What’s most shocking about former Surgeon General Richard Carmona’s complaint about Bush administration officials suppressing public health information is that it isn’t shocking; reports of the administration blocking information that doesn’t match its ideological or political views have become old news.
Carmona (in photo), who served as surgeon general from 2002 to 2006, told a House committee Tuesday that the administration wouldn’t allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education and certain other issues and that it delayed and tried to "water down" the report on the dangers of secondhand smoke. He also said he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches and that he was discouraged from attending the Special Olympics because of the organization’s tie to a Democratic family — presumably, the Kennedys.
The surgeon general’s job likely has never been completely immune from politics. C. Everett Koop told the House committee that Reagan officials tried to keep him from talking about AIDS, and David Satcher said that Clinton officials didn’t want him to issue a report showing that needle-exchange programs were effective. But a total six former surgeons general told Carmona that the problem is much worse now.
Again, that should be shocking but isn’t.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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29 Comments
You are right Phillip. Yawn.
I think THAT is what is meant as scandal fatigue. Something bushco counts on.
Bore
Phillip and Bloggers:
“The surgeon general’s job likely has never be completely immune from politics”
—-Try “has never been —.”
Since my intelligence is questioned, when I make a typo, or spelling error, just wanted to point out that I think Phil is a smart guy who just made a human mistake.
I think what you see here is an opportunity for 1) some to jump on the bandwagon and get some press time, even some payback, 2) the press who is mostly liberal having a field day, and 3)the Bush haven;t a propensity to demand absolute fealty. THis surgeon general isn;t the first one “victimized” by politics, he won;t be the last
If he got in bed with bushco, he deserves what he gets. I’m also tired of folks who looooooved them some bush when the polls were up.
And then ran like rats from the ship later on. And think they wont be held accountable for the love fest?
Bush has a history of doing this stuff. The only appointees who didnt know that were the willfully ignorant.
WOW, Republican speechless and littlejohn not finding anything wrong with the Bush administration playing around with people’s health.
Now I’m speechless. Time for my nap.
littlejohn not finding anything wrong with the Bush administration playing around with people’s health.
Now I’m speechless. Time for my nap.
Posted by: ???????????? | July 11, 2007 at 02:02 PM
Yeah, you must be tired. I never stated such a thing, never implied such a thing, and do not support the Bush Administration. I have stated so frequently. I also am adult and awake enough to know opportunism when I see it. take your nap, you need it
From the same administration that surpressess a NASA official on global warming and hires energy companies to make energy policy. No surprises here.
I heard about this today on the radio. This is a shocking indictment of the Bush administration’s habit of overlooking facts for the sake of advancing its despicable political agenda.
Yeah, this is an administration that wants to control information. That’s the mark of a dictatorship, not a constitutional democracy.
constitutional democracy…
constitution…
Ron Paul 2008
Big shock: the Bush Administration lies about everything.
Bigger shock: its minions profess not to care.
Everything our government does is done to forward it’s own ends. I suppose you have to act like this is somehow surprising when the other political party is responsible.
Good thing this doesn’t happen at the FDAOr the Department of CommerceDepartment of EducationThe MilitaryEtc
What is shocking is how many fools are always promoting empowerment of the state. How many times do you need to see them doing things solely for political reasons before you lose your child-like faith?
We do not need a surgeon general anyway.
ProudMan,
Our government is not the Republican Party. These are two different entities.
Your anti-government philosophy is not vindicated by the decision of this Administration to misuse Federal power for private ends.
What is vindicated is the critique of the Administration and its narrow, unrepresenative purposes and actions.
What is vindicated is the critique of the Administration and its narrow, unrepresenative purposes and actions.
Posted by: CF2K | July 11, 2007 at 02:52 PM
While I agree, it is still useful to point out that Administrations past have used the same tactics. Not to shift blame or topics. The Bush admin created it’w own nightmares, and some of ours. But So much is made of “Republicans this/democrats that” that it is useful to examine the actions of each, and realize they all suck.
they all suck.Posted by: littlejohn | July 11, 2007 at 03:12 PM
Sad but true.
I hear now that Bush has forbidden Harriet Miers from testifying before congress. Desperate acts from a desperate man.Bush’s problem is that he never understood that in order to successfully conspire, the conspiracy has to be kept secret, and in order to keep it secret, you don’t involve large numbers of people in it. Now everybody and his cousin knows about it (except for those 26 percenters who drank the Koolade of True Belief), and the neo-con conspiracy is blown. Bush can only try to save his own biscuits now.
Ah, come on, beagle, put something with something good to say about Republicans in the paper, and this administration in particular. Just so Republican can start another diatribe about how well this administration is running the country.
I know there’s something someplace.
So exactly why do we need a taxpayer funded surgeon general for anyways?
I just love these dismissive attitudes, “How never been”, it not the first one…”, “if he gets in bed with…”,“you are shocked by this..”. Will it be the last statement said on the last day of this country as we have known it. “Well you knew it could not last!”, as we set at the computer screen as the power fades and the jackboots walk in the door? Some things can be changed and some can not. But to accept everything and do nothing only serve to make it come true.
Rail DAMN it! Shout about it! Speak out and when the tiny voices join together at least they will be together against the wrong instead of together to allow the wrong. It is the height of simple mindedness to say that it is all politics and not right or wrong. Least we all forget, Bush is the President of the United States and not the President of the Republican party or the neo-cons/Religious right.
But to be dismissive about such things only empowers him to be so.
Good point, just because something “has always been a that way” is no reason it has to stay that way.The more I see of the Bush admistration, the more it feels like we’re living under some communist dictator.
Though many political appointments are not immune from politics, the insistence of this administration that their ideology “defines” truth is scary. Any information that is contradictory to their belief system is seemingly by definition wrong. The surgeon general’s testimony is case in point. If scientific evidence contradicts ideological beliefs, this administration apparently beleives that the science must be wrong and must for the good of the people, be suppressed. This dogmatic insistence upon placing belief above rational thought and evidence is a pattern seen in foreign as well as domestic policy. It has become downright scary how the most powerful people in this country can have their actions dictated by delusion rather than reality, and equally concerning is their willingness to attempt to supress information that contradicts their ideological delusions. The only good that may come from this is that citizens will be awoken to the need to have leaders that are motivated and informed by rational thought rather than theological fairytales and ideological nonsense. No political system, whether it is a democratic, socialist, or communist form of government is immune to delusional ideologists, and all systems can be corrupted by such ideologs.
By Diana Lynne© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Amid increasing evidence that child molesters are sexual predators for life, Florida lawmakers are considering life for sexual predators.
State Rep. Bob Allen, R-Merritt Island, hopes to seize the opportunity of a special legislative session that begins today and runs through Friday to make headway with his “Sexual Predators Elimination Act.”
The measure, HB 251, seeks mandatory life sentences without parole or eligibility for gain time for individuals designated as sexual predators. Under Florida law, these are individuals convicted of sexual battery on a child 12 or younger, repeat sexual offenders, sexual offenders who use physical violence and sexual offenders who use or threaten the use of a deadly weapon.
“We need to lock them up and throw away the key,” Allen told WND. Otherwise, he says, they continue to prey on children and teenagers to feed a need that never goes away.
“I’ve done a lot of research on it. I’ve gone with the officers and probation officers to the homes of sexual predators,” Allen continued. “One of the sexual predators said it the best: ‘I want to do better. But, sir, it’s like if someone tried to sit you down guaranteeing you’ll do 15 sessions of counseling, and in that 15 sessions I’m going to talk you out of your sexual preference and get you to do something else.’”
snip/
“We’re writing all of these wild zoning laws and imposing all this extra restriction and extra cost and doing all these machinations to accommodate a repeat offender hanging around us. When we can get away from all those … expensive law-enforcement time-wasting factors by simply going straight to the root of the problem, and that is the offender, and put them in a locked up place where we know we’re safe,’” said Allen.
“Mr. Allen is out to get votes,” responded George Crossley, president of the central Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “I’m reasonably cynical enough to know that these folks really don’t care one way or another about what happens to
More here: http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47726
And Vitter and 25 more congressment to be named soon!!!
this is great
On CNN’s Crossfire on October 20, 2000, Larry Flynt exploded a bombshell: that he has evidence that George W. Bush was “involved in an abortion in Texas” in the early 1970’s - when abortions were still illegal.
Here are the details, as reported by Bartcop:
In the winter of 1971 George W. Bush was dating a woman named Robin Lowman (now Robin Garner). Miss Lowman became pregnant by Smirk and he arranged for her to have an abortion - which in the great state of Texas in 1971 was very illegal! Not to mention that George W. is running as a pro-life candidate for the presidency.The unnamed source of this story, was a friend of Robin Lowman’s and the girlfriend of the man who arranged the abortion. His name is Robert Carl Chandler. Chandler is a Bush friend and supporter from way back and he made the arrangements for Miss Lowman’s abortion at the Twelve Oaks Hospital in Houston, TX (now the Bayou City Medical Center). The source overheard the call by Mr. Chandler to arrange the abortion and the source visited Robin Lowman at the Twelve Oaks Hospital after the procedure.
The source meanwhile, is afraid of coming forward, saying that she was threatened by Chandler and another Bush friend and supporter named Jim Bath. Bath has longstanding intelligence connections, and played a role in the BCCI scandal. Robin Lowman (now Garner) is married to Jerry Lee Garner who is an FBI agent.
So, that’s the story: an illegal back room abortion arranged by the Republican party Presidential candidate who is running on a pro-life ticket.
The CNN Coverup
Amazingly, CNN scrubbed its own story!!!!
This has all the markings of a cover-up by CNN - just like the cover-ups of Bush’s many other scandals, from going AWOL, to using illegal drugs, to corruption in Texas government, to lying under oath.
Here is the original transcript that was published by CNN, but has now been scrubbed.
NOVAK: Mr. Flynt, never let it be said that we censor any of our guests here on CROSSFIRE, and you said you wanted to talk about the election. Tell me what you wanted to say.
FLYNT: Well, during the impeachment debacle, we did an investigation which resulted in the resignation of Bob Livingston and others and we have continued this investigation and for eight months we’ve been looking into George W. Bush’s background. And we’ve found out in the early 1970s he was involved in an abortion in Texas, and I just think that it’s sad that the mainstream media, who’s aware of this story, won’t ask him that question when they were able to ask him the drug question without any proof at all, and we’ve got all kinds of proof on this issue.
NOVAK: Well, you’re…
FLYNT: You know, the guy admitted he was a drunk for 20 years, and if the abortion issue is true then that puts him lower on the morality scale than Bill Clinton.
NOVAK: Mr. Flynt, you said if it’s true and you have no proof of that. I gather you are a very strong…
FLYNT: The hell we don’t have proof.
CF2K,
When I said, “I suppose you have to act like this is somehow surprising when the other political party is responsible.” I apparently was talking about you.
Only the scum Republicans make illnesses like AIDS and cancer into political issues.
I find it quite appalling that the Executive branch is using its political power to influence those responsible for looking after our best interests away from using their best judgement.
From the Surgeon General’s 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.”
When politicians do things like this it just burns me up.
brian,
I agree. It seems completely against the interests of the American PEOPLE to interfere with the work of the Surgeon General.
I guess it’s indicative of how low our nation has sunk that Larry Flynt is now the credible keeper of the nation’s sexual morality