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The Right Prescription
A Gut Check on What Obama Means by ‘Fairness’
Obama receives preventive care his HHS bureaucrats deny Medicare patients.
Last month, the President told a crowd of supporters in Texas that he was glad his unpopular health care law is known as “Obamacare” to its opponents: “You know what, they’re right, I do care. I care about folks who get sick …” This claim would have been more truthful had he told them he cares about some folks who become ill. Indeed, it would have been more consistent with his actual behavior had he said, “I care about myself when I get sick.” President Obama, you see, has been availing himself of medical tests his HHS apparatchiks won’t approve for payment if Medicare patients receive them.
In his routine physicals, for example, he has taken advantage of a state-of the art test shown by studies to be effective at detecting early colon cancer without exposing the patient to the potential risks associated with traditional colonoscopy: “President Obama, in his first routine physical exam as commander in chief, received a CT colonography (CTC), commonly known as a virtual colonoscopy, to screen him for colorectal cancer.” A good call by Obama and his doctors. Unfortunately for Medicare patients, his HHS apparatchiks have decreed that Medicare patients will not enjoy the same quality of care.
In 2009, the government’s health care bureaucrats decided, “The evidence is inadequate to conclude that CT colonography is an appropriate colorectal cancer screening test.” Somehow, though, the evidence was convincing enough for the President’s doctors to recommend it. And the chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society said at the time, “Virtual colonoscopy, or CT colonography, ought to be available as one of several options for colon cancer screening.” So, if it’s good enough for the leader of the free world, why isn’t it good enough for Medicare patients? Well, one reason involved a concern “that costs would increase…”
Take a moment to consider that. The President of the United States, a public servant paid by the taxpayers, followed the advice of his taxpayer-paid doctors that he should have a taxpayer-paid CTC. Yet his health care commissars, also paid by taxpayers, have decreed that that it is too expensive to provide this very test to actual taxpayers when they retire and sign up for the Medicare program for which they have been paying all their working lives. This perverse system, it should be remembered, is not merely presided over but taken advantage of by a man who incessantly lectures these very taxpayers about “fairness.”
And this is by no means the only example of Obama’s peculiar brand of fairness. Paul Hsieh, a practicing radiologist and proponent of free-market health care, recently reported more of the same in a Forbes column titled, “Is the President’s Prostate Gland More Important Than Yours?” Writing that Obama chose to have a PSA test when he turned 50, Hsieh points out that the rest of us may not have that option once Obamacare is implemented: “ObamaCare empowers the government U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) to determine which preventive health services are medically appropriate.”
Does the USPSTF sound familiar? It should. It’s the bevy of Beltway bureaucrats who recommended restricting screening mammograms to women over age 50. The uproar caused by that proposal caused such a headache for the people trying to pass Obamacare that HHS Commissar Sebelius was eventually forced to partially walk it back. But this bureaucracy is still animated by an affinity for rationing. And, as Hsieh writes, this affinity isn’t limited to preventive care for women: “This year, the USPSTF aroused similar controversy by giving a ‘D’ grade (‘not recommended’) to routine PSA prostate cancer screening.”
PSA screening is not, of course, blessed with a perfect record of accuracy. Even the American Cancer Society has stopped short of a full-throated endorsement of the test. Yet the physicians who actually treat the victims of prostate cancer, which is the second leading cause of cancer deaths, oppose the USPSTF guidelines. Hsieh links to this story about the annual meeting of the American Urological Association at which the majority of urologists present were not merely opposed to the guidelines but mad as hell about them. They are well aware of the role USPSTF will play under Obamacare and they know it will kill people.
But not the President. Obama won’t have to do without a PSA or a CTC any more than his wife will have to wait until she’s 50 to get a screening mammogram. Neither will ever be subjected to the tender mercies of the soulless drones with which he has filled the adumbral halls of HHS. Both will get what they need, and you will get the bill. The president has frequently said he wants everyone to enjoy the same level of care that he and members of Congress enjoy. You have no more chance of getting that under Obamacare than you do of being invited to play golf with the President or flying to Paris with Michelle to buy shoes
For the hoi polloi (i.e. you and me), USPSTF guidelines and government-imposed rationing will determine the quality and quantity of care. That’s why the opponents of government-run health care use the term Obamacare in the pejorative sense. We believe it’s a system that will benefit the ruling class to which Obama belongs and render life shorter and more painful for the rest of us. And, as the President succinctly put it, we’re right.
About the Author
David Catron is a health care revenue cycle expert who has spent more than twenty years working for and consulting with hospitals and medical practices. He has an MBA from the University of Georgia and blogs at Health Care BS.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (114) | Leave a comment
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Robbins Mitchell| 8.8.12 @ 6:17AM
To Barokeydoke,"fairness" means anything that will stick it to whitey...quod erat demonstrandum
Cobalt| 8.8.12 @ 8:22AM
To Obama fairness = get even.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 5:28PM
You mean what goes around comes around?
Trinacria| 8.8.12 @ 7:26PM
Oh yeah - it's clear that Mr. Obama has been subjected to the most patently unfair and discriminatory treatment. What with such terrible injustices as being given a world class education at Occidental, Columbia, and Harvard, then being selected to edit the Harvard Law Review (without ever having written a law review), then being offered a faculty position at the University of Chicago (without ever having written a scholarly article), then being given an six-figure advance by a publisher to write an autobiography (without ever having achieved anything worth publishing), then being elected to the US Senate (with no meaningful legislative experience), then being elected president of the United States (without having authored a single meaningful piece of legislation during his brief tenure in the Senate), and then being awareded the Noble Peace Prize (without having served a month in office or accomplishing anything even remotely related to advancing peace and goodwill among the nations of the world)....who wouldn't feel compelled to get even?
CJW| 8.8.12 @ 8:29PM
T
Obama was voted as President of Harvard Law Review. The selection was not based on grades or submission of any article. The Editor of law reviews was always the top student, numero uno.
Harvard changed this before Obama's election.
Also, students want to get on law review so you can write an article and get it published. Not all submitted articles get published. Looks great on the resume.
Now, Obama gets elected as president and editor, but does not write an article, or if he did, it did not get published. And he is the EDITOR.
By the way, Michele's term paper at Princeton,being a black student, is on the net. As Christopher Hitchens wrote, it is not written in any known language. Try reading it. Buona salut.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 9:36PM
Right wing propaganda. But, since we are talking about affirmative action lets discuss Clarence Thomas.
Spoiler alert: I've already anticipated your drivel about racism, so please think before posting.
CJW| 8.8.12 @ 10:21PM
Those are facts, Mikey. You can't refute them. What about Justice Thomas, be specific.
You are no challenge. Get lost.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 10:38PM
Must I spell it out or you, CJW? You're no fun. Let me give you a hint: affirmative action. Get it? The real issue behind the transcripts nonsense. Clarence Thomas. Time, place, context.
spike59| 8.9.12 @ 5:59AM
ohhhh...you want to talk 'affirmative action?'
by all means! how about a stoner and cokehead who gets into the Ivy League even after being (by his own admission) a 'less than stellar' student?
how about a first time IL state legislator (elected thru chicanery that would make Boss Tweed blush) who gets bills drafted for him and then handed to him by Party bosses so he can claim to
have done something, ANYTHING, on the taxpayer's dime?
how about this same 'no accomplishment' state senator getting elected to the US Senate by the same crooked tactics as he did to get into the State legislature, and the accomplishing EXACTLY NOTHING during his brief tenure, except to find the Senate bathroom and horn in on press conferences to claim credit for the work of others, yet is not admonished by the Prty leadership, but REWARDED because a) he's a 'rising star' in the Party, and b) to expect him to actually EARN his stripes would be 'racist'?
now, how about this same 'never accomplished ANYTHING in his lifetime except to write two books about his own 'wonderfulness' Senator ending up in the White House, where he takes a 3 year majority in both houses of Congress and ignores the economy in favor of social engineering and dispensing $$$$favors to his contributors and bundlers, gets EVERYTHING he wants passed in his first two years, and blames EVERYTHING that goes wrong on a)Bush, b) racism, and c) earthquakes, tsunamis, ATM's, and rich people???
CJW| 8.9.12 @ 1:34PM
Spell it out and be specific about your charges against Justice Thomas.
pogybait| 8.8.12 @ 9:48AM
Everything has a price. Once the guilty or problem is found, the opportunistic politicians move in....and they come not to help you but to help themselves. Here is another example of a grievance mongering self serving demagogue who along with a long list of other benevolent failures have done nothing with all their massive efforts to improve one life or correct a wrong....and history is filled with examples
Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 8.8.12 @ 5:06PM
To Romney fairness means getting to write his boring memoirs after eight unmemorable years.
spike59| 8.9.12 @ 6:01AM
it would still beat 2 more ObaMao memoirs of 'boy, i sure wish i'd actually accomplished something in my life, like my drunken dad'
spike59| 8.8.12 @ 6:25AM
i learned all i needed to know about ObaMao's definition of 'fairness' during the 2008 democrat debate in philly, when he actually had to answer a question that was NOT a graceful beanbag toss from the adoring media and whined for WEEKS afterwards
TLP| 8.8.12 @ 7:56AM
Exactly.
Catron wonders if The Muslim's Prostate Gland is more important than yours or mine.
His sentiments would be better directed at The Magic Negro's Breasts, and his chances of Breast Cancer.
That's what WOMEN are afraid of contracting.
He's no Man.
He's never done a Hard Days Work - MAN WORK - in his life. Al he does is run his mouth, like a $20 Whore on a Saturday Night.
"Are his Breasts any more important than any other Woman's?"
That's better.
Oldefarte| 8.8.12 @ 11:13AM
" like a $20 Whore on a Saturday Night" SSSHHHH! The MSM told us that the Colombia hotel prostitute situation occurred BEFORE he got there, remember? We're not supposed to THINK that maybe he was inside that room from which that woman in the hotel hallway was screaming about its occupant owing her her $20. Sssshhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TLP| 8.8.12 @ 4:06PM
If he was with a Hooker?
It wasn't a woman.
Just ask the GUYS at the Harvard Review, who he asked for sex.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 4:22PM
Sophomoric comment.
Trinacria| 8.8.12 @ 7:30PM
As opposed to "what goes around comes around", which - I'm sure we all agree - is perhaps the most profoundly insighful philosophic observation since "tastes great/less filling"....
TLP| 8.8.12 @ 7:53PM
He's so Ariodyte, isn't he?
You're typical Liberal Douche Bag.
Trinacria| 8.8.12 @ 7:58PM
I'd say that's an insult to douche bags everywhere...
TLP| 8.8.12 @ 8:25PM
I apologize.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 8:48PM
I assume you are having fun with erudite, although I would not get the ranch given your sophomoric comment.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 8:45PM
"Sophomoric comment"is hardly a cliche like "what goes around." But point taken about cliches. Not, however, about sophomoric comments.
eclipse 0*| 8.8.12 @ 2:44PM
TLP and Oldefarte: Typical AmSpec stupidity and vulgarity speaking. Low-class white men whining, as usual.
Yawn.
TLP| 8.8.12 @ 4:07PM
Fck You, asshole.
MK48| 8.8.12 @ 5:17PM
He...He.......love it.
J Hammonds| 8.8.12 @ 5:17PM
It's posters like Oldefarte and TLP that cause me to rarely read American Spectator Online.
The incredibly-juvenile and reckless comments these men make on nearly a daily basis lowers the tone of AmSpec to the level of junior-high bully boys on the playground, running around making their little trashy taunts.
If this is the best mentality AmSpec can attract, no wonder conservatives are considered knee-jerk bumpkins.
Esperado| 8.8.12 @ 5:21PM
You're right, J Hammonds,
I have noticed a steady decline in the dialogue. Looks like we've been taken over by low-IQ, extreme right-wingers from the lowest tier of the lower classes.
TLP| 8.8.12 @ 7:55PM
So get the Fck outta here, both a ya.
Who invited you, anyway?
Go home and unknot your panties.
spike59| 8.9.12 @ 6:03AM
"It's posters like Oldefarte and TLP that cause me to rarely read American Spectator Online."
==================================
really, JH? i thought it was the 'words beyond the Meghan McCain level of literacy'
CJW| 8.8.12 @ 8:30PM
How do you know they are white men?
Von Mises Jr| 8.8.12 @ 7:01AM
If ObamaCare stands, you will get a virtual rectal examination each and every day about what you eat, how much you weigh, how are you doing on your cholesterol, did you donate to Dictator Obama and his wife Eva Peron.
The idea of promoting the word "Fairness" to statist is what Hayek explains in "The Fatal Conceit" in his chapter "Our Poisoned Language." Words such as "freedom," "Liberal and liberty" and "Justice" have been bastardized to mean the exact opposite.
Blaise Pascal in "Port Royal Logic" taught that words must have an unambiguous and unequivocal meaning when used in a syllogism or any form of deductive and inductive logic.
So when communist and other socialist like Obama contort and confuse the meaning of words, they aim at short-circuiting dialog and logic.
DTOM| 8.8.12 @ 7:27AM
VM,Jr - I'm thinking that after that crack, you owe Eva P an apology.
DTOM
Von Mises Jr| 8.8.12 @ 8:18AM
You are correct, DTOM. Poor Eva probably did not steal as much money in her entire life as her predecessor spent on vacations and clothes.
Eva died in 1952, but if you are out there Eva, my humblest apology.
TLP| 8.8.12 @ 8:24AM
"If you're out there"?
Didn't they Mummify her, ala Vlad Popsicle Stick, over there in The Land of Mail Order Brides and Alcoholics?
Stephanie| 8.8.12 @ 11:45AM
Moochelle and her $6800. blouse. Gag me.
TLP| 8.8.12 @ 4:09PM
Don't forget her $600 Sneakers, her $3,000 Handbag, and her $5,000 Evening Gown at The State of the Union.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 6:28PM
Care to review Laura Bush's wardrobe expense?
CJW| 8.8.12 @ 7:51PM
Care to explain how and why Michelle got a raise from $100,000 to $350,000 per year from the Chicago hospital that got a million dollar earmark of our tax dollars courtesty of Senator Obama? Sounds like the Chicago kickback? This question has gone unanswered from the other Obama fanboys and troll, so you want to take a shot at it?
And then explain, why and how Chicago felon Tony Rezko partially paid for Obama's house? Is this the Chicago felon assist program?
Trinacria| 8.8.12 @ 7:57PM
$350,000 per year for a "community outreach" position - a position, it should be noted, that was so vitally important that it was abolished once she left...
By the way, my grandmother was the community outreach coordinator for her local hospital for years (IT WAS A VOLUNTEER POSITION)...
Trinacria| 8.8.12 @ 7:57PM
$350,000 per year for a "community outreach" position - a position, it should be noted, that was so vitally important that it was abolished once she left...
By the way, my grandmother was the community outreach coordinator for her local hospital for years (IT WAS A VOLUNTEER POSITION)...
TLP| 8.8.12 @ 8:02PM
You failed to mention that her "Position" at this Hospital, was to Steer Poor People AWAY from the Hospital.
Look it up.
spike59| 8.9.12 @ 6:04AM
hey, it takes a highly skilled $350,000 'Compassionate Progressive' to dump poor sick people in the street
TLP| 8.8.12 @ 8:00PM
No, I don't care to.
Why don't you enlighten us?
I GUARANTEE YOU, that she had none of these things, that Queen Fat Ass has.
She wears $600 Sneakers while serving food to the Homeless.
What a Stupid B*tch.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 8:52PM
You're classy TLP, real classy.
Frank Drackman| 8.8.12 @ 9:56AM
its appropriate,
a Virtual Colonoscopy for a Virtual President.
Frank
Esperado| 8.8.12 @ 9:54PM
Kudos to Michelle Obama for her efforts to slim down the American public.
Appleby| 8.8.12 @ 7:02AM
"Animal Farm" said it best many years ago. "All animals are created equal, BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS." Anybody who had friends in the USSR in the Bad Old Days knows exactly how this works.
TLP| 8.8.12 @ 8:20AM
Oh my God, the Old Bag up in Canada, got one right.
The Effeminate Magic Negro does have a Fairness in mind, and it's a Fairness that we've seen many times before.
She is correct, when she brings up the only HEAVEN the Left has ever known - The USSR. It was the Fairest Place in the Universe, as long as you weren't Dying in a Gulag or Shot in the back, trying to Escape. (Not from the Gulag. FROM THE COUNTRY!)
Everybody had the same thing. They all had NOTHING. It was so great, that other Enlightened Gods, from the Pantheon of Leftist Supermen, followed suit.
Mao, in China. Min, in Vietnam. Pol Pot, in Cambodia. Nut Job, in North Korea.
The Left prospered, and everyone of these Countries SHARED in the Final Body Count of the MILLIONS OF THEIR OWN PEOPLE, who were EXECUTED, in the name of Fairness. In the name of The State.
Don't get me wrong. The Soviets had lots of good stuff, as well.
They had Caviar, as well as Reindeer, and Mink, and Russian Sable.
Just not for you.
You, and your fellow Nobodies, got something else.
You all got NOTHING.
Think: Black Community in DC.
Crassus| 8.8.12 @ 9:54AM
Democrats--Spreading the Misery since 1932.
Suzyqpie| 8.8.12 @ 7:19AM
The democrats passed for us, the hoi polloi, a health care system that they, clearly, do not want for themselves. Ponder that, health care for Them, buracracy for us. Pres Obama is so fond of fairness, and he totally considers this to be fair? Now that it is ruled to be a tax, we are right back where we started in 1774, taxation without representation.
DTOM| 8.8.12 @ 7:29AM
SQP - come on! He knows what he's doing - in 2002 he complained that the Constitution limited what the Federal government could do. If you are only waking up to this now, you may notice some other changes, too. HAve you figured out fax machines yet?
Sheesh. That smell you've been smelling for the last five years is COFFEE!
DTOM!
Stephanie| 8.8.12 @ 11:47AM
AND the fools that believe him consider it "fair". They just haven't been on the receiving end of it yet.
Intelligent Design| 8.8.12 @ 7:49AM
Discussing what Ovomit means by "fairness", or anything else, is about the same as discussing what Al Capone means by "ethics". What's the point?
Al Adab| 8.8.12 @ 9:34AM
I/D:
Not a bad analogy. Both represent the Chicago school of economics; if you have it I know better what you should do with it. It will take similar enforcement techniques to gain results as well.
My apology to the real Chicago school.
Trinacria| 8.8.12 @ 7:40PM
As a "man of respect", I must herewith register my displeasure with the rather unfortunate comparison between the utterly contemptable national disgrace that currently occupies the white house and Mr. Capone.
Stephanie| 8.8.12 @ 11:48AM
And Ballerina Rham talking about "values" Chicagos' values at that!
Nancy in NC| 8.8.12 @ 8:03AM
But David, Ozero sees himself as so much more important than the rest of us peons. When one would dare to be King there is nothing too good for his royal highness.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 4:25PM
Nancy, guess this is why the President worked for the PPACA. Caring only for himself, he supported insurance for peons and protection from insurance industry abuses. What have the Republicans done other than renounce the work of the Heritage Foundation and Romneycare?
Trinacria| 8.8.12 @ 7:43PM
Santo Subito! Santo Subito!
Moron...
CJW| 8.8.12 @ 7:47PM
T
You are using logic with a guy whose hero is Joey Biden.
Trinacria| 8.8.12 @ 7:53PM
I hear you, brother. I spent a few days in NC years ago... I swear my IQ dropped 20 points as a result...
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 8:53PM
How can that be, Trinacria? From your posts it is clear you have no IQ.
Trinacria| 8.8.12 @ 11:53PM
Oh the painful sting of the clever insult. Golly damn, sport, you got a team of writers on the payroll? Why that was about the most sublimely crafted witticism that has ever graced this exceptional site. How DO you do it?
spike59| 8.9.12 @ 6:07AM
I'm guessing that the average IQ in NC dropped by double that amount when you showed up, then rebounded upon your eviction...what happened, did they ask for ID before issuing your demanded EBT card?
irish19| 8.9.12 @ 1:30AM
Then why are he and Congress and the Senate exempt?
Cobalt| 8.8.12 @ 8:29AM
Obama, and others like him, never planned on being inconvenienced by Obamacare.
They live at the top of the pyramid. We do not.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi.....lt.svg.png
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 4:28PM
Tell this to, oh lets see: McConnell, Boehner, Cantor, DeMint (just to name a few)
Trinacria| 8.8.12 @ 8:03PM
Except for the rather unfortunate fact that none of the esteemed individuals you mentioned actually voted for Obamacare, your argument holds up quite well. Oh...wait a minute...
With all due respect, sport, you might be the dumbest son of a bitch I've ever encountered on this site (and I've encountered a lot of 'em).
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 8:57PM
You embarrass yourself. You are a Fox watching, Limbaugh listening, right wing propaganda email reading AmSpec posting asshole who has shit for brains.
Gee, this is fun. I can hardly wait for the rejoinder, er that's response you ignorant fucking dolt.
Trinacria| 8.9.12 @ 12:00AM
And there it is...the pride of the great state of North Carolina, the land of chewin' tobacco and NASCAR. Well done, sport. Well done!
Bet them there folks down there is proud of ye.
Sincerely,
Shit for brains
Mimi | 8.8.12 @ 8:39AM
Now that he has run the country off the RAILS...He needs more time to careen us down the embankment to total destruction!
Is it too much to ask to have our doctors make decisions on our behalf ?
Who wouldn't want a better diagnostic Colonoscopy....Wow, with no prep! Yipee! More takers would make it cheaper!
When "O" leaves office....He can make himsellf more famous when the "BOOK" of ...."WHAT NOT TO DO OR SAY WHILE PRESIDENT" comes out in the year 2013!
Frank Drackman| 8.8.12 @ 9:12AM
Umm actually EICOTUS(Evolver in Chief of the US)should have had his Colonoscopy at age 45, because that's what the American College of Gastroenterology recommends for Afro-Americans, oh wait aminute, make that age 47.5, because, umm, you know.
And why do Afro-Americans get a 5 yr head start on Colonoscopy's?? Because God smites Afro-Americans with his Cancer stick at a younger age than the rest of us Non-Colored- Peoples? To make up for all those years sitting on the back of Bull Connors Buses?? Because of years of scientiffic controlled double blinded-placebo-controlled retrospective, prospective, and introspective clinical trials and studies??
Nope, they just decided that one day, and it's cool, I didn't mind having to tap dance and sing "Hambone" when I got mine...
Frank "Black as Hell" Drackman
DTOM| 8.8.12 @ 9:18AM
My wife scheduled mine for my birthday, even the doctor doing the procedure got a good laugh outta that. Me, too!
Frank Drackman| 8.8.12 @ 9:50AM
Ironically, the radiation from a CT scan probably causes as many cancers as it supposedly prevents..
Especially in smokers, like EICOTUS(Evolver in Chief of the US), thats why, when I went to Med School, (YES, during the rain of Ronaldus Maximus I) we saved CT scans for life threatening things, like intracranial bleeds, cervical spine fractures, or the legendary Intra-Rectal(Calm down Jack)(Insert common household object here) Seriously, we're a random cosmic ray or 2 from Joe Biden (DAICOTUS) being America's first mongoloid President when EICOTUS comes down with Joe Paterno's Disease...
Frank
Occam's Tool| 8.8.12 @ 2:23PM
Not my specialty, but: the problem with virtual colonoscopies is that you can't remove lesions as you could with a real one.
I, too, went to med school during the Reign of Ronaldus Magnus: 1984-1988, UTMB.
And, Frank, I must disagree with you: there have been Down patients intelligent enough to memorize lines as movie actors and deliver them without problems (I think the show was "Life Goes On.). That does not apply to Joe, "I got into Syracuse Law School from the bottom 28% of my class at Delaware" Biden. You owe an apolgy to Down Syndrome patients. (By the way, I am a shrink, not a surgeon. I appreciate the compliment, as I have always admired surgical skill.)
CJW| 8.8.12 @ 3:48PM
Biden graduated 91 out of 96 from law school. He was almost expelled for plagiarism. He did a term paper by cutting and pasting from some law review articles.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 4:26PM
Sounds like McCain at the USNA.
CJW| 8.8.12 @ 5:06PM
Except for one minor difference in that McCain served his country in war and did five years at the Hanoi Hilton, while Joey Biteme
served himself and got rich at the public trough.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 5:28PM
Biden really is not rich. Sorry. But, concerning the service you are right. I was simply talking about two college students with a penchant for hijinx.
CJW| 8.8.12 @ 5:51PM
Plagiarism in law school is not highjinx. He should have been expelled. Even Teddy Kennedy got kicked out of Harvard for having someone take his Spanish test. Biden did the same plagiarism when he copied Neil Kinnock's speech during the 1988 primary.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 6:19PM
Had McCain' s father not been a high ranking naval officers, do you think he would have been expelled?
CJW| 8.8.12 @ 7:45PM
TheNorth Vietnamese commies offered to release McCain because of his father. McCain turned down the offer. But, of course, you prefer Biden, Obama, and Bubba. Remeber Bubba lied to the Bataan Death March survivor, who was the general in the reserves, to evade the draft.
We will have to disagree here, I will take McCain, you can have Biden, Obama, and Bubba.
Trinacria| 8.8.12 @ 8:06PM
Had your mother used a condom, do you think we wouldn't have such a headache right now?
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 8:59PM
Trimacria,
The best part of you ran down your mother's ass crack and ended up a stain on the sheets.
Your turn, bozo .
Trinacria| 8.9.12 @ 12:02AM
Too easy, sport. Too easy.
Say hey to Gomer and Cooter, will ya?
Trinacria| 8.8.12 @ 7:49PM
"Sounds like McCain at the USNA"
One cheated his way through law school, finished at the bottom of his class, then snagged a cushy government job that allowed him to suck from the public teet for 40 years, the other completed flight school, flew combat missions in Viet Nam, was wounded in battle, captured, tortured and held for years as a prisoner of war in the most under the most inhumane conditions - even refusing to be released before his fellow prisoners were also granted their freedom...
Yeah, they're pretty much the same.
You fookin' moron!
CJW| 8.8.12 @ 7:54PM
T
To a lefty troll like Mikey, Biden had the tougher job of fighting the mean Republicans who want to poison the air, water, and push Granny over the cliff.
Trinacria| 8.8.12 @ 8:05PM
You left out keepin' the man down...
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 9:02PM
To the sidelines CJW. You're a lightweight compared to Trinacria
CJW| 8.8.12 @ 9:18PM
So you can't answer the questions about Michele's $350,000 salary and Rezko paying for their house, another Obama fanboy troll fails. We have enough lefty trolls with foul language, get lost.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 9:31PM
Right wing propaganda.
I love playing right wing rules. It's fun.
CJW| 8.8.12 @ 10:19PM
You have nothing, Mikey. Can't answer, no facts. You are a failure. At least purpie and vtwin try.
irish19| 8.9.12 @ 1:35AM
Those are facts. Either prove them wrong or STFU.
irish19| 8.9.12 @ 1:36AM
That was to Mikey, BTW.
Esperado| 8.8.12 @ 9:56PM
Yawn
JD| 8.8.12 @ 11:01AM
Part of the problem with our healthcare system is wasteful spending on unnecessary procedures, particularly near end of life. Democrats' "solution" is to ban procedures that might in some cases be wasteful. Problem is, they're not always wasteful.
I propose a radical, unheard-of alternative.
Let's let people get expensive procedures if they'll pay for them, else not! You know, the same way they get all the other things that improve their quality of life!
Petronius| 8.8.12 @ 11:13AM
"Fairness", to a piece of pond life like Obama is that which satisfies at the expense of his enemies. The Demoncrats will finally smile when George W Bush has to shine Obama's shoes or starve.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 9:44PM
Stupid comment devoid of anything other than the idiocy of your thoughts
Oldefarte| 8.8.12 @ 11:16AM
Possibly on 11/6/12, the voters of this country will perform the SECOND "a CT colonography (CTC), commonly known as a virtual colonoscopy" on him!!!!!!!!!!!
Who Knows?| 8.8.12 @ 11:33AM
I just read that there’s a county just north of mine in southern Oregon that doesn’t meet pollution particulate standards, because---surprise!---the wind blows west to east: hello Chinese burps.
There’s also pollution in the noosphere, big time.
Ponder two concepts, seemingly among those most bandied about---health care and health insurance.
Health of what? The body-mind. As the bromide goes, take care of the body, because where else are you going to live. That goes, doubly damned in 2012, in the Obama dark age, for the mind.
The first truth is that the body is ALREADY built to take care—it has systems that protect it from destruction and disease. When Hippocrates advised doctors to “first do no harm”, he was implicitly recognizing THIS.
So, if the body is not acting healthy, wisdom is to figure out what intakes are hindering its natural propensity to, actually, shine, to beam, to be not just without disease, but in robust and energetic health. Stop pinching YOURSELF!
These “highly evolved” days, though, wherein people have been “polluted” by scientific materialism to ONLY rely on others, known as MD’S, doctors, physicians, medical professionals, etc, they are in almost complete ignorance of all this. In real estate, it’s all about OPM---other people’s money. Likewise in the futures and stock market. Let Joe do it!
In any case, “care” of the body DOES naturally happen.
Who Knows?| 8.8.12 @ 11:52AM
Even in conventional terms, in America, if one needs health care, they get it. If they can just get to a doctor, be it the ER, or not, no MD will refuse to try to help them.
Me? If I cut myself, I just clean the wound and apply a Band-Aid. If I can’t do it myself, I can call 911, of haul my suffering body part to an ER.
Ah, then there are all the self-inflicted “wounds”, which arrive after many years of baleful intakes. Since doctors can’t be with one 24/7, and control one’s activities, especially “food” swallowing, it all becomes a matter of pain management, essentially. Welcome to the world of palliatives, with TV advertising filled with assuaging music about little cod liver pills to ease your body---and, mind.
What about health insurance?
Here’s where the “other people’s money” call for action is most stupidly applied.
First, most people fail to wisely maintain the body, and then turn to others, known as doctors, to fix their OWN mistakes. Nowadays, we are so much more sophisticated, though.
We take “other people’s money” to the next level, and buy insurance, so that not only can we get someone else, besides ourselves---the MD---to help, but we can also get somebody ELSE to pay for it!
Yes---OPM rules.
Ultimately, however, the body “buck” always stops HERE---despite rampant moral hazard, YOU are always responsible. And all the “other people” games can’t really help.
I am, that I am---even bodily and mentally.
BackToBasics| 8.8.12 @ 12:19PM
"Fairness" started in earnest when Lyndon Johnson when he signed and executive order 11246 in 1965 for hiring purposes. All it really meant then and even moreso today is that white males are at the bottom of the hiring list.
But surprise, more and more, the list has now expanded to include white females at the second hiring rung from the bottom. For hiring purposes, fairness means helping anyone of color, whether legal citizens or illegal aliens or excessive numbers of H1-B visa holders.
fmm| 8.8.12 @ 12:24PM
The most egregious fact in politics is that politicians are not subjected to the very same rules as we the people in all things! The last time this disparity was partially positively addressed was under the leadership of Gingrich in the house. Under the current administration, it has been degraded.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 9:42PM
I agree with the first part of your post. Gingrich? How so? And, specifically how has it been degraded under the current administration?
Doctor Right| 8.8.12 @ 2:50PM
Hold on there, Mr. Catron!
Sounds to me like you're saying our President is a hypocrite.
...Are you?
derfel cadarn| 8.8.12 @ 3:04PM
No one at ANy level of government should be supplied with a level of medical care above that with is offered through the Veterans Administration. These phonies in government are always blathering about our military heros and how they love them .Then the medical care they are subjected to is also good enough for our politicians.
irish19| 8.9.12 @ 1:39AM
I like the way you think.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 4:19PM
The President of the United States gets the best health care available. This has been true regardless of party. More to the point, how do you justify the government paid health care received by Republicans who ideologically against the expenditure?
JD| 8.8.12 @ 5:19PM
Simple. They're paying for it.
Democrats make hay about the "hypocrisy" of accepting a benefit one opposes, but they are dishonest every time they do this. A true "opt out" option would allow a person to opt out of paying for and receiving it. Allowing one to opt out of receiving while still forcing him to pay for it is no "opt out." It's just a lie from dishonest people.
Democrats thrive on such dishonesty. They take our money away, then offer to give it back only if we dance for them. If we complain, they tell us we're allowed to not do what they want, but then they won't give us our money back. The really evil thing is, they act as if our inability to survive without getting our money back is OUR fault, as if we're not sustaining ourselves just because we're not bending over enough for the Democrats to give back the money they took from us at gunpoint!
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 5:25PM
How are they paying for it?
Kingofthenet| 8.8.12 @ 8:11PM
What I don't get is why the Non-union Delphi workers EXPECT anything, didn't they know they were 'on their own'? They didn't pay union dues, walk any cold picket lines, why don't they cry to their 'friends' in management, I am sure they will take care of them. The whole idea of a union, among other things is you have some Rabid Dog Fighting for YOU and your interests, is there ANY surprise that the Union gets the sweet deal, and the scabs get squat?
Timely Renewed | 8.11.12 @ 12:12AM
Obamacare is just the tip of the iceberg. There are thousands of other ways that the federal government has overreached its constitutional bounds to benefit the ruling regulatory elite like Obama. We will only restore our freedom when we restore those original constitutional limits on federal power. See http://www.timelyrenewed.com