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RAPID RESPONSE (Archives)...Daily Commentary on News of the Day
This is a new section.  It will offer fresh, quick reactions by myself to news and events of the day, day by day, in this rapid-fire world of ours.  Of course, as in military campaigns, a rapid response in one direction may occasionally have to be followed by a "strategic withdrawal" in another direction.  Charge that to "the fog of war", and to the necessary flexibility any mental or military campaign must maintain to be effective.  But the mission will always be the same: common sense, based upon facts and "real politick", supported by a visceral sense of Justice and a commitment to be pro-active.  That's all I promise.
GS

Click here to return to the current Rapid Response list

SATURDAY, July 31, 2010

SOME QUESTIONS...
"Is anybody there?  Does anybody care?

GS


THURSDAY and FRIDAY, July 29 and 30, 2010

A WELL-BALANCED POSITION ON IMMIGRATION BY REGIONAL CATHOLIC BISHOPS.

GS

==================================================
ZENIT, The world seen from Rome
News Agency
==================================================

Bishops Praise Court Injunction on Arizona Law
Urge Legislators to Fix Broken Immigration System

PHOENIX, Arizona, JULY 29, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The bishops of Arizona and New Mexico are calling on legislators to put aside their political differences and work together to mend what they call the "broken immigration system."


The prelates of the border states said this in a statement issued Wednesday in response to the temporary injunction that U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton placed on some provisions of SB 1070, more commonly known as the "Arizona Immigration Law."

The four signatories of the letter -- Bishop James Wall of Gallup, New Mexico; Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo Nevares of Phoenix, and Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson -- commended the decision of Bolton.                    

"As bishops in our respective dioceses, we know that in practically every parish there are families that have been living with the fear and anxiety generated by SB 1070 that they might be torn apart," the prelates stated. "The situation of these families might be that one parent is a citizen and that the other is not in our country legally. Or, the situation might be that some children in the family are citizens and that a brother or sister is not here legally.

"Our hearts go out to these families. We know them to be good people who work hard and who contribute to the economy and to the quality of life of their communities."

The bishops said they would continue to oppose the problematic provision of the "Arizona Law," without giving specifics, and that they will "monitor the implementation of the provisions allowed by the ruling."

Additionally, the letter asserted that the bishops will also advocate for "comprehensive reform of our nation's immigration laws," based on several principles: illegal immigration cannot be allowed, the borders of the nation need to be secure, there must be a process for those who are in the United States illegally to pursue legal status (that is not amnesty), and that those who wish to work in the United States should have a pathway to enter the country legally.

Secure borders

"Illegal immigration is bad for our nation. It is not good for us to not know who is entering our country," they stated. The bishops also noted the need to "be protected from drug smuggling, weapons smuggling, human trafficking and violence."

Regarding the legalization of those who already in the country illegally, the bishops said they are not advocating amnesty: "This process must have proportionate consequences for the act of illegal entry, consequences that would include fines, learning English, and going to the 'back of the line' to seek citizenship."

"The tragic consequences of the failure of our nation's political leadership to enact reform of our immigration system have included the deaths of thousands of people," the note concluded. "Migrants -- women, men, children in desperate circumstances -- have died trying to enter our country. U.S. citizens have died because of crimes committed by drug smugglers, people smugglers and weapons smugglers.

"We pray for those who have died and for their grieving families. And we pray that our senators and representatives will put aside their partisan divisions and go to work immediately to fix the broken immigration system."


SATURDAY through WEDNESDAY, July 24 through 28, 2010

A DIALOGUE: THIS IS IMPORTANT.

GS

Two comments.
GS

I don't think this is strictly a religious issue.  9/11 and its ancillary effects are unique issues of American culture, American politics, and general consistency of behavior regarding an issue that stands in the pantheon of American experience along with the Revolution, the Civil War, and Pearl Harbor.  These experiences violently changed America forever, with positive results in the end.
 
The sad difference between the historic experiences and the one we currently live with is that there is ansolutely no guarantee that it will also end positively for America.  This is due to the droning of a greater percentage of Americans (and a large portion of the media that shamefully violates its duty to be neutral) about individuality with EVERYTHING in life.
 
The reactionary movement of the political pendulum has caused this country to go from turning a blind eye to actual bad behavior under the guise of 'Americans just don't do things like that' to 'Americans should be tolerant of everything, no matter what harm it causes, political or literal'.
 
It's an issue of consistency within the parameters of the Constitution.  In my opinion, the idiots who want to build a consciously and obviously provocative symbol of their religion in the shadow of what was once the World Trade Center have every right to do so, within the law.  On the other hand, people who oppose such a flagrant and obvious injustice (on so many levels) have every right to stand in their way, within the law.  Given what I mentioned earlier, they will be erroneously labeled racist, xenophobic, religiously intolerant (how's that for hypocrisy from the Left), and any other label that gin's up sentiment against them. 

The important question that will help answer your own question is, when, and more importantly why, did we start caring about how other people labeled us (here and around the world), especially when it comes from the Left and is usually with absolutely no foundation in fact?
 
P-

Yes, where we are today as a nation is cause for alarm.
THE PROBLEM:  Too many of our citizens today are too uneducated, too stupid, too "value neutral" if not actually immoral, too lemming-like to be relied upon to do the right thing under any set of circumstances. 
THE QUESTION:  To offset this situation, do we need - and should we tap into and unleash - the religious fervor of a major part of our electorate (if not a majority)? Always a two-edge sword, it certainly can mobilize people.  And, if not this, then WHAT?

GS

I can't believe this issue has legs.  In spite of America's scandalous and tragic tradition of persecuting the "religion-of the-month" at times throughout its history, in the end this country has tolerated, if not embraced, a level of religious freedom and diversity unmatched anywhere on Earth.
 
HOWEVER, big, BIG HOWEVER, all bets are off with this one.  I find it absolutely laughable that the same people who vilify anything related to Christianity and/or Judaism (whether or not they interfere with government) have now become staunch advocates of 'religious freedom'.  They have swallowed every drop of the Kool-Aid and are begging for more.
 
What the hell is happening to this country?  We have GOT to pull out of this nosedive.
 
P-

http://stopthe911mosque.com/?p=214

Newt Gingrich: On the Proposed “Cordoba House” Mosque at Ground Zero

by ADMIN on July 21, 2010

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich just made a strong stand against the mosque:

There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over.

The proposed “Cordoba House” overlooking the World Trade Center site – where a group of jihadists killed over 3000 Americans and destroyed one of our most famous landmarks – is a test of the timidity, passivity and historic ignorance of American elites. For example, most of them don’t understand that “Cordoba House” is a deliberately insulting term. It refers to Cordoba, Spain – the capital of Muslim conquerors who symbolized their victory over the Christian Spaniards by transforming a church there into the world’s third-largest mosque complex.

Today, some of the Mosque’s backers insist this term is being used to “symbolize interfaith cooperation” when, in fact, every Islamist in the world recognizes Cordoba as a symbol of Islamic conquest. It is a sign of their contempt for Americans and their confidence in our historic ignorance that they would deliberately insult us this way.

Those Islamists and their apologists who argue for “religious toleration” are arrogantly dishonest. They ignore the fact that more than 100 mosques already exist in New York City. Meanwhile, there are no churches or synagogues in all of Saudi Arabia. In fact no Christian or Jew can even enter Mecca.

And they lecture us about tolerance.

If the people behind the Cordoba House were serious about religious toleration, they would be imploring the Saudis, as fellow Muslims, to immediately open up Mecca to all and immediately announce their intention to allow non-Muslim houses of worship in the Kingdom. They should be asked by the news media if they would be willing to lead such a campaign.

We have not been able to rebuild the World Trade Center in nine years. Now we are being told a 13 story, $100 million megamosque will be built within a year overlooking the site of the most devastating surprise attack in American history.

Finally where is the money coming from? The people behind the Cordoba House refuse to reveal all their funding sources.

America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization. Sadly, too many of our elites are the willing apologists for those who would destroy them if they could.

No mosque.

No self deception.

No surrender.

The time to take a stand is now – at this site on this issue.


FRIDAY, July 23, 2010

READY.  A-I M. (Anti-incumbency Movement). FIRE EVERY INCUMBENT IN FEDERAL OFFICE AT THE 2010 AND 2012 ELECTIONS. 

PASS IT ON.      George A. Sprecace, M.D., J.D.

Seems the U.S. Department of Justice has changed their website.

Gone are the colorful red, white and blue U.S. flag decorations on the page, to be replaced by stark black and white.

And at the top of the page, is a rather interesting quote:

"The common law is the will of mankind, issuing from the life of the people."

Catchy, huh? Just one tiny little (too small to be relevant obviously) point the quote is from C. Wilfred Jenks, who in the 1930's was a leading proponent of the international law movement, which had as its goal to impose a global common law and which backed global workers rights.

Call it Marxism, call it Progressivism, call it Socialism  under any of those names it definitely makes the DOJ look corrupt in their sleek, new black website with Marxist accessories to match.

Go here and see for yourself:     http://www.justice.gov/


THURSDAY, July 22, 2010

The Republican Party today resembles the three diverse descriptions of an elephant offered by three blind men who were allowed to touch three different parts of the beast's body. 
As such, the Republican Party is poised to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory in November, 2010 and even 2012. 
These Republicans, moderates, conservatives and perhaps even Tea Party members, don't know the meaning of compromise to present a united and credible alternative to the insanity of the Far Left.
I am disgusted with the Republican Party, or whatever that is, until they get their act in order.  Meanwhile, READY, A-I-M  (ANTI-INCUMBENCY MOVEMENT),  FIRE ALL INCUMBENTS AT THE NEXT TWO FEDERAL ELECTIONS.  It's "WE THE PEOPLE", NOT THEY THE CROOKS! 

And that's my "brief consideration" for today.

GS


WEDNESDAY, July 21, 2010

Everyone concentrates on the problems we're having in this country lately: illegal immigration, hurricane recovery, and alligators attacking people in Florida.



Not me. I concentrate on solutions for the problems.
It's a win- win situation.

+ Dig a moat the length of the Mexican border.

+ Send the dirt to New Orleans to raise the level of the levies.

+ Put the Florida alligators in the moat along the Mexican border.

Any other problems you would like for me to solve today? Yes!

Think about these:

1. Cows
2. The Constitution
3. The Ten Commandments 


C O W S

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.


T H E  C O N S T I T U T I O N

They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq .... Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.


T H E  TEN  C O M M A N D M E N T S

The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this:
You cannot post 'Thou Shalt Not Steal,' 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery,' and 'Thou Shall Not Lie' in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians.  It creates a hostile work environment.



WEDNESDAY through TUESDAY, July 12 through 20, 2010


When WW
  III Started - 1979  

 

This is not very long, but very informative   You have to read the catalogue of events in this brief piece. Then, ask yourself how anyone can take the position that all we have to do is bring our troops home from Iraq, reset the snooze alarm, go back to sleep, and no one will ever bother us again. In case you missed it, World War III began in November 1979...

 

US Navy Captain Ouimette is the Executive Officer at Naval Air Station, Pensacola , Florida . Here is a copy of the speech he gave last month. It is an accurate account of why we are in so much trouble today and why this action is so necessary.

 

AMERICA NEEDS TO WAKE UP!

 

That's what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001 (When more than 3,000 Americans were killed) and maybe it was, but I think it should have been 'Get Out of Bed!' In fact, the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979 and we have continued to hit the snooze button and roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep since then.

 

It was a cool fall day in November  1979  in a country going through a  religious and political upheaval when a group of Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy in Tehran . This seizure was an outright attack on American soil; it was an attack that held the world's most powerful country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency  The attack on this sovereign U. S. Embassy set the stage for events to follow for the next 25 years.

 

America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then, President Carter, had to do something. He chose to conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of America 's inability to deal with terrorism

 

America 's military had been decimated and down sized since the end of the Vietnam War. A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.

 

Shortly after  the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East . America could do little to protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks against US soil continued.

 

In April of  1983  a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut When it explodes, it kills 63 people. The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button once more.

 

Then just six short months later in  1983  a large truck heavily laden down with over 25 00 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and 241 US servicemen are killed. America mourns her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more.

 

Two months later in December  1983 , another truck loaded with explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait , and America continues her slumber.

 

The following year, in  September  1984 , another van was driven into the gate of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept.

 

Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe . In April  1985  a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid 

 

Then in August  1985  a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rheine-Main, 22 are killed and the snooze alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US interests are continually attacked.

 

Fifty-nine days later in  1985  a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and executed.

 

The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of  1986 that  killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie , Scotland in 1988, killing  259.

 

The wake up alarm is getting louder and louder.

 

The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America . In January   1993 , two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley , Virginia  

 

The following month, February   1993  , a  group of terrorists are arrested after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City . Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured. Still this is a crime and not an act of war? The Snooze alarm is depressed again.

 

Then in November   1995  a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in Riyadh     Saudi Arabia   killing seven service men and women.

 

A few months later in June of   1996 , another truck bomb explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound in Dhahran , Saudi Arabia . It destroys the Khobar Towers , a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500. The terrorists are getting braver and  smarter as they see that America does not respond decisively.

 

They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania .  These attacks were planned with precision. They kill 224. America responds with cruise missile attacks and goes back to sleep.

 

The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12 October   2000  , when a small craft pulled along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back to sleep.

 

And of course  you know the events of   11 September 2001 . Most Americans think this was the first attack against US soil or in America . How wrong they are. America has been under a constant attack since 1979 and we chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep.

 

In the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing from every high official in government over what they knew and what they didn't know. But if you've read the papers and paid a little attention I think you can see exactly what they knew. You don't have to be in the FBI or CIA or on the National Security Council to  see   the pattern that has been developing since 1979 .

 

I think we have been in a war for the past 25 years and it will continue until we as a people decide enough is enough. America needs to 'Get out of Bed' and act decisively now. America has been changed forever.  We have to be ready to pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our way of life continues. We cannot afford to keep hitting the snooze button again and again and roll over and go back to sleep.

 

After the attack on Pearl Harbor , Admiral Yamamoto said '... it seems all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant.' This is the message we  need to disseminate to terrorists around the world.

 

This is not a political thing to be hashed over in an election year, this is an AMERICAN thing. This is about our Freedom and the Freedom of our children in years to come.


TUESDAY through SUNDAY, July 6 through 11, 2010

THIS SECTION, "RAPID RESPONSE - DAILY COMMENTARY ON NEWS OF THE DAY", WAS BEGUN IN MARCH, 2003, DAYS BEFORE OUR INVASION OF IRAQ.
It was begun out of a deep sense of frustration about a nation and a world increasingly at risk but without proper awareness and involvement by the public. 

Things have changed, especially since Barack Obama hypnotized the American public with his call for "change".  What has changed is the awakening of the people finally to the fact that we all have a great stake in the issues of today.  Or, as Admiral Yamamoto said shortly after his victory at Pearl Harbor in 1941:
"I fear that we have awakened a sleeping tiger".

And so, I find my positions and opinions now accurately expressed in a variety of media sources and by a variety of public persons.  "It's a good thing", as Martha Stewart would say.  But the 30 second attention span of our ADHD-like citizens is still out there...as is the gross ignorance / stupidity permeating what has now been designated "Generation Zero".  Thus, I still have a role to play, but now increasingly supported by perceptive articles and commentaries in the public domain, especially in the Wall Street Journal, on Fox News, and even on occasion in the New York Times.  What has not yet happened is a change in the positions of both the far Right Republicans and the far left Democrats, thus continuing to promote the radicalization of the country.  Or, as David Brooks has recently noted:
"The right and left have media outlets and
think tanks, but the centrists are content to
complain about polarization and go home.
By their genteel passivity, moderates have
ceded power to the extremes."
Of course, "The only thing needed for evil to triumph is for the good to remain quiet". 

So, I still have work to do.
  • Sunday, July 11, is the 15 anniversary of the Serbian massacre of over 8,000 Bosnian Muslims over the watchful eye of U.N. forces there.  The same thing has happened and is happening in Africa.  The United Nations is next to worthless, and their "internationalist" supporters are insane to think that such a body can dissolve the innate tribalism of human nature.  Wrong structure.  Wrong mission.
  • Read everything by Charles Krauthammer.  Ignore Paul Krugman.  Give Alan Greenspan, the finance guru was "surprised" by the results of unbridled human nature run amok, another chance.  He is trying to rehabilitate himself. 
  • Pay attention when the top leaders of the U.S. Defense establishment go to Washington pleading for LESS MONEY!  (See "Debt Becoming Key factor in U.S. National Security", by David Ignatius, in The Day (www.theday.com), Monday May 24, 2010, pA5). 
  • The Faustian Bargain continues to play out along the Gulf of Mexico.  Too bad. 
  • The greatest issue facing our nation at this time, as central as was Slavery during the first 190 years of our existence, is Abortion.  Were that to be resolved, there would be a great deal more light than heat permeating public discourse.  But now we have Professor Kagan on stage, about to be approved as a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.  She who reportedly assisted then-President Clinton defend his veto of the Partial Birth Abortion ban in the 1990's.  As should have remained the case before the tortured decision in Roe v Wade, individual States are once again taking the matter in their own hands, with increasing success.  As I have noted before, if the fetus were as visible as the slave, we would already have had a second Civil War.
  • Afghanistan.  What I predicted, based upon the feckless decisions of this befuddled Administration, is unfortunately coming true: a killing field of American soldiers.  Wake Up!
  • And, while all of this is happening, the dumbing down of America continues apace.  See the article entitled "How Many Graduates Can Be No.1?  Ask the 30 Valedictorians", by Winnie Hu, NYTimes Sunday June 27, 2010, pA1. 
See what I mean?  So, please continue to tune in to these observations. 
And, at the next two national elections, VOTE EVERY INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE.  Send a clear message: "It's WE THE PEOPLE", not you the crooks.

GS

MONDAY, July 5, 2010

I'm a legal American citizen and I must show my ID when:
  1.  Pulled over by the police.
  2.  Making purchases on my department store credit card.
  3.  When I show up for a doctor's appointment.
  4.  When filling out a credit card or loan application.
  5.  When applying for or renewing a driver's license or passport.
   6.  When applying for any kind of insurance.
   7.  When filling out college applications.
  8.  When donating blood.
  9.  When obtaining certain prescription drugs.
 10.  When making some debit purchases, especially if I'm out of state.
 11. When collecting a boarding pass for airline or train travel.

I'm sure there are more instances, but the point is that we citizens of the USA are required to prove who we are nearly every day! Why should people in this country illegally, be exempt!!!!!  Why shouldn't we guard our borders as closely as every other country in the world does?
                              Go ARIZONA !!!




SUNDAY, July 4, 2010

The following does not include the excerpts from the book referenced below.  But you will get my drift. 

AS A PHYSICIAN FOR 53 YEARS...AND COUNTING...THIS IS MY
                    DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

GS


CRITIQUE:
“PARTNERS IN HEALTH:
HOW PHYSICIANS AND HOSPITALS CAN BE ACCOUNTABLE TOGETHER”
By
Francis J. Crosson and Laura H. Tollen

NB.  The following comments are my “footnotes” annotating statements in “Forward”, Chapter 1 and Chapter 11.  (see attached). 

1 and 2): These statements are honest, are opinion and are conclusory: “How many times have you beaten your wife”.  A straw man. 
3)  “Outcomes”.  I as a physician will never guarantee outcomes or underwrite a patient’s health through any more risk-taking than I now have under medical mal-practice.  There are too many variables, many of which are under the patient’s exclusive control. 
4) “ER” vs. “Triage Care”, a proposed new treatment paradigm by GS.  Implementation would depend on meaningful Tort / Medical Malpractice Reform.
5) “Ethical imperative to change”.   Sez who?  The Institute of Medicine, of course…a body, which has been beating the same drum for years.
6) Not bad.
7) Integrated delivery system.  Under whose control?
8) Again, MD’s guaranteeing care.  A non-starter. 
9) The authors: One view.  Self-serving, but honest about it.
10) The challenge.  Let’s read on. 
11)  This book is about the MD / Hospital relationship.  There are many other components to the witches’ brew under discussion as “Health Care Reform”. 
12) The cost of Change.
13) Cost reductions…vs. increased Federal, State and personal payments for improved health care.  See results in health care outcomes vs. those of decades ago.  That’s product “value added”.  Therefore, this is too conclusory. 
14) Neither is acceptable: guarantees in disguise. 
15) All of this must be compatible with the U.S. Constitution individual right of Contract…between physician and patient. 
16) Not true.  The current relationship has been and is a Contract (i.e. Medical Staff By-Laws) between the Organized Medical Staff and the Hospital Governance, with the patient as Third Party Beneficiary. 
17) “Pay them and they will come”.
18)  Quality performance – process…Not Outcome!
19)  Many regulatory impediments, not likely to change easily, given the level of mutual distrust that exists between Government and health care providers. 
20)  Not true since the “ 3 day blue-plate specials” of the 1960’s.
21) “Bundling”: FUGGEDABOUDET.
22)  This is an acknowledged and built-in bias for the whole book. 
23)  If so, Why?  Get a proper diagnosis before potentially harmful treatment is imposed. 
24) Some of the symptoms.
25) …and what about the practicing physicians with massive real-world experience in the ways of the health care delivery system?
26) Haven’t I heard this before?
27) These “payment methodologies” all seem to rest on MD guarantees and MD risk sharing for patient outcome.  I repeat myself: NO WAY, NO HOW”. 
28) Here’s some common sense and experience. 
29) Chapter 11:  There you have it, folks:  As the old Army saying goes: “When rape is inevitable….”  

Rather than this, how about addressing some of the real symptoms and signs, and then making a valid diagnosis before imposing potentially harmful treatment?
For this, please see my articles and postings on the subject going back to the mid-1970’s, and all posted on my website (www.asthma-drsprecace.com) within several Categories.
 
•    Electronic Health Records, important but also the most easily discussed.
•    Too much health care, a veritable buffet requiring priorities and rationing of needs vs. wants.
•    Medical Mal-Practice as currently applied, resulting directly in Defensive Medicine that generates over 25% of all health care costs. 
•    Patient Accountability for health and disease, through financial incentives and dis-incentives, thereby finally including the demanding / needing patient in the decision-making process.  Patient quality of life is responsible for about 50% of patient health and disease.  Not a word of that was discussed in the book under review, at least in the summary sections that I read.  
•    Bring abusive MCO practices to heel. 
•    Emphasize and pay for Coordination of Care, the weak sister of the system, whether performed by a primary care physician or by a caring specialist.
•    Promote and encourage the direct involvement of “physician extenders” in patient care, under the direct supervision of physicians. 
•    Reach out to physicians and other health care providers for a partnership in the process…instead of reaching out with the stick for the favorite piñata.  Wouldn’t that be a breath of fresh air? 

Much more can be offered, and has been offered.  But this will suffice for now. 

George A. Sprecace, M.D., J.D.


THURSDAY through SATURDAY, July 1 through 3, 2010

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY.

REALLY. 
In what country would you rather be living?  The rest of the world is either "in Hell in a hand-basket" or on the way. No nation has been as blessed as America. 

And yet, there is an increasing sense of unease in this country. It has less to do with our individual financial pressures  than with the fact that we are beset by adversaries both from without and from within.  Historically, this is not new.  During the American Revolution, nearly a third of our population were Tories, actively or passively operating against independence.  There was the constant friction between North and South, beginning with the First Constitutional Convention, continuing through the War of 1812, the decades leading to our terrible Civil War and for one hundred years thereafter.  There were the real and perceived problems with Immigration at the turn of the 20th century, the World Wars, the Great Depression, the Cold War, Viet Nam, the Nixon debacle...and most recently 9/11 and its aftermath continuing to the present time. 

I have been an active observer of all of this since the late 1930's.  At no time have I had a greater sense of unease than now.  Why?  Because this nation's center is slipping.  Everything, including our religious and moral underpinnings, our self-government, our hard-won sense of American exceptionalism in the world, our trust in the ultimate fairness, or at least effectiveness, of our government, our sense of trust in many of our fellow citizens, our very independence under the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights...all of this is now under attack, both from without and from within. 

Much of this is described in some quarters as our "Culture Wars".  That's a large part of it.  But so is the combined arrogance and ineptitude of our current national leadership...especially the leftist crazies who occupy the Obama Administration, but also many on the feckless, extreme and compromised political Right.  We are in danger of becoming neither "one Nation" nor "under God". 

What to do?  Historically, America has addressed such problems either by revolution or civil war or foreign wars of choice or necessity, or by assassinations.  Are we as a nation still that immature?  We citizens have more effective means...so far...to deal with the issues at hand: the ballot box.  Thus, I charge every registered voter, of whatever political persuasion, to VOTE OUT OF OFFICE IN THE NEXT TWO NATIONAL ELECTIONS EVERY INCUMBENT OFFICEHOLDER.  Send a message from "We the People...." 

"IS ANYBODY THERE?  DOES ANYBODY CARE"?


GS


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