Posted on 07/23/2009 5:52:02 PM PDT by pharmamom
The glass if half-full.
All of the hoopla and razzamatazz about healthcare of late has led me to feel simultaneously hopeful and despairing. I am so heartened that many people seem involved in the conversation, finally! I am such a political wonk—and most people are television junkies—that I have gotten used to blank, gaping stares when I bring up politics. On the issue of healthcare, though, everyone has an opinion! I am discouraged, though, at the number of folks who find it not-at-all frightening that the federal government wants to force us into such things as “mandatory end-of-life counseling.” Well, I say to the LPIMH, at least we are having a conversation.
Because what little frontal lobe I have is being distracted by the other LPIMH, I find myself exclaiming (out loud, instead of just frenetically in my head), “Have you read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution lately? Do you understand that we are a country founded on the principle of limited government?” I emptied a room at lunch yesterday, except for brilliant Dr. S, who has seen fascism AND socialized medicine at work, in Spain, and is a fan of neither. She is well over 65 and plans to work until she drops dead on her desk. She winked at me and laughed. “We are not so many,” she said, “Those of us willing to speak our minds.” When I worried whether I might receive a special excommunication from the clinic, she was sanguine. “They will do nothing. There are more than you know who agree with you—but they are afraid to speak up.”
(Excerpt) Read more at whenwearequeen.com ...
Keep on being brave.... I try and spread the word. there is no point in arguing with people who believe the media...who don’t think for themselves.... and who want a handout..... BUT, the others are out there.. and we vote... and we talk
"...I'm sorry sir...we cannot schedule that appointment for you in November 2010 to have that melanoma removed because you have not undergone your mandatory annual counseling after age 65...oh, of course you are right. I know you are only 62, but they did move the age down again this year...we have an opening in three months with the counselors office...would you like that?"
This is fully expected, but It will not be the people you will be FORCED to talk to in order to receive your care, nor the intentional delays in care that will be the most insidiously evil facets of this. It will be the conversations like this one below ( that will become commonplace) that REALLY illustrate what it is all about:
"...Hi Jan, how are you? I heard your father is resisting counseling. It must be difficult, I know. There just seems to be so much of that lately. I know I am only 40 years old, but I don't understand why people like your father are so opposed to this.
I went with my mother to her counseling session, and while she was angry because she was supposed to have another five years before she had to go but they moved the age down again, she went anyway. I thought she was really rude to the counseling agent, who was just a young woman only doing her job. Hm.
Someone told me they are only hiring young women as counselors now, because the men who were doing it just got angry too easily and shouted at people to just "sign the damned papers". Hm. I tried to tell my mom why they have to do this, but she said they do it just to get rid of old people to save money.
The counseling agent gave my mom a copy of the book "Death is Joy". I read it, and it makes a lot of sense to me. Of course, when I was going to school, we didn't have to read it, but now they have required classes they take every year beginning in first grade.
Suzie is in third grade and is taking the course this year that deals with the chapter on keeping birth rates down, and Tommy is in his senior year where they cover the financial aspects of care for the elderly. He was so excited, he said that since they have implemented this national care program, the number of elderly people has dropped dramatically, so they can spend more money on programs such as monthly equality checks for the economically disadvantaged and reparations for the descendants of slaves. I think it is wonderful.
He asked me why so many elderly people are so selfish and refuse to accept counseling...I didn't really have an answer for him. Hm. Now, don't be defensive, I am not criticizing your parents.
I am just saying, it is a problem.
They had an hour-long program on PBS about this the other night, and they were saying how the people who are being selfish about this and refusing to take advantage of early exit programs that pay cash to their children are being so self-centered because they grew up in a time where everyone was self-centered and were interested only in money. You know, they showed films from the days of the capitalists where there were people who had what they called 'gas-guzzlers", and they used to make so much more money than they needed to live comfortably, so many people were going without health care because they were taking all the money..."
I can hear it now. “Just go ahead and die already, you selfish jerk!”
Except for the special exemptions enjoyed by privileged people like Ted Kennedy...
I know...interesting article yesterday (From The American Thinker) that made that point...:)
republicans see a half a glass of water and think the glass is half full. democrats see a half a glass of water and think “ who the hell stole half my water. we need an investigation, a congressional inquiry, it was those mangy republicans, THIS WAS A RACIST ACT OF HATE”!!!
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