Contrary to earlier reports, the MWC Sub for Santa Program has not met its demise
Please reach into your hearts and offer your support for the disadvantaged kids in Ogden
By Tom Owens
Contrary to earlier reports, the Sub for Santa program at the Marshall White Center is still on, however tenuous it may have seemed to be.
The city administration, in its infinite wisdom, has terminated Fritz Bachman, the very fine and capable man who has been running the Sub for Santa program for a long time. In past years he has done a very fine job in running this and many other programs at the Marshall White Center.
The Sub for Santa program has been assigned to a nice young woman and part time volunteer named Tiffany. Along with her other assignments, and a full load at Weber State, Tiffany is struggling with bringing about a successful Sub for Santa program this year.
There are 28 poor children in Ogden who may go without a Merry Christmas if the program does not succeed. Tiffany is faced with an uphill climb in raising the necessary money for these young fellow citizens of ours. She has been able to raise approximately $700 so far, mostly from her relatives.
I hereby plead with the fine denizens of the Weber County Forum to open up your hearts and wallets to these disadvantaged children of Ogden.
I hope that we can collectively help Tiffany raise another $2,100 for this fine cause. That would be $2,800 total, or $100 per child. With this $100, and the good will and generosity of some local merchants that I hope to solicit, we can bring some joy into these precious young people's Christmas.
Please give any amount you can to this cause, whether it be $5 or $100 or any amount in between or more. I will match any amount that you give, thus doubling your contribution.
Please call Tiffany at 866-3789 (or alternately 393-0162) to make your pledge and to make arrangements to get the money to her.
Please do it now before you forget. Make sure you tell her it is through the Weber County Forum so that I can match your pledge. Your contributions should be given to Tiffany directly so that she can pay the merchants directly.
Not to worry, Tiffany and the money will be overseen by the management of the Marshall White Center.
There is no better pay off than the feeling you will get by helping these disadvantaged kids at Christmas. A great Tequila buzz doesn't even come close, and there is absolutely no hangover to boot!
Thanks for joining me in helping Tiffany make Christmas happen for these kids.
Update 12/19/07 6:00 p.m. MT: We talked to Tiffany today, and she tells me we're about $1,000 short of our goal. Cough it up you cheap holiday celebrants. Think about how great you'll feel on Christmas morning, when you look over the gifts you gave your kids... and the ones you DIDN'T give to kids who are TRULY in need.
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44 comments:
I will be the first to pledge $50.
And a big thanks to Rudi and WCF for promoting this worthy cause.
Count me in for $100.
Being a starving student I haven't much, but I will put $25 together and take it to Tiffany.
I think Boss Godfrey ought to donate at least 1000 bucks to this effort. He's sitting on $80,000 from his 2007 campaign fund. The least the little shit could do would be to squeeze out a few dollars for the poor kids in Ogden.
Think of what this would do for his public image.
He didn't run for mayor, of course, to win a popularity contest... as everyone knows. So I guess we shouldn't hold our breath waiting to see Godfrey fatten the pot.
Gadi should think about this too, eh, Rupert?
Godfrey only gives to his pals, and then only if it is public money. Poor, and in some cases brown skinned kids, in inner city Ogden are not on his "A" list of friends. So to any one who thinks He might donate to this, if I were you I wouldn't be holding my finger in my butt until Godfrey or any of his pals gives one thin dime to the poor of Ogden, it might just grow there!
I will call Tiffanie tomorrow and make a donation. It is good to see this blog doing something like this.
See.. This is why Republicanism doesn't work. Mayor Godfrey takes from the poor, to give to his rich business buddies. Then when the government program fails they ask the citizens for a donation for the government program that we were already taxed for.
It’s called Rob Paul to Pay Peter.
That's true of the Republicans, especially Goddfrey.
However, we still have these poor kids that could use some cheering up at Christmas. Let's get together and bring a little joy into their lifes. Let's show them we aren't all like Scrooge Godfrey. I will donate to this, and thanxs for doing this Tiffany and Rudy.
I hereby pledge the cost of that bottle of Tequila and the morning after alka seltzer hang over remedy to this cause. In addition I will add fifty bucks for sparing me the horrible hang over that I would otherwise have suffered from.
I went down and contributed my $5, she said she has had a few phone calls also. Good work WCF readers.
I went down and contributed my $50, she said she has had a few phone calls also. Good work WCF readers.
Sorry forgot my zero.
To Tom Owens,
I want to personally thank you for your efforts to keep the belief in the Christmas spirit alive. Your generosity to the under privileged children of Ogden is something that separates you from those that think of only themselves.
Thank you, God Bless and Merry Christmas.
Chewy column this morning in the SE by Steve Olsen, Weber County Democrat and former candidate for Congress from this district, on health care. Turns out, the most efficient delivery of health, at the lowest cost, with the highest patient satisfaction ratings and the lowest prescription error rate in the nation is... the Veterans Health Service [VA]. Of course, it didn't used to be that way, until President Clinton, opting for competence over cronyism [as he did in appointing a head of FEMA, subsequently replaced by Bush appointee horse-show promoter Brown of "you're doing a great job, Brownie" fame].
From Mr. Olsen's op ed piece:
Most Americans would be surprised to learn that the most cost-effective, highest-quality health care provider in the nation is a unionized system run by the government: the Veterans Health Administration. This is a recent phenomenon. During the debate over health care reform in the early ’90s, opponents could justifiably cite VHA as a negative example of socialized medicine. There were serious efforts to abolish the VHA and put veterans on Medicaid.
Instead, President Clinton hired Dr. Kenneth Kizer, a respected public health expert, to turn the system around. Dr. Kizer’s background was important: Public health looks at health care as an integrated system. The VHA also has a crucial advantage: It has its patients for a lifetime. This gives it powerful financial incentives to actually improve the health of its clients. Kizer borrowed heavily from industry and implemented quality improvement systems, openness in reporting, facilitated the use of innovative information technology and, most significantly, created a teamwork-based environment that stresses collaboration between doctors and other health care workers.
The results speak for themselves. Between 1995 and 2004, the cumulative increase in the VHA’s cost per enrollee was 0.8 percent, compared with 40.4 percent for those covered by Medicare. For six consecutive years, VHA received the highest consumer satisfaction ratings of any health care system. Error rates for prescription accuracy in VA hospitals are around 0.003 percent, compared with 3 percent to 8 percent for other hospitals. Experts agree VHA has become the industry leader in safety and quality.
The conclusions are inescapable. Market forces are the root cause of America’s health care crisis, and the most cost-effective, highest quality health care in the nation is being provided by the system that is the most “socialistic.” One can give ideological arguments against these conclusions, but the facts are indisputable. The example of VHA provides a template for a system where America’s world class doctors and nurses could be allowed to provide excellent health care without bankrupting the country. The only impediments are those ideological arguments, and the political power of those who profit from the current system — power bought through millions in campaign contributions. Does America have the leadership to ignore the special interests and save us from the crisis?
Sadly, the voters of N. Utah rejected Mr. Olsen in favor of Bush lemming Rob Bishop. And when your health insurance premiums take another double-digit jump this next year, as they will --- that is, if you're fortunate enough to have health insurance --- be sure to write to Bush-Lemming Bishop and thank him for yet again putting the interests of the campaign contributing insurance industry ahead of those of his constituents.
I suspect Mr. Bishop and his ilk --- aka the Weber County Republican Party --- will, as usual, ignore the evidence, dismiss the facts, and begin shouting yet again [and I fear successfully yet again] that there are Commies under the bed who want to let Hillary Clinton tell you what doctor you can see. All the while applauding President Bush for vetoing -- twice --- a bill to continue providing health care children [yes, in Utah] of families that cannot afford to pay for that care, or for insurance [the SCHIP program]. Sigh....
Scott Schwebke didn't do it, so I have to ask here: Why did the City Council go along with Godfrey in giving away the River Project to Gadi Leshem? They had it in their power to not approve (retroactively) the initial backroom deal. Yet they not only did that, they approved transfer of additional properties to Leshem.
What proof do we have that he is able to complete a project of this magnitude? What happens if he is convicted in California and spends years in jail? Does this property just sit (without even its former tenants) and rot?
Seems like a potential parallel to our stagnant rapid transit situation.
OL:
Well, I'm not sure they had an option. Seems to me what Mr. Harmer now likes [in retrospect] to call an "informal agreement" for the city to act[secretly] as Mr. Lesham's purchasing agent for the River Project properties became a not-at-all informal and probably legally enforceable contract between the city and Mr. Lesham once the city accepted his money and spent it to [secretly] acquire the options on his behalf. I suspect that he could have, probably successfully, sued the city if it reneged on the deal. The director of the RDA [aka Mayor Godfrey] clearly it seems had the authority to enter into such an agreement, since the only complaint on the part of the Council [aka RDA Board] is that it was not notified of the arrangement in timely fashion... not that the arrangement itself was illegal or improper.
The Council could have altered RDA procedures for the future only [not retroactively] by declaring all such agreements to be tentative and non-binding until they are approved by a majority of the Board. But I don't think they even did that yesterday.
It was improper for the city to act secretely as Mr. Lesham's purchasing agent, I think. But it seems not to have been illegal. Merely unethical and sleazy. And we all know only too well that the Godfrey administrations and its minions do not consider "unethical" or "sleazy" to be sufficient considerations to in any way limit their actions.
Rudi:
Didn't you promise us some sort of big election-related news on the 19th?
On the general subject of Christmas spirit...
Yesterday I received the official letter from Mayor Godfrey thanking me for my many years of service on the trails committee and telling me that I'm now off.
The letter arrived 27 days after I read the news in the paper.
Dan:
You were expecting class? From Godfrey?
"All animals are created equal, some are more equal than others." Thanks for your service Dan, you know that after ten years Godfrey won't be sold for glue.
curm,
relative to your post at 1:12 pm. you don't know anymore than the rest of us as to why the rda board voted the way they did. i don't know why you feel your interputation of events is anymore relevant or accurate that anyone elses but for some reason you do. do you ever get tired of listening to yourself.
plain and simple our city council/rda board don't have a clue about what they are doing or what their powers are. that and throw in the intimation factor that they feel from the mayor.
disgusted:
I am not, as you say, privy to any insider information about why the Council members voted as they did. The only point I raised was that they may not have actually had much of a choice on the matter of the transfers by the time they voted. If you have reason to think they did have a choice, and could have reneged on Harmer's "informal arrangement," by all means, explain why. You may be right, but I'd like to hear your reasoning and argument on the matter first.
I notice, however, that you seem to be absolutely sure about why the Council members voted as they did... because, you say, they didn't "have a clue about what they are doing or what their powers are" and because they were "intimidated by the mayor." Wish I was half as sure about why they did what they did as you are.
We ought at least to consider another possibility: that a majority of the Council thinks the Lesham-proposed River Project is a sound one, and perhaps the best one for the city and that at this point it would have been foolish to gum up the works on a project already woefully late in coming about.
The only point I made was that, legally speaking, the Council may not have had the option to stop the transfers by the time those transfers came before them. That's all. Nothing you've posted has, so far, convinces me that they did have that option. Weigh in on the other side, by all means, if you think I am wrong about that.
curm,
what do you know of law. are you a laywer. how do you know whats "probably legally enforceable". never said you had inside info just that youre speculating.
if you give the council enough credit to think they know enough about lesham proposal to think its the best one when its actually the only one then you too are part of the problem. what other proposals were there. you are defending them just because you want to believe you like them. thats like voting for them because they are the right religion.
why worry about being sued the city is sued all the time. this time the administration would be sued because they would have been doing something that they didnt have authority to do. entering into contracts without the boards prior knowledge or approval.
this council always allows the indiscretion then plugs the leak after the fact instead of taking a stand on whats in front of them. im tired of making excuses for why these council members keep making bad decisions.
not here either to be your pen pal for the night. got better things to do than volley with someone that has more time on his hands than things to do.
Disgusted:
You wrote: not here either to be your pen pal for the night. got better things to do than volley with someone that has more time on his hands than things to do.
Fair enough. But this is a discussion blog where, as a rule, people come to... well, discuss things. No one's under any obligation to read a post, or to reply. But without that happening, not much discussion results, seems to me.
Sleep tight, D.
Regarding “The McLaughlin Group” Dec. 9, 2007, and broadcast on KUED and KBYU:
Lawrence O’Donnell’s comments regarding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on “The McLaughlin Group” telecast of Dec. 9, 2007, have no proper place in the political discourse of our nation.
I realize the slash and burn format of “The McLaughlin Group” encourages throwing sucker punches. Few regular viewers tune in expecting civility. Perhaps, Mr. O’Donnell thought his role on this particular episode was to demean Mitt Romney by demeaning his faith. If that is the case, he demeaned only himself with his bigoted tirade against the LDS Church .
Members of the LDS Church have seen religious bigotry for much of the Church’s existence. Simmering just below the surface, the ugliness has come to the top of the cauldron as an obstacle to Romney’s candidacy in a Republican Party that has overly relied on public piety as a political tactic. I was saddened to see a Democratic voice joining the GOP chorus calling for the rejection of a candidate for public office based on their religious beliefs.
There are many legitimate reasons to oppose Governor Romney's candidacy, which we do. His ever-changing positions on matters of public policy and his past job performance leave many areas for appropriate disagreement.
Mr. O’Donnell, Democrats in Utah do not associate ourselves with your commentary. We reject it entirely. Utah Democrats refuse to become collateral damage because of your misguided attack on a Republican candidate for President of the United States . To do otherwise would undermine fine Democrats who are members of the LDS Church , most prominently on the national stage is U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada .
Members of the LDS Church claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. And, they honor the civic compact of our nation by believing in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
That’s how it is in America , Mr. O’Donnell. That is our social contract. I think you owe Mitt Romney, the members of the LDS Church , and the Democratic Party an apology.
Wayne Holland
Chair, Utah Democratic Party
Curm just a little insight on Tricare, or the Veterans Health insurance... "socialized medicine." as a veteran and currently in the National Gaurd, I am taking part in that, but the Government still charges me monthly for that service and just as much as I would pay through my work and it really isn't that much better, I still have a large deductible to pay, and the catastophic cap isn't that much better.
The Tricare that the Active military uses, requires those individuals to seek their medical needs on military bases first (where those doctors don't have much incentive because they could be making tons more on the civilian side, and will when they finish their service and gain their experience the military help provide.) If the individuals live in a remote location they have to find a civilian doctor that accepts the insurance, alot of times that is hard because if they accept it the doctors are usualy taking a hit on how much they earn, Tricare usualy pays alot less than the doctors commonly charge but usauly accept it out of appreciation for our armed forces. If doctors are being forced to earn less what is the incentive to be a doctor... personaly if I had to have a heart surgery I would prefer to have the cocky well trained doctor thats in for the money so will do a good job and is afraid of malprictice lawsuites, rather than the doctor that shows up to work to do the absolute minimum because he isn't getting paid what his job is worth and doesn't care if he screws up because he is protected by the government.
Take it for what you want though. But I would suggest to anyone here that before you jump on the socialist bandwagon you test the waters first by joining our armed forces. Heak if you decide you like it you can stay there as long as you want, as for me, 9 years active army socialist crap was enough, I prefer to have my freedom to make my own choices... good or bad.
Former:
I certainly wouldn't argue that the veterans' health service system is perfect, by any means. But the numbers [unless you are suggesting they are not valid, which you didn't] do suggest that of the alternative systems now available it gets [a] the highest patient satisfaction ratings [b]at lower cost while delivering [c] fewer errors. So the point would be, however un-perfect the system is, it is better on those measures than the alternative [private] systems available.
As for doctors being paid less than they are on the open market via the VHS service... so are doctors who accept medicare or medicaid patients, and so are doctors whose clinics accept private health care plans [such as are routinely accepted here in Ogden at places like The Ogden Clinic and at MacKay Dee Hospital]. Part of the contractual arrangements are that medical service providers charge much much less to plan members [in return for the plan members being funneled to their clinics or hospitals by the plan.]
Granted, if you are independently wealthy and can pay full fare [uninsured] for all your medical care, you will certainly get better service than the rest of us. But government's problem, seems to me, is arranging a system that provides the best attainable care at a price the public is willing to support [via taxes] for the entire population, not just the independently wealthy few.
And it ought also to be pointed out that 40% of the money spent on private health coverage goes to overhead... processing claims, etc. 40% of the money. Overhead costs for the government run system VHS is about 10%. The 30% difference adds up to many millions of dollars annually which could go to expanding medical services delivered and to increasing compensation for doctors and hospitals, but doesn't.
Part of the way public health plans have been fought, sadly successfully in the US, is by legislators letting the perfect become the enemy of the good. By legislators arguing that the plan under consideration is not perfect, and so should be rejected, even though it might be good or a lot better than what exists. We see this in congress over and over: "Yes, this plan will bring primary medical coverage to millions of Americans who have no access to it now but in Canada, people have to wait sometimes six months for a hip replacement and other elective surgery, and that may happen here too, so until we should vote no on this." And so on.
Want to argue that the US has not, by a long shot, taken care of the health needs of veterans and their families? Welcome aboard. It has not. Nevertheless, of the systems we have in place now, VHS provides better service [according to patients in it] at lower cost and with fewer errors than the competing private systems. If you have information that challenges those numbers reported in the Olsen op ed piece, I'd be glad to see it.
Mr. Holland, are you suggesting that all these ridiculous attempts at the infusion of Mormon doctrine and other professed moral objectives with Legislative law making are not motivated and sanctioned by the LDS church, but by the Republican wing of the LDS membership?
Utah, which has to be viewed as one of the most single theologicly dominated states, has historicly been one of the worst, if not the worst, in committing tyranny of the majority, and totally blurring the line of religion's place in a secular society.
Mr. Holland:
You call yourself a Democrat, but your tirade is the most Republican thing I've yet read in the course of this campaign. "No proper place in political discourse?" You're awfully thin-skinned for this line of work.
Here is a piece of personal experience on this VA medical subject.
Last year i was fortunate enough to attend the annual convention of the survivors of the Bataan Death March in Washington, D.C.
Virtually all of these men and women that remain are in the care of the VA medical system. To a person they were all very positive about the care they receive from the VA.
MM:
Romney's problem is he is trying to have it both ways. He wants one set of rules applied to his critics [it is unfair to make a man's religion a major campaign issue as Huckabee is doing], and a different set of rules applied to him [my Christian faith is a major reason Republicans should vote for me and not Guliani or Huckabee because I love Jesus as much or more than they do.] But hey, he's a millionaire Republican, and such people expect, as a matter of divine right, that the rules that apply to other people shall not apply to them.
Kind of nice to see Republicans now hoist on their own petard, so to speak. All that sucking up for the past decade to the whacko Christian right extreme is now coming home to roost. Mr. Romney is going to have to make up his mind: either he agrees that a man's faith is a critically important matter for voters to consider, in which case the particulars of his faith are absolutely fair game for questioning by other candidates, or he's going to have to agree that a man's faith should not be an election issue at all, in which case he has to abandon the "I love Jesus more than the other guys do" appeal to voters.
Or I guess he can go a third way, and remain the hypocritical self-serving Republican flip-flopper I suspect him of having been all along.
Curm:
Let us not forget that Romney revealed his true colors here during the '02 Winter Olympics when his limousine inconveniently became stuck in hoi polloi traffic en route to a downhill ski event. All the Utah papers reported that Romney simply lost it and let go a torrent of F-bomb-laced profanity. Suddenly Jesus his Savior was the furthest thing from his mind.
This is the real Mitt, folks.
Oz:
Since you've said you're Republican, it may horrify you to know that the liberal Paul Krugman of the New Yorke Times constantly touts the VA system as a model to the rest of the country of how a government health care system should be run. I believe both you and Krugman are right.
Moroni
Make that former Republican. No - make that highly disgruntled former Republican who has nothing but contempt for this NeoCon crowd of corrupt, self serving, arrogant, moronic and highly disingenuous MFers who have hijacked the Grand Old Party of my youth. And make that double for the Utah variety.
Now days I would rather have a sister in a whore house than a brother in the Republican party.
Ozboy:
Now that's the HeeHaw whom I deeply admire! HI-larious!
P.S.: Utah Utes beat Short-deck's Academy Midshipmen...but didn't cover the spread.
mm:
Well, I wouldn't hold the occasional descent into obscenity against Mitt. Why, I've been known once or twice [or maybe thrice] to, when provoked, go beyond "gosh darn" and "golly gee whilikers" myself. In fact, the occasional lapse by Mitt I'd take as a welcome sign that there's something... anything... more there than the wholly malleable entirely programed plastic blow-dried Ken Doll of a candidate he seems to be most of the times to be.
The political consultants used to call it "halo tarnish" --- letting a little human frailty show through, since plaster saints [no denominational meaning intended] as candidates tend to make many voters nervous.
Jason:
Surprisingly fun game to watch. Hadn't expected it. Lead changed hands, big mo' shifted twice, unbelievable defensive lapse gave Navy a chance to pull it out at the end, game decided with less than a minute on the clock to go. Good start to the bowl season. Only 31 left to go....
For this Utah Utes grad & diehard, the game was almost painful to watch. Although the Navy team was clearly physically outmatched from the start, the fundamentals-unsound Utah team delivered its usual serial display of muffed blocks and arm tackles, allowing the midshipmen to remain in the game until the very final seconds.
Hopefully Coach Whittington will spend ample time during the offseason reviewing this season's game films, and spend his spring football sessions focusing on the basic fundamentals that his squad of fine athletes ought to have learned in high school.
Rudi:
I believe flag football coach and abominable BYU assclown Whittingham and his horrific moron O coordinator Ludwig should better spend the off-season sending out resumes to area high schools (Ben Lomond Scots, anyone? Perhaps the Geigerian Lakers of Bonneville, nee Washington Terrace), while Dr. Hill finds us a suitable replacement for what should be a perennial Mountain West championship program. Granstville has better play calling. With Zoobie Whittingham at the helm, we'll always be an 8-4, 7-5 lower-tier bowl winner, which isn't good enough. Nonetheless:
THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE
Brother Curmudgeon:
Public obscenity doesn't matter a goddam to me. (Mark Wahlberg's sustained arias of sheer vulgarity in "The Departed" constitute, I think, one of Hollywood's ineffable achievements.) It's Mitt's hypocrisy that vexes, and that's the best example. You're right that he should let a little human frailty show through, but most likely he'll toss out a few mild misdemeanors to distract us from the felonies, and you know there can't be that level of wealth without them.
The Mittster didn't just let loose with the "F" bomb back during the Olympics. I think the real transgression, and true character indicator, was that he unleashed the bomb and a prolonged public tongue lashing to an Olympic volunteer who was controlling traffic. Apparently the unpaid volunteer didn't choose to inconvenience a large number of other people in order to make a royal passage way for Saint Mitt.
I think one of the true indicators of class in a wealthy person is how they treat the hired help. For instance, say your sitting in a high class expensive restaurant and the biggest money bags in town comes in and starts berating the waiting staff. What does that tell you? To me it means that the person is a real prick, and that money doesn't buy class or dignity.
Mitt can have all the dough in the world and he is still a jerk.
Oz, not only was it volunteers, but Job Corp kids, mixed gender. I can't help but laugh whenever someone states that Mitt saved the SLC Olympics. He did nothing but come for the glory and face time.
Despite their alledged larceny, Welch and Johnson had it all wrapped up, everything was taken care of, Mitt did nothing.
Yo, Wayne Holland, chair of the Utah Republican, whoops, Democratic Party:
Jason Riley's op-ed piece in today's Wall Street Journal ought to have provoked another of your five-star tizzies. Riley wrote, "Throughout his current campaign for the Republican nomination, Mr. Romney has declined to distance himself from the repugnant racial teachings of his church."
Please dispel such evil mischief with all due haste. Let it be known instead that Mitt's daddy marched with Martin Luther King.
Well now,... back to socialized medicine for just a sec. Twenty years with it...mixed results. Crazy Bob, 140 IQ plus, fellow pilot went nuts while in Nam. Escaped binds to hospital bed 20 times while drugged enough to put down elephant. Had to rescue him from mine field and again from gym where he was trying to rally blacks during BB game to burn down base when SPs came to get him. Years later diagnosed with relatively simple manic-depression after years of shock therapy.
Bailout injury to right knee, split cartlege, two years later siezed up in pain. Flt. surgeon diagnosed cancer. Spent 44 days in lazyboy recliner awaiting surgery. Awoke to discover operation on left knee and cancerous tumor actually knee cap. Grounded for sinus infection, diagnosis, yep cancer again. TAB V door (20 ton steel door) rolled over right foot crushing three toes during exercise. Spent four days laying with foot under blanket tent in agony due to "simulated injuries" taking priority over actuals.
Heard from old HS classmate recently. Tommy went to the VA hospital with chest pains two years ago. They did triple bypass operation. During "recovery" they amputated his right leg at the knee. Then and left leg halfway to his hip. Then the fingers of his left hand. Then two more from his right. But he says they treated him really well during therapy for the next year and a half.
Hey Doc, if I am run over by a MAC truck and laying in street with eyeballs popped out and blood gurgling from chest, my last words will probably not be understood, but I will be saying "Please leave me to die right here, DO NOT take me to a military hospital." But hey that's just me... and the nurses were really ugly too. Now MacKay Dee, now there are some real hotties taking care of you there. And the ole Tequila in the flower vase still works just fine.
Minor:
Just want to point out that the article was about Vets health care, NOT military active duty hospitals or health care [like Walter Reed e.g.] Your first two examples seem to involve medical care for active duty personnel, not VA care.
As for the last example: periodically [and tragically] the papers run stories about people in private civilian hospitals who go in for surgery, and have the wrong arm or leg or whatever mistakenly removed, etc. Medical malpractice of all kinds occurs in all medical delivery systems: military, civilian, VA, what-have-you. The point the article made in re: this was that the VA system had a much much lower rate of errors [using incorrect medication incidents as the example, since it's the most common form of medical treatment error]than private care systems.
Besides, finally, the health care proposal Mr. Olsen [and I] argue for is the single-payer system. I.e. it would operate as medicare does. It would not tell you which doctor you could see or which hospital you could use. It would simply be the paying agent, as medicare operates today. So you could still hit on the hotties at MacKay Dee on the way into surgery if you wanted to.
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