POLJUNK

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (a.k.a Caribou Barbie) recently accused President Obama of trying to create Big Bad Government "Death Panels" made up of bureaucrats who would determine who would and who would not qulify for life-saving health care based on a patient's societal productivity level. Seriously. I can't make this shit up.

From Caribou Barbie's Facebook note to her supporters:

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.

Oddly, one of the problems with the current healthcare system is that pivate insurers routinely deny patients expensive care because, of course, in a private system the profit is the bottom line, not the well-being of the patient. No word from the "pro-life" Caribou Barbie about this minor detail. Maybe that isn's so surprising, especially when one considers that America's Main Stream Media decided not to bother covering a recent US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on such anti-patient / pro-profit tactics by American insurance companies. Hearing witness Robin Beaton's testimony is particularly damning:

In May 2008, I went to the dermatologist for acne. A word was written on my chart and interpreted incorrectly as meaning pre-cancerous. Shortly thereafter, I was diagnosed with Invasive HER-2 Genetic Breast Cancer, a very aggressive form of breast cancer. I was told I needed a double mastectomy. When the surgeons scheduled my surgery I was pre-certified for my two days hospitalization. The Friday before the Monday I was scheduled to have my double mastectomy, Blue Cross red flagged my chart due to the dermatologist report. The dermatologist called Blue Cross directly to report that I only had acne and please not hold up my coming surgery. Blue cross called me to inform me that they were launching a 5 year medical investigation into my medical History and that this would take approximately 3 months.

Shortly thereafter, Blue Cross decided that it would be prudent to cancel Beaton's insurance policy. No mention by Beaton of a refund from Blue Cross for the premiums that she paid, effectively for nothing. From a conservative standpoint, this doesn't sound very pro-life to me.

"We must step up and engage in this most crucial debate," declared Caribou Barbie. Indeed, we must. But perhaps someone should ask her (and the entirety of the Republican Party) how it is possible for two or more parties to have a meaningful debate when one party only brings lies and ridiculous accusations, but not facts, to the table.