That Could Never Happen Here.

When I was a kid, way back into another century, people used to act superior to our defeated enemies in other nations. "That could never happen here," they would say about the barbaric policies and medical experiments undertaken by totalitarian regimes. Of course at the same time the Tuskegee syphilis experiment was going on here at home and states were sterilizing the "unfit" in their care, but hey, what do I know. So don't you worry about death panels. They are from the government and they are here to help you. That could never happen here.

That Could Never Happen Here - We'll Do It There

In a previous post, That Could Never Happen Here, I discussed a certain aspect of American hubris regarding government medical programs. I mentioned the Tuskegee Experiment an example of what has happened here. Now evidence of the continuation of that "medical study" has emerged. Dr. John Cutler, with the U.S. Public Health Service, was involved in both experiments. The new evidence details a U.S. funded Guatemalan syphilis experiment conducted on prison inmates. So, if it can't happen here, but did, and it needs to go to another level that can't happen here, we export what can't happen here -- to Guatemala or wherever. Never say never. UPDATE: Now a federal judge has allowed a one billion dollar law suit related to the Guatemalan syphilis experiment to go forward.

1940 Blockade and Monty R Duel in Maryland Timber Racing

In 2007 The Chronicle of the Horse magazine published my article about Monty R and the 1940 Maryland timber racing season. In 2010 I gave the article to Ric Cottom to adapt for his WYPR Public Radio segment, Your Maryland. I missed the broadcast when it finally aired in 2014, but recently found it in the WYPR podcast archive. You can listen to it by clicking here. Or read the article with photos by clicking here.

Fake News - There's fiction, there's non fiction and there's what you read in the newspaper or on the web.

Or hear on the air.

Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst invented "yellow journalism."

H. L. Mencken was a practitioner of the fine art of creative reporting.

Two examples of  Mencken's work are at the links below for your listening pleasure:

https://www.wypr.org/post/menckens-synthesis-news

http://wypr.org/post/bathtub-hoax-0