VA shows us government-run health care

Re: Crash at Bay Pines, editorial, Feb. 22.

With Democratic presidential candidates John Kerry and John Edwards screaming about big corporation abuses, the mess at Bay Pines VA Medical Center - with Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Bill Young getting into the act - is really put into perspective.

In a large corporation, a half-million-dollar new computer system with no backup that does not work, screws up scheduling, billing, ordering supplies and generally paralyzes the company would see shareholder protest, executives being fired and maybe even changes on the board of directors. On top of that, an executive and personnel environment that stifles complaints and problem-solving would be the last straw. In other words, heads would roll.

But since Bay Pines is owned by the federal government and staffed by federal workers, only justifications, bewilderment and "dumb-look" explanations from executives, doctors and working staff are the order of the day.

After all the investigations by politicians and elected officials are completed, the final reports will recommend musical-chair, cosmetic staffing and other procedural changes without any demotions or firings (which would be standard in a private business). Someone may resign or retire with a pension.

These are federal employees with advanced degrees. Imagine the chaos if this were a government health care system for all citizens and not just the veterans.

Most people would rather hassle with an HMO insurance adjuster or change health coverage than be stonewalled by federal bureaucracy while the politicians promise to fix everything.

Advocates of government-run health care for all are looking the other way on this one.

Don't overlook voting rights

Re: Crash at Bay Pines, editorial.

The editors ask, "How could Bay Pines have installed a new computer, and removed the old, without a backup plan if things went wrong?" Well, it's the same way that most states went to touch-screen voting without providing a verified paper trail as backup that would be used in case recounts of ballots are needed or if there is a machine malfunction. Why didn't they ask a similar question about citizens' most important act of our democracy (Touch screen doubts, editorial, Feb. 9)?

Moreover, the editors said, "Bad management in a hospital can lead to deadly consequences... " Likewise, the hastily passed Help America Vote Act, which led to rushing into using touch-screen voting machines without providing a paper audit trail, has led to deadly consequences for our voting rights and for our representative democracy.

The editors should examine the voting rights struggle in the same way they examined the "crash at Bay Pines." After all, our democracy depends on it.

Drug war is worth the battle

Re: Phony war defeats free speech, by Robyn Blumner, Feb. 22.

At a time when the Tampa Bay area is still reeling from the horrific abduction and death of an 11-year-old at the hand of a drug abuser, Robyn Blumner calls for an end to the drug war. She quotes a known proponent of drug legalization who states that the drug war is really about "the culture clash." No, it's really about the insidious effect of illicit drugs on all of us and the price that we pay both as a society and as individuals for the scourge of addiction.

In the year 2000 alone, drug abuse cost American society an estimated $160-billion. That's just the somewhat quantifiable monetary cost. To use Ms. Blumner's statistics, the cost of communicating an antidrug message to our children is $145-million. Which would you rather pay?

We cannot put a price on the suffering of families, especially children, from drug addiction. Consider how many children are impacted by their parents' drug abuse. Some 80 percent of people incarcerated or in the criminal justice system have substance abuse problems. The Times has recently printed articles about the children of meth addicts now in their grandparents' care and children abandoned by their mother on Christmas Day while she went to sell her body to buy drugs.

Yes, we fight the drug war because rescuing our children from addiction's grip is worth the battle. Saving Carlie Brucia would have been worth any price.

What the Hubble might see

Re: Keeping an eye on the sky, Feb. 22.

I, too, am gravely concerned by the prospect of losing the Hubble Space Telescope. While the diplomatic Robert Zubrin pointed out some of the many reasons this is a blunder, he didn't suggest a larger context for this decision. As a science teacher who has witnessed the attack of the religious right on science education, I don't think it's too far-fetched to connect the dots back to the "Big Bang" for this decision. The seeds are clear in the first paragraph of the article where the next set of Hubble upgrades includes the "Cosmic Origins Spectrograph." You don't need the Hubble to see that these are words that strike directly at many of President Bush's "fundamental" supporters.

Let them tax themselves

Re: Let them eat intangibles: the view from the luxury box, by Robert Friedman, Feb. 22.

For folks like Robert Friedman, Mary Jo Melone, and others who feel that they are not being taxed enough by the state and federal governments, there is a very easy solution. With regard to the sales tax, all they have to do is keep track of all of their expenditures such as Internet purchases, lawn care, dry cleaning, etc., and at the end of the year send a check equivalent to the tax to the Florida Department of Revenue. They can compute the amount they feel they are undertaxed on the intangibles tax and federal income tax and send checks to the respective authorities.

Revealing blatant inequalities

Re: Let them eat intangibles: the view from the luxury box.

This piece by Robert Friedman, your deputy editor of editorials, should be required reading by anybody who believes that the present Jeb Bush administration is not one of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. He opened my eyes, and I am sure those of many others, to the blatant inequality in our everyday lives. But even more laudable is the fact that he did not have to write it: He could very easily have continued to keep the rest of us "average Joes" in the dark and indulge in the benefits his status accords him. Instead he chose not to, and he is to be applauded. He is obviously a man of conscience, which is no doubt why he works at the St. Petersburg Times.

Here's another job to privatize

Re: Free market fever, Feb. 22.

Gov. Bush's efforts to privatize state government are well worth pursuing to save money and improve services. But why stop with the smaller offices?

If the office of governor were privatized, his mansion would be empty of workers, and an entity named, maybe, Florida Governor Services Inc. would win the bid and take over the governor's job.

Is Florida on the cutting edge, or what?

Opinion

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