It seems that now we as a nation have to contend with George W. Bush's political cronyism interfering with our medical system as well as with our justice system.
According to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's blog, GWB's political appointee William Steiger substantially modified the Surgeon General's report on public health, changing its focus to Administration talking points (such as Bush "health achievements" in Iraq and Afghanistan) and altering or removing important, but less politically convenient, items.
Look at the differences between the two drafts. Surgeon General Carmona's report directly examines the link between poverty and public health. Steiger removes the discussion. Dr. Carmona explores intimate partner violence, women's health and reproductive freedom. Steiger changes the focus of this section to children and families. Dr. Carmona explicitly acknowledges the threats to public health contained in global warming and environmental pollution; Steiger removes this discussion. The list goes on, and the fight over this document blocked its release for over a year.
I find this horrifying. Dr. Carmona's report is supposed to be politically neutral and contain information necessary to the health and welfare of the citizens of this country based on considered medical opinion. It was not intended to be a political document, and should not be one.
Maybe I'm naive. Maybe every Administration in this country's history has censored documents they found inconvenient. But it seems to me that for a government so supposedly focused on "spreading democracy" to semi-willing people elsewhere in the world, it would benefit them to remember what that word actually means here at home.
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That is scary. Like when they changed the word hunger, to what was it? Food challenged? First they were just dancing around with the terminology, like sharks testing the bait. Now they've gone a bit a big chunk right off. Don't tell the truth boys, it might distract them from being afraid of the boogeyman. Spin spin and more spin. God forbid we should actually hear what the surgeon general really thinks. And this is how it begins. It's already begun. We don't know what's real, what's (no pun intended) doctored, or who to trust. Keep them confused and in the dark. That's the tactic. But thank god we still have people calling them out on it.
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