Ethic Soup

What Medical School Actually Gave Conrad Murray a Medical Degree? Meharry Medical School

 

The trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, personal doctor to pop-icon Michael Jackson, finally began September 27, more than two years after Jackson's death.

I've been watching the trial on CNN's channel HLN -- until it drives me crazy and I have to turn it off. And, that occurs every time I turn on the TV to watch this trial, eventually.

Commentator Nancy Grace, described by the Los Angeles Times as "HLN supernova...for her spitting pro-prosecution fury," asked on-air: "Where did Conrad Murray get his medical degree? That school must be proud." 

MURRAY REALLY HAS A MEDICAL DEGREE?

Well, I've been asking myself the same question.

As each bit of evidence is introduced concerning Murray's actions, and unbelievable inactions, I ask myself: "How did this man manage to get a medical degree?" And, then I ask: "What medical college actually let him graduate as a doctor of medicine?"

After all, he was trying to give Jackson CPR with only one hand, and on a soft bed mattress instead of an ungiving floor. Even gradeschoolers know CPR. He was giving Jackson Propofol in a home setting when a hospital surgical setting is required -- if you're interested in keeping your patient alive.

Instead of calling 911 to get an ambulance for Jackson, he waited for 23 minutes while he talked on the phone to one of his three young girl friends. And later, while in the ambulance with Michael Jackson on the way to the hospital, Murray talked on his cell phone to another of his girl friends. Just saying... 

California Councilman's Hateful Rhetoric: "I'm a Proud Racist!"

Photo by John McCoy, Contra Costa Times.

A crowd of demonstrators shouted-out heated exchanges, pointing fingers and waving the American flag Tuesday, outside Santa Clarita City Hall in California.

They were incited by comments from Councilman Bob Kellar, who defined himself as a "proud racist," during an anti-illegal immigration rally two weeks ago.

WHAT RACISM? ME?

Kellar, pictured right, now insists his comments weren't intended to "express animosity towards non-whites."

In his heated speech at the rally, the Santa Clarita city councilman referred to a statement from President Theodore Roosevelt who said the United States only has room for one flag and one language, reported the Los Angeles Daily News.

You decide. Here's what he said:

"The only thing I heard back from a couple of people was 'Bob, you sound like a racist.' I said "That's good. If that's what you think I am because I happen to believe in America, then I'm a proud racist. You're darn right I am.' " 

Hey Scaredy Cats: Next Year Turn the Damn Channel & Leave Dick Clark Alone

If I'm wrong let me know, but no one I know is growing younger. We're all getting older, closing in on the cemetery grave or the ovens of cremation.

And there's good ole Dick Clark refusing to give up, refusing to hide. What gall! I mean, how dare he? That's what numerous TV critics and columnists are saying -- particularly the young ones.

WE'RE SCARED OF AGING AND DEATH

I say that we in America fear death, and the illnesses and incapacities that often precede it. We don't want to think about it or talk about it. And sure-as-hell, we don't want to look at it, or see anything that shows us what is likely to come for us too. That's when we come up short on compassion. We're cowards, scaredy cats.

First comes the aging, when Dick Clark, "America's oldest teenager," doesn't look so young anymore. If the guy who seemed eternally young can get old, what does that mean for us?

WHY WE'RE MAD AT DICK CLARK

It's to the point now that when Dick Clark shows up each year to ring in the new one, more and more people are getting mad. We sit in front of our TV's waiting for Clark's countdown, waiting for the crystal ball to drop in New York's Times Square. Waiting for him to make a mistake. Remember the Colosseum in Rome? The madness of the mob, Romans with a taste for blood, deaths of Christian martyrs. I'm just saying...

'Great White Hope' : Metaphor for Racist Kansas Politician

 

If you were born and raised in Kansas, I'm so sorry. I feel for you, as I do for myself. It just never stops, does it, the embarrassment?

And now, a new shame to deal with: U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, who represents Kansas's 2nd District, has opened her racist mouth, secure in her belief that her audience -- conservative republicans at a Kansas rally -- would agree with her. So, she needn't pretend that she's not racist. Oops! Someone said something about the something she said.

NOT SO PRETTY INSIDE

Just what did this pretty little Kansas bigot say, revealing her to be oh-so ugly on the inside?

Furious about the new health care reform bill  and its public option supported by President Obama and certainly unhappy that Democrats have control of the House and Senate, just like so many GOP members, Congressperson Lynn Jenkins said that the Republican Party needed a "great white hope," as in Caucasian, to challenge (knock out) President Obama. Oh, yes, she did!

Her statement was on par with the racist comment of our Vice President Joe Biden, back when Barack Obama was his opponent. Joe said: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."

N.Y. Post's Racist Cartoon: Cops 'Assassinate' Chimp Symbol of Obama

The bigots are STILL jumping up and down in joy.

Now it's the New York Post  -- quick to deny, slow to apologize for the racist cartoon (above.) Two weeks ago, it was the Washington Post printing the story "Raccoons Invade White House Grounds." They too denied that it was racist; however, the next day the paper's online edition changed the headline to read  "Masked Intruders" instead of "Raccoons." (Read Ethic Soup's story "Raccoons at White House: America Still Waits for Post-Racism." )

I'm sick-at-heart over the blatant racism and denials. This time I'm going to write a brief media roundup on the comments of other journalists regarding the Post's cartoon. At least this time I don't have to ask "Doesn't anyone else see this besides me?" or "Why won't more of the media speak up about this racism?" Maybe they're willing to talk about it now because it was printed in a Rupert Murdoch newspaper, or racist journalism is accelerating in pace, or perhaps it's just too blatant to be able to ignore.

In the St. Petersburg Times, Eric Deggans writes: "Riddle me this: the New York Post, a famously combative, conservative newspaper owned by Fox News proprietor Rupert Murdoch, runs a cartoon implying that a crazed chimpanzee wrote the recent economic stimulus bill, which was actually championed and developed by our nation's first black president. Is that a racist joke?"

Raccoons at White House: America Still Waits for Post-Racism

  It's a news story that has bigots jumping up and down in glee. Actually, it's not really a news story, or a new story, except in how the news media is using it. Normally it would be a short sidebar article -- or merely a photograph, with the story told in the cutline. Many in the media, recognizing the presence of inherent double-entendre and innuendo, wouldn't print it in any form.

ETHICS IN JOURNALISM

This is really an ethics story about journalists.

The overt facts: a family of raccoons has been found on White House grounds. The National Park Service has been unable to capture and remove the creatures.

The reporting by the news media appears to have started with Michael D. Shear of The Washington Post. In his oh-so-cute and unethical story, Shear says things like:

"The presidential raccoons appear to have upgraded to fancier digs."

Shear also quotes a raccoon-trapper who says the National Park Service is probably using the wrong cages or the wrong bait:

"See, their cages probably don't smell right. They probably don't have the smell of other raccoons on'em."

General Hospital Soap Opera Uses Photo of Murdered Boy as a Prop

  Shame on all y'all -- ABC, General Hospital's producers and the news media in general. And that includes bloggers. This story is sad in so many ways. In what ABC has called a "terrible error," the network's soap opera "General Hospital: Night Shift,"  used as a prop a photo of 6-year-old Christopher Barrios, a Georgia boy who was kidnapped, raped and murdered last year. That was in March 2007, but the nightmare lives on for his family.

ABC offered this apology:

"While the production team would never have knowingly chosen this particular photo, its use was a terrible error. We offer our deepest condolences to the Barrios family for their loss and our sincerest apologies for any pain caused by our mistake. In the coming weeks, SOAPnet will air a series of public service announcements in Christopher's honor, to raise awarness of missing and exploited children. Meanwhile, the episode is being edited to permanently remove the photo, and we have taken steps, including reviewing internal processes to determine how it happened in hopes of preventing this type of mistake from occurring again."

The bizarre slip-up is being called "indefensible," by the media, which has sensationalized the incident and I believe has been more unethical in its reporting than the original incident --  at least using the photo as a prop in the soap opera scene was apparently unintentional. The  following reports by the news media were planned with forethought and have been grossly unethical.

The NFL, Drugs, Google and Media Myopia : The Bumetanide Story

  What's "bumetanide?" That's what I asked, when I saw it was at the top of Google's most searched keywords list today. Google said it was seeing "volcanic" action on the word "bumetanide." Holy cow, what is going on that's so important to so many ? This is a really strange story. I don't know why I'm surprised.

First a definition: Bumetanide is a diuretic drug, commonly used to control fluids in the treatment of heart and kidney disease. It decreases the amount of water retained in the body by increasing urination, causing the kidneys to get rid of unneeded water and salt from the body.

So what's the big story? Hold  onto your helmet! I found well over 300 news stories about New Orleans Saints veterans Deuce McAllister and Will Smith, both of whom are reported to have violated the NFL steroids policy. Now that's an ethics story in and of itself. But that's not this ethic story.

The football players tested positive for bumetanide, described by sports media as "a water pill" and "the weight-loss diuretic." Diuretics can be used as masking agents because they dilute the urine and result in lower levels of the banned substance being excreted from the body, reports the Associated Press,  adding: "That can make it more difficult to detected banned substances."

No, that's not the important story about bumetanide. Not in my opinion. While I found some 318 news stories about (more) NFL players caught in what may be steroid use, I found only one news article about how the bumetanide drug may help change the lives of up to two billion people around the world.