I\u2019m still in a retreat after-glow that has me only half attending to the world around me, and I am still pushing politics away in the manner of a King\u2019s daughter being offered boiled tripe: \u201c- ewww, away with that!\u201d<\/p>\n
But this piece by Andrew Klavan<\/a> floated across my email and by the second paragraph I wished I\u2019d written it. It needs a deft touch, though, and can\u2019t you just see the movie version?<\/p>\n \n\u2026the logic of this moment was inevitable. Once government got its fingers on the health-care system, it was only a matter of time before it took it over completely. Now there\u2019s one limited pool of dollars while the costs are endless.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have the luxury of thinking only of yourself, but we have to think about everyone,\u201d says the professor of ethics. He\u2019s a celebrity and waxes eloquent every Tuesday and Thursday on Bill Maher Tonight. \u201cThis isn\u2019t the free market, after all. We can\u2019t just leave fairness to chance. We have to use reason. Is it better for society as a whole that we allocate limited resources for your operation when we might use the same dollars to bring many more high quality years to someone, say, younger?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m only 62.\u201d<\/p>\n He smiles politely.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, it\u2019s not just about me,\u201d you argue desperately. \u201cMy daughter\u2019s engaged to get married next year. She\u2019ll be heartbroken if I\u2019m not there for it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe you should have thought of that before you put on so much weight,\u201d says the medical officer. \u201cI mean, you people have been told time and again . . .\u201d<\/p>\n But the chairwoman is uncomfortable with his censorious tone and cuts him off, saying more gently, \u201cPerhaps your daughter could move the wedding up a little.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n When you get to the end of Klavan\u2019s piece, \u201cthis is evil!\u201d<\/em> then the natural jump will be to this piece by David Warren<\/a>:<\/p>\n Candour is when you tell a truth that is disturbing, in language so unambiguous that persons in polite company will not want to hear you. It is a way to lose the respect of the genteel \u2014 of those who are \u201crespectable\u201d in the shallowest sense. Rude language is quite unnecessary to this end: the hard truth itself, spoken plainly and publicly, will give sufficient offence.<\/p>\n Thuggery is unrelated to this. It consists not of candid argument but of naked intimidation.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Thuggery is such a harsh word<\/a>. But unambiguous, no?<\/p>\n Yes, Sarah Palin\u2019s \u201cdeath panel\u201d remark<\/a> was deliberately provocative and unambiguous, but it was not rude. Wasn\u2019t intimidating, either. But the notion that so many have needlessly died in the UK<\/a> due to their socialized medical program deserves consideration. Ted Kennedy\u2019s dreadful prognosis<\/a> was delivered in May of 2008. One cannot help but wonder what the last 15 months of his life would have been like under such a system \u2013 or if, indeed, he would have managed another 15 months in the bosom of his family.<\/p>\n But what am I saying? Clearly, our \u201cpublic servants,\u201d (like our academic betters, our sparkling celebrities and the sabbath gasbags of our pundit-class) will not be subjected to the same lines and limitations as we great unwashed, we the hoi polloi.<\/em> I have an image in my head of Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (to whom your opinions are unwelcome<\/a>) and Obama\u2019s creepy \u201cscience czar\u201d<\/a> (of whom the press remains incurious) all comfortably seated in a taxpayer-supplied limo, zipping along to yet another Obamaganda<\/a> Rally<\/a> (which you will watch, from your lines, on the nearest jumbotron<\/a>). Pelosi, Nadler and Creep-Czar will deign to make power fists out their darkened windows, enjoining the masses to \u201ckeep it real\u201d on those long lines for shoes, toilet paper and antibiotics. \u201cFight the nazis who want to rile you up and shout us down,\u201d<\/a> Nadler may encourage.<\/p>\n Nadler was rather busy back when students at Columbia university and elsewhere were shouting down invited speakers<\/a> with whom they disagreed, but he now knows a nazi when he sees one, and a hawk from a handsaw!<\/p>\n Moving on \u2013 you\u2019ll want to read this bit<\/a> from yesterday.<\/p>\n Wes Pruden writes:<\/p>\n The president signals a change in tactics, not objectives<\/a>. His concession that the so-called \u201cgovernment option\u201d is temporarily dead does not mean the dream of \u201cpostalizing\u201d health care, of making it as responsive as the Post Office, is dead.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Hey, the government cash for clunkers program<\/a> is running so well, we should all be reassured. Shouldn\u2019t we? And um\u2026we should also feel perfectly secure about our private information<\/a>. Of course we are<\/a>.<\/p>\n We\u2019re in for a long battle, but we\u2019re learning to deconstruct the language<\/a> and the shifting terminologies<\/a>, and we\u2019re finally updating the tactics<\/a>.<\/p>\n Too late for permanently-demonized George W. Bush<\/a>, and some others, people are also \u2013 finally \u2013 catching on to the 2-minutes Hate<\/a>. Bush is still their Emmanuel Goldstein, of course, but as Kimball notes, anyone can become Goldstein as a situation requires. You can be Goldstein. I can be Goldstein. Our McCarthy-izing press<\/a> can make it happen in a flash. Zap! You\u2019re today\u2019s Goldstein, reviled and ultimately ignored<\/a>.<\/p>\n On the horizon:<\/strong> More czars and \u201cDiversity Officers.\u201d<\/a> Does it seem to you that the Obama administration makes up titles and offices the way Bluto made up new names for Animal House Pledges?<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll be\u2026the Chief Diversity Officer<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy the hell not?\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed. When you\u2019ve \u201cwon\u201d and you\u2019ve got both houses, (and soon the SCOTUS) and you\u2019ve taken control of the census, why the hell not? Now go shut those guys up<\/a>!<\/p>\n We\u2019ll just have to be each other\u2019s Huckleberries<\/a>.<\/p>\n Or, as Dalrymple suggests, put cameras on the leadership<\/a>. Someone, after all, must guard the guardians<\/a>.<\/p>\n UPDATE I:<\/strong> The just-passed Robert Novak said<\/a>: \u201cAlways love your country \u2014 but never trust your government!\u201d<\/p>\n Seems to me a lot of mediafolk used to think that way. But my father was not the customer; Medicare was. And although Medicare has experimented with new reimbursement approaches to drive better results, no centralized reimbursement system can be supple enough to address the many variables affecting the patient experience. Certainly, Medicare wasn\u2019t paying for the quality of service during my dad\u2019s hospital stay. And it wasn\u2019t really paying for the quality of his care, either; indeed, because my dad got sepsis in the hospital, and had to spend weeks there before his death, the hospital was able to charge a lot more for his care than if it had successfully treated his pneumonia and sent him home in days.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Should be a must-read.<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong> I\u2019m still in a retreat after-glow that has me only half attending to the world around me, and I am still pushing politics away in the manner of a King\u2019s daughter being offered boiled tripe: \u201c- ewww, away with that!\u201d But this piece by Andrew Klavan floated across my email and by the second paragraph […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,11,12,20,60,62,91,102,112,119,150,188,216,226,232,244,251,252,253],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-remaking-america","category-alternative-energy","category-alternative-media","category-anti_semitism","category-crooks-and-liars","category-culture-of-lifedeath","category-erosion-of-rights","category-fascism-in-america","category-free-speech","category-health-care","category-king-is-a-fink","category-obama-bad","category-race-in-america","category-sarah-palin","category-send-in-the-clowns","category-tea-parties","category-the-fourth-estate","category-the-pelosi","category-the-perpetual-adolescents"],"yoast_head":"\n
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\nUPDATE II:<\/strong> Read the summary<\/a> and more when you have time<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nAmerican Papist:<\/strong> Bishop Nickless Critically Evaluates Obamacare<\/a> (H\/T New Advent<\/a>)
\nYes, the goal:<\/strong> is to end private insurance<\/a>
\nObama\u2019s 2 faces:<\/strong> Yes, he wants to protect you from your doctors<\/a>
\nOur Incurious Press:<\/strong> Shameful Propagandists<\/a>
\nDon\u2019t Understand:<\/strong> what\u2019s so hard to understand<\/a>
\nFree Speech:<\/strong> We likes it<\/a>
\nRefresher:<\/strong> NY Times: \u201cWhy We Must Ration Health Care\u201d<\/a>
\nAndy McCarthy:<\/strong> Palin was right, after all<\/a>
\nKaus:<\/strong> That\u2019s some Plan B<\/a>
\nPavement Babies:<\/strong> Those wacky Brits & their Healthcare!<\/a>
\nGaius:<\/strong> Iceberg, straight ahead<\/a>
\nJPod:<\/strong> Those Death Panels & Obama<\/a>
\nJames Pethokoukis:<\/strong> A Health Care Plan to Save a Presidency<\/a>
\nSisu:<\/strong> Gov\u2019t Behaving Badly<\/a>
\nWesley J. Smith:<\/strong> We need more primary care doctors<\/a>
\nMona Charen:<\/strong> Canada, Health Care<\/a> and More<\/del> Less<\/a> surgery
\nFrank J:<\/strong> Aren\u2019t Obamites tired of calling people racists?<\/a> More on that here<\/a> and here<\/a>, but read Frank\u2019s last line.
\nWSJ:<\/strong> Why is Obama underwriting Offshore Oil Drilling for Brazil?<\/a> Can we say \u201cincoherent policies?\u201d<\/a>
\nDeacon Greg:<\/strong> More on Novak<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"