Healthcare or Medisin?

In this last video I will post, Dr. Pookrum speaks of the profound resistance and lack of care in the health industry she faced. She speaks of advising pregnant women of their options other than taking prenatal vitamins which she found, by reading several studies, have the possibility of causing birth defects and the effects of long term birth control pills usage on women. She expresses her surprise as a young doctor, to learn the older Black people on her staff (nurses and doctors) were not supportive of her decisions and down right hostile against her. The older Black staffers remained in support of a system that was not working, at least for the benefit of the patients. This supposes often that our greatest enemy can be those of our own collective. What guides this mentality? Why do people continue to support a system that is not helpful for the patients? Will the healthcare bill address the mentality of the healthcare worker? Will nurses work less hours? Will new doctors be afforded proper rest during residency? Or will it be the same ole’ medisin?

WHO WAS THE LAST TO SEE MITRICE RICHARDSON?

24 year old Mitrice Richardson is missing. Her face has not been plastered on the national morning news shows like Annie Le was posted everywhere Nor has she been a subject on the evening televised entertainment rags (can you call a television show a rag?), any way you get my drift. We have not even heard her name mentioned on the Warren Ballentine, Bev Johnson, Al Sharpton or Michael Baisden shows, Nope, not a peep. I guess that may be too much to ask. Fortunately, I was gleaning BrotherPeaceMaker when I had the fortune of reading about her.

As with all missing persons cases, the main question asked is “who was the last person to see her?” Well, we need to go back into Mitrice’s evening on September 17th to answer this one. Ms. Richardson decided to treat herself out to a nice dinner and probably an after dinner cocktail. Per the reports, when the restaurant ran her Visa card it was declined for whatever reason, for the 89 dollar meal and drinks. Her family was called and they offered to pay the bill, but the restaurant manager refused, stating they could not take a payment over the phone. The restaurant manager then called the police since she could not pay her tab and she was supposedly “acting oddly as if she was under the influence of some substance” says Latice Sutton, Mitrice‘s mother. So, the Los Angeles sheriff’s office was called.

Mitrice was accused of not being able to pay her bill. Since a card could be declined for many reasons including an issue with the magnetic strip I will stick with her being accused of not paying. Yet, the deputies show up for non bill payment of dinner and what do they proceed to do? THEY GO OUT AND SEARCH HER CAR!!!! She was not accused of driving away without paying, nor was she stopped for DUI, she was still in the restaurant! She was arrested for less than an ounce of the good good. Marijuana! If you are from California such as myself, or have ever lived there for any length of time, then you know, less than an ounce of marijuana an offense to be served by a citation, not arrest. I suppose Ms. Richardson needed to be put in her place by the LA Sheriff‘s deputies. She needed to be reprimanded for dining in Malibu and not on Crenshaw. Not to say there’s anything wrong with the Crenshaw district, but Black folk in Cali should know their place. Ok, sarcasm is not cute. But, my southern Californians know what I’m talking about.

So, to answer the most important question when a person goes missing. Who was the last to see young Ms. Richardson? THE LA SHERIFF’S DUPTIES ON DUTY, when they released her into the pitch black night without ID, cell phone, money, purse, or any protection. Yep, the Babylon themselves were the last to see Mitrice Richardson. Into the night she went after being in their custody. I know this begs the question how could officers of the law do such a thing. Did I forget to mention Mitrice is a young Black female? How could they do this?

It’s the normal M.O. for officers of the law in southern California. They are very well adept to releasing Crips into the night in Blood neighborhoods or Bloods into the night in Crip neighborhoods. So, when one or the other ends up dead, its all chalked up to gang violence and the hands of the police/sheriff are wiped clean. Maybe they released this young Black woman to walk by herself, thirteen miles back to the restaurant, in a well known skinhead or KKK area? Yes. these white supremacists gangs are deep in Cali.  I'm not saying this is the case, but it's not far fetched.

For her family’s sake I pray she is alive and well, but her father seems to think she is being held against her will. He may be right. In the end we, the Black blogsphere cannot not wait for Brien Williams or Michael Baisden to talk about Mitrice Richardson. We have the power right here.

Mr. Obama are you practicing Reaganomics?

We are being sold a bill of goods. What’s more wicked is most of us are buying the bill. Like the Chinese, constantly buying IOU’s in the name of U.S. Treasury Bonds, the U.S. public constantly buys into hope and no change. President Obama has proved to be exactly what he is, the poster boy for marketing and snake oil sales. When I’ve spoken to others of the Black Collective the response has gone from “give the man time” to “he is only the president, it takes congress and the senate to get things done.”

This president has actually done nothing for the everyday citizen, nor anything different than the previous administrator. He has had the opportunity to repeal the most oppressive parts of the Patriot act and he has not. He has kept many of Dubya’s appointees, including Ben “Bankster” Bernanke who has quietly pumped a trillion dollars (which doesn’t include the T.A.R.P. funds into the ever failing banking system.

He’s kept Robert Gates to prosecute the war in Afghanistan. But, if history proves to be a fortune teller, a war in Afghanistan is a sure loser. Afghanistan has never been subdued. The will of the Afghanistan fighters, the weather and the terrain have proven to bring down giants in the past (just ask Russia) and I don’t think the U.S. has the will to defeat them. This is not to say the American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines don’t have the skill, but may lack the will and determination to prosecute this war to a successful conclusion.

But, more importantly Obama is silently pushing what looks a lot like the Ronald Reagan theory of economics, the trickle down theory. Reaganomics. Remember during the campaign he mentioned that he admired the Reagan presidency. His insistence on pushing funds into the banking system, appear to be a “hope” that the banks will loosen up credit to other businesses and will trickle down to the everyday consumer. This sure smells like Reaganomics to me. It didn’t work for the masses of U.S. population then and certainly is not working now. The banks have not loosened up credit and are continuing to fail.

Its obvious there will be fewer jobs. When we look at the auto industry alone we see fewer models being made, which means fewer manufacturing lines, which means less people working directly for the car companies. This in turn means less people working in the smaller companies that manufacture lights, bumpers, seat belts, etcetera. I suppose this would be the reason the president is pushing so hard for some sort of health care reform since he is well aware a recovery will not entail employment (Raw dawg Buffalo postulates a recovery is not possible without employment.) This should signal our sensory perception that this man has no intention of putting people back to work. At least not like it was before this recession/depression. All in all there is still money to be made, but now is the time to dig deep within yourself and pull out the business woman or man trying to get out.

This healthcare madness really has me thinking deeply about the full effect, and how its going to play a roll in the coming economy and with our personal lives. Health care, the economy and you.

The politics of healing; Dr. Jewel Pookrum

Wellness is our own personal business.  The Healthcare bill being pushed by the white house will only be a bandaid on a cancer if we don't take our own health and wellness into our own hands  Today, we are constantly bombarded with (mis)information typically presented to us via the television.  The Swine flu is the title of latest weapon of fear hoisted upon the people for whatever purposes and as told by the news our only hope is to get the vaccine, which won't be available to the general populace until sometime in October.  However, we have other alternatives to this discomfort, one being our own immune system which has the power to overcome the most feared of dis-eases, if we would only take the steps to help our immune systems flourish.

In that vein, I would like to present a couple videos by Dr. Jewel Pookrum over the next week for an alternate view of our health, society and the politics involved with healing.

Born in Detroit in 1948, Dr. Pookrum grew up in Chicago and returned to Detroit for residency and medical practice. She is the mother of four children and she credits her great grandmother and an aunt with helping her shape a preventative and wholistic career path.

 

Jewel I. Pookrum, M.D. brings a sense of vitality and boundless energy to her work. She is the Medical Director and founder of Perfect Health Institute of Nutritional Medicine, a health environment where clinical medicine and wholistic practices are combined in a highly individualized approach. Her treatments have helped patients to heal visible signs of cancer erase aging lines and learn to live happy, balanced and pain free lives.

How can insurgents sustain a war against a super power?

In any war, logistics are the back bone of an army or more recently any fighting force, since its difficult to label the people fighting against Britain and her military, the U.S. Army as an army or military. At any rate, weapons break or wear out, have to be replaced. Bullets and all other munitions have to be re-supplied, not to mention medical treatment and medical supply’s.

In wars past, armies would focus on and spend great resources to disrupt and destroy supply lines. I have wondered, since the beginning of the ground war in Iraq, who was supplying the insurgents. One soldier I know that fought in Iraq from 2005-2006 said he saw miles of weapons and ammunition that was never confiscated. He said they were told to leave it and move on. Curiously, logistics of the “enemy” are rarely discussed if ever.

My soldier friend’s statement wasn’t a plausible explanation as to why the Iraqi insurgents could sustain a war from 2005 continuing on to 2009 and will no doubt last until the mid 2020’s. Despite the pledge by (candidate) Obama to draw down forces from Iraq, he is keeping his pledged to intensify the prosecution of the war in Afghanistan. Afghanistan will be his undoing, at least militarily. With that said here is an interesting post I found via my gleaning of Muslim Bushido. If you ever wonder as I have, about how the insurgents, but more specifically in this case the Taliban fighters in Afghanistan are surviving logistically here will be a place to begin.