Tag Archives: Wikipedia

When Medicine Becomes Totally About Money

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On Wednesday, Townhall posted an article that illustrates what happens which the practice of medicine becomes more about money than about helping people.

In the Wikipedia (general accurate on this sort of thing) entry about the Hippocratic Oath it says:

“First do no harm”

Main article: Primum non nocere

Although it is often said that “First do no harm” (Latin: Primum non nocere) is a part of the original Hippocratic oath, no such phrase from which “First” or “Primum” can be translated appears in the text of the original oath, although a similar intention is vowed by, “I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm”. Another related phrase is found in Epidemics, Book I, of the Hippocratic school: “Practice two things in your dealings with disease: either help or do not harm the patient”[18] and it likely took shape from longstanding popular nonmedical expression.[19]

In the early days of the Oath, it was understood that the Oath was not in favor of either abortion of euthanasia. However, the current medical profession seems to have overlooked that fact.

Townhall reported:

Critics of government-approved “assisted suicide” programs have warned for years that such programs are a slippery slope to wholesale euthanasia at the hands of the state. In Canada, the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) program now euthanizes more people per capita than there are gun deaths in America and more people than dogs. Those people include those with eating disorders, depression, and autism, as well as veterans, the poor, and the chronically ill who can’t get treatment under Canada’s failing socialized medicine system. These people do not have terminal illnesses, which was the selling point of MAiD, remember. They’re just inconvenient, and it’s cheaper for the state to kill them than provide support services.

Every single dire prediction made about MAiD has come true, and Canada is poised to offer the service to infants and children, too.

But they’re not the outlier here. In Switzerland, a woman who lost her son was euthanized. She was reportedly a perfectly healthy 56-year-old woman who needed counseling and support.

Instead, she was killed.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. It is heartbreaking. This is a lady who could have lived a happy, productive life with the proper counseling and emotional support.

The Result Of Losing Accountability

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On Friday, The Federalist posted an article about President Trump’s recent firing of a number of  high-ranking military officers.

An article posted at Military.com in August 2020 reported:

…In April 1945, when we had four five-stars and 13 four-stars…

Wikipedia states:

There are currently 38 active-duty four-star officers in the uniformed services of the United States:

We won a major war with 17 generals. We haven’t won one since.

The article at The Federalist points out:

An “Appeal to Congress” from five former secretaries of defense warns that Donald Trump is firing flag officers, which is unprecedented and an assault on American political norms. This letter is an appalling package of dangerous claims and dumber than a box of rocks. But let’s take a helpful detour before we get into the details.

An essay Thursday from a professor at the U.S. Naval War College makes a similar argument and perfectly represents the moment:

…The president does have the authority to remove these officers; three- and four-star officers hold that rank only while they possess the position of importance and responsibility to which they have been specifically nominated by the president, and they serve at the pleasure of the president. But just because something is legal does not make it wise.

The article summarizes problems with the case made by the generals protesting their firing:

  1. These measures constitute a crisis;
  2. The president does have the authority to remove these officers… and they serve at the pleasure of the president.

It’s a crisis that the president of the United States is exercising authority that he has.

The article at The Federalist concludes:

Ricks (Thomas Ricks, who wrote A History of American Generals) asked three important questions as he noted the sharp trend away from the view that generals can be fired: “How and why did we lose the longstanding practice of relieving generals for failure? Why has accountability declined? And is it connected to the decline in the operational competence of American generals?”

The current president’s decision to fire flag officers isn’t a break with American law and tradition. The “Appeal to Congress” from former secretaries of defense certainly is. The warning about a crisis is the crisis. This dangerous argument needs to be hammered into its grave, quickly and forcefully.

It is time to clean house ALL through the government.

Sometimes The Bias Is In What Is Left Out Of The Story

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When the mainstream media is talking about the appointment of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, they are describing him as a Fox News host (and sometimes mentioning that he is a veteran) and not citing any reason he is qualified for the job. Although I hesitate to use Wikipedia as a source, its biographical information on conservatives tends to be accurate.

This is the information on Pete Hegseth at Wikipedia:

Hegseth was born in Minneapolis and raised in nearby Forest Lake.[6] He attended Forest Lake Area High School, where he graduated in 1999 as the valedictorian. Hagseth played football and basketball.

Hegseth went on to receive his Bachelor of Arts (BA) in politics at Princeton University in 2003.[7] While there, he wrote for the Princeton Tory[8] and played basketball for the Tigers under coach John Thompson III.[9][10] Their team made the NCAA tournament in 2001. They were knocked out in the first round by North Carolina, then captained by Brendan Haywood.[11][12]

In 2013, he received a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.[13]

…Following graduation from Princeton in 2003, Hegseth joined Bear Stearns as an equity capital markets analyst and was also commissioned as an infantry officer in the Minnesota National Guard.[15] In 2004 his unit was called to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, where he served as an infantry platoon leader with the Minnesota Army National Guard. His unit was under the operational control of the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment 101st Airborne Division. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal. Shortly after returning from Cuba, Hegseth volunteered to serve in Baghdad and Samarra, where he held the position of infantry platoon leader and, later in Samarra, as Civil–Military Operations Officer. During his time in Iraq, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, and a second Army Commendation Medal.[16][citation needed]

He returned to active duty in 2012 as a captain. He deployed to Afghanistan with the Minnesota Army National Guard and acted as a senior counterinsurgency instructor at the Counterinsurgency Training Center in Kabul.[citation needed]

To me that sounds like a pretty good resume’ for a Secretary of Defense. It’s amazing how very little of those qualifications are being mentioned by the mainstream media. Generally the comment is ‘he’s a Fox News commentator and a veteran.’ None of the other qualifications are mentioned.

The Fruits Of A Failed Welfare System

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Our government welfare system has failed. It has destroyed the black family and undermined the white family. It has trapped many people into poverty that they are not able to escape. It has convinced many talented and capable people that they cannot be successful and left them poor and discouraged. It has also created in some people the idea that they are entitled. To what are they entitled? Anything they think they should have.

I attended a meeting tonight where one of the issues was collection of electric bills. About six percent of the residents of the city involved are seriously delinquent in payment of their electric bills. Since the electric bills are part of the city government, the city is making an effort to collect some of the debt. The proposed method of collection involves deposits to be paid over a period of time and payment of overdue bills. The alternative method would be to forgive the debt and raise the rates on everyone–including the people who routinely pay their bills.

The meeting was packed with people complaining that they could not pay their electric bills or the deposit and did not want their electricity turned off. It really doesn’t work that way. We have government programs that provide a safety net for poor people. We provide food stamps, public housing, rent assistance, etc.

I have run out of patience. I am reminded of the book “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie” by Laura Numeroff.

Wikipedia describes the book:

The book is known for its playful, circular pattern. A boy gives a cookie to a mouse. The mouse asks for a glass of milk. He then requests a straw (to drink the milk), a mirror (to avoid a milk mustache), nail scissors (to trim his hair), and a broom (to sweep up). Next he wants to take a nap, to have a story read to him, to draw a picture, and to hang the drawing on the refrigerator. Looking at the refrigerator makes him thirsty, so the mouse asks for a glass of milk. The circle is complete when he wants a cookie to go with it.

I do have compassion for the poor, but I am not convinced that anything we are currently doing to help them is actually helpful. There are many poor people who are very capable of success. Somehow we have to teach them this and give them the tools to achieve success. The War on Poverty has created generations of people who, because they are paid to do nothing, are denied the opportunity to accomplish something. That needs to end.

Some Common Sense In The Gun Debate

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This is a video of Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, New Jersey. The video was posted at Breitbart.com.

This is what the Mayor said:

To me, the data should drive our decision making. So I know, I’m not afraid of people having guns who are law abiding citizens. In the analysis of gun murders and shootings in my city, I could only find one in the entire time I’ve been mayor – and unfortunately there have been hundreds and hundreds – where a person who was involved in a shooting where they had their gun legally, where they legally acquired their gun. The guns that are causing carnage in our cities, my city and our country, every single year are acquired illegally.

Newark, New Jersey, is the second largest city in the New York metropolitan area.

Wikipedia gives us a picture of crime in the city:

In 1996, Time magazine ranked Newark “The Most Dangerous City in the Nation.” By 2007, however, the city recorded a total of 99 homicides for the year, representing a significant drop from the record of 161 murders set in 1981. The number of murders in 2008 dropped to 65, a decline of 30% from the previous year and the lowest in the city since 2002 when there were also 65 murders.

In 2011, Newark recorded 90 homicides, after experiencing 86 homicides in 2010. Overall, there was a 6% increase in crime numbers over the previous year, including a rise in carjackings for the third straight year. Along with the increase in crime, the Newark Police Department increased its recovery of illegally owned guns in 2011 to 696, up from 278 in 2010.

After being forced to lay off 162 officers due to economic reasons in 2010, the NPD was able to rehire eight of those officers in 2012, with plans for another 17 rehires later in the year.

Mayor Booker was elected in 2006. He is an inspiring mayor to watch–recently he rescued a young woman from a burning building and came to the aid of a dog that had been left out in the extreme cold. We need more mayors (and people involved in politics) like Mayor Booker–he tells the truth and does what’s right!

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Why Wikipedia Is Blacked Out Today

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This is what you will see when to go to Wikipedia today:

For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more.

The U.K. Telegraph posted a story today about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). Congress will be voting on the bill today. The intentions of SOPA are valid–stop the piracy of intellectual private property–it’s just that Congress, as usual, has gone overboard.

The Telegraph reports:

Spurred on by big media companies, the latest effort by governments to stamp out piracy comes in the form of two bills from the US Congress: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA).

According to these acts, if a US site (or a foreign site that has its domain name registered in the US) is found to be “committing or facilitating the commission” of copyright infringment, then, on the request of a rights holder, it is subject to seizure in a way that many scholars believe violates due process, depriving people of a fair hearing and suppressing free speech.

One of the major problems with SOPA is the lack of due process. Unfortunately, our current Justice Department has a very uneven record on law enforcement–prosecutions often have a political aspect (Fast and Furious, Black Panther voter intimidation, the list goes on). Do we really want to give the government the power to shut down an Internet site? Will SOPA prevent me from quoting the sites I reference? Will SOPA allow the government to shut down any site that disagrees with the administration politically? There are simply too many unanswered questions.

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