Mitch Albom is a great writer and people person.  FYI., he wrote "Tuesdays
with Morrie" and "The 5 People you meet in Heaven."
----- Original Message -----
From: "K. F. Etzold" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2007 5:48 PM
Subject: Albom article (Referred to by Lorraine Jeffe)


> MITCH ALBOM
>
>
>           When this doctor was in, he was out
>
> July 15, 2007
>
> BY MITCH ALBOM
>
> FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
>
> We can be a pretty lazy nation, but one thing that gets us riled up is
> our health, right?
>
> When a baby is sick, look out. When a father or mother isn't getting
> good care, we scream. When we find our water is being poisoned, or
> something we're ingesting causes cancer, we get angry.
>
> Advertisement
>
> Don't we?
>
> So why have we been so silent after the former surgeon general of the
> United States just testified that the Bush administration repeatedly
> muzzled him, ignored him or told him not to issue reports?
>
> After all, the surgeon general isn't just a name on a cigarette pack.
> The job is referred to as the nation's doctor. And, personally, if I
> find out my doctor is withholding information, I'm furious.
>
> Yet, according to testimony at his congressional hearing last week,
> Richard Carmona, who served four years as surgeon general under
> President George W. Bush, was told not to speak or issue reports about
> stem cells, sex education, emergency contraception, global health or
> mental health issues.
>
> The reason, Carmona said, was politics.
>
> "I was told to stay away" from certain issues, he testified, "because
> we've already decided which way we want to go."
>
> Oh.
>
> *Is there a doctor in the White House?*
>
> So Bush, with no medical training whatsoever, can tell the world his
> view of embryos and stem cells, but the highest doctor in the land cannot?
>
> So Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney can cluck tongues at global
> warming, but the highest doctor in the land has his tongue tied?
>
> So Bush and Cheney can tell citizens abstinence is the only answer in
> sex education, but the highest doctor in the land can't speak about
> contraceptives?
>
> So tobacco executives can lie on the stand about their product, but the
> highest doctor in the land is discouraged by the administration from
> testifying about secondhand smoke?
>
> According to Carmona, this administration not only did all that, it even
> discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics, because that
> organization has long been a favorite of the Kennedys. And the Kennedys
> are not members of Team Bush.
>
> So, disabled kids -- too bad.
>
> Wait. There's more. Carmona testified that some of his reports were shot
> down because they didn't glowingly compliment the administration. And he
> was instructed to mention Bush by name at least three times on every
> page of his speeches.
>
> (Technically, he could have achieved this by saying, "President Bush
> doesn't want me to discuss matters President Bush has already decided on
> because he's President Bush." But I guess that wouldn't count.)
>
> *Who hired these people, anyway?*
>
> Excuse the pun, but at what point does this make you sick? How many more
> Bush administration exes have to come out the door shaking their heads
> -- telling stories of being muzzled or fired over speaking the truth --
> before we accept that the nation is being run by political bullies?
>
> And save your breath about "Bush hating." That's a great trick for
> shooting the messengers. /"Ah, you can't trust them; they're just Bush
> haters."/ Except it makes no sense. Like Colin Powell, Michael Brown and
> a laundry list of former military and economic staffers who have
> questioned the president, Carmona was chosen /by this administration./
> Sorry. You can't select your team then call it the enemy. Pick a lane
> and drive it.
>
> Now, even more than most, the surgeon general should have no political
> interference. It's a doctor's position. If a doctor is to warn Americans
> about health issues, he can't worry that the boss has ties to the
> tobacco industry, the alcohol industry, drug companies, oil companies or
> a particular religious view.
>
> You want to muzzle an aide? Hardly news. A press secretary? It has been
> done. But a surgeon general with his hands over his eyes, ears and
> mouth? Where is our anger now?
>
> We better show some. Otherwise, forget cigarettes. Pretty soon it'll be
> the White Houses that should come with a warning: May be hazardous to
> your health.
>
> /Contact *MITCH ALBOM* at 313-223-4581 or [log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>. Catch "The Mitch Albom Show" 5-7 p.m.
> weekdays on WJR-AM (760)./
>
> .
>
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