Theory of a “few bad apples”

The recent decision of AG Eric Holder to investigate CIA crimes limits the scope to only those who may have exceeded the Bush Administration’s legal guidelines on torture. This implies that there were simply a “few bad apples” who intentionally broke the law. In the end, if the only ones who are prosecuted are lower level CIA operatives, this will be a gross miscarriage of justice. The “few bad apples” theory may be correct; however they were those who authorized the activities in the first place. Perhaps this is why Mr. Cheney continues to vigorously protest these investigations. In the words of William Shakespeare: “Me thinks he doth protest too much.”

Healthcare Reform or Lobbyist Rhetoric?

Why we need healthcare reform and not irrational rhetoric

After reading the recent letters to the editor which simply parroted the insurance industry talking points designed to either stop or water down healthcare reform, I was struck by the fact that people are not looking at the real issues. Some members of Congress and their industry-paid lobbyist allies insist that we have the best healthcare system in the world, but in fact, our current system screams out for much needed reform. The organized effort to misdirect the conversation away from the real problems is counterproductive to resolving an impending healthcare crisis. Perhaps most members of Congress have relied for too long on their government-run health insurance to realize the problems that ordinary people face in trying to maintain their own health insurance. Instead of focusing on the real issues, they are disseminating misinformation about euthanizing senior citizens, paying for abortions, and putting government bureaucrats in-between you and your doctor. Here are the undisputed facts which can not be ignored which are available from independent sources:

*Nearly 50 million Americans do not have health insurance, and another 25 million are underinsured. Furthermore, all Americans are at risk of loosing private employer based coverage which is currently not portable when you loose you job.
*The cost of COBRA insurance (continuation of benefits from your old job) is unaffordable for most people who find themselves unemployed. Typically the employer will make the coverage available as required by the COBRA law, but they set the rates so that the former employee is paying 100% of the cost.
*Temporary health insurance policies available through private insurers are nothing less than the health insurance equivalent of predatory lending practices that got our nation into the current economic mess. These generally exclude all pre-existing conditions, so in practice they are really only available to healthy people. They also require huge deductibles and are only in effect for short terms up to a maximum of 90 days.
*A typical family health insurance plan now costs $12,000, but because employers typically pay about 70% of the cost, even those who have health insurance through their employer often don’t realize the true cost of their insurance.
*The current trend towards the so called “high deductible” plans which lowers the premium in exchange for people self-insuring more of their risk with health savings accounts simply shifts the cost of healthcare from the employer to the employee.
*The US spends more per capita on healthcare (twice as much as most other industrialized nations) and yet ranks only 19th in preventable deaths and 37th in overall performance according to the World Health Organization. In just a few years, healthcare expenditures in the US will exceed 20% of GDP.
*The annual increases of healthcare costs (average 7%) far exceeds the annual growth in real wages and is unsustainable not only for individuals but for the government’s programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Medical expenditures account for over 23% of the US federal budget and this will only balloon as the baby boomers reach retirement age and become eligible for Medicare. State governments are also dealing with the cost of increased healthcare spending as a larger part of their budgets. These same annual trends are making it increasingly impossible for business both large and small to offer medical benefits to their employees. In a globally competitive economy, this increasing cost of healthcare puts US companies at a global competitive disadvantage.

These are all symptoms of a broken healthcare system. Some would even argue that it is such a mess that it can not even be called a system because it was never designed as a system, but simply evolved over the years. Whether you agree or disagree with the characterization of the “system,” no rational person can objectively look at healthcare in the US and conclude that we are getting our money’s worth. Said another way, we are collectively getting taken to the cleaners by the current healthcare “system” as we pay premium prices and get inferior outcomes. This should be the true outrage.

This is not meant to disparage the thousands of dedicated health professionals who are tending to the sick and injured everyday; however, the collective “healthcare system’ run by insurance companies and corporate interests is more focused on financial performance than patient outcomes. This paradigm will not change unless we get some real reform, and not some watered down version of expanded private health insurance promoted by the industry lobbyists.

Here are some solutions that would have a significant impact:
*Standardize healthcare administration.
*Restrict the use of television advertising for prescription drugs.
*Change the law and allow the government to negotiate with drug companies.
*Implement a universal health insurance requirement.
*Implement a public option and restrict the ability of private insurance to deny coverage or terminate policies for frivolous reasons or pre-existing conditions.
*Increase enforcement of fraud prevention and fully prosecute perpetrators.
*Increase funding for medical scholarships and expand public universities to matriculate more medical students.
*Implement managed care programs for people with chronic diseases.
*Experiment with changing the business model from fee for service to salaried providers or payment for outcomes.

These are just some of the ways to really address the issues of healthcare reform short of a single payer system. Changes like these still leave the private sector ample room to run their business profitably, albeit with some different operating parameters. Opponents of healthcare reform are absolutely correct about the need to control costs, but they offer no concrete solutions other than disseminate misinformation like killing senior citizens. That is simply a manufactured distraction with the sole purpose of not killing seniors, but killing anything that resembles real reform. Don’t let them scare you. It is simply an effort to just maintain the status quo for the special interests who profit from the current inefficiencies of our broken system. This is the time to make changes, and if we don’t do it now, then when?

Cheney is Right - about one thing

In the recent debate between President Obama and former Vice President Cheney over closing Guantanamo, Cheney was right about one thing: "There were just a few bad apples." Where he got it wrong was that the "few bad apples" were not only at Abu Graib prison as he described, but were in fact in the White House.

In his speech to the right wing American Enterprise Institute to defend waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques as legal by his mere assertion, Cheney admitted that the Bush administration authorized and condoned these activities! These are the same activities that American courts here at home and Military Tribunals from World War II have found to be crimes in violation of not only American laws, but international treaties. They are in the same category of crimes against humanity for which Nazi war criminals were found guilty. Of course, as the right wing commentators would point out, the Nazis committed far worse atrocities on a grander scale too. Nevertheless, the fact that these techniques were used on only three individuals or that the intent was for the purpose of defending the country are irrelevant and only intended to gain sympathy or divert attention from the underlying crimes. Three, three thousand or three million, it doesn't make a difference: one instance of torture is a crime, and Cheney has openly admitted to it. They certainly are not activities for which America should be proud as Mr. Cheney seems to be as he offers an unsupported argument that he defended the nation and saved lives. Where were he and his colleagues when they were provided intelligence briefings at least a month prior to the 9/11 attacks warning of their possibility, and they did nothing? Me thinks he doth protest too much.

Since the time of the founding of the nation, beginning with President Washington when he was General Washington in the darkest days of the American Revolution, our leaders have renounced torture as our national policy. General Washington opposed torture even when the British used it against our own soldiers. From that point forward, Americans have held true to their basic values to defend our nation without resort to torture. It is only the Bush Administration's "few bad apples" who have changed our national policy. They should be held accountable because these are not just policy changes, if as admitted by the former Vice President, they are crimes. As painful as the process might be, we don't need a truth commission or congressional investigation, we need an independent prosecutor to look at all the facts and circumstance and make a legal, not a political, determination of crimes. Crimes that appear to a have been committed by a few bad apples at the highest levels of our government. If we don't do this, then future administrations will simply view these activities as "policy" issues rather than the "crimes" which they are. If you rob a bank at gun point, it matters not whether your intent was to use the money for a charity. The act of the robbery is the crime itself. If he thinks that his intent will exculpate himself and his few bad apple colleagues, then let him make the case in a court of competent jurisdiction. If he truly wants all the facts to come out, then as in the words of President Bush: "Bring 'em on."

As we approach Memorial Day weekend, let us not forget that American soldiers fought and died in wars to stop dictators and tyrants from perpetrating crimes against humanity. They all took an oath to defend our country from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Let's not tarnish their sacrifices by allowing a few bad apples who were in our own government at the highest levels get away with crimes that were based on tortured logic. That would be putting America First.

"I was just following orders"

The decision by the Obama Administration to not prosecute CIA officials for violations of law using “enhanced interrogation” techniques is regrettable. Even conservative Fox News legal experts concur that these acts were illegal despite the amateurish legal opinions of the Bush Justice Department. It is a sad chapter in our history, and only made worse by not holding those who are responsible accountable for their actions. It is also ironic that in a week when there was a news story about a suspected ailing German SS prison guard from Ohio being pursued for alleged war crimes, our current Attorney General will let the current perpetrators of these crimes get away with them under the twisted legal guise of “I was just following orders." It seems like that defense was raised once before in a place called Nuremberg and it didn't fly then and shouldn't fly now. Even if the CIA officers who actually did the deeds are not prosecuted, then those most responsible at the highest levels of government should be since they are the real perpetrators anyway.