LOL! Made you look.
Puss-In-Boots, silly. Where is your mind?
Friday, October 28, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Why "That Woman" Loves Mr. Armfield-of-the-Asheboro-Armfields . . . and Jeff Sykes
This post was composed a month ago. I forgot about it, and almost deleted it. But then, President Obama, in the wake of Quaddafi's demise, announced that the war in Iraq is "over".
I'm not so civilized as to pretend that my more bloodthirsty human instincts were very satisfied by actually seeing a picture of the dying/dead despot (as I would have liked to have seen Osama Bin Laden). And I have no problem with the way he went out.
As for the "end" of the war, I had the same initial reaction/thoughts as Billy Jones. The next step is to down-scale the military. What are all of those out-of-work soldiers going to do in this economy?
(You'll forgive me if I have no more faith in Obama's "jobs bill" than I had in his notions of healthcare "reform".)
Moving on along . . .
I'm still on break, working on doing (more on that in a future post), but I wanted to share: My well-named friend, Buzz-Armfield-of-the-Asheboro-Armfields-who-gave-one-million-dollars-to-the-Randolph-Hospital-Center, and his wife, Becky, have a son.
And their son is a Marine. And the Marine just got back from a tour of duty on the front-of-the-front in Afghanistan.
Buzz chronicled the homecoming of his son's unit in e-mails.
The following is one of the many reasons why I love Buzz:
They are a brave bunch, but the bravest one I saw on Tuesday was a small blonde girl, about 25 years old. Her husband of two months, a Marine Sergeant, was the only KIA in the group. She made it a point to come to every return of the various companies of the *****.
That woman has guts.
I've crossed paths with such women . . . working as a Pediatrician in Jacksonville . . . and burying my Aunt in Arlington. These women will break your heart.
My very best to Buzz and Becky. I'm very glad their boy made it home safe.
Totally switching gears, I also love local blogger, Jeff Sykes. Because he writes stuff like this. Because, as an expatriate journalist, he makes you think . . . really think . . . about positions you've held all your life. But here's what really caught my eye:
It was the sudden death of a loved one a short year later that opened the floodgates of compassion that I had never before experienced. It is the knowledge that even the most stoic and religious person arrived at that affect more times than not after experiencing failure and defeat and searching for a place of comfort and rest.
Jeff is taking about the death of his Mother. And I remember the same kind of feeling.
I was worried about Jeff for a long time. I'm not any more. Jeff is a lot stronger for having walked through the fire . . . some of the coals scattered by local bloggers.
Speaking of, several of Blogsboro's most prominent names applauded Jeff's post in the comments - which are now closed. And that made me think too.
In my last post, I commented that, in the wake of the professional and legal ass-kicking dished out (for all of the wrong reasons) by my "hometown" hospital, it had taken a very long time for me to get back to being me - the real me - the me that was actually accepted to medical school . . . a much more "happy-go-lucky, live-and-let-live" sort than I am now.
As most Housecalls' readers know, I discovered blogging in February 2005 . . . quite literally the day after my Father died (like Jeff's Mother, very suddenly and unexpectedly).
With my very soul wounded, raw, bleeding and grieving, I saw hope in the invitation offered by local "journalists", who promised a fair shake, and light and air ("citizen journalism", as they called it) . . . in terms of telling stories that might not have otherwise seen the light of day . . . or were not given a fair shake or good investigative turn the first time around.
They sounded so earnest and sincere. They seemed to want to ramp what-had-passed-for-local-journalism-for-so-long up, and actually BE relevant. They would do the right thing. I felt it in my bones. I thought I might finally be on my way to vindication, real justice, comfort and rest.
But these people, didn't live up to their own hype. And they got REALLY angry when you pointed that out. And/so, my hide, already badly-burned & scarred-down by the afore-mentioned hometown ass-kicking, was blistered and thickened by the insults and barbs of Greensboro's "progressive" do-gooders (much of it fueled by partisanship) - several of whom who reveled in attacking/libeling me.
But somehow they could NEVER ask a SINGLE objective question of the so-called "public servants" I accused of very bad things.
Black and white evidence of "non-profit" hospital executives swearing a false Oath to the Court (and to God) were of no consequence to anyone but me. Everybody lies in Court. Bad faith is to be expected. Get over it. Move on. If you don't, you're "crazy".
One of those "public servants" will be retiring soon . . . taking wheel-barrows full of public money with him . . . all rubber-stamped by a mill-town Board-of-Directors that treats him as some kind of captain-of-industry . . still under the cover of wholesale public ignorance as fostered by my hometown "newspaper" . . . and with no one from the N.C. Secretary of State's office - or even the IRS even batting an eye.
(As a matter of update for curious readers, it's been over a week, but I've yet to hear from Randolph Hospital's public relations queen, April Thornton, on the status of my last public records request for IRS 990's for 2009 and 2010. I expect her boss is trying to get out before anyone can ask any questions about the massive spike in his deferred benefits, beginning in the 2008 fiscal year - a year when the rest of the world went to hell.)
And, over time, my heart hardened. Six years later, comfort and rest remain illusions. And the floodgates remain somewhat jammed.
So Jeff, I'm thinking it's all in where you land.
Regardless, I am glad there are people like you . . . and Buzz . . . out there.
I'm not so civilized as to pretend that my more bloodthirsty human instincts were very satisfied by actually seeing a picture of the dying/dead despot (as I would have liked to have seen Osama Bin Laden). And I have no problem with the way he went out.
As for the "end" of the war, I had the same initial reaction/thoughts as Billy Jones. The next step is to down-scale the military. What are all of those out-of-work soldiers going to do in this economy?
(You'll forgive me if I have no more faith in Obama's "jobs bill" than I had in his notions of healthcare "reform".)
Moving on along . . .
I'm still on break, working on doing (more on that in a future post), but I wanted to share: My well-named friend, Buzz-Armfield-of-the-Asheboro-Armfields-who-gave-one-million-dollars-to-the-Randolph-Hospital-Center, and his wife, Becky, have a son.
And their son is a Marine. And the Marine just got back from a tour of duty on the front-of-the-front in Afghanistan.
Buzz chronicled the homecoming of his son's unit in e-mails.
The following is one of the many reasons why I love Buzz:
They are a brave bunch, but the bravest one I saw on Tuesday was a small blonde girl, about 25 years old. Her husband of two months, a Marine Sergeant, was the only KIA in the group. She made it a point to come to every return of the various companies of the *****.
That woman has guts.
I've crossed paths with such women . . . working as a Pediatrician in Jacksonville . . . and burying my Aunt in Arlington. These women will break your heart.
My very best to Buzz and Becky. I'm very glad their boy made it home safe.
Totally switching gears, I also love local blogger, Jeff Sykes. Because he writes stuff like this. Because, as an expatriate journalist, he makes you think . . . really think . . . about positions you've held all your life. But here's what really caught my eye:
It was the sudden death of a loved one a short year later that opened the floodgates of compassion that I had never before experienced. It is the knowledge that even the most stoic and religious person arrived at that affect more times than not after experiencing failure and defeat and searching for a place of comfort and rest.
Jeff is taking about the death of his Mother. And I remember the same kind of feeling.
I was worried about Jeff for a long time. I'm not any more. Jeff is a lot stronger for having walked through the fire . . . some of the coals scattered by local bloggers.
Speaking of, several of Blogsboro's most prominent names applauded Jeff's post in the comments - which are now closed. And that made me think too.
In my last post, I commented that, in the wake of the professional and legal ass-kicking dished out (for all of the wrong reasons) by my "hometown" hospital, it had taken a very long time for me to get back to being me - the real me - the me that was actually accepted to medical school . . . a much more "happy-go-lucky, live-and-let-live" sort than I am now.
As most Housecalls' readers know, I discovered blogging in February 2005 . . . quite literally the day after my Father died (like Jeff's Mother, very suddenly and unexpectedly).
With my very soul wounded, raw, bleeding and grieving, I saw hope in the invitation offered by local "journalists", who promised a fair shake, and light and air ("citizen journalism", as they called it) . . . in terms of telling stories that might not have otherwise seen the light of day . . . or were not given a fair shake or good investigative turn the first time around.
They sounded so earnest and sincere. They seemed to want to ramp what-had-passed-for-local-journalism-for-so-long up, and actually BE relevant. They would do the right thing. I felt it in my bones. I thought I might finally be on my way to vindication, real justice, comfort and rest.
But these people, didn't live up to their own hype. And they got REALLY angry when you pointed that out. And/so, my hide, already badly-burned & scarred-down by the afore-mentioned hometown ass-kicking, was blistered and thickened by the insults and barbs of Greensboro's "progressive" do-gooders (much of it fueled by partisanship) - several of whom who reveled in attacking/libeling me.
But somehow they could NEVER ask a SINGLE objective question of the so-called "public servants" I accused of very bad things.
Black and white evidence of "non-profit" hospital executives swearing a false Oath to the Court (and to God) were of no consequence to anyone but me. Everybody lies in Court. Bad faith is to be expected. Get over it. Move on. If you don't, you're "crazy".
One of those "public servants" will be retiring soon . . . taking wheel-barrows full of public money with him . . . all rubber-stamped by a mill-town Board-of-Directors that treats him as some kind of captain-of-industry . . still under the cover of wholesale public ignorance as fostered by my hometown "newspaper" . . . and with no one from the N.C. Secretary of State's office - or even the IRS even batting an eye.
(As a matter of update for curious readers, it's been over a week, but I've yet to hear from Randolph Hospital's public relations queen, April Thornton, on the status of my last public records request for IRS 990's for 2009 and 2010. I expect her boss is trying to get out before anyone can ask any questions about the massive spike in his deferred benefits, beginning in the 2008 fiscal year - a year when the rest of the world went to hell.)
And, over time, my heart hardened. Six years later, comfort and rest remain illusions. And the floodgates remain somewhat jammed.
So Jeff, I'm thinking it's all in where you land.
Regardless, I am glad there are people like you . . . and Buzz . . . out there.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Horse-sh*t, Mr. President!
From The Weekly Standard, our President, on the "Occupy Wall Street" movement:
The most important thing we can do right now is those of us in leadership letting people know that we understand their struggles and we are on their side, and that we want to set up a system in which hard work, responsibility, doing what you’re supposed to do, is rewarded . . . and that people who are irresponsible, who are reckless, who don’t feel a sense of obligation to their communities and their companies and their workers that those folks aren’t rewarded.
Honestly, after fourteen years trying to get the corporate bullies running Randolph Hospital to play fair (and now watching Bob Morrison ride off into the sunset with his pockets full of non-profit dollars - and without answering for anything that he did) . . . or, in the alternative, pleading with the government & oversight agencies that-were-supposed-to-see-that-Randolph-played-fair to MAKE them play fair . . . I've never heard such a load of hypocritical horse-sh*t in my life.
I was IN your "system" Mr. President. I got the education and the degrees that you say value so much. I busted my tail in Asheboro. I did MY JOB. I did what I was supposed to do.
I believed. I bought that farm in your Secretary-of-State's "village".
Look what happened. Hard work, merit, ethics, truth . . . it meant NOTHING.
You and others like you/before you were NEVER on my side. Clinton, Hunt, Sleazely, Edwards, Perdue . . . it's been a parade of two-faced opportunisitc, self-serving dunces.
You do NOT have to set up a new "system". Your job is to make the one we've got work. To make everyone play by the rules.
Go back to D.C. Cuz I'm thinking North Carolina is gonna be a bust for you this time around.
"Yes, we can.". More like, "No, we didn't".
The most important thing we can do right now is those of us in leadership letting people know that we understand their struggles and we are on their side, and that we want to set up a system in which hard work, responsibility, doing what you’re supposed to do, is rewarded . . . and that people who are irresponsible, who are reckless, who don’t feel a sense of obligation to their communities and their companies and their workers that those folks aren’t rewarded.
Honestly, after fourteen years trying to get the corporate bullies running Randolph Hospital to play fair (and now watching Bob Morrison ride off into the sunset with his pockets full of non-profit dollars - and without answering for anything that he did) . . . or, in the alternative, pleading with the government & oversight agencies that-were-supposed-to-see-that-Randolph-played-fair to MAKE them play fair . . . I've never heard such a load of hypocritical horse-sh*t in my life.
I was IN your "system" Mr. President. I got the education and the degrees that you say value so much. I busted my tail in Asheboro. I did MY JOB. I did what I was supposed to do.
I believed. I bought that farm in your Secretary-of-State's "village".
Look what happened. Hard work, merit, ethics, truth . . . it meant NOTHING.
You and others like you/before you were NEVER on my side. Clinton, Hunt, Sleazely, Edwards, Perdue . . . it's been a parade of two-faced opportunisitc, self-serving dunces.
You do NOT have to set up a new "system". Your job is to make the one we've got work. To make everyone play by the rules.
Go back to D.C. Cuz I'm thinking North Carolina is gonna be a bust for you this time around.
"Yes, we can.". More like, "No, we didn't".
Friday, October 14, 2011
On The Retirement Of Randolph Hospital's Bob Morrison
Confirming rumors that have been swirling for a while now, Randolph Hospital's $700,000 man, Bob Morrison (Questions? Check the hospital's IRS "2008" 990's as posted at Guidestar - page 30 - the link takes several moments to load), has announced his retirement. No effective date was given.
I'd say it cannot come soon enough, but given what I'm working on, I'd be lying.
And I don't lie nearly as well as Bob.
In the part of the press release that one can actually read online in Bob's own personal local newsletter (excuse me, Asheboro's always fawning, slobbering Courier Tribune) . . . right before the article dives below a paywall . . . Morrison states his part in was "small" and "the heavy lifting done by others".
Ergo, the massive paycheck from the small mill town hospital, eh, Bob? I certainly won't argue that yours was the best job anyone could have ever had. It's nice to be king and coated in Teflon.
Let those you "serve" eat cake.
I would be very surprised if Bob's successor is not his left-hand-man, Steven Eblin. One can only hope that the (what I hear from the grapes is a largely disgusted) Medical Staff will finally rise up and condemn that kind of "transition" . . . which really isn't a transition at all. But I'm not holding my breath . . .
. . . because, you see, Asheboro's medical "community" has a long history of not standing for anything but what will not upset their apple carts. Ethics, smethics. Go along to get along. Ignore the guts of your colleagues splattered on Bob's walls. The big guns on Randolph's medical staff and mill-town BOD stood by deaf, dumb and blind while this home-grown Pediatrician got professionally eviscerated for defying the threats of Bob's Cone-loving minions and saving a newborn baby's life.
Any stupid, amoral thing Bob wanted, Bob got. Rubber-stamped all the way. No questions asked.
Quite the "family", that crowd. What they did to Dr. Mary Johnson is something they can all be very proud of. And while I had no choice but to move on, I've never gotten over it.
If you believe the always-slick marketing proffered by the "team" of Morrison and Eblin, their stewardship has always been about delivering "world class", "award-winning", "care you can trust". Unless you were that baby that night . . . or her parents . . . or any of the rest of my patients/parents who, in the aftermath of a fiasco brought about by false marketing, arrogance and greed, found themselves suddenly without a Pediatrician - with no reason/explanation forthcoming from the collection of wagons circled around Bob & his "team" of corporate bullies but a pile of bold-faced, self-serving lies.
And then there was the farce of what passes for "justice" in Randolph County and North Carolina. In-your-face BAD FAITH and PERJURY is a-okay with Garland Yates. Mary Johnson wasn't "right people", you see.
It's all in the sidebar folks. As I said before, I'm done jumping through the blogging hoops.
Dr. Mary remains on break - working on a little project that, if it flies, will showcase some of Bob Morrison's "good works" while at the helm of Randolph Hospital.
You could call it "heavy lifting". I'm used to it.
Evening Update: Shortly after this post went up this morning, I sent an e-mail to April Thronton, Randolph Hospital's PR queen. I requested copies of Randolph Hospital's latest IRS 990 returns - specifically, the fiscal years 2009 and 2010 (which ended last month). I had already requested 2009, but never got it.
It will be interesting to see how much money this "non-profit" hospital's Board of Directors has poured into Bob's benefit package (in anticipation of his retirement) since that last mind-blowing return (2008) posted on Guidestar.
Of course, once again, I do not expect anyone to "occupy Asheboro" and protest our own version of Wall Street-style greed at the public's expense.
"Mill-town mentality" runs deep. You have to know your place.
Sunday Morning Update:
In the spirit of "Occupying" (which has apparently replaced Tea-Partying as the in thing to do), I was informed yesterday, that Lynwood White, Randolph's Chief Financial Officer, is also leaving/retiring - also with a very nice bye-bye package.
Running Randolph Hospital has been very good to the people who don't actually see patients.
And, despite my suspicion that the "search" to replace Bob will only lead back to his trusted flunky, Steve Eblin, I cannot help but smell yet another young Schmidly in the distance.
As I vaguely recall, my ex-lawyer (the one I trusted with my future who totally sold me out), spawned a hospital executive. A simple Google search produced this tidbit which certainly fits my recollection (if I've accidentally ascribed familial bonds which do not exist, I certain apologize to the younger Schmidly in Texas).
I'm wondering about conflicts-of-interest (not that conflicts-of-interest have EVER mattered to the crew running this hospital) if the hospital recruited the son while being represented (in any capacity) by the daughter.
I also recall being told that this fine young man wouldn't touch Randolph Hospital with a ten-foot-pole. I'm not losing much sleep over this possibility because a quick scan of the services provided by the hospital he operates would indicate that it would be a backward career trajectory. As someone-more-astute-than-I-when-it-comes-to-business-matters commented: The only reason to enterain that kind of less-than-lateral move would be the opportunity to indiscriminately pillage and plunder the hospital's coffers without anyone on the Board of Directors so much as saying, "Boo!".
But times and fortunes do change. I've come to understand that people don't. Not really. Steve Schmidly was always a lying, opportunistic rat - a "right person" wannabe who finally found his way into Asheboro's top tiers via booze. My mistake was in trusting and believing him - just as I once trusted Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin.
It's my opinion, and I've more than earned it.
I'd say it cannot come soon enough, but given what I'm working on, I'd be lying.
And I don't lie nearly as well as Bob.
In the part of the press release that one can actually read online in Bob's own personal local newsletter (excuse me, Asheboro's always fawning, slobbering Courier Tribune) . . . right before the article dives below a paywall . . . Morrison states his part in was "small" and "the heavy lifting done by others".
Ergo, the massive paycheck from the small mill town hospital, eh, Bob? I certainly won't argue that yours was the best job anyone could have ever had. It's nice to be king and coated in Teflon.
Let those you "serve" eat cake.
I would be very surprised if Bob's successor is not his left-hand-man, Steven Eblin. One can only hope that the (what I hear from the grapes is a largely disgusted) Medical Staff will finally rise up and condemn that kind of "transition" . . . which really isn't a transition at all. But I'm not holding my breath . . .
. . . because, you see, Asheboro's medical "community" has a long history of not standing for anything but what will not upset their apple carts. Ethics, smethics. Go along to get along. Ignore the guts of your colleagues splattered on Bob's walls. The big guns on Randolph's medical staff and mill-town BOD stood by deaf, dumb and blind while this home-grown Pediatrician got professionally eviscerated for defying the threats of Bob's Cone-loving minions and saving a newborn baby's life.
Any stupid, amoral thing Bob wanted, Bob got. Rubber-stamped all the way. No questions asked.
Quite the "family", that crowd. What they did to Dr. Mary Johnson is something they can all be very proud of. And while I had no choice but to move on, I've never gotten over it.
If you believe the always-slick marketing proffered by the "team" of Morrison and Eblin, their stewardship has always been about delivering "world class", "award-winning", "care you can trust". Unless you were that baby that night . . . or her parents . . . or any of the rest of my patients/parents who, in the aftermath of a fiasco brought about by false marketing, arrogance and greed, found themselves suddenly without a Pediatrician - with no reason/explanation forthcoming from the collection of wagons circled around Bob & his "team" of corporate bullies but a pile of bold-faced, self-serving lies.
And then there was the farce of what passes for "justice" in Randolph County and North Carolina. In-your-face BAD FAITH and PERJURY is a-okay with Garland Yates. Mary Johnson wasn't "right people", you see.
It's all in the sidebar folks. As I said before, I'm done jumping through the blogging hoops.
Dr. Mary remains on break - working on a little project that, if it flies, will showcase some of Bob Morrison's "good works" while at the helm of Randolph Hospital.
You could call it "heavy lifting". I'm used to it.
Evening Update: Shortly after this post went up this morning, I sent an e-mail to April Thronton, Randolph Hospital's PR queen. I requested copies of Randolph Hospital's latest IRS 990 returns - specifically, the fiscal years 2009 and 2010 (which ended last month). I had already requested 2009, but never got it.
It will be interesting to see how much money this "non-profit" hospital's Board of Directors has poured into Bob's benefit package (in anticipation of his retirement) since that last mind-blowing return (2008) posted on Guidestar.
Of course, once again, I do not expect anyone to "occupy Asheboro" and protest our own version of Wall Street-style greed at the public's expense.
"Mill-town mentality" runs deep. You have to know your place.
Sunday Morning Update:
In the spirit of "Occupying" (which has apparently replaced Tea-Partying as the in thing to do), I was informed yesterday, that Lynwood White, Randolph's Chief Financial Officer, is also leaving/retiring - also with a very nice bye-bye package.
Running Randolph Hospital has been very good to the people who don't actually see patients.
And, despite my suspicion that the "search" to replace Bob will only lead back to his trusted flunky, Steve Eblin, I cannot help but smell yet another young Schmidly in the distance.
As I vaguely recall, my ex-lawyer (the one I trusted with my future who totally sold me out), spawned a hospital executive. A simple Google search produced this tidbit which certainly fits my recollection (if I've accidentally ascribed familial bonds which do not exist, I certain apologize to the younger Schmidly in Texas).
I'm wondering about conflicts-of-interest (not that conflicts-of-interest have EVER mattered to the crew running this hospital) if the hospital recruited the son while being represented (in any capacity) by the daughter.
I also recall being told that this fine young man wouldn't touch Randolph Hospital with a ten-foot-pole. I'm not losing much sleep over this possibility because a quick scan of the services provided by the hospital he operates would indicate that it would be a backward career trajectory. As someone-more-astute-than-I-when-it-comes-to-business-matters commented: The only reason to enterain that kind of less-than-lateral move would be the opportunity to indiscriminately pillage and plunder the hospital's coffers without anyone on the Board of Directors so much as saying, "Boo!".
But times and fortunes do change. I've come to understand that people don't. Not really. Steve Schmidly was always a lying, opportunistic rat - a "right person" wannabe who finally found his way into Asheboro's top tiers via booze. My mistake was in trusting and believing him - just as I once trusted Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin.
It's my opinion, and I've more than earned it.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
On "Occupying Asheboro" . . . And Rumors Of My Death
Still on an extended break (which will continue indefinitely) and still working on a project that, if I can make it happen, will (before it's all said and done) ruffle more than a few "right" feathers in Asheboro, North Carolina.
In the meantime, thought I'd comment on something I got in my Inbox last week - from Mary Kay Henry, President of the SEIU (Service Employees International Union).
I'm not exactly sure how I got on Ms. Henry's e-mail list, but I'm certain it has something to with leaving no stone unturned as one ex-public service Pediatrician fought tooth-and-nail for going-on fourteen years for some small resemblance of fair play and justice in North Carolina . . . after getting fired for saving a newborn baby's life . . . by the good-ole-boys running Randolph Hospital (as I hear it lately, into the ground).
My hard-won education and board-certification, you see, did not count for anything with the fine, upstanding, God-fearing men who run the mills - and who sit on the Board-of-Directors that runs Randolph Hospital. Nor did the fact that I was in the right.
Of course, years later, it's not like Obama's hallowed healthcare "Reform" (heavily plugged by the SEIU on their website) has gotten around to plugging all the holes I fell through on the yellow-brick-road to the American Dream.
(Why yes, boys and girls, I'm UBER-bitter about that. And the only "therapy" I've ever needed is the American justice system doing something besides pandering to the "right people" of this messed-up country.)
Dear Dr. Mary,
By now you've seen the thousands of brave students, workers and the unemployed occupying Wall Street.
But did you know that as of yesterday, there are over 300 solidarity "occupy events" happening across the country and around the clock?
In Philadelphia, 1,000+ individuals took to City Hall on Tuesday night.
In Washington, D.C., people have camped out in McPherson Square, symbolically located on K Street, since last week.
In L.A., citizens have spent six straight days and nights outside City Hall protesting against income inequality and joblessness.
The crowds and peaceful demonstrations will only get larger and louder as more Americans find the courage to stand up and demand Wall Street, CEOs and millionaires pay their fair share to create good jobs now.
This is the moment that determines whether this movement succeeds or falls flat. Will you pledge to help the movement spread by visiting an Occupy event in Asheboro? You can sign up and find a comprehensive list of events here:
http://www.seiu.org/2011/10/seiu-supports-occupywallstreet.php
Over the last few weeks we've seen crowds of "Occupy Wall Street" protesters capture the nation's attention as they stood their ground despite aggressive police behavior and hundreds of arrests.
These courageous young activists have given us all a shot of inspiration and hope that we can indeed turn this country around.
We are proud of the actions taken by 1199 United Healthcare Workers East, SEIU 32BJ and other SEIU local unions to support the Wall Street protests.
But as we talk to other "Occupy" participants across the country, they tell us their first need is people.
So we're working with our friends at Daily Kos to see if we can help.
Find an Occupy event happening in your city and pledge to sign up to get involved. You can do that here:
As part of a peaceful, united movement we can do so much more to demonstrate the increasing urgency of the crisis our country faces and shine a light on those responsible.
Let's go for it!
In solidarity,
Mary Kay Henry
President, SEIU
Now, for the record, I do not like being called, "Dr. Mary", and if I had the opportunity to sit down and discuss life with Ms. Henry, I'd tell her that once-upon-a-time I was young and idealistic and had stars in my eyes . . . believing that I could come home to the little mill town where I was raised and make a real difference for the children there.
And I did come home. And I was making a difference. Until the rug was pulled out from under me by a trio of opportunistic liars on a power trip. Since then, NO ONE has held them accountable for their despicable and ultimately ILLEGAL actions . . .
. . . as they, (much like the boys on Wall Street), draped themselves in their MBA's and the pretense of the public good, and stuffed their own pockets.
(If the above link does not work, Google Guidestar.org. Register - FOR FREE - and then look up Randolph Hospital, Inc. Then check out the hospital's latest IRS 990 reports - particularly the CEO's compensation in 2009.)
Welcome to "corporate America", non-profit/small-town style. Wall street greed on display in our own backyard. And then tell me (again) that I'm "crazy" for being as angry as I am about the extra-special-hell I was put through as one of this over-paid, over-rated carpet-bagger's "valued employees".
I think it was both "brave" and "courageous" to fight back against these thugs-in-suits . . . given that every card in the deck was stacked against me from day one.
The thing is, at day one, I did not know it.
In short, people, (despite what Ed Cone-of-the-Cones says) it's NOT just about Wall Street. And if you believe that, at this point in the game, you're just plain stupid and DESERVE whatever you get.
It's about what has been going on in our own small corners of the world . . . right under the masses' mostly up-turned/disinterested-unless-it-directly-affected-them/largely ignorant noses.
And the ignorance is mostly because ALL of the local ugly was methodically, deliberately ignored by the so-called "journalists" of the world . . . who sold their souls (and ours) to the highest bidders (their advertisers) . . . who could not say anything bad about the leadership of the towns they were simultaneously trying to "market" . . . and who cannot now understand why they have no credibility with the public - or why their circulations are in the toilet.
As for this home-girl who once drank the Koolaid, the very ugly story is all in the Housecall's sidebar folks.
READ the links there. Because in terms of spoon-feeding, I'm DONE jumping through the hoops for the likes of Greensboro's Edward Cone and his gang of online bullies disguised as enlightened & progressive do-gooders . . . holier-than-thous who have no agenda but a warped "social justice" which always seems to amount to robbing hard-working Peter & Penny in order to pay for Paul & Paulina's every whim and vice . . . while winking and nodding (in Clintonesque fashion) at the ugly swirling about in the rarefied air of their own ivory towers.
In the comments of Ed's post, I think Jerry Bledsoe's response to The Poet (Billy Jones) hit the nail squarely on the head of hypocrisy:
Billy, as Ed likes to say, here’s the real question: Why don’t you guys occupy Ed’s house? His family obviously exploited the poor people of this state for decade upon decade, and he benefited from it immensely. Now that he’s on the side of the exploited, he couldn’t possibly object.
Jerry's re-telling of history was a hoot. But here's another little history lesson for those new to Housecalls and the Greensboro blogosphere: Once upon a time, Ed Cone, blogging journalist and high-profile scion of the Cone family, had a chance to BE relevant and help right a wrong . . . a wrong actually worked by the non-profiteers-fancying-themselves-captains-of-industry running Randolph Hospital - in order to pander to the good graces of the healthcare system that bears Ed's family name . . . a wrong offered up to him on a silver platter by a newbie blogger he invited into his online backyard for the reporting.
It was a very ugly, (you could say, "hyper-local") story of how corporate medicine, often cloaked in charity, is eating the young and idealistic of the medical profession.
(You could also say it's very relevant to the news of the day.)
But Ed and his do-gooding, justice-seeking pals could not be bothered. People lie in Court every day, you see. And when they're caught doing it . . . and the justice system does absolutely NOTHING about it, we-the-people-screwed-by-the-lie-documented-in-the-black-and-white-of-sworn-Court-documents are supposed to just get over it and move on . . .
. . . just like all the folks hosed by the lying, cheating fat cats on Wall Street - and in Washington - are supposed pick up their shattered lives and keep buying the made-in-China merchandise with what's left of their retirement plans . . .
. . . just like all the folks in Asheboro hosed by the Miller Millers of our community are supposed to suck it up and silently smile, as our useless daily newspaper softens the sideways-slide of failed bankers into university presidencies (so they can teach the next generation of newbies how to screw over their fellow man) . . . or tells us that a few bars downtown will "revitalize" a town decimated by mill-town right folk embracing the global economy for a fast profit.
After busting our asses all of our lives to get where we are, we're "crazy" you see . . . "tea-baggers" and "racists" and "bigots" to think that some of that "social justice" that nobel, well-named Ed keeps lecturing about should apply to us.
Alas for Ed, Dr. Mary's story-of-mill-town-woe did not exactly reflect well on Hillary's village, or John Edwards' sorry, self-serving job performance, or the noble, way-over-sold goals of Obamacare. You just cannot blame this one on Bush.
That, and she did not fit a standard "victim" subclass as appoved and pandered to by fair and imparital Ed's beloved Democratic party.
So Dr. Mary had to be publicly eviscerated for having the balls to telling the truth about what happened to her in public service in her hometown of Asheboro - where "small town values" rule . . . on a Democrat's watch no less. And, as time went by in "Blogsboro", she was delinked, banned, and even cyber-stalked by one of Ed's fawning lackeys who thought he was somehow justified in hurling vicous insults and threats into a woman's personal Inbox . . . and brazenly libeling her online.
His "reasoning" for the abuse (inasmuch as what went on can be likened to "reason") was that I broke Ed Cone's heart. How lame. How PATHETIC.
Of course, that didn't cross any lines with Blogfather Cone because, well, it was Mary . . . and, as a thorn in the side of his perfect life walking his dog and raising his children and pushing his left-of-center utopian visions in a "revitalized" Greensboro, the good-doctor-done-very-wrong-by-just-about-everybody-in-the-right-circles-to-which-his-name-allows-immediate-access DESERVED to have "brave" Jeff Martin shoot more even more holes through her soul . . . and then hide his despicable deeds behind a lawyer like a little girl . . . and then boast of a Courtroom victory where the Randolph County District Attorney's office once again threw Dr. Mary Johnson under the bus.
It was all in good "fun". Reality almost as good as reality TV. HaHa.
So from my perch in the blogging slums south of Blogsboro's city limits, part of Edward Cone's "legacy" as a hyper-local blogger and well-named journalist, is that, in the "brave" and "courageous" department, he is sadly lacking.
I was just one more plebe to be exploited - this time for entertainment value and hits on his blog.
Wishing me well doesn't make well happen, you see. Robert Kennedy was actually right about it taking one person to make the difference. That person just has to step up.
Once upon a time, in my chosen profession, I did. No one had to beg me to do it. It was the right thing to do. But Edward Cone didn't. The son-of-a . . . physician turned a deaf ear. It's as simple as that. And after the way he/his pals treated me when I begged him for help, I'm not going to let him forget it.
The thing that Edward doesn't seem to get now - as he lectures the world on strategy and proportionality and priorities in restucturing our broken world . . . the thing that most of the progressive left doesn't yet get as it denigrates about half the population in order to serve its pseudo-socialist agenda. . . is that what we need most . . . from over-indulged, hedonistic top to uber-entitled bottom . . . is to get back to the notions of personal responsibility and accountability . . . of personal ethics and of simple right and wrong . . . of the rule of law applying equally to everybody . . . to understanding that freedom is NOT free, and your fellow Americans should not have to pay for your pursuit of happiness . . . and that NO, we-on-the-wrong-end-of-a-screw-turn-by-people-charged-with-the-public-good DO NOT NEED TO GET OVER IT.
So, dear readers (and my dear Billy Jones), you'll forgive me if I didn't pick up a sign and march for "Occupy Asheboro" on Saturday. I'm not French. And I had better things to do. Moreover, there would be no point.
You see, I've been there done that - several years ago. The daily newspapers and TV stations did not show up. And the Asheboro police were not there to "protect" me, but to arrest me if I stepped one foot off their script.
To close this post, and on a side note before I dive back into my break, this was in my Inbox . . . from another well-named friend . . . over the weekend:
For those detractors of yours who only read the print edition of the News & Record, there will be a brief moment of euphoria, but only brief. You see Doctor, in the print edition of today's N&R under the obituary listings by city and county, there is a "Mary Johnson" listed under Randolph County, and only if you read the actual obituary on the following page is one made aware that it is not "that woman"......
ASHEBORO — Mary Ella Geddie Johnson, 96, died October 6, 2011. A memorial service will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at First United Methodist Church. Arrangements by Pugh Funeral Home, Asheboro.
I hope Mary Johnson rests in peace. For if she lived in Randolph County for all of her 96 years, she most certainly deserves the rest.
And I'll take one Buzz Armfield over an army of Ed Cones any day.
In the meantime, thought I'd comment on something I got in my Inbox last week - from Mary Kay Henry, President of the SEIU (Service Employees International Union).
I'm not exactly sure how I got on Ms. Henry's e-mail list, but I'm certain it has something to with leaving no stone unturned as one ex-public service Pediatrician fought tooth-and-nail for going-on fourteen years for some small resemblance of fair play and justice in North Carolina . . . after getting fired for saving a newborn baby's life . . . by the good-ole-boys running Randolph Hospital (as I hear it lately, into the ground).
My hard-won education and board-certification, you see, did not count for anything with the fine, upstanding, God-fearing men who run the mills - and who sit on the Board-of-Directors that runs Randolph Hospital. Nor did the fact that I was in the right.
Of course, years later, it's not like Obama's hallowed healthcare "Reform" (heavily plugged by the SEIU on their website) has gotten around to plugging all the holes I fell through on the yellow-brick-road to the American Dream.
(Why yes, boys and girls, I'm UBER-bitter about that. And the only "therapy" I've ever needed is the American justice system doing something besides pandering to the "right people" of this messed-up country.)
Dear Dr. Mary,
By now you've seen the thousands of brave students, workers and the unemployed occupying Wall Street.
But did you know that as of yesterday, there are over 300 solidarity "occupy events" happening across the country and around the clock?
In Philadelphia, 1,000+ individuals took to City Hall on Tuesday night.
In Washington, D.C., people have camped out in McPherson Square, symbolically located on K Street, since last week.
In L.A., citizens have spent six straight days and nights outside City Hall protesting against income inequality and joblessness.
The crowds and peaceful demonstrations will only get larger and louder as more Americans find the courage to stand up and demand Wall Street, CEOs and millionaires pay their fair share to create good jobs now.
This is the moment that determines whether this movement succeeds or falls flat. Will you pledge to help the movement spread by visiting an Occupy event in Asheboro? You can sign up and find a comprehensive list of events here:
http://www.seiu.org/2011/10/seiu-supports-occupywallstreet.php
Over the last few weeks we've seen crowds of "Occupy Wall Street" protesters capture the nation's attention as they stood their ground despite aggressive police behavior and hundreds of arrests.
These courageous young activists have given us all a shot of inspiration and hope that we can indeed turn this country around.
We are proud of the actions taken by 1199 United Healthcare Workers East, SEIU 32BJ and other SEIU local unions to support the Wall Street protests.
But as we talk to other "Occupy" participants across the country, they tell us their first need is people.
So we're working with our friends at Daily Kos to see if we can help.
Find an Occupy event happening in your city and pledge to sign up to get involved. You can do that here:
As part of a peaceful, united movement we can do so much more to demonstrate the increasing urgency of the crisis our country faces and shine a light on those responsible.
Let's go for it!
In solidarity,
Mary Kay Henry
President, SEIU
Now, for the record, I do not like being called, "Dr. Mary", and if I had the opportunity to sit down and discuss life with Ms. Henry, I'd tell her that once-upon-a-time I was young and idealistic and had stars in my eyes . . . believing that I could come home to the little mill town where I was raised and make a real difference for the children there.
And I did come home. And I was making a difference. Until the rug was pulled out from under me by a trio of opportunistic liars on a power trip. Since then, NO ONE has held them accountable for their despicable and ultimately ILLEGAL actions . . .
. . . as they, (much like the boys on Wall Street), draped themselves in their MBA's and the pretense of the public good, and stuffed their own pockets.
(If the above link does not work, Google Guidestar.org. Register - FOR FREE - and then look up Randolph Hospital, Inc. Then check out the hospital's latest IRS 990 reports - particularly the CEO's compensation in 2009.)
Welcome to "corporate America", non-profit/small-town style. Wall street greed on display in our own backyard. And then tell me (again) that I'm "crazy" for being as angry as I am about the extra-special-hell I was put through as one of this over-paid, over-rated carpet-bagger's "valued employees".
I think it was both "brave" and "courageous" to fight back against these thugs-in-suits . . . given that every card in the deck was stacked against me from day one.
The thing is, at day one, I did not know it.
In short, people, (despite what Ed Cone-of-the-Cones says) it's NOT just about Wall Street. And if you believe that, at this point in the game, you're just plain stupid and DESERVE whatever you get.
It's about what has been going on in our own small corners of the world . . . right under the masses' mostly up-turned/disinterested-unless-it-directly-affected-them/largely ignorant noses.
And the ignorance is mostly because ALL of the local ugly was methodically, deliberately ignored by the so-called "journalists" of the world . . . who sold their souls (and ours) to the highest bidders (their advertisers) . . . who could not say anything bad about the leadership of the towns they were simultaneously trying to "market" . . . and who cannot now understand why they have no credibility with the public - or why their circulations are in the toilet.
As for this home-girl who once drank the Koolaid, the very ugly story is all in the Housecall's sidebar folks.
READ the links there. Because in terms of spoon-feeding, I'm DONE jumping through the hoops for the likes of Greensboro's Edward Cone and his gang of online bullies disguised as enlightened & progressive do-gooders . . . holier-than-thous who have no agenda but a warped "social justice" which always seems to amount to robbing hard-working Peter & Penny in order to pay for Paul & Paulina's every whim and vice . . . while winking and nodding (in Clintonesque fashion) at the ugly swirling about in the rarefied air of their own ivory towers.
In the comments of Ed's post, I think Jerry Bledsoe's response to The Poet (Billy Jones) hit the nail squarely on the head of hypocrisy:
Billy, as Ed likes to say, here’s the real question: Why don’t you guys occupy Ed’s house? His family obviously exploited the poor people of this state for decade upon decade, and he benefited from it immensely. Now that he’s on the side of the exploited, he couldn’t possibly object.
Jerry's re-telling of history was a hoot. But here's another little history lesson for those new to Housecalls and the Greensboro blogosphere: Once upon a time, Ed Cone, blogging journalist and high-profile scion of the Cone family, had a chance to BE relevant and help right a wrong . . . a wrong actually worked by the non-profiteers-fancying-themselves-captains-of-industry running Randolph Hospital - in order to pander to the good graces of the healthcare system that bears Ed's family name . . . a wrong offered up to him on a silver platter by a newbie blogger he invited into his online backyard for the reporting.
It was a very ugly, (you could say, "hyper-local") story of how corporate medicine, often cloaked in charity, is eating the young and idealistic of the medical profession.
(You could also say it's very relevant to the news of the day.)
But Ed and his do-gooding, justice-seeking pals could not be bothered. People lie in Court every day, you see. And when they're caught doing it . . . and the justice system does absolutely NOTHING about it, we-the-people-screwed-by-the-lie-documented-in-the-black-and-white-of-sworn-Court-documents are supposed to just get over it and move on . . .
. . . just like all the folks hosed by the lying, cheating fat cats on Wall Street - and in Washington - are supposed pick up their shattered lives and keep buying the made-in-China merchandise with what's left of their retirement plans . . .
. . . just like all the folks in Asheboro hosed by the Miller Millers of our community are supposed to suck it up and silently smile, as our useless daily newspaper softens the sideways-slide of failed bankers into university presidencies (so they can teach the next generation of newbies how to screw over their fellow man) . . . or tells us that a few bars downtown will "revitalize" a town decimated by mill-town right folk embracing the global economy for a fast profit.
After busting our asses all of our lives to get where we are, we're "crazy" you see . . . "tea-baggers" and "racists" and "bigots" to think that some of that "social justice" that nobel, well-named Ed keeps lecturing about should apply to us.
Alas for Ed, Dr. Mary's story-of-mill-town-woe did not exactly reflect well on Hillary's village, or John Edwards' sorry, self-serving job performance, or the noble, way-over-sold goals of Obamacare. You just cannot blame this one on Bush.
That, and she did not fit a standard "victim" subclass as appoved and pandered to by fair and imparital Ed's beloved Democratic party.
So Dr. Mary had to be publicly eviscerated for having the balls to telling the truth about what happened to her in public service in her hometown of Asheboro - where "small town values" rule . . . on a Democrat's watch no less. And, as time went by in "Blogsboro", she was delinked, banned, and even cyber-stalked by one of Ed's fawning lackeys who thought he was somehow justified in hurling vicous insults and threats into a woman's personal Inbox . . . and brazenly libeling her online.
His "reasoning" for the abuse (inasmuch as what went on can be likened to "reason") was that I broke Ed Cone's heart. How lame. How PATHETIC.
Of course, that didn't cross any lines with Blogfather Cone because, well, it was Mary . . . and, as a thorn in the side of his perfect life walking his dog and raising his children and pushing his left-of-center utopian visions in a "revitalized" Greensboro, the good-doctor-done-very-wrong-by-just-about-everybody-in-the-right-circles-to-which-his-name-allows-immediate-access DESERVED to have "brave" Jeff Martin shoot more even more holes through her soul . . . and then hide his despicable deeds behind a lawyer like a little girl . . . and then boast of a Courtroom victory where the Randolph County District Attorney's office once again threw Dr. Mary Johnson under the bus.
It was all in good "fun". Reality almost as good as reality TV. HaHa.
So from my perch in the blogging slums south of Blogsboro's city limits, part of Edward Cone's "legacy" as a hyper-local blogger and well-named journalist, is that, in the "brave" and "courageous" department, he is sadly lacking.
I was just one more plebe to be exploited - this time for entertainment value and hits on his blog.
Wishing me well doesn't make well happen, you see. Robert Kennedy was actually right about it taking one person to make the difference. That person just has to step up.
Once upon a time, in my chosen profession, I did. No one had to beg me to do it. It was the right thing to do. But Edward Cone didn't. The son-of-a . . . physician turned a deaf ear. It's as simple as that. And after the way he/his pals treated me when I begged him for help, I'm not going to let him forget it.
The thing that Edward doesn't seem to get now - as he lectures the world on strategy and proportionality and priorities in restucturing our broken world . . . the thing that most of the progressive left doesn't yet get as it denigrates about half the population in order to serve its pseudo-socialist agenda. . . is that what we need most . . . from over-indulged, hedonistic top to uber-entitled bottom . . . is to get back to the notions of personal responsibility and accountability . . . of personal ethics and of simple right and wrong . . . of the rule of law applying equally to everybody . . . to understanding that freedom is NOT free, and your fellow Americans should not have to pay for your pursuit of happiness . . . and that NO, we-on-the-wrong-end-of-a-screw-turn-by-people-charged-with-the-public-good DO NOT NEED TO GET OVER IT.
So, dear readers (and my dear Billy Jones), you'll forgive me if I didn't pick up a sign and march for "Occupy Asheboro" on Saturday. I'm not French. And I had better things to do. Moreover, there would be no point.
You see, I've been there done that - several years ago. The daily newspapers and TV stations did not show up. And the Asheboro police were not there to "protect" me, but to arrest me if I stepped one foot off their script.
To close this post, and on a side note before I dive back into my break, this was in my Inbox . . . from another well-named friend . . . over the weekend:
For those detractors of yours who only read the print edition of the News & Record, there will be a brief moment of euphoria, but only brief. You see Doctor, in the print edition of today's N&R under the obituary listings by city and county, there is a "Mary Johnson" listed under Randolph County, and only if you read the actual obituary on the following page is one made aware that it is not "that woman"......
ASHEBORO — Mary Ella Geddie Johnson, 96, died October 6, 2011. A memorial service will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at First United Methodist Church. Arrangements by Pugh Funeral Home, Asheboro.
I hope Mary Johnson rests in peace. For if she lived in Randolph County for all of her 96 years, she most certainly deserves the rest.
And I'll take one Buzz Armfield over an army of Ed Cones any day.
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