The Biggest Rand Paul Outrage Yet

[malaise]

Last edited Thu Nov 7, 2013, 09:25 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/06/15/rand-paul-opthamology-certification-scandal-why-it-matters.html
<snip>
Scarcely a day passes that we don’t find out something new and objectionable about Dr. Rand Paul. The risk in the pile-on is that a real doozie will get missed, lost in the daily torrent. The recent news—his lack of standard certification as an ophthalmologist and its relationship to his self-anointing and self-created National Board of Ophthalmology—is just such a Big Deal. Its specifics, however, are so complicated and unrewarding to follow as to threaten to place it on the endangered scandal list.

Here’s how it works: To practice medicine legally requires a license issued by the state. Eligibility for licensure is granted after graduating medical school and after passing a series of difficult standardized exams prepared by the National Board of Medical Examiners. Once completed, licensure is forever (assuming a person behaves and isn’t a total disaster). Rand is a licensed physician.


But Rand lost me when he articulated the reason why he resisted. Being a conscientious objector or pissed off adult simply wasn’t good enough. No, he decided to cast it as a high-end moral stance against groups that discriminate—groups like the American Board of Ophthalmology. And what exactly was their discriminatory practice? Opposing civil rights maybe? Nope—much, much worse. The old geezers who made up the test requirements built a nice little loophole for themselves: They excluded themselves from having to recertify—instead they were “grandfathered” in. And in so doing they discriminated against poor Rand and me and thousands of other of victimized doctors. Thank goodness someone had the strength to make a stand against the nefarious two-tiered system. Ah the pure horseshit—true Kentucky thoroughbred stuff.

Trying to gin up a moral issue out of the selfish power play is reminiscent of Nixon’s view of the law as something to try to outsmart. It’s also disrespectful to the oddball but often courageous stances of his father and other giants of the right willing to fight on principle. With his creation of a ludicrous home-brew “certifying board,” he has shown his dedication not to a movement but to the single goal of making life a little bit more convenient for Rand Paul. And here Paul does appear to speak for his generation: He has given us the finest example yet of yuppie selfishness in senescence.
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I am Rand Paul - I don't need no stinking certification. I make up the rules. It isn't plagiarism if I say it isn't plagiarism. I am an entitled over-bearing prick.

[JEFF9K]

1. Anyone who says otherwise is itching for a duel!

[PrestonLocke]

7. Legislation to make dueling legal again is coming soon!

What a dofus!

[Scuba]

10. I love Michael Feldman's show.

[IggleDoer]

2. If he charged Medicare at the rate for Board Certified doctors ...

... he committed Medicare fraud.

[malaise]

3. Interesting

but remember laws don't apply to these lunatics

[myrna minx]

4. He's such a fraud. How he's faked his way through his whole life is astonishing. n/t

[kydo]

5. Gattaca Man Rand: I'm not really a doctor I just play one in Congress

[Jackpine Radical]

6. You got a footnote for that?

[Myrina]

8. They need to start putting the Dr. in quotation marks when associated with Mr. Rand Paul.

n/t

[JBoy]

13. Or he needs to be wearing this t-shirt

[kag]

9. What a poorly written column!

I can't tell where he's being sympathetic and where he's being cynical. Okay, I get the difference between licensure and certification, but is the author serious that he thinks the system is unfair? Or is he being sarcastic when he refers to the "old geezers" who built in a "nice little loophole for themselves," and then lumps himself in with RP as being "victimized" by the "nefarious two-tiered system?"

[Scuba]

12. Sarcasm. Not well done, but sarcasm.

[Scuba]

11. Not a recent revelation, but certainly deserves more exposure.

[alfredo]

14. Libertarianism is the domain of spoiled brats.

[LisaLynne]

15. This is the real thing, though, isn't it:

Its specifics, however, are so complicated and unrewarding to follow as to threaten to place it on the endangered scandal list.

Ultimately, I don't think the people who are into Rand Paul care about plagiarism. I don't think it's going to change any of their minds. That's all "ivory tower", stuck up professor crap -- you know, those damn teachers that marked them down a grade when they were caught doing it. However, the plagiarism stuff is just more fun to talk about and joke about (and I do personally think it's a very legitimate concern -- lack of character at least and all that). But yeah, this may be more serious but not as accessible as a scandal. It happens a lot.

Also, why did I bother to quote that in an article about Rand, lol.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

16. He cuts his own hair too.

[rickford66]

17. He should show us his diplomas and certifications.

Maybe his birth certificate and College Board scores also. Oh, and does his name match exactly on all these documents?