Saying you won't rubber-stamp something is not taking a stand

Gotta love the headline of this article in TG Daily: "FCC takes stand on T-Mobile, AT&T merger."

If you actually read the article, the Wall Street Journal apparently quotes an unnamed FCC official as saying, "There's no way the [FCC] chairman's office rubber-stamps this transaction. It will be a steep climb to say the least."

Dude. When did a regulatory agency refusing to rubber-stamp something become "taking a stand"? If this doesn't perfectly encapsulate the obsequious reverence that we've come to expect from most top federal regulators towards big business, I don't know what does.

Thought for the Day

"I don't believe in one-way streets - not between people and not while I'm driving."
- Tracy Jordan, 30 Rock

Thought for the Day

"Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you are is that you very often succeed."
- C.S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew

Worse than no clothes: the Texas Medical Board has no teeth

In case you thought the Texas Medical Board existed largely to protect patients from bad doctors, I recommend that you read this article in the Texas Observer about Dr. Rolando Arafiles, his alleged acts of malpractice in Winkler County in West Texas, and the ensuing campaign of intimidation against the nurses who reported him. (Dr. Arafiles's status as a "public figure" may be subject to debate, so I'm throwing the word "alleged." However, I find the allegations of malpractice to be wholly credible, albeit astounding.)

When I use the term "malpractice," I'm not blowing smoke. The guy is accused of, among many other things, having "sutured part of a rubber tip removed from suture kit scissors to the wound on Patient A’s right thumb." You can read more about his numerous poor medical decisions in the complaint filed by the staff of the Texas Medical Board. It's bad. Really, really bad.

Thought for the Day

One thing that even the dim bulbs in the media should understand by now is that there is in fact a class war going on, and it is the rich and powerful who are waging it."
 - John Cole

Thought for the Day

"War in Libya is justifiable only if we are going to hold compliant dictators to the same standard we set for defiant ones. If not, then please spare us all the homilies about universal rights and freedoms. We’ll know this isn’t about justice, it’s about power."
- Eugene Robinson

Here we go again

So, back on March 8th, I posted my thoughts about why implementing a "no-fly zone" in Libya would not be a good idea. The U.S. government proceeded to promptly ignore my advice. (Apparently, I am not one of our lizard overlords. Damn.)

I don't take much consolation from the fact that the U.S. is at least doing this in support of a U.N. resolution, rather than unilaterally. Yes, the Arab League initially favored a no-fly zone for Libya (although not, as the Foreign Policy Journal notes, for Yemen or Bahrain); but, predictably, that support has withered now that the reality has set in of what it actually means to enforce a no-fly zone. And, as far as I know, Arab League nations have not made any arrangements to help defray the costs of a no-fly zone in Libya. (For once, Dick Lugar and I agree on something.)

Thought for the Day

"Freedom and democracy are what we talk about. Values are what we do."
 - Tom Scocca