national spotlight Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Ben Carson – How to crash and burn in the National Spotlight

Just because you are a great neurosurgeon, it doesn’t mean that you are a great politician. Today Ben Carson was on MarketPlace. He was interviewed by Kai Ryssdal. This isn’t anything tricky. Ryssdal pitched softballs. Ben Carson spat out conservative nonsense which sort of makes sense until you put the questions and answers all together.

Ryssdal: There has to be something inside you, though, sir, that makes you believe that you can do this job better than the other — I don’t even know, now — what, 14, 15 people who are up there in various stages on the debate stage.

Carson: Well, yeah. I’ve had a lot of experiences in life where people said things couldn’t be done, to the point now where I almost don’t even want to try it unless people tell me it can’t be done.

Ryssdal: You have said more than once you want to run the government as a business. You want the president to be the CEO of that business. And I wonder, other than running a medical office, or sitting on corporate boards of Kellog’s and Costco, how do you know the government ought to be run like a business? How do you know the president ought to be the CEO?

Carson: Well I know what efficiency looks like, and I know what inefficiency looks like. I’ve had an opportunity to work in universities, sit on university boards, as opposed to working with corporate boards, and noticing the rapidity and the efficiency with which things are done in one area versus the other area. And, sometimes the same kinds of problems. So also, starting a national nonprofit. As you know, nine out of 10 of those fail, and the Carson’s scholar fund is active in all 50 states, has won two major national awards, which are only given to one organization out of tens of thousands each year. Obviously those are not things that can be done without understanding how things work.

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By ecthompsonmd|2015-10-25T22:54:16-04:00October 8th, 2015|Party Politics|3 Comments

Paula Deen

My goodness, we are so lost. As a society we have completely lost our priorities. Over the last several days, I have read more heartfelt condolences and damnations with regards to Paula Deen. Either she’s a heroine or she’s a villain. The bottom line is she is neither. Paula Deen is just the latest celebrity to slip and fall in the national spotlight. It is no big deal. Over the last 30 years, I’ve seen literally hundreds of celebrities fall flat on their face. Sometimes there are more infractions, sometimes fewer than Paula Deen’s.

Look, I have no problem with Paula Dean. I don’t care if the Food Network changes their name to the Paula Deen Network or not. The bottom line, as I see it, is that Paula Deen is only really important to her family. She is a celebrity. As far as I know, she’s not paying your bills and she’s not paying my bills. If we were only half as upset over our own state of affairs, the median wage would not have been stagnant over the last decade or two. Let me say that again. The median wage in this country has been stagnant or dropping for more than 30 years. Where’s the outrage over that? That’s by leaps and bounds far more important than whether Paula Dean is being treated “fairly” or not by the media or by the Food Network. We aren’t being treated fairly by our bosses. They are sucking up all of the cash and leaving us with the scraps.

Guys, we need to get a grip and figure out what’s important. It ain’t Paula Deen.

By ecthompsonmd|2013-06-28T22:15:07-04:00June 28th, 2013|Economy, Entertainment|8 Comments

Sandra Fluke at the DNC

Sandra Fluke was pulled into the national spotlight by right wing reactionaries when she was called a slut. Her strong stance has earned her praise and a spot at the DNC.

During this campaign, we’ve heard about the two profoundly different futures that could await women—and how one of those futures looks like an offensive, obsolete relic of our past. Warnings of that future are not distractions. They’re not imagined. That future could be real.

In that America, your new president could be a man who stands by when a public figure tries to silence a private citizen with hateful slurs. Who won’t stand up to the slurs, or to any of the extreme, bigoted voices in his own party. It would be an America in which you have a new vice president who co-sponsored a bill that would allow pregnant women to die preventable deaths in our emergency rooms. An America in which states humiliate women by forcing us to endure invasive ultrasounds we don’t want and our doctors say we don’t need. An America in which access to birth control is controlled by people who will never use it; in which politicians redefine rape so survivors are victimized all over again; in which someone decides which domestic violence victims deserve help, and which don’t. We know what this America would look like. In a few short months, it’s the America we could be. But it’s not the America we should be. It’s not who we are.

We’ve also seen another future we could choose. First of all, we’d have the right to choose. It’s an America in which no one can charge us more than men for the exact same health insurance; in which no one can deny us affordable access to the cancer screenings that could save our lives; in which we decide when to start our families. An America in which our president, when he hears a young woman has been verbally attacked, thinks of his daughters—not his delegates or donors—and stands with all women. And strangers come together, reach out and lift her up. And then, instead of trying to silence her, you invite me here—and give me a microphone—to amplify our voice. That’s the difference.

Over the last six months, I’ve seen what these two futures look like. And six months from now, we’ll all be living in one, or the other. But only one. A country where our president either has our back or turns his back; a country that honors our foremothers by moving us forward, or one that forces our generation to re-fight the battles they already won; a country where we mean it when we talk about personal freedom, or one where that freedom doesn’t apply to our bodies and our voices.

We talk often about choice. Well, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to choose.

By ecthompsonmd|2012-09-07T05:09:50-04:00September 7th, 2012|Civil Rights, Elections, Party Politics|Comments Off