On the issue of Obamacare and death panels, I have a best friend, Marsha, who is dying.

She has cancer, diabetes, incipient kidney disease, fluid in her lungs, high blood pressure, blood clots in her legs. Because Marsha has no close relatives, never married, never assigned power of attorney, never made a living will or signed a real will, she is now entirely isolated in the medical system that she is, in some ways, powerless to understand let alone command.

Then, who should make her decisions? Should some anonymous and bureaucratic entity consult itself and decide one more procedure or one more medication or even one more day is enough? Who besides God should have such power?

How Marsha came to this passage in her life is a long medical story all by itself. Several years ago, she began to have prolonged flu-like episodes that could last a couple weeks, causing lost work and bringing tons of medical tests with attendant trial treatments. Her head would fill until she could not breathe without sinus drainage. She produced a cough that would wrack her until she wretched. There was usually no fever; ergo, no infection? Was it bronchitis? Was it allerg(ies)y? Was it contracted from someone else and, therefore, contagious?

Around five or six years ago, Marsha was so anemic her family doctor sent her to a hematologist who asked for a bone marrow test (not an ordinary prescription over a little missing iron), which she said revealed she was not making adequate red blood cells (something really serious), and she was given the kind of enhancer that cancer patients sometimes receive after chemo. Marsha claimed the enhancer worked well enough so that she could go off the medication and just take over-the-counter iron supplements. I never thought that sounded right.

This past spring and spring a year ago generated two especially bad spells. She underwent chest x-rays, a lung CT, a heart CT, among I don’t know what other examinations that she said all compiled added up to the width of a phone book. Maybe three years previous, one consult had wanted Marsha to have some kind of kidney test that she never went through because she complained she had missed so much work that there was just no time for one MORE test. Now, with possible dialysis looming, having taken that kidney exam looks like it might have been a good deal.

Now, this summer, Marsh has been hospitalized three times and enrolled last week to a nursing home. I doubt she will ever live on her own again. With another friend, a lawyer, I should be going to see her this afternoon, partly to try and pry some her documents out of her. A living will could give her more control over the coming end-of-life procedures, or not. A power of attorney will allow for the legal care of her apartment, car, and economics that she cannot address now, if ever again. Without a will here or obvious heir (like a child), Marsha’s estate could fall into the lap of some probate judge who can seize and administer it without any one else’ legal recourse.

In all this long process, no one has yet ever diagnosed what the flu-like spells were—have they been pre-cursors or related to her current cancer? Were they caused by her blood problems, and what has happened to those red blood cells? With all of the ancillary health problems, her oncologist and radiologist are proceeding with chemo therapy and radiation treatments, which one has said will help Marsh show improvement in less than a month. I find that claim extraordinary, but prayerfully hope he’s right.

And if Marsha has a chance at remission, even cure, should she not have this hope (remember the campaign for Hope and Change?), even with diabetes, high blood pressure, bad lungs (she requires oxygen), bad  legs (right now she is not allowed to walk), yadda, should she not continue to struggle and fight for life? She’s neither young nor middle aged but not greatly aged, yet falls within Obamacare’s parameters for “euthanasia” counseling, and would, if the House bill passed, have her own choices and doctors’ abilities to offer her choices severely limited, if not precluded. “Here, have another pain pill and let your kidneys fall where they may.”

And who besides God should make that statement? Surely, no government (Canada and England excluded) should.

The majority of US pop. is the baby boomers who are about to hit Medicare and Soc. Sec., and they are the dom. demographic group in the nation.

These people are 79,000,000 strong. Ahead of them, the WW II generation and war babies are 41,000,000 out of a population of 300,000,000.

 Bork the pols. 202-224/225-3121.

Michelle and your money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She said, "In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much," she said. "See, that's why I left a job at a big law firm for a career in public service.”

Actually, she worked at Chicago Hospital for $317,000, a job and salary that were eliminated as soon as she left.

 As First Lady, does not get paid to serve as the First Lady and she doesn't perform any official duties. But this hasn't deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to her every whim. Just think Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War. Mamie Eisenhower shelled out for her personal secretary herself.

The benefit packages for Michelle’s minions for her servants are the same as members of the national security and defense departments and the bill for these assorted lackeys is paid by YOU AND ME (Note: The following does not include makeup artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles, 49, and "First Hairstylist" Johnny Wright, 31, both of whom travelled aboard Air Force One to Europe.)

1. $172,200 - Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff)

2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady

3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary)

 4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the First Lady)

5. $100,000 - Winter, Melissa E. (Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff to the First Lady)

6. $90,000 - Medina, David S. (Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)

7. $84,000 - Lelyveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First Lady)

8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady)

 9. $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady)

10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)

11.  Reinstein, Joseph B. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary) 

12. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (Deputy Director of Scheduling and Events Coordinator For The First Lady)

13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for the First Lady)

14. (Unlisted) Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First Lady)

15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (Associate Director and Deputy Press Secretary To The First Lady)

16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (Special Assistant for Scheduling and Traveling Aide To The First Lady)

17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Associate Director of Correspondence For The First Lady)

 20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary)

21. (Unlisted, but teaching in the DC schools would be more) Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant)

Ezekiel Emamuel (Rahm's bro), point man for Mr. Obama's White House health care advice, has made numerous statements and written publicly of his preferences:

young person's should receive medical care over the elderly, especially the infirm, the mentally ill (Alzheimer's), and incompetent (dementia).

AARP members should be aware that the current bills in both the Houses cannot find a way to cut costs and pay for the health care of 300,000,000 Americans, and the result will be rationing and shortages.

"Funding* will come out of Medicare, where Cong. and the White House want to save $800,000,000,000 in ten years by limiting access to treatment, prescriptions, surgery, and procedures by telling older people that they are too aged to receive maximum care.

King Elect O Obama said, "Old people don't need life-saving treatments, they can take a pain pill." The implication is they also should be ready to die.

In England, the National Health limits dialysis after 67, not offering treatment on Saturdays and Sundays in private facilities,

stopping heart by-pass surgery at 70,

dermatology at 80,

and in the program in Canada of single-payer government medical allotment, many specialists' appointments take 6 weeks to 6 months, partly aggravated by a severe physician shortage.

Support of legislation that would make worse the access to services over 260,000,000 Americans find satisfactory--80% approve of their current programs--in the name of insuring 46,700,000 who are often uninsured briefly or choose not to be insured is poor judgment is INSANITY.

Bork Obama, Bork Obamacare, Bork Sotomayor, Bork krap and trade, Bork card check at 202-224/225-3121.

Soc. Sec. employs 50,000 already and to expand a similar plan for the ENTIRE nation might take 2-3 times those employees' numbers (100,000-150,000) to administrate (WSJ).

So this is really a gov't jobs' plan. Already, when you call SS, a different person gives you a different answer each time. Imagine what outright misinformation and lies a health care *worker* for the gov’t will give. (Over 1,000,000 are employed in Great Britain in NHS.)

Everyone expects any gov't ins. offering will displace private plans because businesses will prefer the Medicare model (low premiums in comparison) to any private ins. (AP, NYTimes, WSJ, AMA).

At the moment, there is no money for the stimulus, the deficit, or any other "discretionary" expenses. The US gov't collects c. $2.5 trillion in fed taxes annually (IRS) and after that, there is no money--it has to be printed, borrowed, or taxed.

The health care bills now propose raising Medicare annual payments to $2800 (Sen.) and $3000 (House) and cut benefits--not now specified.

In England, 92% of all restrictions for young people come from eye care,

restrictions like no dialysis Saturday and Sunday and none in private hospitals, and virtually none after 67,

no heart by-pass surgery after 70,

no dermatology after 80. No No No. And then, there is the complaint of waiting six months in Canada for specialists like oncologists because Canada has a huge doctor shortage. Six months can mean death from cancer.

Both US bills propose penalties of $40,000 an employee for firms with any uncovered staff and a personal penalty of $2000 for any individual who does purchase medical ins. by Jan. 1

(if these bills pass). $2000 is more than the typical uninsured person spends at the local ER annually.

The NYPost and WSJ project New Yorkers will have an actual tax burden of 60% when fed., city, state, city, commuter, and med. care taxes are accessed.

The latter are higher than Denmark, the most taxed country in Europe. That's setting a record of some kind.

The states will have to assume MORE Medicaid patients, that they cannot pay for now.

It all sounds wonderful to me. At 66, I am really looking forward to Obamacare telling me I no longer exist as far as medical care is concerned.

renny.blogtownhall.com

Once New Jersey Was Under the Atlantic Ocean (where the acumen of most of its politcians still dwells).

Paleontologists should have gotten into the climate argument years ago.

They have known for decades that 300,000,000 years ago the earth was MUCH HOTTER (and I have posted such on TH for years).

No polar ice caps, seas 400 feet higher (S. Jersey underwater), no ozone layer, most of N. American Hemisphere a desert, and yet life thrived.

No one knows why most of earth’s history it has been a near seething desert or why there have been periods of ice ages, even one theorized as *snowball earth” when the entire globe was covered with ice: evident from glacial scoring of rocks and mountains in Ecuador and India.

Now, that Obamacare is off the burner till September, we must work on Borking Sotomayor and denying krap and trade. Bad ideas have shorter shelf lives with the net—wonder why Obamanana nominated a net czar? Keep a good watch on your keyboard.

The US has saved or liberated 2 billion since its inception.**

We freed ourselves, liberating 2,500,000 from imperial Britain, 1776.

Lincoln freed 3,940,000 slaves, 1863, and kept the nation one nation, instead of the US of N. America and Confederacy of Southern States.

The US liberated 10-12,000,000 slaves in S. Am., when we won the Spn-Am War, 1898. All other slaves held in Spanish lands were also freed.

Twice, Americans saved Europe: 368,000,000 in 1918 and 738,000,000 in 1945. Then we rebuilt Europe with the Marshall Plan.

We gave 72,000,000 Japanese dem. capitalism instead of theocratic dictatorship in 1945.

The US (with  a reluctant UN) saved 3,000,000 S. Koreans from Northern communism (and today starvation and brutality by the N.) in 1952.

Reagan brought down the Eastern European communist bloc and USSR communism in 1989, for the release of 300,000,000 and 287,000,000.

And we owe the Muslim world very little:

In 1997, we saved c. 1,400,000 Muslim Serbs from genocide in 1997.

In the Middle East, America rescued 21,000,000 Kuwaitis in 1991, and liberated 22,000,000 Afghans in 2001 and 24,000,000 Iraqis in 2003.

We have poured trillions into Saudi Arabia for oil, virtually support Egypt (receives c. 10% of our foreign aid), and spend millions on the Palestinians ($800,000,000 scheduled for this year: King Elect Obama’s *budget*).

When the 2005 tsunami hit Indonesia (the world's actual largest Muslim nation) and the Pacific Ocean, the ships and manpower that delivered aid and rescue were US military.

I would like to thank the Maasai who sent us 14 cows after hearing about 9/11 six months after the event. Those gifted Masai treasure should have been given a park at Ground Zero and the Masai the recognition that few other nations or peoples have ever given gifts to the United States of America.

**All numbers from nearest decade census, i.e. 1918 figure for saving Europe from 1920 census or national censuses.

1972 is the Year of the Damned

1972—Roe v Wade, 45,000,000 US infants killed since in the name of “choice”

1972—NEA president said teachers were now social engineers, starting the long slide into self esteem “education” and the loss of basic skills

1972—Nixon won by a landslide, taking every electoral vote except for MA, DC, and Guam, driving the media into a frenzy that led to Nixon’s historical defeat the election didn’t provide

1972—Cohen v CA that legalized the f-word, so now young people have no vocabulary and can say nothing but f-this and f-that 

1972—Miller v CA (why always California?) started interpretations that changed obscenity laws to expand the definition of community standards (1973) so now we have no standards for anything (this summer the big deal is male frontal nudity--WOW--what cultural progress)

19—Nixon opened  with China so that this enemy could now be our major debt holder

1972—Ms. Magazine began, so women can now be as thoughtless and careless in sexual relations as any15-year-old male

1972—McGovern ran for president and paved the way for Obamanana and the communization of America

1972—Nixon began withdrawal of troops from Vietnam and started the most ignominious chapter of military humiliation in US history

1972—Inflation began as OPEC raised the price of oil and Kissinger’s sale of American wheat to the USSR affected grocery prices, leading to gas lines and eventually Carter’s 15% interest on mortgages

1972—the press began “Watergate” which led to the first resignation of a sitting American president and has turned the MSM into lapdogs for Dems.

1972—SATs saw their highest scores and started the long slide begun by the NEA pres.’ statement and Cohen

1972—Deep Throat was a commercial theatrical film featuring pornography so that now 10 year olds can access XXXXXX krap before breakfast on the family computer

1972—George Jung (“Blow”) established a connection with Pablo Escobar of Columbian drug cartel fame and starts the powder cocaine epidemic of the ‘70s and crack cocaine explosion of the, so that now any grade-school kid can buy “coke” in  his school lav

1972 was the Year of the Damned.

Five Democratic senators who could vote "NO!" on Obamacare are

Senators Evan Bayh of Indiana, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Senator  Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Senator Mary Landrieu  of Louisiana, Senator Blanch Lincoln of Arkansas and Senator Mark Pryor also of Arkansas.

Opponents of the takeover of the US medical system by bureaucrats in DC need to contact the above senators by snail mail, email (all have website Contact forms), FAX, and phone calls: 202-224/225-3121.

Health care "reform" is meant to centralize all medical records in the US in DC where your life can be controlled by what doctors you can see and what medical treatment you can have. 1) The gov't will have everyone by the b*lls for blackmail: vote this way or don't get your appendicitis operated on. 2) If you are older and have chronic and intractable conditions, King Elect O has already told us "Maybe you're better off not having surgery but taking a pain killer." In other words, just roll over and die.

For some seniors, the message will be totally clear when they see their premiums go up from $1200 to $2800-$3000 with cuts in services and procedures.

In addition, world medical innovation will stop dead like cars in Cuba are frozen in 1960 because cost savings will include cuts in research and development--how many new pharmaceuticals and new cancer protocols will be developed in Zambia or Bora Bora?

The politicization of medicine and science like ones pushed by global warming enviros could soon turn into a Lysenko-like development in America's experiments, for instance, in the championing embryonic stem cell research when adult stem cells have been successfully used in real treatments for years.