Your daily Letter to the Columnist — May 1, 2012
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Cecil Knox was an excellent doctor
Dear Mr. Casey
I just read your article about Dr. Knox & I would like to say thanks.
I was one of the good doctor’s patients who traveled from out of town to his clinic. Not only did he care as a person – he was an excellent healthcare specialist.
U.S. Attorney Brownlee not so much either in my opinion. Bush 43 spoke in Richmond, Virginia on the day it was announced that a federal case was to proceed on Knox’s practice. W. Bush spoke of the bad, evil docs.
Bush the guy that approved “torture” lied us into Iraq and made that 1% a bigger group. Plus added to millions now still uninsured. Recession, need I say more of that president’s dim wit. Former Senator Allen was — still is in agreement with Bush 101. Just add tea and stir in a few million in Citizens U. cash.
Dr. Knox introduced me to people who helped also. Some that worked for him, others that didn’t. Cecil Byron was and is one in a million. Worked on MIA issues, treated veterans (not one) first or stood between local police and a patient about to get hurt. He’s only a year older than me.
I’m sure I still owe him for bills my limited insurance didn’t pay (and I do not presently have as an asset) nor have I had a full time doctor since – 2001 closing of his office. Court never addressed Knox’s outstanding accounts or why the state had not filed any concerns – or why you had to sign a patient document form/release as to your conditions or needs, etc., prior to any exam. Sad waste of talent, time and money.
President Obama calls it the “lost decade.” I never understood why – until he was elected. Cecil Byron Knox did before…
Thanks again.
Ed
WYTHEVILLE
May 1, 2012 - 1:30 PM
The Bush/Obama policy allowed us to get Bin Laden. Spike the football and pass out the sour grapes to the haters. That pudding has proof in it.
Silly Henry, GWB didn’t care about getting bin Laden after he realized it wasn’t going to be easy. He lost interest REAL quick. (It’s kind of like the difference between playing pretend war in the air National Guard and flying real missions in Vietnam). By then, he had moved on to a dictator who was no threat to us, but who was easier to dethone because he ran a country that was no threat to us — and bonus, going after him would enrich GWB’s (and Cheney’s) pals.
Neither did Joe Biden. He cautioned Obama against it. You remember Joe Biden? He is the Vice President now.
Bush was flying missions in an F-102 defending our country. What did Obama do during that time? O yeah. Obama was in Indonesia eating dogs.
Robert Gates said that the decision was one of the boldest he’s seen in his entire career, mostly serving Republican administrations, as Defense Secretary, CIA Chief, etc.
So, let’s see now, between blog poster “Henry” or Robert Gates, who had the better vantage point to history? We report, you decide…
Biden was wrong and took a backseat to Obama which is the norm in the president/vice president relationship. The Cheney/Bush administration was an aberration.
And being a child, you left that part out conveniently Henry the mud wallow #3. Romney and Bush had expressed their indifference to getting Bin Laden. Obama made the promise and when the opportunity came he took it. YOU would be among the first to line up to vilify him if the mission had failed and not having the spine to admit it does not make it less true.
#4 Warren, there’s all kinds of right-wing parrots on these blogs who apparently think they know better than Gates.
“flying missions in an F-102 defending our country.”
Making it safe for hookers and blow.
#3 Bush, defending our country? Smirk. Guffaw.
Ya Amarillo was safe from the VC threat as long as W patrolled the skies
“flying missions in an F-102 defending our country.”
what a bucket of lard.
Maybe he was defending Mississippi from attacking Alabama..
but he wasnt doing it from an airplane.
I know a little about this,,I was in the Guard and active duty both
in this time frame.
and his pattern fits all to well with a lot of dodgers.
http://www.seanet.com/~johnco/bush102.htm
Henry…before ” Mission Accomplished”
was Dub actually the first drunk man on
the moon..
Or does it just feel that way in his more
lucid moments?
For those who are convinced the feds efforts against doctors running pill farms were the result of blind ambition or politics, you should watch a documentary from 2009 called The Oxycontin Express. It is playing on the Current channel. The documentary dealt specifically with the pipeline of oxycontin from Florida to Appalachia, but it also gives insight into the role played by shady, profit-driven doctors who run pill factories. And for those who still argue about the victimless nature of drug abuse, here’s something a little more recent:
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2012/05/01/health-buzz-more-babies-born-to-opiate-addicted-moms
I think some here think of the abuse of prescription pain killers in the same light as the do the “regular person” smoking the occasional joint. Clearly they have never seen people who are truly addicted to these drugs. For some, the addiction gets so bad that nothing matters beyond the next high and they will do anything to get it.
Chuck is 100 percent right that Oxycontin abuse was (and maybe still is) a serious problem. He is also right that there were doctors who ran pill mills. What I would dispute is that Cecil Knox is one of those doctors. No doubt, the federal prosecutors tried to make him out to be one. But the jury saw through that: they acquitted him of half the charges against him, hung on the rest (this, after all, is our system) and later, sick and financially exhausted, he pleaded guilty to charges that would cost him no time in prison. And he lost his license.
The government goofed in that case. It was a bad goof, and it destroyed the career of a good man. But it didn’t destroy him.
Robert Gates said that the decision was one of the boldest he’s seen in his entire career, mostly serving Republican administrations, as Defense Secretary, CIA Chief, etc.
Sheesh. Gates was SOD at the time of the capture. He’s a loyal soldier. Do you think he’s going to call his boss an idiot?
Although…some very good military men have done just that. Like McChrystal. It’s unusual, but sometimes a “leader” is just flat out dangerous and incompetent and military people just can’t keep it quiet any longer.
When not one but TWO top generals disrespect the president and resign, you know the problem isn’t with the generals.
It always seemed like a weird title for a president anyway, Commander-in-chief. Sure it fits some easily, like Eisenhower and GWB, but what happens when you get a pot-smoking protester anarchist like Clinton or 0bama? These are guys who wouldn’t know a bazooka from Bazooka bubble gum. Is a grizzled smart veteran military general really going to pretend that president’s military judgment is superior? It must really grate on them, and sometimes, like in the case of McChrystal, they just can’t hold it in any longer.
I think the C-in-C title should be assigned very carefully and not to all presidents– only those with an honorable past.