Black Box Report

This tragedy ought to make every one of us sick and mad for two very different reasons. First, of course, is the impossible contradiction of the promise of our hospitals to save and care for their patients versus the video of staffers treating Esmin Green as road kill to be ignored in dying and death. Area residents may have been shocked by the video, but few were truly surprised.

Kings County Hospital, and others like it, are America’s dirty little secret. They’re where we send our poor and mentally ill to get whatever care they can get, out of sight, out of mind. The only reason the case is now on our radar is because the video became public. But don't kid yourself; this wasn't one bad day at the hospital, this was just one caught on camera.

About a year ago, a state agency filed a lawsuit calling the psychiatric center at Kings County Hospital "a chamber of filth, decay indifference and danger...Patients are subjected to overcrowded and squalid conditions often accompanied by physical abuse and unnecessary and punitive injections of mind altering drugs...From the moment a person steps through the doors, she is stripped of her freedom and dignity and literally forced to fight for the essentials of life."

The suit said the hospital's emergency ward was the worst of the worst; patients marooned for days, literally forced to sit on the floor, bathrooms filthy and fly ridden, and that patients with the temerity to complain too loudly are sometimes handcuffed, beaten or injected with psychotropic drugs.

We should all be outraged and we should all demand change; but there is the other part of this story that is part of a bigger problem with our society. Esmin Green writhed in pain and died in front of staffers, security guards and patients and nobody lifted a finger.

A month ago in Hartford, CT, Angel Torres was struck in broad daylight on a crowded street. As the 78 year-old lay motionless on the road, the hit and run sped off and passerbys and motorists just looked on. Angel Torres will be on a ventilator for the rest of his life.

Last year a 43 year-old woman writhed on a L.A. County Hospital floor; again, no one could be bothered to lift a finger. When her boyfriend begged the police for help, he was arrested for a parole violation.

It is said we should be judged as a society by how we treat the least among us. If that's the standard, I suggest we are in deep trouble.

Gen. Wesley Clark had the temerity to suggest that John McCain's military service, admirable as it was, might not automatically qualify him for president.

Cue the Mother of All Hissy Fits! Conservative blogs were outraged!....Even more than usual. McCain's base, the media, excoriated Clark for "criticizing" McCain's military record - even though Clark did no such thing. As with certain high-profile teevee pundits making bone-headed rookie mistakes - repeatedly - these network anchors are well-paid enough to master the simple art of reading comprehension:

It’s crucially important that we have a political debate in this country that’s at least sophisticated enough to be able to handle the following rather basic idea: Arguing that a person’s record of military service is not a qualification for the presidency does not constitute “attacking” their military credentials; nor can it be described as invoking their military service against them, or as denying their record of war heroism.

That’s not a very high bar for sophistication. But right now it’s one the press isn’t capable of clearing.

Some even suggested Clark's comments were an attempt at "Swiftboating." But that word does not mean what they think it means:

Now that “swift-boating” has entered the vernacular, let us remember that the original SwiftBoat Veterans for “Truth” were for the most part neither in their hope to take down Kerry’s candidacy. Has Wesley Clark in some way made any untrue allegations in saying that being a POW and a non-combat era fighter pilot does not necessarily qualify you for the highest elected office in the land?

Not according to John McCain:

Clark’s argument that military service is not sufficient alone to be president is an argument that has been made by McCain himself:

- During an interview with National Journal, John McCain was asked if “military service inherently makes somebody better equipped to be commander-in-chief.” McCain said, “Absolutely not…I absolutely don’t believe that it’s necessary.” [National Journal, 2/15/2003]

- I believe that military service is the most honorable endeavor an American may undertake. But I’ve never believed that lack of military service disqualifies one from occupying positions of political leadership or as Commander and Chief. In America, the people are sovereign, and they decide who is and is not qualified to lead us. [American Legion Speech, 9/7/1999]

- Earlier this year at Washington’s Gridiron Club, where humor is the required fare, McCain lay bare what underlies his candidacy. Wearing a jacket outlandishly festooned with dozens of fake military medals, McCain said, “The question I ask myself every morning while shaving in front of the mirror is: OK, John, you’re an incredible war hero, an inspiration to all Americans. But what qualifies you to be president of the United States?” [Minneapolis Star Tribune, 11/7/1999]

Of course, that was the old John McCain. The "new" (but still old) John McCain thinks differently, and is apparently impervious to irony:

In hopes of nipping any criticism in the bud, the [McCain] campaign brought on board a man quite familiar with how these types of attacks gain legs: Bud Day, a fellow POW who was part of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that worked so hard to defame Sen. John Kerry's own Vietnam record.

McCain's campaign would prefer that the only person to talk about McCain's service should be McCain. He mentions it constantly, and even has footage of his tiome as a POW in a campaign ad. So that pretty much puts it on the table. And Josh Marshall at TPM thinks it's a good discussion to have:

Does McCain's military record mean that even the Democrats have to concede the point that he's more qualified to be commander-in-chief of the US armed forces, that his foreign and national security policy judgment is superior to Obama's? It's simply a fact that McCain has a record of really poor judgment on a whole list of key foreign policy and national security questions.

His apparent willingness to bomb Iran first and ask questions later, for example.

But all this is beside the point. For years, one of conservatives' bread and butter plays was smearing the military service of anyone* who disagreed with them, Bush, the Iraq War or any aspect of the GWOT (* see John Kerry, Scott Beauchamp, and of course Gen. Wesley Clark).

And while Clark said his comments were his own and did not represent Barack Obama's views in any way, conservatives are still trying to tie the two together:

If the willingness to fight for your country, put your life on the line and suffer the brutality McCain suffered as a POW doesn't make the cut as far as qualifications go, how far below that does a "community organizer" show up on the list of non-qualifications?

Let me see if I can explain this.

On the left is Barack Obama's experience as a community organizer. On the right is John McCain's military service. You can make juice out of both, but beyond that, they aren't really comparable and shouldn't be the only considerations when ordering breakfast.

Or electing a president.

Winston Churchill once said, "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." These days the lies come in anonymous emails, rightwing blog posts and via FOX News, repeated by Rush Limbaugh and the cashier at the supermarket. They are legion:

So we’ve all heard the rumors: Obama is a Muslim. Obama isn’t American. Obama hearts terrorists (and gives terrorist fist-jabs). Obama is too black. Obama is not black enough. Obama is a thug. Michelle Obama is Barack Obama’s baby-mama. Obama wants to give up all of our rights to the Muslims, and probably the French, too. Obama is every right-wing scare tactic ever.

And all it takes is for normal Americans, non-political junkies who are only tangentially aware of the Democratic candidate with the funny-sounding name, to hear these rumors repeated ad nauseum as the gospel truth...and believe it. People like the good citizens of Findlay, OH, aka Flag City, USA, profiled on today's cover of the Washington Post:

[Jim Peterman] believes a smart vote is an American's greatest responsibility. Which is why his confusion about Barack Obama continues to eat at him.

On the television in his living room, Peterman has watched enough news and campaign advertisements to hear the truth: Sen. Barack Obama, born in Hawaii, is a Christian family man with a track record of public service. But on the Internet, in his grocery store, at his neighbor's house, at his son's auto shop, Peterman has also absorbed another version of the Democratic candidate's background, one that is entirely false: Barack Obama, born in Africa, is a possibly gay Muslim racist who refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

"It's like you're hearing about two different men with nothing in common," Peterman said. "It makes it impossible to figure out what's true, or what you can believe."

Well, no, not impossible. Because all of the rumors, from flag pins and faith to his heritage and “questionable patriotism,” are demonstrably false. With proof and everything. But when critical thinking has gone the way of pet rocks and platform shoes, it may not make a difference:

The problem is, of course, that even when they’re "corrected", the correction is simply another story they're being told about Obama, one they then weigh against the story they're being told by their friends and neighbors, and one that they're allowed to approach as if they're simply equivalent narratives.

Reading the Post’s piece, I’m reminded of William F. Buckley saying the job of conservatives was "to stand athwart history, yelling, 'Stop!’” Small town America is often more conservative than its urban counterpart, suspicious of change and the inexorable flow of history that threatens their idyllic status quo. They’re set in their ways and quite happy about it – and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, except when reality needs to be perverted to maintain the illusion. There’s a term for this kind of behavior, and it’s not a kind one:

A friend of mine emailed me recently, mentioning that he and I have a mutual acquaintance who believes all of the same nonsense about Obama (and then some). When he tried to set our friend straight, it was pointless. Any and all evidence was simply rejected out of hand.

He asked what to do. I’m at a bit of a loss. Someone who hears a lie, is given evidence that proves it’s a lie, but chooses to believe the lie anyway is being willfully ignorant.

Fortunately some people aren't taking willful ignorance lying down:

The Obama campaign is fighting back with television ads and its rumor-debunking website, plus it has a couple college students going door to door in the town trying to set the record straight. But seeing as how people seem to believe the rumors because they hear them from people they know and trust, you wonder if the Obama campaign's tactics will actually work.

Good luck on that. When each new day brings a new internet headline like – honest to god – this one:

Is Obama devotee of monkey-god idol?

...they've got their work cut out for them.

Appeasement!

President Bush on Thursday lifted trade sanctions against North Korea and moved to remove it from the U.S. terrorism blacklist, a remarkable turnaround in policy toward the communist regime he once branded as part of an "axis of evil."

Activist Judges!

Americans can keep guns at home for self-defense, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in the justices' first-ever pronouncement on the meaning of gun rights under the Second Amendment.

The court's 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's ban on handguns. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most federal firearms restrictions intact.

Liberal Media!

The Washington Post’s ‘fair and balanced’ op-ed page: four conservatives and David Broder.

War is Over!

Long time readers know I am a fan of Barron's, and frequently reference the usually fine Econoday updates of daily economic data. But the NYT's Floyd Norris points to what can only be described as the single most absurd commentary on Sentiment data you will likely read in your lifetime.

"Consumer confidence is unusually low, at its fifth all time worse reading in 40 years of Conference Board data. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index literally plunged in June, down nearly 8 points to 50.4. The expectations component is at a record low of 41.0, down more than 7 points, with the present situation at 64.5, down nearly 10 points for its worst reading since the early part of the ongoing expansion in 2003. But there is an expansion still underway and this is not a time of war, which makes the results difficult to figure."

Normally at this point in our conversation, I would be railing about whether the economy is expanding, given the negative readings in jobs creation, manufacturing, income, and consumption, and how understated inflation makes GDP look better than it is regardless.

But considering that this is not a time of war, I must have another explanation. It seems I have fallen thru a tear in the fabric of spacetime into an alternate universe.

That would explain a lot.

But not everyone else is...

UPDATE: ...and a new meme is born.