As despicable as Frist is, this cat story needs to die.

[napi21]

There's been a lot of Dems talking about a statement in Frist's book where he said he practiced surgury on cats when he was in med school. When I first heard the initial complaints, I ignored them as being uninformed, but it's now being talked about on the radio and I've seen in many times here on DU.

You all need to understand something.

Many years ago, when my cousin was studying for her RN, as part of anatomy class, they used a CAT! She was terribly upset because it was a cat that looked very much like her own cat from home. The teachers explained to her that students have to learn from something, and the larger the animal, the better the training, because the organs are larger than say a mouse, or rat.

How do you think Doctors learn to be surgeons? You think they start right off with humans?

I don't understand why Frist had to go to the local shelter to get his specimens, but the Dems are going to look very foolish by persuing this avenue of attack on Frist. It needs to stop!

[autorank]

1. I want my surgeons trained! I agree on that part. However,

Frist used to go out at night and get extra cats. That's sick! Sorry, it won't die, plus cat nuts are a major constituency, not only on DU, but around the country. Let his cat kill lust tar him for ever among the feline faction.

[Selteri]

2. I think it's the fact that he did chose to go to the shelters

and picked out the cats he wanted, killing them himself.

Personally, I'm rather neutral about it. But I also know that you can order pre-prepped cats without much cost, but it is cheaper to adopt a cat from the pound and nix it than to spend the extra money for 'official' cats.

[saracat]

3. Ity is abnormal to go to a shelter for such animals!

He told people that they were for pets! This does NOT have to stop. This man is evil. Sorry. There is no reason for him to be different than other med students. No one buys pets for this sort of thing!

[pie]

6. This story should never die

Seems to me he takes delight in telling
his sordid little tale about how he fooled
the shelters.
He is an evil bastard of the first degree.

[FreedomAngel82]

8. I agree

He's my Senator and my town's ex-mayor even called him a cat killer and the guy was a republican mayor Bob Corker. So if my mayor calls him a cat killer then I think it's fine.

[chomskysright]

63. kick kick KICK!

[Coastie for Truth]

33. He went to "NO KILL" shelters

and LIED to say he was adopting the cats as PETS. This is a lie to the "No Kill Shelter" and to the previous guardians of the animals.

IN MY NOT SO HUMBLE OPINION - THIS IS WORSE THEN THE COMBINATION OF

1) INTIMIDATING A SUBORDINATE TO GET SEX
2) LYING TO S "SPECIAL PROSECUTOR" ABOUT THE EVENT
3) LYING TO THE PEOPLE ABOUT IT

WORSE THEN ANYTHING CLINTON WAS ACCUSED OF DOING.

THIS MAN LACKS MORAL CHARACTER.

Jeffrey Dahmer - whose father was a PhD chemist - did the same thing.

[MAlibdem]

48. There's no evidence they were "no kill shelters"

at least from his book. either way, he was deceitful.

[Coastie for Truth]

49. He describes shelters that are known in the community

as "No Kill" shelters - and he describes conduct that would have been necessary to get an animal from a "No Kill Shelter."

And he has shown himself to be lacking in character and integrity - and he willingly "Takes the Lord's Name In Vain."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=120008&mesg_id=120012

[MAlibdem]

50. I may be missing something...

...but show me the term "no-kill shelter"


"But my experiments were brought to a halt when I lost my supply of cats. I only had six weeks to complete my project before I resumed my clinical rotations. Desperate, obsessed with my work, I visited the various animal shelters in the Boston suburbs, collecting cats, taking them home, treating them as pets for a few days, then carting them off to the lab to die in the interests of science. And medicine. And health care. And treatment of disease. And my project.

It was, of course, a heinous and dishonest thing to do, and I was totally schizoid about the entire matter. By day, I was little Billy Frist, the boy who lived on Bowling Avenue in Nashville and had decided to become a doctor because of his gently father and dog named Scratchy. By night, I was Dr. William Harrison Frist, future cardiothoracic surgeon, who was not going to let a few sentiments about cute, fuzzy little creatures stand in the way of his career.

In short, I was going a little crazy" (pg 130)

Frist, William. Transplant New York: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989.



i think he was a dishonest prick, but let's be honest in our reporting.

[Bryn]

59. DITTO

I completely agree!

[Zero Division]

65. That's the story I've read.

I find it nearly impossible to believe that it ever would've been an issue if the story was simply that Frist dissected cats that died of natural causes.

[ET Awful]

4. He said he took them home, treated them as pets for a couple of days

then took them in and killed them. That's not necessary in any way.

It doesn't need to stop, it needs to be publicized that he went to shelters, LIED TO THE SHELTERS, then kept the cat at home as a pet for a few days before killing it.

It's disgusting and inhumane.

[Stand and Fight]

11. Interesting tid-bit...

I'm sure you are familiar with how serial killers tend to start off -- small animals. It's sick, sick, sick. A sure sign of worst behavior in a person. You're absolutely right that it is disgusting and inhumane, because it just begs one question -- are there any unsolved murders in Washington, D.C. or Tennessee?

[fob]

88. You're right, is there any way to get his record on how many people

patients died under his care?

Very interesting I'd bet.

And to the OP, NO this story has not gotten enough coverage and the standard for NORMAL med students is easily understood against this sick fucks actions.

[pie]

13. He gained the cats' trust before he killed them

That is how he doubled his pleasure.
There are no words strong enough
to describe a sick fuck like Frist.

[poverlay]

5. No it really doesn't...

Frist committed fraud and showed a distinct lack of respect for state laws as well as common sense and decency.

Cat cadavers(and other kinds) are easily come by if you need to practice surgical skills~ or do you suppose that medical schools have been turning out unprepared surgeons for years and years?

What Frist did was the act of a small man who is completely unworthy of being an American leader.

This story should be spread far and wide.

[FreedomAngel82]

10. A friend of mine

was going to be a vet but she told me that with vet school you have to raise an animal throughout the term and then at the end put the animal to sleep and she couldn't do that. So they provide the animal for that. What Frist did was disgusting.

[CAcyclist]

81. She's wrong or a liar

I am a veterinarian - I graduated from UC Davis and while not all schools are alike, I can tell you that no vet school does this. None.I get mailers from AVAR - American Veterinarians Animal Rights Assoc. and they would have broadcast objections over a program like this far and wide.

We did have to do surgery on animals that were euthanized before they woke up but we did not raise these animals throughout the term, thus getting attached to them - that's just cruel and sick to think that any school would ever put anyone through that.

We had enough people object to using these animals and opt out of live animal surgery as it is.

[tavalon]

70. Bingo

As you obviously know, the issue isn't that Catkiller dissected animals in school but that he went out on his own, lied to the shelters, took home these animals and dissected them. That's sociopathic. He wants to pass it off as being overly motivated. Sorry, doesn't wash.

[FourStarDemocrat]

80. I agree...it's also been said that some surgeons have a sadistic streak in

deep inside their unconscience minds. I don't have a link, but a Professor of mine who's a Psychologist researched this for his Ph d.; what drives people to choose particular professions, and this was one of the factors found for surgeons.

[Stand and Fight]

7. Maybe you should educate yourself on the subject.

It seems to me if you think this is an issue to be glossed over, then either you are uninformed, careless, psychotic, or a combination of all three. I sincerely hope that you are uninformed, friend.

[chomskysright]

64. FLATTEN FRIST

[Lars39]

9. He's a dishonest, wormy little sneak.

He did this on his own time, not in med school.
He deserves every bit of shyte thrown on him.
Always nice to have a "Dems will look foolish" theme around. :eyes:

[Stand and Fight]

14. My thoughts exactly.... n/t

[MAlibdem]

12. Here's the quote:

(I bought the book)

"But my experiments were brought to a halt when I lost my supply of cats. I only had six weeks to complete my project before I resumed my clinical rotations. Desperate, obsessed with my work, I visited the various animal shelters in the Boston suburbs, collecting cats, taking them home, treating them as pets for a few days, then carting them off to the lab to die in the interests of science. And medicine. And health care. And treatment of disease. And my project.

It was, of course, a heinous and dishonest thing to do, and I was totally schizoid about the entire matter. By day, I was little Billy Frist, the boy who lived on Bowling Avenue in Nashville and had decided to become a doctor because of his gently father and dog named Scratchy. By night, I was Dr. William Harrison Frist, future cardiothoracic surgeon, who was not going to let a few sentiments about cute, fuzzy little creatures stand in the way of his career.

In short, I was going a little crazy" (pg 130)

Frist, William. Transplant New York: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989.



Personally, I am not of the opinion that what he did was right. Additionally, I do not think that we ought to throw away quite usable and truthful tools to destroy what keeps us from power. Politics is dirty. If he's a big enough damn fool to write about killing cats he got from Animal Shelters, he can just hope he can take the political costs.

[Stand and Fight]

15. Especially since he wrote about his actions in such a heinous manner...

Have any of you ever read the confessions of serial killers and the like -- they tend to take the same tone when they talk about the crimes that they've committed. In fact, as I mentioned up-thread, they tend to start out killing small animals. I kid you not folks...

[MAlibdem]

16. no, i agree

why mention it in your book at all. It's like a dirty secret he was just bursting to brag about. He seems a little off in the quote. Bizzarre.

[Stand and Fight]

17. Yep...

Another trait that serial killers have -- the real notorious ones end up getting caught because they have to "tell" about what they've done. They have to let people know what they have done. I'm not saying Frist is a serial killer. I'm just saying the similarities are startling -- to say the least...

[tavalon]

71. Most (possibly all) serial killers are sociopaths, like Ted Bundy

This behavior on Frist's part is sociopathic, like Ted Bundy.

In another thread, I called it Ted Bundy Goes to Washington, starring Bill Frist.

[Stand and Fight]

85. Precisely.

Frist is not a bad looking man...
Bundy was not a bad looking man.
Frist is a Republican...
Bundy was a Republican.

[tblue37]

90. Like the BTK killer here in Kansas.

He would not have been caught, except he just had to send some more taunting letters to the police after 25 years, and the computer he used was located and linked to him. (It was a church computer, BTW, and he was a leader in his church--and a Republican, too, of course.)

[Clark2008]

22. Correct. No one would have been the wiser had he not

told about it in his book.

[Stand and Fight]

86. Yeah, gives me the willies...

I have two cats, three dogs, three ferrets, seven hamsters, two parakeets, fish... I'm not big on the animal killers. Not one bit.

[Crunchy Frog]

19. I agree, I thought he sounded a little like Jack the Ripper

in that excerpt. The guy really creeps me out, frankly.

[rocktivity]

53. It's absolutely terrifying how many serial killers

can recite in exquiste detail what they did to their victims, even if the murder was years ago. But that's a whole other thread!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Stand and Fight]

87. Billy Frist....

Sounds like the name of one of them. Yuck... :puke:

[bklyncowgirl]

43. What kind of experiments was Frist doing?

They clearly involved the death and autopsy of the animal. It's also pretty clear that he needed live cats since it's not hard to get dead ones to dissect.

Was he practicing surgical techniques on living (anesthetized, I hope) animals or was he doing something else.

The issue of lying to humane societies to get "subjects" for his experiments is the primary issue. But I'm also interested in knowing what he was doing with those cats.

[Hippo_Tron]

61. His daddy certainly could've fixed the problem

If he was unable to finish his project, then he simply could've asked his father to pay his way out of it.

[chomskysright]

69. Daddy owned Hospital Corporation of America/ Columbia....

[Crunchy Frog]

18. I have to disagree with you on this.

I'm saying this as someone who is planning on going into nursing, and has participated in cat dissections in anatomy and physiology classes.

What Frist did was completely different than that. Cats for dissection are normally ordered from biological supply companies and are already dead and prepared by the time you get them. Participating in that kind of dissection is totally different than going to an animal shelter, telling them that you want to adopt a cat as a pet, taking it home and treating it as a pet for a few days, and then vivisecting it. What Frist did involved fraud, lying, and the deliberate killing of pets.

I will continue to refer to Frist as "Cat Killer", and hope that the issue will stay in the media.

I have to say that I kind of resent the insinuation that what I did in anatomy and physiology class was comparable to what Bill Frist did. Maybe your sister's okay with your making the comparison, but I'm not.

[napi21]

23. OK OK, I give up! I didn't read his book, nor read the quote before

I just saw it on this thread. All I heard was a lot of people saying he was a cat killer because he used cats in is training.

All of you are absolutely right about his behavior being different than normal medical training.

I have to say I find it extremely weird that he actually wrote this in his own book! That sounds like something one of his haters would write. What kind of a man would ever admit being Dr Jeckle and Mr Hyde?

[MADem]

28. A sociopath, who thinks the rules don't apply to him

I think he has a really bad SUPERIORITY complex, myself....entirely undeserved, too!

[proud2BlibKansan]

41. He also diagnosed Terri Schiavo

by looking at a videotape!! Go ahead and let the cat thing go if you want, but would you go to a doctor who didn't actually examine you but watched you on videotape and then made a diagnosis??

[safi0]

44. Wehn he was on

Stephanopoulous(or however the hell you speell his name) he asked Frist if he thought AIDS could be transmitted through sweat and he said he didn't know and tried to change the subject and Steph. started grilling him about his lack of knowledge and made him look real stupid.

[proud2BlibKansan]

45. I'm sure it wasn't hard to make him look stupid

And if he is such a poor doctor, what does that say about his ability to be a Senator?

[tavalon]

74. Actually, nothing

They aren't in any way connected. A better question would be, if he's a sociopath, what is he doing weilding the philosophical equivalent of life and death over huge numbers of people.

[tavalon]

73. Careful, that's a slippery slope

In hugely underserved areas, that is starting to be part of the mode of diagnosis. It will continue to be used. I'm not saying he did anything good there, but this tack can be shot down. That he murdered lots of cats after lying to humane societies to do it can't be shot down. That it has been ignored by his colleagues is testament to how much control the bad guys have in Washington.

[benddem]

20. there's a HUGE difference

between using Lab animals for research and going to the humane society and pretending to adopt them BESIDES med students have human cadavers. The guy is a sadist.

[MADem]

21. Bull ....... Shit.

The only ones looking foolish are those trying to quash this story.
Americans are animal lovers, and that guy is SICK.

He could have gone to a shelter and asked for the bodies of the cats they put down. He was there before the NO KILL SHELTER movement, and plenty of animals were being put down back then. He used deceitful means to obtain those animals. Imagine how the workers who handed over those cats must feel, delivering little pussy to her death, when their motivation was a safe, loving home?

This story does not need to "die," it needs to be trumpeted from the rooftops. At EVERY opportunity. Now and forever, AMEN.

Every time that fucker makes an appearance in anticipation of his 08 run, hot looking girls in catsuits should hold up signs dipicting cute kittens and saying FRIST IS A CAT KILLER, and everytime he speaks, activists in the audience should MEOW, loudly, at the evil little prick.

[MAlibdem]

25. i agree...

im in new hampshire, so i was already thinking about the best way to depict it. i was thinking stuffed kittens in nooses, but i like hot girls in cat suits as well...meeeooowwww

[MADem]

27. Hey, spookyneat thing!!!

I just clicked your profile, because your name is close to mine, and that was your '1918' th POST, you, with your Red Sox logo!

Too cooooool!

[tavalon]

75. The sentiment in your first paragraph I wholeheartedly agree with

however, both you and the previous poster are wrong about a couple of things. There are electives in almost any medical school where med students (usually those who hope to be surgeons) do surgery on live, anesthetized animals. Frist was clearly taking one of those classes. However, what he did to get more surgery practice was sociopathically heinous.

[MasonJar]

24. Frist went to animal centers and adopted the cats; he then killed

them. He is slime. Shelters do NOT give cats up for adoption to anyone who is going to harm them. He lied to get them. Period.

[saltpoint]

26. "It needs to stop!' No, it doesn't. It needs to be used --

-- whenever THE CAT BUTCHER is discussed.

I am VERY comfortable with calling Frist THE CAT BUTCHER and will do it until my last breath on this earth.

The quote in question suggested a flippant tone. The guy goes to the animal SHELTER to bring cats back to cut them to pieces. You want me to respect that? No chance.

Meanwhile, let's not forget to zero in on what THE CAT BUTCHER is doing next weekend with his buttlicking and pandering to the Family Reserach Council. It's not just cats he carves. The Constitution is fair game for Frist.

He ordered it, he eats it.

[safi0]

30. When Frist becomes the candidate

in 08(because you know he will) we should do a remake of Ice-T's Cop Killer called Cat Killer

[saltpoint]

32. LOL! O yes.

And sad to say, I think you are right about his chances at the GOP nomination.

I doubt if he'll get the PETA endorsement, however.

[safi0]

35. I'm glad to say Frist

will probably get the nomination. We're talking about the same Bill Frist who makes Al Gore look like a combination of JFK and FDR. Compared to John McCain or Chuck Hagel I'll gladly take a Frist nomination.

[saltpoint]

38. True. He's weaker than the other two.

But I no longer feel good about the "red" voters -- the people who stood in a huge line in the driving rain to vote for a numbskull like Dubya.

Truth is, I'm scared. I don't want Frist in the White House. He gives me an acute case of the Creeps.

:hide:

[tavalon]

77. He'll only get the nomination

if Rove, et al, is really stupid and really arrogant. Sadly, Rove is only one of those and I don't think arrogance will override his evil intelligence.

If Frist does get the nomination, I think we call all consider that manna from heaven. Frist has too many achilles heels.

[AntiCoup2K4]

29. Junior used to stick firecrackers up frogs asses and blow them up.

If we still had a real fucking press in this country, that story would have been well circulated everywhere, and that brain damaged sadistic drunken cokehead warmonger bastard wouldn't have gotten near the White House with or without Diebold's assistance.

So Frist's cruelty damn well will be used against him. Not just the cats though. Let's dig up dirt on that corrupt hospital chain of his.

[Liberty Belle]

58. What's the source on the Bush-frog story?

I've seen it posted here a few times but have never seen a link.

[hedgehog]

31. Here's a question - if you needed surgery , and everyone told

you this guy was the best surgeon around, but you found out he lied to obtain cats to experiment on them, would you still go to that surgeon?

My son had the best answer, he said hell no! If he really needed the best surgeon around, he'd go to another city and seek the best surgeon there. Any person who would lie to get hold of a cat couldn't be trusted to be an ethical doctor.

[tavalon]

78. Your son and I agree

I have no interest in having a sociopath operate on me, no matter how good he might be at it.

[w4rma]

34. Screw that. Frist is a maniac. (nt)

[leesa]

36. Obviously, you don't understand the issue. He ADOPTED them

pretending he wanted them for pets and THEN dissected them. If you think THAT is appropriate, you are sadly mistaken.
Also, there is zero reason for your RN cousin to have to dissect real animals or people...I had to do it too. It was pointless since we were not going to be doctors. I had to watch those bastards kill a dog in pathophys so we could see it's heart die...how pointless. We could have learned it by video.

[ArnoldLayne]

37. I love my cats and I think it should be brought up so people

will know what an evil,lying prick he really is. I am sure their are many other cat lovers both Democrats and Republicans that find his actions on pretending he was adopting cats for pets and then experimenting on them dispicable. :mad: :grr:

[traco]

39. I worked at a local college for a while

They used pigs for their biology dissection class.

[tavalon]

79. It wasn't a biology class Frist was referring to

it had to be a surgery elective, wherein they do various kinds of surgery on live, anesthetized animals. Doesn't matter though because when Frist went out on his own to shelters, lied to get animals, treated them like pets for a few days and then did surgery on them outside of his class he went miles out of bounds. He likely doesn't know that as sociopaths don't internalize the normal lessons about decency that the rest of us do. Some of them can get really good at memorizing the right thing to do, but make no mistake, it's like playing the piano to them - they are just miming the emotional reactions that the rest of us have normally.

[Erika]

40. Frist admitted he lied to humane shelters

so he could experiment on cats. What's your problem?

[Gemini Cat]

42. I have and will continue to tell anyone and

everyone about Frist. About the killing of cats and his deceptions at the animal shelter(s) to obtain the animals.
It's more than just deceptions, it's sick, cruel, inhuman and criminal. He's a sick twisted fuck. Just like the other sick twisted fucks in bush's admin.

What kind of twisted fuck gets cats or any animal and keeps them for a 'pet' just to kill them later on? Damn!

[rocktivity]

46. I'm sure there are proper ways to obtain animals for scientific purposes

I don't think that going from shelter to shelter pretending that want them for pets is one of them.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Gyre]

47. I totally agree.

This story SHOULD have no legs. However, the media is having a great time letting the dems look like the idiots they are by running it. WTF are they thinking?

Gyre

[tsuki]

51. Aren't you supposed to get these animals from sources that have

checked them out and properly prepared them? The source must be licensed.

We had a biology teacher that brought in a road-kill for dissection and was sacked.

I forget the exact reason. Something about naturally occurring virus and bacteria that the animal may have had that the licensed animals had destroyed.

[bmbmd]

52. Well-I went to medical school.

As a freshman and sophomore, we had "dog lab". Dogs were obtained from the city pound, were anesthetized, and were used as subjects for experiments in physiology. After the lab was completed, the dogs were euthanized. Later, dogs, cats, and pigs were used by some of the surgery residents to practice procedures. Same protocol. These animals were to be put down anyway-at least some measure of usefulness came from their destruction. My very first patient was a dalmation.

[yardwork]

54. I understand that, but Frist's story is different

In his book, Frist notes that he went off on his own, adopted animals from shelters, treated them as pets, and then killed and/or "experimented" with them by himself.

What Frist did is sick. Sick sick sick.

[cestpaspossible]

55. Did you ever lie to the pound, say you were adopting, and dissect

instead? If the answer is no, that your experience has nothing whatsoever to do with what Frist did.

[Princess Turandot]

57. But if you were doing a sanctioned professor supervised project...

which you would be as a med student, why would one suddenly take your subjects away from you? He makes himself sound like Dr. Mengele down in the basement toiling away under the light of a single hanging light. I know that ethical protocols concerning research animals have evolved a lot in recent years, but even back then, I would think the med school would not want a student experimenting on animals they knew nothing about. It almost sounds to me like this guy was failing in his anatomy course if he had to surreptitiously obtain animals.


"But my experiments were brought to a halt when I lost my supply of cats. I only had six weeks to complete my project before I resumed my clinical rotations. Desperate, obsessed with my work, I visited the various animal shelters in the Boston suburbs, collecting cats, taking them home, treating them as pets for a few days, then carting them off to the lab to die in the interests of science. And medicine. And health care. And treatment of disease. And my project."

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

56. As despicable as Frist is, this cat story DOES NOT need to die.

He obtained them through DECEPTION.

He gained their TRUST and then "EXPERIMENTED" on them.

He's a FUCKING MONSTER.

I respect your opinion, and in your world, you are entitled to it.

In my world, this cat story DOES NOT need to die as long as Frist chooses life in the public eye.

[Hippo_Tron]

60. He went to the animal shelter to get cats

If he were doing research or practicing, whatever university he was affiliated with would've provided him with the proper specimens and equipment to do so.

[chomskysright]

62. FLATTEN FRIST: NO 1 in a continuing series....

Frist DISENGENOUS MANIPULATOR

: flatters the Religious right with his attentions to matters outside his expertise:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041705D.shtml

In a private letter to Frist, NEWSWEEK has learned, 31 of the 165 members of his medical-school class accused him of using his medical degree improperly. Frist's office declined to comment; according to public records, at least 13 of the 31 had donated money to Democrats in the last five years. Still, Dr. Lewis Rose, an oncologist who said he voted for Bush last year, insisted Frist had overstepped. "He had no right to use the cloak of the Hippocratic oath, no matter who was right," Rose told NEWSWEEK. "He's got medical training and a medical perspective, but he is not a practicing physician and has no business using that in politics. Period. If he does, he won't get any of his classmates' votes who signed this."


Frist: THE DIVIDER:

Frist Likely to Push for Ban on Filibusters
Failure Risks Conservatives' Ire; Success May Prompt Legislative Stalemate
By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 15, 2005; Page A04


Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is all but certain to press for a rule change that would ban filibusters of judicial nominations in the next few weeks, despite misgivings by some of his fellow Republicans and a possible Democratic backlash that could paralyze the chamber, close associates said yesterday.
The strategy carries significant risks for the Tennessee Republican, who is weighing a 2008 presidential bid. It could embroil the Senate in a bitter stalemate that would complicate passage of President Bush's agenda and raise questions about Frist's leadership capabilities.....
Santorum and Allen, meanwhile, are pressing Frist to act. "We've got to go for it, call their bluff," Allen said in an interview. In talking with Frist, he said, "I've been prodding, goading, encouraging such action. I think we need to move sooner rather than later."

[chomskysright]

67. Frist family owns Hospital Corp of America: NO, this has nothing to do w/.

...that tort reform stuff (you betcha):

On the Frist family: dad, Thomas F. Frist, Jr., founded HCA (hospital corporation); HCA paid appox $1.7 billion in fines, per Janet Reno, then AG, as re: Medicare fraud.

Now Senator Frist has been charged with ethical violations



Item 1:

The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR), a non- profit, non-partisan consumer education and advocacy organization, urges an immediate Ethics Committee investigation into Senate Majority Leader 's personal and financial ties to the HCA hospital chain and to its subsidiary malpractice insurer Health Care Indemnity (HCI), with specific focus on the conflict of interest inherent in Frist's advocacy for recent legislation to limit hospital and malpractice insurer liability. We believe this conflict should disqualify Senator Frist from involvement in any legislation concerning liability limits benefiting hospitals and malpractice insurers, and can no longer be overlooked.Majority Leader Frist's Senate financial disclosures reveal that he, and his wife and children, hold millions of dollars in HCA stock. Documents filed with the Senate Office of Public Records at the end of the year 2000 indicate that HCA stock worth at least $10,150,000, and up to $30,350,000 or more, was transferred into Frist family blind trusts in December, 2000. The trust agreements note that "the assets initially contributed by him (Frist) to this Trust are concentrated in the stock of HCA, the Healthcare Company," and reveal that trustees were specifically relieved "from any obligation the Trustee might otherwise have to diversify the investments." At least $1,125,000, and as much as $2,320,000, in HCA stock has been contributed to the trusts since December, 2000, while just under $625,000 has been sold.

***********Despite the "blind" moniker for these trusts, these disclosures reveal to the public, and importantly to Frist himself, that the family's fortune rests upon the welfare of HCA. The "blind" trusts prohibit Frist from managing his investments, but they do not stop him from knowing what they consist of.*********

HCA hospitals and doctors, as well as its malpractice insurer, HCI, will benefit from any cap on damages in medical malpractice cases. The insurer's risk would plummet while profits soared if a cap to limit the company's losses were imposed nationwide. However, these gains pale in comparison to those which hospitals and insurers would accrue under legislation

***********Senator Frist has recently advocated. S. 2061 and S. 2207 would lead to direct financial gain for hospitals and their insurers. If Senator Frist were to lobby for a direct appropriation for HCA it would not provide a greater benefit for the company, because a liability limit will pay off indefinitely.**************

Full Text (1406 words)

[chomskysright]

68. the Frist vote would make wonderful billboards:....

http://forum.truthout.org/blog/story/2005/3/18/11719/9579

drop Veteran's health care
Republicans Allen, Burns, DeWine, Ensign, *******Frist, Hatch, Hutchison, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Santorum, Snowe, Talent and Thomas voted against $2.8 billion for veterans health care and $2.8 billion for deficit reduction. That’s a commercial.

voted against funding Medicaid
Republicans Allen, Burns, Ensign, ********Frist, Hatch, Hutchison, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Santorum, Talent and Thomas Voted against restoring $14 billion to Medicaid and establishing a bipartisan Medicaid commission. That’s a commercial.

voted against Homeland security
Republicans Ensign, ***********Frist, Hatch, Kyl, Lott, Santorum and Thomas voted against $855 million for Homeland Security grants for first responder programs, port security grants and border patrol agents. That’s a commercial.

voted against restoring Community Development Block Grant Programs
Republicans Allen, Burns, Ensign, *********Frist, Hatch, Hutchison, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Santorum, Snowe, Talent and Thomas (funny how the same names keep coming up) voted against restoring $1.9 billion in cuts to the Community Development Block Grant Program. That’s a commercial.

voted against Vocationa Education Act (which helps people get jobs who are disabled or have been unemployed)
Republicans Allen, Burns, DeWine, Ensign, **********Frist, Hatch, Hutchison, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Santorum, Snowe, Talent and Thomas voted against $7.46 billion for the Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act and deficit reduction. Commercial.

voted against education and deficit reduction
Republicans Allen, Burns, Ensign, **********Frist, Hatch, Hutchison, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Santorum, Snowe, Talent and Thomas voted against $4.75 billion for education and $4.75 billion for deficit reduction. Commercial.

voted against increasing Pell Grant (allowing people to move through college)
Republicans Allen, Burns, Ensign, ***********Frist, Hatch, Hutchison, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Santorum, Talent and Thomas voted against restoring $5.4 billion to education program cuts and increasing the maximum Pell Grant award to $4,500. Commercial.

voted against agricultural programs
Republicans put the bricks to farmers: Allen, Burns, Chafee, DeWine, Ensign, **********Frist, Hatch, Hutchison, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Santorum, Snowe, Talent and Thomas voted against restoring $2.8 billion to agriculture programs. Midwest commercial.

voted against family planning
Republicans Allen, Burns, DeWine, Ensign, **********Frist, Hatch, Hutchison, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Santorum, Talent and Thomas voted against a resolution supporting $1 billion for family planning programs, such as teen pregnancy prevention. Moral values hypocrisy commercial.

wants to allow prepackaged news to come your way
Republicans Allen, Burns, Chafee, DeWine, Ensign, ***********Frist, Hatch, Hutchison, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Santorum, Snowe, Talent and Thomas voted against refusing to establish any appropriations bill that allows funds to be provided for "prepackaged news stories" that do not have a disclaimer stating "Paid for by the United States Government" running throughout the presentation. Commercial.

voted against special education programs
Republicans Allen, Burns, DeWine, Ensign, ************Frist, Hatch, Hutchison, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Santorum, Snowe, Talent and Thomas voted against a reserve fund that would provide $71.3 billion for special education programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Commercial.

[livinginphotographs]

91. I'll have to use that list for Allen in '06.

n/t

[New Dealer]

66. This cat story does NOT need to die

I don't care if what he did was justified or not; this can be used to "swift boat" him. We have to play dirty if we want to win.

[cajones_II]

72. TRUTH IS TRUTH

how does THAT die?
talk about your harebrained notions

[Raenelle]

76. Doctors should practice on cadavers. If you don't "get" animals,

fine, don't get any pets. But please don't expect those of us who dearly love our feline pets to rid ourselves of our horror over this.

What he did to cats is not the end-all and be-all of what's wrong with this man. But like George Bush's gloating over Karla Faye Tucker, it tells me something about him. And he has done nothing since then to change my original opinion of him that he is just downright creepy. It's not the cat story in and of itself--it just fits in with everything else, and it's almost a shorthand code to call into consciousness a whole constellation of things about the guy that creep us out.

[Radical Activist]

82. Can't we come up with something current to criticize him for?

Like maybe his job as majority leader? The cat story is a crutch. Its easier than talking about complex issues.

[EFerrari]

83. I think you need to read what your local laws are

on adopting rescued animals and then killing them. Over and over. Call your local shelter and ask them what they think and also, how much time you would do if you did it.

[Trajan]

84. laughs ....

You enjoy mob control ? ..

Ever try to quiet a room-full of kindergartners ? ...

Do you enjoy failure ? ..

Then by all means: try to control member behaviors ....

[caffefwee]

89. Frist's Jihad

Apr 15th, 2005

But Frist has made a political calculation. He and his party has mandated that any dissent from Pres. Bush's wishes -- even in a single vote -- is not to be tolerated, and if dressing Bush in the mantle of infallible God will gain him a few more legislative trinkets, that's exactly what he'll do.

That's not just politically craven, that's deeply offensive to every non-radical-nutcase-Christian in this country.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/4/15/20105/9052