President Obama has been quite busy since taking his oath on the 20th of January, reversing and removing the scum and debris left by the Bush administration.

One of the most heinous acts under Bush has now been wiped away by Obama, a man who has an obvious brain. Today he lifted the notorious “global gag rule” also more officially known as the Mexico City policy.

The Mexico City Policy prohibits any foreign organization receiving U.S. family planning funding from using its own funds or funds from other donors to perform legal abortions; advocate for the liberalization or decriminalization of abortion in laws and policies; or provide information, make referrals, or counsel women about abortion.

Funding was first rescinded under Reagan, restored under Clinton, and then Bush immediately restored it as soon as he took office.  Of course, while people celebrated this intelligent move on the part of Obama, there were the usual anti-abortion weenies screaming about this is such a devastating move and how millions of abortions are going to occur as a result of this.

Uh, not quite. What these whiny so-call pro-lifers don’t want to acknowledge, or maybe just can’t understand, is that denial of funding simply means that more women are not getting family planning education or access to contraceptives. And since these clinics are often “all in one” types, less money is also available for treating/preventing STDS including HIV, prenatal care, and mother/infant care.  Is that what you call being pro-life?

From the Washington Post:

The lifting of the Mexico City Policy does not permit U.S. funding to be used to provide abortions but allows funding to resume to groups that provide other services, including counseling and referrals for abortions. Critics argued the policy resulted in more abortions by denying women access to contraceptives.

“We know from available evidence that voluntary access to contraception is the best way to reduce the number of abortions in the developing world,” said Dana Hovig of Marie Stopes International, a London-based group that provides reproductive health care in 43 countries and was denied U.S. funding under the policy. “We now have an opportunity to demonstrate this fact once and for all.”

The International Planned Parenthood Federation estimates it lost about $100 million in U.S. funding in the past eight years, which it estimates could have prevented 36 million pregnancies and 15 million abortions. That does not include funding that was cut off to its affiliates, such as programs in Kenya and Ghana.

“This is the true legacy of the global gag rule,” Greer said.

Just think, 15 million abortions might have been prevented during the Bush years. So does Bush and his followers really think that this policy was effective in stopping the rate of abortions? Are they that daft, or was it just an excuse to deny funds for family planning.

Restoring funding and obliterating the Global Gag Rule will do more to reduce abortion than anything else.  Do these people who claim to be opposed to abortion really think that that the gag rule had any positive effect on abortion rates around the world? Do they think that withholding funding is a good way to reduce unwanted pregnancies?

Anyway, I’m so glad that Obama is putting the U.S. back on track.  I realize that it will take a while to restore our country and wipe away the stain of Bush, but this is a great start.

I’m on pacific time and the events of the BIG DAY are in eastern time.  But the swearing in ceremony is supposed to be at 11:30am ET, which makes it 8:30PT, which is 10 and a half hours from now.

After 8 years of the man who has done more to destroy this planet than anyone else in recent history, we will be free of it in less than 12 hours.

Bush did put through Medicare Part D, which gives drug coverage to older adults. Yes, that was helpful, but believe me, it wasn’t his idea. And that doesn’t begin to make up for his war on reproductive rights. This is one of his shining moments:

“In 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, the Bush Administration denied funding to UNFPA that had already been allocated by the U.S. Congress on the grounds that the UNFPA supported Chinese government programs which include forced abortions and sterilizations. In a letter from the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns to Congress, the administration said it had determined that UNFPA’s support for China’s population programme “facilitates (its) government’s coercive abortion programme”, thus violating the Kemp-Kasten Amendment, which bans the use of United States aid to finance or support abortions overseas.

This accusation has never been supported by any investigation, and has in fact been disproved by the various US, UK, and UN teams sent to examine UNFPA activities in China. UNFPA points out that it “does not provide support for abortion services”.Its charter includes a strong statement condemning coercion.

But bush steadfastly refused to provide the $34 million allocated by Congress. How many women died in childbirth as a result of Bush’s actions? How many people contracted HIV? How many children died of treatable and preventable diseases (yes, it provides help to mothers and their children, not just birth control)? And finally, George, how many abortions were performed because the women couldn’t get the birth control that the UNFPA might have provided them with?  I would guess several million over the course of George’s 8 year reign of terror.

Overall, health care in the US has suffered tremendously under the Bush thing’s administration. The number of uninsured and minimally insured has gone up, the FDA has become more corrupt and inept if that’s possible, and nothing has been done on a federal level for preventive health.

I don’t know what Barack Obama is going to do. Promises are promises. But the world can finally breathe in a breath of fresh air as the Bush creature disappears into the Texas hinterlands, and a new president takes the oath.

Today at 11:30 am PT, the new millennium–the 21st century–is finally going to begin.

Now for the big question–healthcare! Not exactly a question, but it is on the minds of a lot of people, and was one of the “biggie” issues of the election.

As the inauguration nears, and the end of Bush approaches (thank the good Lord for small favors), what kind of policy will Barack Obama put forth? There is the battle cry for Universal Healthcare, while others are shaking in their boots at the very thought of anything so socialist (think Sarah Palin jabbering on about socialism, as though she has any comprehension of what the word means). Then again, many Americans would be happy to get something in the middle–affordable coverage that actually pays for something.

At least on forums, I’ve found that nurses have very divergent views on Universal healthcare, or on what kind of healthcare might work best. Obviously, nurses are not a generic group and their opinions have much to do with their own work environments, personal situations, and political views.

I haven’t heard anything concrete yet, but I’m sure the talking heads are buzzing. But curing healthcare woes is a massive undertaking, that includes everything from the astronomical cost of a medical education, bogus malpractice suits, extremely expensive new biotech drugs, and a worsening shortage of not only primary care practitioners but public health workers.

Barack, you’ve got your work cut out for you. Let me know if you need some help!

Photo courtesy of the National Library of Medicine

It’s the end of the first week of the new year. How’s it going with resolutions? Have all of you nurses out there vowed that you are going to stand up for yourselves in 2009, and resist being treated unfairly?

New Year’s resolution 101: Repeat after me, I am not a doormat. I am not a doormat.

It seems that Gail Rousseau is no longer a “contenda” for the post of Surgeon General. Or maybe she never was. According to sundry and assorted news articles,  Sanjay Gupta has been courted for the post since last fall. It doesn’t say whether before or after the election, but I would guess before, as Barack Obama had his list of cabinet possibilities ready way before November 4. And that’s to be expected–its not something that you start scrambling to do after you win the election.

There seems to be a lot of mixed feelings about Dr. Gupta. Some pundits think that the job should go to someone who is already an officier in the public health service, while others think he is ideal. I personally think he’s an ideal choice, provided that he sticks to his guns. I don’t think the Obama administration is going to try to muzzle him and or attempt to force him to lie to the public, as Bush did with Richard Carmona.

Why do I like Dr. Gupta? Well, he is already a familiar figure to millions of Americans. Let’s face it, most people haven’t a clue who the Surgeon General is, nor do they care. Most them have been rather non-descript. The last Surgeon General who was truly well known and recognized was C. Everett Koop, because of the controversy he generated with his push to recognize AIDS and not treat it as some moral failing or “sin” that had befallen certain segments of the population.

Sanjay Gupta already has a large following. He is comfortable speaking before the camera and the public. He is well liked, and people already trust him. As long as he can stay on course, then I think he will do a fine job.

To continue my post from yesterday, about the brand new face of nabeepchen.com. First, that awful blue background is gone and my old graphics are back, albeit slightly different.

Next, as I said yesterday, I am consolidating the topics a little more and trying to stay on track. Of course, I may stray every now and then, if something juicy pops up that doesn’t quite fit neatly into any of the categories above.

If you notice, there is a new category called “Careers.” The healthcare industry is booming, despite any of the chitchat of economic downtown. People are getting sick, the rate of chronic diseases has never been higher, and unless our new president does a major coup and forces the agri/chemical/oil/biotech industries to clean up their act and remove toxic crap from our food and environment–and completely revamps the FDA by removing the parasites currently in control–then the high rate of illness will continue.

Healthcare reform is another issue in and of itself, and if dramatic reforms do ever transpire, that may change the job market. But even so, the job market will still remain strong, and the opportunities in healthcare go far beyond physician and nurse.

So this is a new area which I would like to address and expand upon, and offer real information about different fields.  Go beyond the nonsense, for example, that you would find in Johnson & Johnson’s Discover Nursing website, which makes nursing seem like a Hallmark card. Where people find that they can “be myself” by working as a nurse. I promise, I will try not to make you gag.

Another new topic is that of nomads. Healthcare nomads roam the earth in search of jobs, and also medical care. Travel jobs, either short or long term, are available to nurses, doctors, etc, both in the U.S. and abroad. On the flip side, patients are traveling abroad in search of less expensive care, whether it be cosmetic or life saving. Medical travel is a rapidly growing industry that shows no signs of slowing down. Unless something miraculous takes place within our own healthcare system–like everyone suddenly being endowed with terrific, comprehensive and inexpensive coverage–medical travel will continue to blossom.

So stay tuned and let me know what you think.

New year, new site.

Finally, the long awaited revamp. As you can see, it looks a little different and there are all of these strange little tabs on top, and new sections, and the style is slightly different. The reason for the revamp was to make the blog more focused, and easier to locate different topics.

Every article that has ever appeared on this site is still here, and can be found under “All Topics.” Some of them will have to be sorted out further and tagged, but for now, everything that doesn’t fall under the tabs above is just designated under the more generic All Topics.

Will this be the year that healthcare in the US finally gets a major tweaking? Will it be the year that nurses begin to stick up for themselves in ever growing numbers? Will it be the year that we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel?

So many ifs and whats. It really isn’t realistic to expect our healthcare system to dramatically change in a single year, but maybe the seeds will be sown and the wheels put in motion. And at any rate, we get to say “BYE BYE BUSH!”