Comments Posted By michael reynolds
Displaying 281 To 290 Of 839 Comments
YOU COULDN'T PAY ME TO BE A DOCTOR
We have pent-up demand for something to be done. Republicans did nothing useful about much of anything. Their abilities were limited to starting wars they then managed to screw up. So first Obama had to try and fix the staggering mess Mr. Bush left behind, and only then could he get to the agenda he was elected to carry out.
Too much on his plate? Yeah. And most of it put there by the party of no.
But to the larger philosophical issue: we all die. The death rate is 100% But Americans are in denial about death.
Overwhelming numbers of us claim to believe in a magic sky fairy who will whisk us away to eternal life. And yet this "belief" does nothing to stop terrified old and sick people from bankrupting their families (and in the case of Medicare, their government) so they can cling to another month of life.
I don't believe in an afterlife. I will spend my last nickel and steal yours to keep one of my kids alive. But I'm 55 and I know that eventually I will be gasping my last on some hospital gurney. Maybe the cigar I'm smoking will kill me. Then again maybe it'll be a truck on the 405.
Either way, when it's time for game over I intend to accept that fact. Especially if I've reached an age where even a miraculous recovery is a matter of a few weeks or months gained.
There is nothing courageous about an 80 year old man clinging to life at the end. It's cowardly and wasteful and a wretched way to treat your family and your country. When it's time to go, go.
I'm not talking about a mandate. That would be an abomination. But maybe Americans could think about growing up a little. If you're 80 and medicare will get you a new hip, how about you just say, "Nah, I'm dying anyway, don't spend 20k of the taxpayer's money. Spend the money on some child with leukemia instead."
This is a pretty horrific attitude you have and it's obvious you know little or nothing about aging. With average lifespans rising - indications are that children born today may live much healthier and active lives until 120-130 years old - you do not take into account that a hip replacement for many 80 year olds would last them up to 2 decades what with the number of those living to be 100 having doubled in number in the last 20 years alone. People 80 years and older are healthier, more active, than you give them credit for.
We are on the cusp of nothing less than a revolution (another one) in medical technology where the full panoply of technologies (nanotechnology, gene replacement, DNA manipulation and others) will combine with a continued explosion in knowledge of the human body to make the "three score and ten" lifespan a joke.
And at the very moment that this triumph of human ingenuity is about to explode, you think old people should just give up and die. Pretty pathetic, Michael.
Of course, you call it an "abomination" - any thought of euthanasia. All you want to do is deny oldsters needed medical care. How very compassionate of you. Also, what if your child contracts a disease where treatment would prolong her life only a year or two? I would hope you would be equally patriotic and refuse treatment for her so that other kids who might be cured of leukemia or cancer would benefit.
As I say I don;'t know what the answers are. Logically, if the problem is limited medical care resources, those resources should be vastly increased. More doctors, more hospitals, more MRI machines, more nurses, etc.
But if the problem is a bottleneck caused by government already running the health care industry, I don't know what the answer is. Can't get rid of Medicare, VA, and the rest. Making health care delivery more efficient is as far as my thinking goes on this, and of that, I have no idea where to begin.
ed.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 22.08.2009 @ 11:23
Here in Southern California the seasons are changing too. I guess I should get my sweater dry cleaned. Sometime in the next couple of months. And of course I can look forward to a small decline in purchases of sunscreen.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 21.08.2009 @ 13:24
THE ROLE OF RACE IN OPPOSITION TO THE PRESIDENT
Busboy:
Yes. There is no racism in the GOP. The fact that the GOP went from zero to batshit crazy paranoid lunatic ranting insane birther/deather idiocy in roughly a millisecond, that's normal. Can't you see that? Completely normal. The whole "Obama is a Nazi because he wants poor people to see a doctor" thing? That's in no way, shape or form evidence that Republicans are racist nuts.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 21.08.2009 @ 22:11
The single most powerful voice in the GOP -- Rush Limbaugh -- is an out-and-out race-baiter. Period.
There is no difference between Limbaugh and the Rev. Wright in terms of racist rhetoric. But the Rev. Wright is a non-player, a pastor at a Chicago church. I condemned Wright without reservation. Liberal politicians condemned him. Obama condemned him.
Rush Limbaugh by contrast is the Man Who May Not Be Criticized in the GOP.
When the GOP is no longer led by race-baiters like Limbaugh I'll believe racism is irrelevant.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 20.08.2009 @ 20:36
Republicans on this thread claiming there's little or no Obama hatred are either:
1) Imbeciles
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 20.08.2009 @ 20:30
2) Liars
3) Insane
4) Insane lying imbeciles.
You got big brass ones, Rick, unlike your party as a whole.
Better strap yourself in.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 20.08.2009 @ 11:36
THE PUBLIC OPTION: NOT A SLIPPERY SLOPE -- JUST PLAIN LIES
I sense that "dining room table" is entering the internet lexicon. It may be with us for a while.
I know I've used "brains of a coffee table" before. Do I get any credit for being close?
ed.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 20.08.2009 @ 09:40
#13
I'd ask you to make some sense of your comment, then I realized you've never made sense. Like talking to a dining room table.
Heh - funniest thing I've read during this entire debate - even though it may have been a scripted moment by Frank. Sounds like something I'd say to you after one of your flights of fancy.
ed.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 20.08.2009 @ 08:02
Chuck:
I'll give you a couple more:
1) Social Security "reform."
2) Partial birth abortion ban.Given a while I'm sure you and I could come up plenty more.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 19.08.2009 @ 20:05
PREPARE FOR ARMAGEDDON ON HEALTH CARE REFORM
But just quit whining about no bipartisanship and win some elections if you don’t like what is going on. Big boy rules. And repudiate those on the right who talk of gunplay and armed resistance. Then we can debate.
Amen.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 19.08.2009 @ 18:34
