The former surgeon general for the first 4 years of the Bush presidency has testified to Congress of the massive interference he got in the performance of his job by the Bushies based on political ideology now stretching into areas of basic public health. Article here.
Once again, we see the Republiwackos using ideology to intervene in another key area for the average American citizen. Its obvious that these people couldn’t give two damns about anything more than their corporate donors.
[quote]The administration, Dr. Carmona said, would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental and global health issues. Top officials delayed for years and tried to “water down” a landmark report on secondhand smoke, he said. Released last year, the report concluded that even brief exposure to cigarette smoke could cause immediate harm.
Dr. Carmona said he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches. He also said he was asked to make speeches to support Republican political candidates and to attend political briefings.
And administration officials even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because, he said, of that charitable organization’s longtime ties to a “prominent family” that he refused to name.
“I was specifically told by a senior person, ‘Why would you want to help those people?’ ” Dr. Carmona said.
The Special Olympics is one of the nation’s premier charitable organizations to benefit disabled people, and the Kennedys have long been deeply involved in it.
When asked after the hearing if that “prominent family” was the Kennedys, Dr. Carmona responded, “You said it. I didn’t.”[/quote]
Sounds like a typical Republican attitude – stick politics into absolutely everything at all times, no matter how inappropriate. Fighting to emasculate a report on the effects of second-hand smoke sound exactly like what the GOP is all about these days. Congratulations. The party of Lincoln, Ike and a zillion other decent presidents and candidates has apparently decided to cut out the “public” part of “public service.”
What next? No more vaccinations because such shots take into account evolution of diseases? Or perhaps Bush wants to get into an airplane to fly across the country to enact another “Terri’s law” to pander to a base that relies on unethical sh*theads like Bill Frist to make second-hand diagnoses about vegetative patients.