Excellent column Walter! I totally agree. Remember however that Jeremy Lin is not black nor is he white, he is Taiwanese! And he is an exception to the general rule as there will always be.

You are incorrect on so many levels! See the comments below. Many bright young people are avoiding careers in medicine like the plague. Taxes are only one reason. "Bigger bucks" you say. Physicians are constantly being threatened with 25-30% pay cuts for Medicare. Who would want to join that fray unless you had a true desire to help people because that is what physicians do.

Wow! What a great, postiive, pro-doctor column! At least you Chris now better understand what we face as physicians and surgeons. As a surgeon, I can easily agree with what you have written from personal experience. Like most physicians, I did not become a doctor to make a lot of money. I assumed that I would make a decent living and I do, but I still have to worry about how my children are going to be able to afford college. No financial aid here. You forgot to mention the fact that our incomes are not increasing. Our reimbursements are decreasing every year so we either get less or work more to try and make up the difference and every year we are threatened by Congress and Medicare with a payment decrease of 25-30%. Thus far...

Dennis, love ya man, but I almost saw this as satirical. Your argument falls apart when you mention the family of the victim. What happens when they want something different than the victim? As a former proponent of the death penalty and a born-again Christian, I have come to the understanding that death should be in God's hands, not mans'. Abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia are all wrong in God's eyes. It surprises me how many Pro-lifers are in favor of the death penalty (a la Rick Santorum). If it is wrong to cut off an arm for stealing how can it be appropriate to cut off a life?

I can understand "lawyers", but I am not sure what you mean by "chiefs", and as for doctors, who do you suggest care for the newly covered 30 million people who are now being given "insurance" through ObamaCare? Doctors provide a needed service, and those that adhere to the Hippocratic oath, do so for all.

I disagree with the premise that college athletes are not "paid". As a former college athlete, I may not have received a salary, but a portion of my education was "paid" for in the form of scholarship. Athletes receive immensely favorable living conditions and meals, also "paid" for. That is not to mention that most college athletes, myself included, would not want to change a single thing about the college sport experience. It may be the school of hard knocks but it does prepare one for the real world where now I actually do get paid and it is not for my athletic ability.

How about this question? Who wants the insane president of Iran to have access to nuclear weapons? The answer to your question and this question should be the same - NO ONE! That does not excuse the fact that it is a distinct possibility that needs to be considered. And by that I mean a nuclear capable Iran. If the current or any administration fails to consider multiple possibilities as well as contingencies and options in each case then they are foolish. If they do they are prudent! The chief responsibility of our president is to keep this country safe. That is also the chief responsibility of leaders of other countries as well such as Israel. For most that desire is a defensive one, but not all. Remember Hitler?

Your premise that "legalizing drugs is constitutional" is ridiculous. The constitution says nothing about driving 120 mph so that must be constitutional too! While I am in favor of limited government on both the state and federal levels, the federal and state laws that put limits on our choices are generally for the protection of the populace. Why start and stop with "medical" marijuana? What about heroin, cocaine, meth? This does not even begin to touch the issues related to the consideration of marijuana as a "drug". Every single prescription drug on the market is regulated by the FDA. Why should MJ be any different?

As a physician specialist I limit the number of Medicaid patients that I will see. One a day. Why? Because I make about 7.5 cents on the dollar to see and care for Medicaid patients. If your practice had a high proportion of Medicaid you could not even make ends meet. A majority of the primary care physicians will not see ANY Medicaid patients. Same reason. This was one of the fatal flaws in the "Patient Care Act" along with the mistaken notion that it would lower medical costs, save money, not be applied to illegal immigrants. Legislation with one fatal flaw should not be passed. This bill had at least four not to mention all the other little things that were either nonsense or just plain stupid that we got to read after.

And to imply that our national moral standard is better now than it was twenty years ago again based upon your statistics, I think that you would get a quite different response if you polled most Americans and asked them the simple question, "Do you believe that we are more or less moral as a society now than we were twenty years ago?" Most would obviously say "LESS" and I agree and so does Congressman Santorum! Unfortunately, this is exemplified most by our media of which you are a small part