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The Fort Hood Tragedy
I'd like to highlight some of the better news coverage of yesterday's stunning attack at Fort Hood.
The Washington Post has the most-revealing story I've seen yet about the shooter, Nidal M. Hasan.
He's from Virginia and -- as you probably know -- worked at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C.
The Post story begins:
He prayed every day at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, a devout Muslim who, despite asking to be discharged from the U.S. Army, was on the eve of his first deployment to war. Yesterday, authorities said Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, a 39-year-old Arlington-born psychiatrist, shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex.
In an interview, his aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, said he had endured name-calling and harassment about his Muslim faith for years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and had sought for several years to be discharged from the military.....
Hasan was born in Arlington and grew up in the Roanoke Valley of southwestern Virginia, a bookish young man who, his father hoped, would go on to significant professional achievement. He spent nearly all of his Army medical career at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the District, caring for the victims of trauma, yet spoke openly of his deep opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Post story is must-reading, if you want to know who this person is.
The Statesman has provided excellent, ongoing coverage on this blog.
The Statesman reports (for those of us in the Austin area who want to donate blood) that the central Austin blood center is overwhelmed today. The Blood and Tissue Center of Central Texas is asking that Austinites wait to donate blood during the coming holiday season:
Because of the donor response to this tragic event, the blood supply continues to be adequate at this time. Rather than give a donation today, we encourage you to make an appointment now to donate during the Thanksgiving or the Christmas holidays and continue to donate once a quarter.
Posted under: Law and OrderWhy You Can’t Blame TMA for Endorsing Perry
Gov. Rick Perry picked up a key endorsement earlier this week from the political arm of the Texas Medical Association.
The endorsement wasn't a huge shock. TMA, which represents more than 40,000 doctors, has been tight with Perry since 2003, especially on tort reform issues.
But it wasn't an easy choice. TMA has also endorsed Kay Bailey Hutchison every time she's been on the ballot. On TMA's core policy issues, there isn't much difference between Perry and Hutchison. The doctors' group might have endorsed Hutchison or taken the easy path by sitting the primary race out and waiting to make an endorsement until the general election.
David Reynolds, the director of political education for TEXPAC (TMA's political arm), told me the group considers both candidates "friends." One advantage for the governor is that "Perry has been a friendly incumbent."
It's clear not everyone in TMA's leadership is thrilled with the Perry endorsement. Quorum Report wrote earlier this week that the vote by TMA leaders to endorse Perry wasn't unanimous. A group of present and past leaders at TMA have broken ranks to support Hutchison by forming a group called Physicians for Kay.
But no one should be angry with the Perry endorsement. TMA had no choice. Endorsements are political decisions, and this one was good politics.
For one, it's always wise to support -- as Reynolds put it -- a friendly incumbent. But it's larger than that.
Perry isn't just any incumbent. He's an incumbent who will carve your guts out if you cross him.
Let's flashback to 2002. TMA leaders were angry that Perry had vetoed a favored bill, and they endorsed Democrat Tony Sanchez for governor.
After Perry crushed Sanchez, the governor took revenge on TMA. As the well-told story goes, Perry's people pressured TMA to let go long-time lobbyist Kim Ross. The message from the governor's office was clear enough.
On the other side, I don't get the sense that Hutchison -- if she were elected -- would play hardball in quite the same way.
I suspect that if Hutchison is elected governor, she won't take revenge on the groups who endorsed Perry. She'll probably forgive and move on.
But had TMA endorsed Hutchison or stayed neutral, and Perry had won anyway....well, we've seen that scenario before.
So you can't blame TMA for endorsing Perry. It was just good politics.
Posted under: The Rick Perry BeatWomen More Likely to Be Uninsured
The uninsured problem in Texas is worse than you thought, at least according to a new study.
There are nearly three million low-income women in Texas, and 52 percent of them lack health insurance.
That’s the stunning finding of a recent study of women’s health insurance coverage by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the California-based nonprofit that specializes in health care policy studies.The report includes a state-by-state breakdown, and the numbers for Texas aren’t pretty.
It’s no secret that many Texans lack health insurance. For years, the state has boasted the highest uninsured rate in the nation. But the Kaiser figures are especially alarming.Women in Texas are more likely than men to be uninsured. Twenty-eight percent of women in Texas lack health insurance. That's the highest rate in the country and far above the national average of 18 percent. (About a quarter of all Texans are uninsured. If 28 percent of women are uninsured, it means the rate for men must be far lower.)
For poor women, the prospects are even worse. The 52 percent of low-income Texas women without health coverage is the highest rate in the country. No other state even tops 45 percent.The Kaiser has similar reports going back 10 years. While skimming the numbers, I noticed that while the percentage of Texas women without insurance has always been high, the numbers spiked by about 5 percent after 2003. That was the year the Legislature passed a bare-bones budget that cut hundreds of thousands of Texans off Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Hard to know if that's the cause, but it's an interested correlation.
The bottom line is this: Uninsured women lead less health lives. They postpone getting treatment and are much less likely to received preventive care such as mammograms and Pap tests.
National health care reform might change all this. Under the plans that Congress is debating, nearly all low-income women would be covered by Medicaid. Many other women would receive government subsidies to buy insurance.In Texas, that would help millions of poor women.
Posted under: Health CareDept. of Corrections
Talk about jumping the gun.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer:A Message To Our Readers,
A Macy's advertisement in today's Inquirer incorrectly offered Phillies 2009 World Championship merchandise. The Inquirer deeply regrets this error. Macy's is a great corporate citizen, supporter of this region and our sports teams. We apologize for this error and any inconvenience this caused.This one strikes close to home for the Contrarian -- a native Philadelphian and die-hard Phillies fan who's been crying in his coffee this morning after last night's unpleasantness.
But -- being a contrarian and a die-hard -- I'm still holding out hope that the Phils can win the World Series in seven games.
And if they don't, I'll blame the ad department at Macy's for creating a jinx.
Posted under: Correcting the Record« Older PostsManslaughter at a State School
More sad evidence this week that reforming the troubled Texas state school system -- the 13 large institutions for the mentally disabled -- will be a long, difficult job.
A former employee at the Lubbock State School was indicted on Tuesday on manslaughter charges. A direct care worker named Doneil Smith allegedly killed a 45 year old resident. Smith allegedly suffocated the resident to death.
The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal has more details:
The medical examiner's office ruled Nicholson died of suffocation during a struggle.
The autopsy report cited information from investigative reports which stated that Nicholson was on a mattress with someone lying over his upper torso when he died.
Lilly Nicholson told the A-J in August that several state school employees caused his death while trying to dress him.
She said her son suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder and refused to dress while his clothes were being washed.
The Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS), the state agency that oversees state schools, has fired Smith and five other employees at the Lubbock facility, according to the paper.
As you may know, state schools have endured well-documented problems in recent years. (You can read our story on the facilities here.)
The Legislature passed several state school reform bills last session, including a 12-percent funding increase for the chronically underfunded institutions. (You can read our coverage of the reforms here.)
I should note that lawmakers did change the name of these facilities. They're not longer state schools. They're "state supported living centers."
But lawmakers ignore one major issue: They didn't increase the salaries for state school workers, who are among the lowest paid state employees.
Caring for the mentally disabled is a demanding, difficult job, and only certainl individuals are cut out for it.
But the $8-an-hour starting salary is why the Lubbock State School -- now called the Lubbock State Supported Living Center -- wound up with someone like Doneil Smith caring for a vulnerable patient with mental retardation.
It's worth noting that this incident happened in June, before the recently passed reforms took full effect.
But the incident shows it will take a lot more than a name change to fix these facilities, and without the pay increase, it's not clear that conditions will improve.
Posted under: Health Care -
Recent Posts
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The Fort Hood Tragedy
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Why You Can’t Blame TMA for Endorsing Perry
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Women More Likely to Be Uninsured
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Dept. of Corrections
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Manslaughter at a State School
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Heath Care Reform Would Benefit Texas
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The Supposed Willingham Confession
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Back to the Science on Willingham
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Public Option Lives
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How the Health Care System Screws Us
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As Burka Goes, So Goes the State
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Public Option Ain’t Dead Just Yet
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Fact Check: The Willingham Case
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What Perry Knew About Willingham
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Perry’s Latest Whoppers on Willingham
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