Right. Isn't his what major Bloomberg in New York was doing?
Posted By: == on 2009-05-09
In Reply to: I think what you're forgetting is that...(sm) - Just the big bad
And now he is running for his 3rd term!
Is also against the Constitution.
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Right. Isn't his what major Bloomberg in New York was doing?
And now he is running for his 3rd term!
Hon, I'm a political major and history major...
xx
george will a major, major
conservative with vast influence for years and years. Can't minimize this devastating blow no matter how much you try to defect subject to joe biden.
I like Bloomberg and predictions for the end of the war.
don't think he will run for president on any ticket. I like him because he chose to withdraw from both parties. He says he does not want to answer to a particular party's platform or mollycoddle special interests of that party (whichever it may be). I would LOVE it if this country had a truly feasible viable third party. I believe we need more choices, not less and not the same tired old candidates with their same tired old plans and policies. I don't suppose that will happen in my lifetime but there is always hope.
So we now have war from Palestine to Pakistan. I cannot keep the relgious sects, the insurgents, the terrorists apart any more. There are so many names and so much going on. This is quite a mess we have created; and I do not say that because I hate America or Bush. I say it because I do not believe that we would have this level of calamity throughout the entire region if we had not invaded Iraq (at this time). The region, as most of us know, has been in turmoil for thousands of years. There is nothing anyone can do about that but those who are involved themselves. They have to want it first and foremost. They have to want to live more than they want to be right or more than they want to be in power or more than they want a theocracy. People who are willing to go on suicide missions for a cause don't value life in the same way that I do.
I have a prediction as to how this all will end. Eventually, we will come home, meaning the majority of troops and surges and sorties et al will be over. Nothing will have changed in the Middle East other than it will have become more volatile than it was before we arrived in 2003. It has been this volatile before and it will be again, this particular time we played an active part but with or without the US, the Middle East will remain a volatile, recalcitrant area. The Middle East is a place you have to have been to, lived in or studied for a long time, to understand. I too have met **the enemy.** I lived there (in Bahrain) for a few years, and other places where Islam was alive and well (Korea, the Philippines, South Africa and the UK). So my prediction is that the last plane will be leaving the Green Zone and the surgents will be 5 minutes behind it and things will go on as they always have. I agree (in theory) that something had to be done after 9/11 and that we could not just suck it up and move on. The move on Afghanistan made sense to me. Iraq did not, does not and will not ever make sense to me. It is hard for me to see Saddam teaming up with Al-Que'da as he was a hedonistic bacchanal who lived in a gold palace with heroin, diamonds and lots of women and the bin Laden's beliefs were quite the opposite. But, at any rate, my prediction is that this will end much like the conlict in you know where. Hundreds of thousands of lives will have been lost and nothing will change. As with the cold war and the conflict in you know where, manipulation through fear using that same old chestnut that the commies, the Russians, the Viet Cong and now the terrorists will be in our cities killing us is in full force. That scenario has not come to fruition yet and I don't believe it ever will. Crazy people possibly trying to carry out another attack somewhere here in the US is quite possible, another Oklahoma City is possible but in my opinion those possibilities are not worth the certainty of more US troop deaths and civilian deaths in a war without end. So while I grieve for those lives that will be lost between now and September, I pray that someone somehow will keep his word and get us out of there. Iraq is not ours to win or lose; it is theirs.
today's polls bloomberg
and all others show obama steadily rising due to mcCain's inept performance this week with crisis and temper tantrum he threw over NYT.
What a depressing story from Bloomberg..
U.S. Taxpayers Risk $9.7 Trillion on Bailouts as Senate Votes.
By Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry
Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The stimulus package the U.S. Congress is completing would raise the government’s commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion, enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nation’s home mortgages.
The Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have lent or spent almost $3 trillion over the past two years and pledged to provide up to $5.7 trillion more if needed. The total already tapped has decreased about 1 percent since November, mostly because foreign central banks are using fewer dollars in currency-exchange agreements called swaps. The Senate is to vote early this week on a stimulus package totaling at least $780 billion that President Barack Obama says is needed to avert a deeper recession. That measure would need to be reconciled with an $819 billion plan the House approved last month.
Only the stimulus package to be approved this week, the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program passed four months ago and $168 billion in tax cuts and rebates approved in 2008 have been voted on by lawmakers. The remaining $8 trillion in commitments are lending programs and guarantees, almost all under the authority of the Fed and the FDIC. The recipients’ names have not been disclosed.
“We’ve seen money go out the back door of this government unlike any time in the history of our country,” Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said on the Senate floor Feb. 3. “Nobody knows what went out of the Federal Reserve Board, to whom and for what purpose. How much from the FDIC? How much from TARP? When? Why?”
Financial Rescue
The pledges, amounting to almost two-thirds of the value of everything produced in the U.S. last year, are intended to rescue the financial system after the credit markets seized up about 18 months ago. The promises are composed of about $1 trillion in stimulus packages, around $3 trillion in lending and spending and $5.7 trillion in agreements to provide aid.
Federal Reserve lending to banks peaked at a record $2.3 trillion in December, dropping to $1.83 trillion by last week. The Fed balance sheet is still more than double the $880 billion it was in the week before Sept. 17 when it agreed to accept lower-quality collateral.
The worst financial crisis in two generations has erased $14.5 trillion, or 33 percent, of the value of the world’s companies since Sept. 15; brought down Bear Stearns Cos. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.; and led to the takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co. by Bank of America Corp.
The $9.7 trillion in pledges would be enough to send a $1,430 check to every man, woman and child alive in the world. It’s 13 times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Congressional Budget Office data, and is almost enough to pay off every home mortgage loan in the U.S., calculated at $10.5 trillion by the Federal Reserve.
‘All the Stops’
“The Fed, Treasury and FDIC are pulling out all the stops to stop any widespread systemic damage to the economy,” said Dana Johnson, chief economist for Comerica Inc. in Dallas and a former senior economist at the central bank. “The federal government is on the hook for an awful lot of money but I think it’s needed to help the financial system recover.”
Bloomberg News tabulated data from the Fed, Treasury and FDIC and interviewed regulators, economists and academic researchers to gauge the full extent of the government’s rescue effort.
Commitments may expand again soon. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner postponed an announcement scheduled for today that was to focus on new guarantees for illiquid assets to insure against losses without taking them off banks’ balance sheets. The Treasury said it would delay the announcement until after the Senate votes on the stimulus package.
Program Delay
The government is already backing $301 billion of Citigroup Inc. securities and another $118 billion from Bank of America. The government hasn’t yet paid out on any of the guarantees.
The Fed said Friday that it is delaying the start a $200 billion program called the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF, to revive the market for securities based on consumer loans such as credit-card, auto and student borrowings.
Most of the spending programs are run out of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where Geithner served as president. He was sworn in as Treasury secretary on Jan. 26.
When Congress approved the TARP on Oct. 3, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson acknowledged the need for transparency and oversight. The Federal Reserve so far is refusing to disclose loan recipients or reveal the collateral they are taking in return. Collateral is an asset pledged by a borrower in the event a loan payment isn’t made.
I don't believe for a New York second
that you EVER supported either Hillary or Bill.
Your rant could have come straight from the pages of ANY of the talking right wing heads...
New York is welcome to 'em!! n/m
x
Kansas 2,688,418 - New York 19,306,183
The population of Kansas is 2,688,418 people compared to New York's 19,306,183. Who should get more money?
Independence party of New York.....and
this is only the third time this party has back a major party presidential candidate. This is a very large party and they have a lot of clout with other parties as well, so this is good news.
Of course, the Reform Party is also backing him now as of this weekend.
And since Lynn Forester DE Rothschild has endorsed him, who is as everyone knows a big democrat, a member of the Democrat National Committee, and the fact that she has a big following in businesses around the world and here, may have a big pull for McCain as well.
Byline, the New York Times. Nuff said. nm
m
David Brooks - New York Times - sm
David Brooks is an objective analyst and I believe his column in today's NYT is very interesting. I see him on PBS along with Mark Shields and always find him fair and nonpartisan.
Google David Brooks or New York Times and take a look at his article today.
Palin meets her first world leaders in New York. sm
Palin meets her first world leaders in New York
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer Tue Sep 23, 7:30 PM ET
NEW YORK - Sarah Palin met her first world leaders Tuesday. It was a tightly controlled crash course on foreign policy for the Republican vice presidential candidate, the mayor-turned-governor who has been outside North America just once.
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Palin sat down with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The conversations were private, the pictures public, meant to build her resume for voters concerned about her lack of experience in world affairs.
"I found her quite a capable woman," Karzai said later. "She asked the right questions on Afghanistan."
The self-described "hockey mom" also asked former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for insights on Georgia, Russia, China and Iran, and she'll see more leaders Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings.
It was shuttle diplomacy, New York-style. At several points, Palin's motorcade got stuck in traffic and New Yorkers, unimpressed with the flashing lights, sirens and police officers in her group, simply walked between the vehicles to get across the street. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, three hours behind Palin in seeing Karzai, found herself overshadowed for a day as she made her own rounds.
John McCain's presidential campaign has shielded the first-term Alaska governor for weeks from spontaneous questions from voters and reporters, and went to striking lengths Tuesday to maintain that distance as Palin made her diplomatic debut.
The GOP campaign, applying more restrictive rules on access than even President Bush uses in the White House, banned reporters from the start of the meetings, so as not to risk a question being asked of Palin.
McCain aides relented after news organizations objected and CNN, which was supplying TV footage to a variety of networks, decided to pull its TV crew from Palin's meeting with Karzai.
Overheard: small talk.
Palin is studying foreign policy ahead of her one debate with Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, a senator with deep credentials on that front. More broadly, the Republican ticket is trying to counter questions exploited by Democrats about her qualifications to serve as vice president and step into the presidency at a moment's notice if necessary.
There was no chance of putting such questions to rest with photo opportunities Tuesday.
But Palin, who got a passport only last year, no longer has to own up to a blank slate when asked about heads of state she has met.
She also got her first intelligence briefing Tuesday, over two hours.
Karzai generated light laughter when he told an audience at the Asia Society that, in addition to Rice and Norway's prime minister, he had seen Palin on Tuesday. Thomas Freston, a member of the society's board, drew loud applause and laughter when he responded: "You're probably the only person in the room who's met Gov. Palin."
Randy Scheunemann, a longtime McCain aide on foreign policy, was close at hand during her meetings. Another adviser, Stephen Biegun, also accompanied her at each meeting and briefed reporters later.
Karzai and Palin discussed security problems in Afghanistan, including cross-border insurgencies. They also talked about the need for more U.S. troops there, which both McCain and Democrat Barack Obama say is necessary, Biegun said.
With both Karzai and Uribe, Palin discussed the importance of energy security. With Uribe, the conversation also touched on the proposed U.S.-Colombian Free Trade Agreement that McCain and Palin support but Obama opposes.
Her meeting with Kissinger, which lasted more than an hour, covered a range of national security and foreign policy issues, specifically Russia, Iran and China, Biegun said.
"Rather than make specific policy prescriptions, she was largely listening, having an exchange of views and also very interested in forming a relationship with people she met with today," he said.
Before Palin's first meeting of the day, with Karzai, campaign aides had told reporters in the press pool that followed her they could not go into meetings where photographers and a video camera crew would be let in for pictures.
Bush and members of Congress routinely allow reporters to attend photo opportunities along with photographers, and the reporters sometimes are able to ask questions at the beginning of private meetings before they are ushered out.
At least two news organizations, including AP, objected to the exclusion of reporters and were told that the decision to have a "photo spray" only was not subject to discussion. After aides backed away from that, campaign spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said the reporter ban was a "miscommunication."
On Wednesday, McCain and Palin are expected to meet jointly with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko. Palin is then to meet separately with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Palin, 44, has been to neighboring Canada and to Mexico, and made a brief trip to Kuwait and Germany to see Alaska National Guard troops.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZDU4OTdhMTFhN2YwZTY3MmMzNGFhYzc3ODdhOTA0ZjQ=
Hershey closing York Peppermint Patty plant in PA
And is moving their plant to MEXICO. It's situations like this where NAFTA should be renegotiated and remove any profit incentive for companies to take away American jobs like this.
Although I really like York Peppermint Patties, I don't think I'll continue to buy this product.
Hershey closing York Peppermint Patty plant in Pa.
By Associated Press
POSTED: 03:30 p.m. EST, Feb 20, 2009
READING, Pa.: Production of York Peppermint Patties and other candy brands is coming to an end at The Hershey Co. plant in Reading.
After 23 years in Reading, the chocolate maker is closing the plant today and moving production to a new factory it has built in Monterey, Mexico. Hershey says it will mean the loss of about 260 jobs in the southeastern Pennsylvania city.
The plant also makes 5th Avenue and Zagnut candy bars and Jolly Rancher hard candies.
The nation's largest candy manufacturer announced two years ago that the plant would close as part of a wider move by Hershey to eliminate 1,500 jobs and one-third of its existing production lines, shifting more manufacturing to contractors in the United States.
Some workers will stay on for a few more weeks to close the plant.
READING, Pa.: Production of York Peppermint Patties and other candy brands is coming to an end at The Hershey Co. plant in Reading.
After 23 years in Reading, the chocolate maker is closing the plant today and moving production to a new factory it has built in Monterey, Mexico. Hershey says it will mean the loss of about 260 jobs in the southeastern Pennsylvania city.
The plant also makes 5th Avenue and Zagnut candy bars and Jolly Rancher hard candies.
The nation's largest candy manufacturer announced two years ago that the plant would close as part of a wider move by Hershey to eliminate 1,500 jobs and one-third of its existing production lines, shifting more manufacturing to contractors in the United States.
Some workers will stay on for a few more weeks to close the plant.
http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/39968037.html
Say it ain't so, I LOVE York peppermint patties......oh well, incentive for my diet!......nm
nm
we have had 4 major
catastrophes in the last 8 years due to republican/conservative ideology of little to no government. 911, katrina, iraq war, wall street collapse, etc. We have serious issues to deal with now. Symbols can wait for the return of the good times under democratic LEADERSHIP.
Yes, there will be major job losses now /NM
N/M
Not skirting the major issues
It is just that our major issues differ immensely.
1. I did read the article, and many more besides. I did not state implicitly that we should model our healthcare system identical to France or Canada, it was only meant to represent that healthcare reform can work, that it is needed in this country, and that for the average individual to start seriously looking at it. There are great programs out there and there is absolutely no reason why we cannot take the best of them and create a whole new better system.
2. Yes, there will be some physicians who do not like the change, just as there will be citizens who do not like the change. However, stating that they will not be willing to take a pay cut for the greater good of their patients is very narrow minded. I helped recruit them to work in academic medicine and the VA system and never had a shortage of as you put it "the most brilliant minds of medicine" applying for those positions when they could have very easily went into the private sector for more money. Furthermore, stating that if there were free tuition based medical schools, that the quality of our physicians would go down is an absolutely ignorant statement to make. I cannot begin to fathom that line of thinking. In those countries where tuition is either free based or fully reimbursed are creating a large percentage of "the most brilliant minds of medicine".
3. I never stated that socialized healthcare is not fraught with problems. Our healthcare system is fraught with just as many. You cannot argue the statistics that in those countries where there is socialized healthcare, the citizens themselves are satisfied with it. I believe the latest statistics are 78% of French citizens are satisified. Granted there are issues on the table now in France, but many are stating that is because there is a creeping privatisation that is to be blamed. My relatives in Montreal have no complaints, and they are the average middle class citizens. And there is a very small percentage who are falling through the cracks compared to much more of your fellow Americans who are falling through our cracks.
5. Insurance companies are driving are healthcare whether you chose to believe it or not. Right now all across the United States there are insurance representatives walking the halls, looking through your patient records, deciding on the spot whether it is feasible for you to receive certain treatment or to stay an extra day, in which your physician will have to argue to ensure that you, the patient, is receiving the best care that he/she feels you deserve. But because the money is not coming out of your pocket, who is to care right?
6. And last but not least, to make the leap that socialized medicine will lead to socialized government is ludicrous. All I can say is what?
One major question for you about your post...sm
Where is the $250M that O wants to put out coming from? and the $500 he plans to give away?? Oh, I know...he'll just have the Treasury print more money. You need to seriously read more than Wikipedia. Try the IRS filings for starters. If O is elected, we are in for an even more slippery slope for our government.
The major difference between Christians and...
radical Islam is free choice...it is your choice whether or not to accept Christ...we do not chop off heads. THAT is my way or the highway.
Not just my job, DH is the major earner. We shouldn't be.
penalized for working hard.
obama is ahead in all major
polls. Sympathy not required.
You will be glad they are there if we have a major attack...
like a gas attack, a major bombing, dirty bomb, etc. They are trained to handle that situation. The National Guard is not...hence what happened at Kent State. If you would prefer, lobby your congress to have your national guard trained to do this RATHER than the army. Did you ever stop and think this is yet another deterrent to any terrorists who might think about attacking us again? They have faced our military and our military put them on the run. I think it is a great idea. The army are not a bunch drooling bully wingnuts out to strip your civil liberties. They are trying to PROTECT your rights and your physical personf or that matter. They are invested in protecting this nation. they are better equipped to do that than the national guard is.
It sure does, rightly so; here is the major difference I am seeing....sm
Those of us with the temerity to criticize the Bush years and doctrine are met with blind, sickening loyalty, more total denial than a stadium full of junkies, and this is after watching the last 8 years!....Now a new man comes in, yes young, yes not as experienced as I personally wanted, but with new ideas, because all the past doctrines were so tragic and poisonous to the country, and BEFORE HE EVEN TAKES OFFICE or can even get ANYTHING off the ground, he is being criticized and maligned daily here.....heck, many people here have magic crystals balls and keep telling us to watch the doomsday that is about to happen. Now, a wise person can learn from the past, but how can you not call it blind partisanship when Pubs here just keep singing the praises of King George II and dooming the new President and his entire FUTURE legacy?
It was reported on all the major news
All I have do to know what will be posted on this form is watch Fox commentators and read a few conservative websites. All some of you do is regurgitate the half-truths and out-right lies spoon fed to you by people with an agenda. Think for yourselves once in a while.
34 major scandals during bush's first term
34 Major Scandals during Bush's first term:
Again, you are skirting the major issues and the cost...
did you read all the France article? Their physicians make two-thirds less than ours...and why? Because there is no medical school tuition in France. Can you imagine what would happen to this country's quality of care if you made medical schools no tuition? Can you see Cornell Medical School, Harvard Medical School to name just two, schools who graduate the most brilliant minds in medicine...going to a no-tuition basis? How are they going to be able to train physicians with only government doled-out money to support them? The quality of physician in this country, followed rapidly by the quality of care would tank. If you come from academic medicine, ask those physicians how they feel about no tuition medical school and having their fees capped. Go ahead and ask them.
Our own socialized care is substandard. Articles every day about VA Hospitals and the deplorable conditions in many of them. Veterans having to wait weeks and months for appointments, etc. I know. I have seen the system at work. The government cannot oversee the socialized programs they have now. Medicare and Medicaid are both rife with waste and fraud. We all know this. Because the government cannot oversee them the way they should. And you want to extend this to every person in the US? Look at this reality-based. It is a fiasco in the making.
I am sure the Canadians and the UK thought it would be wonderful too. In the first months it may have been. However, things get skewed when the cost starts to catch up. That is when you end up with a population having over HALF their income taken off the top in taxes to feed the fatted calf. You will note that the article said France was considering taxing both earned and unearned income to feed THEIR calf. When that happens, ask the French how they feel about socialized medicine.
I don't know where you get that healthcare costs are driven by insurance companies. That is nuts. They don't set the fees doctors, clinics, drug companies, yada yada, charge. In fact, it was some of the organized insurance companies, like HMOs, who went to clinics, physicians, etc., to negotiate deals for their consumers...so that those clinics would accept a certain rate for their services. The clinics would agree to less than their normal fees in order to get the business of that HMO. That is the free market WORKING. The clinic I go to for my care, when I get a bill, the insurance company shows what they charged, what they paid, and in nice bold letters at the bottom it says that I am not responsible for the difference because the clinic agreed to that amount for that service, regardless of what their normal charge is.
So, yes, in a way insurance companies do drive health care...but in a good way in my case, and I am sure in other cases across this country, if people would just open their eyes and look.
What this appears to be, on the face of it, is that people just do not want to pay for their own insurance, they want to turn it into yet another entitlement...the biggest one ever. If they want to let the government control them to that extent...more power to them. These same people who want to give up their personal right to control their own health care are the same people that complain about civil liberties and wiretapping. Don't tap my phone, but go ahead and take my health care completely out of my hands as long as you pay for it I don't have to.
No thanks. I do not want to be tied to the government for my health care and I do not want them making my decisions for me. One thing leads to another and before long the government (or more specifically, the Democrats) have you tied to them for your every need. Then, my friends, they have you. You will be living in a socialist country. And if that looks good to you...look at Venezuela. Look at the disparity there between those in power and the "people." Look at Cuba. Look at what socialist Germany turned into before World War II. Please look at history, folks. Socialism always evolves into a dictatorship. Always. Because once they have you dependent upon them for your every need...all I am saying is be careful what you ask for.
I've got some major gas here - everyone stand back.
x
Where should president be while major US city drowns?
nm
She has a major superiority complex, doesn't she?
Pathetic, actually.
NO! Major corporate & CEO greed & mismanagement
Same thing happened to Mervyn's Dept. Stores... greedy big company bought them up, then ran them into the ground. They were great stores, too.
No tears shed here for the corporate shake-outs going on in many industries: Auto, financial, stock market, power, etc. I just hope they eventually grab the HEALTH CARE industry by the scruff of the neck and give it a good shaking, as well. NO PITY HERE.
I think a major issue people ignore...(sm)
is why we are a target of terrorism. US policies towards the middle east thus far have been nothing less than selfish. What US news doesn't tell you about is how these policies actually affect people living there, and more often than not it is devastating. That is where it began.
Granted, regardless of how we got here, we're in the middle of it right now and actions should be taken, but not actions like those that have been taken by the Bush administration. The prisoners at Gitmo are a prime example. They should have tried these people to see if they even needed to be there instead of holding them with no charges and torturing them. The ones who are guilty should have gone through the legal system and suffered the consequences whether it be death or imprisonment.
Here's what I see. We went into Iraq on false pretenses about WMDs. We found that to be false, so the cause was changed to saving the people of Iraq from a dictator -- a brutal dictator at that. We were supposed to be providing them with democracy. So, what do you think the Iraqi people think of us now? Have we killed as many people as Saddam did yet? Have we tortured people just like Saddam did? Yes. So, in their eyes, if this is now democracy, how much better is it than what they started out with?
If we are to set the standard by which other democracies use as a guideline, we need to get it right, and that includes respecting the culture, religion and social norms of other countries instead of trying to make them into something they are not.
I think a major issue people ignore...(sm)
is why we are a target of terrorism. US policies towards the middle east thus far have been nothing less than selfish. What US news doesn't tell you about is how these policies actually affect people living there, and more often than not it is devastating. That is where it began.
Granted, regardless of how we got here, we're in the middle of it right now and actions should be taken, but not actions like those that have been taken by the Bush administration. The prisoners at Gitmo are a prime example. They should have tried these people to see if they even needed to be there instead of holding them with no charges and torturing them. The ones who are guilty should have gone through the legal system and suffered the consequences whether it be death or imprisonment.
Here's what I see. We went into Iraq on false pretenses about WMDs. We found that to be false, so the cause was changed to saving the people of Iraq from a dictator -- a brutal dictator at that. We were supposed to be providing them with democracy. So, what do you think the Iraqi people think of us now? Have we killed as many people as Saddam did yet? Have we tortured people just like Saddam did? Yes. So, in their eyes, if this is now democracy, how much better is it than what they started out with?
If we are to set the standard by which other democracies use as a guideline, we need to get it right, and that includes respecting the culture, religion and social norms of other countries instead of trying to make them into something they are not.
Another note: You are saying that terror should be met with like force. So, should Bush be waterboarded?
FEMA needs a major overhaul...Doctor says FEMA ordered him to stop treating hurricane victims.
Doctor says FEMA ordered him to stop treating hurricane victims
By LAURIE SMITH ANDERSON landerson@theadvocate.com
Advocate staff writer
In the midst of administering chest compressions to a dying woman several days after Hurricane Katrina struck, Dr. Mark N. Perlmutter was ordered to stop by a federal official because he wasn't registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
I begged him to let me continue, said Perlmutter, who left his home and practice as an orthopedic surgeon in Pennsylvania to come to Louisiana and volunteer to care for hurricane victims. People were dying, and I was the only doctor on the tarmac (at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport) where scores of nonresponsive patients lay on stretchers. Two patients died in front of me.
I showed him (the U.S. Coast Guard official in charge) my medical credentials. I had tried to get through to FEMA for 12 hours the day before and finally gave up. I asked him to let me stay until I was replaced by another doctor, but he refused. He said he was afraid of being sued. I informed him about the Good Samaritan laws and asked him if he was willing to let people die so the government wouldn't be sued, but he would not back down. I had to leave.
FEMA issued a formal response to Perlmutter's story, acknowledging that the agency does not use voluntary physicians.
We have a cadre of physicians of our own, FEMA spokesman Kim Pease said Thursday. They are the National Disaster Medical Team. ... The voluntary doctor was not a credentialed FEMA physician and, thus, was subject to law enforcement rules in a disaster area.
A Coast Guard spokesman said he was looking into the incident but was not able to confirm it.
Perlmutter, Dr. Clark Gerhart and medical student Alison Torrens flew into Baton Rouge on a private jet loaned by a Pennsylvania businessman several days after Katrina hit. They brought medicine and supplies with them. They stayed the first night in Baton Rouge and persuaded an Army Blackhawk helicopter pilot to fly them into New Orleans the next day.
I was going to make it happen, the orthopedic surgeon said. I was at Ground Zero too, and I had to lie to get in there.
At the triage area in the New Orleans airport, Perlmutter was successful in getting FEMA to accept the insulin and morphine he had brought. The pharmacist told us they were completely out of insulin and our donation would save numerous lives. Still, I felt we were the most-valuable resource, and we were sent away.
Gerhart said the scene they confronted at the airport was one of hundreds of people lying on the ground, many soaked in their own urine and feces, some coding (dying) before our eyes. FEMA workers initially seemed glad for help and asked Gerhart to work inside the terminal and Perlmutter to work out on the tarmac. They were told only a single obstetrician had been on call at the site for the past 24 hours.
Then, the Coast Guard official informed the group that he could not credential them or guarantee tort coverage and that they should return to Baton Rouge. That shocked me, that those would be his concerns in a time of emergency, Gerhart said.
Transported back to Baton Rouge, Perlmutter's frustrated group went to state health officials who finally got them certified -- a simple process that took only a few seconds.
I found numerous other doctors in Baton Rouge waiting to be assigned and others who were sent away, and there was no shortage of need, he said.
Perlmutter spent some time at the Department of Health and Hospital's operational center at Jimmy Swaggart Ministries before moving to the makeshift Kmart Hospital doctors established at an abandoned store to care for patients. After organizing an orthopedics room and setting up ventilators there, Perlmutter went back to the Swaggart Center and then to the LSU Pete Maravich Assembly Center's field hospital to care for patients being flown in from the New Orleans area.
We saw elderly patients who had been off their medicine for days, diabetics without insulin going into shock, uncontrolled hypertension, patients with psychosis and other mental disorders, lots of diarrhea, dehydration and things you would expect. I slept on a patient cot there every night until I came home.
Gerhart said he felt the experience overall was successful and rewarding, although frustrating at times. You don't expect catastrophes to be well organized. A lot of people, both private citizens and government officials, were working very hard.
Perlmutter did not return home empty-handed. He brought a family of four evacuees back with him and is still working with Baton Rouge volunteer Hollis Barry to facilitate the relocation of additional hurricane victims to Pennsylvania.
He also returned with a sense of outrage. I have been trying to call Sen. Arlen Specter (of Pennsylvania) to let him know of our experience.
I have been going to Ecuador and Mexico (on medical missions) for 14 years. I was at ground zero. I've seen hundreds of people die. This was different because we knew the hurricane was coming. FEMA showed up late and then rejected help for the sake of organization. They put form before function, and people died.
Both FEMA and the Coast Guard operate under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which has been widely criticized for its disjointed, slow response to the devastation caused by Katrina. Federal officials are urging medical personnel who want to volunteer to help with disaster relief to contact the Medical Reserve Corps or the American Red Cross for registration, training and organization.
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