Obama administration

Feeding Frenzy

Posted on: May 20th, 2013 by ecthompsonmd No Comments

 

IRS

When you place the phrase feeding frenzy into Google you get over 28,000,000 references. The first several references apply to an online game in which you play a fish and you eat other fish to become "the big fish". Once you scroll past the games, you come to a video in which a diver is caught in the middle of a shark feeding frenzy. This is kind of what we watched on Friday. The IRS was caught in the middle of a conservative feeding frenzy. When you think about it, there are few things that conservatives love more than beating up the IRS. If you can't actually cut taxes, the next best thing has to be pummeling the IRS.

Representative Dave Camp, chairman of the Ways and Means committee, Republican from Michigan, is in conservative nirvana. He had a relatively long set up in which he talked about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and then he got to his main point, "Mr. Miller, with all due respect, this systemic abuse cannot be fixed with just one resignation, or two. And as much as I expect more people need to go, the reality is this is not a personnel problem. This is a problem that the IRS being too large, too powerful, too intrusive, and too abusive of honest, hard-working taxpayers." He continues, "There isn't a person I come into contact with at home or anyone in this country, frankly, who does not fear the IRS. They fear getting something wrong in their tax filings. And they fear the IRS' ability to audit them and wreak havoc in their lives, especially when all they are trying to do is improve their lives, let alone, God forbid, try to make America a better place to live, which is what the IRS targeted them for."... Read More →

Scandal? (Update)

Posted on: May 16th, 2013 by ecthompsonmd No Comments

 

I know that there are some who feel that they are oh, so close to seeing the end of the Obama administration. These are the same people who thought that Mitt Romney was going to win the general election. This, of course, was in spite of overwhelming data suggesting otherwise. President Barack Obama is facing a trifecta of scandals. Let's investigate each of the scandals separately.

Confused

Benghazi. This is the gift that keeps on giving. At long last it appears the conservatives actually have traction on this issue. Yet, there's really nothing here. The administration initially stated that there were demonstrations before the Benghazi attack. This was wrong. The administration admitted their mistake. They came clean to the American people before the November election. Basically, an ambassador was in an extremely dangerous situation. He had an adequate security. We have a detailed report which clearly points the finger at the State Department. On top of that, we know that Secretary Clinton warned of budget cuts which could have serious ramifications. Today, the latest is that ABC News, which claimed that they had the original email trail of the talking points, really didn't have the real trail. Jake Tapper blew the lid off of this false reporting by ABC News. (The White House has released more e-mails. We have seen these before, just in a different format.)

IRS scandal. Last night, President Obama accepted the resignation of acting IRS Commissioner Stephen Miller. I agree with the president. The IRS must be a nonpartisan organization. Those who are responsible for this craziness need to be singled out and punished.... Read More →

Tuesday Evenings News Roundup

Posted on: May 14th, 2013 by ecthompsonmd No Comments

 

News Roundup

Angelina Jolie

Well, there's been plenty of news lately.

Benghazi continues to dominate the news. Here's what we know. A group of terrorists attacked a poorly defended United States Embassy in Benghazi. Four Americans were killed, including Ambassador Stevens. The Sunday following the Benghazi attack, Ambassador Susan Rice went on the Sunday talk shows and recited talking points that were given to her by the intelligence community. The talking points included some erroneous information which suggested that there was a protest or demonstration prior to the attack and that this protest was fueled by an anti-Muslim video. There was no protest. This has been clearly stated. Several eyewitnesses who were interviewed stated that there was no protest prior to the attack on the Benghazi compound. The multiple emails that crafted the talking points have been revealed to the public. Neither President Obama nor Secretary Clinton had anything to do with crafting the talking points. Secondly, and most importantly, was the security at the Benghazi compound. Why was security so bad? That question has been answered. What is clear is that the official report clearly points to the State Department for dropping the ball.

The IRS story which broke on Monday has really gained even more traction today. It's an outrage! Yet, when you look at the story, I'm not sure what the outrage is all about. Yes, the IRS did target conservative groups but those groups still got their tax-exempt status. Maybe the process was onerous and overly burdensome but they were not denied that status. Should the IRS single out conservative or liberal groups? Of course not. The bottom line, as far as I can tell, is although those groups were singled out, they still got fair treatment. (An inspector general's report has already been compiled.)

I would like to spend a little bit of time talking about an op-ed that Angelina Jolie wrote in the New York Times. The Academy award-winning actress talked about a bilateral mastectomy that she had because she had a defective gene which makes her more prone to breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Her mother died of cancer. Ms. Jolie does not state what kind of cancer her mother had. She goes into great detail about BRCA1. She is incredibly knowledgeable. All the facts that she presented, as far as I know, are correct. She was at incredibly high risk for developing breast cancer and also at high risk for developing ovarian cancer. What she didn't reveal, but which is clear from the article, is that she had knowledgeable physicians and surgeons. She was able to discuss her gene mutation and get thoughtful answers from her physicians. She then made a thoughtful, informed decision. I applaud Angelina Jolie for standing up and discussing her healthcare and her healthcare problems. The one thing that is clear is that she was able to afford whatever procedures she wanted to undertake. That's a luxury than many women cannot afford. In my opinion, her op-ed points to two things that all women need: accurate, reliable information and affordable healthcare. Then all women can make informed decisions.

The national deficit is going to be $200 billion less than previously projected.

Mark Sanford will be sworn in as Congressman to the great state of South Carolina on Wednesday.

Seriously, did Dick Cheney, former vice president, actually have the nerve to say that the Obama administration missed repeated warnings about Benghazi? Really? Should I ask? Did he and President Bush miss repeated warnings about…

Minnesota passes same-sex marriage.

Here's a nice nugget on Benghazi – For fiscal 2013, the GOP-controlled House proposed spending $1.934 billion for the State Department's Worldwide Security Protection program -- well below the $2.15 billion requested by the Obama administration. House Republicans cut the administration's request for embassy security funding by $128 million in fiscal 2011 and $331 million in fiscal 2012. (Negotiations with the Democrat-controlled Senate restored about $88 million of the administration's request.) Last year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that Republicans' proposed cuts to her department would be "detrimental to America's national security" -- a charge Republicans rejected.

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    Errington_ThompsonDr. Thompson is a surgeon, scholar, full-time sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats.
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