Palintology

Sarah Palin, disingenuous? Lying, even? For political reasons?

Say it ain’t so, Governor Winky McMooseburger!

Unfortunately, as anyone who is even remotely familiar with the now-ex-governor of Alaska already knows quite well, of course it IS so. Think Progress catches Palin’s April, 2008 endorsement, as Governor, of adanced directives and end-of-life counseling:

However, on April 16th 2008, then Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed some of the same end of life counseling she now decries as a form of euthanasia. In a proclamation announcing “Healthcare Decisions Day,” Palin urged public facilities to provide better information about advance directives, and made it clear that it is critical for seniors to be informed of such options:

WHEREAS, Healthcare Decisions Day is designed to raise public awareness of the need to plan ahead for healthcare decisions, related to end of life care and medical decision-making whenever patients are unable to speak for themselves and to encourage the specific use of advance directives to communicate these important healthcare decisions. [...]

WHEREAS, one of the principal goals of Healthcare Decisions Day is to encourage hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities, and hospices to participate in a statewide effort to provide clear and consistent information to the public about advance directives, as well as to encourage medical professionals and lawyers to volunteer their time and efforts to improve public knowledge and increase the number of Alaska’s citizens with advance directives.

WHEREAS, the Foundation for End of Life Care in Juneau, Alaska, and other organizations throughout the United States have endorsed this event and are committed to educating the public about the importance of discussing healthcare choices and executing advance directives.

Though this proclamation is now deleted from the Alaska governor’s website, it shows that Palin’s current fear-mongering is purely political. Palin is not the only conservative leader completely flip-flopping on this issue. Merely months ago, Gingrich too endorsed end of life counseling. At a conference in April of this year, Gingrich said advance directives can “save money” while also helping to “decrease the stress felt by caregivers.”

GoOPers? Acting hypocritically, venally and without conscience? Knock me over with a feather (NOT). Grrrr….

Health Care Anecdotes — And Data

One of the things I’m genuinely trying the hardest to work my way through with regard to the health care debate is the delicate balancing act that goes into how much credence to give first-hand accounts (i.e. – anecdotes) regarding various health care experiences. Here’s what’s been bugging me: here in the American south, I hear virtually nothing but negative stories about the system of VA hospitals, and also about any other country’s health care systems. Keep in mind, this is all anecdotal. Similarly, people who’ve lived in other countries for a few years will tell you horror stories about those countries’ health care systems.

However, I know too many people, both here and elsewhere, who also have anecdotes about how terrible this or that insurance company here in the states treated them, as well – or this or that hospital, etc. One thing that’s obviously true is that, with something as large as health care, no system will be perfect. But it’s nearly impossible on a personal level to tally up the stories, one against another, and come up with a clear picture of which system is worst (or best).

What Really Happened At McCaskill’s Town Hall

This video is actually shocking. Initially, I agreed with another blogger who wrote, upon first seeing the much-shorter clip which showed the tea-bagger getting up, ripping the Rosa Parks poster away from the woman and shredding it, that it was “especially fucked up.” I filed it away under “reason #2,892 to despise the teabaggers’ organizing tactics and thuggery.” But, like the original blogger who commented “that’s especially fucked up,” I filed it away under “over and done, just another instance of teabagger thuggery.”

Apparently not.

Turns out, there’s a bit more to the story. The good folks at Hating Not Debating did yeomans’ work putting together multiple video and audio clips into a coherent narrative which clearly shows not only the bias of many in the crowd, but also puts the event’s police and security in a terribly bad, indefensible and embarrassing position:

The List

I’ve been keeping an eye on this one for a while now, but (as with most big lawsuits, especially international ones) it’s been moving at a rather glacial pace. However, it seems as if the U.S. government has finally settled with Swiss banking giant U.B.S. in a deal which will have U.B.S. revealing the names and details of up to 52,000 account-holders. U.S. law specifically prohibits either shielding profits or money-laundering in offshore accounts.

Gonna be very interesting to see who’s on this list. I’m guessing more than a few of these names will have tie-ins to the political world, probably on both sides.