Standing Up Against Cruelty

Dr. Rob Davidson

Every day I see and hear things I dislike.

Some things I thoroughly despise because I know the statements are said to be manipulative. They are “crafted” evil, poisonous concoctions thrown about to ignite biases, prejudices, racial hatreds, nationalism and outright violence.

Nothing is new about this. It has gone on since forever… man’s inhumanity to man.

Today’s version is the same-old-same-old story but includes a simple change of names for the perpetrator and the victims.

Perhaps you have noticed, as I have, those in power will say and do anything to remain in power at the expense of the powerless.

Here’s a for instance. Recently an Emergency Room doctor asked the Vice President of the United States why his administration is, “…taking healthcare away from millions of Americans.”

The doc lives where “the rubber meets the road”. Day-in-day-out this man witnesses desperate people in need of healthcare but can’t afford it.

So, when Vice President Pence stopped by his table in that Iowa diner, Dr. Rob Davidson demanded an answer to our government’s inhumanity to its own people. Of course he got B.S. in reply and Pence simply walked away. After all, as vice president, he has full coverage, doesn't he? Why should pain and suffering of everyday Joes and Janes be his concern?

Still, Dr. Rob Davidson stood up against our inhumane system and demanded better. He confronted the evil side of our government and said we have had enough callous disdain. It is well past time for kindness and concern for the people of the United States – even the poor, unemployed, elderly – and yes, even those people with different skin colors.

Yes, even if it doesn't feed Mr. Trump's zealot supporters' voracious appetite for cruelty toward "the others".

Dr. Rob Davidson is my hero.

Here’s the story….

E.R. doc: What I told Mike Pence about Michigan health care, oped, Detroit Free Press,21 
Feb 2020.

"Because of an unscripted, candid interaction I had a few weeks back with Vice President Mike Pence drew more than 4 million views online, I have the dubious distinction of being another target of the Trump Administration."

"This time, President Trump’s Medicare and Medicaid czar, Seema Verma – who also happened to be Pence’s Medicaid chief when he was Indiana’s governor – dismissed me as an “activist doctor.”

"Though Verma probably didn’t mean that as a compliment, I’ll happily wear the “activist doctor” label if it means standing up for my patients when policymakers threaten their healthcare."

"And when one of those senior policymakers — especially one who has the ear of the president and the loyalty of Trump’s evangelical base, as Pence does —  happens to walk into a diner where I’m finishing dinner, I will put my fork down and ask him why the administration he represents is taking healthcare away from millions of Americans."

Physicians fighting back

"On the day I ran into Pence, I’d already said plenty."

"As the executive director of the Committee to Protect Medicare, I’d been traveling to many states, standing with doctors, healthcare professionals and patient advocates. At each of these stops, from Detroit to Columbus to Houston to Des Moines, we raised awareness about the many ways the Trump Administration has been cutting Americans’ healthcare."

"We had a lot of material:"

Please go here for more.

Why Tolerate Insanity?

"Man, so if you're poor, you're dead."

Sadly, it is true, not only for the "poor" but for all of us.

Our "healthcare system" is insane. "Why?"

Why are we tolerating this scam?

Ambulance call out? $2,500. Childbirth? $30,000.

Our NHS is not for sale, @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/q9z4r6Ni6g

— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) December 3, 2019

Healthcare... No One Left Behind

Sen. John McCain stood tall once again last night. The man who refused to leave his comrades behind came through for the people of the United States.*

He is my hero.

Despite Donald Trump’s diatribes and ridicule. Despite the president’s minion’s continuous threats to withdraw federal funding from the people of Arizona, Sen. John McCain remained true to his love for his country, his wisdom, his own healthcare challenges and, yes, his honor.

Duty. Honor. Country. These words really do mean everything.

When it comes down to the hard times and our lives depend upon the man casting the vote. Thank God Sen. John McCain found the strength to endure.

He came back to Washington, D.C. He made his vote count.

No one left behind.

I wish John McCain were the President of the United States.

One more thing.

There were two other heroes last night. Sen Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska who joined with all 46 of the chamber’s Democrats and independents to defeat the Sen. McConnell’s repeated attempts to deny millions of Americans healthcare. Both senators endured Trumpian tweet tirades of scorn and ridicule, plus his minion’s threats to deny federal funds to the people of their states. Please go here for the whole story.

Photo above: John McCain lies in a hospital bed in Hanoi, North Vietnam, after being taken prisoner of war. (FRANCOIS CHALAIS)

*John McCain spent 5½ years in captivity as a POW in North Vietnam. His first-person account of that harrowing ordeal was published in U.S. News & World Report on in May 14, 1973. Shot down in his Skyhawk dive bomber on Oct. 26, 1967, Navy flier McCain was taken prisoner with fractures in his right leg and both arms. He received minimal care and was kept in wretched conditions that he describes vividly in this U.S. News special report.

Of the many personal accounts coming to light about the almost unbelievably cruel treatment accorded American prisoners of war in Vietnam, none is more dramatic than that of Lieut. Commander John S. McCain III—Navy flier, son of the admiral who commanded the war in the Pacific, and a prisoner who came in "for special attention" during 5½ years of captivity in North Vietnam. Please go here for more.


John McCain EPIC Senate Floor Speech After Health Care Vote - 25 July 2017

In-Your-Face Hypocrisy

For a disheartening dose of in-your-face-hypocrisy just look to the Republican controlled Michigan government where the state senate voted to continue their own health care after denying assistance to out-of-work Michigan people.

Michigan's Scrooge Legislators Have Turned Michigan into a Ghost!

In a show of “I’ll take care of me, but screw you”, the Michigan Senate passed a bill that eliminates health care coverage for legislators who have enough years to qualify and retire after New Year’s Day, 2013. That maneuver means that all but two senators get to keep lifetime benefits but those elected after Jan 1, 2013 get no coverage.

As Jack Lessenberry reported, “…an earlier (house) bill eliminated retiree health care benefits for nearly all sitting lawmakers.” But that was replaced with the one which the senate passed and the house “…happily agreed to substitute it for their own.” Go to: http://michiganradio.org/post/shared-sacrifice-not-so-much

The governor’s office said he intends to sign the bill into law.

Some elected people are living in a different universe. These are the same people who denied state assistance to children, have thrown local governments into disarray by shorting funds and gave authority to state-designated “Emergency Financial Managers” to unilaterally cancel union contracts in cities that they deem are “financially troubled.”

Given that the 99er movement, Occupy Wall Street, has arrived in Michigan, wouldn’t it be a better idea for our state elected officials not to flaunt their law-making privilege in the face of people who no longer will be able to buy food for their families let alone go to a doctor when their kids are sick?