10,000 Monkeys and a Camera

People aren’t talking about much besides health care these days, and with Congress in recess for the month, that’s not likely to change any time soon.

There’s certainly plenty of crazy (or just plain stupid) joining in the discussion. Eugene Robinson highlights that point:

Red-faced retirees are railing against “government-run” health care and “socialized medicine” — with Medicare cards tucked in their wallets. They could have just stayed home and harangued themselves.

(Guess how many anti-socialized medicine kooks are willing to give up those precious cards?) Robinson also launches into an interesting dissection of the factors at play:

We should be having two debates. One should be about the obligation to ensure universal access to health care, which will directly benefit millions of struggling families and make this a better society. The other — a more complicated, difficult and painful discussion — should be about the long-term problem of out-of-control health-care costs, which would be a looming crisis even if President Obama had never uttered the word “reform.”

In the meantime, Investor’s Business Daily overreached — and whiffed.

And then there are the death panels. Where do they come up with these straw men? Oh, right — from the leadership of the Republican party.

I see. So you are speaking up to stop Obama’s plan to kill your baby. Well, I can understand why you resigned as governor. — Jon Stewart, 10 Aug 2009

Of course, the death panels are quite real and the rationing of health care is ongoing. But the last word on death panels has to go to Helen Philpot:

And what’s all this crap about killing your grandmother? Are you people honestly that stupid? This has become less an argument about healthcare reform and more a statement about our failed education system. Margaret, I don’t know what plans you’ve made up there with Howard, but down here with Harold, we have living wills to determine how we will leave this world when the time comes. Mine states that unless the feeding tube is large enough for a piece of pie, I don’t want to be hooked up to it. Harold, of course, says his can only be connected to him if the other end is connected to a bottle of single malt scotch.

Now shame on me for making a joke about a serious subject, but if these morons are going to show up and scream at their elected officials, they need to educate themselves about the subject at hand. No one is planning on killing you or your grandmother with rationed healthcare or death squads. By the looks of the American citizenry turning out for these town hall meetings, we’re doing a fine job of killing ourselves with fast food, cigarettes and an overindulgence of ignorance.

And back in the real world, patients in other countries — even the evil, socialists ones — are faring shockingly well.

Go figure.

(PS. if you’re the CEO of a company that caters to the needs of not just the wealthy, but also to a very conscientious clientele, don’t write to a very conservative publication to take a position against a progressive ideal, because then your customers might freak out and find some place else to get their organic tomatoes, and then how are you going to get the genie back into the bottle?)