The tragic news just came out today: Governor Palin has appointed Bill Hogan as Commissioner of the largest (and most ineffective) department in Alaska, the Health and Social Services Department.
This was an incompetent appointment. I'm really disappointed in this selection. Governor Palin has made the wrong decision, and it will be costly to Alaska. HSS needs an executive to focus the mission of the department and reign in the silos that have developed, not another degree in social work. It's as if she doesn't take any state government office seriously, except for that which relates to oil and gas. My support for the Governor on this blog in the past has been strong and vocal. Now, my criticism of her is going to be just as vocal.
Governor Palin, it is not your job to only be focused on oil and gas issues. The job requires multi-tasking. You have pursued reforms in other areas of government, but they have been less than enthusiastic, and the people who oppose you know it. The death of your health bill over the last regular session was a result of your oversight (or lack of it). You were probably sabotaged by some people working for you in the administration, but that is no excuse. You are running a state, not the city of Wasilla.
First, I recommend you get a chief of staff who knows what he is doing from out of state. I am guessing, but there is probably no one in Alaska who would make an effective chief of staff. There may be some bad PR, but it's nothing you can't handle. Second, you need to fire the Commissioner of Transportation, and let the chips fall where they may. Third, you need to find someone understands health and education policy, holds your views on it, and hire that person to work in your office. Fourth, you need to audit (traditional and performance) the department of Health and Social Services. That auditor needs to be accountable to your office alone. You can turn this around, but you need to start now.
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Monday, August 25, 2008
Where is John McCain's Missing POW History?
Generally it would be seriously wrong to second guess a prisoner of war's activities in captivity. Normally those activities would, and should, remain something deeply personal and something deeply private for the prisoner. There is, however, an exception. That exception is when a former prisoner of war insists on using his experience as a POW for purely political purposes or for financial gain. When a former prisoner of war does that he voluntarily gives up the privacy of that experience and opens his activities during that time to intense review and speculation.
John McCain insists on using his record as a POW forty some years ago to further his Presidential ambitions. He uses his POW experience in numerous campaign ads and it has become a core part of his political stump speech. Fine, his choice. However, John McCain's blatant use of his time as a POW to further his political ambitions means that the history of that time and that experience is fair game for inspection and review.
Just what did John McCain do as a prisoner of war? In some respects that's hard, if not impossible, to tell. Neither he nor the Pentagon have released his history as a POW. Why is that? Detailed records of John McCain's prisoner of war debrief exist. Other POW debriefs certainly mention John McCain. Surely there were medical and psychological debriefs conducted. Why are they not public and available? The American people have a right to know because these debriefs may have a direct impact on John McCain's ability to serve as President of the United States.
McCain, under the law, can allow a surrogate to review these files. He has consistently refused to do so. And John McCain has championed the laws that seal these records forever. What is he hiding? Why, after forty years, is the complete history of his POW experience still missing?
If John McCain insists on using his POW experience for political purposes he has an obligation to release those records and he should insist that the Pentagon do so immediately.
What we do know, and what John McCain rarely mentions, is that he did break down and sign a confession for the North Vietnamese. This confession was used as propaganda against our troops. Not quite like Jane Fonda (she wasn't tortured) but a propaganda confession none the less. What else did he do during his captivity? The answer to that is something that the American people have a right to know before we go to the polls in November.
Update: Some links of purported interviews with/about John McCain while a prisoner of war in North Vietnam:
1. Fernando Interview
2. Hanoi Propaganda Broadcast
3. Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS)
4. FBIS Nhan Dan Interview
5. FBIS Cuban Radio Broadcast of Nhan Dan interview
Added URL: http://www.vietnamveteransagainstmccain.com
Source: http://baldwinparkdemocrat.blogspot.com
McCain should take on acorn while he has time because what there doing is robbing people of there right to vote and let there voice be herd
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