The life and art of Kimberly Green

Last week, I wrote a well-received blog on Kimberly Green, a woman who's suffering from stage 4 breast cancer, but nonetheless has sacrificed so much of herself to give to so many others.

I was particularly impressed with her organization, the Green Family Foundation, and the work it's done in Haiti with the Clinton Global Initiative and President Clinton. I saw the pictures of the kind of work her foundation performs, and I saw the close relationship the organization has had with Clinton in bringing health care to a health-ravaged nation.

What bugged me was when I did a Google search of Kimberly's work, and I did an additional search of her foundation's association with Clinton. I came up with next-to-nothing.

This blog entry is an attempt to bring it all together. Below are clips of a slideshow I put together that includes clips of the foundation's work in Haiti. The show is accompanied by a voice-over narration of my blog post from last week, spoken by me.

This is an all-attempt to get the Internet to recognize the good work that these people do. This is also an attempt to show that the work the foundation does isn't done in a vacuum. It's attracting help from the most powerful people in the world.

It's time to recognize the Green Foundation for what it is and what it has done.





NOTE: The Green Family Foundation has a Facebook page that can be found here.

Bloggers beware?

What you're about to read was written by me.

All the tools and labor were paid by me.

The advertisers? I probably pay more to have them on my blog than they pay me.

Free products? Scroll down and look at my suit. Do I look like I was outfitted by Starbucks or the Wisconsin Cheeseman (two of my sponsors)?

Have I disclosed enough?

It's hard to say. To the Federal Trade Commission, it may not be.

The Federal Trade Commission is planning to crack down on bloggers who review or promote products while earning freebies or payments. The new rules are scheduled to take effect Dec. 1.

An existing FTC rule that states product reviewers must reveal any connection they have with advertisers was extended to bloggers, according to news reports.

The rules carry a fine as high as $11,000 if product endorsers and reviewers don't comply.

This would, for the first time, bring bloggers under FTC guidelines that ban allegedly deceptive or unfair business practices, according to news reports.

The guidelines, of course, will be hard to enforce, and the FTC admits this. No new personnel would be hired to handle the new responsibilities, and there are thousands - maybe millions - of bloggers to watch after.

One FTC administrator put it best when he said the rule extension could create a "whack-a-mole enforcement" scenario in which the agency goes after only those who blatantly disregard the rules.

Or it'll go after those sites that get a lot of traffic - and there aren't many of those. Most bloggers get less traffic than I do. We all have dreams that, someday, we can turn what we do into a Drudge Report or Huffington Post for our specialty. More often than not, however, that doesn't happen.

To the FTC, the rules would allow the agency to go after bloggers for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest, according to news reports.

The rules could be quite strict, even extending to the practice of affiliate links - for example, a music blogger who links to a song on Amazon MP3 or iTunes that earns an affiliate commission in the process, according to the Associated Press.

From my vantage point, the rules are a double-edged sword. It's fair for the consumer to know if a blogger is working as an agent for an industry or a company.

Truth - or, as Bob Woodward said, the most obtainable version of it - always wins out over lies and deception. High profile bloggers could ruin their credibility - much like reporters would - if the consumer were to later learn that they're on the side of the seller... not the buyer.

But I'm also a civil libertarian. Besides the obvious free-speech concerns I have, I feel that it's unfair for bloggers to be singled out for something that the so-called mainstream media does all the time.

Why shouldn't Greta Van Susteren disclose that her husband performs consulting work, among many things, for Sarah Palin whenever she provides an always too-gentle profile on the former Alaska governor?

For the average blogger, however, all those issues are irrelevant. Only people with big pockets would be able to challenge the rules in court. They will go into effect, and there is little anybody can do - short of a Bill Gates - to stop it.

The biggest question is what should bloggers do now. Providing a disclosure statement may be difficult for the First Amendment defender who views the FTC's actions as an intrusion on free speech.

In practice, however, adding a simple disclosure statement at the bottom of a post (if that's what the FTC considers a legitimate form of disclosure) should be no different than a political advertiser adding a line from its promoted candidate - "this is so-and-so, and I approve this message" - at the end of a television or radio commercial.

Perhaps advertisers will feel that this disclosure will discredit their message. But, as always, truth should always be the goal.

Nikon can do business with a blogger - and have the blogger write a complementary article on a camera that was provided by the company. The entry should have a disclosure statement, sure. But the disclosure shouldn't matter to the reader if the blog post includes testimony from a Nikon user - perhaps a newspaper or magazine photographer - who has a credible reputation and whose opinions are rarely disputed.

Will the disclosure matter if the blog post carries a slideshow of high-resolution Nikon photographs that are clearly better than what a Cannon camera can provide?

As a Nikon user who hasn't gotten a freebie, I would be glad to oblige.

Behind every gun is a story

President Obama says we shouldn't jump to conclusions about the shooting deaths at Fort Hood. It's understandable, however, what many people's first impulses might be.

There is anger. There were calls of revenge. Worse yet, however, there are feelings of deceit.

The man who is suspected to be responsible for the killings was a psychiatrist.

This, as a result, is more than a case of potential post-traumatic stress disorder. The very kind of person who is responsible for healing the minds of beleaguered troops who have been shuffled in-and-out of war zones could do nothing to heal himself.

But it also shows that the toll of war has gone far beyond the battlefield. Casualties no longer are the "grunts," the enlisted men and women who have seen their lives turned upside-down over the past seven years. They're also the officers, the handlers and, finally, the medical practitioners who have not only suffered personally, but also suffered as a result of their work.

There is a human side to war, and it was, perhaps, best captured by a New York Times piece published this past week. We often hear of evil when we hear death and war and casualties. But behind every gun is a life.

From The New York Times:

Born and reared in Virginia, the son of immigrant parents from a small Palestinian town near Jerusalem, he joined the Army right out of high school, against his parents’ wishes. The Army, in turn, put him through college and then medical school, where he trained to be a psychiatrist.

But Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the 39-year-old man accused of Thursday’s mass shooting at Fort Hood, Tex., began having second thoughts about a military career a few years ago after other soldiers harassed him for being a Muslim, he told relatives in Virginia.

He had also more recently expressed deep concerns about being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan. Having counseled scores of returning soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, first at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and more recently at Fort Hood, he knew all too well the terrifying realities of war, said a cousin, Nader Hasan.

“He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy,” Mr. Hasan said. “He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over there.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier became aware of Internet postings by a man calling himself Nidal Hasan, a law enforcement official said. The postings discussed suicide bombings favorably, but the investigators were not clear whether the writer was Major Hasan.

In one posting on the Web site Scribd, a man named Nidal Hasan compared the heroism of a soldier who throws himself on a grenade to protect fellow soldiers to suicide bombers who sacrifice themselves to protect Muslims.

“If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory,” the man wrote. It could not be confirmed, however, that the writer was Major Hasan.

Major Hasan was wounded and taken into custody by the Fort Hood police after the shooting rampage, in which 12 people were killed and at least 31 others were wounded.

Though Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas reported that Major Hasan was to be deployed this month, that could not be confirmed with the Army on Thursday night.

Nader Hasan said his cousin never mentioned in recent phone calls to Virginia that he was going to be deployed, and he said the family was shocked when it heard the news on television on Thursday afternoon.

“He was doing everything he could to avoid that,” Mr. Hasan said. “He wanted to do whatever he could within the rules to make sure he wouldn’t go over.”

Some years ago, that included retaining a lawyer and asking if he could get out of the Army before his contract was up, because of the harassment he had received as a Muslim. But Nader Hasan said the lawyer had told his cousin that even if he paid the Army back for his education, it would not allow him to leave before his commitment was up.

“I think he gave up that fight and was just doing his time,” Mr. Hasan said.

Nader Hasan said his cousin’s parents had both been American citizens who owned businesses, including restaurants and a store, in Roanoke, Va. He declined to confirm reports that they were Jordanian but said the parents, who are both dead, had immigrated from a small town near Jerusalem many years ago.

His mother’s obituary, in The Roanoke Times in 2001, said she was born in Palestine in 1952. It described her as a restaurant owner “known for her ability to keep sometimes rowdy customers out of trouble and always had a warm meal for someone who otherwise would not have anything to eat that evening.”

Records show that Major Hasan received an undergraduate degree at Virginia Tech and a medical degree at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. He did a residency at Walter Reed Medical Center and worked there for years before a transfer to the Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood this year.

Major Hasan had two brothers, one in Virginia and another in Jerusalem, his cousin said. The family, by and large, prospered in the United States, Mr. Hasan said.

The former imam at a Silver Spring, Md., mosque where Major Hasan worshiped for about 10 years described him as proud of his work in the Army and “very serious about his religion.” The former imam, Faizul Khan, said that Major Hasan had wanted to marry an equally religious woman but that his efforts to find one had failed.

“He wanted a woman who prayed five times a day and wears a hijab, and maybe the women he met were not complying with those things,” the former imam said.

Mr. Hasan, 40, a lawyer in Virginia, described his cousin as a respectful, hard-working man who had devoted himself to his parents and his career.

Mr. Hasan said his cousin became more devout after his parents died in 1998 and 2001.

“His parents didn’t want him to go into the military,” Mr. Hasan said. “He said, ‘No, I was born and raised here, I’m going to do my duty to the country.’ ”

What can be done about health care?

If you don't understand health care, then maybe you should see somebody who is sick.

Like Kimberly Green.

She's had breast cancer for more than three years. Her treatment costs $6,000 a month. Without it, she said, "I would die."

Myself, Kimberly, some fellow bloggers and health practitioners got together a few weeks ago to talk to her, and to talk about her.

But we also talked about a health care system that's broken. Tens of millions of people are without health insurance, all lacking what she's got that's kept her alive.

As much as we wanted to know about Kimberly, we acted as though we were going to solve this health-care problem ourselves, and we hoped to solve it within a 90-minute span. We didn't get there, but at least we had a healthy dialogue that - if the Obama administration is listening - produced some ideas for finally getting efforts to pass health care reform off the dime.

Click on the below photo to get a glimpse of our Healthcare Reform Blogger Roundtable in New York City, and learn about how Kimberly's work with the Green Family Foundation that has emboldened her to be aware of her environment, and to not take life for granted.

Then, listen to what we have to say (I'm the one sitting against the wall with a tie).


NOTE: The Green Family Foundation has a Facebook page that can be found here.

Give her health insurance, or give her...

When it comes to health care, Kimberly Green doesn't get it.

Oh, don't think for a minute she doesn't know anything about sickness. She's had breast cancer for more than three years. She's had highs and lows, but she knows that wellness can only last for so long when you have stage 4 cancer.

Green - like much of the country - could be one health crisis away from financial ruin. What she doesn't get is why so many people just don't understand.

Her treatment costs $6,000 a month. Without it, she said, "I would die."

Green shakes her head when thinks about it. Tens of millions of people without health insurance, all lacking what she's got that's kept her alive.

Now, as the nation debates how to finally deliver health care to those who need it, Green isn't afraid to use herself - and her words - as a vehicle to convey a message that, she believes, much of the country still has a hard time understanding.

Give them treatment, she says. Or they will die.

"There are a lot of things that can help people, but these things should be available to everybody," Green said.

Green's family has understood this for a while. They have a foundation that's dedicated to improving global health and elevating socioeconomic conditions in impoverished countries.

The Green Family Foundation, a private, non-profit organization, has worked with the Clinton Global Initiative in benefiting Haiti. Just recently, the foundation committed more than $280,000 to improving villages and restoring the country's musical heritage. The foundation also provided a $10 million gift to Florida International University - including a state match - to fund a community medicine program.

Green, speaking at the foundation's Healthcare Reform Blogger Roundtable on Thursday, said her family's work has emboldened her to be aware of her environment, and to not take life for granted. She has made a number of trips to Haiti, appearing with former President Clinton in photos and seeing the worst that poverty can bring.

There, she once saw a woman whose breast was very enlarged. She knew it was breast cancer, but she asked one of the doctors: What will happen to that woman?

"It will be cut off," she said, recalling what the doctor told her. "She will die."

This is a life without health insurance, she realized. And it was the kind of image that inspired her - after her mother was diagnosed - to get a mammogram. Her cancer was diagnosed soon after, and she underwent treatments. She sorted through options until she found what worked best for her.

But when she thinks of the health care in the United States, she thinks of that woman. Costs are rising. Drugs are becoming less accessible. She's worried about how bad things can get. She wonders if we're not so far away from facing the same consequences.

In the United States, at least, many people like Green have choice. But many do not. How long?

"I don't know why it has to be this way," she said.

NOTE: The Green Family Foundation has a Facebook page that can be found here.

Bringing changes to the mind

Glenn Close, in a film directed by Ron Howard, has marked the launch of the "Bring Change 2 Mind" campaign, a nationwide effort to raise awareness about the toll of the stigma associated with mental illness in our communities.

Mental health professionals have partnered with Close and "Bring Change to Mind" to support their work against stigma, and to bring to the public the latest research on effective treatments for mental illness.

To usher in the launch of the campaign, Close has appeared on the following shows to discuss her involvement, and provide more details on how you can get involved: ABC's Good Morning America; ABC's The View; and MSNBC's Dr. Nancy Show.

More information is available here: http://bringchange2mind.org/index.php.

Hope isn't a dangerous thing

Every time I hear of more job losses, or I see more reports of a failing economy, I think back to when I was a kid, and I had dreams of being a best-selling book author by the age of 23. Or I was going to make enough money to buy the Mets and turn them into the Yankees, and spend my senior years in a box by the dugout, with my feet up on the orange Shea Stadium railing, admiring my World Series rings as they glistened in the Queens sunshine.

I was going to make enough money and give it to my brother, the scientist, so he could find a cure for my mother's obsessive behavior. I was going to buy a big house and have round-the-clock nursing care that would give her the relief and the medication she needed. And she would go along with it, of course, because this was only a dream.

Or maybe I was going to be president and run in the 2004 election, as an independent. I was going to get elected as the youngest president ever and solve everybody's problems, because I was independent.

I was going do it without the influence of money and greed, and I was going to resist the John-Edwards-like impulses of narcissism. I was going to run a country based on the same principles that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson wrote about in either the Federalist Papers or the Declaration of Independence.

I could have that dream because, I knew, as an American, I lived in a country where power is shared, not consolidated.

I knew that as an American, I was lucky, and good enough to be born in a country that didn't have poverty and disease like they have poverty and disease in Africa. I knew I could get a job, and I'd have an opportunity to live a life that was something close to my dreams, even if I didn't get everything that I wanted.

But with every bad thing coming out of Washington, and every little nasty political attack I hear on the radio or I see on television, and every bit of talk about credit and jobs drying up, I wonder if everything I hoped for was just that: a dream.

I wonder if I'll ever have anything close to not only what I not wanted, but what I expected. I always expected big things for myself, and I believed all the things my guidance counselors and my parents said about me. But when I look at my profession, and I see newspapers vaporizing, I sometimes wonder if it's a dream that's going to waste.

I have to stop myself, and remind myself that America, yes, is a land of dreams. But it's more a land of hope. I'm 42, and I could still live some or all of my dreams. Without hope, however, I never would have survived.

I never would been able to deal with the struggles I had early on, when I worked for The Delaware State News and a ring of reporters who were jealous of my salary conspired to get me fired. I never would have sought help when I needed it, and turned to a food pantry in 1990 because I couldn't afford to buy anything more than a 79-cent taco at Taco Bell for dinner.

I never would have maintained the friendships I've had, because I've always believed in the people I trust. Even when they've driven me crazy, I always knew there was good in them, and even if they did something wrong, their intentions were right.

I never would have been able to run five miles in 33 minutes and 26 seconds, as I did last week, despite being 42 and long past the prime of my athletic life.

I never would have raised the family I've raised, with an utterly tolerant, open-minded and beautiful wife who has been my saving grace. For that, I am not only hopeful. I'm thankful.

I'd like to think that, if this were 1989 again, and I had the opportunity to look into the future, I'd say I had a life worth living. I didn't know this then, but I know it now: I'll always have the strength and desire to live through the struggles, because I've done it before. As long I'm healthy - not just in body, but in spirit - I'll do it again.

Twenty years ago, on the day I graduated from Rutgers University, I started my first job. I piled my clothes in my back seat, rolled down the windows of my Dodge Dart and drove from New Brunswick to South Brunswick, N.J., with the hot sun rays shooting through the front windshield. I had no air conditioner, so I couldn't stop sweating. I had no FM radio so I couldn't really listen to music.

"Don't worry about it," I thought to myself. "It won't always be like this."

But a song kept repeating in my head, and its meaning was magnified with every pang of nausea I felt in my gut as I felt anxious about a career not yet started. I felt anxious about a newspaper industry that was taking it on the chin, just like it's taking it on the chin now.

Twenty years later, the song never really left, and every now and then, I still hear the strings of the acoustic guitar at the song's opening with every bit of bad news not just about the newspaper industry, but also America.

It was that John Mellencamp song, "Pink Houses," and there was a line in there that seemed to say everything about my life then. More importantly, it says something about our lives now.

Well theres a young man in a t-shirt
Listening to a rockin' rollin' station
He's got a greasy hair, greasy smile
He says: Lord, this must be my destination
'Cuz they told me, when I was younger
"Boy, youre gonna be president"
But just like everyting else, those old crazy dreams
Just kinda came and went

"Ain't that America" he says. Ain't that America, for you and me.

I love that song, but not because it's a song of failed dreams. Behind every lament, I believe, is a feeling of hope.

I believe that Mellencamp saw his song as a message. He believed that lives could be turned around, and not left to die. He saw the farms diseappearing in the Midwest during the early 1980s, and he hoped that people would hear his song, and come to their aid. And they did.

Every time I hear a cry of panic about America, I hope it's not political posturing. I hope it's about hope, and bringing attention to the problems that exist in this country, a nation that's established and strong but young enough to evolve and improve.

I think of The Shawshank Redemption, a movie about inmates at a prison who felt institutionalized by their lives. I remember the scene when the character "Red," played by Morgan Freedman, told his friend, Andy, that hope is a dangerous thing. It could drive a man insane, he said.

Andy, played by Tim Robbins, later broke out of jail and essentially cleared his name. He wrote Red a letter, which Red read when he, too, was able to leave the notorious prison.

"Remember Red," he wrote. "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. "