BY KAREN WEBB
An Open Letter to U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK:
I was just watching your rather lengthy explanation of why you are holding appropriations for food inspections. You kept mentioning that you are a doctor and how you are concerned about the health of not just Oklahomans, but everyone.
I am really glad you are not my doctor because it sounds like you would just close that ER down and send all the patients home to die while you spend several months or a year auditing the books and having hearings. During this time no improvements will be made and no patients will be seen.
On top of that you say that heads should roll and Washington bureaucrats will be punished for their “incompetence.” No one has asked the FDA why it took them 10 years to come up with an egg safety suggestion. I believe most of that 10 years your guys were in control.
You guys had Brownie, a guy with expertise in horse racing as head of FEMA when Katrina hit. My guess is he must have kicked in some campaign funds or something. Knowing how G W Bush chose heads of departments he probably chose someone with expertise in golf tournaments to head the FDA.
You say there should be regulations, with Congress meeting with the leadership several times a year and heads should roll for incompetence in the FDA, USDA and other departments. Strange that you do not feel a need for regulation or oversight regarding the guys on Wall Street and in the banking industry after the near depression of 2008 or the recession we are in now caused by their incompetence and greed.
Your only suggestion is to continue giving them tax cuts they don’t need so they will create jobs. What kind of punishment should they get if they create jobs overseas? You guys just let that whole Savings & Loan thing pass without regulation or oversight and then you just let that Enron thing pass and now you will let this pass.
Oh, and by the way, you are not my doctor so having your Senate staff answer the phone with Dr. Coburn’s office is really annoying. No one elected you doctor of anything. Let go of the money.
– Karen Webb lives in Moore, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer
