Sunset For Seniors

David Keene
The San Francisco Examiner

Americans are finally getting a good look at the man in the White House. They’ve been thrilled by his speeches, love his kids and almost desperately want to believe he is who they voted for. It turns out, however, that he simply can’t tolerate disagreement.

In President Barack Obama’s view, those who disagree with him really ought to just shut up. His critics, after all, are the people responsible for the problems he was elected to solve, dupes and hirelings of those responsible, or dangerous kooks.

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Thirty-two (32%) of voters nationwide favor a single-payer health care system where the federal government provides coverage for everyone. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% are opposed to a single-payer plan. Fifty-two percent (52%) believe such a system would lead to a lower quality of care while 13% believe care would improve. 87 percent of Republicans are opposed, and those not affiliated with either party reject single payer by a decisive 63-22 percent margin.

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From Phyllis Schafly: A congressional Town Hall meeting on Aug. 6 reminds us of a memorable political moment when Bill Clinton and his chief aides were in Little Rock celebrating his 1992 election. Heady with victory, Chicago staffer Rahm Emanuel demonstrated how he planned to punish political enemies by plunging his steak knife into the table and screaming, "Dead!" as he named each target. The SEIU goons [at the town hall meeting] were following White House advice: "Don't do a lot of talking," and if they encounter resistance, "punch back twice as hard."

On the other hand, there is evidence that Obama's "punch back" tactics are organized. MoveOn.org sent out a "Dear MoveOn member" email stating: "We've got a plan to fight back against these radical right-wingers. We've hired skilled grass-roots organizers who are working with thousands of local volunteers to show Congress that ordinary Americans continue to support President Obama's agenda for change. And we're building new online tools to track events across the country and make sure MoveOn members turn out at each one."

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Have you been wondering what is upsetting those of us who are questioning our Congressmen in recent town hall meetings? The following excerpts explain a lot about our fears about government controlled health care. Once again, extreme, radical thinkers have been appointed by our President to important positions. Does he not even know any moderates? It must be oh, so upsetting that the Internet and talk radio is now able to expose what our leaders have said, are thinking and believing. Once, back in the time of delicious concealment of facts, radical thinkers were not exposed to the masses. By BETSY MCCAUGHEY - Deadly Doctors At least two of President Obama's top health advisers should never be trusted with that power [to decide medical protocols for Americans] Start with Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. He has already been appointed to two key positions: health-policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research. Emanuel bluntly admits that the cuts will not be pain-free. "Vague promises of savings from cutting waste, enhancing prevention and wellness, installing electronic medical records and improving quality are merely 'lipstick' cost control, more for show and public relations than for true change," he wrote last year (Health Affairs Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath too seriously,Feb. 27, 2008). Emanuel, however, believes that "communitarianism" should guide decisions on who gets care. He says medical care should be reserved for the non-disabled, not given to those "who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens . . . An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia" (Hastings Center Report, Nov.-Dec. '96). He explicitly defends discrimination against older patients: "Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination; every person lives through different life stages rather than being a single age. Even if 25-year-olds receive priority over 65-year-olds, everyone who is 65 years now was previously 25 years" (Lancet, Jan. 31). The bills being rushed through Congress will be paid for largely by a $500 billion-plus cut in Medicare over 10 years. Knowing how unpopular the cuts will be, the president's budget director, Peter Orszag, urged Congress this week to delegate its own authority over Medicare to a new, presidentially-appointed bureaucracy that wouldn't be accountable to the public. But Emanuel criticizes Americans for being too "enamored with technology" and is determined to reduce access to it. In the April 9 New England Journal of Medicine, Blumenthal, another of Obama's key appointees, predicted that many doctors would resist "embedded clinical decision support" -- a euphemism for computers telling doctors what to do. Emanuel explained how business should be done: "Every favor to a constituency should be linked to support for the health-care reform agenda. If the automakers want a bailout, then they and their suppliers have to agree to support and lobby for the administration's health-reform effort." Do we want a "reform" that empowers people like this to decide for us? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJxmpTMGhU0 For those who have not actually seen it, you should watch this. Perhaps it should be sent to the White House for it's consideration. It is Hillary screaming about our right to debate any administration.