I’d say this gem from the Missoulian pretty well encapsulates what’s wrong with both the media and the medical industry in the United States today. Where would the public be without the critical eye of the Fourth Estate and essential positions like Vice Presidents for Public Relations at hospitals?One shudders to think about the consequences of missing out on critical updates like this:
"Tiger missed a putt, and he (Rehberg) hollered, and the nurse came running in and said, ‘Are you OK?’ " said Oliverson, the hospital’s vice president of public relations and external affairs. "That kind of gives you vintage Denny. He’s a super guy, and he’s doing really well."
I assume that Mr. Oliverson decided Representative Rehberg was a “super guy” sometime before donating to his campaign last election.
Talk about burying the lede. It’s not until the 6th paragraph that the article mentions the condition of state Dustin Frost and the 7th paragraph that mentions that State Senator and former GOP gubernatorial hopeful Greg Barkus has hired an attorney.
They’re certainly working in good faith with you:
Mike Enzi, one of three Republicans ostensibly negotiating health care reform as part of the Senate’s "Gang of Six," told a Wyoming town hall crowd that he had no plans to compromise with Democrats and was merely trying to extract concessions.
"It’s not where I get them to compromise, it’s what I get them to leave out," Enzi said Monday, according to the Billings Gazette.
If the past generation of Republican politics haven’t convinced Senator Baucus that they are unwilling to accept anything than their agenda as “bipartisan,” nothing will, I’m afraid.
Leave them to their shrinking and shrieking base.
On May 3, I was very critical of a newspaper story in the Independent Record because I felt it presented a very one-sided view about the need for cutbacks among teachers in the Helena School District. Despite District projections for increased numbers of student at every elementary school, the public was reassured that the proposed reductions “would not affect class sizes.”
On face, the claim made no sense. More students in every school, fewer teachers. Even I could tell that meant an impact on class sizes.
Flash forward less than four months and shock upon shock: elementary schools filled to capacity, with students being placed on waiting lists to get into their neighborhood schools and some classes seem likely to have a higher number of students than accreditation standards allow. According to the Independent Record, “Only two of the district’s 11 elementary schools — Warren, on York Road, and Bryant, near Helena High School — have space to accept more students.”
To be fair, it’s a good story, lacking only a little context. Given the District’s claim last April that students wouldn’t be affected, it’d be fair to ask them to explain the discrepancy. Another story, exploring why the District has chosen to hire additional non-teaching positions, following cutbacks and staffing concerns, also seems warranted.
Choices about budgets do matter.
Representative Rehberg voted for expensive airplanes to fly members of Congress around the country, but it’s okay, because he didn’t support it:
Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., voted several times in favor of buying elite Air Force jets to fly lawmakers around, but said this week he never supported the purchases and applauds a recent move to strip the spending from the military budget.
Your Congressman in action.
I’m glad that we pay Representative Rehberg $174,000 annually and fund a staff that costs millions. How else would we gain insight like this?
Rehberg said that he is not advocating not reforming the system, and that he thinks changes will be made. “I don’t think anyone is saying it isn’t broken … ,” he said. “Who suggested we don’t do anything? I’m not. “Something’s got to be done. Something better be done or there’s going to be a revolt,” he added. “I just don’t think the government is the solution.”
There you have it, folks. Something better be done. Just not any of the ideas that anyone has proposed yet.
