Republican patient needs some meds it appears.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Comments

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

Not bad at all.

But I think, like Mark Twain, the reports of the Heffalump's death are somewhat exaggerated.

With the right sort of straight-jacket they could be stopped from harming themselves unto death: but they do need to treat the insanity and the stupidity.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Yah, have any predictions for mid terms next year? Think the GOP will pick up a lot of seats, like *some* here are pining for? :P

[blueduck37.livejournal.com]

I think they'll pick up some House seats for sure, but not nearly enough to gain the majority. The Senate will probably not change all that much.

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

I agree with blueduck37. A few seats, but not enough to change the present status quo. However....a lot depends on Murdoch's various organs of dissemination. With luck the more extreme viewpoints will be marginalised even further, which may well push 'em over the edge - then anything can happen.

From the outside, it seems that Obama is trying to bring sense to a country divided like never before: and what is more complicating is he has become the living symbol of everything which divides the US. The objection to his presence in office has provided the evidence that the 'good' America is under fire from some of the most unpleasant folk America has lurking in its unlit corners.

Folk of the right, who object to Obama's policies from a rational position (and there are some, right or wrong) have used the extremist and racist rump to bolster their numbers, when they perhaps should have been distancing themselves from such folk. Lie down with dogs, as one cartoon put it recently.....

[weswilson]

Bookies appear to be saying there will be significant gains by the GOP. I think the democrats greatly exaggerate how damaged the Republican party is.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

I think it depends a lot on the economy, it's no accident that a lot of the stimulus infrastructure spending will be kicking in early next year, that's going to have an impact that will help the Democratic party from losing a lot. But they need to really get their shit together now, and hurry up and pass some of their agenda. There are rumors a new Supreme Court position is opening shortly. It's the courts that will have such a lasting legacy. Bush didn't get to name nearly as many judges to the circuit courts as Clinton, from what I read.

[pacotelic.livejournal.com]

Scary. There's no "Contract with America", no animating intellectual concept, just "no". I know I though Gingrich was bad, but he looks like Locke compared to these people.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Dems held the Congress what? 20 years (mid 1950s through 1980)?

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

[lather2002.livejournal.com]

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/48544571@N00/3919489360/)

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Here's to Soylent Green! Cheers!

[lather2002.livejournal.com]

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/48544571@N00/3919013543/)

[telemann.livejournal.com]

[pacotelic.livejournal.com]

Oh. OK.

not surprising

[i.livejournal.com]

Grammar Fail

Re: not surprising

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Don't say that, Jeff will be johnny-on-the-spot with "leftist" signage that has "issues."

Re: not surprising

[i.livejournal.com]

the difference is, we don't post such signs as "clever" rebuttals to comments.

[spencer-mato.livejournal.com]

It's tragic to me that people are making assumptions about what end of life care is. End of life care is counseling for those who are dying. Studies were done that those who get counseling actually live a little longer and better lives in the last few months than those who don't receive it. Also, most private insurance companies include it in their policies too, so another shitty misdirection by the republicans.

[lather2002.livejournal.com]

mmm ... The bulk of Medicare is spent on the last year or so on the care and such of a person's life usually. So tell me, where do you think Obama is talking about when he says he is gonna cut several billion from Medicare ?

http://www.thirteen.org/bid/sb-howmuch.html

[dwer.livejournal.com]

he's talking about removing inefficiencies in the system. Streamlining paperwork. that sort of thing.

Not that you're interested.

[lather2002.livejournal.com]

Yeah sure and chickens have lips.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

well, you can believe the man elected by the people, or you can believe the racist asshole who called him a liar and was censured for it.

[xforge.livejournal.com]

Telling people what it's like for their bodies to be connected to wires and tubes for the last several months of their lives while their brain and organs rot away sufficiently for someone to be able to pronounce them unrevivable, rather than dying naturally and not costing their insurer (Medicare) tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, is where.

[spencer-mato.livejournal.com]

Shit, my boyfriend has a DNR on his life and he's only 20. Sometimes you'll come back worse with brain issues and such. Much better to slip away comfortably at home instead of being hooked up to machines constantly for a few months. I think that's how my grandpa did it with his cancer. And I'm sure my grandmother is going to do it just the same(but that's because she's a stubborn old lady).

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Medicare didn't cover a lot of the at home expenses for my mum when she got sick (e.g. such as nurse that would come by and visit her three times a week to dose meds, etc). I don't know if they've changed the policies since this happened (1998), but I thought it odd, since at home care was a lot cheaper than assisted living facilities.

[xforge.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember some talk of changes in at-home care policy. One of the few good things that got done under the Bush administration, I think. I could be talking out my ass of course.

[kgbman.livejournal.com]

Less than ten years ago you could have switched the characters and the cartoon would have been just as effective. Partisans are always predicting the "death" of the other party, but given enough time or a big enough issue and they'll come back.

[caerfrli.livejournal.com]

so when can we expect a resurgence of the Whigs?

[kgbman.livejournal.com]

They all joined the Republican Party. Abraham Lincoln started his career as a Whig.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Right, so they're extinct then.

[kgbman.livejournal.com]

In retrospect, I should have made a distinction between the party and the principles that anchor them. The Democratic and Republican parties could both go extinct tomorrow, but that wouldn't mean liberalism and conservatism as we know them would go away. The Whig Party is extinct, but Whig ideas carried over into the Republican Party. The same with Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans and Jackson's Democrats.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Well that would be nice if we were talking about general ideals, e.g. you could talk about political parties in Great Britian from the 18th century that haven't died. Hell go for broke and go back to Republican Rome. But that's not what the cartoon was speaking about, nor most that commented on the original post.

[i.livejournal.com]

the "ideas" monitor should be flatlined.