"Steve Was Delicious"

Totally sick.  Still laughing.

The Battle of Asheboro's "Brand": "City of Connections" Or "Socially Incestuous" - You Decide

Ray Criscoe, Editor of Asheboro's Courier Tribune, has an exceptionally high opinon of himself and his own ideas.

On Wednesday, much like the leaders of the City of Asheboro, I had my own "lukewarm response" to the City's latest "brand name" ("Home and Heart" being kind of a bust for the doctor who had hers skewered courtesy of Mr. Criscoe's very important friends - friends who must be protected from the consequences of their actions at ALL COSTS).

But as I said in the first post, I simply can't hold it against the poor girl who is now in charge of "marketing" Asheboro to the outside world.  She's not got a lot to work with.  That's the way it is when a town has been sucked dry.

Anyway, our man Ray, making like George Bush (I do miss him these days) and Sarah Palin, thought the term sounded too "educationese".  So working with his tight circle of reporters (who cannot seem to hold pens upright - or who walk out of City Council meetings at inopportune moments in order to count their money) Ray came up with his own suggestion:

"Asheboro:  City of Connections"

And what do you know?  Everyone present LOVED Ray's idea.  Why frowning eyebrows turned upside down (it sounds like bad Dr. Seuss)! 

Ray's idea was PERFECT!  It was a "proud statement".  Not quite an "active" phrase, but "a tease".  It makes no mention of our tired, old zoo, and establishes that Asheboro is a "city" not a town (like that pitiful Seagrove just 15 miles south - a place I'm particularly fond of that our Ray apparently doesn't want to be connected to).

Oh, and (best of all) it makes people wonder . . . what kind of connections?

Well, boys and girls, I can help with that.  For it brings us back to the "right people" whose deft stewardship of our town put it on Forbes 2008 list of "Fastest Dying Towns" . . . the kind of stewardship that has residents now debasing themselves to Reader's Digest in order to get $40,000 to upgrade a theater that only the "right people" use.

These are the kind of connections that allowed a home-grown Pediatrician in public service to be thrown out on the street for standing up to the threats of MORONS and saving a baby's life . . . the kind of connections that winked and nodded while said MORONS turned around and (unsuccessfully) sued her for "libel" because she had the guts to tell the truth to the state and Federal governments she served . . . the kind of connections that allowed the MORONS to keep their jobs, despite repeatedly LYING UNDER OATH in order to get their way . . . their way including one of them walking away last year with a $700,000/year salary.

These are the kind of connections that let hard-working, productive public servants be fired for bogus reasons, because the County can't figure out out to pay them.

These are the kinds of connections that destroy the lives of city employees because they know something the public wasn't supposed to know.

These are the kinds of connections that will let our "city" be turned into a regional trash dump for money.

These are the kind of connections that allowed N.C. Commerce Secretary/former Asheboro Councilman Keith Crisco to hob and nob former Community One CEO, Mike Miller (he's the guy whose stewardship of a once-stable institution allowed it to lose almost $250 million dollars in three years), into the President's chair at Pfeiffer College - a job he was uniquely unqualified for.

These are the kinds of connections that allow public money to be used to the disadvantage of private business owners . . . and for the people sitting on "non-profit" boards to plead privacy and close their books when a member of the public wants to know who they are and what's in the books.

These are the kinds of connections that allow local developers to walk away from obligations with no consequences whatsoever (they could just dump the road-built-to-minimum-specifications on the city when the neighborhood got annexed)

These are the kinds of connections that have people from all walks of life in Asheboro now e-mailing and calling ME (???) to tell me their stories . . . as opposed to seeking out the so-called "journalists" at our USELESS, SUCK-UP, YES-CORPORATE-MASTER-ANYTHING-YOU-SAY-CORPORATE-MASTER newspaper.

These are the kind of connections that keeps Ray's seat at the Courier warm when he and his reporters zombies wouldn't recognize a story if it bit them in their folksy tushes.

Oh, and lest we forget, Asheboro's got a "high cotton" connection in Raleigh now . . . courtesy of religiously insensitive, sexist, puerile, dead-wrong-with-his-"facts" and NOT FUNNY, Harold Brubaker.

So yeah, I can understand why Ray thinks it's brilliant.  But Ray is a putz.  He's never understood that a town that only hears the "yes-men" - and does not tolerate dissent - or expose/cut out the rot - is doomed to die a slow, ugly death - no matter how many Interstates/drug routes run through it.  And Asheboro is THERE. 

You simply cannot fix what's wrong in the present unless you talk about what's been done wrong in the past, and that's what a newspaper is for.

Runnng your town like Stalin is NOT something to be proud of.

But in Asheboro, you can't get past the happy, upbeat headlines fronting the paywall. Look forward.  Skip over the bodies.  Move on along, nothing to see.

And that's what outsiders are doing.

So I'm thinking that a variation on a previous theme here at Houscalls ("Asheboro:  Incestuously Incestuous"), gets Ray's "message" across in a far more accurate and memorable manner.

But, much like all the "national attention" the Forbes article got us, I'm still not sure it's memorable in a good way;)

Bad Medical Luck: Continuing A Family Tradition

As I alluded last week, my "baby" brother (an airline pilot) fell very ill last Thursday while on a layover and wound up in a hospital on a surgical service in northern Kentucky.  Yesterday, he was discharged there, traveled back home by car (his wife drove up to get him), and was re-admitted to a local hospital here late last night.

It's been a scary week, but he finally seems to be turning the corner.  We all feel better that he's "home".  My Mother, of all people, actually suggested today that I blog about some of our frustrations (as a family) with the medical system in this instance . . . and why we feel he was initially poorly served (both by the ED and admitting physicians) in Kentucky.  I'm thinking about it - but will need to clear it through him first.

One thing is for sure.  He's almost got his sister beat on bad medical luck.

Of course, until he has a surgical orifice drilled into his face/skull in the wrong place, he'll just have to stand in line.

Not Standing Idly By . . .

The N&O reports today that the now-Republican-controlled N.C. House is not wasting any time in adding North Carolina to the list of 26 other states now challenging Obamacare in Federal Court.

Democrats are complaining about being shut out of the process.

Having been shut out of their process for going on 13 years, it totally works for me.  It also works for me that Roy Cooper & company may actually have to WORK for their salaries.

Old Pianos

Interesting way to get rid of Grandma's grand.  Hope they gutted the strings first.

"False Promise"

I didn't watch the State of the Union.  I know it's not sound.

Meanwhile, the government bean-counters are saying the promises of Obamacare smell like the air after downing a bowl of beans.

On "Creating Connections"

The local newspaper is not the only entity in Asheboro out-of-touch with reality.  The City of Asheboro's new marketing tagline is "Creating Connections".  Makes me want to run out to the zoo and stick my head in a shark tank.  But wait.  They don't have a shark tank . . .

. . . unless you count the hospital . . . or the Courthouse . . . where "networking" and "fitting in" with all the "right people" is the key to happiness in our small, dying town.

Truth is, "Come as you are" didn't really work so well for a lot of smart, ethical, idealistic young professionals who took the bait before.  We had to play the game of suck-up-to-the-mill-town-brass - and if we didn't we were toast.  Many left town.  My own experience played out more like "Nightmare on Worth Street (because everything that happened after this, I really owe to the lawyers trying to cover Bob and Steve's overpaid tails)".

On the bright side, I guess everybody realized that "Home and Heart/Hearth" wouldn't work over the Hellmouth.  And you can really blame the city's new marketing consultant given what and who she has to work with.  I really do feel sorry for the girl.

In terms of cleaning up Asheboro's image, I'm still wondering what they all plan to do about "that blog that nobody reads".  "Housecalls" is the elephant in the room that no one has wanted to acknowledge.  And ignoring Dr. Mary's story/plight has not worked.

Alas, for all of the "right people" and their precious "connections", doing something about that blog nobody reads means they're going to have to start a fire under the feet of the overpaid, over-rated non-profiteers who screwed up and abused their power/position and even broke the law in order to pummel the homegirl who did her duty and saved a baby's life. 

They're going to have to give two of their own an ultimatum . . . or, in the alternative, throw them under the bus.

OBTW, I bet I know who wanted to hire a consultant.  He makes over $700,000 a year.

Asheboro's Courier Tribune: A Newspaper Fundamentally Out-Of-Touch With The Community - And Reality

Yesterday was a busy day - much of it spent at NCBH getting an MRI of my noggin after a series of mis-steps on the ice.  All is as well as it can be.  I have a "a beautiful (healthy) brain".  I also took a number of phone calls from my brother - who is still in the hospital in Kentucky, but (thankfully) finally slowly getting better after a change in his antibiotic regimen (to what Big Sis thought he should have been on in the first place).

It's a good thing too.  Mary was getting read to summon the monkeys.

Came home late yesterday to get a good chuckle out of Edward-Cone-of-the-Cone's latest dig on the sad/sorry state of journalism in this country. 

When it comes to crappy local journalism, Edward Cone knows it all

Lifted from the Gawker article Cone linked:

. . . consider the new newspaper landscape:  America's two best papers, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, sit behind paywalls.  Once-great papers like the Washington Post and the LA Times—already eroded by economics and niche online competitors—find that they simply aren't good enough to make a paywall work;  it would drive away too many readers to readily available free competitors. (See Newsday, for example.)  Second-tier papers will continue to cut costs and get worse.  First-tier papers will become must-reads for the economically advantaged people who can afford to pay for them.  The cost of breaking into that first tier will be very, very high—prohibitive, in fact, for most current newspaper companies that aren't already there.

While Ed Cone-of-the-untouchable-Cones was writing columns for the hometown newspaper (the Greensboro News & Record) that is now the subject of his poorly-disguised hostility (hummmmmmm . . . I wonder it you could call that "cyber-bullying"?), down here in Asheboro yours truly was actually LIVING the consequences of the hometown newspaper having been in bed with "the right people" for almost two decades.

Suckered into the "citizen journalism" scene back in 2005 (one of the N&R's most boldly spectacular failures - because John Robinson & company could never could step out of their own comfort zone), Yours Truly actually talked about it a great deal on her blog . . . as perhaps the biggest problem contributing to her inability to get our systems of medical and legal oversight to work the way the law says they're supposed to work.  But Edward Cone and his very progressive friends in the Greensboro blogosphere could not be bothered with "old news" and "ancient history".  "Wack-job" Mary needed to "get over it" and "move on."

In short, in the one area-of-life where Edward Cone-of-THE-MOSES-CONE-HEALTHCARE SYSTEM-CONES did have practical expertise and some influence (as opposed to all of the other areas of life he liberally pontificates about) . . . and in one case/life where he might have made a real difference, Cone and his enlightened others totally dropped the ball.

Of course, now that sold-out-to-the-corporate-kleptocrats journalism is biting Edward and Lex and all of the progressive rest in the ass, it's something to blog about.

(They're all a bunch of wack-jobs, dontcha know.)

This week in Asheboro, the Courier Tribune reported on the demise of local construction company, J.H. Allen.  The mighty continue to fall here. 

Now the Courier, as part of a grand experiment being conducted by its "parent company" (using already teetering-on-the-brink, expendable newspapers in its stable), dived behind a paywall late last year.  For the reasons cited in the Gawker article above, it was an incredibly STUPID business decision . . . because in order for something like that to work, you first have to have a product that the reading public respects and trusts . . .

. . . a product with integrity and credibility.

For reasons well-known to readers, I will NEVER, EVER pay another dime for the Courier's offerings, but I have several friends with subscriptions who delight in sending me the text of articles they think I might find interesting.

I don't dare quote anything from these articles lest I be targeted as a defendant in one of the parent company's "copyright infringement" lawsuits (and we all know how I might react to being SLAPP'ed again).  So I'll summarize.  The article on J.H.Allen's demise listed its many accomplishments over the years - including building an expansion to Randolph Hospital (my Dad told me a good story about that a number of years ago - an anecdote that makes Robert Morrison's $700,000/year salary - something you most definitely will not be reading about in the Courier - all the more CRIMINALLY ABSURD).  The piece then went on to talk about the general state of the construction business nationwide . . . dropping crumbs of hope that probably do not exist on the local plane - because if J.H. Allen cannot make it work in Asheboro, it's likely no one can.

But the piece-de-resistance in the Courier's offerings this week has been yet another ditty featuring Mike Miller, former CEO of Community One (formerly First National Bank of Asheboro). 

Regular readers know all about Mike's LEGENDARY "stewardship" of the bank . . . in that greedy/STUPID Mikey managed to lose around 250 MILLION dollars in bad deals over three years . . . with the bank's stock dropping from around 30 dollars/share to (at one time) below 30 cents a share . . . and now men-in-dark-suits-running-in-packs-at-all-hours-of-the-day-and-night are directing the show . . . with SunTrust Bank set to pick up what's left of Humpty Dumpty.  Miller "retired" last year . . . moving on to Dancing with the Randolph County Stars . . . and then skipping on over to assume the helm of Pfeiffer University . . . in an clearly-under-the-table-"inside-job"-stinky-deal engineered with help from N.C. Commerce Secretary "Evil" Keith Crisco.

Right people take care of their own.

The Courier wants to re-hab Mikey (not-to-mention Randolph Tech), so now Asheboro is getting regular Pfeiffer College University updates.  This one was about Mike appointing a new VP of "Advancement" . . . which translates to VP of Fund-raising (something that might have taken a hit with the appointment of a grossly unqualified-compared-to-the-competition Miller as President).

Indeed, if I were a parent at Pfeiffer, I would have pulled my kid out.  Mike Miller's soft landing, after destroying the finances of so many, is not a life lesson I would want to support with my tuition dollars - or even passively endorse. 

But we're back to the people publishing the Courier Tribune being fundamentally clueless about what it's going to take to save their paper and their jobs . . . people who are "arrogant and cliquish" in ways that Laurie Anderson and I could not have begun to aspire to back when oily Steve Eblin was calling us names for doing our jobs like we were . . . oh, I don't know . . . Pediatricians.  Asheboro's reality is that our local "newspaper" has lost all touch with the ordinary subscription-buying community - the very (increasingly disinterested/skeptical) audience for their pricey ads.  In bed with its corporate ad-masters for years, the Courier Tribune cannot be trusted to report anything objectively or fairly.  And forget investigative journalism.  After all, who is gonna do it?  JD Walker (she who puts down her pen)?  Chip Womick (the man who'll take the city's money and run)?  Annette Jordan (do as we say, not as we wink and nod at)?  Puhlease. 

Speaking truth to power just doesn't happen in Asheboro.  People get hurt when they try.

I've watched, with dismay, a small group of "right people" endlessly hob and nob and literally MURDER my hometown.  If were the kind of thing that could be prosecuted (yeah, I know, I made a FUNNY), the Courier Tribune could be charged as an accomplice.

And in a bad economy, where-so-many-of-us-know-the-score-of-the-game-that's-always-been-rigged, people are even less likely to want to pay for the spin when they can get their news for free elsewhere.

But alas, when the Courier falls, it will be like hearing a tree fall in the forest.  We don't have another local daily to report the demise . . .

. . . and unfortunately, lately, the Randolph Guide seems to be marching along in the same steps.

Harold Brubaker Is NOT An Improvement Over What We Had In Raleigh. He's What We Had.

I woke up this morning - after a scary couple of days - sat down with my Sunday morning coffee, and started to surf. 

And what should greet me at the Raleigh N&O?  Why "Mista Speaka" Harold Brubaker smiling back at me - in a mug shot that he's obviously been practicing for a long time - his hand curled just under his chin in a come-hither pose worthy of Dr. Evil.

(I'm thinking that Harold's oblivous to the analogy and the photographers at the Dem-loving N&O suckered him into the pose.)

Brubaker is one of the new "power-brokers" in Raleigh, you see.

I waxed poetic on Harold - and his counterpart, Howard Coble, in the U.S. House of Representatives last week - when it was announced that Harold would probably serve as "Chief Co-Chair" of North Carolina's House Appropriations Committee.

It makes me sick to see Brubaker snuggle up to Tea Party types (amongst whom I could myself - at least in spirit) these days - and style himself/his others as the embodiment of hope and change in Raleigh. 

It's not just a lie, it's a damned lie.

Because when I needed Harold . . . to stand up and be a man . . . to actually BE (rather than seen to be) my representative in Raleigh . . . to question how and why a local "non-profit" hospital completely disregarded the mission and intent of state and Federal programs and used/abused/illegally-manhandled a home-grown Pediatrician-in-public-service, Harold Brubaker was NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.

Harold, you see, had to live in this town.

Brubaker was also featured last week in the Courier Tribune.  A friend called me up after reading the fawning-drool-poorly-disguised-as-news . . . incensed that our dear Harold and his budget-conscious friends were pontificating that "nothing is sacred" (like I didn't already know that) . . . and that the new Sheriffs in Raleigh were even going to hold the feet of "non-profits" to the fire.

(I dare not quote the Courier - despite the Fair Use Doctrine - lest I be sued by their "parent company" for "copyright infringement".  Oh, and hey, did you hear that the new publisher will be Dancing with the Randolph County Stars?  So much for journalistic integrity in Asheboro, eh?.)

In various public appearances, Harold has been bashing the pay of ordinary public servants like teachers for months now . . . all the while winking and nodding at Robert Morrison's $700,000/year haul from Randolph Hospital.

But Bob's a "moderate businessman", you see.  So it's okay if he's the non-profit sector's version of Mike Miller.  We mere plebes are supposed to suck-it-up-and-deal-with-it.

I laughed.  And I told my friend that until some of our new "Sheriffs" in Raleigh (so concerned with ethics and the rule of law and responsibility/accountability) directed the Attorney General of North Carolina to explain the concept and consequences of PERJURY to Randolph Hospital executives . . . or themselves drafted amendments to the North Carolina Medical Practice Act that really protected medical whistle-blowers from the kind of CRAP I've endured for doing my duty as defined by the NC Medical Board (courtesy of "moderate businessmen" - aka "corporate kleptocrats" - monopolizing public resources in their never-ending search for a fast buck), I wasn't going to hold my breath on the miracles to be wrought by Dr. Evil Harold Brubaker in Raleigh.

Our Harold, like politicians who have come and gone before him, does not seem to realize that you can only snow the public for so long.  In order to keep your power, you have to BE what you say you are.

In my case, that means Harold Brubaker grows a set, and asks the Attorney General to investigate and prosecute what Randolph Hospital did to Dr. Mary Johnson, state & Federal public servant - while the other much-more progressive, ethical, accountable, moral political party was in power.

Barring that miracle, I said it in the N&O comments, and I'll say it here at Housecalls. 

Harold Brubaker is NOT an improvement over what we had in Raleigh.  He's what we had.

Leave The Poor Woman Be

I am very sorry Gabby Giffords got shot.  I am utterly amazed at how well she has done.  But it is way past the time for the media to STOP with the daily updates of her every blink and nod.  Give the woman and her family time and space to recover/heal.

Give her some privacy.

On My Not-So-Secret Power To Summon Flying Monkeys

My brother, an airline pilot, has been in a hospital in northern Kentucky for two days - after falling very ill during a layover.  Big sis is frustrated on the sidelines - as her baby brother is alone and doped-up.  To top it all off, he's on a surgical service, and, as is often the case with doctors-treated-as-inapproachable gods, answers have not exactly been forthcoming. 

And now it's a weekend . . . with six inches of snow on the ground there, and flights cancelled.

Yesterday, in sharing some of these frustrations with the freaky Mennonite during rounds, I mentioned that there is a family history of varigate porphyria.  It is a rare genetic disorder of heme metabolism that is both autosomal dominant and "variably-expressive" . . . basically meaning that it can appear to skip generations and that not all who are affected have serious symptoms.  Based on family lore, I'm fairly certain my Great-GrandMother Blanche had it (I actually tracked the disorder through the family tree for a paper I did in college).  And I have a distant cousin (actually, I think he's technically an Uncle-once-removed) with the full-blown disease who has been followed for years at Duke. 

My Mother has had life-threatening problems with anesthesia in the past, and we're both "allergic" to sulfa drugs - cannot tolerate them at all.  And everyone in the family knows that pale, lily-white Mary . . . with her super-sensitive skin . . . is a night-owl, and "allergic" to the sun.  Mother and I have made a point of mentioning the disease whenever we go under anesthesia - it simultaneously excites and terrifies any Anesthesiologist worth their salt.

My brother has never had any problems that one would associate with the disease, but I did not want to be taking any chances with antibiotics.

When I mentioned porphyria, the Mennonite looked at me quizzically and asked, "Porphyria"?

"Think, the legend of the vampire", I responded.  "Or the madness of King George".

Insert pregnant pause.

"So," she said wryly, with a WICKED smile on her face,  "You REALLY CAN summon the flying monkeys?".

Score three point for the freaky Mennonite.  Nothing but net.

Why yes, my pretty.  And I just may sic them on some doctors in Kentucky before the end of the day.

A "House Of Horrors" With White Walls

This story . . . about the Philadelphia "doctor" who performed late-term abortions on infants - and killed the babies who survived the "procedure" by inserting a pair of scissors into the back of their necks and severing their spinal cords . . . has been a hot topic in the break room today.  It was hard to keep the coffee down.

I just have one question.  Exactly WHERE was the Pennsylvania Board of Medicine when this was going on?  You CANNOT tell me that this guy was not on their radar - by virtue of the colleagues "far and wide" who knew what kind of services he offered.

Since it's so easy for doctors to KILL babies in Pennsylvania without anyone blinking, I suppose I should not be surprised that I was professionally eviscerated in North Carolina for saving one's life.

Hey, Diane (Winnemuller) . . . Did The Courier Miss A Story?

People watching the Courier Tribune and scratching their heads at its recent dive behind a paywall (an incomprehensibly STUPID decision) . . . and before that, the banning of commentary from long-disenfranchised citizens like, say, me . . . are wondering . ..

. . . is Diane Winnemuller (the new publisher) just sitting back letting Ray Criscoe finish running all resemblances of credibility - indeed, the entire operation - into the ground (so he can be sacrificed to the greedy gods running the parent company at a later date) . . . or did someone at corporate in Nevada put a muzzle and leash on her (because one or more of "the right people" complained)?

I'm thinking it's probably a little of both.  I don't envy this woman.  She landed in a snake pit . . . as homey and hearthy as it may first appear if you're a newbie who has had one-too-many at the Pig.

My good friend Buzz Armfield-of-the-Asheboro-Armfields actually sent an e-mail to Diane on Monday morning after picking up the "News & Heckler" in his driveway:

I think your newspaper just missed a major story about Asheboro.  One of your local banks made the front page of the News & Record this morning.  It must be something major, I could see the ominous headlines while the paper was still in the wrapper. At any rate, you may still have time to report on it.
 

Good luck,
"Buzz" Armfield

Buzz really wanted a response/explanation.  I told him to get in line.

The Courier, of course, didn't get up a story on its website until yesterday afternoon.  Even then, it was only a clearly-very carefully-worded-by-a-Sun-Trust-banker blurb that was buried this morning on page four under announcements . . . and the other was a tid-bit on JM Ramsay jumping ship.


I've heard that, as news trickles through the community, there are a number of very important people who are unhappy with the Courier Tribune's Pravdaish tactics . . . and its Editor/publishers clearly circling the wagons around those who piloted Community One - and our community itself - into Forbes magazine as one of America's fastest dying towns (as opposed to Reader's Digest).

Being completely honest, I'm not exactly sympathetic to their plight.  It was a real hoot for these same people hee and haw and point and laugh at Dr. Mary Johnson when her life-in-her-own-hometown was destroyed for saving a baby's life . . . and it was real cool to snicker at Pat Bradshaw as she went toe-to-toe with city government over unfair business practices.  But it's not so much fun when they themselves are losing their shirts while Mike Miller teaches the next generation how they too can lose 250 million dollars in three years and totally get away with it.

If I ran in these people's circles, I'd tell them to GET IN LINE too.

On Congressman Howard Coble And The Vote To Reform "Reform": All Hypocrites Look Alike To Me

Speaking of useless, cowardly representatives, I've watched all of the hullabaloo over the new & improved U.S. House of Representatives voting to appeal healthcare "reform", and I really have to shake my head.

And that's because for well-over-a-decade, good ole' suck-up-to-the-right-people-who-kill-towns-and-banks Howard Coble (R - 6th District) has had a case right under his nose . . . a case he once offered some piddling assistance to (and in truth, what he did can be classified as far-to-little-far-too-late) . . . that PROVES many of the concepts behind Obamacare have their foundations in something akin to the shifting sands of North Carolina's coastline.

It's also a story very relevant to the topics of the day . . .  for all that local "journalists" like John Robinson and Edward Cone and David Renfro and Ray Criscoe want the general public to think that Mary's a harpy wack-job, and her story is "ancient history" and "old news".

The Pediatrician totally-hosed in the farce of a Federal-physician-recruitment-&-retention-program (during the Clinton administration no less) has been blogging about it (again, right under Howard's nose) for going on six years, and has gone hoarse screaming for Federal attention.

I ought to be a poster-child for the political "right"/Fox News and their premise that more government won't fix the ills of this world.  But I've never heard word one from good-ole-dependable-responsive-to-almost-anyone-else Howard Coble.

His office is a black hole.

When I talk about Harold Brubaker and Howard Coble, I often mix up their names.  There's a reason for that besides the "H's" in their names.  All hypocrites look alike to me . . . and they sit on both sides of the political aisle.

Mista Speaka Meets The Black Hole

WRAL in Raleigh reports tonight that Asheboro's Harold Brubaker, will be the "chief" among four Republican co-chairs of the N.C. House Appropriations Committee.

Regular readers will remember how this constituent feels about Mista Speaka:  "Religiously Insensitive, Sexist, Puerile, Dead Wrong With His Facts, and DEAD WRONG". 

When I needed a real representative to stand up to the "right people" over the wrong that was done to me in public service in Asheboro (Brubaker was "Mista Speaka in Raleigh when all of the badness went down), what I got was a coward only interested in self-preservation.  He lost my vote long ago.

As bad a job as the Democrats have done in terms of turning the once-great state of North Carolina into a metaphor for a shipwreck on the Outer Banks, I think it's been a huge mistake for local, hard-core Tea-Party-types to snuggle-up to Republican worms like Harold (entering his 18th term) thinking they'll get any kind of real "change".  I fear they've been used (and will continue to be used) as pawns in the never-ending power struggle between the reds and the blues.

Moreover, if Brubaker & company really want to close a nearly 4 billion-dollar black-hole-of-a-budget-gap, it's going to have to be about MORE than holding the line on taxes and "zero-based budgeting".  Somebody in Raleigh is going to have to start having hard conversations about ALL of the "third rails" that no one - in either party - has wanted to get near.

And God knows, if "I've got to live in this town" Harold didn't have to guts to do anything more than go-along-to-get-along-with-all-the-right-people in the little burg of Asheboro before, he's NOT the man to start/lead those conversations in Raleigh now.

The Courier's Coverage of Community One's Meltdown: Late And A Good Portion of Asheboro Still Can't Read It

The Courier finally posted stories this afternoon on what the GSO N&R told the public yesterday. 

Can't read them.  They're behind a paywall.  I expect someone will send them to me.  At least a tree won't die.  Doesn't matter.  I moved what I had there long ago.

Houscalls On Grand Rounds: Barriers To Physician-Patient Engagement

Last Saturday's post, "Inspiration For A Whistle-Blowing North Carolina Pediatrician: And Two Whistle-blowing Texas Nurses Shall Lead Her" was featured on this weeks edition of the Medical Blogosphere's "Grand Rounds" . . . which features this week's "best of the medical blogosphere".

My sincere thanks to this week's host, George Van Antwerp of "Enabling Healthy Decisions".

A Knight-In-Shining-Armor Named Buzz

MLK Day translated into a slow work day in rural Eastern North Carolina, so once rounds were done, I spent part of the day re-working the sidebar on Housecalls.  First-timers to the blog (particularly medical personnel) should be able to understand "the meat" of my story quickly - with the option to learn more - and I hope that what I did today cuts down on the links I insert in posts. 

I was prompted to do this by several recent attempts by readers to contact me through comments (my e-mail address has always been available on my Blogger Profile, but I'll admit that non-bloggers/those new-to-blogging might have trouble finding it).

I also continued to follow the thread on the N&R's story about Community One (formerly First National Bank of Asheboro) being taken over by the Feds.

As has frequently been the case since my debut in the Greensboro blogosphere almost six years ago, a commenter going by the moniker of "Kid A" immediately went for my jugular.  I was an "it".  "Endlessly screeching" about what happened to me in Asheboro.  It was all about me.  I should "embrace the paranoia".  I was not to be addressed as Dr. Johnson, but "sweetie". 

Same old CRAP in the progressive ether of the very-significant-compared-to-Asheboro-burg-of-Greensboro.  Different day.  The truth about the people who've run Asheboro into the ground doesn't matter (particularly to someone who has no stock there).  And facts are irrelevant. 

Speaking of paranoia (and given what I've learned lately via some of the aforementioned people trying to contact me), it's very hard not to believe that the boys at Randolph aren't somehow behind a lot of the online abuse.  Particularly when Randolph Hospital is on this site EVERY DAY.

(Wait.  I know.  Maybe we should get Sheriff Maynard Reid to investigate!  Yeah, you got me. I was joking.)

The N&R's moderator, "General Greensboro", as usual, was nowhere to be found to moderate the venom aimed in my direction (and I'll not take any bets than when/if he does show up, that it won't be to admonish the doctor who signs her name instead of the smug punk who flings ad hominems from behind a fake moniker).

I dug my heels in to go a few rounds.

But then a well-named-knight-in-shining-armor-who-also-signs-his-name rode in.  The knight goes by the name of Buzz:

Kid A . . . I agree with you.  Doctor Johnson does tend to always find a way to refer everything back to her.  No doubt, she's the harpy whose singing is causing Asheboro to dash itself on the rocks . . . then again, perhaps you said it best with . . . "Embrace the paranoia sweetie" . . . I regret that I didn't do so sooner.

Thanks to Mary Johnson, I now do.

I worked for First National Bank, that was the predecessor to Community One.  Crazy Mary isn't so paranoid when you consider that they kept detailed files on their customers, and I mean right down to everything, including Courier Tribune articles.  I once saw a file where a local businessman had made a comment about banks, and it was circled in red ink with comments out to the side.  I had a senior officer of the bank tell me not to make a loan because he didn't like a certain person. 

You my young man, and I'll assume that's what you are based on what you've said, need to know that in a place such as Asheboro, bad things can happen to those who don't "go along", and Doctor Johnson is not one to go along with anything which she feels is wrong. 

She stood up for what she felt was right, and paid for it, and dearly.  So, it is often about her. Then again, and I've said this plenty of times, she had more to lose than most, and almost did.

It should be about her.

My regret is that for so long I kept silent, and chose to stay away and not do the "right thing".

And if anyone had nothing to lose, it was me.  Asheboro, or rather those that run it, has a way of keeping things in order.  I quit counting the times that I heard about local employers telling their employees how to vote on an issue, or....else.  When I worked for First National, I had to contribute to some sort of bank PAC fund that Mike Miller belonged to, or . . . well . . . it didn't matter, they laid me off anyway. 

Tell me Kid A, do you have "kids"? They're not safe either. You get "out of line", and things will begin to happen to them at school, church, wherever.  Does your wife work in Asheboro?  Not good, you see her career could take a down turn should you decide to oppose the wrong side.

You sort of see why Doctor Johnson may be having the last laugh now. She's not against Asheboro, just those that run it.  She had this coming to her, just like those who wronged her have it coming to them.

I was dumbfounded by the pull-no-punches RAW in Buzz's prose.  And deeply, profoundly touched.  And very, very grateful for finding a friend such as this man.

The thing is I didn't "find" him.  I grew up with him.  In the town that used to be Asheboro.

And I would take one of him over all of Mike Miller's and Bob Morrison's "friends" combined.

Meaningful Reform That LISTENS To Doctors-On-The-Front-Lines: "Change Board Recertification"

Today, I was made aware of a website called "Change Board Recertification" that is fighting the new ABMS requirements for Board Recertification . . . a topic I recently blogged about here and here.  I was delighted to discover that there is an organized/national grass-roots effort to say, NO!, to the people who breathe the rarefied air in the ivory towers.

Related to what I was "taught" during my "Maintenance of Certification" process this past fall (as opposed to what I learned in real life), today I also spoke by phone with a former non-physician employee of the Moses Cone Healthcare System who did everything she was supposed to do when she made a mistake (including reporting it herself) . . . but despite the under-staffing and SYSTEM FAILURES which contributed to her mistake (a mistake that did not harm the patient) . . . and the fact that JCAHO's "new" team-oriented patient-safety initiatives are meant to be "non-punitive" . . . she was FIRED from the organization where she had worked for over two decades.

She's been unable to find work locally, and is fairly certain she's been black-balled.  She lost her car, and would have lost her home had it not already been paid for.  This highly-trained, hard-working, HONEST medical technician is working at a bakery. 

The lawyers, of course, have been fairly useless.  Most people do not find that out until after they've been canned. 

I want to re-iterate here that employment laws in North Carolina for doctors/nurses/other medical personnel SUCK.

"Fed Up" (With Maynard Reid)

Remember Lake Norman Bath?  Well, the natives in Asheboro are restless.  And some of them have finally discovered blogs.

I present to you a new blogspot:  "Fed Up (With Randolph County Sheriff Maynard Reid)".  I've got nothing to do with it, but I will be reading (it sure is interesting so far) - and maybe even commenting.

I do hope our dear Sheriff doesn't do something that might violate these folks' First Amendment rights . . . like say, using his office's resources to try and sniff-out the IP addresses of people who might criticize him (and then snuff them out in one fashion or another) . . . especially since he/the DA didn't think it was legal to do it in a recent cyber-stalking case - where someone was actually hurling threats (which are NOT protected speech, by-the-way) into my Inbox.

OBTW, I actually never did get reimbursed for that murdered mailbox.  The Sheriff's Deputy was too busy negotiating terms for the drunk/teen-aged perp.

Tain't no justice in Randolph County.

On MLK Day: Some Things Do Not Change

Pertinent to the very existence of this blog:

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the vitriolic words or violent actions of the bad people, but the appalling silence and indifference of the good people.

Our generation will have to repent not only for the words and actions of the children of darkness, but also for the fears and apathy of the children of light.

Community (No, Scratch That) Federal One Update

My good friend, Buzz Armfield-of-the-Asheboro-Armfields woke me up at just before 6 AM this morning with a phone call. 

I was going to admonish him (again) for the jolt to my metabolic system & blood pressure that such early morning phone calls incite (because it's usually at STAT C-Section), but he cut me off by the announcement that the Greensboro News & Heckler had reported (in a big black bold headline), that Community One Bank (formerly First National) in Asheboro is now under strict Federal control . . . our local leaders having run the once-solid-&-respected institution into the ground . . . in much the same "it's all about a fast buck for the big guns" fashion they "killed" our little town.

Regular readers might remember that, in the spirit of good-ole-boydom that permeates everything in Asheboro . . . including a mill-town Board of Directors/District Attorney insulating two non-profit hospital executives from the consequences of their perjury, contempt and fraud (which should also be a matter for the Feds). . . the architect of the bank's failure, Mike Miller, was able to quietly "retire", and then land very softly in a new cush job at Pfieffer College . . . courtesy of recommendations from Asheboro big-guns like N.C. Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco. 

In Governor Bev Perdue's new climate of ethics and accountability, the irony of the state's Commerce Secretary toting water for Asheboro's equivalent of Enron-chief, Ken Lay, has apparently been lost on our local "journalists" at the Courier Tribune . . .

. . .  who, as far as I can tell this morning, have not reported the story.  They are, of course, behind a paywall and before that I was banned from commenting on the site (big whup), so I could be wrong.  But I kinda doubt it.

The spiders (aka vermin) over there are scrambling today to put up a nice spin for their corporate masters tomorrow.  The News & Record's story will be styled as "old news".

(Besides, since nobody has any money, they really need to keep pushing that Reader's Digest contest.)

I've been informed that once upon at time (the fine-upstandings in Asheboro call it "ancient history"), Randolph Hospital's over $700,000/year man, Robert Morrison justified his treatment of Dr. Mary Johnson to his "non-profit" Board of Directors (which, for all of Bob's efforts to conceal their identities, included the aforementioned Mike Miller), by opining that Mary just "did not fit in" in Asheboro (despite having been raised there).

And I'm thinking this morning, "Damned Straight!".

1/18 Update: 

Someone else's thought on the underlying culture-of-right-upstanding-corruption in Asheboro that "Panacea" (over on the News & Record's thread) doesn't think is the least bit relevant:

"These guys would steal the Last Supper and then show up first-in-line at the Resurrection of Jesus Christ to be forgiven for it."

Yep.  Don't I know it.

Inspiration For A Whistle-Blowing North Carolina Pediatrician: And Two Whistle-Blowing Texas Nurses Shall Lead Her

This one is flying out of my fingers, folks.  I'm putting it up fast, and will insert links later.

Last year, I blogged my heart out about the two Texas nurses who were charged with crime because they dared report malpractice to the authorities. 

The nurse who was ultimately prosecuted to trial was found "not guilty".

This morning, my good friend, Buzz-Armfield-of-the-Asheboro-Armfields, sent me a link to this story in the New York Times:

A state grand jury in Winkler County, Tex., has indicted the sheriff, the county attorney and a hospital administrator for their roles in orchestrating the prosecution of two whistle-blowing nurses after they had reported allegations of malpractice.

The sheriff, Robert L. Roberts Jr., and county attorney, Scott M. Tidwell, each face six counts, including misuse of official information and retaliation, which are third-degree felonies. Stan Wiley, the administrator of Winkler County Memorial Hospital, in the dusty West Texas town of Kermit, was indicted on two counts of retaliation.

You'll note the Texas State Attorney General led the investigation that led to the charges against county officers.  I'm quite certain these "law enforcement" officers did not ask to be investigated.  If the Attorney General of Texas can prosecute a case like this . . . involving the public good/safety and serving the cause of justice . . . WHY can't the Attorney General of North Carolina? 

Why IS it that, in North Carolina, the ordinary citizen-done-wrong (say like a doctor who has endured THIRTEEN YEARS of nothing but retaliation) can't get a case very-similar-in-concept-to-that-of-these-nurses get past the local District Attorney's front door . . . even after the Duke-Nifong debacle?

I'm thinking that my un-investigated, un-prosecuted case for PERJURY against Randolph Hospital's $700,000/year CEO, Robert Morrison, and his left-hand man, Steven Eblin, just got a whole lot more . . . what's the word I'm looking for??? . . . ah, yes . . .  "RELEVANT".

JUSTICE HAS BEEN OBSTRUCTED SINCE DAY ONE.

Let's (briefly, because we wouldn't want to BORE noble, truth-seeking local journalists/bloggers like Edward Cone or John Robinson or Roch Smith, Jr, or Lex Alexander or David Renfro or Ray Criscoe) review that case:

(1)  In February 1998, a Pediatrician in public service, who had just completed a Federal service obligation with the National Health Service Corps (under an agreement that specifically prohibited any interference with her continued practice to the "under-served" area to which she had been recruited), was fired . . . just two days after defying threats communicated to her in writing by the Practice Director of Randolph Medical Associates (RMA) in Asheboro, North Carolina (based on bogus accusations no less) . . . for answering a nurse's terrified phone call in the middle of the night and intervening in a case-being-botched-by-another-doctor (by ALL accounts saving a critically-ill newborn's life) . . . and afterwards reporting the incident/case to hospital peer review.

Now, despite the Director's threats - which he subsequently acted upon, the hospital styled the doctor's termination (which happened two weeks after she intervened in/reported the event) as "without cause" or "voluntary" (never mind that from the doctor's standpoint, it was NOT "voluntary" at all). 

The thing is, as we will establish, this particular hospital is very practiced at LYING.

And, unfortunately, employment laws in good-ole "right-to-work" North Carolina have long thrown physicians - even with their unique obligations/duties - under the bus. 

In violation of the Pediatrician's DUE PROCESS rights, a review of her termination was NOT conducted . . . and a hospital peer review of the case which CLEARED HER of any wrong-doing (because it was, in fact, her ETHICAL DUTY to do what she did) did not occur until AFTER she was terminated (translation: the adequate peer review mechanims required by the Pediatrician's Federal service agreement did not exist).  Moreover, she was offered NO AVENUE OF APPEAL - as hospital executives spent months LYING to hospital board members, the Pediatrician's colleagues and her patients about her ability to practice at the hospital - or start over again in the area (after they had absorbed/otherwise decimated her practice).

Recruiters informed the Pediatrician she had been "black-balled" for miles around.

The doctor that the Pediatrician rescued that night was employed by a Moses Cone Healthcare System affiliate.  Randolph Hospital, RMA'S "parent company" greatly prized its "cooperative" relationship with Cone Hospital - to the point of trying to exclusively direct Neonatal and Pediatric referrals there.  This is illegal under Federal STARK laws. 

The physician that the Pediatrician rescued, a Family Practitioner, had previously been falsely-advertised to the community by Randolph as having special skills & training in Neonatology that he did not possess.

Under Joint Commission (JCAHO) definitions, what happened was a "sentinel event".

As a matter of ethics and duty, the North Carolina Medical Board REQUIRES physicians to report impaired physicians and/or bad care to appropriate authorities.  But the Board, even as it boasts about accountability and transparency, has done NOTHING to amend the Medical Practice Act in a fashion that would protect Medical Whistle-blowers.

2.   In violation of her PROPERTY RIGHTS, the Pediatrician's hospital privileges were revoked in 1999 without prior notice to her . . . when hospital executives/attorneys advised their deaf/dumb/blind Medical Executive Committee to accept a staff resignation the Pediatrician had withdrawn (in writing) prior to its effective date.

This action against her privileges was IN CLEAR RETALIATION for the Pediatrician filing a lawsuit against Randolph Hospital's "wholly-owned controlled-affiliate" (RMA) . . . the aforementioned practice that fired her for saving a baby's life.

3.  In 2000, Randolph Hospital SLAPP-sued the Pediatrician for "libel" . . . over a complaint she had authored in 1999 and sent to Clinton Department of Health & Human Services Secretary, Donna Shalala (in response to a request for feedback).  The National Health Service had reviewed the complaint, and felt it had enough merit (i.e. was truthful) to justify Randolph Hospital's removal from its list of NHSC-approved sites.

Once again, the lawsuit filed by Randolph Hospital was purely about INTIMIDATION, HUMILITATION, RETALIATION and the total FINANCIAL/PROFESSIONAL DESTRUCTION of the Pediatrician . . . who was barely making ends meet as a Locum Tenens physician as she paid her lawyers . . . while the hospital brass were insulated by their non-profit's coffers. 

In essence, the methodically-kept-in-the-dark-public was paying their legal fees.

Randolph Hospital officials ultimately ran like scared little girls from their lawsuit, when two other local physicians wrote JCAHO, advising them that they had read the Pediatrician's complaint and found it truthful & accurate . . . whereas hospital executives had treated the Pediatrician poorly, and been less-than-truthful themselves about what had happened.

4. After settlement of both lawsuits (in 2001) in her favor (but for less than one year's salary - as the hospital represented the practice to be "almost bankrupt") the Pediatrician discovered that she had been swindled by PERJURY, CONTEMPT and FRAUD on the part of Randolph Hospital executives. 

PERJURY IS A CLASS F FELONY IN NORTH CAROLINA AND DOES NOT HAVE A STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.

The Pediatrician reported the crimes in a letter to Randolph County DA, Garland Yates, in 2003.  Mr. Yates would not meet with her - or indeed, return a phone call. 

In 2005, the Pediatrician re-submitted the complaint to the DA's office.  She was told (by Randolph County ADA King Dozier) that the case would be referred to the SBI for investigation.  However, several weeks later, the SBI informed the Pediatrician that the case had been set aside, without investigation, because Garland Yates had indicated he would not prosecute even if evidence of wrong-doing was found.  The Pediatrician was advised the SBI would be wasting their time!?!

The Pediatrician was likewise turned away from a Randolph County magistrate's office . . . she was not even allowed to swear out a complaint.

Despite the facts that this case involves (A) the illegal actions of the executives of a "non-profit" community hospital subsidized by the state, and (B) a licensed-physician-in-good-standing by the North Carolina Medical Board (who also had labored under an agreement with the N.C. Office of Rural Health while in Asheboro), the North Carolina Attorney General's office still insists it has to be asked by the DA's office to intervene. 

We're a full five years out from the Duke-Nifong debacle and Roy Cooper hasn't done anything to help ordinary citizens get past corrupt local cabals.  It's ludicrous.  It's criminal in and of itself.

And OBTW, the oh-so-ethical North Carolina State Bar has steadfastly refused to do ANYTHING about the big-gun hosptial lawyers who suborned perjury . . . or the local lawyer-putz who grossly misunderrepresented his client.

Meanwhile, the IRS told the Pediatrician that while non-profit executives could not lie to the government, it was not as big a deal to the United States Attorney when they lied to ordinary citizens. 

This is, of course, the SAME IRS that has since been charged with more oversight of healthcare courtesy of Obamacare. 

So what makes you think, dear reader, that if good, conscientious doctors willing to stick their necks WAY out for patients do not matter in the great scheme of healthcare "reform", that patients actually will?

In summation, in violation of her VERY BASIC CIVIL RIGHTS, the Pediatrician has been DENIED ANY ACCESS to appropriate investigation/review of this white-collar crime . . . a pile of in-your-face FELONIES committed by non-profit hospital executives charged with the public good . . . by (A) Randolph County Law Enforcement (i.e. the Sheriff's Department, Asheboro Police Department), (B) the North Carolina Attorney General's office, and (C) the IRS/US Attorney's Office. 

The hospital has not even had its hand slapped by JCAHO or NC/USDHHS!?!

All of this has left the Pediatrician, once beloved by her patients/parents - and highly respected in the Asheboro medical community - ostracized, financially-raped, and still open to active ridicule & every manner of humiliation . . . most recently culminating in a vicious cyber-attack inadequately prosecuted by . . . you guessed it . . . the Randolph County District Attorney's Office.

These "non-profit" hospital executives would have had Dr. Mary Johnson, roll over, go back to sleep and let a baby die.  That's "care you can trust" at Randolph Hospital.

They still have jobs.  One of them is paid over $700,000/year in salary and benefits, and Asheboro's community leaders/journalists think this is just swell.  Mary's story is "old news" and "ancient history". 

(OBTW, If you have any remaining doubts about the kind of medical care this hospital values, please be reminded that the Cone-owned Family Practitioner whose arrogance and ignorance almost killed a newborn infant was eventually elevated to Chief -of-Staff at Randolph Hospital.) 

Bob.  Steve.  I want you to know right now.  If it is the last thing I do, I'm gonna hire me a lawyer with a conscience and a spine (I hear there still may be one or two in North Carolina) and I'm gonna come after you . . . you and your two-bit, third rate, hospital . . . and ALL of the mill-town snobs & snobbettes charged with "oversight" who stuck up their noses and looked the other way while this AMORAL, UNETHICAL, ILLEGAL GARBAGE was going down. 

I fully expect that the worthless, useless, state & Federal agencies/regulatory bodies also charged with "oversight" (that have pretended this did not happen - and that I did not exist - for going on THIRTEEN YEARS) are not going to want to answer for your mistakes. 

I WAS SCARED BEFORE.  TERRIFIED OF GOING BACK TO COURT . . . BECAUSE YOU AND THE LAWYERS WHO SUBORNED YOUR PERJURY USED THE NORTH CAROLINA LEGAL SYSTEM LIKE A WEAPON.

BUT I AM NOT/NEVER WAS A SECOND-CLASS CITIZEN. 

AND I DID MY DUTY.
 
YOU, ON THE OTHER HAND, ARE LYING, OVER-RATED, OVERPAID, NON-PROFITEERING VERMIN . . . A POX ON THE CHILDREN OF THE COMMUNITY WHERE I GREW UP . . . AND YOU ARE GOING TO ANSWER FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME . . . AND WHAT YOU PUT ME & MY FAMILY THROUGH.
 
By the time I am done with you, it's going to be LEGENDARY.

Reaction To President Obama's Tucson Address: Pretty, Empty Words In America. But Whatever Makes You Feel Better.

The events of Saturday - and its aftermath - have weighed heavily upon me.

The American President who used the imagery of bringing a gun to a knife fight had this to say at tonight's memorial service for the fallen in Arizona:

" . . . We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another, that's entirely up to us. And I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.

That’s what I believe, in part because that’s what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine, imagine here for a moment, a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just beginning to glimpse that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation’s future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism, vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.

I want to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it. I want America to be as good as she imagined it. All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations."

There were no "shout-outs" this time.  And lots of very pretty words.  It was a carefully-orchestrated show-to-be-sure (and given the circumstances, a little too showy for my taste), but all-in-all not a bad job . . . just as much what the President needed to say as Sarah Palin's message was what she needed to say to a media-out-of-control in our rhetorically-vicious climate.

Here's the thing about Obama's speech.  At the risk of being accused of making this all about me, I used to be Christina.  I used to be that little girl. 

And when I came home to Asheboro . . . to help shape the future . . . after working for YEARS to be the best doctor I could be . . . and meeting ALL of the obligations/responsibilities of citizenship . . . I learned that public service was little more than glorified indentured servitude . . . that our democracy is seeped in corruption . . . that truth is always relative to who you are or who you know . . . that many of my role models and representatives were cowards or frauds or both . . . that our journalists have sold out to the highest bidder . . . and that people were generally NOT decent and full of goodness . . . but instead selfish and greedy and apathetic and often methodically, deliberately cruel.

The good ole' hometown broke my heart.  The government stood by and watched.  Local bloggers-mostly-of-the-blue-hue eventually cheered . . . and one took it way too far.

That's my reality in North Carolina.  Christina-Taylor Green's was to be shot in the chest at the age of nine by an un-diagnosed, un-medicated (probably) paranoid schizophrenic who fell through every hole there was to fall through in Arizona.  No hope and change for her.  But God bless that blow-hard sheriff - who seems to have forgotten that you don't comment on active criminal investigations lest you thwart justice for the victims.

At least that's what "law enforement" (I use the term very loosely) has always told me.

I keep plodding on . . . fulfilling what I believe is my calling to help take care of other women's children.  But I don't believe in the shining-city-on-the-hill anymore.  I want to.  But I don't. 

That realization has only been under-scored by my time in the Greensboro blogosphere.  I came here for help and healing - I've found neither - except for the relief that comes with breaking years of silence & isolation, and unburdening myself of all the hurts.  Indeed, my very presence in this blogosphere - nearly six years after I entered it - stands as local "citizen journalism's" greatest failure . . . living, breathing, "ranting" testimony to the hypocrisy of John Robinson and Roch Smith, Jr. and Edward Cone-of-the-Cone-Healthcare-System-Cones-that-had-to-be-shielded-at-all-costs.

(The Courier's Ray Criscoe is not on the list because I never expected him to be anything more than the useless mill-town erand-boy/lap-dog he is).

[1/15 Addendum:  In a real ?WTH? moment, last night, I found this gem on the subject of perjury from Lex "Just Die Already" Alexander (if he kills the link again - it's all about how horrible perjury is).  Funny how the N&R's former "medical reporter" could NEVER do a story on the Asheboro Pediatrician swindled by perjury.]

The power of the pen in this country is a mighty thing - if they'd have only used it to help right a wrong . . . in short, if they'd done their JOBS in the way I did mine one-night-in-the-middle-of-the-night-going-on-thirteen-years ago.  If I had saved their child, I'd been a "hero".  As it is, I'm something nasty on the bottom of their shoe.

And/so I simply cannot digest Obama's lecture on how we treat one another after the way I've been treated here - by people (mostly of the President's politcal persuasion) professing to be enlightened and socially aware.  All the pretty, noble, forward-looking words just ring empty and hollow. 

A few days ago, I said I was going to concentrate on other things . . . things I've never wanted to do . . . but now feel more compelled-than-ever to do . . . in an effort to make this state/country live up to its promise.

I think now it really is time to step back and work on that.

I'm still waiting for this country to live up to my expectations . . . and to Christina's.  But I labor under none of President Obama's flowery illusions.  The hope train left the station long ago.  Things are not going to magically or miraculously get better using reason or persuasion.  People are not going to do the right thing because it's the right thing.  They are not going to change.  And whatever justice I may eventually extract, I'm going to have to fight for . . . in the very Courts that did me so dirty once - no twice - no three times - before (well, four, actually, if you count being unsuccessfully SLAPP-sued for tellling the government you served the truth).

So tell me again, Mr. President, as you stand above the fray of the supporters & minions who've done your very dirty work for the last five days, that how we treat one another is entirely up to us.  The difference between your pretty words and what I've experienced courtesy of those who spew them most is like the void behind one of the black holes Congresswoman Gifford's husband studies from space.

And I'm still thinking if the beautiful girl had survived that bullet wound to the chest, she would have grown up to be very, very disappointed, indeed.

1/13 Author's Note:  This post has been tweaked this morning after I slept on it.