2010 Congressional campaign poster from Sarah Palin’s PAC. Look at the fourth name down on this Sarah Palin hit list, complete with a rifle target cross hair target hovering directly over Tucson, Arizona, where she listed Democrats to “target” in last year’s election campaign. Yes, it is the same Democratic Congresswoman Giffords who was shot in the head in the rampage that killed, among others, a 9 year old child and a federal judge.

Query: if a nationally prominent Democrat had done what Sarah Palin did, and the result was mass murder and political assassination, what do you think the right wing media would be asking for right now? Criminal charges? Or would they be excusing her violence inspiring rhetoric as protected speech under the First Amendment and touting that person as presidential material for 2012?

Here’s a brief look at the faces and rhetoric of a few of the instigators and perpetrators of modern American right wing terrorism:

April 19, 1995:

Timothy James McVeigh detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people and injuring 450. It was the deadliest act of terrorism within the United States prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

August 26, 2002:

“My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building.” Ann Coulter, FOX News contributor and guest opinionator.

April 5, 2005:

“And finally, I – I don’t know if there is a cause-and-effect connection but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country. Certainly nothing new, but we seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently that’s been on the news. And I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in — engage in violence. Certainly without any justification but a concern that I have that I wanted to share.”

Texas Senator John Cornyn, after a Florida federal judge ruled against the position favored by Republicans in the Terry Schiavo end of life case.

July 27, 2008:

—Jim Adkisson shoots and kills two people at a progressive church in Knoxville, Tennessee, wounding two. Adkisson calls it “a symbolic killing” because he really “wanted to kill…every Democrat in the Senate & House, the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg’s book,” but was unable to gain access to them.

September 22, 2008:

Wayne Lapierre, NRA President

—The National Rifle Association launches its GunBanObama website, which predicts that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, “if elected…would be the most anti-gun president in American history.” The website is part of a $15 million NRA campaign to discredit Obama.

December 9, 2008:

FBI teams investigating the murder of white supremacist James Cumming, 29, a resident of Belfast, Maine, find supplies for a crude radiological dispersal device and other explosives in his home. Cumming’s wife, who shot him to death after being abused by him repeatedly, explains, “His intentions were to construct a dirty bomb and take it to Washington to kill President Obama. He was planning to hide it in the undercarriage of our motor home.”

April 4, 2009:

Neo-Nazi Richard Poplawski shoots and kills three police officers responding to a 911 call to his home in Pittsburgh. His friend Edward Perkovic tells reporters that Poplawski feared “the Obama gun ban that’s on its way” and “didn’t like our rights being infringed upon.” Perkovic also commented that Poplawski carried out the shooting because “if anyone tried to take his firearms, he was gonna’ stand by what his forefathers told him to do.”

June 10, 2009:

James W. von Brunn, a convicted felon and a “hardcore Neo-Nazi,” walks into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and shoots and kills a security guard. Von Brunn believed that Western civilization was going to be replaced with a “ONE WORLD ILLUMINATI GOVERNMENT” that would “confiscate private weapons” in order to accomplish its goals.

July 15, 2009:

Katherine Crabill, a Republican candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates in the state’s 99th District makes headlines by calling on Americans to resist the course President Obama has set for the country. Appearing at a “Tea Party” rally, Crabill quotes a 1775 speech by Patrick Henry and then states, “We have a chance to fight this battle at the ballot box before we have to resort to the bullet box. But that’s the beauty of our Second Amendment right. I am glad for all of us who enjoy the use of firearms for hunting. But make no mistake. That was not the intent of the Founding Fathers. Our Second Amendment right was to guard against tyranny.”

2010 Republican/Tea Party  candidate Catherine Crabill’s Facebook page says that she likes:

* The Bible
* Being Conservative

Other Facebook comments by Ms. Crabill:

* I Bet Jesus Can Break The Record For Most Fans On Face-book!
* I hate it when I wake up in the morning and Barack Obama is President.

Feb 18, 2010

“A small plane crashed into a seven-story office building in Austin, Texas, and signs are now pointing to a deliberate act. CNN reports that the pilot—identified as Joseph Andrew Stack—set his house on fire, took off in his own plane from a local airport, and crashed it into the building at full throttle. The building houses IRS offices in the area that got hit, notes the Austin American-Statesman. Stack left behind an anti-IRS screed posted online, apparently written to be read after the crash.”

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Funny, when I note the racial and religious characteristics of modern American terrorists, for the first time I’m almost inclined to agree with the right wing commentators who are urging racial, religious, and ethnic profiling to protect Americans from terrorism. Not that I want to see conservative, Republican leaning, nutcase white Christians locked up in Guantanamo or water boarded until they confess. But they shouldn’t be allowed to be around firearms or sharp objects.

Will Rogers understood that given a choice between doing the smart, sensible, and politically advantageous thing, and doing nothing or something stupid, the Democratic Party will go for dumb and stupid almost every time.

Dear Sanford Bishop,

I took time before I went to court for a trial now entering its 3rd week to vote for you on July 20. However, I believe that you are now facing one of the most serious challenges since you were first elected around 1992. I would much prefer that you win this November. To that end, a few months ago I dropped off at your office and e-mailed you a list of my suggestions for you and other Democrats to hold their seats.

I have to laugh when I tell people the same old quote that Will Rogers famously said: “I am not a member of an organized political party. I am a Democrat.”

I write this because the Democratic Party, as usual, is doing everything possible to lose the next election, or, in another sense, failing to do the most simple things that can help win elections while also helping the country.

So, I am going to try to get my point across one last time: if the Democratic Party were to do one thing, and only that thing, it would probably be enough to hold both houses of Congress. The party should introduce legislation in both chambers to dedicate 100 percent of the proceeds of the estate tax to a worthy cause. Previously I suggested the proceeds go to prescription drug relief for seniors (the donut hole). I think that the recent health care bill took care of that. So I have a better idea: dedicate all of it to benefits and medical care for disabled veterans.

That one piece of legislation, trumpeted publicly and made the centerpiece of every Democrat’s re-election campaign, will be enough to make the crucial difference. Because the Republicans are so wedded to eliminating the estate tax, they would have to do a 180-degree turn to understand the political peril of continuing their position on this subject.

If through some miracle the Republican Party is smart enough to get their local candidates to reverse their positions on eliminating the estate tax, then simply move on to the next thing. For instance, take the war in Afghanistan. Vote to end the war and put the money saved in job creation and making public work projects available for any unemployed person who wants a job.

And so on. By dedicating the proceeds of taxes the Republicans want to eliminate, or, by cutting spending on unpopular ventures (like the wars abroad) and dedicating the funds saved to job creation (rather than welfare) the rug is pulled out from under the Republican Party’s raison d’etre, which is to cut all taxes while borrowing money to keep all government programs that kill people while eliminating all government programs that help people or save their lives.

Written by Jim Finkelstein.

I’ve been a Pittsburgh Steelers fan since 1972, the year of The Immaculate Reception, when Franco Harris was a rookie running back out of Penn State and Terry Bradshaw was in his third year as a pro after being the first pick in the draft by the historically hapless franchise in 1970. I cheered when they won four Super Bowls in the 1970s, and suffered through the long drought — 26 years — between championships after their last title in 1980 against the (then) L.A. Rams.

During every game, win or lose, I call my Dad back home in Western Pennsylvania and celebrate or commiserate as the occasion requires. I have an eight-second delay on my satellite network, and he delights in faking me out by calling out results of plays before the ball has been snapped on my TV set. So I come to this discussion with a bias, a predisposition to believe the best of anyone who suits up to play for the Steel City (where, ironically, they no longer make steel and haven’t for years).

There have been some questionable characters who have worn the black and gold over the years, defensive tackle Ernie Holmes of the famed Steel Curtain defense being one who readily comes to mind. But I don’t remember any of them being so high profile, so accomplished, and yet so unfailingly thuggish and stupid as Ben Roethlisberger. He’s the young (just turned 28 last month) quarterback who won his first 15 starts in his rookie season, 2004, when he was the third quarterback picked in that draft, 11th overall. He’s already got two Super Bowl rings, 2006 and 2009, the latter of which put him in sportswriters’ discussions as to whether he already had Hall of Fame credentials at the tender age of 26, after only his fifth season.

So when the Nevada woman’s civil suit accusing Roethlisberger of rape surfaced last year, I could write if off as a woman discarded after a one-night stand who decided to make a few bucks off a millionaire superstar athlete.

But when the Georgia escapade hit the headlines last month, two was one too many coincidences to swallow. Coincidences do occur — but not of this type. And unlike the first incident, of which no police report was made, anyone can read (at thesmokinggun.com) the official police reports and handwritten eyewitness statements which recount the sordid details of Roethlisberger and friends (including two Pennsylvania police officers, one a state trooper) and their pub crawl in Milledgeville during the night and early morning of March 4 and 5.

There were three different bars involved, the first, Velvet Elvis, then The Brick, and finally the last, and fateful one, a club called Capital City. Capital City conveniently had a curtained off VIP room in which, one of the witnesses stated, Roethlisberger and friends were entertaining numerous young women (many under the legal drinking age of 21, and no males were allowed outside of Ben’s entourage) with shots lined up on the bar.

According to Miss Ann Marie Lubatti, one of the girls who had accompanied the victim that evening,”Ben was back there with about 15-20 girls. He was buying everyone shots and just talking and taking pictures with everyone. At this point he was noticeably intoxicated.”

The details as recounted by different witnesses, including the 20-year-old victim, paint a pathetic picture of Roethlisberger, whose idea of a “date” seemed to be getting young women drunk, then having his “bodyguard” (one of the Pennsylvania police officers, about 700 miles out of his jurisdiction) take the girl to an enclosed area shut off even from the VIP room, setting her down on a stool, and leaving her alone. A few minutes later, Big Ben walked in with his private parts exposed outside of his unzipped pants.

And here is where it is clear that a crime occurred: the girl said “no.” Not once, but repeatedly. “I told him ‘no, it’s not OK, we don’t need to do this and I proceeded to get up and try to leave” is what she wrote in her statement to the Milledgeville police later that morning.

”I went to the first door I saw, which happened to be a bathroom. He followed me into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. I still said ‘no, this is not OK, and he then had sex with me. He said it was OK. He then left without saying anything. I went out of the hallway door to the side where I saw my friends. We left Capital and went to the first police car we saw.”

As the girl was with by Roethlisberger, two of her female friends tried to get back to the area but were blocked by the “bodyguards.” Miss Lubatti wrote that as soon as she saw Roethlisberger go back to the area where the bodyguard had taken her inebriated friend, she immediately went to the bodyguard and told him, “This isn’t right. My friend is back there with Ben. She needs to come back right now.’ The bodyguard wouldn’t look at me. He just said, ‘I don’t know what you are talking about.’ That’s when Nicole [another friend of the victim] went up to Rocky, the manager at Capital City, and told him to unlock the door because ******’s back there. Nicole told me that Rocky said ‘Ben’s an NFL quarterback, he won’t do anything to ruin his reputation.’”

After the victim came out of the back area, visibly upset, and told her friends what happened, they hurriedly left and flagged down the first police car they saw and reported what had happened.

More than a month later, the local district attorney decided he didn’t want to be in the middle of a circus similar to the fiasco following the Kobe Bryant rape charges in Eagle, Colo., in 2003. So — for the moment at least — no criminal prosecution will ensue, although it is clear from the police reports than any ordinary person would most likely be in jail without bond facing a rape trial.

Last August I lit into Michael (“I (don’t) wanna be like Mike”) Vick because the nature of his conduct was so heinous that no mere apology could suffice, and it was clear to me that his character was more of a sociopath than a common criminal. With Roethlisberger it’s different. He’s just a thug who can’t understand that society’s rules actually do apply to him, too. He can probably control his conduct, but he has become warped and tainted by the world of celebrity he has inhabited since he suddenly became a millionaire and a sports hero at 22 after being a relatively unknown football player at a small (Miami of Ohio) school outside of a big-time conference.

At the moment, he more resembles Mike Tyson, who served a prison term in Indiana for rape under similar circumstances. And like Tyson and Vick, he deserves to serve time in prison.

Written by Jim Finkelstein.

If you are a physician shelling out tens of thousands of dollars annually for malpractice insurance, you should be screaming at your Congressman and senators right now.

Why?

Because floating around the House of Representatives last fall was a proposal that would have eliminated all of your premiums — you would have paid $0 — had it been incorporated into the health care reform bill. It was never adopted — not even debated — or you would have heard about it before reading this op-ed column.

The proposal was stunning in its simplicity and effectiveness: the current hodgepodge of state tort laws which allow injured patients to sue their physicians, but only if they can prove their doctor has done such a poor job that he or she breached the standard of care, would have been replaced by a single national system that used a workers compensation style no-fault system. Under the no-fault proposal, doctors, hospitals, and drug manufacturers would no longer need any malpractice insurance.

The national system would have been funded with a one percent sales tax on all medical goods and services (at $2.3 trillion, the annual contributions would have been $23 billion, far more than is currently paid out annually in malpractice settlements and jury awards). Injured patients would no longer have to prove fault; they wouldn’t even need to hire lawyers. Doctors would no longer have to engage in wasteful defensive medicine. And specialists in areas like ob-gyn would stop fleeing their practices because of crushing insurance premiums.

So what happened? Why didn’t this proposal get a fair airing in Congress? Beats me. On Sept. 30, 2009, Rep. Sanford Bishop sent a copy of the article outlining the proposal (it had appeared in a Georgia statewide legal newspaper, The Fulton County Daily Report, in 2004) to key legislators and committee chairs in the House of Representatives, including John Conyers, Henry Waxman, and Melvin Watt. He also sent a copy to David Cook, the president of the Medical Association of Georgia. And it was never heard from again.

Had the malpractice reform proposal been brought up before a relevant committee and included in the final bill put out by the House, it would have accomplished several goals of the reformers: it would have cut health care overhead costs by tens of billions, both directly in the form of insurance premiums and indirectly by reducing the billions spent annually in unnecessary tests by physicians practicing defensive medicine.

It would have provided a fairer and more efficient system of compensating patients injured from medical procedures, by misdiagnosis, or by side effects from medicine.

All injured patients — not the very few who collect under the current system — would receive compensation without having to prove fault or engage in lengthy and expensive lawsuits. And politically it would have given numerous Republicans in the House (even Joe Wilson!) and Senate strong motivation to vote for a health care reform bill that included the tort reform which they have been strenuously demanding.

As the current Senate battle has proved, getting even one Republican to vote against a filibuster of the bill would have been enough to secure a single payer system or a public option. It’s hard to imagine any Republican representative or senator going back home and explaining to angry physicians, hospital executives, and pharmaceutical company lobbyists why they turned down an opportunity to completely eliminate medical malpractice insurance premiums and the omnipresent fear of being sued.

The proposal also included a better mechanism than the current system for identifying and publicizing bad doctors, scary hospitals and dangerous drugs: all of the awards would be published on the internet, including the injury sustained, the medical providers involved, and the amount of the no-fault award (with one exception: unlike the current system with publicly filed lawsuits, the privacy of the patients would be protected). Before going to a doctor, entering a hospital, or using a prescribed medicine, the patient/consumer could get that information with a click of a mouse.

Too bad the proposal never got a hearing. Had it ever been put forward and included in the final bill, it would have guaranteed the passage of effective health care reform legislation that would have cut overall costs in the industry while improving care and providing more access to consumers.

Written by Jim Finkelstein.

Thirty years ago (!), I was running for public office and a young reporter for the Albany Herald interviewed me. That was back in the days before cable television news (CNN was brand new and not available very many places), before the Internet, before newspapers began going the way of the dinosaur.

The reporter — Bill Lightle — was a pleasant surprise. Erudite, well spoken, no deep South Georgia accent. I found out later he was an all around superb athlete at the local high school (Albany High) who excelled at football and basketball.

We ended up becoming friends and I played basketball with him and his younger brother, Jim, over the years in the early 1980s at the local YMCA.

More than a decade later, in 1992, the tables were turned a bit, as Bill ran for Congress in our newly created/redistricted district. He was a good candidate, put on a hell of a campaign, but in the end, old timey politics won out (perception beats competence almost every time, unless an extraordinary situation like a depression or other disaster strikes) and Bill lost.

Bill became a teacher at Lee County High School, where I coached the mock trial team a couple of years. He was extremely popular with students there, as he was when he moved on to college teaching.

When his first book — Made or Broken: Football & Survival in the Georgia Woods – came out, I scarfed it up, read it, and got a terrific appreciation of some of the local history, both sports and politics, of the area before I had moved here.

Here’s a review, courtesy of Bill’s website (www.blightle.com): Bill Lightle’s first book, Made or Broken: Football & Survival in the Georgia Woods, is set in the racial tension of the Deep South in the 1960s. The story follows a group of young men on their experiences at the notorious Graves Springs football camp.

The agony of the grueling practices and the fears of hazing were a legend about to be realized by the team’s sophomore players. Lightle vividly describes how players endured the two weeks of humiliation and abuse in the rich swampland of Southwest Georgia through mutual support and camaraderie. “Players ‘fell out’ as the expression was used because of the lack of water and what we had to go through during those practices,” Lightle said.

Made or Broken is a touching story of a young man’s experiences of trial, friendship, and the racism in Albany, Georgia.

Bill’s got a second book — Mill Daddy, The Life and Times of Roy Davis – is out now.

It recounts the story of a south Georgia mill worker who grew up in the early 20th century, and who employed Bill and his friends four decades ago when teenagers weren’t quite so afraid of hard work (no video games, no IPODs, no texting).

If you get a chance, give either of those books a read. You won’t regret it.

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Written by Jim Finkelstein.

Albany Outlook is a town square for local issues. It includes The Albany Journal’s perspective and columns written both by well-known names in the community and “just plan folks”. The Journal is not responsible for views expressed by guest comments. The best Outlook writers are passionate, persuasive, logical, and concise (750 words or less). Have something on your mind that you are willing to share? Email us: ajournal@thealbanyjournal.com

Imagine for a moment that once a month you needed to drive 100 miles to the city to take your 3-year-old daughter to see a medical specialist. There’s an excellent interstate connecting your town to the city. It’s six lanes wide, limited access, with smooth pavement. Government funds built it with your road taxes. But you’re not allowed to use it. Instead, every time you make the trip, you have to take an old dirt road, filled with ruts, sometimes impassable after it rains so that you can’t get there at all. Why can’t you use it? Because the government decrees that once you are 65 years old, you can use the interstate; until then, you have to find your own way. You can’t even pay a toll to use the road you desperately need to take.

Crazy, huh? Well, no crazier than our current debate over providing affordable health care to those under 65. Once Americans reach that magic number, they can ride the smooth road of Medicare, paid for by payroll taxes on wage earners, most of whom are under 65. But until they reach that age, they’ve got to find their own way — or perhaps not be able to make the trip at all if they are too poor to pay a doctor or to afford decent insurance.

The obvious solution is to allow everyone under 65 to buy into Medicare to pay a toll to use the service. Congress: are you listening?

Written by Jim Finkelstein.

About a decade or more ago I addressed the City and County Commissions here in Albany and suggested to them that it made eminent good sense to consolidate governments. Of course, they listened to me, and that is why we now have a combined city-county government that has saved local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars ever since … NOT!

So, why not? Logic compels consolidation — we don’t need city and county police forces, public works departments, personnel departments, and administrators. Even if the county had a huge geographic area (like counties in states out west) or a significant population outside the municipal limits — and it doesn’t – there’s just no excuse for duplicating services. The 2000 census counted 96,065 persons in Dougherty County and 76,939 in the City. Do 20,000 people really need a whole separate government? Do 76,939 people need two governments performing identical services? Obviously not.

Other counties in Georgia have consolidated governments — Augusta/Richmond County and Columbus/Muscogee County to name two. And it’s no big deal to them. Once they consolidated their governments, they never looked back. So, why hasn’t our city and county consolidated? The answer is simple and it goes to the heart of human nature. Most human beings don’t want to give up something they already have — in this instance, political power and constant public exposure. Every city and county commissioner, each police chief and each head of a city and county department knows that he or she may lose his or her job — or if not their jobs, their primacy, their numero uno, big cheese, status.

And that is why much of what you may read or hear about consolidation which comes from the high muckety-mucks is pretty much a smokescreen for their real concerns. It’s not about services being lost, or lack of police protection, or the fact that women weren’t on the commission studying it. It’s especially not about race. Yes, Albany has a black mayor, a black police chief, and a black city administrator, and, wonder of wonders, those positions in the county government are all held by white persons. When consolidation comes, somebody is going to get kicked off his or her lofty perch. On a personal basis, there will be winners and losers.

Just as the national effort to reform health care has gotten bogged down and side-tracked by gross distortions and outright lies, there is no doubt that consolidation, a low-keyed, unemotional issue if ever there was one, will be hijacked by demagogues who see an opportunity to emulate their national brethren who never miss an opportunity to throw a stick into a bicycle spoke. White racists will stir fears that county positions will be taken over by black people. One speaker at a local forum on the subject echoed a phrase which brought back memories of the Old South’s violent resistance to segregation in the 50s and 60s: “When it comes to consolidation, it’s not no … it’s hell, no” Last time I read a quote like that, someone was standing in a schoolhouse door. Or bombing a church.

But fear not, the white racists aren’t alone in their prejudices and irrational anxieties. Black opportunists rightly object to losing sinecures and positions they have long held. As another speaker at a forum put it, the push for consolidation is “an underlying plot to strip minorities from leadership positions.”

So there you have it: finally, common ground has been found among white bigots and black opportunists. All of them oppose progress that would make local government more efficient and save hundreds of thousands of dollars. Whether you are black or white, rural or urban, rich or poor, if that isn’t an excellent reason to vote for consolidation — to put them on their heels and publicly rebuke them — I don’t know what else would be.

Written by Jim Finkelstein.

I went to a town hall meeting last Thursday — and democracy broke out.

I fully expected to see members of the lunatic fringe attempting to shout down our congressman or monopolize the microphones. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to note that our local law enforcement was out in force and, while being studiously polite, they enforced ground rules which allowed everybody who walked up to a microphone over the 3½-hour session (it was scheduled to run 4 to 6 p.m., but the last speaker finished around 7:30) to have their say.

THE CONGRESSMAN

Our congressman, Sanford Bishop Jr., has represented Georgia’s Second Congressional District — all of Southwest Georgia — for 16 years. Amazingly, he looked and sounded as fresh at the end of the session — his fourth in two days — as he did at the beginning. He was unflappable yet in control, numerous times shushing the crowd when some members became unruly or rude in response to remarks from a citizen. Nattily attired in a brown suit, yellow tie, and matching pocket patch, he appeared far younger than his 62 years, and he was indefatigable in his presentation of the thousand page bill to a standing room audience in Albany State University’s Academics building.

THE AUDIENCE

Belying the media stereotypes, the audience appeared to be made up primarily of local citizens with a genuine interest in having a conversation — or making a point — with or to their representative in Congress. There were no signs permitted in the auditorium. My two-minute effort with a Sharpie on posterboard went to naught, as I turned over my poster to a polite policewoman in the lobby who gave me a choice between keeping my sign and picketing outside the building, or leaving it in her care and attending the meeting. The officer wasn’t around when I got out hours later, so the world will never see my brightly lettered sign: “TELL CONGRE$$ NOT TO $UCCOMB TO IN$URANCE DOLLAR$”

In what I had correctly anticipated was a brilliant stroke of political strategy, the venue at Albany State ensured that the Fox News-watching, Rush Limbaugh-regurgitating, white Republicans (most of whom hailed from outside of Albany — each speaker had to identify himself or herself by name and location), were outnumbered by African American fans of both President Obama and Congressman Bishop.

I roughly calculated the breakdown as approximately 30 percent white, middle class, immigrant-bashing opponents of any reform, any government spending, any hint of Socialism. And 70 percent who supported reforming the current mess. At times the meeting seemed more like a television talent contest with fans of each side cheering, applauding speakers who vocalized their positions.

The biggest cheer of the night went to a minister who recited phrases from the New Testament which were echoed by Congressman Bishop — verses about Jesus healing the sick — and suddenly it seemed that a political town hall meeting had turned into a religious revival, as the more than half of the crowd rose to their feet in noisy appreciation. The self-professed right-wing Christians who oppose any help to the less fortunate, including Samaritans, excuse me, Mexican immigrants, never appreciated the irony of their position.

I made a point of introducing myself to those sitting around me — to my left was a slightly OCD white middle-aged opponent of health reform who was fiercely against socialism in any form. He felt that the government could not possibly run a health care system. He had health insurance on his job and seemed satisfied with his current lot. When he railed against socialism in the medical field, I asked him if he thought that most senior citizens were dissatisfied with Medicare and would prefer to opt out and purchase private insurance.

His response — reasonably enough — was that they wouldn’t because they didn’t have to pay anything for Medicare. At no point did he seem to understand that once we reach 65, we’re all socialists. Nor did he seem aware of the undisputed fact that somehow the government provides Medicare benefits to seniors without totally screwing up the program. In fact the overhead for Medicare is a fraction of what private insurers and HMOs expend for their high priced executives and other administrative costs.

ONE STORY

One woman’s story was particularly telling. She mentioned her husband, a Vietnam veteran, who had been exposed to Agent Orange during his tour there in the early 1970s. Three decades later, they had good jobs and were living the American dream — beautiful house, several cars, money saved for retirement. Then, in 2002, he became sick. The Veterans Administration denied benefits and he was ineligible for care at the VA hospital.

Although they had insurance, the incredible expense of his illness cost them their house, their cars, their life savings. Five years later, they were so destitute that she had to choose between paying for the medicine to keep him alive a bit longer and the medicine she needed to treat her high blood pressure that might cost her own life. She chose to buy the medicine her husband needed, but in the end, he died.

The question she posed — the challenge she posed — to the congressman and to the anti-reformers in the audience, was: why did she have to choose? Why did anyone have to lose everything and then have to make a life or death choice like that because the money had run out? None of the socialism-hating, immigrant-bashing, Fox News misinformation-swallowing, white Republicans had an answer.

Written by Jim Finkelstein.

Albany Outlook is a town square for local issues.  It includes The Albany Journal’s perspective and columns written both by well-known names in the community and “just plan folks”.  The Journal is not responsible for views expressed by guest comments.  The best Outlook writers are passionate, persuasive, logical, and concise (750 words or less).  Have something on your mind that you are willing to share?  Email us: ajournal@thealbanyjournal.com

Sometimes a talent comes along that is so breathtaking, so pure, that it leaves you almost speechless. When even the members of an opposing team perk up and pay close attention so that they don’t miss that one moment of action, that one amazing “did you see that!” play, then you know you’re looking at someone special, a once in a generation comet blazing a trail through the sports firmament. When Michael Jordan laced up his sneakers, stadiums sold out and television ratings soared. You never knew when he’d invent some incredible move on the basketball court that even he didn’t realize he was about to pull off.

There have been a few players like that who have made their marks on the football field — Gale Sayers in the open field, Dan Fouts and his corps of receivers in San Diego, Joe Montana in playoff games and Super Bowls. One of them was quarterback Michael Vick, the first round draft pick out of Virginia Tech in 2001 as a sophomore- a draft selection unprecedented in the history of the National Football League.

Playing for the Atlanta Falcons, Vick immediately had success, leading them to the playoffs his second year in the league, and defeating the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau Field, Wisconsin, in a snow storm in January of 2003, ending Green Bay’s undefeated record there in playoff games. Vick was a good quarterback- although he has a great arm, his numbers and quarterback rating were average at best- but fans got their money’s worth when he tucked the ball and took off running when his receivers were covered. The fastest man on the field, he easily outran linemen and linebackers, and even the speed men on the defense had difficulty catching or tackling him. One moment that left opponents shaking their heads occurred during an away game in New Orleans, when Vick ran up the middle on a broken play, streaking so fast that he caused two Saints linebackers to look like members of the Keystone Cops as they collided head on into each other in a futile attempt to tackle Vick, who was already yards past them on his way to the goal line.

In 2006, his last year in the league, he ran for more than 1,000 yards, setting the record for most yards rushing by a quarterback, but more importantly to the Falcons, he was a winner — when he wasn’t injured — twice leading them to the playoffs, in 2002 and 2004.

Which is why the world — both inside and outside sports — was so stunned and shocked a little more than two years ago when Michael Vick’s life caved in on him after he was caught in the criminal investigation of an interstate dog fighting ring Vick founded and bankrolled.

The words of the federal indictment charging Vick and some of the friends he grew up with in Newport News, Va., were prosaic, bland even. Paragraph 10: “In or about early 2002, PEACE, PHILLIPS, TAYLOR and VICK established a dog fighting business enterprise known as ‘Bad Newz Kennels.’ At one point, the defendants obtained shirts and headbands representing and promoting their affiliation with “Bad Newz Kennels’.”

But the truth was that this “enterprise” was more akin to the depredations of a sociopath who set neighborhood cats on fire than a business enterprise boyhood friends joined into for profit. The descriptions that came out of the investigation were chilling, disgusting. Vick admitted that he was personally involved in the killing of dogs that did not perform well during “testing” sessions at his property. Some of the dogs were killed by hanging them. Others were electrocuted or held under water until they drowned. One dog was slammed into the ground until he broke and died. Vick had family pet dogs put into the ring with killer pit bulls to watch them get torn to bits.

Those acts weren’t “mistakes.” They weren’t “errors in judgment.” They weren’t “lapses.” And they are not the acts of a human being who can be rehabilitated. They are the acts of a predator, a sociopath. Like child molesters, rapists, and serial killers, they may follow society’s rules when it is convenient to them, but they have no ability to empathize. They can’t feel other’s pain. They will never internalize the feelings they may show on the surface to emulate true human beings who would never dream of torturing the family pet or using cruel forms of execution to kill helpless dogs who failed to “perform.”
So when you see Michael Vick on the football field for the Philadelphia Eagles this fall (they play the Falcons later in the season), don’t be fooled by any outward signs of contrition, by any press conferences or Sixty Minutes appearances. He may say all the right things; he may look like a decent human being. But underneath, he’s Ted Bundy. And nothing can ever change the essential core of a human being who has lost his humanity- or who never had it.

Written by Jim Finkelstein.

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