Ee-Surgeon General muzzeled for Political reasons

Sammie

Well-Known Member
The Pres is not the Pope. As a pro choicer, some of Bush's hang ups are getting on my last nerve. Repeated vetoing of the stem cell issue, limiting information on sex ed, controlling birth control info, give me a break, please.

I'm also a Republican, but from what I gather the Republicans would like to overpopulate the world. And apparently our leader knows what’s best for the reproductive rights of women and can also pick and choose what his people should be told. Nice.

What does this say about the the Hippocratic Oath and the Oath of President?

Mr. Bush and some of his thought processes are inappropriate...
 

wkmac

Well-Known Member
Political interference with the work of the surgeon general appears to have reached a new level in this administration.

WASHINGTON (July 11) - President Bush's most recent surgeon general accused the administration Tuesday of muzzling him for political reasons

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/ex-surgeon-general-says-he-was-muzzled/20070711111609990001


What is even a bigger question is how does this President pick his people? You would think he'd pick folks at least in line with the thinking of his adminstrational policy. What I'd like to see from gov't is not a specific point of view and only that view brought to the table but let all points and all facts be voiced and fully explored.

By doing this you at least give yourself the best chance of not only taking the better course of action based on fact and not hype but the people also have a much better understanding of the whole issue and with a concerted focus by the public, the chances are better for success and when things don't go just right, the public again can and generally will focus on overcoming the problem instead of being so little informed as we generally are now, we get bogged down when pundits on either side start the political spin in order to achieve gain at our expense and we're still left in the dark. Instead of just leveling with us and including us with as much details as they can, they decide to flip us off, tell us to go watch American Idol and then of all things they tell us to just trust them.

Or do I have this all wrong in that we march to watch American Idol in mass and the gov't sees we won't exert any effort to learn the facts so why should they even bother. Maybe the problem is us as we are the disease and they are only the symptom.

Now that was harsh was it not?

BTW Sammie: Nice post!
 

Sammie

Well-Known Member
Or do I have this all wrong in that we march to watch American Idol in mass and the gov't sees we won't exert any effort to learn the facts so why should they even bother. Maybe the problem is us as we are the disease and they are only the symptom.

Now that was harsh was it not?

Thanks, wkmac.

You know, it's infuriating to me when our intelligence is insulted.

And it also makes me wonder what the colors are of muzzles the members of the Cabinet wear...

In the case of this former surgeon general, like he says, the position he held was as the doctor of the nation, not the doctor of a political party. And like my newspaper said today, would it really have hurt the Bush White House to have let this man have his say? I also agree with Carmona when he said that when public health is at stake, there's nothing worse than ignoring science, or shoving it off to the side for the sake politics.

And wkmac, your post hardly harsh; it was just a tap on the wrist....
Bush, like many of us, refuses to acknowledge the big picture until it comes crashing through his front door. You can bet if someone in Bush's family was facing the choice of death or a transplant, (stem cells could possibly be used in lieu of a transplant, since the number of people needing one is far more than the number of donated organs), or was ill with Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, a spinal cord injury, a stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, etc., etc., the man would be screaming himself witless for stem cell research.

But it's not in his own back yard.

I was on vacation the Monday morning of 9/11. A friend who was leaving his night shift job called me early that morning and told me to turn the tube on. I was just numb that whole week and when I got back to work I tried to start a conversation about it but it was like I was from Mars. I also snuck a tiny TV into work on the last day of the OJ trial because I wanted to see the end result right then and there. Once again, business as usual... :confused:1

But people will blab for hours on end about all the Reality Shows; Pimp My Ride, Survivor, The Apprentice...


Sounds like we need a Reality Check... :blink:
 

moreluck

golden ticket member
I had my regular Thursday 9 AM. coffee date with my neighbors....2 guys next door (a father 84 and a son 55). I have to admit, for about 5 mins. we did talk about America's Got Talent. For the next 55 mins. we talked about Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton,Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Cindy Sheehan, etc.
I can't remember how many times the word "b*tch" was used.......but it was a lot!! We usually talk the politics, local & national. I love getting the opinions of the WW2 veteran........he may be 84, but he's sharp as a tack. He says if the enemy is hiding weapons & themselves in those mosques, then bomb the damn mosques. I like his plan!!
 

Jones

fILE A GRIEVE!
Staff member
Surgeon general serves the president. He didn't have to take the job.
Actually, (and this is direct from the Health and Human Services website):

The Surgeon General serves as America's chief health educator by providing Americans the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury. The Surgeon General is appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate for a 4-year term of office.

Much like all our public officials (including the president), the Surgeon General is supposed to serve the American people, which is part of the reason the office requires a senate confirmation.

What the Surgeon General is not supposed to be is a mindless shill for the president's personal religious and idealogical beliefs.
 

diesel96

Well-Known Member
Surgeon general serves the president. He didn't have to take the job.

wkmac said:
What is even a bigger question is how does this President pick his people? You would think he'd pick folks at least in line with the thinking of his adminstrational policy. What I'd like to see from gov't is not a specific point of view and only that view brought to the table but let all points and all facts be voiced and fully explored.

By doing this you at least give yourself the best chance of not only taking the better course of action based on fact and not hype but the people also have a much better understanding of the whole issue and with a concerted focus by the public, the chances are better for success and when things don't go just right, the public again can and generally will focus on overcoming the problem instead of being so little informed as we generally are now, we get bogged down when pundits on either side start the political spin in order to achieve gain at our expense and we're still left in the dark.


The Surgeon General of the United States is the head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the U.S. government.

Today, the Corps is under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and is led by the Surgeon General of the United States. The Commissioned Corps is one of the seven Uniformed Services. The Surgeon General is commissioned as a Vice Admiral or Army rank equivalent of Lieutenant General with the paygrade of O-9. The Surgeon General reports directly to the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH). Currently, the ASH is commissioned as a four-star Admiral in the Corps with a paygrade of O-10 [1].


Technically Tie guy is right,and wkmac brings up a valid point.HOWEVER,The President is supposed to serve The People,by The People...he didn't have to take the job niether.Unfortunately we the People can't seem to muzzle the President who's not serving in the best interest of the People until Jan. 2009.If The People wake up,maybe we should vote on a ballet to elect an Independent Surgeon General rather than have any Administration and Senate appoint a puppeteer who is censored.

Sammie said:
The Pres is not the Pope. As a pro choicer, some of Bush's hang ups are getting on my last nerve. Repeated vetoing of the stem cell issue, limiting information on sex ed, controlling birth control info, give me a break, please.

I'm also a Republican, but from what I gather the Republicans would like to overpopulate the world. And apparently our leader knows what’s best for the reproductive rights of women and can also pick and choose what his people should be told. Nice.

What does this say about the the Hippocratic Oath and the Oath of President?

Mr. Bush and some of his thought processes are inappropriate...

Sammie,sounds like your a leader not a follower.Party affiliation should not sterotypically dictate to you how you should lean on all issues.Suppoting Pro Choice(in a Guliani way)should I stop going to church?Hell No!(although I should go more,not just Holidays and Weddings).Supporting The Death Penalty and the Right to Bear Arms should I not declare my self a Democratic?Hell No!
Nothing Irks me more than on an election day, somebody telling me they didn't know the canidates so they voted all Rep's or all Demo's.Guess I can't blame Bloomberg for going Independent
 

tieguy

Banned
Actually, (and this is direct from the Health and Human Services website):

The Surgeon General serves as America's chief health educator by providing Americans the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury. The Surgeon General is appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate for a 4-year term of office.

Much like all our public officials (including the president), the Surgeon General is supposed to serve the American people, which is part of the reason the office requires a senate confirmation.

What the Surgeon General is not supposed to be is a mindless shill for the president's personal religious and idealogical beliefs.

Serving the people does not require being a loose canon.
 

Sammie

Well-Known Member
Sammie,sounds like your a leader not a follower.Party affiliation should not sterotypically dictate to you how you should lean on all issues.Suppoting Pro Choice(in a Guliani way)should I stop going to church?Hell No!(although I should go more,not just Holidays and Weddings).Supporting The Death Penalty and the Right to Bear Arms should I not declare my self a Democratic?Hell No!
Nothing Irks me more than on an election day, somebody telling me they didn't know the canidates so they voted all Rep's or all Demo's.Guess I can't blame Bloomberg for going Independent

No Diesel, I think I'm just way too cynical. Of either party. I started paying attention to politics when I took psych classes and some of our assignments were to tour some state mental facilities in northern California. These "facilities" were temporary WWII barricks that were to be rebuilt but the war ended and the structures remained. Entering these places were like crossing the wall into East Berlin, so barren, desolate and depressing. With the funds at hand, the staff told us they were stretching it to provide two meals and a snack every day for the patients, and this was as the Golden Boy, America's Dream Come True, (Reagan as Governor) was about to slice away at the state's mental health budget. I'll tell you, life there compared to prison life is like comparing living on the streets to the Taj Mahal.

Then came Kent State, the year long hostage hell under Carter, Watergate, Vietnam, Saigon falling under the Ford admin, the elder Bush as the CIA director who may well have undermined Carter's attempts to free the hostages, and the list goes on. I try to stay informed but one has to have a tremendous ego to make it all the way to the top and I'm sceptical of every last one of them....
 
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