#deathpanel on Twitter

Markos enjoys seeing dead Americans. Especially when they’re being desecrated, dishonored and dragged through the streets of foreign cities. So it’s completely unsurprising you’d turn to him as a character reference.

Charles Lane had a nice piece in the Washington Post this morning. You know the Post, right? Mouthpiece and organ of us Brooks Brothers mob types? Anyway this guy, who seems to be quite a bit smarter than you, says this provision has a lot more to it than the absurdity you so blithely write it off as.

Funny as well how he addressed the actual legislation instead of lashing out against an unemployed ex-Governor. But then again, the legislation isn’t prettier than you, is it?

Death Panels like the Republicans put in place in Texas? Can you really imagine the Democrates doing this?

uesday, March 22, 2005 Sun Hudson, a six-month old Texas baby died last week when health care providers at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas removed his life support system over the objections of his mother. The action was authorized under the 1999 Futile Care Law which was signed into law by then-Gov. George W. Bush.

Under the Texas Futile Care Law, health care workers are allowed to remove expensive life support for terminally ill patients if the patient or family is unable to pay the medical bills.

Sun Hudson’s mother is dealing with the aftermath of that law. “This hospital was considered a miracle hospital. When it came to my son, they gave up in six months,” Wanda Hudson told reporters how she was forced to give up medical control of her son. “I talked to him, I told him that I loved him. Inside of me, my son is still alive.”

The hospital had blocked the media from the child, despite mother’s invitation to see the baby. “I wanted y’all to see my son for yourself. So you could see he was actually moving around. He was conscious,” she said.

Of course I can. Republicans want to cut costs so they don’t have to spend that money on the poor. Democrats want to cut costs so they can spend that money on the poor. Both are dead wrong and evidence why Government’s involvement in health care should be as minimal as possible.

Nicely done, the both of them.

Kujan, why do you hate America?

All of Ms. Tumulty’s mockery aside doesn’t change the fact that the Obama Administration and Congress have discussed a Health Care oversight body modeled along the lines of IMAC who’s goal would be to contain costs and increase efficiency. Now if that body is actually put in place, as President Obama wants, how exactly are they going to cut costs and increase efficiency? Does anybody really think using the red pill instead of the blue pill is going to lead to deficit neutrality?

These are the panels Palin, however dramatically, is referring to. They are under discussion, and if they are implemented, if Government is given that kind of control…

Welcome to the end of the thought that for Ms. Tumulty ends with a laugh at Palin’s expense. If she were at all competent or professional, she would be asking legitimate questions, such as…how do you increase participation and reduce costs? How can 87% of Americans keep the insurance they like if you’re going to reform the entire system to cover the uninsured? These should be the topics of discussion, not vapid, petty adolescent cracks about a woman who is making infinitely more sense, and telling far more truths, than Karen Tumulty.

That’s an interesting question coming from someone who believes her life is in constant danger from the majority of Americans, including its law enforcement agencies which are sworn to protect and to serve. This also coming from a person who is adamant on the fact that American history illustrates nothing less than constant hatred, exploitation, violence, and hypocrisy; minus, of course, a small racial minority who have exhibited righteous probity.

I am constantly amazed by how morally bankrupt the so-called party of family values has become.
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Clearly, this is not the party of Lincoln, it’s not even the party of Nixon.
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As Democrats we are supposed to shy away from speculating on the motivations of those with whom we disagree — but as human beings we can’t help but speculate as to why any human being would pursue such a patently inhuman agenda.

Have you ever read any of KT’s articles on the topic? I believe she has written quite a bit on the nuts and bolts of the issue.
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Also, you get bonus points for the unrelated Matrix reference.

By the way, I am not questioning your sincerity towards America. I am merely pointing out that your questioning of Kujan’s patriotism merely because he is of the opinion that there has been an unwarranted publicity surrounding Palin’s remarks is appalling. This is becoming absurd. Racism! Sexism! Ignorance! Homophobia! Traitors!! Dee, you’re treading dangerously close to suppression of speech and libelous slander in order to de-legitimize your opposition. You need to step back and begin to actually view your tactics. This is strikingly similar to the AIPAC, ADL stratagem of labeling all critics of the Israeli government as racists. Anti-Semite! Anti-Semite! they scream, without a shred of substantiation. Character assassination of one’s political opponents is an old trick, yet to employ it so callously and without a second thought as to the truly horrific connotations of that which you accuse is lacking in compassion in itself, Dee. Racism and treason are not words to be tossed around lightly. Tread softly, my dear.

You realize that post is a reply to a Markos Moulitsas post, not an actual post by him, right?

Clearly you spend too much time watching movies and television. What your talking about is a panel to study the most effective medical practices so that doctors have a database to get the most up to date information and provide their patients with the most effective treatments possible.
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The cost savings come from not wasting money on the trial and error treatment. Have you never gone to the doctor with a complaint and had to try different things until they found something that worked? I know you have most people going to a doctor can relate to that experience. What if the doctor could find out the best way to treat your ailment on day one, based on the evidence of patient out come across the country? Wouldn’t that save time and money? I know that would save money on drug co-payments especially the kind that are off schedule and have no generic.

“Markos enjoys seeing dead Americans. Especially when they’re being desecrated, dishonored”
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These are not my words, they belong to Kujan. And I can see now how you confused this with an oath of love and mutual respect.

Not once have you ever seen anything I’ve written that labels anyone, anything, except for the few that fall into the stupid, super stupid and downright ignorant categories.
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I have written the occasional a$$hole, but you’ve undoubtedly deserved it.
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Thinking one’s government wants to euthanize its citizens — pretty much takes how one feels about their country out of the uncertain category.
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I’m not the one calling health care the final solution. If you say you don’t agree with those statements but I’m prohibiting speech because I call out those who do.
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Clearly, at no point did I say a majority of citizens were engaged in horrendous activities. In fact, I specifically said “that I taught my kids not to think it means that all whites act this way — and I have done my job well and convinced my children that this was an isolated incident.”
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But you call me delusional for even noticing. I love my country, but I can love my country and still think it can do better. Your problem is that you think its doing just fine and resent anyone who has higher expectations.
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That’s why I keep calling you names exiled, how many time do you have to read something before you understand it? Are you dyslexic or something, should I be giving you a break on the grounds of mental incompetence or defect?

The death panel will bring peer review to decisions that are already being made through anecdote. What is to resist about this?

Dr. Manus Dildaka

http://dildaka.blogspot.com/

Che frivolità!
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Let’s be clear here, Dee. I do not resent your ideas, what I take issue with is your tendency to draw perverse conclusions from people’s benign comments. Case in point, weeks ago I expressed my opposition to non-essential abortions, i.e. ones not related to incest, rape, health issues. You subsequently asked my why I am trying to oppress minorities.
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On another thread I queried about the undue burden some of the proposed public options would pose for the impoverished classes of America, notably the recent HELP Committee plan’s inclusion of a personal mandate. You took my mere desire to vet this plan extensively as my advocacy against the poor, in apparent disregard for the fact that my point was entirely about not burdening the poor.
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Now, today, you construe my criticism of your constant racial injection into each topic as me somehow rejecting the fact that this country has historically been overwhelmed with racial tensions and race-based violence and oppression. My desire to move forward and alleviate the woes of the past is in no way indicative of my lack of acknowledgment of said past.
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Again, now you ask such a frivolous question as “why do you hate America” to someone merely because they disagree. Do you see a pattern here, Dee? I do…

And how quickly you’ve forgotten how every time you call me out, you end up proven wrong based on the written word and your inability to comprehend it properly. I have no doubt in my ability to do it again point by point because you lack some pretty basic analytical and critical thinking skills. But alas I neither have the time nor the patience to school you yet again. So let this suffice, use accuse me of falsely implying that you are ignorant of history. When in actuality, what I said was that your implication that we could all move on to this post racial society if only those of us stuck in the past would let you is ludicrous. .
The point I’m making has nothing to do with you being ignorant of history, the point is that our racial problems are in the present and ongoing evidence by the racial connotation of the protests you can’t bring yourself to see. Quite frankly, even members of the GOP acknowledge the racial component driving this anger. So clearly, you are either incapable of understanding this point which would mean you are stupid or you are in a state of denial which means you are worse. Either way you are not capable of reasoned thought, so ta ta.

These tweets make me wonder whether it is the conservative mob that is behind the mysterious ongoing Twitter outage…

http://www.political-buzz.com/

Of course I can. Republicans want to cut costs so they don’t have to spend that money on the poor. Democrats want to cut costs so they can spend that money on the poor. Both are dead wrong and evidence why Government’s involvement in health care should be as minimal as possible.

Great, then let’s leave things in the hands of private insurers who want to cut costs so they can buy another vacation house.

This process is also intended to reduce or end payment for ineffective procedures prescribed by doctors who have a financial interest in the procedure. If I’m paying for someone else’s treatment I’d rather an objective entity limited my responsibility to procedures that benefit the patient instead of just the provider.

Got a problem with that?

kujan: ” … Republicans .. Democrats .. Both are dead wrong and evidence why ..”

What “evidence”?
Can you enlighten us about the process by which you arrived at the conclusion that “both are dead wrong”?

(Or is it beneath your elephantine righteousness to stoop that low – like those poor souls in academia who put themselves at risk of peer ridicule in the process of elucidation?)

Need to get SOME facts into this statement!

Hudson gave birth to a son with an unknown father (she is said to believe his father was the Sun) on September 25, 2004, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas, with thanatophoric dysplasia, a typically fatal form of congenital dwarfism. She was informed that the infant was most likely unable to survive, and should have his breathing tube removed pursuant to Chapter 166 of the Texas Health & Safety Code, the Advance Directives Act. Under this act, a doctor’s recommendations to withdraw medical treatment can be followed, after they have been reviewed by the hospital’s ethics committee and after 10 days’ notice is given to the patient or guardian. Hudson was given 10 days from written notice to find a new facility to accommodate the infant, but was unable to do so. Texas Children’s Hospital states that it attempted to contact 40 facilities without finding a willing one.
Legal delays prevented the removal of the breathing tube, which would have occurred on November 28, 2004, but a judge ruled that the removal of the tube did not require Hudson’s agreement. On March 15, 2005, Texas Children’s Hospital personnel removed the breathing tube. Official reports state that he was sedated, and asphyxiated in under a minute. Hudson disputes this, and told reporters, who were not permitted entrance, “I wanted y’all to see my son for yourself, so you could see he was actually moving around. He was conscious.”
The hospital lacked confidence in Ms. Hudson’s mental competence; she was quoted by The Dallas Morning News as saying that she didn’t seek prenatal care “because I trusted in the Sun”, which she claimed fathered the baby. She also made similar comments during an interview with Greta Van Susteren

Kujan: ” …how do you increase participation and reduce costs? …”

Increase participation and reduce costs and increasde efficiency! NEVER!

Some ideas may be too radical for you to grasp – because we are thinking “outside the box”.

Consider this: Compared to say 30 years ago, computers are now smaller and consume less energy while delivering orders of magnitude in higher performance.

Inconceivable to Palin’s gopers, right?

[And all that did not come without hesitation or resistance from some reactionary stakeholders. On retirement, the boss at IBM - the leading computer company in the world at the time - was found not to have or use a computer in his office or home. Ever.]

correction: In my entry above, change the word “computer” to “personal computer”

correction: In my entry above, change the word “computer” to “personal computer” and “energy” to “power’.

It’s such a shame that you are incapable of discussing anything without the employment of bitterness and insults, because you often have beneficial perspectives to bring to the discussion. Unfortunately, the mere notion of disagreement or objective criticism of your views morphs your otherwise reasonable self into a vicious ideologue hell-bent on personal attacks. What’s even more striking, though, is the complete lack of reality in your critique. Your caricature of my capacity is wholly unfounded.

The ironic thing about the policies that many fringe far-right Republicans are supporting is that it will paradoxically lead to faster adoption of what they are against.

As anybody who knows anything about mathematics and geometric growth will tell you, take the growth rate divide it into 70 and that gives the doubling factor in terms of years. By any measure of growth you want to use from the most conservative to the most liberal and in between, the cost explosion in health care will first bankrupt the employer and the employer-based insurance network.

It is a fact that as the premiums for all of the high-tech latest medicine have gone up so have the number of people who have declined to pay for health-care because the costs exceed inflation which far exceeds the rise of their incomes. This has lead to reduced numbers of subscribers which has reduced insurers premium base and forced them to charge higher premiums to continue providing coverage. It is basic actuarial mathematics and it is occurring right now. At some point, the costs will grow so high that employers will tell folks that they are on their own. I’m in the business of providing employment not health-care.

And don’t even get started on Medicare costs….I’m just hoping that I’m retired to my plot of beach in Peru by then. Goodluck with this mess. And now I understand why they say that people in Hades want ice water. This country is seriously blinded from dealing with reality.