Random Politics & Religion #00

Do only doctors get this moron tax?

Just putting this here for safe keeping, I'm sure it'll be useful soon.

Hence my tongue in cheek comment.

Yeah, I'm not sure whether I would defend the guy or not. A part of me says that professionalism is of course important, but the other part of me knows that hospital doctors use humor sometimes to take their minds off of the terrible things that they have to deal with on a regular basis.

Granted I can't say I'm all that familiar with the day to day of an anesthesiologist but what terrible things do the have to deal with on a regular basis?

Granted I can't say I'm all that familiar with the day to day of an anesthesiologist but what terrible things do the have to deal with on a regular basis?

Anesthesiologist during a colonoscopy? You have to put up with alot....... of ***.

Womp womp.

But in reality, only true if the patient didn't follow their prep instructions correctly.

May I suggest that if you do every need to have a colonoscopy, you follow those prep instructions to. the. letter.

Only playing devil's advocate here, as it was remarkably inappropriate in this situation no matter how you look at it, but they often deal in pain management, and despite the tendency in this country to think of pain management doctors as little more than drug dealers (...sadly, some are little more than drug dealers), they also deal with people in severe pain with little recourse other than to be medicated.

Palliative cancer treatments come to mind most readily.

Again, not excusing her behavior, or saying that they're most likely among physicians to deal with horrible events in the line of their workday, but, hey.

Advocating for Old Nick.

So basically what you are saying is that being in a hospital and taking care of the people there is enough to be able to say that you have to deal with terrible ***all the time?

Let's see, they work in a place full of sickness and death, often working crazy hours. They have to deal with the fact that their decisions often literally mean life and death, and making a mistake on minimal sleep is a medical malpractice suit just waiting to happen.

Now, if you'd like to talk about E.R. doctors, it can be all that plus more.

Except thats not the daily life of an anesthesiologist... or a lot of doctors/medical professionals.

Why anyone would want to be in the medical field is beyond me ! I can't even go into a hospital to visit without freaking out !

I wouldn't want to either, terrible with sticking things into people.

Plunging oil prices and a strengthening dollar could force the United States into a recession by the end of 2015, according to Raoul Pal of The Global Macro Investor newsletter.

The greenback's strength has pushed oil prices lower and sent fear across the markets. Pal said he now feels that the U.S. is heading toward a recession in the near future.

"There's a probability that the U.S. goes into recession this year alone," Pal said in an interview on CNBC's "Fast Money" on Tuesday.

Pal based his prediction on a number of factors, centered on his view that current trends in the dollar and oil are likely to not only continue, but accelerate.

Regarding the strength in the dollar, Pal said the dollar index could climb another 25 percent before the bull run is over. "If we look back historically at how these big dollar bull markets go, I think it's going to go, using the (dollar index), at least to 125, maybe even further."

Historically the price of oil moves inversely to the strength of the U.S. dollar.

Pal said that the historical relationship, along with weakness in Europe and China, has led oil companies to put crude into storage in hopes of waiting out the downturn in prices. Crude stores are filling "at an incredible rate" and could be full by summer, he said. That could lead to even more dire consequences.

"Any oil that is then brought out of the ground will either have to be sold into the normal market, which will be at much cheaper prices, or they're going to have to shut down production," he said. "I think that shutdown of production is something that people haven't really thought through yet."

Pal said the impact of a large-scale production shutdown could have severe ripple effects across the economy.

"So many of these companies are going to have to shut down production, and the economic damage from that, both in terms of loss of wealth and loss of production, is significant."

Why anyone would want to be in the medical field is beyond me ! I can't even go into a hospital to visit without freaking out !

The doctors acted unprofessionally and even falsified the patient's medical record. There is no questioning that they should receive some punishment.

However, 500k sounds like a lot. I wonder if both doctors will have to pay half each (minus the 50k the hospital will have to pay).

A federal watchdog testified Wednesday that his office would examine a $20 million contract to provide credit monitoring for federal employees affected by the agency’s massive cyberattack, citing concerns that the contract was awarded unusually quickly.

Along with several members of Congress, Patrick McFarland, the inspector general for the Office of Personnel Management, said during a congressional hearing that he was concerned that the speed of the award — which happened within a week — could mean that it was improperly steered to CSID, the contractor.

During a hearing Wednesday, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, also raised concerns because, he said, Owen Li, a member of the company’s board of directors, is under investigation by federal authorities after losing almost all of a hedge fund’s capital.

“Here we have someone who lost millions of dollars, [is] under investigation by the Department of Justice — we’ve got to figure out how in the world how these people get the contract,” Chaffetz said. “I’m not saying he’s guilty, but he’s under investigation. Why should we take the chance?”

But Patrick Hillmann, a spokesman for CSID, said in an e-mailed statement that lawmakers had it wrong. The Li on the company’s board is not the hedge fund manager cited at the hearing, he said.

It is “troubling that baseless allegations supported by sloppy research are being put forth into public debate,” he said, adding that the company would not be distracted by “political matters.”

A spokeswoman for the committee, in a statement Wednesday night, apologized for the error.

“Unfortunately we got our facts wrong during today’s hearing and attributed negative details to the wrong individual,” M.J. Henshaw said. “We strive to be thorough in all that we undertake but sometimes we get it wrong. We apologize for the error and will ensure that the official record is corrected.”

In a letter to OPM last week, Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) said that he had concerns about the contract, noting that “such a short turnaround time is highly unusual and raises suggestions that OPM could have intentionally steered the contract to CSID.”

OPM officials denied that allegation at the Wednesday hearing and said that the contract was awarded properly and with due diligence.

McFarland told members of the committee that his office also was concerned about the contract and would be “looking into it.” A spokesperson later said that would entail gathering the facts and determining “what steps would be appropriate.”

Members of Congress also took aim at another contract during Wednesday’s hearing, this one to help OPM secure its computer network after a data breach that potentially exposed the personal information of more than 4 million current and former federal employees.

Chaffetz said he was troubled that the contract was awarded without competition to a company accused of misusing $135 million of taxpayer money. Employees of Imperatis, formerly known as Jorge Scientific, were also recorded apparently drunk and high while working on a U.S. Army contract in Afghanistan.

“These are the recipients of a sole-source contract,” he said. He added that the company may well be capable of the work but added that “when it is a sole-source contract, it does beg a lot of questions. This organization has had a lot of problems in the past.”

An audit by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found that Imperatis could not produce documents to show whether its payments to a subcontractor were justified.

Meanwhile, the OPM inspector general has launched a “flash audit” of the program to overhaul the OPM’s computer network after the cyberattacks, citing “immediate” concerns about the way it is being implemented.

The initiative “will be far more complex than anything OPM has attempted in the past,” McFarland, the OPM inspector general, said Wednesday. He said he was concerned that because of poor preparation, the plan could ultimately make the network less secure and cost taxpayers additional money.

McFarland also questioned why the contract to perform the work was awarded without competition.

Imperatis did not respond to requests for comment.

OPM Director Katherine Archuleta, who has been under fire for weeks from Republicans and some Democrats on Capitol Hill for failing to adequately shore up her agency’s computer security networks in time to possibly prevent the attack, was by turns defensive and contrite during the four-hour hearing.

Asked again whether she or any other senior leaders at her agency should be held responsible for weak cybersecurity that could have led to the attack, she said: “I am more committed than ever to serve the employees of this administration. I accept the responsibilities that are given to the director of the OPM. I have fulfilled those responsibilities to make sure we have the right people in the right place.”

But Chaffetz, who was openly hostile, told her: “I think you’re part of the problem.

“We’ve got a crisis here that is as big as it gets,” he said. “That’s why I think it’s time for you to go.”

He told Donna Seymour, the agency’s chief information officer,“I think you’re in over your head.”

So, the last documented son of a Confederate soldier died in 2005. "The last Confederate widow" (who was born fifty years after 1865) died in 2008. The last surviving Confederate soldiers died in the 1950s.

Seeing as though a lot of people are ambivalent or ignorant about their family lineage and participation in wars of the last century (nevermind two centuries ago), somehow, people are suppose to care about a Clinton/Gore button from 1992?

Anecdotal, but not too many late Gen Xers and early Yers in the US are that invested in knowledge of their familial history, unless they're devoted to the study of history. Just an observation, though.

(Still trying to find an article on the last documented daughter of a Confederate solider.)

I wouldn't doubt that the current Sons/Daughters of the Confederacy are on par with the those who claim the lineage of Doc Holliday. Basically, laughable.

Don't tell me what to do!

I'll eat whatever I want and no amount of drink water orders is going to stop me. *Finishes that cheeseburger

I'd like you to find a somebody who works in a hospital and actually takes care of patients. If you want to get more specific, find an anesthesiologist who works in a hospital. I've got a crap ton of nurses in my extended family and I spent a lot of time in hospitals as a child due to an ill parent, so I'm not unaware of what goes down. Good luck finding one who doesn't deal with a lot of terrible stuff.

Hospitals are NOT healthy places.

You know Obama is a great President when:

Michael Moore isn't happy with him !