tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33029922012-01-26T23:44:40.645-08:00trying to make sense of (some of) it allOccasional observations on the world from the perspective of a realist (i.e. pessimist) libertarian. <p>Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.comBlogger761100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-74800626565137462442011-12-28T17:10:00.000-08:002011-12-28T17:11:06.951-08:00Update to March 1, 2009 postJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-31179737093793521752011-12-26T21:28:00.000-08:002011-12-26T21:29:20.847-08:00Update to April 20, 2011 postJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-6969573443875816662011-11-25T22:22:00.000-08:002011-11-25T22:25:44.758-08:00More news from the University of California:By now, the news of University of California police spraying quietly sitting students with military-grade pepper spray at the UC Davis campus is well known. I have a few things I'd like to say about that. Firstly, at the ground level, it's pretty clear that this action was unnecessary, brutal, counterproductive, and even unconstitutional. The Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-5188199968387847332011-10-05T21:21:00.001-07:002011-10-05T21:26:44.417-07:00RIP Steve Jobs. You made a difference both directly and by example. You were more of an inspiration to more people than you probably ever realized. Goodbye and God bless you. Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-46721734306524663882011-09-09T21:02:00.000-07:002011-09-18T18:52:54.606-07:00Yet another data point:Doctors Behaving Badly: FDA says UCLA cardiology chief botched clinical trialhttp://www.reportingonhealth.org/blogs/doctors-behaving-badly-fda-says-ucla-cardiology-chief-botched-clinical-trialIn this case, the billing-for-services-not-actually-provided is obvious. The UCLA cardiology chief in question was paid to monitor the health of his patients, ensure their rights wereJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-20045070620693428682011-04-20T22:58:00.001-07:002012-01-08T10:56:39.917-08:00Multi million dollar embezzlement, mass death in a fake transplant program, lethal research without the knowledge or consent of the research subjects, consorting with Yakuza, selling people's children, selling cadavers just wasn't enough. Now connections to terrorism. I bet someone got a good laugh over the fact that university personnel funded a meeting with Hamas (!) partly by diverting moneyJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-9327827504710264802011-04-16T22:27:00.001-07:002012-01-15T02:45:57.685-08:00I've been thinking about this post for a couple of weeks now, dreading the day that this post would come out of me. Today is that day. A few hours ago, a friend called me to tell me that his sister had died. The sister was 29. In this post, I will refer to her as "C." For the last few weeks, I've known that call was on it's way. I've been wanting to scream at the world against the insanity Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-25426117114073010482011-03-24T20:18:00.000-07:002011-09-20T08:31:20.313-07:00The university's action, the judge said, was "intentional, despicable and unprofessional."Medical Center Suit Bungled, Regents Admithttp://articles.latimes.com/1997/oct/17/local/me-43662Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-3962042258807932522011-01-10T22:23:00.000-08:002011-01-10T22:51:15.561-08:00Standing up for freedom in the face of heartbreaking tragedy:"This shouldn't happen in this country, or anywhere else, but in a free society, we're going to be subject to people like this. I prefer this to the alternative."John Green, father of Christina Green, discussing Christina's murder by Jared Lee Loughner just two days previous. Plenty of other people have said it, and my own poor commentJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-69392297425650380352010-05-12T21:33:00.000-07:002011-10-26T22:37:04.536-07:00There's been a story in the papers lately about staff at the Olive View - UCLA hospital (jointly run by Los Angeles County and UCLA) who ran what's been described as a "hair and nail salon" in a neonatal ICU. Disappointing story; apparently, the fumes of acetone and other chemicals (in an apparent NEONATAL ICU !!) weren't enough to convince the hospital administration that this salon needed to Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-39790706385231838592009-12-10T07:02:00.000-08:002010-07-21T19:21:15.393-07:00Here's a post from a former UCLA anesthesiologist. Somewhat hidden in the post is another example of the same pattern I've noted before at the University of California: billing for things that were not actually done. In particular, there's this passage:"the O.R. cut–off time for elective dental surgery at UCLA was 4 p.m.Translated, that meant the patient had to be out of the room and in the Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-27687468860859568862009-10-06T08:30:00.000-07:002009-10-06T08:31:44.781-07:00Thoughts from Maryland about alleged fraud at the University of California, Davis.Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-87619116665143280312009-10-02T07:55:00.000-07:002009-12-08T06:50:19.097-08:00JUST FOR FUN:Roman Polanski has been in the news a lot lately. People have been wondering -- why now? What was the big change that led to extradition attemps now?I think the big change that led to Polanki's extradition had nothing to do with Polanski. The Polanski extradition is a message to someoneMy guess as to the intended recipient of that message? Marco Morales. Update: OK, perhaps Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-91140419181752583282009-09-30T08:58:00.000-07:002009-11-20T10:55:40.257-08:00This month seems to have had a surprisingly high number of stories in the news about child abuse. There's a few patterns there.September 2009 marks the ten year anniversary of Janet Reno's appointment of John C. Danforth as a special prosecutor into possible federal misconduct in Waco Texas. The events surrounding that possible misconduct had been justified by Attorney General Reno with a (never Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-73388811423268811232009-07-28T08:55:00.000-07:002009-12-09T20:08:06.294-08:00Here's a story about ... well, about the same sort of life threatening events, and coverup of same that have become a staple of this blog. The linked story hits most of the main points, so I commend you there.Update: Actually, on further read, the linked story does not address one of the elements of what appears to be the UC pattern in such cases. That element is aggressive management of Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-81479589121900703792009-05-20T14:20:00.000-07:002011-03-19T10:20:23.379-07:00Press release from the California Department of Public Health:SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced today that 13 California hospitals have been assessed administrative penalties of $25,000 per violation after a determination that the facilities’ noncompliance with licensing requirements has caused, or was likely to cause, serious injury or death to Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-53696569157351680542009-04-22T15:50:00.000-07:002009-04-22T15:51:44.608-07:00An interesting (though old) series about institutional punishment of whistleblower physicians. Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-45173846660323416152009-03-01T07:46:00.000-08:002011-12-28T17:10:18.564-08:00I so want to retire this blog. I am tired of seeing the same patterns show up at the University of California (UCLA in this case). Elements of those patterns include:"a culture of noncompliance with the law," (in this case, noncompliance with work safety rulings and OSHA findings) refusal to address risks (in this case, apparently not warning their employee of the risk of her work, and not Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-38796957151536888952009-02-27T12:13:00.000-08:002009-02-27T12:29:37.845-08:00Update on UC Irvine alum Dr. George Steven Kooshian: Doctor admits skimping on AIDS patients' meds. Dr. Kooshian allegedly sold saline, or dramatically diluted meds, to AIDS and hepatitis patients. This is a case in which payment was sought and received for goods and services not actually rendered. That pattern has come up a lot in the news recounted on this blog. Sentencing is apparently in Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-630936446868956022009-02-08T22:34:00.000-08:002009-02-08T22:38:55.278-08:00UC admits misleading public about buyout-takerApparent fraud ... by the person responsible for "whistle-blower complaints and public records requests" at her campus, no less. The comments are interesting, in my opinion.Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-19859715213460811342009-01-16T19:48:00.000-08:002009-01-22T08:05:07.165-08:00Incongruous headline of the day: do you think the headline to this story really gives the most accurate short version of the story?And to give you a taste of the linked story, here's an excerpt:"In a psychiatric seclusion unit, a patient complained to inspectors that she had urinated on sheets in her room because she couldn't communicate her need for a bathroom. The patient's medical record said Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-33375828719727641472009-01-16T06:35:00.000-08:002009-01-16T07:00:42.535-08:00The University of California "culture of noncompliance with the law" strikes again. From the SF Chronicle:Activist group sues UC [the University of California], claiming illegal search. (the search was of non-UC newspaper offices, no less)Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-36948327368182120512008-11-04T20:29:00.000-08:002008-11-04T20:30:22.428-08:00Update to April 07, 2008 post.Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-89730630850857378142008-09-25T23:05:00.001-07:002008-11-08T16:42:44.176-08:00The headline says a lot, but click through to the underlying medicare report for even more:UCI doctors faked surgical recordsUpdate:UCI doc accused of negligence, incompetence State board says former head of anesthesiology falsified records.Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-56110935117475587012008-08-29T20:07:00.000-07:002008-08-29T20:14:10.486-07:00The "culture of noncompliance with the law" (a quote from the investigation of the Neuchterlin-Gitlin experiments) arises again:"Report on Suspected Malfeasance in UCLA Admissions and the Accompanying Cover-Up", Tim Groseclose, (U.C.L.A. professor of political science, recently resigned member of U.C.L.A. Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Relations With Schools) August 28, 2008Linked fromJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-29090206387348715522008-08-20T21:22:00.000-07:002008-08-21T06:02:50.254-07:00It's almost as if the University of California wants to sow the seeds for another scandal.Comment 8 on that story begins "I am not saying someone who was fired due to “financial irregularities” (i.e. fraud) should not be offered a job. Even an ex-convict deserves a second chance.."That's completely reasonable, in my opinion.The problem here was not in offering Dr. Jonathan Lakey a job. In my Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-1884860195053646302008-08-15T21:13:00.000-07:002008-08-16T23:26:51.263-07:00So, today the LA Times has a story about alleged recurrent fraudulent hospitalization at City of Angels Hospital. There are two doctors listed in that story as being linked to alleged fraudulent hospitalization: Dr. Rudra Sabaratnam, and Dr. Frederick H. Rundall. There is one Dr. Sabaratnam listed on the California medical board web site; that Dr. Sabaratnam went to medical school in Ceylon.Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-58822391812810872172008-08-11T07:43:00.000-07:002008-08-11T07:51:53.762-07:00That ... IS .... GEORGIA!The title of this post should say it all, but I'm not quite as laconic as some of my forebears. Therefore, I'll make it more clear. Georgia, a democratic, peaceful republic has been invaded, and it's people slaughtered, by forces seeking to recreate what previous generations referred to as the evil empire. What we of the West do in response, will Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-39261943191766766242008-06-27T10:41:00.000-07:002008-06-28T07:23:12.451-07:00Civil rights take a step from the brinkAs everyone reading this blog probably knows, the US Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Justice Scalia, opined that the right to keep and bear arms is, in fact, an individual right. I think this ruling was the best possible outcome of the Heller case.Bottom line: the civil libertarians won one. I'm a hardcore civil libertarian, so I'm naturally Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-1767260873980820332008-06-08T12:18:00.000-07:002008-06-12T10:26:49.213-07:00Brushing events under the rug beginsFrom the NY Times: Senator Asks About Surgery on Gangsters.So, Senator, Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, wrote a letter to the University of California, Los Angeles, requesting details regarding the transplants referenced below. Here's the key sentence that reveals the likely depth of investigation:" 'While surgeons do not seek to pass moral judgment Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-81508940718537287472008-05-31T19:04:00.001-07:002009-02-24T20:23:16.445-08:00Will I never be able to retire this blog?The University of California news had been a bit quieter lately, mostly consisting of follow ups from previous events. And then, this, from the LA times:Four Japanese gang figures got liver transplants at UCLAI read this story, and thought about what to write about it. I've written earlier that, when I tried to tell UCLA patients the risks of anesthesia,Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-23686019209444877902008-04-26T06:19:00.000-07:002009-12-17T11:33:01.607-08:00News regarding the University of California:Not really good news for the University. And not so much good news for anyone else as it is news about the reversal of earlier bad news.From the Orange County Register:"Eight families who say their eggs were stolen by a UC Irvine fertility clinic may continue pursuing damages from the University of California, a state appeals court said, overturning a Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-43022180315102926302008-04-07T22:02:00.001-07:002009-05-16T10:10:32.774-07:00Yet another data point:The LA times has had a number of stories lately about breaches of medical record confidentiality at UCLA. In my opinion, one of the key events in this series of events is buried in the middle of one of these LA Times stories. After breaches of Brittany Spear's medical records became public knowledge, state officials apparently directly asked if there were other such Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-3342711855935517802007-12-16T09:47:00.000-08:002007-12-16T10:03:06.273-08:00Welcome to the party, palWith this post, I welcome fellow University of Chicago alum Dr. David Kessler, MD JD, to the ongoing University of California scandals. Dr. Kessler was recently fired as Dean of the UCSF school of medicine. According to this story, Dr. Kessler's firing was preceded by his noting, and documenting, allegations of financial improprieties on the part of the University. He Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-13192572906523289272007-11-17T10:08:00.000-08:002010-07-28T22:40:55.134-07:00So where is the FBI?Due to an interest in the news from the University of California, I seem to have developed a theme on this blog, one which I didn't intend. However, now that the theme has developed, people tell me about events that fit that theme. A few days ago, for example, I got a call to tell me about this story. (addendum: the previous is a dead link. A live link to another version ofJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-15415993617662740232007-11-06T10:54:00.001-08:002007-11-19T23:06:14.028-08:00A co-worker told me about this, and I've just spent a bit of time playing with it. Not surprisingly, if you've been reading my earlier posts, I've been looking at the costs generated by UCLA and UC Irvine. Here's an interesting table that I've generated.What's going on here? One will note that some institutions charge more than others per day in the hospital. Sometime, that makes sense. The Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-9677261008529675842007-09-30T12:17:00.000-07:002009-04-19T12:30:53.208-07:00An open letter to the American Bar Association:Ladies and Gentlemen, I am writing to you today in regards to the upcoming application of the University of California, on behalf of it's Irvine Campus, for accreditation as an American Bar Association approved law school. There are a few factors regarding the University of California and of it's subsidiary at the University of California, Irvine Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-46574227661610390432007-08-27T11:05:00.000-07:002007-11-17T11:14:48.497-08:00Well, that's one way to keep people quiet:Below, I mentioned how remarkable it was that the University of California mistreated patients, bodies, and money, and that, for the most part, no one ever talked. Well, here's a story of someone who had apparently begun to talk.This summer marks 1 year since the death of Denise Denton, the chancellor of UC Santa Cruz. Chancellor Denton had been Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-46681710171368192022007-04-04T11:35:00.000-07:002007-04-12T19:03:39.154-07:00Another set of UCLA data points – both obvious and obscure.OK, today’s LA times has a story about Benjamin Houghton, who had the wrong testicle removed by a UCLA resident surgeon in June 2006. The LA Times makes the obvious points: the proximate cause of the wrong surgery apparently included failure to correctly obtain consent for the planned procedure, failure to mark the correct testicle for Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-1161742514203858242006-10-24T19:10:00.000-07:002007-02-12T08:51:31.923-08:00Wow. Los Alamos National Labs (run by the University of California) had yet another apparent breach of national security. A drug raid on a Los Alamos scientist's home in New Mexico turned up what appeared to be classified documents taken from the nuclear weapons lab. This is, of course, after Wen Ho Lee, and after an episode of missing classified disks that the lab later said "never existed."As Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-1159321587844975282006-09-26T18:37:00.000-07:002008-04-13T19:04:39.731-07:00Last week, I worked with a nurse by the name of Natalie Dizon. Ms. Dizon has allowed me to tell her story. Ms. Dizon had a pelvic procedure done by Dr. Schlomo Raz at UCLA. After that first procedure, she claims that she was in agonizing pain, and believed that something had been left in her during the surgery.After a while, Dr. Raz took Nurse Dizon back to the OR. After recovery from the secondJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-1146028616234807932006-04-25T22:15:00.000-07:002006-06-03T10:14:25.960-07:00Well, now it's more clear why the U. of California needed that money:From today’s LA Times:“For the last decade, University of California leaders systematically failed to disclose to UC's governing board the details of pay packages and perquisites granted to senior executives, despite policies requiring such disclosure, according to an audit released Monday.”In other words, UC administrators Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-1146028499851007652006-04-25T22:11:00.000-07:002007-02-04T17:48:35.096-08:00Here's a little list (compiled mainly from stories out of the LA Times and the OC Register) of UC Irvine scandals over the last few years, just to help me keep track of all this:In 2005 came news of the death of 32 patients waiting for liver transplants that were never going to come. The livers were available, but, for two years, UCI did not have a full time surgeon to implant them, in Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-1135050084762762712005-12-19T19:40:00.000-08:002006-01-19T09:04:09.976-08:00In the last post, I mentioned that there was a pattern regarding the University of California and its tolerance of anything that might threaten its funding streams. To reiterate my own experience: as a resident, I had been asked by the residency program director that if a patient refused a surgery based on what I had told him, "don’t you realize that you would be responsible?" In context, (see myJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-1133380481476228742005-11-30T11:50:00.000-08:002006-01-14T09:04:12.766-08:00I’ve noticed, as have you if you’ve been reading this site, that the last few posts seem to revolve around the University of California. That’s not really what I had in mind when I wrote my June 16, 2002 post; I originally thought I was being a little bit more universal, and writing about residency / training programs in general. However, the title of the blog is "trying to make sense of (some ofJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-1125158709907867512005-08-27T09:03:00.000-07:002007-02-14T15:59:16.956-08:00Presented without comment: one (of many) stories about UC Irvine residency alum Dr. George Steven KooshianJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-1122579932002880422005-07-28T12:32:00.000-07:002005-07-28T12:52:25.496-07:00Here's an interesting story based on this data. This study looked at MI, pneumonia, and CHF, which generally have well-understood treatments with well-documented mechanisms and goals of treatment. In the words of Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the study's lead researcher and an assistant professor of health policy and management at the Harvard School of Public Health "These are all really relatively simple Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-1113276101774406282005-04-11T20:12:00.000-07:002006-03-10T02:50:51.436-08:00The rabbit hole gets a little bit deeperWhoa. According to this article, Filipino veterans of WWII are asking for VA benefits from the US department of Veteran’s affairs. According to the article, last year (2004) was the year that Filipino veterans were allowed into the US VA health care system.That’s a surprise to me. In 1992, while I was an intern at the Long Beach VA Medical Center, which is Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-1089574681223185042004-07-11T13:37:00.000-07:002006-05-05T12:42:04.646-07:00Since the time I wrote my last post below, describing my experiences at the University of California, people have asked me if I know of any other problems there. Indeed I do. So, over the next few postings, I will describe a few examples of what I believe to be large-scale insurance fraud that I saw, or otherwise know of, at the University of California medical system.The largest case of which I Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-1089576249204995962004-07-11T13:03:00.000-07:002010-06-18T09:57:42.083-07:00So, since I’m blogging today, I thought I’d describe one more apparent impropriety at the University of California. This one doesn’t involve the University of California directly, but is about the Long Beach VA Medical Center, which is partly staffed by UC Irvine. The content of this post comes in 2 parts:PART 1:As an intern, I rotated through the Long Beach VA Medical Center Emergency Room. Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-778341502002-06-16T22:17:00.000-07:002011-03-27T10:01:15.171-07:00Bill Quick and Megan McArdle seem to have an interesting debate about resident work hours going on on their blogs. I personally believe that resident work hours are often onerous beyond any need for patient care, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a disaster in and of itself. I believe that the long work hours are, in fact, not a problem, but a symptom of the real problem, which is the total Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-761599462002-05-04T11:54:00.000-07:002002-05-21T10:41:02.000-07:00Via email, I just got a request to sign this petition opposing a new INS rule allowing the INS to issue 30-day tourist visas (instead of the usual 6-month tourist visas).
Personally, I think that restricting tourist visas from foreign countries is completely reasonable during this time of crisis. Yes, I know that many people find it convenient to come to the US for six months, and, ordinarilyJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-110612822002-03-24T00:25:00.000-08:002002-03-24T14:17:07.000-08:00Via the perfesser, I just read something that upset me just a little bit here. In particular, I disagree with the combination of this line:
"I don't think the United States should allow dual-citizenship at all. Not ever. Not with Australia, not with Canada, not with Israel, not with Mexico. Not with anyone."
With the absence, even of acknowledgement, of this line:
"All persons born or Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-108043422002-03-16T13:09:00.000-08:002002-03-16T13:16:00.000-08:00Yeah, so maybe some officers and employees of Andersen shredded some documents. Maybe they did engage in some criminal activity. But to indict the entire company? Did congress indict the entire Marine Corps after Ollie North lied to them and authorized document shredding? Was anyone indicted after Hillary Clinton ordered the shredding of Vince Foster's documents in the Rose Law Firm, and of Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-107765102002-03-15T13:52:00.000-08:002002-03-15T14:20:55.000-08:00OK, I’ve had it for now with writing about the police state. Don’t think that I didn’t notice the fact that the feds are too concerned with exerting their authority over us to bother pulling the visas of foreigners who (1) are dead and (2) have flown planes into the WTC. That story has been covered to death; I really don’t have anything to add.
So, today’s blog is about a cool aircraft Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-107019282002-03-13T11:34:00.000-08:002002-03-13T11:34:48.620-08:00Horrible updates to March 5ths postJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-106686962002-03-12T13:21:00.000-08:002002-03-12T13:21:20.046-08:00Yes, I know that this blog has a predictable side. You can rely on me to come down on the anti-police-state side of any police state story. And I was going to write about something different today, namely Cartercopters and innovative aircraft in general. You can still check out cartercopters by looking at the link on the left.
And then I read this website: man arrested for “public Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-106684162002-03-12T13:13:00.000-08:002002-03-12T13:20:06.000-08:00placeholderJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-106470442002-03-11T22:08:00.000-08:002002-03-11T22:08:51.483-08:00Megan McArdle still doesn’t have any multivariate regressions on her site, but she does have a clear description of how moral hazard can lead to economically inefficient investment decisions. She relates this to the social security privatization debate.
For me, the bottom line is that current social security goes to fund government, which is just about the least economically efficient use Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-106103212002-03-10T23:00:00.000-08:002002-03-11T03:10:12.000-08:00Apropos of a discussion I had with a cousin of mine this afternoon, I want to pose the question: when does an organization go bad? It seems to me that there is a continuum between organizations that are so bad that just joining makes you morally suspect, and those that are so good that one is compelled to give its members the benefit of the doubt beyond what you would give others.
The Nazi Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-106100552002-03-10T22:47:00.000-08:002002-03-10T22:47:58.476-08:00I finally put a comment system on this blog. Yes, I probably should have done this earlier, but this is a work-in-progress, and I'm learning as I go. I want to encourage anyone who wants to comment to do so. Thank you. Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-105641672002-03-09T11:50:00.000-08:002002-03-11T02:14:04.000-08:00I’ve never been to Zimbabwe, or, indeed, to any of sub-sahran Africa. What I know about Africa is scant; it’s certainly less than what I don’t know about the continent.
Even so, however, something struck me as wrong with this article from the LA Times today, Resettled and Happy in Zimbabwe. The title portrays the spirit of this piece on the day of Zimbabwean national elections.
Somehow, Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-104004432002-03-05T00:37:00.000-08:002002-03-24T15:17:53.000-08:00Surprise, surprise, the most horrible example of prosecutorial misconduct comes from the fair city of Chicago. William Heirens, then a bright high school student, and since the first prisoner in Illinois to get a college degree behind bars, was charged with triple murder in 1946. He was injected with sodium pentothal, and, WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE PENTOTHAL made a “confession” that Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-103883462002-03-04T17:56:00.000-08:002002-03-09T11:18:19.000-08:00Nonuniformed FBI agent in an unmarked car stops an innocent eagle scout and shoots him in the face. FBI claims this was in the process of hunting down a bank robber who happened to be driving the same kind of car, though the FBI has yet to identify exactly what bank was robbed, what kind of car the “robber” was driving, or anything else. FBI agents on the scene don’t call for medical help, but Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-103567832002-03-03T22:41:00.000-08:002002-03-04T21:53:41.000-08:00The practitioners of what we call “high risk” medical specialties, such as cardiology, trauma surgery, and obstetrics, regularly create more value than almost any other professionals. For example, a good trauma surgeon, at the expense of a knife, some string, needles, and OR time, can create, for his patient, the opportunity to live for decades longer than fate might have otherwise decreed. Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-102558002002-02-28T23:24:00.000-08:002002-03-11T02:05:54.000-08:00DENVER, COLORADO -- The Department of Justice announced that Benny Bailey of Denver, Colorado, formerly a Deputy United States Marshal for the District of Colorado, was indicted today by a federal grand jury in a two-count indictment charging him with perjury and false statements. If convicted, Bailey faces on each count up to five years in prison and a fine of not more than $250,000.
AccordingJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-102554462002-02-28T23:06:00.000-08:002002-02-28T23:06:36.040-08:00Well I’m back. Who could have imagined that today could be even worse than yesterday. I can now tell you beyond a doubt that UCI (The University of California Irvine) Sucks.
Yesterday I told you all that the UCI parking office said that my car that had been booted would not be towed. Well low and behold when my terrific boyfriend dropped me off at work this morning my car was gone! It had Kyrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673339995088767760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-102175202002-02-28T00:20:00.000-08:002002-02-28T00:26:53.000-08:00Well Hello everyone out there. Over the past couple of days I have been thinking very hard about what my first blogg should be about. Then it hit me, or more appropriately it was attached to the front wheel of my car. Let me start at the beginning.
I work at the University of California Irvine. At my wonderful work place I have to purchase a parking permit in order to park my car everyday.Kyrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673339995088767760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-102162912002-02-27T23:16:00.000-08:002002-03-11T02:07:02.000-08:00This one really does justice to the theme of this blog:
Use a Gun, Get a Ticker
Why should taxpayers shell out a million bucks for a crook's transplant?
BY COLLIN LEVEY
Thursday, February 28, 2002 12:01 a.m. EST
…. (an inmate in California) serving 14 years for armed robbery, last month received a $913,000 heart transplant at the top-flight Stanford medical center, paid for by the state'sJubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-102041322002-02-27T17:08:00.000-08:002002-02-27T17:08:43.553-08:00The UC Irvine parking department has struck again!! Stay tuned for Kyra's rant about them!Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-101628752002-02-26T16:47:00.000-08:002002-02-26T16:49:20.000-08:00What I believe to be an alternately misleading and just plain wrong letter in the LA Times today:
Myths Aside, Death Row Isn't Filled With Innocents
By JOSHUA MARQUIS
The recent conventional wisdom presumption that the nation's death rows are packed with innocent men and women is dead wrong …. It turns out, however, that the states with the highest reversal rates are also among the Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-101127092002-02-25T12:26:00.000-08:002002-02-25T12:34:34.000-08:00From the USS Clueless:
Man Tried in Brother's Rape Case
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The Associated Press
Sunday, February 24, 2002; 7:28 PM
HOUMA, La. –– A man was expected to stand trial Monday for a rape his brother was wrongly convicted of committing 19 years ago.
DNA testing that cleared Clyde Charles also showed that Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-100931362002-02-24T22:40:00.000-08:002002-02-25T00:02:03.000-08:00E-mails detail Indiana Guard 'ghosts'
By Dave Moniz and Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY
'Ghost soldiers' inflate Guard numbers
Misconduct marks Guard command
WASHINGTON — Evidence continues to grow that National Guard units across the country are undermanned and have faked their troop level reports to Washington for years in order to protect their flow of federal money and to hide their Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-91541532002-01-29T02:09:00.000-08:002002-01-29T02:09:56.016-08:00Couple jailed for Christmas lights
Flores and her husband, Tony, last year violated a code requiring Christmas decorations to be removed 19 days after the holiday. They were still on the home in April .... Angelica said the lights stayed up because Tony had been injured at work and she was afraid to climb up a ladder and remove them .... She was stunned last week when three police officers Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-91529542002-01-29T00:29:00.000-08:002002-01-29T02:13:29.000-08:00People I just don't understand: El Al passenger flies with gun to New York
I mean, it makes perfect sense to me that a passenger would fly with a gun. I think it would make the airlines safer if everyone would fly armed. Of course, that argument has been hashed back and forth on many web sites, so I won't go into it here.
What amazes me is this part of the story: "When he arrived at the Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3302992.post-91372922002-01-28T15:06:00.000-08:002002-01-28T15:23:39.000-08:00Police officials said Monday that they expect demonstrations at this week's World Economic Forum will be mostly peaceful, but they plan to strictly enforce a century-old law barring groups of demonstrators from wearing masks.
Check out the above link, then ask yourself how the ban on masks is compatible with this:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or Jubalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06769324542951135758noreply@blogger.com0