HAS IT COME TO THIS?

A story in the Cincinnati Enquirer reports children in Northern Kentucky are being trained to administer an OD  reversing drug…and it’s not the first time.

The paper calls it “an indication of how entrenched heroin is” across our nation.  An 8 year old, whose family is deep into that drug will be first in the new program..and a doctor who specializes in addiction treatment is “OK” with her doing it...even at her young age.

So too is a company that manufacturers the “pen” that will be used to administer the drug. It’s donating kits for the training program.

Nor is this the first use of Kentucky’s children in such a program.  The paper reports in May, 2014, 9 kids from 13 to 17, were trained in such devices.

It wasn’t  as if Kentucky didn’t  have a warning this epidemic was on the way...but the question may fairly be asked...did we prepare? Did our medical community—and our public officials—do what they could have done to head it off?

Hindsight, as we know, is usually 20-20...but to now train an 8 year old to practice medicine, for that’s what it is, just seems as if a lot of public and private agencies fell down on the job.

Maybe we should ask that of our candidates for state office, all of them ,for  this epidemic (and addiction) surely won’t be our last.

I'm just sayin'...

EXPERIENCES, EXPERIENCES

When the president broke his campaign promise last week and agreed to keep many more troops in Afghanistan after this year, many “experts” cited one word as the reason: Iraq.

It’s commonly agreed, and by me, that Iraq was NOT ready for the pullout of US troops and the rise of ISIL “proves” that.

But I would cite another word: Vietnam.

There, after so many years and so many dollars and so many lives lost, our military kept advising JFK and LBJ: "just 10,000 more troops, sir, and we can win this.”  Well, we couldn’t and we didn’t.

In Afghanistan at 14 years, a war even longer than ‘Nam, and $638 BLLIONS spent, we may well see a repeat of Iraq. That would prove the Afghans aren’t ready to save their own country..and if that be true, why should we—at the cost of American lives and dollars???

I do not begrudge the military advising presidents as they do, that is their job, but sometime, someday America had to stop...and put those billions into our own roads and schools and needs here.

Neither solution the president faced was a good one. But not increasing our troops staying there has at least two advantages:

1—he kept his word, and

2—no more “collateral damage” as in the tragic killing of 21 children, patients and staff at that hospital we bombed “by mistake.”

I'm just sayin'...

WHY A HIGHER STANDARD FOR PUBLIC OFFICIALS?

Matt Bevin doesn’t see “any reason” why he should have to make his tax returns public.

Let me count the ways.

Just for example, let’s say he is in a business partnership with someone, as reflected in those returns; is elected, and that person starts getting state contracts.  Without knowing his tax returns, reporters---and the public---would not be aware of a real conflict of interest.

Or say any candidate for governor owns some property….it later turns out the state buys it for a highway. Conflict of interest?  Sure. (Has it happened? Yes.)

Just two examples of why reporters, acting for all citizens,  invade the privacy of candidates for office and insist their financial returns be made public BEFORE the election.

And it shouldn’t be limited to candidates for governor. Republicans are challenging Andy Beshear to make public his clients list before the election for attorney-general. The same concerns over conflict of interest expressed for the governor could well apply here. He, in his official role, could favor a previous client or  fail to act to protect a previous client.  You get the point.

And, in my mind, the same approach applies to candidates for judgeships. I dislike their accepting political contributions from lawyers or firms appearing before them. Same for contributions for attorney-general candidates.

Hopefully the noise raised about Democrat Beshear and Republican Westerfield this time around will lead to new and better rules for their positions, and the judges, by the time of the 2019 elections.  One can hope, even in a state where the “politics are the damndest!”

I'm just sayin'...

A FEW WORDS ABOUT "TRUTH"

“Truth is discoverable, but seldom discovered” goes an old adage journalists (and citizens) would do well to pay more attention to.

Truth, the facts, is what we reporters strive for..and, in almost all cases, we in turn are dependent on what others, our “sources” tell us. If our source is wrong, we are wrong.

For example: when the news of Kim Davis’ surprising meeting with the Pope came out, it was largely based on what her attorney, Mat Staver, told reporters. But, turns out he hadn’t been there and was repeating what others, who were, supposedly told him. He got much of it wrong, at least according to later reports from a priest who had been there, and reporters had to backtrack and try to get the facts right. (Turns out this wasn’t the first time Mr. Staver had gotten his facts wrong, and his credibility has suffered..and so does that of reporters who relied too heavily upon him.)

Sources are human and often let their personal beliefs or opinions influence what they tell reporters as “facts.”

The sheriff in Roseburg, Oregon, let his beliefs stand in the way of doing his job (as Kim Davis did also.) He refused to tell reporters who the shooter was, so he wouldn’t be “glorified.”  I know of no reporter who would report this tragic story in a way to glorify the shooter..but the sheriff was trying to make sure we wouldn’t. Not his job.

Take the mess in Louisville...where charges have been made of prostitutes and drugs being used by a Cardinal’s staffer to influence basketball players to come to U of L. First, this story is in its very early stages and we would all do well to withhold judgment until more facts are in. Second, this is based on a book written by the alleged “madam” involved (with an experienced reporter.) How reliable is she as a source? (see today’s/Monday’s Courier-Journal story: “Profile of a madam in scandal: How much is true?” for the best reporting—so far—knowing that more must come later.)

The fact that her book is written for money doesn’t bother me much; most books are written for money but the basic question is that of the headline---How much is true?

And here readers, listeners, and viewers need to remind themselves..how much of my beliefs, my like or dislike of Pitino and his program will color how I receive this story.

“Truth is discoverable, but seldom discovered.”  Please keep that in mind, whether it be Kim Davis, Pope Francis, a sheriff, or the Louisville Madam….and maybe say a prayer for reporters who truly struggle, in most cases, to get the Truth right, under difficult circumstances.

I'm just sayin'...

PROBLEMS WITH THE BOEHNER RESIGNATION

OK. This may be straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel, but…maybe that's what bloggers are supposed to do.

The presidential succession amendment makes the House Speaker 2^nd in line to run this country. That is, if both president and veep become incapacitated, for any reason, the speaker becomes president. The theory was, when passed, instead of the Secretary of State—a presidential appointee, taking over, someone elected, even if IN-directly by the people, should get the job.

All this wayyyy before gridlock set in.

So 218 votes of the House could make someone our chief executive. Frankly, in all the Tea Party bickering within the majority GOP party in the House, that frightens me. It is, theoretically possible that a Tea Party Republican, or someone who would shut our government down could get that job.  Stranger things have happened. (Like Donald Trump being the top choice of one of our 2 major parties; who’d a thunk that?)

Solution?  Reason and a true love of country; an appreciation for the spirit of compromise so absent in our nation’s capital...or maybe a realization that at least the Secretary of State was an appointee of the person who won our national election and would best carry on the president’s policies. I’m not holding my breath.

Just one more manifestation of the wild things gridlock has done to our national consensus—and shows no signs of abating.

George Washington weeps.

I'm just sayin'...

Who can you trust???

First, there was Toyota…a truly stellar, blue chip firm whose accelerators stuck, causing deaths and damages—and denials. Innocent people were found guilty of major traffic violations when it wasn’t them, it was their cars.

A massive fine followed..no one went to jail.

Then it was GM—even worse, a decade of denying a major problem that caused over one hundred deaths and even more damages. A huge fine..no one went to jail.

Now it’s VW---a deliberate, malice aforethought scheme to violate the law. No deaths, that we know of yet, but major damages to our health and environment. Fines should follow..we will see about jail time.

In between times, a peanut firm CEO in Georgia was convicted of deliberately shipping adulterated products to stores to be sold to you and me. 9 deaths resulted..and he gets 28 years.

Something is out of whack here.

When reporters questioned the US attorney who settled the GM case, asking why no one was being charged in the case, his reply was the laws he worked under didn’t permit it.

Meadow muffins..or, to quote Dickens; "If the law thinks that, sir, the law is an ass.”

Should he be correct, here are laws that need changing…and far more important than defunding Planned Parenthood or shutting down the government.

I'm just sayin'...