The average American adult, most doctors agree, should get an annual medical checkup. Indeed, many insurance companies won't reimburse cardholders unless they wait 12 months between exams.
That said, the Government Accountability Office is critical this week of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for "not administering a mandatory 14-day physical exam to approximately 260 detainees" and "not administering medical screenings immediately upon admission" to federal detention centers.
"One facility had sick-call request forms that were available only in English, whereas the population was largely Spanish-speaking," the GAO notes. "Another did not maintain alien medical records on site. One facility's staff failed to obtain informed consent from the detainee when prescribing psychiatric medication. Finally, another facility did not have medical staff on site to screen detainees arriving after 5 p.m."
The GAO said it observed instances of noncompliance with ICE medical care standards at three of the 23 detention facilities visited. On the other hand, GAO says, it "observed instances where detainees were receiving specialized care at the facilities visited."
Warner or Webb
Bill O'Reilly of the Fox News Channel is putting his money on former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner to become presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's vice-presidential pick.
"I think it's going to be Warner in Virginia," the talk-show host predicted during Wednesday night's broadcast of "The O'Reilly Factor," even though Mr. Warner, a resident of Old Town Alexandria, is his party's U.S. Senate candidate to fill the seat of retiring Republican Sen. John Warner.
Popular on both sides of the aisle while governor, the fiscally minded Mr. Warner briefly considered running for president in 2008, then abruptly bowed out, citing family reasons.
If Mr. Obama does not select Mr. Warner, then Mr. O'Reilly guesses he will tap another Virginia Democrat, Sen. Jim Webb, who was Navy secretary under President Reagan and, we might recall, led the fight in 1982 for including a black soldier in the statue of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
"I'm going to go with a Virginia guy -- either Warner or Webb," said Mr. O'Reilly.
Fear Felix
We had to laugh at Rep. Ted Poe of Texas when trying to make sense of what energy can be produced from the Texas landscape.
The Republican congressman recalled that the dusty plains of western Texas were once home to thousands of oil derricks until such time environmentalists replaced them with clean-turning windmills.
"Texas is the wind energy capital of North America, supplying power to over 1 million homes," an impressed Mr. Poe pointed out. "But now the environmental-fear lobby wants to stop these turbines because they may pose a threat to bats and birds."
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