* A sign of the times or just some strange proposal? A panel that has been assigned ways to save money for the city of Columbus has come up with a suggestion that will have many medical professionals questioning their findings.
Dispatch:
A committee charged with finding ways for Columbus to save money has recommended that the city return to a basic emergency medical system....
.....Basic care mostly involves stabilizing injuries before a patient is transported. Paramedics trained in advanced support can administer lifesaving drugs and treat heart attacks on the way to a hospital....
Columbus Fire has some good statistics to back up their advanced system.
..For example, the national survival rate for cardiac arrest is 6.4 percent. In Columbus, it's 12 percent....
I wonder if the panel would feel the same way if their family member had been saved by the advanced emergency care. This recommendation by this panel sounds just plain stupid. If they want to save money, they should seek money-saving measures that are not related to people's lives. I'd say that this suggestion is right up there with the Reagan administration's idea to count ketchup as a vegetable for the school lunch program.
* Republican Rep. Steve LaTourette had a moment last week when he mentioned "sphincter" on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Of course, Republicans thought it was a sign of his genius to somehow use the word. If the word had been said by a Democratic member of Congress, the Republicans would have said it was inappropriate. I find it amazing that LaTourette does nothing admirable in the House for years and years but then he says the word "sphincter" and people notice some weird guy from Ohio.
* The residency question about Republican Jon Husted still has not been settled. I have a suggestion: People should start taking photographs of Husted in Upper Arlington on weekends and posting them on the internet. Those neighbors in Kettering should also post pictures of his abandoned home. Husted's arrogance in this matter is just sickening. Husted is so accustomed to getting his way that he seems unable to fathom the idea that people would question his residency or anything about him.