PALIN OVER THE EDGE

Sarah Palin's statement on her FaceBook page on Friday, Aug. 7th mirrors the absolute ignorance of many of the recent protesters at the Townhall meetings.
From MSNBC :

"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care," the former Republican vice presidential candidate wrote. "Such a system is downright evil," Palin wrote.

The allegation appears to be based on a provision of the House bill that would require Medicare to PAY for end-of-life counseling sessions, on a VOLUNTARY basis, for beneficiaries who WANT the service. Medicare already covers hospice care. And legislation passed by Congress in 1990 requires that patients be asked if they have a living will.

Read the entire article here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32340009/ns/politics-white_house

Also watch this video to further scare yourself :
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/32337676#32337676

For a complete reading of the counseling provisions in the bill, the infamous page 425, see :
http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2009/07/27/health-care-bill-page-425-the-truth.htm


My discourse is this :
None of the versions of the Healthcare Reform bills say anything about standing in front of a bureaucratic panel of ANY KIND FOR ANY REASON, let alone an Obama 'DEATH PANEL'.
The absurdity of such a statement is beyond belief and fortifies the sense that Palin has no credibility as a leader of reasonable people. (She is apparently still a leader of unreasonable people). If nothing else, her statement shows that she has not read any of the versions of the bill. If she has, she apparently is unable to understand what she has read. Next thing you know she also will insist that the Government keep their G-D hands off of her parents Medicare.

That's the truth, look it up.
Ed

Social Security and Medicare hit by recession

From the Associated Press, May 12, 2009
Social Security and Medicare hit by recession
A portion of the article:

"Trustees of the programs said Tuesday that Social Security will start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in 2016, one year sooner than projected last year, and the giant trust fund will be depleted by 2037, four years sooner.

"Medicare is in even worse shape. The trustees said the program for hospital expenses will pay out more in benefits than it collects this year and will be insolvent by 2017, two years earlier than the date projected in last year's report.

"The trust funds — which exist in paper form in a filing cabinet in Parkersburg, W.Va. — are bonds that are backed by the government's "full faith and credit" but not by any actual assets. That money has been spent over the years to fund other parts of government. To redeem the trust fund bonds, the government would have to borrow in public debt markets or raise taxes. "

(End of portion of the article) My words follow:

The last paragraph points out the helplessness of the public. "That money has been spent over the years to fund other parts of government." So this is what the government has done with most of the money that we all have "contributed" over the years. Now you may say that we are not "helpless" because we have the power of the vote. The trouble with that argument is that all three breeds on the hill ( Democrats, Republicans and Independents ) have spent this money recklessly.

That's the truth, look it up.