http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/10/obamas-surgeon-general-nominee-dr-vivek-murthy-rad/
“Dr. Murthy is the 36-year-old president and co-founder of Doctors for America, a group that advocates for Obamacare and gun control laws.”
They better block this appointment, for multiple reasons the biggest being this guys age…this was even mentioned in the comments on that article, “The usual path to being a doctor encompasses 4 years of undergraduate school, 4 years of medical school and 3-8 years residency depending on ones specialty. This would mean he has been a full-fledged doctor for only about 5-10 years. I guess there was only 1 job qualification, ‘must follow Obama policies without question’.” I’d say that guy nailed it. Even if this guy was a real-life Doogie ****in’ Houser and has been practicing medicine since he was 12 there’s no way he could be the most qualified person for Surgeon General…but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, as Eric Holder is our Attorney General. :suicide:
Skill or experience as a physician is pretty far down the list of qualifications for Surgeon General. He’s a political appointee and his job is politics. The only thing that would endanger his nomination for this relatively harmless post would be if he was to declare that he was for or against abortion.
So true. I did meet Richard Carmona once…that man is a real meat-eater and it seemed that he wasn’t that interested in politics.
Interesting we didn’t hear about this one. In the past, the position would be contested by some, and I recall some picks for the position didn’t get it due to that. I would have expected the Repubs and some others would have contested strongly a person with those views. Perhaps they decided it was just not a battle worth fighting right now?
Well since the current crop of Republican legislators couldn’t effectively fight their way out of a wet paper bag, it’s probably best if they don’t spend political capital they don’t have opposing anything. All it will do is confirm that they’re powerless, even against a lame duck president! 
But does this really even do anything? Doesn’t take a genius to tell you that firearms are bad for someones health.
If anything, this appointment just made the position less respectable. If anyone can get in by following the party line, then does it really mean anything?
The government needs to worry about things that actually matter in terms of health, like diseases. Not trying to ban firearms, certain foods, and tobacco products.
All three are significant public health issues that are far more dangerous than diseases. They are certainly worthy of being on any government’s preventive health radar.
There’s a difference between being on the radar and a rabid anti, as this guy is.
To see the future, look to the past.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punitive_psychiatry_in_the_Soviet_Union
Maybe im missing something, but if the idea is to reduce injuries and deaths, aren’t cars, alcohol, drugs, hammers, and electricity of more concern?
As the doc said, it’s a “relatively harmless post” they don’t tend to pull much weight these days or make policy as far as I know. They tend to suggest policy and act sort of the warm and fuzzy face of Gov. med and ally themselves with the views of those who gave them the job, as a figure head, or maybe I’m just being swayed by my memories of c Everett Koop as the fatherly figure he represented to many. Last real SG we had it seems.
He had strong opinions, and they often did not jibe with his boss(es). Whether I agreed or didn’t with him on a topic, I respected the fact he was his own man it appeared and didn’t play “yes” man.
Sure. Much more concern, and there are numerous existing programs trying to deal with them to the extent practically possible.
Agree completely.
I could not agree more. C. Everette Koop was a great physician and the last effective Surgeon General we’ve had. I knew Rich Carmona from back in his early TEMS days (I was a SWAT Medical Director for 15 years) and chatted with him at several meetings over the years. Great guy, but a polarizing figure. As a Man of Action, he must have chafed terribly in that political post.
I always had a lot of respect for him and your intel only increases that opinion. He was the last SG who spoke his conscience and politics be damned. He refused to use the office for the political messages (vs well supported by data) Reagan and others attempted to force on him, even when they were in line with his own views. That’s a rare person indeed.
I doubt it. Influenza kills roughly 30K/year in the US. Guns … don’t. I see commonly cited around 10K/year, about half of which are suicides, and a few are LEO related. So, figure … 4500 annually from random violence?
Maybe get a vaccine that works, then we can move on to social issues.
Hell, I’ll even be OK with GMO and food issues being addressed, even though they seem highly political too. At least they may legitimately affect health.