Just when I was feeling hopeful that she had gone away, Caribou Barbie (Alaska Governor-Quit Sarah Palin, of course) comes back in spades. Apparently, the reason she quit as governor was because it was difficult to lie her ass off with the press hanging on every word. I can imagine how difficult it must be to be the governor of a small state and a former vice presidential candidate and swimsuit model, and still stay anonymous. It's quite the challenge.
So, she quit her job, ostensibly so that she could keep all that "lawyerin' money" and do scintillating speeches before groups of wingnuts who didn't disagree with her and who, in fact, were willing to pay good money to sit in an audience and fantasize about doing her. Much easier, dontcha know.
So, now she lies on the Facebook, and promotes her lies by the Twitterin', you betcha. This is a note she put up on Facebook yesterday:
Statement on the Current Health Care Debate
As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping, and we’re saying not just no, but hell no!
The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. 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.
Health care by definition involves life and death decisions. Human rights and human dignity must be at the center of any health care discussion.
Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives. I commend her for being a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors.
We must step up and engage in this most crucial debate. Nationalizing our health care system is a point of no return for government interference in the lives of its citizens. If we go down this path, there will be no turning back. Ronald Reagan once wrote, “Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.” Let’s stop and think and make our voices heard before it’s too late.
- Sarah Palin
Ok, when someone mentions Michele Bachmann (I really have to bring back the Right Boob of the Week) and Orwellian in the same sentence, and Orwellian is not an adjective, you know you're in for a bit of the crazy. This is easily the most clueless set of lies ever uttered by a national politician. It not only shows a willingness to lie in order to kill a bill that would prevent people from dying because they have no money, which is immoral enough, but it shows such a profound ignorance about the subject that the lies almost seem superfluous. Almost. But hey; this is Caribou Barbie we're talking about here.
Here is the misinformation, in a nutshell; and I do mean "nut."
- There is no "nationalized health care" in this bill. None. Zero. Nothing in the health care delivery system will change one bit, and all this reform bill adds is a public insurance OPTION. The word "option" is there for a reason, Barbie; NO ONE will have to give up their current insurance plan, if they choose to keep it. And nothing in the bill even touches the health care delivery system, except to promise that the public insurance system will negotiate prices, in order to save people money. Private insurance companies do that all of the time, by the way.
- This health care reform is in no way "rushed." It took six months and countless hearings and meetings to write the bill in the first place, and by the time the final version of the bill is passed -- and it had better be passed, or a lot of Blue Dog Democrats and most Republicans will be looking at the end of their careers in the wake of it -- the bill will have been in the hands of Congresscritters and their massive staffs for at least a couple of months. I would also note that it's been 15 years since the last reform was tried. That's hardly a "rush."
- Thomas Sowell is absolutely
wrong, and he knows it; unlike the wingnuts who hang onto his every word as if he as the only "economist" in existence, Sowell's not stupid. He's a panderer, however. Covering everyone will reduce the cost of health
care overall, and he knows it. And it will especially reduce the cost of health insurance for everyone. In order to believe
that costs will not go down, you have to be a mathematically challenged
dolt. Imagine, if you will, that you belong to a group of 100 people, all of whom make the same amount of money in a year. Now, suppose the cost of health care
in that group over the next year will be $200,000, or $2,000 per
person. Now, imagine if 20 of those 100 people were FORBIDDEN from
paying into the health care pool. The cost of the health is still $200,000, but now, the cost to
everyone paying into the pool is $2,500. That's just basic math, folks. Plus, the 20 people who are
forbidden from going to a doctor now because they can't afford it, will
have to wait until their condition gets chronic. What if ONE of them is
pushed into an ER for emergency treatment, and that ends up costing your
group $50,000. Suddenly, the cost to your 100-person group is $250,000. But only 80 people are paying. So, assuming no profit, the insurance for
those 80 people is now $3125. That
is how our system works, and it's just plain ridiculous.You can assume that at least 25-30% of your health insurance bill is going to pay for people without insurance and without an ability to pay. Therefore, just covering everyone, and paying every bill, will reduce costs to those currently insured by 25-30%.
- There is absolutely ZERO
health care rationing in the health care reform bill. None. In fact, there
is less rationing in the proposed public insurance system than is
currently happening thoughout the private insurance system. Apparently, Caribou Barbie has never
heard the words "you're denied" from her health insurance
company, and never had a doctor's decision overturned by an insurance
company because his or her choice is deemed "too expensive."
There is far less rationing in Medicare than in private insurance, and
this bill is essentially an extension of Medicare. Plus, think about this a moment; you've paid upwards of $150,000 to your insurance plan for the last 20 years in your job. Then you lose your job. If you don't have the money to keep up the COBRA, and you happen to get sick, you might as well have pissed $150,000 (plus the interest they made on that money; more like $350,000 after 20 years) down the drain, because you get ZERO health care for that money. That's not "rationing?"
- The most outrageous LIE in all of this (and yes, Caribou Barbie, I am calling you a liar; NO ONE could be this goddamned ignorant and still be able to feed herself) is the one in which she claims a "death panel" is created. No, Governor-Quit Palin, we do NOT want the undercoating. If anyone in government seems to be in favor of killing old people and the disabled, Barbie, it would seem to be your side. And I don't mean Republicans; I mean right wing nutjobs. YOUR PARTY was shamed into creating a prescription drug benefit for Medicare, and they created a donut hole in it so large a truck could drive through it, meaning Seniors are often left with a choice of food or medicine. But the health care reform bill doesn't create anything resembling a "death panel," and no one will be put to death because of this bill. What the bill does create is a benefit in which end of life planning can be done, and the government health insurance plan will pay for it. IF YOU WANT IT. Doctors already often do this sort of thing out of the goodness of their hearts; now, they'll be paid for it.
Seriously, folks; how much more of this woman -- and I use the term loosely -- can we take? No one likes Caribou Barbie, except right wing idiots who imagine a three-way with her and Ann Coulter; why do we always have to listen to her? And why is she so dim as to think she can get away with these lies?
Ok, that last one was a silly question from me. Look at who she's talking to…
I think I need more sleep...
