- Veterans have enough trouble getting decent heath care
from a government that consistently fails to keep its promise to take care of
them once they return home. We don’t need fake doctors inserting themselves
into the medical mix, which is apparently what happened in Kansas, where more
than 50 veterans thought they were being examined by a real, licensed doctor
and instead were seen by an imposter no more qualified to dispense medical
services than Taco Bell is to serve breakfast food. The fake doc is charged
with theft of government property for defrauding the Department of Veterans
Affairs following a federal investigation at the Industrial Medical Center.
Amazingly, this upstanding business has since moved to a new location. What’s
interesting is that the only licensed and trained doctor that could perform VA
examinations left IMC in July 2013, but the place rolled on and exams kept
happening. In lieu of a qualified doctor, federal investigators allege, James
Lindsey and another suspect performed the exams without the required license or
training. According to federal charges filed Oct. 24, Lindsey’s cohort used the
former licensed doctor's username, password and medical license number to
submit 209 examinations for 53 veterans. For those scam exams, the Department
of Veterans Affairs paid the company more than $39,000. According to
investigators, Lindsey suspected the disability exams might have been improper
but turned a blind eye to keep the company’s VA contract. All in all, a
terrible story for everyone involved and proof that the VA health care system
is more broken than any of us probably realized…..
- Could this be the beginning of the end for Foo Fighters? Earlier
this year, producer Butch Vig hinted that Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl
could be set to go solo and now, drummer Taylor Hawkins has announced a solo
album. Hawkins, like Grohl, has had side projects before, but he shared his new
solo single, “Range Rover Bitch” during Foo Fighters’ ongoing hiatus. They made
a temporary return earlier this month for a special charity gig featuring
members of KISS, Van Halen and Jane’s Addiction. Hawkins’ album will be titled “KOTA”
and the so-called “mini-LP” will feature Hawkins on lead vocals and “nearly
every instrument,” according to a press release. According to Vig, who produced
Nirvana’s classic 1991 album ‘Nevermind,’ he and Grohl have been doing plenty
of work on new material, but there are “no plans for more Foo’s.” The hiatus
was expected after Foo Fighters released “Sonic Highways” and the “Saint
Cecilia” EP last year, but having multiple members of the band working on solo
projects isn't an encouraging sign given how long they’ve been together.
Eventually, every band gets stale - some keep going in the name of cash and
attention like The Rolling Stones, The Who, etc. - and it’s then that the
members have to decide if they can find a way to keep it fresh or want to move
on to something new. “If I’m back in (the studio) with the Foo Fighters again,
that… I don’t really know,” Vig added. It’s a sad thought for a consistently
solid and solidly consistent rock band, but Grohl has moved from Nirvana to Foo
Fighters, so maybe he can invent something new and awesome once more…….
- It’s nice to know that not everyone in the world is a
xenophobic, paranoid hatemonger who wants to erect a 50-foot border wall topped
with armed guards to keep out the great unwashed. In Italy, there are clearly
people who are OK with having migrants crash their party - some of them even
throw the party for those migrants. Give a round of applause to more than 1,000
Italians who happily welcomed some 80 migrants to the neighborhood in Milan
with a block party featuring a pasta lunch, a brass band and crafts in a rare
gesture aimed at mitigating rising anti-migrant tensions rather than inflaming
them. It was odd to see people shouting happy welcomes as a small contingent of
about 30 migrants came out of a recently repurposed army barracks in what most
believe is the first-ever welcome party of this kind of migrants in Italy. It
was a nice sight one night after an angry mob of about 200 people belonging to
right-wing parties and extremists groups protested outside the barracks under
banners reading "Italians first." Props to those who saw that ugly
display and decided to send a more positive message at a time when tensions
over migrants are at an all-time high due to their arrival causing crunch in
the housing system. Italy has done its best to step up its border controls
under pressure from European neighbors and those neighbors probably aren't going
to be too happy to see this welcome wagon rolled out. It sends a bit of a
contradictory message for a country trying to discourage border crashers, but a
little hospitality is still nice to see someone reaching out to those in a
tough spot……..
- College football players and bye weeks can be a dangerous
mix. Giving guys who are used to being the big man on campus a weekend off too
often leads to stupidity unfolding - especially when alcohol is involved - and
it should surprise no one that LSU offensive lineman Donavaughn Campbell has
been suspended following his arrest over a fight on the Georgia Tech campus
over the weekend. Why was an LSU player partying at the Sigma Phi Epsilon
fraternity house in Atlanta? Because Campbell's brother Christian is a redshirt
freshman defensive back at Georgia Tech, so his little brother made the drive
from Baton Rouge to the ATL along with Georgia Tech defensive back Jalen
Johnson and the end result was Donavaughn Campbell being arrested on two counts
of misdemeanor battery and Johnson being booked on one count of misdemeanor
simple battery after two complainants accused the players of punching them,
resulting in injuries to their faces and heads. LSU interim head coach Ed
Orgeron couldn’t have been happy to get that call to start a week in which his
team will face top-ranked Alabama. Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson has not
suspended Christian Campbell for his role in the melee, but it’s safe to say
that both coaches would just as soon prefer their guys be passed out drunk on
the floor rather than sparking frat party brawls as soror-stitutes look on……..
No comments:
Post a Comment