While I don’t consider myself to be affiliated with any certain political party, it’s definitely harder for me to identify with the Republican talking heads that I hear on a daily basis - whether they’re on Capitol Hill, or polluting the TV/radio airwaves.  This is not to say that Democrats, Libertarians, Independents, or U.S. Pacifists are any better, but I would consider any of them the lesser (and usually younger) of two evils.  One of the undeniable truths that I took away from the 8 years under Dubya is that there are few things Republicans love more than some good, old-fashioned fear mongering  – another was that you can get elected to your 2nd term as President of the United States even if you go “full retard“.  This mode of not thinking was bad enough during the Republican run, but their political fearscape switched into high gear when Big Bad Barack Obama moved on up to that deluxe Oval Office in the sky.  I have no problem with people thinking Obama has done nothing of note with the power he’s been given so far, and I would somewhat agree with that assessment; but when I hear things like 1 in 3 NJ conservatives think he may be the anti-christ, and people drawing comparisons to Hitler, it makes me think that there may be greater powers of suggestion at work.  Well, the people at SuperNews have now confirmed that suspicion in one of their most recent videos.  Move over H1N1, because Fearus Ignoramia is sure to be the hottest epidemic since the Salem Witchcraft Trials.             

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”  Franklin Delano Roosevelt

There has been much debate on the impact of President Obama’s new healthcare proposal, with both sides having various arguments for and against this new reform.  I consider myself to be apolitical in most respects, because I believe our government quit caring about their citizens a long time ago – that includes the asses and pachyderms.  But one of the most interesting (and utterly insane) viewpoints comes from those who strongly oppose Obama’s plan; in the 1,000 page bill, there is a small section about something called ”advanced care planning consultations”.  In layman’s terms, this is nothing more than a consultation every five years between a patient (usually elderly) and doctor.  It is basically along the same lines as a living will; an example of such a consultation would be telling your doctor, “If I am suffering from Alzheimers and losing my mind, I want to die in my house and not a nursing home.”  It seems pretty simple, and helpful, but opponents of the plan have dubbed this to be a “Death Panel”.  Angry, fearful senior citizens (is there any other kind?) and Republicans have somehow interpreted this to be a form of euthanasia, and seem to believe that consultations such as these will be handled by disciples of Dr. Kevorkian. Everyone’s favorite Alaskan moose-hunting former VP nominee Sarah Palin had this to say on her Facebook page:

 ”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. Such a system is downright evil. 

If Palin intended to make senior citizens soil their Depends, or wanted to do further damage to her crediblity, then I’d say she accomplished both of those goals.  If she wanted to actually inform people (which politicians hardly ever do) of the program’s drawbacks, then she has once again failed miserably.  A couple of things Palin failed to mention is that these consultations will in no way be mandatory, and the ”bureaucrat” (or doctor, as you & I call them) won’t be the judge, jury, or executioner when it comes to the patient’s final decision – or will they?