Ask AARP.... They Know

OK, OK... I'm beating this healthcare thing to death. But it's not really about the healthcare. It's about the lies. So, I noticed an article in the AARP Bulletin, September issue, that addresses some of the "lies" being propagated about the proposed change. And yes, they call them lies. Rumors and lies actually. Now, can we even agree that the AARP is non-partisan? I mean, I have to believe that there are far more older conservatives than younger ones right? So one would suspect if the AARP has a political bias it would be towards the right. Is the right going to now classify the AARP as a mouthpiece for the liberal, communist, anti American, scum living among us? I don't want to be responsible for that!

Anyway, you can read the article here. http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourhealth/policy/articles/health_care_reform2.html

I'm going to try to post the link to the right under Links (duh) but I don't remember how I did that last one so who knows. You can read the detail in the article but here is the basic version.

"Will the government take over health care so we wind up with socialized medicine?"

NO!

"Will private insurance be outlawed or wither on the vine?"

NO!

"Will the government encourage euthanasia to save costs?" (I still can't believe there are people out there stupid enough to believe this... but I guess there must be or it wouldn't be an issue).

NO!

"Will Medicare be eliminated or gutted to pay for reform?"

NO!

"Will the government ration care?"

NO!

So there you have it. Let's call it the big 5. These do seem to be the rumors that circulate the most. They are certainly among the most quoted arguments against reform. So what does this tell us about the other arguments against reform? At the very least, are they not rendered suspect? And at the risk of sounding like a broken record (For you "younguns", a record was a vinyl platter that served the same function as a CD does today. When scratched, it often would repeat a brief section over and over again... thus the expression. Ask your parents...), why does the right feel the need to fabricate, exaggerate, and lie to get their points (are they points?) across? Isn't it a sad commentary on their ethics and morals? Not to mention the unfounded fear they seem to live with.

A friend of mine recently posted a great quote on his facebook page. It is a quote attributed to a Chinese writer named Lin Yutang (1895-1976). It says “When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set." I don’t know about you but this scares me. There are some pretty “small” men and women out there casting very big shadows. These right wing-nuts who base their entire political philosophy on misinformation and then choose to broadcast it all over the web and scream it at town hall meetings. The right wing pundits who spread fear, hate, and political lunacy in the hopes of turning the American public into the raving maniacs they have become. Many of my friends and acquaintances who are so full of anger and hate that they can’t seem to think clearly and argue rationally. These are all some pretty small men and women. Let’s just hope that our sun isn’t setting.

By the way, still no word from the right on specific issues within the Congressional bill with the one exception mentioned in an earlier post. I guess there either are none, these people can’t read, or they don’t want to admit to being lying sacks of shit.

Peace,

Common Sense