The Pundit Folds
My main concerns are OSF’s abandonment of Haitian Hearts children that need heart surgery and the EMS monopoly in Peoria that allows AMT to be the only transport and Paramedic agency in the city. I have tried to approach both of these issues in an objective fashion on the Peoria Pundit web log.
After I have submitted posts to the Pundit, many of the comments from a handful of individuals have been very abusive and angry. Apparently, these two topics make these people become quite emotional. Their comments have been personal and have attempted to divert attention from my message. Also, a number of commenters and bloggers have written to Bill Dennis that I had “hijacked his blog”.
Bill never deleted any spiteful comments directed at me and neither did I.
I had a funny feeling this morning and commented on www.dyinginhaiti.blogpot.com and www.pmmdaily.blogspot.com that I wondered what was going to happen regarding my ability to continue posting on the Pundit site.
Bill recently had a post called “Where the Money Goesâ€. It referred to a site which states how much money OSF brings in. For example, the site states that in 2005, according to OSF’s 990 federal tax form, OSF made a profit of $74,410,905. The site also states Jim Moore, Vice Chairperson of OSF, had a total compensation of $1,125,442 in 2005.
At the end of his post Bill jokingly stated that he still had his job.
There were many comments to that post and as usual many comments attacked me as well. I have been critical of the lucrative health care industry in Peoria at OSF that still finds a way to refuse care to Haitian Hearts patients that were operated at OSF and are sick in Haiti—even after I have offered OSF full and partial charges for the care of these kids.
Eyebrows McGee, a lawyer in Peoria, is married to an attorney who works for Hinshaw & Culbertson, the firm that represents OSF. (Interestingly, Eyebrows has stated on the Peoria Pundit that she has no connection to OSF’s law team.)
Today Eyebrows came out swinging again, attacking me in a comment regarding Haitian Hearts. However I consider many of her posts on her web log vulgar and obscene and I feel that as a Catholic she should represent her faith in a more complementary fashion. Today, I copied one of her posts (“Happy Easter”, April 15, 2006) which I feel is extremely noxious and blasphemous and told her that I will send it to Bishop Jenky for his review.
True to form, Eyebrows McGee responded to me that she knew Bishop Jenky when he was at Notre Dame as a priest and he was well aware of her writing style, or something to that extent. She seemed happy that I had alerted the the Bishop of her “Happy Easter†article and seemed quite proud of it. (I did tell her that I did not believe that Bishop Jenky would slap her wrists too hard because she is quite well connected.)
The next thing I know, I received this e mail from Bill this afternoon:
Dr. Carroll:
“I encourage full-throated debate on Peoria Pundit. Generally, I let posters and commenters fight it out among themselves.
I had to step in when you posted a comment that included the complete post Eyebrows McGee made on April 15, 2006.
By all means, link to other’s posts.
But repeating entire posts is a copyright violation.
Feel free to replicate a paragraph or two from her posts or anyone else’s posts. That’s allowable under “fair use” doctrine.”
So I checked the Peoria Pundit site, and Bill had deleted his entire post “Where the Money Goes†with all twenty-some comments. (I guess having a password will allow you to see the post.)
Why did Bill do this? Is he really worried about a “copyright violation”? He could have just deleted my comment, which contained Eyebrows McGee ’s x-rated “Happy Easter†post, and kept the rest of his post including OSF’s earnings and Jim Moore’s massive salary and all the nasty comments directed at me.
Bill deleted one of his best posts ever.
Why did Bill do this?
John A. Carroll, M.D.
www.peoriasmedicalmafia.com
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Sorry to keep you waiting, Dr. Carroll. I was taking care of my patients and spending time with my family. I feel that’s more important than endlessly ranting on a blog. Forgive me for the delay, your holiness.
I have given my reply to Ms. Johnson. I appreciate her civility even though I disagree with her viewpoint, and I wish you would take some lessons from her, Dr. Carroll.
Now, on to what I really want to say to you.
You are malicious and vindictive, Dr. Carroll. I think I speak for many members of the local blogosphere when I say … HOW DARE YOU??? How dare you accuse E.M. of blasphemy and report her to the Bishop of Peoria? I made a bit of joke about it with my Spanish Inquisition comment, but that’s simply to point out that your contentions are ABSOLUTELY LUDICROUS. E.M. is a devoted Catholic who has spent much of her adult life exploring her faith.
Who do you think you are, sir? Did you appoint yourself the arbiter of all that is good and holy??? Your EGO is now so vast that it can’t be contained by this mortal coil and so reaches to the heavens themselves.
I’ll end with this …
Luke 23:33-34
“And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
Christ was CRUCIFIED, and he FORGAVE those who did it to him! OSF fired you. Why can’t you act more like Christ and show a little forgiveness yourself, Dr. Carroll?
Bill,
Dr. Knight has slipped a cog. He has obviously gone past his angry and abusive comments. And he isn’t just “mad” as you said he was yesterday.
What are you going to do with Dr. Knight?
John
Pass the popcorn, Mouse…
And then to me next, Tony. This is better than spending my day watching soap operas!
“Like Sands Through the Hourglass…”
Jeanette:
“All I’m wondering, Eyebrows, is could you rethink the hat issue, and consider sending it to Maxime?”
Yes. E-mail me with the address to send it to, and about how big a head we’re talking, and I’ll knit as fast as my little fingers can go. Which isn’t all that fast because I’m not all that good a knitter, but fortunately hats are small.
Comment deleted.
Ooops! I gotta go pop some more popcorn…
Dear Jeanette:
I am sorry to hear about Maxime’s situation in Cleveland. I know Cleveland Clinic is doing all they can for him.
I do remember Becky. Here in Haiti, Maxime carried her name on a crumpled up piece of paper with all of his medical records from OSF.
I understand why Becky could not believe that Maxime was not accepted at OSF. As you know, the doctors and nurses and housekeeping people at OSF (that use to do the kids’ hair in Peds-CVICU), would have liked to see Maxime return to Peoria, but the decision was out of their hands.
You have to feel quite lonely now in Cleveland with a very sick young man who deserved much more.
John
Scott: I deleted your comment. You are welcome to try again, and this time leave out the name calling. Thanks for the input.
*munch, munch, munch*
Enjoying this, Mouse?
Deleted again.
Scott: The point is that I’m working with Dr. Carroll and other posters on how to communicate with each other on this blog in a way that doesn’t revolve around name calling and accusations.
In fact, things have been fairly calm for the past 24 hours, and you’re not helping.
And I’m pretty sure your comment would have been deleted for language regardless.
Thanks for the input!
yeah I understand that name calling is not necessarily the best way to communicate or get a point across, but sometimes people deserve it. And to me, that is half the fun of this blogging stuff. And as far as the language goes, lets not be hypoctical here. Lets not act like I am the first poster to use a foul word. If people don’t like it, don’t read it. Its as simple as that. I feel that I should have the right to express my opinion. I thought that was the whole point of a blog. If you censor people, you are no better than the government who you repeatedly lambast for their censorship and the fleecing of our rights as a free American. I feel that I have the right to call ol’ Doc John whatever I want, after reading his propaganda.
This is a bit off-topic, but a while back I made a comment about the “impermanence” of the web versus the permanent record of the newspaper. This is a good example of what I was talking about. I doubt you will find Scott’s comment even in Google cache land.
I’m not arguing that Scott’s comment should have been permanent — I think Billy made the right decision by deleting it. That’s not my point. I’m simply saying that there’s a big difference between newspapers and blogs, and this is one of them.
A timely read:
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20070101faessay86103/laurie-garrett/the-challenge-of-global-health.html
I am enjoying this just like I enjoy NASCAR. It’s all about the wrecks.
To watch someone claim persecution while standing hip deep in a mud pit while flinging fecal matter is very much like a car wreck. Then that person screams “Look what they did to ME!” when there is in-kind retaliation.
Quite frankly, if it weren’t for the children, this would be MTV-type juvenile comedy material. I mean, the basis for this one person posting is a private employment matter that happened six years ago. This is sit-com gold.
There are children involved, though. That makes this a tragedy. The person who claims to be their biggest champion is more interested in personal attacks rather than doing what is best for them. As a foster parent, I know that sometimes doing what best for a child involves shouting from the rooftops. Other times it involves keeping your mouth shut. The difference between advocate and crank is knowing when to shut your mouth.
The market on charity is not cornered by any one group. The market on need is not cornered by any particular nation or ethnic subgroup. The market on being crewed by a former (or current) employer is by no mean limited to an unlucky few. It seems all but one participant in this discussion realizes this.
It isn’t a comedy, after all. It is a tragedy. I have never seen a person come so completely unglued as I have witnessed in the past 30 days or so. It is all so sad. I wish I had the cure – either to wake the person up or to make them stop. I don’t have the cure.
Quite frankly, I think that soon, very soon, the only choice will be to absolutely ignore the person entirely. That person will, most likely, still not get the message, but perhaps they will at least leave us alone, in peace.
Should read…
“The market on being screwed by a former (or current) employer is by no mean limited to an unlucky few.”
C.J.: In a newspaper … Scott’s comment wouldn’t have seen the light of day.
And that’s a bad thing?
I’ve slipped a cog? I’m not the one acting like a Church inquisitor here, Dr. Carroll. I’m not the one making accusations of blasphemy. You’re not the victim here, John … despite your delusions of universal persecution by “well connected commenters.”
You ran and told the teacher that Laura said a bad word. Grow up.
Listen people, this is not a newspaper. This is not a formal news source that people pay for every day. No one on here gets a salary for their contributions. If you don’t like my opinion, who cares because it is just that, an opinion. Lets not pretend that this is the Chicago tribune, this is an internet blog, for regular everyday Joes, like me, to express their views on politics and life in general. I was not aware that we had to be politically correct and appease everyone, with every comment.
Is that not the basic concept of this blog? To share and debate differing opinions. This guy, Dr. John, represents everything that is wrong with our society, and you think that I need to be censored? Mouse just said everything I did, just in a much nicer fashion. Nobody deleted his comment. You can’t even have a decent argument these days, without someone getting offended. Oh boo hoo, I used a swear word. You people need to get out of your bubble and visit the real world, where most of the common folk use swear words and are not politically correct.
F*ckin-A Right!
Sorry, I just couldn’t keep it in…
BTW … great comment, Anon. Dr. Carroll’s below the belt attacks against E.M. have got me spittin’ mad, I’ll admit. A knight get upset when someone makes a lady cry. Your comment is a calm, articulate and yet withering critique. I tip my hat … err … helm.
What odds do you give that Dr. Carroll will actually comment on the SUBSTANCE of the criticisms against him instead of either “flinging fecal matter” (hehehe) or claiming persecution? I’ll say nil.
Okay, just wanted to say my piece on the most popular post of all time. “Can’t we all just get along”
Scott: “Is that not the basic concept of this blog? To share and debate differing opinions. This guy, Dr. John, represents everything that is wrong with our society, and you think that I need to be censored? ”
Dr. Carroll is abrassive and combative and occasionally insulting toard those who disagree with him. But I decline to describe a guy who cares for sick children in one of the world’s poorest nations as one of the things that’s wrong with our society.
Everyone, has something that they believe in soo much and won’t back down from. And to Dr. Carroll, its Haiti children. You have to respect his drive and passion.
Of course, I agree with others about taking things a step too far, but everybody makes mistakes.
[...] continues his one man pissing contest, this time slamming Billy and Eyebrows in the same post (Peoria Pundit) 10 – Silent Majority finally speaks: Wants School Board to build new Glen Oak School at Glen Oak [...]