I found a rather long May 14, 2008, blog post at Home of the Brave about the involvement of medical professionals in unethical activities on behalf of Homeland Security:



http://revolutionredux.wordpress.com/2008/... /

The same post also shows a chart comparing national attitudes toward torture. According to the chart, Americans support the use of torture more than the Chinese or Russians.



Pretty depressing stuff. It just goes to show how important the elections are this year, and how imperative it is that we all act to restore American respect for civil liberties and basic human rights.

I posted about this yesterday in the Disability (and Texas forums), and didn't get but one bite. But it's really important, so I'm trying again.

One of the worst, most foolish, and cruelest money-saving measures inflicted by the federal government on the needy is the 2 year delay in Medicare for people who have been approved for SSDI. That's right, people who have successfully been through a difficult screening process for disability pay, a process that also qualifies them for Medicare, still have to wait for Medicare benefits to kick in. The actual wait time after SSDI approval varies, since it is set according to date of application and not date of approval, but it can be up to two years. The result is that people with life-threatening disabilities that prevent them from working are forced to go without health care. Sure, there's emergency room health care, but you don't get MRIs, chemotherapy, or daily insulin through ERs. The result is that people, people already known to be at risk, get even sicker. Some die. My own daughter, already suffering from daily seizures, went over a year before she could at last have an MRI and begin treatment.

The state of Texas has passed a resolution calling on the federal government to change this practice. What if we could get every state in the nation to pass a similar resolution? Would you call on your state rep to sponsor a resolution similar to that of Texas?

Regardless of what might be done with national health care in the near future, the Medicare disability situation needs to be changed immediately.

From http://www.dpctexas.org/newsletters/2007-0... :

Without a lot of fanfare, the 80th Texas Legislature passed House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 35, authored by Rep. Eddie Rodriguez of Austin, urging Congress to pass a law to eliminate the 24-month Medicare waiting period for SSDI participants. Texas is the first state to pass such a resolution. Last week, the secretary of state’s office forwarded the resolution to the U.S. president, vice president, speaker of the house and members of the Texas Congressional delegation, requesting that it be entered in the Congressional Record.

(link to text of resolution also at this site).

I cross-posted this in the Texas forum. Surely, if the Texas legislature is on our side in getting rid of the 24-month rule, we should be able to get other states to join in.

From http://www.dpctexas.org/newsletters/2007-0... :

Without a lot of fanfare, the 80th Texas Legislature passed House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 35, authored by Rep. Eddie Rodriguez of Austin, urging Congress to pass a law to eliminate the 24-month Medicare waiting period for SSDI participants. Texas is the first state to pass such a resolution. Last week, the secretary of state’s office forwarded the resolution to the U.S. president, vice president, speaker of the house and members of the Texas Congressional delegation, requesting that it be entered in the Congressional Record.

Source: DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer

In an effort to provide better control and coordination, the federal government is launching an ambitious ID program for rescue workers to keep everyday people from swarming to a disaster scene. A prototype of the new first responder identification card is already being issued to fire and police personnel in the Washington, D.C., area.

Proponents say the system will get professionals on scene quicker and keep untrained volunteers from making tough work more difficult.

But they also know it is a touchy subject, particularly for those devoted to helping in moments of crisis.

....

"They're more worried about keeping volunteers out than doing an analysis of what really went wrong," said Shearer. "Independent citizens need to be involved, where we have no ax to grind or cross to bear. But we will tell the truth, and we will tell what we see and bear witness to the incompetence."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070901/ap_on_...

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I think Shearer is on target with her criticism of this new plan.

CBS has on its website an old documentary from 1965, Abortion and the Law. It is roughly an hour long, but well worth the time spent. See Walter Cronkite impartially cover a difficult subject! Learn what the facts are about pre-Roe America! Watch a parade of men discuss what abortion law should be without a single authorative woman's voice!

Seriously, go watch. You'll be glad you did.

I suspect that the train officials made up their minds about him as soon as they looked at his face. Yep, another fool who had the nerve to be disabled and nonwhite at the same time. I guess he's just supposed to be happy he wasn't deported. Not that white disabled people don't get mistreated for being "disruptive." As Mr. Universe pointed out after he was tasered and jailed following an episode of hypoglycemia: "So many parents have contacted me, sharing their fear that something like this will happen to their child one day. Here I was a well-dressed adult. What if I was 14-year-old kid in baggy pants -- who was actually a sweet kid -- or what if I were African-American? How would I have been treated then?"