilitate some sort of criminal act. Then, when something went blooey, the police would come and ask me about it. I could claim ignorance of the whole thing and most likely nothing would come of it, but is there any reason in the world I (or you dear readers) should take that chance?

Not that I can think of.

I'm going to guess that most of my readers are adults or close to it. I probably don't have to tell you folks not to give your phone to a stranger to use, even for a minute. If, however, you have kids, especially teens, who have phones you might want to have a chat with them. I'd no sooner want my kids to lend their phones to a stranger than I'd want them to let them in the house to use a phone. Wouldn't be prudent, as Bush 41 might say.

Maybe I should say I'm a suspicious, paranoid, mean bastard instead.

Back To Kindergarten

No, not me. Rather it's Hillary Chabot of the Boston Herald who needs to go back to Kingergarten to learn her shapes.

In an article yesterday entitled Deval Patrick posts sign language Chabot wrote,

The signs warn motorists to “drive safely,” and add, “We’re on the job for you,” in bolder script over a bright orange caution triangle.

One problem, the billboard shows a square sign, which has been cleverly cut in half in the on line photo, but is clearly shown in all it's four sided glory in the print edition.

So, if a highly paid scribe such as Chabot can't get something that we can see with our own eyes correct, something that a Kindergartener knows, right, how are we to believe anything the media writes or says about anything?

Fact checking, it's not just for pajama clad bloggers.

Why The AMA Booed Obama

Because they know that he's lying to them. Obama is loyal to only two constituencies. Unions and the trial lawyers. Everyone else he'll sell out as soon as it's convenient. If you don't believe me ask the opponents to the Iraq Campaign, gay people who thought he'd overturn "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" or oppose DOMA , people who opposed the NSA surveillance of phone calls, the people who thought that he'd release the so called torture tapes, those who thought that he'd over turn the Bush policy on "Extraordinary Rendition", those who believed he'd open up White House visitor logs to the public, or that he'd overturn the "State's Secrets Privilege". Not to mention the auto and high tech industries, which are finding out what being Obama's friend can really mean.

All of which means that there is not one reason to believe that Obamacare will improve coverage or benefits for anyone. If it saves costs at all, it will do it by curtailing care for all so as to "equalize" the disparities. Here is what Obamacare will do. It will stifle innovation in technique and pharmacology because there will be no money in it. Companies will continue to make equipment and drugs for which the amortization has already occurred. Doctors will see malpractice rates rise because no matter what happens there will be no tort reform or limitation on law suits. Many bright people will either not go into or get out of medicine because there will not be enough money in it to make medical school costs pay off.

The members of the AMA, usually a Democrat friendly organization know that and that's why there were boos the other day. Maybe it's just the greedy doctors speaking, but I'm betting that they know that this plan is a loser and are expressing their displeasure early.

We should pay heed to their implicit warning.

Worst. Patient. Ever.

This is the post that I mentioned briefly the other day. This happened a while back and I wrote it up and let it sit for a while. Everything happened as I wrote it, if I tried to embellish it, I couldn't. Any quotes are as I remembered them at the time. I've in this line of work for a while, but I've never run into a patient like this before.

Herewith, the story.

We were dispatched to a call for a "Cardiac Disorder" early in the morning. Elderly woman with "tachycardia", no other details. We were last to the party, FD and BLS arriving first.

The address is a very fancy combined hotel and condominium complex. The condominiums start around one million and go up from there.

As we walked down the hall to her apartment the fire fighters were leaving. The LT, who I used to work with, greeted me and said, "Good luck." Knowing him as I do this made me a bit leery. I soon found out why.

Inside the apartment was the BLS crew, the on duty concierge, and herself. The patient that is. Lying on her bed under her very expensive comforter, wearing a very expensive terry robe, giving orders to the new EMT trying to assess her.

"I can't have my blood pressure taken with a blood pressure cuff that has touched other people." So, we took a linen dinner napkin and wrapped it around her arm to get the BP. White linen if you want to know and I know you do.

"I just want you to take my vital signs and check my EKG, but you have to use electrodes that don't stick very well because I'm allergic to the adhesive." My partner assured her that our lowest price electrodes did not stick too well, but I think that one was over her head.

The monitor showed a very nice SVT at about 200 BPM, which would explain her complaint of dizziness. We informed her of this and she agreed that it would be good to go to the hospital.

She then made a point to tell us that she had written a letter to our boss about how nice the last crew that took her to the hospital had been. More on this later.

Going to the hospital would seem to be a pretty straightforward thing, but not for this patient.

First, Bob, the long suffering concierge, had to make sure that her suit case was zipped shut and she gave him explicit directions on how it needed to be zipped. Apparently the words "please" and "thank you" were not in her vocabulary.

Then the home O2 had to be shut off. She gave me explicit instructions on how to turn off a D tank. They were wrong and would result in the tank being drained dry, but she was insistent that I leave the valve on and turn the flow meter to 1LPM. I tried to explain to her that this was incorrect, but her 20 years of being a hypochondriac* trumped my experience. So, the tank will be dry when she gets home, which will give her another thing to add to the inevitable complaint.

Then she had to pick out an outfit to come home in. My partner offered to do it but no, he obviously didn't know how to put a dress on a hanger. She selected a very nice print dress and complimentary black sweater. Which had to go onto a hanger and in a garment bag. Then shoes to match, which she wore.

Then the purse, with the medical record in it. "Because the one in the computer is wrong, but they won't change it." However she refused to allow us to actually see the record.

Just in case you're wondering, our plan was to start an IV and give her some Adenosine since the rhythm was narrow, regular, and looked like Atrial Tach. Only she's allergic to the plastic in the IV catheters and insisted we use a Butterfly needle. Which we don't carry and have never needed. I know at this point AD would suggest that we light her up like a Christmas tree and believe me, I was tempted. Still, it probably wouldn't have been the most prudent thing to do, all things considered. It sure would have been fun, though.

So now, we have the dress (with sweater), the suitcase, and the purse. And the slowly draining D tank quietly hissing away in the background. She finally agreed to get on the atretcher. She's checked on Bob's zipping of the suitcase, the dress is properly placed in it's garment bag, the purse is on her lap. Oh, attached to the suitcase is a large zip lock bag with... more zip lock bags in it. And a tag with one of her last names and her medical record number on it. More on that later too.

As we started to the ambulance, luggage in tow, she stopped us. "Last time I was at the hospital I got terribly dehydrated and almost died. Bob, there are two bottles of Evian Water on the counter, get them and put them in the black cloth bag on the chair. Be careful that they don't break, they did the last time. THOSE PEOPLE were so careless."

At this point, I turned to Bob and asked him how much they paid him. "Not enough." was the expected answer, accompanied by a resigned shrug.

As we got to the door herself said, "Bob, we MUST use the service elevator, I don't want to go through the lobby." Bob nodded and said yes. At this point I was thinking a trip down the elevator SHAFT would be better, but it was not to be. Fortunately, the service elevator entrance is right next to the main entrance so there was no additional distance to be traveled.

BTW, her heart rate was still banging away at 200 BPM.

In the ambulance we decided to defer the 12 Lead and just give her O2 and a gentle ride to the hospital. Which we could do only after we showed her that the nasal cannula was indeed non Latex.

I also warned, uh, I mean notified the hospital, that we were coming in. Just by my description they knew who it was. I think that they drew straws to see who would have to treat her and the junior nurses and residents lost.

We got to the hospital where she started her act even before we got her off the stretcher onto the hospital bed.

Oh, the neat touch was when my partner hung her dress on the IV hanger in the treatment area.

Oh, she of course wanted her belongings placed in specific places within the treatment room.

I chatted with the very cute (I wasn't that annoyed and distracted) resident who was going to do the initial evaluation. "She probably won't want me to see her because I'm so young and African-American.", she said. "Probably, but don't let that stop you, I'm sure she'll find other things to complain about." was my reassuring reply.

The upside was that it was a pretty short written report. Since she refused all ALS, I noted that in the narrative. Other than that it was demographics, a lot of "Unknowns" for the PMH, Meds, and Allergies, and we were done.

When the relief crew came in we related the tale and it turned out that another crew from our station had taken her a couple of weeks ago. That nice letter that the lady told us she wrote was in fact a complaint. Why? Because the BLS crew refused to collect a sample of her vomit and bring it to the hospital. Which is what the zip lock bags were for. I'm sure the complaint against my partner and me will be more detailed.

I really feel bad for Bob the concierge. He has to deal with her every night. They can't pay him enough, but I'm sure she tips him at least a dollar a year. Maybe.

I'm off the next few days, but when I come back I expect to find a note from a supervisor requesting an incident report.

* Eventually, even hypochondriacs get sick.

It's Hot In Texas

Which is where I am today and for the next two days. It's nice, but hot. Flew down on Jet Blue, which I've always had good luck with. The hotel is nice and like many these days has free WiFi. Wired Internet is so 2000.

One strange thing I noticed was the Hertz rental car. A nice, if generically bland GM, Saturn Aura. The odd thing was the mileage. 44668 miles. That's an awful lot for a rental car as big outfits like Hertz usually rotate their cars out at between 18-20K miles so they still have a lot of residual value. Only with the car market so bad there isn't that much demand so used cars, even well maintained ones, don't seem to be moving very well. The nice lady at the exit to the rental lot said that all of the cars are being kept for many more miles and that Hertz hasn't been buying very new ones.

Don't get me wrong, the car was nice and clean, and in good condition. It had more than the normal number of minor dings on the outside, and at one time they all would have been fixed by now. Just a sign of the times I guess.

Blogging might be a bit light while I'm down here since we have a lot to do and not much time to do it in.

Rehearsal dinner tonight, wedding tomorrow night, some spare time in between to walk around downtown. Flying back Monday.

I have a post with Ambulance Driver says is good blog fodder. I might put it up this weekend or early next week depending. I just want to go over it and make sure it's sufficiently anonymous. My EMS readers will sympathize, my non EMS readers will get good idea of what we sometimes have to put up with.

Enjoy your weekend, I'm going to enjoy mine.

Birthday Wishes

First to my mother, who shares today a birthday with President George H.W. Bush. Unlike the former President mom will not be jumping out of a perfectly good airplane to celebrate. She is getting her nails done, however. A bigger celebration will come next week sometime after she is sprung released from the virtual prison Skilled Nursing Facility where she is currently incarcerated being treated.

This will be the fourth time that Bush 41 has parachuted from a plane in the past ten years. He's done it on his 75th and 80th birthdays as well as in 2007 to celebrate the re-dedication of his Presidential Museum.

It is, however, not the first time that he has parachuted from a plane. For those of my readers who don't know, young George H.W. Bush enlisted in the Navy during World War II and became a Naval Aviator. His plane was shot down on September 2, 1944 and he bailed out. The other two members of his crew were killed, but the future President was rescued by a US submarine. Instead of requesting to be immediately returned to his aircraft carrier, he stayed on the USS Finback for a month while it continued patrol.

So far as I know, my mother didn't participate in any combat, unless you consider raising me and my older sister. Which at times probably made jumping out of a burning plane seem like a viable alternative.

Happy Birthday to Mom and President Bush.

Getting It Wrong, Media Edition

Conveniently forgetting that NAZIs were Socialists, not Right Wing Fascists, the media apparently has decided that the crazy person with previous convictions for gun crimes is a Right Wing Christian Domestic Terrorist.

This piece of dreck from the Boston Herald is typical.

Jack Levin, a Northeastern Univeristy professor of sociology and criminology, said a confluence of factors - from high unemployment to the election of a black president - are more likely to spur right-wing terror “for the next several years.”

Levin, like most "experts" appears to be an expert because he tells people he's one and gets quoted in the media a lot. Again, NAZIs are socialists, not conservative right wingers. Socialism is on the LEFT end of the political scale, not the RIGHT end of the political scale.

Funny how the murder of a US Soldier by a Muslim is suddenly linked to right wing extremism because it furthers the narrative in this article.

Apparently the Boston Globe isn't the only Boston daily newspaper to feature shoddy research and writing these days. Which several commenters seem to be happy to point out.

Summer Travel, I'm doing it Rong

Middle of June, Austin, Texas. Where it's supposed to be 100.
Early to mid July, Hawaii, need I say more?
Last part of July, Miami.

No doubt I'll be in Yellow Knife in January.

Timing is everything and mine seems to be off.

I Guess I Can Take Off The AFDB* now

Terror Names Linked To Doomed Flight AF 447

Two passengers with names linked to Islamic terrorism were on the Air France flight which crashed with the loss of 228 lives, it has emerged.

French secret servicemen established the connection while working through the list of those who boarded the doomed Airbus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 31.

I suppose that it could all just be a coincidence, but in terrorism investigations there is generally no such thing as a coincidence.

Last week in a post titled The Terrorism That Dare Not Speak It's Name I said that until proven otherwise, the crash of Air France 477 was an act of terrorism. Sadly, it seems I was correct even though I wish I was wrong.

No final determination has been made about the crash and there might never be a definitive answer. Still this is a significant development.

At this point, even though nothing has been proven or disproven my spidey sense says something other than mechanical failure or pilot error caused this.

"Developing...", as Drudge says.


*http://zapatopi.net/afdb/

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Palau to take Guantanamo’s Chinese detainees

Palau agreed to accept 17 Chinese Muslims who have languished in legal limbo at Guantanamo Bay, indicating a resolution to one of the major obstacles to closing the U.S. prison camp.

That's a lot of money for relocation, especially temporary relocation. It's the temporary part that concerns me. What is to stop these people from leaving Palau and heading to some other country? Lack of funds would be a thought, but I don't think that's an overwhelming obstacle.

The U.S. feared the minority Uighurs would be tortured or executed as Islamic separatists if returned to China, but the Obama administration faced fierce congressional opposition to allowing them on U.S. soil as free men. The men were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001, but the Pentagon determined that they were not "enemy combatants."

I understand the concern about returning them to China, but I'm concerned about what they were up to in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001. They weren't "enemy combatants", but they probably weren't tourists. This article might just give us a clue. You should read it all because it makes some good points about Uighur extremism. I'd guess that if nothing else, these 17 were in Afghanistan on an educational field trip and planned to bring back what they learned to cause mischief for the Chinese government. I'm not completely adverse to domestic elements causing mischief for the Chinese government, mind you. However, the same people could cause mischief for other "infidel" governments too, including ours.

If these fine young men can't go back to China, and it certainly appears that they can't, where can they go? I don't know, but I have wonder about it. Can they get off of Palua or are they exiled there for life? If they are exiled there for life, are they any better off than they were at Guantanamo?

I'll go out on a limb here and guess that in a couple of years or so when the attention to this issue dies down, they will quietly be allowed to go somewhere else. Where is anyone's guess, but somehow I think that we'll hear from at least some of these people, and not in a good way.

Repeating Our Past Mistakes Hoping They'll Turn Out Different This Time

The Politico is hardly a right wing blog, but they recently ran this article, Democrats pressure Barack Obama on Israel.

Yes, the Democrats, his own party, are pressuring President Obama to change his stance on Israel.

“My concern is that we are applying pressure to the wrong party in this dispute,” said Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.). “I think it would serve America’s interest better if we were pressuring the Iranians to eliminate the potential of a nuclear threat from Iran, and less time pressuring our allies and the only democracy in the Middle East to stop the natural growth of their settlements.”

Sorry Congresswoman, this administration considers Israel more of a threat to world piece than it does Iran. And Iran, as well as the west of the Middle East, knows it. Which is why Iran and it's terrorist surrogate Hezbollah, will continue to threaten and act against Israel while encouraging Hamas to do so from the Palestinian Territories.

So far, anyway, Obama isn’t backing down. He told National Public Radio Monday that he believes the U.S. must be “honest” with Israel about how the situation in the region needs to improve. He also renewed his call for a freeze on all Israeli settlements, and said the Palestinians must do more to improve security.

"I don't think we have to change strong support for Israel," Obama said. "We do have to retain a constant belief in the possibilities of negotiations that will lead to peace. And that's going to require, from my view, a two-state solution."

"Part of being a good friend is being honest," Obama said. "And I think there have been times where we are not as honest as we should be about the fact that the current direction, the current trajectory, in the region is profoundly negative, not only for Israeli interests but also U.S. interests. And that's part of a new dialogue that I'd like to see encouraged in the region."

Nope, no backing down from this position at all. Which appears to be Palestine Good, Israel Bad. This will come back to bit the U.S. in it's behind sooner or later. Obama of course hopes for much later so he can say that it didn't happen on his watch.

Once again, the President channels Neville Chamberlain.

Iran is open about it's desire to build a nuclear weapon and what it plans to do when it gets one. It's dared Obama to do something about it other than just talk. Which he hasn't and unfortunately won't.

All of which brings me to the rant portion of this post. I can't for the life of me understand why my fellow Jews voted for Obama. Did they really think that he'd be a strong supporter of Israel? Or, is it more important to you that he supports the same liberal policies that you do? Or are you just that F(^$&%@ stupid?

In the last election 78% of Jewish voters cast their ballot for Barrack Obama. I know that Jews are overwhelmingly reflexively, Democrats, but I've never quite understood why any more than I can understand why we are in favor of gun control. Despite the fact that we have ample evidence that gun control was used not only against us, but against the African American population that we've spent so many years helping. We (as a group)just never seem to learn from our past.

I'm proud to be part of the 22% that didn't vote for Obama and in fact I generally won't vote for Democrats because there isn't much that they stand for that I agree with. Obama is just worse than the rest of them.

I guess my co-religionists just won't be happy until parts of Israel glow in the dark. At which point it will all be George W. Bush's fault anyway.

Meh.

Hang Them, Hang Them High

A Slow Burn Becomes a Raging Fire

Myers, 72, and his wife, Gwendolyn, 71, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of conspiracy, being agents of a foreign government and wire fraud.

So, what did they do and who did they spy for?

What Walter Kendall Myers kept hidden, according to documents unsealed in court Friday, was a deep and long-standing anger toward his country, an anger that allegedly made him willing to spy for Cuba for three decades.

Pissed off at his country so he decided to work for one of his country's enemies. Not pissed off, so he decided to quit his job, write a book, go on TV or radio, run for office. Nope, our hero decides to spy for Cuba. He's not some hard luck middle class bureaucrat, he the rich son of rich parents. Nor is his wife some girl from the 'hood.

Myers, who goes by Kendall, grew up in Washington, the eldest of five children. His father, Walter, was a renowned heart surgeon; his mother, Carol, was the daughter of Gilbert H. Grosvenor, the longtime former president of the National Geographic Society, and was the granddaughter of inventor Alexander Graham Bell.

Privileged, even spoiled.
And well educated as well,

Myers went to prep school at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania and graduated from Brown University. He went on to get a doctorate in European history from the Johns Hopkins SAIS.

A very intelligent person, but one with not much common sense. He visited Cuba in 1978 where I'm sure that he saw the "real" Cuba. Just as his handler wanted him too. So smart, and yet not smart enough to know he was being played like the fish he was.
Around 1979 he was recruited as a spy along with his wife. Just to refresh the memory, Democrat James Carter was President of the United States that year. So, he spied through part of the Carter Administration, as well as all of Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and part of GW Bush's term. Yet the ever liberal WaPo makes a point of saying that it was in 2006, during the second term of GW Bush that it all boiled over because of US treatment of Britain. Somehow with these people and the media it's all George W. Bush's fault.

No word on how much they were paid over the years, if they were paid at all. They certainly don't seem to have needed the money.

How much damage was done by them? That's still not known, but according to the article,

But an official who previously worked in the bureau said the case is probably not as damaging as that of Aldrich Ames, the CIA counterintelligence chief who passed along extensive information about U.S. intelligence operations to Russia. Myers would not have had access to the names of U.S. spies in Cuba, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

Well, that's different then. All should be forgiven because they didn't have as much information to pass along as Ames. Well I feel much better. Of course, what they did have probably did go back to Russia, or at least some of it.

Oh and a word about anonymous spokes people. Stop. If you are not supposed to comment about a matter, don't. Unless it's illegal and you know it's illegal. Not if you think it's illegal, or you don't like it, or you don't like the person who gave the order. The media may like this stuff, but I think a lot of responsible citizens hate it. If you aren't supposed to speak, sit down, relax, and pour yourself a nice hot cup of STFU.

Back to our "heroes". The post title tells you exactly how I think the should be dealt with. Trial in court by a jury of their peers. If they are found guilty, they should be taken to public place of execution and hung by the neck until dead.

More (Or Less) Than Meets The Eye

On the surface this story looks incredibly bad. Here is one headline from the Journal of Emergency Medical Services, and industry trade magazine.

Two New Bedford Paramedics to be Disciplined for not Continuing CPR

A little careful reading of this article and the one from The Boston Globe will reveal that despite the misleading headlines, the issue appears to be documentation more than it is of inappropriate or inadequate care.

So, let us look at some of each of the articles and dissect what is written.

First though, come the verses of full disclosure. I know three of the people involved in this situation. I've worked with two of them at various times and observed the third at work on both an ambulance and in a hospital emergency department. I'm going to try to keep both my opinions of the people involved and my usual snarkiness out of this post.

First from the JEMS article.

A state investigative report found the paramedics, Rosemary Nunes and Ivan Brody, violated state protocols during a December 2008 emergency call by failing to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a baby in cardiac arrest and then inaccurately recording the details of the call.

In EMS it's almost a cliche that if something isn't documented, then for all practical purposes you didn't do it. Lawyers I know who have litigated this type of case say that often they have to settle because the paramedic either failed to write a report (required by state law) or did such a poor job that they might as well not have written one. On the other hand, a well written report has saved many a paramedics bacon when a complaint was lodged.

The issue here is that the state has no choice but to conclude that the decision was incorrect because the rationale for not performing CPR was not documented. Hence the use of the term "inaccurate". Incomplete or inadequate could probably have been used as well. What was not found was fraudulent, misleading, or untruthful. Any of those would have been far more serious and required more severe penalties.

Also from JEMS,

In December, the city immediately reported the CPR incident to its contact at the state Department of Public Health, Lang said.

At that time, the consensus between the city's Emergency Medical Services department, its medical director at St. Luke's Hospital and its contact at DPH was that the incident could be appropriately addressed through remediation training, according to Lang.

Here, it appears that the city was at fault for not promptly reporting the incident in writing. This again leaves room for the person from DPH to deny that he or she was ever contacted. Once again, poor documentation causes problems.

Note also that the initial recommendation was for remediation. Unfortunately, remediation for what isn't reported in the article. It could be remediation for making the incorrect decision or remediation for not documenting completely. I'll hazard a guess that it's the latter since the former likely require more serious action.

Continuing from the JEMS article, quoting the Mayor Scott Lang,

"For some reason, the December incident was not regarded as an incident that would lead to action by me, the solicitor or DPH for that matter, including by DPH," he said. "That's the disconnect I want to find out about."

I would say that the reason was because no one considered this a serious breach of duty or protocol. Again, this points me towards documentation being the issue, not improper care.

One last quote from JEMS,

Pimental's letter, which he sent first on March 24 and then again on April 7, discussed the December incident and the state investigation.

Pimental first filed a written report of the incident with EMS Director James Trout the day it occurred.

So, [Tom] Pimental filed a report with his boss when the incident happened, which is correct. Whether or not his boss should have notified the Mayor's office is a different issue. I do have to wonder why he sent two other letters directly to the Mayor after he was laid off? Was this something that so troubled him that he felt compelled to continue to follow up even after he was no longer employed? Or was it just trouble stirring because he was angry at being laid off? No real way to know, but it's something that has to be considered.

From The Boston Globe article,

But the DPH said neither paramedic made the required medical analysis on the child to make sure the infant had died before they decided to withhold CPR.

The paramedics first needed to check the child for signs of rigor mortis, body temperature, lung sounds, and reaction to light, the DPH said.

"There is no evidence that this patient met the criteria for (paramedics) to withhold or cease CPR efforts,'' the DPH concluded. "There was no Comfort Care/DNR verification form, no trauma inconsistent with survival. and no body condition clearly indicating death.''

The bold emphasis is mine. Evidence in this case would be the report, which as I said appears to have been incomplete. Without reading it there is no way for me to know what they did or didn't document, however obviously someone who did read it felt that the documentation was inadequate at best.

Is the state meting out discipline for improper care or for improper documentation of what may well have been a proper decision? It would seem to be the latter, but a 30 day suspension of certification seems more than a bit harsh.

Finally, I don't have a lot of kind words for the Mayor. He seems determined to hand out some sort of discipline, even though he appears not to know what why he doing that. Seems like typical CYA governing to me.

Deus Ex Machina

I commented at length last year in my post Day of Days. Looking back, the sheer guts of the men who waded ashore, parachuted, or rode gliders into France amazes me more every year. Without those men, mostly American, but with goodly numbers of British, Canadian, Poles, French, others Europe would have continued to be ruled by tyrants for years to come. If the landings had failed, if those brave men had faltered, history would be far different. But the landings didn't fail, the men didn't falter, the Nazis didn't prevail. In that we were most fortunate.

Starting at 5:00PM on Saturday, The Military Channel will feature a series of shows about the Normandy landings, including one with color footage. My DVR is already set.

A lot of people don't realize that most of the film shot on June 6, 1944 was lost when the case holding it was dropped by the courier while he was climbing back on to a ship. It fell into the sea and was lost for all eternity. Still, there is a lot of archival footage that probably is sitting in warehouses somewhere waiting to be rediscovered. We can only hope that it is soon found and released to the public.

If you haven't already, go to Borepatch and watch the video about the Memphis Belle and her crew. Consider how dangerous those missions were and how the crews faced them.

We were no less fortunate two years earlier in 1942 when brave Naval, Marine, and Army Air Corps aviators flew, fought, and died to defeat the Imperial Japanese Navy on the Pacific Ocean off a little known island named Midway. This battle too saved countless lives and shortened, maybe even made victory possible in, the War in the Pacific. Had the Japanese prevailed and sunk the US carriers, Hawaii and the entire Pacific coast of the United States and Canada would have been vulnerable. What would have stopped the Japanese from landing on the Isthmus of Panama and taking the canal? Very little is my guess. The war would have gone on longer, maybe years longer, and the outcome might well have been different. Imagine, if you will, a world where Nazi Germany controls most of Europe and Japan controls most of the Pacific, including Hawaii. Those are the possible fates that were avoided on June days two years apart a long time ago.

Last night I was sitting with some friends, smoking fine cigars, watching the Red Sox lose to the Texas Rangers, and generally solving the problems of the world. One of my companions, a gentleman in his 80s mentioned that tomorrow (today) is the 65 anniversary of the Normandy landings. I quizzed him and another friend as to what else happened on this date and after a bit of thinking they realized that the Battle of Midway had also occurred during the same week two years earlier. We discussed the battle and the ramifications of winning or losing. Why did the United States win against incredible odds? The Japanese had better aircraft, more ships, combat hardened pilots and air crews. Most of the American pilots had never seen combat, one ship (The Yorktown) was damaged at the Battle of the Coral Sea and was hastily patched. The Navy torpedo bombers were mostly obsolete. Anyone looking at the opposing forces would have inevitably decided that the Japanese were going to win handily. And yet, they didn't. They were out thought and out fought by the Americans and at the end of four days the Japanese were defeated. How did that happen. One of my friends said that it was because God was on the side of the good guys. Since he was the recipient of a fine Jesuit education, being a so called Double Eagle*, he threw out some Latin "Deus Ex Machina". I'm sure my non theist friends will disagree, but I think he might be right. Maybe you prefer to call it luck or fate or something else. Whatever it was, it was there over the deep blue waters of the Pacific on that June day Sixty-Seven years ago.

Despite our current travails, as long as we have men and women like those that fought so long ago, our nation will prevail. If we lose that fighting spirit we, like the Japanese aircraft carriers, are sunk.

As you go about your weekend activities take a few minutes and think about our forebears and the sacrifices they made for freedom.

*A Double Eagle is a person who went to Boston College High School and Boston College. A "Triple Eagle" also went to Boston College Law. Now you know some Boston Catholic trivia.

Useful Idiots

From the Boo Hoo, Poor Me files comes this story, The Obama Orphans: Lost in Transition.

After his happy hour beer, this genial young man dressed in a blue button-down shirt and his late grandfather’s cashmere wool overcoat took the D.C. Metro south, back to the northern Virginia suburbs. Joshua walked to his car, a 1999 Toyota 4-Runner that he had driven from Ohio and which, for the past two months, has been his home.

Well, you bought into the fantasy that Obama was going to change things in Washington, DC and that you would be part of the "Hope and Change" Brigade. Or was it "Hope and Change" Army?

Well, Bunky, Obama is changing things, but not the things you thought. If you're bummed now, wait until unemployment is in the teens along with interest rates. Wait until he finished destroying what was left of the US manufacturing as more and more companies out source to cut costs and LEGALLY avoid taxes.

The closest thing to the next big thing looks like Organizing for America, or Obama 2.0, or OFA 2.0, or now, just, again, OFA. People like talking about OFA because no one seems to know exactly what it is. OFA does not have its own website, but uses the campaign’s barackobama.com as a portal. A quick google search for “OFA” doesn’t come up with much (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals, Ohio Florists’ Association) and a few news articles dance around any specifics. The award for truth-through-vagueness goes to the Washington Times, which defined OFA as “a semi-independent political organization.”

"Truth-through-vagueness", I love that. OFA is just the holding pen for the Obama '12 campaign where in he and his upper level managers will once again attempt to suck in the gullible "save the world from itself" crowd. Cynically, I suspect they will find many of the same marks as the last time. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." as the proverb goes.

A blogger’s comment on the DNC website summed up the tension neatly: “I want change that extends beyond the Democratic National Committee…I did not support or vote for Democratic candidates, I voted for President Obama.”

Cult of personality anyone?

I'm reminded of the old Looneytoons cartoons, the ones where one of the characters would be morphed into a lollipop and the word "Sucker" would be superimposed on it. You know, like this.



Although on second thought, they are probably more like this.


In any case, what the got was not what they thought they were going to get.

How Did I Miss This Story?

This is the sort of story I usually come across while surfing the Intrawebz for blog fodder. For some reason I missed it and only came across it while trolling for material using my Site Meter referrals.

The paramedic, who is employed by the South East Coast Ambulance NHS Trust, Surrey division, was understood to have been spoken to by his managers and to be facing the possibility of suspension and disciplinary action.

Yeah, if nothing else he's out of uniform while on duty. Which even we have a rule against. I don't know that we have as specific rule against buying alcohol whilst on duty, but we have a rule against having it on agency property, so that probably covers it.

The man, aged in his 40's, had walked into the large Tesco shop at Addlestone, Surrey wearing his full all-in-one green coloured ambulance uniform.

He selected a bottle of wine but become annoyed when the check-out assistant told him it was the store's policy not to sell alcohol to people wearing uniform.

The paramedic then stormed out of the shop, walked to his vehicle in the car park and took off his uniform.

However, he didn't stop there - and stripped right down to the thong and pair of socks he was wearing. Then he walked back into the shop and asked the same cashier:

'Now, I'm not wearing my uniform any more. Will you serve me now?' The assistant refused and the manager was called, along with the police.

Rather poor form in any case. I think maybe a bit of a holiday is in order for the chap. Maybe even a permanent one.

Not all of the crazy people in the ambulance are patients. Some of them WORK in the ambulance.

Maybe I should troll more often.

Word Verification

I've removed word verification from comments, although moderation remains on. I don't think I need both to control spam or inflammatory comments.

The Terrorism That Dare Not Speak It's Name

Soldiers shot at US recruiting centre, this is going to be an act of terrorism until someone can prove to me otherwise.

Police said the suspect, Abdulhakim Muhammad, who also has used the name Carlos Bledsoe, drove up to an Army-Navy recruiting station and opened fire with an assault rifle, firing more than a dozen rounds into the building.

Yeah, I know I'm profiling, but this Muslim convert targeted a US Army facility, and a very "soft" one at that.

Officials said they also are investigating whether the suspect had "ideological" motives for the shooting.

"We believe that it's associated with his disagreement over military operations," said Police Chief Stuart Thomas, who said officials are looking into whether Muhammad had a "religious disagreement" with the US military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan

This is receiving very little notice in the Main Stream Press and I'd even expect their emphasis to be on the "assault rifle" aspect. Which, although not mentioned in this article is cited elsewhere as being an SKS. For those of you not familiar with it, the SKS is a ten round semi automatic rifle used by the Soviets back in the 1950s. It meets nobodies definition of assault rifle, except the always anti gun Lame Stream Media.

Nor is it certain that he acted alone. Fox News has a story on their website stating that maps of various other places were found when Muhammad was arrested.

Officers found maps to Jewish organizations, a Baptist church, a child care center, a post office and military recruiting centers in the southeastern U.S., New York and Philadelphia, according to a joint FBI-Homeland Security intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press.

President Obama has been too busy to comment on the matter or offer condolences to the family of the slain soldier. Who the Defense Department should classify as killed by enemy action, although I'd be willing to bet that they won't. Since the FBI is investigating this case, we can hope that the Department of Justice will see the death penalty, although again I'm not optimistic. That would just OUTRAGE too many valuable Obama constituencies so we'll see the ever more politically driven DOJ soft pedal this one. Although Muhammad was in fact known to the FBI before this because he went to Yemen to study. He was arrested there for using a Somali passport to gain entry, although he's not a Somali. Nope, nothing to see here folks, move along.

While I'm adjusting my Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie, might as well get this one out of the way.

This was an act of terrorism unless the is proof otherwise. Not only did Air France receive a threat the week before this, the scenario fits in exactly with previous Al Qaeda attempts.

Whacko theories are going to abound about this, as they did with TWA 800, but the most simple theory is that it was a bomb on the plane, not a US missle shoot down, not faulty fuel tank wiring, not a collision with an alien space ship.

I'll go take my meds now, because no there is no doubt that my seeing Muslim terror plots everywhere is a symptom of my instability.

Massachusetts, Trying Harder

To have more corrupt politicians than Illinois that is. In addition to a couple of State Representatives being arrested for accepting bribes, the Speaker of the House has now been indicted.

Former House Speaker DiMasi indicted on corruption charges

Former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi and three associates were indicted today by a federal grand jury for allegedly orchestrating a scheme in which DiMasi received tens of thousands of dollars in payments from a software company, Cognos ULC, while he was using his powerful office to make sure the company won state software contracts.

Note that you have to read to the very last paragraph to find out that DiMasi is a Democrat. Which shows the new reporting style of Boston.com, owned by the Boston Globe. There was a time when you wouldn't see party affiliation unless the indicted party was a Republican. In which case it would be in the lead paragraph.

Sorry FORMER Speaker of the House DiMasi. This is why he is the FORMER Speaker of the House, in case you were wondering,

DiMasi resigned from the House on Jan. 27, after months of investigations by the state Ethics Commission, the Massachusetts Inspector General's office, Secretary of State William Galvin, and the US Attorney's office.

For the record, his predecessor Thomas Finneran, plead guilty to obstruction of justice charges related to a federal investigation of House seat redistricting.

What, you ask, happened to Finneran's predecessor? I know you'll be shocked, shocked, to learn that he too resigned in disgrace. Charles F. Flaherty was charged and plead guilty to income tax evasion.

We haven't had a Governor indicted recently, but since the real power in Massachusetts politics is in the House of Representatives, there isn't that much graft left over for the Governor.

Anyway, our politicians are not only corrupt, apparently they are stupid as well.

Pistolero, hold my reservation, I'll get there eventually.

"Massachusetts, the best most inept politicians money can buy."

Another SiriusXM Post

But at least it's not a whiny one. I've noticed over the past week or so that the quality of music seems to be improving. Maybe they paid attention to my recent email.

I've noticed more of the classic country music I like, and less of the other stuff. I've also heard some music and artists I haven't really thought of as country, although that's a "Duh" moment for me. For example, they are playing some Tennessee Ernie Ford. If you're not a country music fan you know him, if you know him at all, for his hit Sixteen Tons, which was a cross over hit. He had a long running TV show, which I remember seeing when I was younger. What I didn't know until recently is that he had a career spanning 50 years. So, now I'm hearing more of his music, which is good.

They seem to be playing more George Jones, which I also like. More of my other favorites too as well as less talk by on air personalities. Even Bill Mack is talking less and playing more good music.

Now they just have to get more subscribers so they can stay above water.