Eideard

Har!

Thanks, Ursarodinia

Doctor Patti McCarver meeting with a patient

With pain in her right ear, Sue Cassidy went to a clinic. The doctor, wearing a white lab coat with a stethoscope in one pocket, introduced herself.

“Hi. I’m Dr. Patti McCarver, and I’m your nurse,” she said. And with that, Dr. McCarver stuck a scope in Ms. Cassidy’s ear, noticed a buildup of fluid and prescribed an allergy medicine. It was something that will become increasingly routine for patients: a someone who is not a physician using the title of doctor.

Dr. McCarver calls herself a doctor because she returned to school to earn a doctorate last year, one of thousands of nurses doing the same recently. Doctorates are popping up all over the health professions, and the result is a quiet battle over not only the title “doctor,” but also the money, power and prestige that often comes with it.

As more nurses, pharmacists and physical therapists claim this honorific, physicians are fighting back.

An illegitimate characterization. “Fighting back” implies medical doctors are losing something. The quandary is over their ego-smitten self-worth. Standards for doctorates in most fields, medical or otherwise, allow the term “doctor” for anyone who reaches or surpasses those standards.

For nurses, getting doctorates can help them land a top administrative job at a hospital, improve their standing at a university and win them more respect from colleagues and patients. But so far, the new degrees have not brought higher fees from insurers for seeing patients or greater authority from states to prescribe medicines.

Nursing leaders say that their push to have more nurses earn doctorates has nothing to do with their fight of several decades in state legislatures to give nurses more autonomy, money and prescriptive power.

But many physicians are suspicious and say that once tens of thousands of nurses have doctorates, they will invariably seek more prescribing authority and more money. Otherwise, they ask, what is the point..?

The point is knowledge, skill and understanding. For the nurses. Obviously the point for the doctors is money and status. And money.

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One year ago this week, America got a wake-up call about a core problem in our politics that empowers ideological extremists and special interests…

In the tea party-driven purges of 2010, Mike Castle was considered a traitor to the conservative cause because he had a record of working across the aisle. And so they turned to activist and serial candidate Christine O’Donnell.

Keep a few things in mind. O’Donnell had just five in-state donations in the first quarter of the 2010 cycle. But in the third quarter, as the RINO-hunting fever took hold, she received a quarter-million dollars in tea party national activist cash.

On September 14, 2010, she beat Castle in a closed partisan primary in which only 32% of Republicans voted (and keep in mind that Republicans are a distinct minority in Delaware).

The result? In November, Republicans lost a Senate seat they were likely to win, especially in a GOP-leaning year…

Mayor Adrian Fenty’s story in Washington is less well known, but no less resonant. Tea party primary challenges are already infamous, but left-wing challenges to more centrist Democrats are in the process of catching up…

The real issue in his re-election, however, was his embrace of education reform, led by his controversial but nationally known schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee — one of the stars of the education reform documentary “Waiting for Superman.”

Teachers unions are among the top donors to Democratic campaigns. They expect their way to be obeyed. And they decided to use Fenty as an example. They ended up pouring about $1 million into the September closed partisan primary, in which Fenty faced City Council President Vincent Gray.

That money — and directly linked get-out-the-vote efforts — ended Fenty’s tenure as mayor despite a majority of residents saying that the city had improved under his watch…

The parties have forgotten that they are not the purpose of our politics. So here’s one reform whose time has come: Replace closed partisan primaries with open primaries — like those in California and New Hampshire and many other states — allowing independents and other candidates full access to the political process.

RTFA. There’s a bunch of details over at the original article for those of you who follow the smell of American politics – within the least progressive 2-party system ever created to satisfy the needs of corporate dollars and congressional clowns.

Open primaries only let you vote once; so, you must choose the primary you want to participate in. This whole process could be taken a couple more steps towards real democracy; but, this alone would be a big step. I would no longer have to register as a Democrat long enough to get through primary season in New Mexico – and then unregister to sleep easier as an independent.

Prince Eric of Richmond
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

As rescuers raced Tuesday to free people trapped by floodwaters caused by Hurricane Irene, Washington politicians bickered over how to pay for it.

The same budget arguments that nearly brought the first government default in history earlier this month now raise questions about whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency will have enough money to deal with Irene’s aftermath…

With conservative House Republicans calling for spending cuts to offset any increase in emergency funds — a condition opposed by many Democrats — the ability of Congress to act quickly on the issue remains uncertain.

“The notion that we would hold this up until Republicans can prompt another budget fight and figure out what they want to cut, what they want to offset in the budget, and to pit one section of the country against the other and to delay this and create this uncertainty, it’s just the latest chapter and I think one of the most unsavory ones of our budget wars,” said Rep. David Price, D-North Carolina.

Irene first made landfall on the U.S. mainland in North Carolina, devastating some coastal areas. Price said GOP efforts led by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of neighboring Virginia to offset additional emergency funds amount to “an untenable position and one that simply is unresponsive and insensitive to the kind of situation we face…”

Even the White House got involved in the fracas, with Press Secretary Jay Carney telling reporters Tuesday that he wished Cantor and other conservative Republicans had the same commitment to spending offsets “when they ran up unprecedented bills and never paid for them” during the administration of President George W. Bush.

Cantor and his fellow royal Republicans never address the question of need when confronted. They only answer questions with one question, the only one that counts to Republican elitists: cost and budget?

Cantor’s loyalty to corporate accountants assures him a place in infamy. That’s truly saying something in the history of Congressional scum.

Rumsfeld at meal run by Bush’s favorite concierge – KBR

The US government has wasted more than $30bn on private contractors and grants in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade – more than 15% of the total spend – according to a bipartisan group charged with examining the issue.

The figure, described as “sobering but conservative”, illustrated the need for significant law and policy changes to avoid such waste in the future, the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan said.

The body, set up by a Senate vote in 2007 to mimic the work of a post-second world war commission that investigated waste, will submit its report to Congress on Wednesday. Submitted to the same people who approved the expenditures in the first place…

At least another $30bn could be wasted if the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan are unable to keep US-run projects running after the US withdraws or simply choose not to do so, Christopher Shays, an ex-Republican congressman, and Michael Thibault, a former deputy director of the Defence Contract Audit Agency, wrote.

“Tens of billions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted through poor planning, vague and shifting requirements, inadequate competition, substandard contract management and oversight, lax accountability, weak inter-agency co-ordination, and subpar performance or outright misconduct by some contractors and federal employees. Both government and contractors need to do better,” they said…

In a separate report, released on Monday, the independent Centre for Public Integrity thinktank said $140bn in defence contracts were awarded without competitive tendering last year – almost triple the sum in 2001…

The report will include 15 recommendations…most of which will be useless crap if Congress maintains business as usual – rubber stamping anything that has the words Homeland Security, Pentagon or Military in the title.

Why should the young men and women of America be required to risk life and limb, take a general pay cut, to go off and fight useless wars – while America’s corporations are guaranteed not only profits but super-profits for supplying the matériel to support the physical structure of those wars, create fresh death and destruction?

In a major crackdown on online gambling, the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office have charged the founders of the three biggest Internet poker sites with fraud, illegal gambling and laundering billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds.

The FBI said Friday it’s indicting 11 defendants — including the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker — with bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses. The feds also seized five Internet domain names used by the companies to host their poker games and issued restraining orders against 75 bank accounts in 14 countries used to process payments. The U.S. attorney’s office is also seeking $3 billion in damages. The defendants could face maximum penalties of 30 years in prison $1 million fines.

Visitors to FullTiltPoker.com and AbsolutePoker.com Saturday were met with a notice from the FBI declaring the domain names had been seized by federal authorities — along with a reminder that illegal gambling is a federal crime.

PokerStars posted a statement early Saturday through its computer software and on Twitter saying the company has had to suspend real money play to customers based in the U.S., according to the Associated Press.

“Please be assured player balances are safe. There is no cause for concern,” the statement said. “For all customers outside the U.S. it is business as usual…

The feds say the sites violate the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act passed in 2006. The offshore poker companies have argued they operate outside the reach of U.S. law. The U.S. government considers Internet gambling to be illegal. Still, it’s been estimated up 15 million Americans gamble up to $6 billion per year online.

Like most American morality the question comes down to money. It’s why most drugs – especially marijuana – were made illegal. And booze – for a spell. Leadership and ethics once again are missing in action from the arena of gaming and American politics.

People who want to gamble will find a way. One of the greatest temptations in archaic moralizing is the opportunity to violate a law you know is stupid.

South Korean police have dug up a stash of 11 billion won [$10 million], most of it buried in a garlic field…

The money is believed to be the proceeds of an illegal internet gambling operation, for which one of two brothers is already in jail.

Their brother-in-law helped out by burying the cash, and then helped himself to some of it, police said. When he then accused a landscaper of stealing a chunk of cash, police moved in and unearthed it, they said…

According to the police version of the story, the brother-in-law, a 52-year-old man identified only as Mr Lee, bought the garlic field in south-western Gimje.

His gambling relatives had felt pressured by police investigations and asked for his help in hiding the money, Yonhap news agency reported. He worked at dusk and dawn, as if farming, to bury the containers.

His own greed led to his downfall however, police say: First he dug up about 400m won and spent it, without telling the brothers he had helped himself.

Then he tried to blame a workman who was helping to landscape the plot; that man complained about being falsely accused, leading police to the field.

The 11bn won was part of 17bn won the in-laws allegedly earned in profits by operating an illegal internet gambling site in South Korea with a server in Hong Kong, Yonhap reported…

Police plan to confiscate the cash and seek an arrest warrant for Mr Lee.

You know, a terrific reason for making gambling illegal is to confiscate the proceeds. More profitable than a kickback.

Laying new track on a modern high-speed roadbed

Since the Department of Transportation announced the availability of an additional $2.4 billion for high-speed rail projects last month, governors and members of Congress from both major parties have been clamoring for the opportunity to participate.

As of our Monday deadline, we received more than 90 applications from 24 states, the District of Columbia, and Amtrak. The preliminary total of those requests is nearly $10 billion, more than four times what we have available.

Why is demand for high-speed rail support so high?

Because elected officials have seen the immediate benefits of jobs where rail work has already begun. They’ve seen these jobs in Maine–where the Downeaster extension to Brunswick is under construction–and they’ve seen them in Illinois–where 96 miles of track are now being laid for the Chicago-St. Louis high-speed corridor.

Demand is high because these leaders–Democrats and Republicans–have also seen the expanded manufacturing activity in Indiana, where the workers of Steel Dynamics are forging track. They know that 30 other manufacturers and suppliers have agreed to build or expand operations in the U.S. should they participate in high-speed rail projects. They know that our Buy America requirements ensure they’ll be using American-made supplies and materials, so U.S. companies, workers, and communities will receive the maximum economic benefit of our high-speed rail investment…

From Maine to the Midwest to California, construction has begun on America’s high-speed rail facilities, and we can’t afford to see this train turn back…

Today, our Federal Railroad Administration will begin determining which of the more than 90 projects can quickly deliver benefits like sustained economic development, reduced energy consumption, and improved regional transportation efficiency.

Florida’s ignoranus Republican governor turned down the project funds because he doesn’t believe in railroads, he doesn’t especially care about unemployed workers and – critical to his next campaign for dogcatcher – he wants to lockup support from the KoolAid Party who share the same ideology.

Gold is good

MPs have asked ministers to explain why $3million from the international development budget was spent on the Pope’s UK visit in September.

They queried the “surprising” transfer from the Department for International Development (DFID) to the Foreign Office and what it was spent on…

Pope Benedict’s four-day visit in September was estimated at the time to have cost Whitehall departments $16million…

MPs on the international development select committee said they were surprised to discover the transfer…while examining DFID’s annual accounts, money the committee said was “supposed to be for overseas development aid”…

A DFID spokesman said the department was one of several which part-funded the Pope’s visit.

He added: “Our contribution recognised the Catholic Church’s role as a major provider of health and education services in developing countries…

Labour said…the government “shouldn’t be siphoning off DFID funds to subsidise Foreign Office expenditure on state visits”, said Harriet Harman, the party’s deputy leader and international development spokeswoman.

“DFID money should be to tackle poverty and global inequality, not to support Foreign Office diplomacy.”

Sounds like an appropriate criticism. Here in the states, we remain cynical over lying politicians and tame bureaucrats robbing Peter to pay off Paul.

Oil is thicker than water

In August last year, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was not happy with Saudi Arabia. He complained that the Saudis appeared to be funding an opposition candidate, Anwar Ibrahim, in upcoming elections.

What’s more, the Malaysian authorities suspected two senior Saudi princes of involvement. The Saudis launched an investigation, and uncovered something very different — and more alarming.

A secret report seen by CNN concludes: “There is no evidence any Saudi official ever supported Anwar Ibrahim” and “claims of support from the Saudi royals named in the initial report [names redacted] were found to be without basis.” But the investigation found that hundreds of millions of dollars of Saudi money had been funneled to leading Islamist politicians and political activists overseas. It also found that al Qaeda and the Taliban were still able to use Saudi Arabia for fund-raising, despite numerous measures to choke off those sources of cash.

According to a Saudi source who is not authorized to speak publically, “People close to the senior leadership of the Taliban live in Saudi Arabia and send money back” [to the Taliban].

Today he estimates the money reaching al Qaeda is “in the region of tens of thousands of dollars possibly hundreds of thousands…”

The problem facing Saudi authorities is huge, the source told CNN. “Eighty-six percent of all Islamic charities are based in Saudi Arabia” making “monitoring all their activities difficult.” The problem was compounded by several other factors, he said. Saudi Arabia “has the world’s fourth largest migrant workforce, 7 million legal workers, 3 million illegal.”

Many of them use unregulated Islamic Hawala money transfer banks where a deposit in one country can immediately be picked up in another with no paper trail to trace it. The Hawala networks were identified by the U.S. Treasury Department last year as a significant channel for funding the Taliban and other insurgent groups…

With friends like this, etc.. The Saudi royal family are vendors. We are customers for their oil. Not even clients.

So, please, don’t pay too much attention to high-sounding declarations of comradeship in the War on Terror. Or whatever it’s called this week.