N.C. Governor Beverly Perdue is hosting a healthcare reform meeting in Greensboro today. I'm sure it will be the toast of the town . . . and that all of the left-leaning N.C. news outlets will swoon over every word uttered at the latest state-sponsored dog & pony show.
Obama has all the answers. Especially when the questions are fixed.
I cannot attend as I am on-call down East. And despite dropping a number of hints on this blog (which I know is being read by folks in Raleigh & Washington), I was not invited . . . so I could tell my current employer that the Governor invited me to a big important meeting on healthcare reform . . . could they please find me a sub for today?
What do you want to bet that Bob Morrison and/or Steven Eblin will be front and center at Bev's latest party?
Of course, Bev doesn't really want to hear what I think. She never has. More to the point, she doesn't want other people to hear either. You see, it would be "embarrassing" . . . especially for people like Keith Crisco (now in her administration) . . . local leaders well-practiced at turning a deaf ear (Keith's not the only one) in order to protect their very important friends running Randolph Hospital from the consequences of their actions.
I mean, I've known and respected Stan Haywood for years - he and his wife, Hope, were good friends to my Mama when she was in working as a teacher in the school system. But like Keith and other Asheboro/Randolph County leaders . . . and like the big-gun doctors at the hospital (Jim Kinlaw, Bob Scott, Charles Stout, the rest) . . . he simply turned a blind eye and a deaf ear when Irene's daughter was professionally robbed, raped and left for dead by Bob Morrison & company.
City Council members and County Commissioners don't have to care when public money is wasted and good Pediatricians are drummed out of town. They've always said it was not their concern . . . or jurisdiction. But hey, they have their fingers on the pulse of the community.
So I have to roll my eyes and groan when I read stuff like this in the local weekly:
“Government needs to stay out of the lives of we citizens,” he said. “We can govern ourselves better than they can. We know we can do better than the communists in Washington."
Actually, NO Stan. You can't. You haven't. When it comes to the case of Dr. Mary Johnson vs. your beloved Randolph Hospital, all the "right people" who run Asheboro have acted just like a bunch of fricking communists.
The brand of conservatism you-all practice gives "red-state" a whole new meaning.
On that note, I'd like to share a story. I returned to my little apartment down East late on Sunday night to find that the water had been turned off. It was fairly annoying because after a long road trip and unpacking the cats/car, I tend to want to take a shower before I go to bed.
Of course, after making several calls to the hospital (whose responsibility it is to pay the bill), it was determined that nothing could be done that night. I went in the next morning to use the shower in the nurse's lounge.
That snafu was made even more annoying by another snafu. You see, the small/rural hospital I work for is trying to save money, and the doctors who cover for me the week I am gone stay at the apartment instead of at a B&B or hotel. There are extra bedrooms upstairs at the apartment (I keep them closed off so I don't have to chase the cats everywhere) . . . but no extra bedroom furniture . . . and the hospital has decided that they do not want to go to that expense.
I'm not complaining. With the economy in the tank, it's a decision I completely understand. And despite what Bob Morrison told everybody in Asheboro, I'm a team player.
So in the days before I left on my break, cleaning the apartment and getting it ready for someone else (and his wife), I moved all of the bedroom furniture into one of the other bedrooms (in order to preserve just a little bit of privacy in terms of my closet & bathroom space) . . . then carefully made up the bed and closed it off. It was very hard on my chronically sore ankle (it's a fair bet that despite many weeks of ministrations, the ligament is still torn) . . . and my healing knee/fractured tibia . . . but I got it done.
I decided to bring an old air mattress back to sleep on in my room . . . so I could just leave the "guest" bedroom as is . . . and not have to clean it/move things again. But alas, when I pumped the thing full of air and laid down on it, I realized there was a leak. By the wee morning hours, I was pretty much sleeping on two layers of vinyl and a sheet over a very hard floor.
Without a bath and sleeping on the floor, I did not sleep well. I was sore all over Monday morning . . . and quite the grump.
This, you see, is the real front line of rural medicine. People who ride in limos don't get it.
Yesterday, the hospital quickly straightened out the bill (they had actually paid it -but the city had been credited payment to the wrong account) and got the water turned back on. And I went to WalMart and bought a new air mattress and foam pad (I plan to deduct those as a business expense).
And last night, I finally got some sleep.
That's where we get to the title of this post. Shortly after I had drifted off to sleep, a friend called and woke me up. He was furious over a new TV ad he had seen on Fox 8.
The ad, of course, was for Randolph Hospital. Something about envelopes and breast cancer and mammograms and "care you can trust" (that one always makes me gag). My friend said it was obviously an expensive ad.
And WHY, he ranted, had Fox 8 not covered my story of medical-legal woe?
In other words, why was the Randolph County District Attorney able to completely shut this case down without so much as an investigation? Why are these prosecutors news . . . and not what's been going on in Asheboro?
For you see, my friend (and several others) have actually called or e-mailed the station on several occasions . . . and asked them to look into it.
After listening to the rant . . . exhausted and sore and wanting desperately for the Motrin to kick in - and to be able chase the sheep who were escaping into the land of Nod . . . I patiently explained (again) that newspapers and TV stations are all about ad revenue. The TV spot was an expensive bit of fluff, putting big money in the station's coffers, and there is no way Fox 8 is going to bite the hand that feeds.
Ditto for News 2 . . . and the N&R . . . and (of course) the Courier-Tribune.
When you think about it, they're all a bunch of "communists";););)
Never mind that sucking up to the corporate advertisers is the biggest reason (in my humble opinion) that newspapers are dying . . . indeed it's the reason this country is in the awful fix it's in. The newshounds stopped sniffing for news. They got comfortable and phat on the rose-colored sound bites. They guzzled the Kool-Aid, and merrily skipped forward (over the dead bodies of those who blew the whistle), and emphasized the positive and kept the lid clamped down on the negative.
Never mind that newspapers are supposed to be all about speaking truth to power . . . and making sure dissent is reported and heard.
Then the bubbles burst. And the JR's of this world (?who amazingly are still employed?) cannot understand what happened.
The news media . . . especially the local media . . . has no credibility anymore.
Digesting the explanation, my friend grumbled some more, but eventually I was able to hang up and grab the tail of that last sheep hopping over the fence into the land of Nod.
I slept well.
It is my sincere hope that Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin are not.
And Bev, you & the Obamas can hold all the forums you like. But you are not going to change or fix anything in healthcare until you stop hand-picking your audience . . . and start listening to those of us who have been badly burned on the front lines . . . you know . . .
. . . the "wrong people" you've previously thrown under your damned limo.
Afternoon Update: The N&R/Mark Binker's coverage of the event.
This killed me:
Perdue cited North Carolina’s system of community care networks – systems that help provide primary care for the uninsured and under-insured – as examples of things that could help solve national health care problems.
Yeah, sure Bev. Whatever you say. Maybe I'd drink your Kool-Aid if doctors participating in those programs were not generally regarded (and treated) as being "a dime a dozen". Maybe I'd buy it if I had not spent eleven years trying to get some justice after being screwed over by one of those community "networks" just thirty miles south of where you spoke today.
And Bev, I gotta say. For someone so concerned about accountability and transparency in state government and public programs, you've certainly be no help whatsoever.
I've heard it all before, Bev. Jim Hunt cared. Clinton cared. Easley cared. Edwards cared. Now Obama cares. And look at the fix we're all in now. Look at what I've been through as a doctor.
Moreover, I do not see the N&R's Mark Binker (who fordamnedsure knows this "average citizen" is in the blogosphere) challenging Perdue's statement . . . say by asking ANY questions about what happened to Dr. Mary Johnson in Asheboro.
The Obama staffer who co-chaired today's dog & pony show, Nancy-Ann DeParle, said this, “The personal stories are really something you take back.”
Again. Yeah, sure. Whatever.
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Haywood took a swat at the administration of President Barack Obama, saying less government is better. “Government needs to stay out of the lives of we citizens,” he said. “We can govern ourselves better than they can. We know we can do better than the communists in Washington.
Jeez, someone ought to tell Stan that the only true "communists" are now found in North Korea and Cuba, and there are some doubts about Cuba. I suppose China doesn't count, but they're far more frightening when you consider what they've done to our economy, and what can happen if they quit buying our dollars (they proposed a new "world" currency due to the wild swings in the dollar, that would put us deep in the crapper).
Oh, isn't ol' Stan a pharmacist? Holy Toledo Batman! You don't suppose he ever takes "guv'ment" money for medicines does he? Could this mean that he, he....HE IS INVOLVED IN A FORM OF SOCIALIZED MEDICINE???? Heaven forbid, a pinko right there in Asheboro. And, who would have ever suspected it?
As I said, I've long held Stan in higher regard than the average Randolph County politico. He was kind to me when others were not. He said hello when I came in to pick up prescriptions at Prevo's - as opposed to ducking out - or moving across the room.
But the remark touched a very deep cord - especially since I've been fighting this battle since the Clintons were in office.
Stan and others like him could have done a great deal more to help me . . . and to see Morrison & Eblin held accountable for the very expensive screw they turned on Pediatrics as a specialty in Asheboro, and by extension, the children of Randolph County . . . many of whom now are forced to rely upon PA's at the Merce clinic for care.
Indeed, I've seen NO EVIDENCE whatsoever that the local politicos (Republican & Democrat) who, in fact, boldly led this town to it's ranking as the fourth fastest dying town in America have any special gift with regards to doing what's best for the citizens . . . ALL of the citizens (not just the "right people") . . . of Asheboro and Randolph County.
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