Bitch-Slapping Yocasta Brugal, The SJBullshitters And The LCME

Here's what I said about the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine losing its accreditation on October 3rd: that it was the result of negligence and incompetence; furthermore, that Yocasta Brugal and the School's administration was lying.

As I posted yesterday: I was fucking right. On all counts. And more.

I could be pedantic and insufferable and even more condescending than I have been with these idiots by defining the simple terms I used. So I will:

            negligence  Noun: (1) Failure to take proper care in doing something. (2) Failure to use reasonable care, resulting in damage or injury to another.

            incompetence  Noun: (1) not possessing the necessary ability, skill, etc. to do or carry out a task; incapable. (2) marked by lack of ability, skill, etc.

            lie  Noun:  (1) a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood. (2) something intended or serving to convey a false impression; imposture. (3) an inaccurate or false statement. 

On October12th, the SJBullshitters filed a lawsuit seeking injunctive relief from the loss of accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME; due for their own bitch-slap further ahead). As reported by Me in News Is My Business, Judge Gustavo Gelpi of the U.S. District Court in San Juan postponed the decision until October 31st,directing both parties (School and LCME) to invite amicus curiae (friends of the court) to provide briefs concerning the potential impact of granting or denying the injunctive relief on health care and medical education.

That decision, made public on the 20th, provided access to documents related to the case. Although some 20 documents were filed by the LCME in its plea for rejection of the injunctive relief, only two are needed to prove Me right on all counts. The first is listed as Case 3:11-cv-02014-GAG, Document 33, with filename15913217945.pdf, the 44-page LCME Response. I'll quote it as "LR" with the case page number included.

The second is Case3:11-cv-02014-GAG, Document 33-20, with filename 15913217965.pdf, a 12-page document titled "Exhibit Q." I'll quote it as "EQ" with case page number.

Here We go.

The LCME stated in its October 3rd letter to Yocasta Brugal MenDacious that the withdrawal of accreditation was due to "inadequate clinical resources." 

The School, in its public and very limited utterings about this devastating decision, said it was "shocked" at this result. Waffling and wasting time, their petition for injunctive relief, though, was based on the following three points (LR p.28):

            (1) That the LCME failed to provide SJB adequate notice and opportunity to be heard concerning the specific accreditation standards cited by the LCME in withdrawing accreditation;

            (2) That the SJB should have been afforded an opportunity to cure any deficiencies prior to withdrawal of its accreditation; and

            (3) That the LCME denied SJB its “fundamental right” to an unbiased decision maker by appointing a current LCME member to the independent appeals panel.

Point 1A: What accreditation standards, besides "inadequate clinical resources," were used to come to the accreditation withdrawal decision?

Quoting Me, concerning the Survey Report (Exhibit L in the case; not in hand...yet) and the SJBullshitter's refusal to make it public:

"The Report has not been released--and will not be for now--because the Report proves that the SJB was most likely negligent and possibly incompetent in dealing with the LCME's findings, thus leading to the sudden fulminating loss of accreditation."

In a nutshell, the Report found deficiencies in USMLE results (licensing exams), the SJB's income profile and yes, "inadequate medical resources," with far-reaching implications.

About the USMLE results, the LCME found that "Between the 2008 and 2010 academic years, the first-time pass rate of SJB students on Step Two of the United States Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE) dropped from 94% to 71%, whereas the national pass rate for that period was over 95%. The first-time pass rate of SJB’s students on Step One declined from 33% to 32% over the same period, as compared to the national average exceeding 90%." (LR, p.2)

Furthermore, "(T)he LCME cited the precipitous decline in percentage of students who passed Step Two of the USMLE, which tests for clinical knowledge and skills – from 94% in 2008 to just 71% in 2010, compared to the national average of 95% and above throughout the time period." (LR, p.20)

More data about these deficiencies are found in EQ page 9, with the LCME citing the "downward trend" as a sign of a "precipitous" drop in education quality. In brief, the SJB was not preparing its students to be anywhere near passing range on the very basic licensing exams all U.S.-accredited medical students must pass. The School knew this, for medical schools are judged on this very aspect (rightly or wrongly, it's part of the rules of the game) and follow-ups in 2008 and 2009 by the LCME made this a key concern. To pretend otherwise, as Yocasta Brugal MenDacious and the SJBullshitters have done, is ludicrous. Or stupid. Especially when the published LCME's Rules of Procedures, that the SJBullshitters knew about since at least 2007, (see below) state: 

[R]apid and precipitous deterioration in the quality of an educational program may be sufficient grounds for withdrawal of accreditation, whether or not a limited visit or probationary period had preceded the decision to withdraw accreditation. (Quoted in LR p.35 & EQ p.2).

The SJBullshitters lied.

The SJB's income profile was also a major concern for the LCME. As noted in EQ page 8, the average private medical school relies about 4% on tuition for its operational budgets. The SJB was deemed to have a reliance of 70%. From EQ page 9:

Comments: As noted, the number of enrolled students (and visiting students) put pressure on the already stressed clinical resources of the institution. The medical school is heavily dependent on tuition as a revenue source. Data provided by the institution (pages 18-21) showed very limited support from grants and contracts (less than $100,000), no revenue from a practice plan, and no revenue from gifts and endowments. Visiting students contributed significant revenue ($172,000 in 2010-2011, as stated in the survey report).

Those additional foreign students were also a finding against the SJB by the LCME, as admitting them exceeded a 10% increase in the number of 3rd-year students, a change the SJB was supposed to notify the LCME about and didn't. (LR p.3 & p.18). The SJBullshitters claimed that they may have "misinterpreted" the rule, saying that the 10%+ increase didn't happen in one semester, but over an academic year. 

But. The whole core of the LCME's case against the SJB was its very limited clinical resources. As We shall see, the SJB knew it was on a razor's edge with these critical educational resources. How bad was it? One example suffices, from LR page 2:

The lack of such resources was dramatic. Thus, for example, a student at SJB can be expected to have on average no more than 6 surgical experiences during a 12-week surgical rotation – as opposed to an average of 15-75 experiences during such rotations at other LCME-accredited schools.

SJB students were getting 60-1,200% less experience than the average medical student elsewhere, and yet the SJB went ahead and placed an even greater load upon their very limited clinical resources, to the extent of denying their own students access to clerkships and experience in order to take in monies from outsiders. In the words of the LCME (LR p.19):

Specifically, the LCME found that the addition of eight students in the third year class reflected a violation of ER-3 in that “[p]ressure for institutional self-financing [had] compromise[d] the educational mission of the medical education program [and] cause[d] it to enroll more medical students than its total resources can accommodate.

The SJBullshitters were negligent.

Now for the big tumor.  The San Juan Bautista Hospital is affiliated with the SJBSOM and serves as its primary clinical resource, but it does not own or operate it as such (Exhibit N, p.3; in hand.). The SJB likes to boast that it is the only medical school in Puerto Rico with such an arrangement. The LCME's increased interest in the Hospital and its effect on the School began in October 2010, as indicated in LR page 14:

In October of 2010, the LCME learned that the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority had threatened to shut off power to the Medical Center because the utility claimed that the Medical Center owed more than $21 million in unpaid electric power bills.

The LCME requested a report on this situation; the SJB submitted its report on December 13, 2010. (LR p.14)

As the electric bill and other problems (cash flow, labor, services, safety) piled up in the Hospital, the SJBullshitters decided to "protect" the Hospital by declaring bankruptcy. Even though the Hospital was and is the key component in the School's clinical education services, here's what happened:

On March 24, 2011, the LCME learned from press reports that the Medical Center had filed for bankruptcy on March 18, 2011. (LR p.14) [Emphasis Mine].

Although nearly a week had elapsed since the filing, the LCME received no notice from SJB of the bankruptcy of its principal teaching hospital. (LR p.15) [Emphasis Mine.]

            negligence  Noun: (1) failure to take proper care in doing something.

            incompetence  Noun: (1) not possessing the necessary ability, skill, etc. to do or carry out a task; incapable.

            lie  Noun: (2) something intended or serving to convey a false impression; imposture. In this case, lying by omission.

How crucial was the Hospital? From LR page 17:

The decline in occupancy was most dramatic in the areas of pediatrics and surgery, for which SJB relies on the Medical Center to provide “almost all of the pediatric experience and approximately half of the surgical experience” for its students.

Even if SJB students had participated in each of the 211 surgeries that took place, students would have had, on average, just six surgical experiences during their rotation at the Medical Center. Id. That figure is vastly below the 15 to 75 surgical experiences per rotation that medical students have, on average, at other LCME-accredited schools. Id. Likewise, it would appear that, on average, each SJB student on the inpatient pediatric rotation would have available approximately 2 to 3 patients – while students at other LCME-accredited schools would be able to select from 12 to 18 active pediatric cases and be the primary care-giver to 3 to 6 hospitalized children at any given time.

From another part of LR, page 25:

Moreover, even these dismal figures fail to account for the fact that SJB students had to share the School’s scant clinical resources with 7 to 23 visiting students who paid the School to join rotations.

In short, the SJBullshitters played fast and loose with what amounted to at least 40-45% of their clinical education resources when they had no room to spare. They were trying to cover a king-sized bed with barely queen-sized sheets--and then they cut the sheets almost in half.

And how do these findings tie together: The LCME explains, LR page 8:

A medical school whose clinical program offers too few patient encounters or too few teaching physicians (ER-6), because it has admitted too many students (ER-1) due to pressure to finance the school through tuition payments (ER-3), will leave its students unskilled in the practice of medicine and poorly prepared to succeed on the USMLE (ED-11 and ED-15).

Too few patient encounters, too few teaching physicians, over-reliance on tuition payments leading to taking in "outside" students for cash flow, thus reducing patient encounters and experiences for all students resulting in decreased pass rates on the USMLEs. The whole SJBullshitters fiasco wrapped in a neat shit taco shoved down their students' throats.

Point 1B: How much notice, if any, was provided by the LCME to the SJB?

I'll cut to the chase. From LR page 2:

SJB was given a fair opportunity to set forth its position. The initial decision to withdraw accreditation – based on the facts set forth in paragraphs 2-4 and many others – was conveyed to SJB by letter of June 13, 2011. [Emphasis Mine.]

June. 13th.

While some 250+ students were already enrolled. While a new class of first-year students were being wooed into the SJBullshitters Lounge. While the whole fucking ball of fetid earwax known as the administration and Trustees of the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine fiddled and faddled, the SJBullshitters were aware--at every moment for almost four fucking months--that their accreditation was for all intents and purposes, gone. And they didn't day a fucking word about it.

But Yocasta Brugal MenDacious and the SJBullshitters cried--literally--that this was simply unbelievable. From page 3 of the LR, proof that they lied...brazenly:

As part of its accreditation, the President and Dean of SJB, Yocasta Brugal Mena, M.D., signed a Letter Agreement with LCME on June 15, 2007 expressly agreeing as follows: “I further acknowledge and expressly agree that the LCME may revoke or withdraw the program’s accreditation, place the program on probation, or take any other action deemed appropriate by the LCME, at any time, if the LCME continues to have strong concerns regarding the program’s ability to comply with LCME accreditation standards, or determines that the program is not in full compliance with the terms and conditions of this letter.”  In other words, SJB explicitly consented to the withdrawal of its accreditation “at any time” if “LCME continues to have strong concerns regarding [SJB’s] ability to comply with LCME accreditation standards. [Emphasis Mine.]

And furthermore, from the same Letter Agreement, signed by Brugal and quoted in LR page 12:

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary that may be stated in the LCME’s published materials, including but not limited to its policy document Rules of Procedure, I agree that the above terms and conditions are acceptable and enforceable. I further acknowledge and expressly agree that the LCME may revoke or withdraw the program’s accreditation, place the program on probation, or take any other action deemed appropriate by the LCME, at any time, if the LCME continues to have strong concerns regarding the program’s ability to comply with LCME accreditation standards, or determines that the program is not in full compliance with the terms and conditions of this letter. [Emphasis Mine].

Yocasta Brugal MenDacious signed that letter, almost four years to the day before the loss of accreditation. Could she have forgotten about it? Yes, if she was mentally incompetent, an alcoholic, drug abuser, severely-concussed, disease-addled, amnesiac, senile or a willfully stupid dunce. If she was any of those, then what was she doing running a medical school? If she isn't any of these, and simply forgot, then she is demonstrably incompetent and the SJBullshitters around her equally so, and negligent as well. And if Yocasta Brugal MenDacious didn't forget this Letter Agreement, then her saying she was "shocked" at the decision is a fucking barefaced lie. The only way she could be "shocked" is if her grasp of reality is so tenuous as to be practically non-existent...in which case, she should have resigned or been kicked out long ago.

The Letter Agreement also contains an additional salient indication fully applicable to this situation (LR p.13):

Accreditation is awarded to the program of medical education based on a judgment of appropriate balance between student enrollment and the total resources of the institution, including faculty, physical facilities, and the            operating budget. If there are plans to significantly modify the educational program, or if there is to be a substantial change in student enrollment or in the resources of the institution so that the balance is distorted, the LCME expects to receive prior notice of the proposed change. Substantial changes may lead to re-evaluation of the program's accreditation by the LCME. [Emphasis Mine].

Now why is all this so significant? Well, for one, the SJBSOM's accreditation was not granted outright, but on appeal (LR p.12). The LCME's decision was overturned by an Appeals Panel, but the situation was so borderline, the LCME placed a restriction of only four years on the term of accreditation and presented the Letter Agreement to Yocasta Brugal MenDacious. The ground rules were set then, accreditation was always under review, but more so in 2011 (when the original term was close to expiring) and the SJBullshitters failed miserably to live up to the required standards.

As the LCME states (LR p.27):

Thus, by its own admission, SJB knew that it remained under close scrutiny and that its accreditation could be withdrawn “at any time,” including as a result of the April 2011 site visit. If SJB believed otherwise, the fault lies with it, not the LCME.

As for Points 2 and 3 of the SJB's injunctive relief defense, Let's dismiss them quickly, shall We?

Point 2: That the SJB needed time to correct the deficiencies before the withdrawal of accreditation. Simple question: what the fuck were the last four years for? Rehearsal? From June 15th, 2007, the SJB was put on notice and acknowledged such notice, that it was being judged continuously. Toss the Hospital you rely on for clinical resources into bankruptcy, strain those same limited resources in a rush for cash (and parenthetically: Why doesn't the SJB get as much federal funds, or any kind of funds, as other private medical schools? Hmm?), thus undermining the students you are supposed to serve and after screwing up a 30-year march to accreditation in 4 years, you want more fucking time?! For what? Your Swiss bank retirement accounts? Just say you don't have any: We'll """""believe""""" you.

Point 3: That the decision was biased against the SJB because there was a current LCME member to the independent appeals panel. First of all, the three-person panel voted unanimously to uphold the withdrawal of accreditation. So one vote didn't matter at all (simple majority was enough.) The person in question, Linda Golodner, was the public member of the Appeals Panel and had no prior connection to the Review, the Survey Report or the SJB in any way (LR p.37). The LCME's Procedures do not forbid her participation on the panel (LR p.38). There was no possible conflict of interest (LR p.39) for she also was only able to base her decision on the information presented at the appeal, i.e., she had no prior knowledge of the SJB's situation (LR p.37).

If anything, this made Ms. Golodner the truest acid test of whether the LCME proved its case or the SJB did, based solely on the merits of the information presented. How this person could be deemed biased against the SJB would have to include the other two Panel members as well.

More SJBullshit.

There's plenty more to dissect, but the overall proof is overwhelming: I was fucking right. Yocasta Brugal MenDacious and the SJBullshitters Horde lied to the students and employees, were negligent in their duties and responsibilities to meet the LCME's standards and acted with rampant incompetence in ways that have been shown and in many ways that will be revealed (financial malfeasance, anyone?)

But.

The LCME stated, in public and in private communication with the SJB students, that their role also incudes protecting them. Here is their version of this responsibility, from LR page 43, where they ask Judge Gelpi to uphold their withdrawal of accreditation and deny the SJB injunctive relief from that decision:

"Even if SJB and its students have been harmed to some degree by the loss of accreditation, the balance – as Judge Garcia Gregory rightly recognized – weighs in favor of the accreditation organization and the public interest."

  

This self-serving smarmy mouth-fart makes the LCME a hypocritical bag of horseshit. They bring to mind the vile doublespeak exemplified by "We had to destroy the village in order to save it." 

Did the SJB deserve to have its accreditation yanked? Certainly. But did the LCME properly fulfill its role as "protector of students" by not forcing the SJB to announce what was going on, or by not providing some sort of warning system to alert students that their time, money, effort and talent could be shat upon by its own decision? Fuck no, they didn't.

As a good friend pointed out: maybe not hypocritical...maybe disingenuous. Okay, Let's try that:

            disingenuous  Adjective: Not candid or sincere, typically by pretending that one knows less about something than one really does. Synonyms: insincere - false - devious - hollow-hearted

Ah, Good Friend, good call. The LCME was not candid, pretended to know less than what it knew to avoid upholding a reasonable interpretation of their self-stated responsibility to the students. Fuck the LCME as well, then. For after all, they seem to have forgotten the very basis of the physician's role: First do no harm.

The Jenius Has Spoken.

Memo to Yocasta Brugal: I Was Right

Dt: 20 October 2011 

Re: The San Juan Bautista School of Medicine and its president/dean Yocasta Brugal

Four posts; thousands of words and My accusation that the SJB and Brugal were lying and negligent, thus precipitating the loss of accreditation of the School: I was right.

Let Me emphasize that: I. Was. FUCKING. Right.

Action Item: Proof on the way, in this forum and any other I can cajole, beg, plead, wheedle or convince should expose Brugal and the other shitheads who fucked 270+ students by shitting on their dreams, aspirations and career choices out of sheer incompetence and proven negligence.

Action Item: For all you pusillanimous airheads who have a nascent thought--your first--that I'm somehow incorrect or out of line: Prove Me wrong. In English or Spanish, bitches. I dare you.

Conclusion: I. Was. FUCKING. Right. For what it's worth.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

Thievery Cover-Up

It seems that at this moment, Our pathetic excuse for a government, the mental retardation center of dimwits (7.2%), lackwits (11.6%) and bullshits (81.8%...and rising), is seeking to reverse the current Electoral Law so that candidates and elected officials will no longer have to make public their tax returns and financial information.

Simple response: Public servants = public records. Period.

What the disease-addled hyenas want to do is take away one of the most powerful (albeit badly under-used) tools in the citizen's arsenal: accountability. These festering bags of rat crap want to keep suckling at the public teat--at Our considerable expense. They want to increase that capability--at Our even more considerable expense--and for one reason only: Because We are idiots.

We have public servants who think they own Us. By Our indifference, they practically do. The rat-crappy excuse that We have for a government is a plague-infested corpse filled with drug addicts, alcoholics, pederasts, drug dealers, rapists, thieves and some really evil people, all wrapped in layers of hypocrisy that are padded with Our dollars.

This. Has. Got. To. End.

Our government is not "for" Us: it is against Us. It isn't "of" Us because it has become a sub-set all its own, living in its own world. At the highest levels--the rotting head of a gangrenous corpse--the average government dingo has almost nothing in common with the average voter. Think about this: the average legislator salary package is now almost 6 times the average worker's salary. This is by far the biggest gap in a so-called democracy.

If you think "Occupy Wall Street" is "The 99% of Us  against the 1% of 'Them',"  then what We have with Our government is a need to "Occupy" it: to literally bring it to a screeching halt, clean the house out and start all over again. There's a plan to do that Saturday, October 15th, in smaller scale. Probably last about 2 hours and end up in some mall or malls, a shopping trip with a slight sunburn thrown in to make it "un sábado fabu."

And don't give Me that crap about "We need a government." Do you need syphilis? Or gonorrhea? Because that's what Our Island is dealing with: a serious disease that left untreated leads to death. Belgium went over a year without a government, and yeah, they're boring, but even so they have much better things to do than to pay attention to a skank and a whore scream insults at each other on local TV. Belgium survived the absence of ts governmet easily; did pretty good, in fact. They discovered what every walking rat-crap bag fears: that the best government is literally the least.

So Our disease pack wants to keep their money matters to themselves. Once again the basic notion that they are public servants--public--is an inconvenience to them. They really hate those laws that say they can't do this, can't do that because it gets in the way of their "I wanna get all I can any way I can" mojo.

Here's My mojo: I wanna get rid of all of you. And "soon" isn't soon enough.



The Jenius Has Spoken.


P.S.
[Twitter pic that proves My point about "un sábado fabu." In this case, Plaza Las Américas.]

This post was scheduled for Friday, October 14th. It was pushed back to Monday, October 17th, because of the SJBullshitter fiasco. Nothing was edited after I wrote it Thursday PM. Why didn't I write a new post? Because this one is valid as it is, and My prediction was 96.44% certain anyway.

Video Of Bullshit Being Sold

The Jenius has been hammering the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine situation, and its feckless leader Yocata Brugal, with metronomic severity. In essence, calling "bullshit" on their bullshit. To My surprise and with a humbling touch of pride, it has become the headlining piece in the Puerto Rico section of Global Voices Online, courtesy of Janine-Mendes Franco.

Here, courtesy of the San Juan Bautista Students blog (and note in passing, people, that The Jenius has been using public sources only; the SJBullshit Purveyors are consistently revealed by them), is the video series from the October 13th meeting with 4th year students' parents.

If you have the iron stomach to go through all this, note four things:

1) How little information these verbal diarrhea sufferers actually provide.

2) How they try their damndest to incite sympathy/pity for "their plight," the absolute mark of the spineless bullshit mook.

3) How they try their damndest to "unite efforts" against the LCME in a "Don't hit me because I fucked up royally!" bait-and-switch ploy.

4) How only 1 or 2 people actually try to call them on their bullshit, how the vast majority of these people, with pain, anger and frustration over this mess, basically let the SJBullshit-Mongers keep shoveling the crap.

True, there isn't enough information to know how to react to all this because there hasn't been enough information shared, period. But that was the whole fucking purpose of this meeting, their first in a proposed series of 4 meetings stretching to October 19th meant to delay and increase the level of obfuscation to silo-deep proportions.

I bet none of you will watch these videos. That's okay. When the SJBullshit hits the fan, and the fallout clarifies the situation, you will then see that these videos prove My points, all along.

Oh, and the injunction information they """promised""" for Friday, the 14th? What do you think happened? Or should I say, didn't happen?


The Jenius Has Spoken.

Yocasta Brugal: SJBullshitter?

Once again, this is My business now. You know why.

In what was clearly a sham of a meeting, the San Juan Bautista School of Mendaciousness spoke for a long time and what it said tonight (13 October) amounted to absolute, unmitigated and barefaced lying. (Videos of the meeting on the SJB Students blog).

Where to begin? Okay, the injunction. Faced with the devastating and complete destruction of their medical school as an accredited institution, a legal action to at least stop, delay or overturn the LCME's decision (the accrediting body) is a necessity. For clarity, here's what an injunction is and does:

"An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts... This injunctive power to restore the status quo ante, that is, to make whole again someone whose rights have been violated, is essential to the concept of fairness (equity)."

Seeing as how 270+ students are now in medical school hell, and that the meeting is with their parents to help them cope with the situation, you'd think--you'd really think--that the SJBSOMendaciousness would be crystal clear on what it is doing to restore or prepare the way to restoring the status quo ante.

You'd think. And you'd be wrong.

 When questioned by parents, including one who is an experienced trial lawyer, about the injunction, the liars could not exactly say who was filing the injunction (they didn't have the law firm's name at hand...so they say), nor exactly when it was filed, nor in what court said filing was made (I shit you not) nor even what the injunction's purpose was, exactly. And they dropped this little fillip in there, too: the first injunction was denied.

Think about this: Ten full days have passed since the boom was lowered on the SJBSOMething's Fishy Here and so-called Stanford Who's Who Who Can't Answer Anything doesn't know exactly what the legal remedy they are taking is about, even though something had been tried before. And who did they have on hand to "bolster" their bullshit? A local lawyer who had even less information than Stanford What's Going On, Brugal.

And what did this scion of legal strategy suggest, with the backing of the SJBSlapping Lipstick On A Pig suggest be the students' and parents' strategy in the days ahead? Sue the LCME, with each class year going at the accreditation body in separate class-action suits.

What this means, when stripped of its pestiferous overtones, is: Don't sue the SJBullshit Factory; waste your time with the LCME!

The LCME's Report on which the removal of accreditation was based on is in the hands of the SJBullshit Farm. Unless legal action is taken, and despite several requests, including that of the trial lawyer present at the meeting (who knew the injunction case number that Stanford Who's Running Scared Brugal didn't "have at hand"), the Report can remain out of the public eye. In fact, the legal monkey capering at the meeting specifically pointed out that the injunction made it a point to request that documentation related to the case remain confidential.

Now let Me point out three vectors streaming from this overflowing outhouse of bullshit, each of which can be demolished with ease: (1) that the LCME is the true guilty party here; (2) that the Report has to remain confidential and (3) that the SJBullshit Fountain is working.

Bullshit Vector #1: That the LCME is the guilty party. I covered this before, but here's the shorter version. If the LCME acted outside of procedures, with a bias or incompetently, a legal remedy could have been found by any competent lawyer in a day, with time left over for golf. The LCME's procedures are posted on the website, downloadable by anyone. (Except, apparently, by nearly all SJBSOM students and their parents.) The previous post covered the overall Procedures, so here's the added quote, from the LCME's The Role of Students in the Accreditation of Medical Education Programs, page 5, Section 5, concerning loss of accreditation:

Because the quality of U.S. and Canadian medical education programs is uniformly high, the probability of any program losing its accreditation as a result of an accreditation survey is relatively low. If serious problems are identified, the LCME would, in most circumstances, give the program an opportunity to correct its problems before withdrawing accreditation. 

For most medical education programs with relatively minor accreditation concerns, the LCME will ask the medical school dean to submit one or more written reports describing what the program staff has done to achieve or maintain full compliance with accreditation standards. If the accreditation issues identified by the LCME are serious or widespread, the LCME has several options for follow-up depending on the extent and nature of the problems, including a limited on-site survey to verify how the program has corrected its problems; shortening the term of accreditation; or placing the program on “warning of probation” status or “probation” status. Although probation is infrequent, it does occur. (Emphasis Mine.)

Now, given that this is the written, public and binding procedure the LCME has, what are the odds that they would bypass them and expose themselves to legal action?

Furthermore, as was brought up in the meeting, the LCME threatened to withdraw the accreditation of the Universidad del Caribe (UCC), then in Cayey, with a letter sent in October 1983 stating that accreditation would end June 30th, 1984. The UCC took legal action and, as stated in court documents, worked with the LCME to retain its accreditation.

Brugal and her mealy-mouthed mendacious artists are trying to equate the UCC situation 27 years ago with what the SJBullshit Forum is facing. They are not the same. What the LCME did in this case, on October 3rd, amounted to a death penalty, whereas in 1983-1984, what they did was issue a warning with a deadline. Whether the warning was discriminatory, biased or in some other way wrong was decided long ago. If anyone thinks the LCME, having "lost" that decision 27 years ago, would undertake an even more decisive action and leave any room for losing another lawsuit, then your brains are mush.


Bullshit Vector #2: That the Report has to remain confidential. No. No. And hell no. At the meeting, the SJBullshit Team indicated that the Report could not be made public because it supposedly contained confidential student information.

Lie.

From the LCME's Survey Report Guide, the manual for how the Report is to be compiled, here's the complete list, on page 20, of student-based data requested:

III. MEDICAL STUDENTS

Insert at least the following items from the medical education database and the independent student analysis in the Appendix:

·        * Student enrollment by class year 

·        * Mean MCAT scores and premedical GPAs for past three entering classes (MS-5, MS-6)

·        * Table of the number of students who left school, exhibited academic difficulty, or took a leave of absence 

·        * Sample Medical Student Performance Evaluation (“dean’s letter”) 

·        * Copy of the most recent LCME Part I-B Financial Aid Questionnaire (MS-24) 

·        * Narrative section of the independent student analysis and data from the student-administered survey (if not included previously)

This is public data, not confidential. As part of the survey, students answer questionnaires, anonymously, and the data is aggregated for a score that evaluates the medical school. And each class year has students meet directly with the survey report team, for interview sessions. Once again, from the LCME's The Role of Students in the Accreditation of Medical Education Programs, pages 9-10, here's what the Survey Report does with the student interviews that take place as part of the accreditation review process:

Under no circumstances are student comments at these sessions quoted directly or attributed to any individual either in the survey report of the team or in exit conferences with the medical school dean and university executive.

If  for some reason the LCME had violated student confidentiality in a way that the SJBullshit Posse considered egregious, the Procedures spell out how they can challenge it before the final Report is presented. From the LCME's Survey Report Guide, page 1:

If the dean of the medical education program involved disagrees with the tone of the report or the findings of the survey team, that disagreement should be communicated to the team secretary when the draft report is reviewed. If a disagreement persists after the team has had an opportunity to discuss the dean’s concerns, the dean may send a letter to the LCME Secretariat and, for Canadian programs, the CACMS Secretariat describing any objections and the rationale for disputing the team’s findings. That letter would then be included in the meeting agenda and considered along with the survey report when the LCME and the CACMS (for Canadian programs) evaluate the program’s accreditation status. (Emphasis Mine.)

If the LCME had been playing fast and loose with student information, there was a way to address and remedy that. If the LCME didn't fix it and ignored its Procedures, mistreating student information, the SJBullshit Pack would have a case Dr. Doolittle could win...even with a legal monkey. That Stanford Who's Lying Brugal claims that this is the reason for not releasing the Report is far from being anywhere near the Truth.

Now, let's say that the Report's financial information is confidential. Stands to reason. Makes sense. So why not release the Report minus the institution's financial information?


After all, the LCME's stated reason for using its guillotine was "inadequate clinical resources." Removing the financial information, in essence the data and maybe a few comments, would hardly impair reading the Report's findings concerning "inadequate clinical resources." And if it did, Brugal and the Feckless Fibbers would have a stronger position to seek the unity with students, parents and the medical community that they said they wanted to have. (A point I'll come back to in Bullshit Vector #3.)

No, the Report is not confidential because of student information, or even financial information. Like I said before: it is "confidential" because it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the SJBullshit Train Wreck, led by Stanford Choo Choo's Boo Hoo Brugal, absolutely deserved what it got.

Two reasons come to mind for the LCME's decision to pass probation on the way to go to hell: financial malfeasance and fraud, as in knowingly providing the LCME with false or falsified information. Most likely both, for the LCME took the decision to withdraw accreditation in one action knowing full well a legal challenge would be mounted, even by legal monkeys.

So why state "inadequate clinical resources" rather than financial skullduggery or blatant lying? Because insufficient clinical resources was clearly demonstrable and publicly defensible: the other two reasons, if they exist, are not, at least not to the extent the LCME can easily manage. By stating the obvious non-compliance, they make their case, for even though by their own Procedures, the single stated cause could have been dealt with under probation, the additional unmentioned causes forced the loss of accreditation.

And that explains quite well why Brugal's Procrastinating Prevaricators are earning their sobriquets.


Bullshit Vector #3: That the SJBullshit Fountain is working. Obviously not for the students. They are understandably upset, furious, confused and disheartened. Fellow med students feel their pain. The parents and loved ones of these students feel the same, while some, like Me, feel closer to murderous rage. The "delay, delay, delay" tactic is now blending with a "divide and conquer" tactic, but the whole package is teetering on the brink of collapse, a result that will only further exacerbate the criminal negligence shown so far.

The SJBullshit Blender needs allies to survive: it cannot win this fight alone. Its first ally is the Report; at this point, it is obviously out of the question.  The second tier of allies were the students, but the repeated pattern of obfuscation, feigned ignorance and condescending incompetence has worn out a chance for massive student support. The parents were shredded today, with a performance so inept it made the legal monkey seem like Koko. The Hospital's bankruptcy, added to a lengthy habit of non-payment of employees, reduced services and piling debt, is not an ally, but an enemy.

Ah, yes, the Hospital. So very very important. The only hospital directly allied to a medical school campus. Center of clinical resources. Object of lust for the City of Caguas, the nearby HIMA medical group and the Puerto Rico Health Department. The Hospital, now in bankruptcy, so poor in services and safety conditions it appalled the Joint Commission (the  accreditation body for hospitals and clinics), the local Health Department and eventually, the LCME. The same Health Department that the SJBullshit Bank claimed was the reason the Hospital was forced into bankruptcy, a claim rightly denied by the Secretary of Health, Lorenzo González.

And yet, despite this acrimony, this same Secretary of Health stepped up and said he would support and help the SJBullshit Lobby. Decent of him. Mighty white, I'd say. Big chief Lorenzo lending hand, Kemosabe. So when he requested a copy of the Report--as he had every right to do--the answer from the SJBullshit Herd and their Board of Trustees was: No way, José. They even got his name wrong...

Are you kidding Me? The strongest possible allies that Stanford Who Needs A Clue Brugal and her Distaff Dissemblers have--and need--are all being essentially told: Help us, but you got to trust us when we don't tell you jackshit (we tell you bullshit.)

Is this the kind of institution and administration that will straighten out the very fucking mess they made? Oh hell no.

So I'm asking you two final questions: do you think that the SJBullshit Bobbysoxers led by Brugal and her Executive Equivocators are lying?

And aren't you tired of Me writing "SJBullshit"? Now you're beginning to understand just how fed up I am with their SJBullshit.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

Yocasta Brugal: Incompetence Recognized

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Jenius!!

My previous post was about the loss of accreditation of the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine, """run""""(into the ground) by one Yocasta Brugal.

Now I know she has fellow guilty parties, but the fundamental lesson of leadership is that whoever's at the top is responsible, so that's what applies here.

It's been 10 days since the SJB was told about its humiliating and devastating loss. And what has the SJB done in those 10 ays, with 270+ students and hundreds of employees facing horribly uncertain futures?

Jack shit. Or in terms Brugal can understand: Pero mira que ni mierda han hecho.

The SJB's response to all this has been: "Wait because something will be done." Ten days. Not a fucking thing has been done. Let's lay out some proof:

An April 15th article in NotiCel, written by Omaya Sosa Pascual, is based on an interview with Dr. Luis Clas, the fired SJB Hospital Director. It has the following opening line:  Desde la quiebra hasta la amenaza de pérdida de acreditación... 

From bankruptcy to the threat of loss of accreditation... He most likely meant the hospital, but if he meant the School, it's another deal. But as you shall see, if the Hospital were to lose its accreditation--and it was already in serious deficiencies--then the School was also in trouble.

April 15th, 2011. It was not a secret. Brugal and her people lied. Over and over.

Article written by Damaris Vega Cotto in El Nuevo Periódico de Caguas, dated May 31, 2011. Brugal is asked if the hospital's precarious situation places the School in jeopardy. Her response: that the hospital was used as "a workshop" for third and fourth year students and that "it would be a shame to lose it."

The situation vis á vis the Hospital and the School was patently evident.

Again, from Omaya Sosa Pascual's productive keyboard, a NotiCel article dated March 29th, wherein Brugal points out that the School was about to inaugurate two new programs in August 2011 (Nursing and Public Health Administration) that "depended on the institution (the Hospital) keeping its accreditation." The Hospital lost it...on April 14th. I bet the LCME thought that was not up to snuff...

Going back a bit, the Hospital fired its Director and filed for bankruptcy on March 18th, claiming $35 million in debt, $21 million of that owed to the Power Authority.

Since 2009, the Hospital had been a hotbed of controversy as paychecks for most or even all personnel were routinely skipped. This was the primary "clinical resource" the SJB counted  on, an already-indicated vital piece of the accreditation process...and they couldn't manage it to within a mile of "competent."

Why has Brugal been elusive and thus silent for these past 10 days? Because the LCME's Report makes it very clear that she and her dimwit distaff dog pound directorate were negligent and incompetent.  If they want to prove Me wrong--and good fucking luck with that--all they need to do is release the Report.

But I know--and they certainly know--that I am 100% right: Brugal and her pack fucked up.

And yet.

Press release:

CAGUAS, PR, September 8, 2011 /Stanford Who's Who/ -- Stanford Who's Who welcomes Yocasta Brugal, MD to the ranks of leading professionals as a result of her exceptional effort in the Education Industry. As President and Dean of the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine, as well as throughout her brilliant professional career, Dr. Brugal has routinely demonstrated the vision, dedication and diligence necessary to be considered among the best. 

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAfuckthat


The Jenius Has Spoken.

This Is My Business Now

On October 3rd, a school of medicine in Puerto Rico, the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine, was punished for its negligence and incompetence by becoming the first U.S.-based institution to completely lose its accreditation.


Fuck Us. No, fuck the administration of that now-disgraced school. More on that in a moment.

The facts seem clear: The San Juan Bautista School of Medicine (SJB) lost its accreditation under circumstances that the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) clearly explained in their Report, product of their extensive investigation of the school's operation. By their own Procedures, and as explained in the withdrawal of accreditation letter, the Report cannot be made public by the LCME; it can only be made public by the SJB. 

Major Point: If the Report were erroneous, the SJB would have cleared its case or at least had a solid reason to counteract the removal of accreditation by revealing what is in it. The same reason applies if the LCME acted hastily, or in some way discriminated against the SJB: making the Report public would fundamentally alter the situation in the SJB's favor.

To think that the LCME would endanger its standing and authority to oversee medical schools in and out of the United States in order to "persecute" or harm the SJB is ridiculous. Some people actually think that. The SJB is not that important for the risk involved.


Further rejection of that "theory" is the fact that the LCME has been transparent about its actions, following its own published Accreditation Procedures. The only non-transparent part of the entire LCME process is the Report, now in the SJB's hands.

Quoting from the LCME's Procedures, page 17, paragraph 2: "Withdrawal of accreditation may occur when (a) there is documented evidence that an accredited program exhibits substantial deficiencies in compliance with LCME accreditation standards, and (b) the deficiencies are sufficiently serious, in the LCME’s judgment, to raise concern whether graduates of the program are competent to enter the next stage of their training. Under normal circumstances, a program will have an opportunity to correct serious problems of noncompliance through the mechanisms of limited visits or probationary status before the LCME takes action to withdraw accreditation. However, rapid and precipitous deterioration in the quality of an educational program may be sufficient grounds for withdrawal of accreditation, whether or not a limited visit or probationary period has preceded the decision to withdraw accreditation." (Emphasis Mine.)

The SJB learned of its removal of accreditation on Monday, October 3rd. It stands to reason that the administration had to know that their position with the LCME was precarious, and yet, despite Procedures that the SJB was obligated to follow, the students and faculty were not told of the process and its potential outcome. New students weren't warned, upper class students were not notified, faculty was not informed; the pattern of lying by omission was established. Let Me state this as clearly as possible: The SJB's administration lied.

In fact, the SJB didn't break the news to the students: they found out "through the grapevine" after the LCME, following its own procedures, placed the notice on their website. The SJB's announcement of the loss of its accreditation was made "formally" on Tuesday, October 4th, with the additional remark that the delay from the previous day's notification was "according to advice from the school's legal advisors." Do tell.

Again, the Major Point: if the LCME's action against the SJB was erroneous, discriminatory or beyond proper procedure, the simple remedy, the clearest remedy, was to present the Report and refute the LCME's position.

The Report has not been released--and will not be for now--because the Report proves that the SJB was most likely negligent and possibly incompetent in dealing with the LCME's findings, thus leading to the sudden fulminating loss of accreditation. 

To state the conclusion clearer: If the SJB had a competent response to the LCME's actions, they would have made it already. At the very least, an injunction to stop the loss of accreditation could have been presented in hours, if and only if the Report was flawed and the SJB had a clear defense response to counter it.

Even if the Report were accurate, but the SJB had a solid record of competent actions with which to respond and at the very least ask for an injunction, then they would have done so.

Now for a full disclosure: Mrs. Jenius is a 4th year (final year) student at the SJB and was just 3 weeks from completing her accredited medical degree. Her option now is to transfer to another medical school--one that knows how to be and remain accredited--and start over as a 3rd year student. Yes, that means paying for two years of med school that she already completed successfully. And paying for what the SJB did not deliver fully.

I have to say what's on My mind: I hunger for the moment when the shitheads who plunged some 270 students into academic and professional hell die with syphilis in their brains, leprosy on their faces and cancer in their genitals. Twice. Why? Because they are guilty of criminal negligence and incompetence. Period.

Let's not forget that beyond this situation that is unfairly punishing medical students and faculty, the SJB is a revenue-seeking entity: loss of accreditation in this sudden and complete manner and at this time seriously places the institution's future in serious jeopardy. Bankruptcy, an option already exercised by the allied hospital the campus operates, looms likely. And yet, the sorry group of dimwits doing an adult's job with a mushroom's brains simply hem and haw and blither and blather and basically do nothing that a headless chicken couldn't do backwards and with greater grace and intelligence. In short, they are doing nothing but mealy-mouthing: Wait.

Therefore, eight days after the shitty house of cards that was once an accredited school of medicine was flattened, We can state firmly that the SJB is the sole party to blame for this fiasco, and the only question that needs to be addressed at this point is what degree of legal action will be taken against the school.

Without legal action, the students and faculty cannot find out what the LCME Report contained. Given the SJB's lack of information and proven pattern of non-responsiveness, no one will know to what extent the SJB's executive personnel and advisors failed their responsibilities.

The strongest possible legal action would be a class action suit for damages to academic careers and professional careers, where applicable. Legal action will force the Report to be made public. Until that happens, those most affected by this negligence and incompetence are at the mercy of the SJB's "whenever" attitude about informing them, and at their mercy for the already-evident "mercenary whenever" attitude about helping them make the very difficult transitions they must make. Because of their failings, these now-forced transitions could also be ruined by their continued failings, like piling shit on shit.

Is My outrage greater because it touches one I love most? Of course it is. That's natural. What isn't is standing around while pluperfect distaff dimwits with surnames like Brugal, Rivera, Ramos and Márquez cart their uteri around like this whole fucking mess was another stanza in "Desiderata." It is not. Furthermore, the Board of Trustees needs to be exposed for their "Three Monkeys" imitation, only it is obvious by now that the Board stinks much worse that any three monkeys ever could.

There are hundreds of things wrong on My Island. This one had better get fixed soon.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

P.S.: A huge Jenius Thanks to Michelle Kantrow and Lorraine Blasor, of News Is My Business, for tackling this story head-on and publishing an article about it. And another big Thanks to Rafael Matos, former Chief Editor of The Daily Sun, for also tackling the story.

A Book For Us

Many Thanks to Global Voices Online and the ever-present Janine Mendes-Franco for picking up My post about Papá Héroes


This won't take long... 

Tunisia. Libya. Egypt. Iran. Spain. Greece. England. Around the world, protesters are coming together, in relatively peaceful demonstrations, to tell their governments and the world that they are fed up with the status quo. The protests We focused on the most--We prisoners of the fascist-leaning U.S. of part of A. and its whorish media--were those of the dictatorships (Tunisia and Libya), but downplayed the protests that happened and continue to happen in Our "democratic allies." Which are also dictatorships.

In essence, a dictatorship is the rule of the nation by a small group that can and does impose its will by force. Now We tend to use "force" to only mean "military might," so that Our classical image of a dictator is a some medal-bedecked stocky half-wit with tanks and guns on his side. But no, the essential dictatorship stems from application of force, and in Spain, Greece, England and the good ol' U.S. of part if A., We have stocky half-wits with banks and laws. And instead of soldiers, the minions and mangy dogs are bankers, lawyers and lobbyists.

These lackeys saw the protests as civilians facing armed forces, the paradigm that ignored reality. That's why the protests were deemed to have "morphed" from "evil dictatorships" to "friendly democracies" in the eyes of Our media and many of Our leaders and pundits, half-wits all. To them, the protests were caused (yes, caused) by social media and the evils of unrestrained technology. The preservers of the status quo--beneficiaries to a greater extent within it than you and Me--saw the toppling of governments and began to wonder if the next to flee would be them. And they should be scared: witness the growth of the once-laughable "Occupy Wall Street" movement. And Let's face it: if there's going to a true terrorist attack in the U.S. of part of A., it will come from within, not without.

Some of the credit for the rising protest movement, and more importantly, its effectiveness, is ascribed to the book From Dictatorship to Democracy, by Gene Sharp. It is a generic, but heavily insightful analysis, of protest, revolutionary and independence movements. It has been banned in several countries. It can be read in a day, as it is barely 100 pages long.

And it applies to Puerto Rico without a shred of doubt.

You can download it here, in English, free:  http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations/org/FDTD.pdf

In Spanish, again free: http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations/org/DelaDict-1.pdf

I provide the URL in case you want to copy/paste to spread it around.

Do We really want to make a change? Let's see how many of Us act in certain ways to make change. And one of those acts would be to read From Dictatorship to Democracy.

Time to stand up and be counted.



The Jenius Has Spoken. 

Fathers As Heroes

Sometimes--if not most of the time--you have to make the good things happen yourself. That might be the dictum that lead Raúl Colón to launch Papá Héroes, a website that focuses on the good and great things that Dads do. In doing so, it helps remind Us that although there are a lot of voluntarily missing fathers and some who should be shot like rabid dogs, there's a huge number of men who take pride in being a father and do their best to be the best father they can be.

When Raúl launched the website, he kindly invited Me to join. I responded that I would, but this is as close as I've come. In the months since, Papá Héroes has grown into a combination journal-forum on what it is to be a good Dad. Reading through the anecdotes and posts, you get the sense that it starts with caring, just caring about your child and your role as a father.

Indifference is deadly, to the child's development and to having any chance to become a good father. I'd say simply caring is more important than love, because there are good fathers out there who don't love their children, either because they don't know how (think about it and you'll realize who I'm talking about) or because (more often) the children are not theirs, but they care for them anyway. A few step-fathers have told Me they don't really love their step-children, but that they try hard to be there for them in everything. I don't often believe what they say, but when I see them act as good responsible fathers year after year, I have to say: they are honest. And they are good fathers.

Biology makes mothers and fathers very different. A mother literally has the child as part of her body for nine months; for fathers, the connection becomes real when the child is born. By then, the mother has spent months sharing a heartbeat, and if you believe in that sort of thing, a soul with that baby. Fathers learn to love a child; mothers love the child as they love themselves.

That's why some mothers fail to be good mothers: not because they lack a connection to the child, but because they don't love themselves enough. Biological fathers may have more "reasons" (and they are all excuses, anyway) for not loving a child, and yet stepping up and being a father is just as important as being a mother. That so many men fail to do so is an indictment of Our society.

Over the years, I've worried about how I'm doing as a father. I berate Myself for missing a cue, for over-reacting, for not reacting enough, for being short-tempered or for being too patient. Time and time again people have told Me they think I'm a good father, even a great one, but the concern still weighs on Me: Am I? Can I be? Will I ever be?

Yet, on rare occasions, when I'm alone with My thoughts, a part of Me looks at My son and at My nephews, the boys I spent so much time with, and a small voice in My head says: "You're doing good. Keep it up."

I wish that voice would stick around a little longer. Barring that, I thank Raúl and the collaborators at Papá Héroes for bringing good Dads together and letting them--Us--share what it is to be a father.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

(Not) Making Our Move

Here's what We need to do to get rid of the pig-fools and create a true democracy:

1) Knowledge of how we are getting screwed;
2) Pragmatic tactics, strategies, and solutions; and
3) The “energy to do battle.”

Taken from this article by Bruce Levine, in AlterNet, these steps are aimed at the lack of democracy in what was once the "Bastion of Democracy," the U.S. of part of A., but they apply equally well here on My Island.

Levine believes that the knowledge of how the people of the U.S. of part of A. are getting screwed, while not exactly widespread, has numbers larger than the group aware of tactics, strategies and solutions. Because he works for an alternative news site, cleverly called AlterNet, he's part of the "solution" to the lack of knowledge, swims in those waters and sees the lack of action based on the information pool he feeds as a matter of "scanty tactics and low energy."

Maybe so, in the U.S. of part of A. But here in My Patch of Green, the lack falls squarely in the category of "knowledge of how We're getting screwed." We don't know how it's happening, and except for when it touches Us directly, We don't care. "We don't care" is easy to define once "We don't know" is explained. So, okay Jenius, why don't We know?

--The media: Our media is as informative a group of people as fat cells are capable of thought. (Go ahead, parse it. I'll wait.) If it requires thought, they can't handle it, so they don't. If it requires confrontation--based on character and ethics instead of sensationalism--they can't manage it, so they don't. And if it requires courage...well, they don't have any.

--Government: Yeah, yeah, yeah, the source of all blames. Pifflegab. Here's the thing: We elect a good chunk of it. So when a mealy-mouthed wimp of a (non)governor places a snaky-assed weasel in charge of the power company and let's the snaky-assed weasel lie, lie and baldly lie about what's happening with the electric bill--rewarding said snaky-assed weasel with over $320,000 in salary and benefits--and that fact is buried under several other political scandals of varying degrees, then yes, the government is at fault for running reckless and saying nothing.

--Us: Of course, Us. Who else? It's Our house and Our people and Our problems and Our responsibility to come up with solutions to save Our asses. Waiting for Superman, the cavalry or Godot to fix Our morass isn't getting Us anywhere. If We don't fix it, We don't get fixed. Pure and simple.

Now where are the alternative news sources needed to illuminate Our darkened minds? Well, there are...none. Yes, there is a Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, a Center for Investigative Journalism, but they tackle very few stories and get little traction for them. Oh, and what's on the home page of their website right now: a story on 9/11. Yeah, that illuminates a lot about Our problems.

It might be a lack of numbers. With 300 million citizens, the U.S. of part of A. can rely on a measly 0.00001% of its population--3,000 contributors--to create an alternative news industry, leveraged by the power of the Internet for enormous reach (exceeding 83% penetration or roughly 250 million people.) In Puerto Rico, 0.00001% equals 40 of Us, leveraged by an Internet with a penetration rate of roughly 55% (no, it isn't any higher and I'm being generous with 55%; could be closer to 45%) reaching barely 2.2 million people...IF We had the 40 contributors and IF they wrote about topics that could galvanize Our interest. (And no, that list doesn't include "9/11".)

And Let's face it: Our interest level is piqued more by a senator's ass or a senatorial aide's ass than by the fact that We're getting screwed in the...abstract. And concretely. Every day. Yes, We lack the knowledge of how it's done, though several of Us, mainly in blogs, try to educate the masses. Yes, We lack the tactics and whatnot to make an effective protest become a resistance movement. Twitter--by itself--is not an action verb that changes history. And when it comes to energy, Our "revolutionary movements" have a long history of petering out in a few hours (shopping in Plaza Las Americas, anyone?), or at most a day, when "token authority" is exercised ("Whimper de Lares", anyone?)

The takeaway: there's plenty of work to be done to convert this oligarchic orgy of nation rape into a semblance of democracy. But as the joke goes, what are the definitiosn of "ignorance" and "arrogance"?

I don't know and I don't care.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

[Update: 20 September 2011: And then this shows up on My Twitter feed: How to Use Twitter to Organize and Manage a Protest. Don't say I'm not helping Us make Our move or that I'm rigidly dogmatic about My opinions...]

Non-Random Thoughts...Again

Thanks to Janine Mendes-Franco for selecting My post about Our police being gutted by the Federal Department of Justice report, pairing Me with a related post over at Dondequiera. Nice.


--My Pittsburgh Pirates lost their 82nd game of the year, extending their record losing-season streak to 19. The damn thing is old enough to vote. They were in first place as late as July 20th, and it all seemed to come crashing down when they lost a 19-inning game to the Braves on a blown call at the plate. Maybe that wasn't it, but the Buckos went into a severe tailspin. Add to that My Steelers getting clobbered 35-7 by the Ravens and this week has been a disaster for Jenius sports favorites.

--The local Electrical Power Authority has refused to make the fuel charge adjustment it normally makes, thus keeping Our electrical bills higher than they should be. The purpose: to force Us to accept the GasoDildo as the "solution" to high energy costs. Here's two simple solutions: scale back the subsidies granted to private companies here and to people living in housing projects. Corporations can get as much as 50% and some apartments in housing projects get capped at $30 max for running air conditioners all day. The only folks who should get the subsidy are those for whom medical equipment is needed, and even then it should be capped at $90-$100 to avoid the huge abuse We have.

--Under any objective measure, there is no doubt that the most corrupt party in Puerto Rico is the New Progressive Party. It's not the only corrupt party (PDP and PIP. anyone?), but the depths of moral and ethical ineptitude are deeper in the party founded by a reckless opportunist who backed into power without a single cohesive plan beyond "We won?!". I bring this up to let you know I'll be going back to the topic in an upcoming post. But for now, let's crown the NPP and its statehood-supporting weasels the Toilet Seat Crown of Shit-Headed Corruption.

--Is it surprising that the national media in the U.S. of part of A. made a big splash about welfare and federal aid recipients having to take drug tests (and only 2% tested positive), while here on My Island the media and Fools have kept coffin-quiet about the whole thing? How come We don't hear about this?

--Two recent crimes involving folks from the west side of the Island (My side) generated a lot of heat: two young volleyball prospects, lifelong  friends, were gunned down in front of a popular pub in San Juan and an engineer was decapitated by two younger relatives, his head placed on the kitchen counter, surrounded by family pictures. Three men dead and there's much wailing; only some of it is honest. In a country where over a thousand people will be killed, some of them women at the hands of "lovers," We gnash Our teeth at three men dead. Yes, their deaths were tragic and horrifying, but almost all violent deaths are. What makes these three stand out is that they didn't happen in the streets, where death is "acceptable" to Us. They literally hit closer to home: a bar and an actual home. Yeah, all of a sudden when the violence comes off the streets and into Our "safe" places, then We act all prissy about it. Until then, the blood runs like a river through Our streets...and We don't really care. And yes, I've said it before, but it bears repeating until most of Us get it.

The Jenius Has Spoken.

Dam(n) Stupidity

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My house was flooded again. Now I know I could live someplace else; that's not the point. The point is that I like this house, I like the neighborhood, the neighborhood likes Me and the problem--flooding--is not some natural aspect of where I live, but a problem created by stupidity. Fucking stupidity.

Here's the photographic sequence, with times:

8:34 AM: After barely 95 minutes of rain, some of it heavy, but nowhere near the amount other parts of My Island received, the water's coming up to the level of My balcony. A school bus becomes a rescue vehicle spewing oil and diesel into waters that are either in people's houses or about to flood them. Only two people were inside the vehicle at this point: the driver and a young man who opened the widow and asked Me if I was leaving the house. Seeing as how he might have been a city employee, I chose not to let him steal My stuff. (Yeah, I said it.)

8:57 AM: The water flooded into My house at 8:39 AM. After checking to make sure I had secured what I could from water damage, I called My Mom to update her and wish her a Happy Birthday. (Priorities, people.) As We talk, I notice the water in My house is flowing outward, which made Me think that water was coming in from behind the house, adjacent to the large drainage canal. A quick check proved that idea wrong. The water was flowing out of the house because all the water in the street was flowing away. I took this picture of why that happened.

8:59 AM: The water on My street was there because the drainage project being built (that started just before the storm season) had created a dam--a fucking dam--to stop the water from flowing out and away from the street. Made from rubble (dirt, sand, gravel, rocks) it held back the rainfall, rising high because--once again--the drainage system was blocked. The whole idea of this project is to STOP THE FUCKING FLOODING. Instead, they actually MAKE THE FUCKING FLOOD HAPPEN.

Here's the proof: a picture taken at 3:17 PM, after My Sister, My Nephews, Mrs. Jenius and I had pretty much cleaned the house enough to make it comfortable. Note the rubble dam. The narrow canal to the right drains water from the other side of My neighborhood, with the water flowing to the bottom right corner of the picture. At one point, after the fucking dam gave way, the flow was so strong it carried away 50-gallon trashcans full of garbage. A flow that strong was needed to create outflow from My house, and would rain the street quickly.

9:37 AM: Although it was still raining lightly, and would rain more during the day, the street was clear of water. Draining the entire flooded area took 43 minutes and if it had happened 9 minutes sooner, My house would not have had 2 inches of water lapping at the walls. If I had known that fucking dam was there, I would have removed enough of it to avoid the damage. And if I see it again, I will. Fuck the contractor. Fuck the city government. Their stupidity and finger-pointing to avoid responsibility needs to be slapped. Hard.

Storm season ends in October, possibly early November. According to workers on this site, the drainage system--whatever it ends up being--is scheduled for completion in mid-November...or maybe closer to Christmas.

Stormwatch, anyone?


The Jenius Has Spoken.

Il Castrao's (Dead) Body Of Evidence

Let's hold Our noses pinched shut for a while as We take a closer look at the maggoty corpse of one Jorge "Il Castrao" Castro, the emasculated poster boy for really really stupid people who have the sheer unmitigated gall of thinking they are actually of average intelligence. And We will take this time for one simple reason: he is proving Me right.

Proof-in-the-pudding here.


Now, I don't need the support of someone beneath the contempt of an anal parasite, a noted liar, crook and weasel-faced con man with the morals of a pedophilic priest. But I caught a boatload of crap from some people--and you know who you are--for stating the following:

1) That the Il Castrao investigation was so huge (over 13,000 pieces of evidence) because it was also aimed at other targets.

2) That the targets of the investigation included current secretar(iat) of state, one Kenneth "Whinny Neigh" McClintock.

3) That an "ABC corruption scheme" was in place, with the "Alpha" being behind the ABC.

4) That the media is complicit, to wit, that the stranglehold the Ferré family has on newspapers is an obstacle to Our progress.

Now I am used to getting criticized for some of the things I write here. I actually look forward to it. Makes Me smile. But on the above topics, I got more than My usual (small) share of vitriol: I got it in waves. In fact, because of My intransigence on these positions, four people stopped talking to Me. Dropped Me like a leprous skunk. Haven't missed them...

...Until today. For according to the NotiCel proof-in-the-pudding, lawyers for Il Castrao are claiming that:

-- Evidence (testimony) against ex-senate president Kenny "Whinny Ninny", er, "Whinny Neigh" McClintock, (non)governor Luis "The Larva" Fortuño, ex-representatives and business leaders was given to the local Justice Department in 2008, but the prosecutors only went after Il Castrao. (Points 1 and 2.)

-- Amongst the business leaders named: one Antonio "Stick a Fork In It" Ferré, owner of the newspapers El Nuevo Día, Primera Hora and a double-handful of regional papers.  (Point 4.)

-- The extensive bribery and payoffs scheme's outlines, according to Il Castrao's testimony, includes The Larva as what can be called "the shadow in the background," or more briefly, an alpha for an ABC. (Points 1, 2 and 3.)


So here's My last word to the vitriol-spewing ex-friends of Mon Jenius: Suck it. 

Now is it possible that Il Castrao, knowing that his ass is grass, is lying, trying like hell to blame everyone he can think of to save his miserable skin? Yes, it is possible...in the same way it is possible that the Sun could be made of Philippine fondue cheese. For you see, Il Castrao, still facing tax evasion charges, gains nothing by lying, but can exact a measure of revenge for pushing the truth.

Let's see how much vitriol I get for stating that position.

I bet none.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

Protection, Integrity...Gutted

"Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD)'s motto, Proteccion, Integridad ("Protection, Integrity"), showcases these responsibilities and sets out PRPD's vision for ensuring the safety of the people of Puerto Rico while adhering to the highest professional, ethical, and legal standards. Unfortunately, far too many PRPD officers have broken their oath to uphold the rule of law, as they have been responsible for acts of crime and corruption and have routinely violated the constitutional rights of the residents of Puerto Rico. These officers have frequently subjected the very people they swore to protect to unreasonable force and unlawful searches and seizures. In addition, when faced with public demonstrations, PRPD relies on tactics that violate the free speech rights of demonstrators and the press.  

PRPD attacking protester, January 13, 2011 -  NewsObserver.com

The patterns and practices of civil rights violations we identified are profound. They are the result of chronic institutional and systemic deficiencies that directly contribute to repeated violations of the Constitution and federal law. PRPD does not currently provide its officers with sufficient or appropriate training, guidance, discipline, or supervision. As a result, PRPD both fails to equip its officers with the necessary skills to effectively serve the public and address officer misconduct in a timely or effective manner. Outdated policies and ineffective external oversight exacerbate PRPD's failure to ensure constitutional policing and contribute to continuing violations that erode the public's confidence in its efforts.  

To date, Puerto Rico has failed to adequately address the causes that contribute to both its unconstitutional law enforcement and ineffective policing. Puerto Rico must act decisively, transparently, and immediately to restore the public's trust and correct PRPD's pattern of unconstitutional policing. We have outlined the minimum measures necessary to remedy PRPD's pattern of constitutional violations. Implementing these steps, with the oversight of the federal courts, will place PRPD on the path to lasting reform and permit PRPD to meet its public safety challenges while respecting the constitutional rights of the people of Puerto Rico."

Here's the link to the full Department of Justice report, courtesy of the New York Times. The quote above is from page 111, the Conclusion to the report.

Allow Me to point out the salient phrase of this lengthy quote: the U.S. of part of A. Justice Department is recommending--with the force of law behind it--that the federal courts monitor the Puerto Rico Police Department. This comes after a very detailed, 133-item suggestion list, practically eviscerates the PRPD, laying out such a lengthy laundry list of "fix this" points that it amounts to a judgment of "'Cuz you are broke all over."

FBI arrests Puerto Rico police officers -- Reuters Photo

Last October, 90 members of the PRPD were arrested, by the FBI. I wrote at the time:

"We've lost the ability to police Ourselves, pun fucking intended. We're no longer a healthy society, capable of fighting off infection: We're sick, diseased and without outside help, We'd simply get worse. How's that for "Yo soy boricua" pride?...

...To be clear, this is not a case of "federal" vs. "local," or "American" vs. "boricua" or much less "oppressor" vs. "oppressed": it is a case of an "outside enforcer" doing what the "on-site enfeebled" can no longer do. It is a case of the proactive actor doing what the pathetic patient can't do... or won't. 

While We rearrange things to keep kids from learning and super-size the happiness levels of Our triple-handful of freeloaders, Let's notice--if only in passing--that We are losing Our society's ability to act in an adult, mature and self-responsible way, to the point where We don't give a cop's corrupt ass that it takes outsiders to do it."

Now We're being told--again--"You can't police yourselves." Pun fucking intended.

Damn it.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

[Update: 23 September 2011: The Federal Justice Department prepares to file suit seeking to appoint a federal-level monitor to supervise the changes in the PRPD.]

[Update: 5 October 2011: From The New York Times, an article on how the PRPD grossly manipulated crime statistics so that the Superintendent and his Larval boss could lie with bald faces and claim that the crime rate had dropped.]

"Animal Farm": The Musical

After dealing with a naked asshole--and his pictures of it--yes, I took a break. And discovered a new ad campaign that has the makings of either sheer chutzpah, satanic cynicism or loopy insanity.

The campaign features the legendary salsa group El Gran Combo (50+ years of international stardom), singing one of their many hits, but with the lyrics rewritten. The original version sings about living "the great life", doing nothing and having fun. The title of the song is "No hago más ná'"--I don't do anything else. The new lyrics now sing about working hard and "moving forward, never backward."

The campaign, backed by notorious economic sumphole Banco Popular, asks viewers to call in and request the song so as to make it...popular. They actually imply in the ad that a song--and by extension, that their reworked song--can change a society

I sh--kid you not.

Take a stroll through The Jenius' posts, or a daily local puppy-trainer rag We call newspaper and you'll quickly come to the conclusion that We are neck-deep in problems. Serious problems. Problems that go way back to before "No hago más ná'" captured Our fondest wish and made it danceable. We are so deep into these problems that a whole host of vermin have come up to feed on them, to literally stake their lives on them, to entrench themselves in the sewage and thrive on it, while deep in their miniscule brains they fear being exposed to light, to having their feces-filled wallow drained so that others--more worthy and virtuous--can thrive better.

And Banco Popular is a massive slug in that vermin horde. (Paid back the TARP money, BP? Made the minimum percentage of loans to local clients, BP? Stopped using The Larva's wife's law firm as your principal mortgage legal advisors, BP? Got your stock back up over a dollar a share, penny-stupid and dollar-useless BP?)

Now here's the thing: this campaign is nothing new. And all it does is lend credence to a conclusion I stated in 2001 in My columns at PuertoRican.com com, and revisited in 2005 here in The Jenius. And because it applies so well, here it is again, the "Glee-ified" version of Our "Animal Farm":


Puerto Rican.com 008 – Week of 10 December 2001

Animal Farm
By Gil C. Schmidt

When I was a youngster, I overheard a man’s brief rant about “those in power” and how they had a “conspiracy” to keep Puerto Ricans ignorant, and thus, controllable. He pointed out how the educational system (this was in the late 1970s) was a mess, how the newspapers were written “for morons” and how politicians and others, “those in power”, kept manipulating “everything” to retain their grasp on the populace.

At the time, I thought he was crazy. A conspiracy? To keep people, as he said, “stupid”? A deliberate effort to not educate people? What was wrong with this guy? Hell, nobody seemed to be paying attention to him… Seemed to. For a little, insistent voice in my head was saying he might be right…and no one there was even trying to contradict him.

This was a small incident, but over the years, I’ve recalled it several times and mentioned it once before. The whole incident came roaring back when I saw the latest TV ad campaign and the title “Animal Farm” flashed into my head as the commercial ended.

The government (under Sila "Quitter" Calderón) has created a series of ads featuring business leaders encouraging effort, and now another series with “commoners”. (I only saw one, but I imagine there are at least one or two more) Their catch-line now is: “Adelante con Fuerza, Puerto Rico”. (Roughly: “Onward with Force/Strength/Energy, Puerto Rico.”) Supposedly common citizens urging their fellow citizens to make a greater effort. And all I could think of was the Horse, in “Animal Farm”.

George Orwell’s often heavy-handed fable of animals taking over a farm and creating a progressively-debased “utopia” is great reading. In it, the Horse is by far the strongest animal, capable of doing almost all of the necessary heavy work. But, his muscle is not matched by his brain. As things are going to pot on the Farm, his only comment and response is “I must work harder. I must work harder!” And so he does, with simple-minded, but poignantly noble strength. And while his muscles struggle, the Farm leaders--the Pigs--wallow in excess and create more chaos.

Oh, the parallels.

The reason I could never forget that man’s rant so long ago was the niggling feeling that maybe, maybe he was right. The points he made are still valid: The educational system is a mess, the media often does treat its audience as morons and what we see every week from our “leaders” has the acidly-sour taste of rampant manipulation in it.

• “Give them to me as children and I shall own them forever,” are words ascribed to Adolph Hitler.
• “The strongest protection of liberty is an educated people,” is ascribed to Thomas Jefferson.
• “Let him work harder!” is the Pigs’ implied response to the news that the Horse is struggling and dying.

And now, “Adelante con Fuerza, Puerto Rico”: Am I the only one who hears the subtext: “Work harder! It’s your fault! We have other—better!—things to do!” and the drunkenly-delighted cackle-grunts of the Pigs?

-------

I can't wait for the remix version of this musical, the Banco Popular production of "Ignore the screwing, just keep dancing! ¡Salsa de la buena!"

On second thought: Yes. I can.


The Jenius Has Spoken.