Many of you received my tweets sent as President Obama addressed the AMA in Chicago.  Another highlight of the meeting was that it had gone “GREEN”.  We have all seen a lot of this recently and it was hyped extensively during the Democrat National Convention in Denver.

Basically, this greening indicates that the AMA will no longer send out these massive binders of paper resolutions, or printed programs and all business will be conducted electronically.  I am not denigrating the AMA or any other group that goes “green”.

Let me say unequivocally that I am not adverse to going electronic and using technology to create efficiencies and reduce costs.  I am opposed to the pretense that by using electronic media to avoid cutting down trees (which are renewable, replanted and absorb CO2), that we are more environmentally friendly and resourceful.

Let me explain.  The 3000 or more physician attendees were to bring laptops in order to access the resolutions while at the meeting. This required laptops to be plugged into an electrical outlet.  The heat generated by laptops or any computer is quite significant and that electricity must be generated from some source and the ballrooms accordingly must have enhanced cooling (think more A/C).

Currently, the least costly and most abundant source of electricity is coal generated.  Only 3% of our electricity is generated from solar and wind, and the Bush administration is responsible for doubling that productive capacity to 3%! It was less than 1.5%  a mere 8 years ago.

Now, some poor souls such as myself don’t own a laptop, and some elderly physicians don’t want to carry a laptop around the meeting. What do these neanderthals do?  We of course, print off the resolutions from home or office computers.  That too requires profound electricity usage and paper.  However, the cost to the AMA is greatly reduced and we save on shipping and the gasoline to deliver.

The last point is that all these laptops contain batteries.  These batteries are made with lithium and cobalt.  This is true of most batteries for new electronic gadgetry such as cell phones, i-pods and MP3 players.  These metals are limited in the environmental sense, and are in short supply.  Further, these metals are typically mined in third world countries (Congo) where child labor is extensively utilized.

I am glad that we are saving trees.  I was saddened when my older than 150 year cottonwood went down in the last storm.  

However, we need to use caution when assuming that going paperless is without environmental consequences, or human suffering.  Let us just be honest, not merely politically correct green!

I had another topic on which to blog, but my thoughts were altered after viewing the ongoing events in Iran.

By now, you have all seen the videos of Neda on YouTube or the news shows.  Wacthing this young 16 year old teenager get shot while walking in the street in Tehran is both horrifying and tremendously moving.  

We cannot state if this was friendly fire, the military, the Basij or the “alleged” Russians brought in by the current regime.  Perhaps she ventured into the streets because she was in support of the protesters, or it was exciting and she was caught up in the moment.  Perhaps she was bored and wanted to be part of the youth movement, or maybe her parents forbade her to go and in rebellion and defiance, she emerged from the safety of her home to join those in opposition of the current government.

I ask myself as I see these brave individuals, who have been ordered to remain indoors and whose government has attempted to cut off all contact with the outside world,  if I would have the same courage.  I am sure that they did not think initially that their lives would be at risk.

With the vast majority of the population under 30, they have been able to communicate with other countries through new technological media.  We are well aware that even if the election is considered invalid and repeated, the anti-western sentiment and nuclear ambitions of Iran may not change.  Nonetheless, I am praying and hoping for the safety of these protesters and I admire the principled stand they are making.

Would I have the moral courage to stand for our principles?  Martin Luther King said “Our lives begin to end the day we remain silent on things that matter.”  I hope this message goes out to these brave Iranians who have become our sisters and brothers in their struggle for the inalienable rights which are guaranteed to us by our constitution.

Allahu Akbar!  God is Great!

Those who know me are cognizant that my husband and I have been married close to 26 years.  Through this union we have conceived and raised two wonderful children, Jonathon and Taylor (boy and girl).  Throughout my teen years, I had presumed I would be unmarried and adopt as a single parent.  My father would even provide numerous clippings elucidating the difficulty of such an endeavor.

While stationed at Walter Reed, I literally ran into this handsome man I proclaimed to myself that I would one day marry.  He played  hard to get, but eventually succumbed to my tenacity.  Never have I made a better decision.

And a funny thing happened.  Even though I had thought that being a single parent was laudable and I, an independent female, was fully capable of rearing children by myself because of course, gender differences were merely societal aberrations, I learned that generations of cultures were correct.

The value my husband has added to our family is immeasurable!  Generally, the sexes are different and it is not merely an imposition of the traditional culture.  Our brains work differently.  I was a tremendous tom-boy and could hit a ball better than most boys.  I even wanted to be a boy!  But my husband and I responded to things in ways I had never imagined.

He has been stalwart yet funny, steady by unpredictable, responsible but spontaneous and always the person to whom my children and other children could admire and trust.  He has been the rock when I was depressed, “cranky” but always dependable and more strict than I when we all needed it the most.  Our son’s friends call him “the Colonel” to this day and he shows his guns to the boys/men our daughter brings home for us to meet. 

He trusted in his instincts and his upbringing in the poorest of circumstances in North Carolina and brought these values to our family. He prodded me to register the children in religious education (I procrastinate) even though my Mother thought he was an agnostic when we married since he didn’t follow a particular religion.

Although he did not always attend church with me (I never forced or cajoled that he convert to Catholicism), he always made sure that one of us took the children to church.  His integrity is beyond reproach and like the men of old, if he gives you his hand in agreement, you need not a written contract.  He is strong where he needs to be, and sensitive beyond imagination.  He braided our young daughter’s hair and cried when our son left for college.

When you have 5 girls of 8 children, you as a parent are always concerned that one of them will become pregnant out of wedlock.  We were well schooled in abstinence, but my mother would often say “if your gonna have sex with someone, pick someone that will be a good father.”  I know this is shocking to some of you that she would say this, but she was realistic and in her way trying to help us.

My Mom would also say that I did exactly that.  I married a man who would be and is a wonderful father.  The value men bring to a family is overlooked and underestimated.  He is our anchor, a tough role to play and perhaps a burden.  He does not go unappreciated or unnoticed, but I am sure he does not get the recognition he deserves.

Except tonight–his son took him to a world wide wrestling event in Des Moines.

I have just returned from Chicago where I attended the AMA meeting.  I tweeted throughout President Obama’s speech and you may have received the updates on twitter or facebook.  I have wanted to comment on the events in Iran, but it is difficult to do on a public computer surrounded by people and having to stand while you type.

So although I am very tired, I want to address the current unfolding protests occurring after the elections in Iran.  Last year, I was privileged to speak with a group of physicians who emigrated from the Middle East who had questions about Republican positions and to who wanted to express their sentiments regarding the war in Iraq and policies of the previous administration.  I was honored to be able to dialogue with them.

During this exchange, they inquired my assessment of Iran.  Unasked was whether I thought military intervention would be forthcoming.  I replied that given my understanding of the political climate, economic malaise, and importation of refined fuel despite being an oil exporter,  that if we merely supported the youth of Iran, they  would institute their own governmental reform.

It appears that this has come to pass but the contract of the Iranian people with the theocratic supreme leader has been violated. Democracy in Iran does not have to look like that in the  United States.  Iranian citizens accept a government based on Islamic law and with mullahs in control.  In exchange, the mullahs agree to put forth several pre-approved candidates for selection by the people and none are particularly pro-western.

 In this past week’s election, Iranians believe that even though they voted for one of the acceptable candidates, their votes were discarded.  This is a betrayal and refutation of the contract of the Iranian people and the supreme council.  I sense a heightened distrust between the two.  And the response of the U.S. has been tepid at best.  Remember, that Iranians living here in the United States could also vote, and they traveled hours to voting places to do so.

Let me say unequivocally:  WE stand in SOLIDARITY with all people who desire freedom and peaceful resolution of conflict.  We will not meddle in free, fair and valid elections.  We STAND side by side with those who promote basic human rights through the electoral process and ask for the safety of all candidates.

I recall vividly the monks in Myanmar and a student standing before a tank in Tianenmen Square.  It seems that our souls long for freedom and that it is a universal desire.  Were our own struggles for self determination so long ago that we cannot “feel” the angst of those in Iran?

Hope is not relegated only to Americans.  All nations, all races, all religions, all economic backgrounds from hovels to castles, all the infirmed to the healthy, all people OWN HOPE.

Friday night I drove to Chicago to attend the annual AMA meeting.  I was surprised to learn that not everyone understands this acronym.

AMA stands for the American Medical Association.  It is the largest physician group in our country, but by no means the only group.  For instance, I also belong to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, commonly referred to as the AAO.

The mission of the various groups may overlap, but are disparate as well.  As a specialist, I receive most of my continuing education through the AAO or the Association of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons.  I do advocacy work with the AAO,  present lectures, teach, evaluate and test new equipment, procure instruction in new surgical techniques and network with other ophthalmologists and friends with whom I trained and who I trained.

The AMA, however is like the parent organization.  Rather than incorporating a single speciality, it gathers all physicians of all stripes under one roof.  The educational offerings are much different and focused on issues pertinent to all physicians.

For instance, several years ago, they had a symposium on nanotechnology. It was fascinating.  In other years, the AMA focused on panel presentations on reforming health care and the various types of payment systems, including universal single payer, government controlled.

I was very proud of the press release two days ago indicating that the AMA did not support a separate public option for health care reform.  It will not lower costs and will lead to a goverment controlled univeral system.

We can have accessibility for everyone, portability, affordability, innovation and promote personal responsibility for healthy lifestyles through a different system which will permit us to continue offering the best health care in the world.

That’s a lifestly choice I can live with!