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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: goldworldnet who wrote (320536)	8/20/2009 11:11:17 PM
From: DMaA	2 Recommendations Respond to of 793963

Barry is wee weeing on my leg and telling me it's raining.

To: goldworldnet who wrote (320536)	8/21/2009 8:11:16 AM
From: DMaA	6 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793963

Do your duty one more time - die: The Death Book for Veterans Ex-soldiers don't need to be told they're a burden to society. online.wsj.com By JIM TOWEY If President Obama wants to better understand why America's discomfort with end-of-life discussions threatens to derail his health-care reform, he might begin with his own Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He will quickly discover how government bureaucrats are greasing the slippery slope that can start with cost containment but quickly become a systematic denial of care. Last year, bureaucrats at the VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care advocated a 52-page end-of-life planning document, "Your Life, Your Choices." It was first published in 1997 and later promoted as the VA's preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes. After the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues, the VA suspended its use. Unfortunately, under President Obama, the VA has now resuscitated "Your Life, Your Choices." Who is the primary author of this workbook? Dr. Robert Pearlman, chief of ethics evaluation for the center, a man who in 1996 advocated for physician-assisted suicide in Vacco v. Quill before the U.S. Supreme Court and is known for his support of health-care rationing. "Your Life, Your Choices" presents end-of-life choices in a way aimed at steering users toward predetermined conclusions, much like a political "push poll." For example, a worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own life would be "not worth living." The circumstances listed include ones common among the elderly and disabled: living in a nursing home, being in a wheelchair and not being able to "shake the blues." There is a section which provocatively asks, "Have you ever heard anyone say, 'If I'm a vegetable, pull the plug'?" There also are guilt-inducing scenarios such as "I can no longer contribute to my family's well being," "I am a severe financial burden on my family" and that the vet's situation "causes severe emotional burden for my family." When the government can steer vulnerable individuals to conclude for themselves that life is not worth living, who needs a death panel? One can only imagine a soldier surviving the war in Iraq and returning without all of his limbs only to encounter a veteran's health-care system that seems intent on his surrender. I was not surprised to learn that the VA panel of experts that sought to update "Your Life, Your Choices" between 2007-2008 did not include any representatives of faith groups or disability rights advocates. And as you might guess, only one organization was listed in the new version as a resource on advance directives: the Hemlock Society (now euphemistically known as "Compassion and Choices"). This hurry-up-and-die message is clear and unconscionable. Worse, a July 2009 VA directive instructs its primary care physicians to raise advance care planning with all VA patients and to refer them to "Your Life, Your Choices." Not just those of advanced age and debilitated condition—all patients. America's 24 million veterans deserve better. Many years ago I created an advance care planning document called "Five Wishes" that is today the most widely used living will in America, with 13 million copies in national circulation. Unlike the VA's document, this one does not contain the standard bias to withdraw or withhold medical care. It meets the legal requirements of at least 43 states, and it runs exactly 12 pages. After a decade of observing end-of-life discussions, I can attest to the great fear that many patients have, particularly those with few family members and financial resources. I lived and worked in an AIDS home in the mid-1980s and saw first-hand how the dying wanted more than health care—they wanted someone to care. If President Obama is sincere in stating that he is not trying to cut costs by pressuring the disabled to forgo critical care, one good way to show that commitment is to walk two blocks from the Oval Office and pull the plug on "Your Life, Your Choices." He should make sure in the future that VA decisions are guided by values that treat the lives of our veterans as gifts, not burdens. Mr. Towey, president of Saint Vincent College, was director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives (2002-2006) and founder of the nonprofit Aging with Dignity.

To: goldworldnet who wrote (320536)	8/21/2009 3:48:37 PM
From: SirWalterRalegh	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793963

<<"There's something about August going into September where everyone in Washington gets all 'wee-weed' up," the president said.>> When I first read this I thought the Bamster was talking about a small joint.

To: goldworldnet who wrote (320536)	8/21/2009 11:09:51 PM
From: KLP	1 Recommendation Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793963

Even the 3 Stooges weren't this stupid: 'Wee-weed up:' White House explains it Posted August 21, 2009 11:55 AM swamppolitics.com by Mark Silva So what did the president mean when he said this week that everyone's getting all "wee-weed up'' in Washington? "It's a phrase I use,'' White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today, hesitating at his press briefing to offer a physical demonstration of the phraseology. "Let's do this in a way that's family friendly,'' Gibbs said. "I think 'wee-weed up' is when people get all nervous for no particular reason.... "August of 2008, everybody was nervous about whether the entire presidential campaign was slipping out from the hands of the president,'' Gibbs said, turning the page to this August, in which all the president's critics are declaring his health-care initiatives in peril. "This is sort of an August pundit pattern of people getting overly nervous about something that has a long way to go... "Bedwetting would probably be the more consumer-friendly term for it,'' the press secretary said. "I hesitate to call August a make it or break it'' month, Gibbs said today of the president's troubles with health-care as he departs today for a week's vacation at Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Cape Cod. "Much is always made of where things are at a certain point in the process,'' Gibbs said, but the White House isn't focused on "the 24-hour news cycle... I don't know that I would too much into any specific time period like August.'' This specific time period, however, has brought a new low-point in the president's public job approval-ratings - down to 51 percent this week in the Gallup Poll, the Pew Research Center's poll and the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released this week. An ABC/Washington Post poll today shows that fewer than half of Americans surveyed - 45 percent - support the health-care reform as it has been explained to date, with 50 percent opposed. The focus now, Gibbs says, is getting a bill through the House and Senate. The president was meeting privately at the White House this morning with Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader who is an expert on health care and was set to serve as Obama's secretary of Health and Human Services until his own personal income tax problems derailed his appointment. Asked about the importance of bipartisan support for a bill in which divisions between the parties are only growing deeper, Gibbs said: "The president is going to evaluate ultimately any piece of legislation as to whether it meets his goals and principles for health-care reform... The president's goal is not to print a banner and sign a bill just so somebody can say we've reformed health care.'' The president and his family leave for Camp David today en route to a private estate at Martha's Vineyard, for a vacation that will last through Sunday, Aug. 30. Asked about one critic's complaint about the vacation, Gibbs said: "I don't think the American people begrudge the president taking some time with his family that's well deserved.'' Recommend this? \| Recommended by 27 people [?]