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One of the most chilling lines I have ever read can be found in the testimony of a witness to the Ampatuan Massacre of 57 people last year, in which the relatives of a rival politician were killed, along with 30 or so members of the press whose only crime was that they were there. From the Philippine Inquirer:  At the ambush site on November 23 last year, Ampatuan Jr. phoned his father and told them that their political enemy’s convoy was there… “Alam mo na ang gagawin mo. Patayin mo na sila. Itira mo ang media (You know what to do. Kill them. Spare the media),” the father[....]

Yesterday’s hostage crisis in Manila, where a ex police chief kidnapped a bus of Chinese tourists, made the headlines. Several were killed, and we expect lots of fingers being pointed at the rescuers for a botched hostage rescue. But no one is going to say that the motives were due to religion, or try to explain that it was a protest against Chinese exploitation of Filipinos. Nah, just a cop fired for taking kickbacks who went amuk and wanted to pressure the government into giving his family his pension.Several were killed, and we expect lots of fingers being pointed at the rescuers[....]

I’m old enough to remember when a doc took two dollars to see you in his office, and the entire staff was his wife (when I became a doctor, only 6 percent of docs were women, so yes, the doc was a “he). In the 1980’s, I had one secretary, one nurse.and a part time typist to help me. In 2000 I worked for the government, and we had three nurses for two doctors (and yet often I was left trying to find one to help me…this was a government clinic, after all, so coffee breaks tended to be long). Then we had 6 folks in medical records, and another four in the office [....]

I find three definitions of the term ‘barratry’ when I look it up – two of them are obscure, but the third is relevant, and if stretched a bit, can apply to the current blogosphere kerfuffle-du-jour – the Righthaven violation of copyright lawsuits. Well, that’s the politer term; a quick internet search on ‘righthaven’ also turned up qualifiers such as ‘trolling’, ‘extortion,’ ‘bottom-feeders’ and ‘barratrious a**holes.’ A more thorough search would, I am certain, turn up more pungent terms of abuse and a fair collection of lawyer jokes. (Sample –[....]

Follow the money. Yes, that’s right, follow the money. You really didn’t think that the “Wikileaks” scheme was about being anti war, did you? From ZDNET, a computer related website: …Wikileaks founder Julian Assange…(is) now blackmailing Amnesty International and other human rights groups for $700,000 to remove names of Afghan civilians who might get killed by the Taliban if their names get released on Wikileaks. Ah yes. Must have money. Last week, five Human Rights groups asked Assange not to release documents with the names of innocent[....]

In medicine, if you have a patient who is awaiting a cash settlement in a court case, it is well known that their recovery chances are better if you let them get the case settled before you do surgery or start an extensive rehabilitation program. The slang term for this is the “Green poultice effect”, i.e. that the injury won’t get better until he gets money (in the US, the bills are green) because if they recover, they get less money. Sometimes this is due to exaggerating the injury or pretending it hurts to be rewarded with a settlement or with disability pension. (Time[....]

Unlike the US, where our priests would rarely preach about anything more serious than “Jesus loves you”, here in the Philippines, our clergy is politically active. And one of the latest campaigns in our district is to oppose a local casino. So the sermon in our church this week was “No to Casinos, No to resorts, no to motels, no to Shabu (meth/illegal drugs)”. Now, most Catholics know that the church doesn’t oppose moderate gambling. Bingo games for years kept a Catholic school system afloat in some US cities. And few Catholics worried when Native Americans[....]

Up popped a comment on my Facebook page: American Medical News Do you think your practice is, or will be, ready for meaningful use? Uh, silly me. True, I’m now retired, but I though that seeing 20 plus patients a day, diagnosing their ills, ordering their treatment, and (often) listening to their woes and advising them on what to do was meaningful. Or maybe not. You see, under Obama’s medical experts, the word “meaningful” means spending time, money, and energy to obey government dictates on electronic medical records, whether or not you want to do it, and whether or[....]

Yes, Plum fans, it’s summer, and the latest Stephanie Plum book has been released: Sizzling Sixteen. Think of it as pure Plum the bounty hunter, with a hint of hobbits. All you intellectuals are now free to log off, because we Plum fans read books where the heroine doesn’t moan about existential angst but worries about jelly donuts. The latest is pure Evanovich: A mixture of romance, zany characters, and slapstick, where the plot is less important than finding out if Stephanie will go to bed with Ranger. (Alas, for this book, the answer is no). Most of the joy of the books are[....]

One of the best things about the Clintons is that, during their time in office, they protected Chelsea from publicity and criticism. This allowed her to go through her teen years without the glare and criticism of, say, Sarah Palin’s children or the politicization of the Obama girls. So we are now hearing about her happy marriage, with a huge celebration that includes some of her parents friends, but rumors insist most of the guests are in her age group, while political friends of her parents are few (e.g. no invitation to the President for a photo op). The wedding ceremony will[....]

In 1920 the top marginal tax rate was 73% of over1 million dollars earned. In 1925 the top marginal rate was lowered to 25% of over 1 hundred thousand dollars earned. And then in 1929 we had the Great Depression. Tax cuts ladies and gentleman…the myth, the math, the legend. Nobody who has made any money seems to want to pay taxes. Despite painstaking explanations that it is in fact tax money that allows our country to operate, one may still hear constant complaining and abject aversion to the very concept of taxes. This is not a political issue as such seeing that both rich Democrats[....]

The Washington Post had an AP scare headline: Medical device problems hurt 70,000+ kids annually. Oh Heavens, another headline for doctor haters to point fingers at hard working docs. So ignore the headline, and let’s go to the Journal Pediatrics to see what the real story is. First of all, the definition of “medical devices” is quite broad. If you ever scratched your eye putting on your glasses or eye protectors, you’re on their list.  If your 8 year old got Grandmom’s wheelchair or scooter and raced it down the corridor of her apartment building, and[....]

A bit of an uproar in Massachusetts, where the local papers have discovered that Senator Kerry bought a yacht, but has parked it in nearby Rhode Island to get out of paying the local sales tax. The good news is that, now that he has been caught and shamed, he will pay the half million dollar sales tax. The dirty little secret is that there are lots of places where people buy “big ticket” items across the state line to save a couple of bucks. This is illegal, but rarely prosecuted for small ticket items. And then there are internet sales. I used to buy books from Amazon, since[....]

The large American Federal Bureaucracy was founded to replace the “spoils system” that allowed those elected to place all their friends/relatives/cronies/campaign contributors into offices where they could then go on to help their friends/neighbors/relatives/cronies. The idea was to make bureaucrats non political, and represent the people and follow the regulations rather than to promote a political agenda by using the power of their government office. You get the job impartially by applying and taking an examination. Yes, there is some discrimination in hiring (veterans[....]

In April, 2008, the press was hailing the brilliance of Barack Obama, and dissing the much more experienced Hillary Clinton for not dropping out of the race, even though the race was close and several primaries were still due to be held. So, when in early April, stories started percolating on right wing blogs and YOUTUBE that Obama had attended the church of one Reverend Wright for many years, but that Reverend Wright had preached hatred of the United States from his pulpit, the story was a potential time bomb. I’m not sure who posted the first video, but one that was posted as early[....]

Did Hillary Clinton actually win the Democratic nomination in 2008, but lost the caucus vote because of intimidation by Obama’s minions? That’s what an up and coming film is claiming. A film is floating around with interviews with many people who claim intimidation, vote stealing, and other shenanigans aimed at winning  the small caucus votes resulted in Obama “winning” many state caucuses. Those of Problem two: The caucuses went to Obama big time. It is easy for well organized groups (in this case the “Move On” left) to win caucuses. Here’s a few examples[....]

Most of the sharks are out attacking Mel Gibson’s shocking behavior. Well, it’s better reading that the other stories in the news, such as the oil spill or that suffering Haitians still need help. And it allows lots of folks to wax self righteous. Ironically, it is Whoopie Goldberg, a celebrity who also defended Roman Polanski, who came to his defense. Drunks say stupid stuff to people all the time because they’re drunk. They’re out of control. They are not thinking they are idiotic. That’s why I don’t like alcohol. I can’t say anything about that because I know [....]

A couple weeks ago, I ran across a strange story about Zimbabwe: a couple of known terrorists were caught crossing the border from Zimbabwe into South Africa at Beitbridge. 33 year-old Imran Muhammad…was arrested last Sunday while trying to get through Beitbridge border post to South Africa on what officials believe was a fake Kenyan passport. He was traveling together with another Pakistani national. The Herald newspaper says that man is 39-year old Chaudry Parvez Ahmed.  They are reported to have come to Zimbabwe from Saudi Arabia, via Tanzania . The paper says that an Imran[....]

President Obama pulled a fast one last week. While the public was entranced by trivial stories on Hollywood celebrities gone mad, or repeated laments about the oil spill, the President appointed Dr. Donald Berwick as head of Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). His appointment is a triumph for “scientific medicine”, because Berwick has spent his career trying to implement studies showing physicians the most cost effective way to treat our patient. Presumably I should be pleased, except that I am old enough to know that caring for patients is[....]

The Philippines inaugurated a new president yesterday: President Benigno Aquino III, the son of the late President Cory Aquino and the son of a martyr to our democracy, Benigno Aquino II. The day was declared a holiday, and over half a million folks turned out for the inauguration ceremony, despite the fact that it rained all morning. Here in the provinces, there was rejoicing too: locals are hoping that the new president will bring relief from the widespread corruption and make more jobs available here, so their children aren’t forced to migrate to Manila or overseas to find a good[....]