About The Lee County ledger. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1978-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 2019)
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Jackboots In America The Lee County Ledger, Wednesday, February 6, 2019, Page 9A Special to the Ledger By Kate Scarmalis Once a man lay dying, gasping and wheezing for air. His heart was doing its best, but it was failing. Doctors were doing what they could, but nature can only do so much to help medicine along. It was one of life’s regrettable moments. An infection invaded his heart muscle. Antibiotics weren’t helping. The man continued to sink slowly towards the grave. A specialist from the cardiology department was called in. A series of tests showed that the infection had damaged his heart muscle. Clumps of bacteria and cells had formed on the heart valves, making it hard for the heart to work prop erly. The cardiologist deter mined that the patient’s only hope was an opera tion. His life was saved, but not for long. The infec tion returned. The man fell to the ground, barely able to breathe. Again with the tests. In the end the cardiologist had some further bad news. Part of the abscess broke free and lodged in his brain. The doctor advised surgery to drain off the abscess. Truth be told, noth ing was going to save the life of this man. The surgeon knew this better than anyone, but he had a personal motive for sug gesting surgery. The doctor had a hidden motive. He needed to move the dying man from his service (Cardiology) to the surgical unit. That way, when the man died, his death would not fig ure into his department’s statistics. The doctor needed to keep his “kill rate” down in order to qualify for future funding from grants. In the mind of the cardi ologist, no harm, no foul. Of course the ethi cal dilemma was that a dying man would be put through another painful procedure in his final days - one that stood little chance to better his life. Who knows? Perhaps in allowing the cardiologist to “massage” his data, new experimental pro grams could save lives. Well, that is precisely how that surgeon justified his behavior. What a knotty problem is posed to us by statis tics! On one hand, you cannot argue with num bers. They are what they are. However, what they actually measure may not represent what you might think. The numbers are reliable, but the validity of the findings may be in question. Such scenarios point towards the difference between reality, and our perception of reality. In the case of the doctor, the statistics generated by his cardiology department indicate that his service is a “success”. At what cost? Obviously, this analogy is extremely unfair to the doctor. Not every case can be treated success fully. A more valid way to chronical the situation would be this: “A good physician treats the dis ease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.” In this, the cardiologist failed miserably. In the public domain all too often it is merely the perception of reality that counts. The closeness to reality, the validity of its true nature, is often given short shrift. Consider the following scenario. Recently an arrest was made in the home of a man during a predawn raid. It took four FBI agents, two holding a bat tering ram. As the door opened, in the face of the suspect were two auto matic rifles. Overhead was an FBI helicopter. Twenty-nine members of the FBI strike force in full tactical gear with assault weapons and night vision goggles surround ed the house. Seventeen vehicles, including two armored vehicles were parked in the front yard. At the back-yard dock in his canal, two FBI am phibious vehicles secured the water escape route, should the “perp” decide to shoot it out and run for it. It made for quite a show. The suspect’s terrified 72-year-old wife watched him taken away in hand cuffs. For all to see, it would appear. CNN was invited to attend this gala event. This operation con tained twice the manpow er that was required to arrest Osama bin Laden. Who was the dastardly evil-doer, you ask? It must be someone horribly dangerous, wouldn’t you think? No, the culprit in question is Roger Jason Stone. His claim to fame is that he has worked as a political consultant, lobbyist and strategist on the campaigns of Repub lican politicians such as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, Bob Dole and Donald Trump. Do you think this news item will stick in the minds of potential jurors? ‘Ya think? Talk about manipulating the public’s perception of reality! Roger Stone was charged with seven counts of making false statements to Congress. So, it takes an army to arrest a 66-year-old politi cal “fixer”? To underscore what a show was being put on for the public eye, after the CNN cameras were off, Stone describes how he was treated by the FBI agents. He states that he was treated, “gently, po litely and slightly apolo getically” on his way to court. But why such a show? His arrest stems from Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation in which Stone has been charged with lying to in vestigators for the House Intelligence Committee, which is conducting its own inquiry into the Rus sian election interference campaign. Essentially Stone has been accused of handling damaging information about Hillary Clinton that had been stolen by Rus sian intelligence opera tives. Again?? The Russians? Which ones?? Boris and Natasha??? Frankly no one needed the Russians to dissemi nate damaging informa tion about Hillary. She did that all by herself. However, to the Demo crats, the show must go on. I used to believe that in nocence kept me immune from such conspicuous tyranny. Now, not so much. The jackboots are upon us. Kate Scarmalis retired from teaching in the Lee County School System. She has a B.A. in Foreign Languages, Elementary and Gifted Education, and an M.A. in Forensic Psychology Photo submitted by Linda Kile Every month Head Start children receive a treat when Retired Educators come in to read and play games with them. Here Gary Unger engages the students and leaves each of them with a book to take home. phfMi irPlififtiftiB ■■■■■■■■ LUMBER & HARDWARE ■* 1 — 153 Robert B. Lee Ill'll Leesburg, Ga 759-2963 A locally-owned family business, supplying building materials to south Georgia since 1898! The Cold Is Coming! It’s Time To Winterize Your Home! - rtf fWisnuitw. I I i ip I i f Hi F tilt® I || Nj lv 11 t |f/ III ffl.ll/In I l' ■: m ' 1 j. 1 * 1 \ r \ I-* I- Wrap Your Pipes! | ■ | | Check Your Weatherstripping! Replace Your Filters! We Have Everything You Need To Be Ready! Full Line of Hardware And Building Materials VILLAGER CLEANERS 5 Convenient Locations! Leesburg 1591 US Highway 19 S 229.889.0156 Leesburg 1324 US Hwy 82 West 229.446.9200 Albany 2614 N. 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