Peninsula Daily News for Thursday, December 30, 2010
Commentary
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Sarah Palin was right: ‘death panels’ Sarah Palin deserves an apology. When she said that the new health care law would lead to “death panels” deciding who gets life-saving Cal treatment and Thomas who does not, she was roundly denounced and ridiculed. Now we learn, courtesy of one of the ridiculers — The New York Times — that she was right. Under a new policy not included in the law for fear the administration’s real end-of-life game would be exposed, a rule issued by the recess-appointed Dr. Donald M. Berwick, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, calls for the government to pay doctors to advise patients on options for ending their lives.
These could include directives to forgo aggressive treatment that could extend their lives. This rule will inevitably lead to bureaucrats deciding who is “fit” to live and who is not. The effect this might have on public opinion, which by a solid majority opposes Obamacare, is clear from an e-mail obtained by the Times. It is from Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who sent it to people working with him on the issue. Oregon and Washington are the only states with assisted-suicide laws, a preview of what is to come at the federal level if this new regulation is allowed to stand. Blumenauer wrote in his November e-mail: “While we are very happy with the result, we won’t be shouting it from the rooftops because we aren’t out of the woods yet. “This regulation could be modified or reversed, especially if Republican leaders try to use
this small provision to perpetuate the ‘death panel’ myth.” Ah, but it’s not a myth, and that’s where Palin nailed it. All inhumanities begin with small steps; otherwise the public might rebel against a policy that went straight to the “final solution.” All human life was once regarded as having value, because even government saw it as “endowed by our Creator.” This doctrine separates us from plants, microorganisms and animals. Doctors once swore an oath, which reads in part: “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.” Did Dr. Berwick, a fan of rationed care and the British National Health Service, ever take that oath? If he did, it appears he no longer believes it. Do you see where this leads? First the prohibition against
Peninsula Voices Holy day
Secular Christmas
We were saddened by the response to the Peninsula Poll question published Dec. 24: “How much religious significance do you put in Christmas?” Over 50 percent of the 1,000-plus respondents said they attached “very little” significance to this day. Embroidered on a little pillow that sits on a chair in our home is a sentiment that helps remind our family of the real meaning of the season. It simply says, “The spirit of Christmas is peace. The heart of Christmas is love. The joy of Christmas is family and friends. The reason for Christmas is Christ.” We hope that more people will remember the “reason” for the season as they celebrate this holy(i)day. Donna and Doug Moulton, Forks
We who celebrate a secular Christmas are not the ones ignoring the original meaning of Christmas and we are not the ones judging and frowning upon those who do. Christians complain that the “original” Christian message is ignored at Christmas. Christmas is a multicultural, multi-religious festival celebrated in many forms and the Christian version is the newest one. Despite Christian propaganda, pagan festivals, winter solstice and sunworship form the original basis of the Christmas period. Such modern Christians do not know its history. Christian churches have themselves led long and bitter campaigns against the observance of Christmas and in various times and places banned it completely. The religious content was always very small,
abortion is removed and “doctors” now perform them. Then the assault on the infirm and elderly begins. Once the definition of human life changes, all human lives become potentially expendable if they don’t measure up to constantly “evolving” government standards. It will all be dressed up with the best possible motives behind it and sold to the public as the ultimate benefit. The killings, uh, terminations, will take place out of sight so as not to disturb the masses who might have a few embers of a past morality still burning in their souls. People will sign documents testifying to their desire to die, and the government will see it as a means of “reducing the surplus population,” to quote Charles Dickens. When life is seen as having ultimate value, individuals and their doctors can make decisions about treatment that are in the best interests of patients.
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But when government is looking to cut costs as the highest good and offers to pay doctors to tell patients during their annual visits that they can choose to end their lives rather than continue treatment, that is more than the proverbial camel’s nose under the tent. That is the next step on the way to physician-assisted suicide and, if not stopped, governmentmandated euthanasia. It can’t happen here? Based on what standard? Yes it can happen in America, and it will if the new Republican class in Congress doesn’t stop it.
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Cal Thomas is a Fox TV network commentator and syndicated newspaper columnist. His column appears on this page every Thursday. He can be reached at tmseditors@tribune.com or by U.S. mail to Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207.
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of their Sun Gods. Thus the ancient pagan festival of the winter solstice came to be used by the Christian church as the Nativity of Jesus, and was called Christmas although it was not until about 1884 that Christians celebrating Christmas became fashionable. Dianna Sheets, Sequim
By a new name
with most celebrations and rituals being secular, organized by the people, not by clerics. Modern-day Christmas sometimes contains Christian elements. Some Christians of the first few centuries celebrated the birth of their messiah. They did not know for
certain where he was born, where he died or where he was buried. When they did celebrate Christmas, they generally did so in April and May. In the fourth century the church established the date of Jesus’ birth as Dec. 25 to compete with the early Pagan winter festivals to celebrate the birth
What is it, exactly, that we hope to obtain in Afghanistan? If it is to cripple alQaida, then the job is done. If it is to change the culture of the Afghanis or the Middle East in general, that goal is simply unobtainable. Thanks to the cowboy diplomacy of G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney, Muslims everywhere think they’re fighting a holy war. Americans think we’re retaliating for 9/11, and Wall Street and the oil barons know the truth: It’s all about oil.
It’s always been about oil, ever since British Petroleum kicked up this hornet’s nest by steeling billions in oil from the Iranians. The U.S. has poured billions in resources and cash into this desert quagmire while the government of Afghanistan protects and condones the illegal opium/ heroine trade and the Afghan vice president, Ahmed Zia Massoud, traipses about with $52 million in American currency. By my calculation, that’s about 2.5 million goatsworth of moolah. Quite a haul for one of the dirtpoorest nations on Earth. The cause in the Middle East, if there ever was one, is not worth one more American life. Our families have suffered beyond measure. Time to call this small-t turkey by a new name: Unobtainistan. Charles Miller, Port Angeles
The troops who aren’t coming back President Obama signed a slew of bills into law during the lame-duck session of Congress and was dubbed the “Comeback Kid” amidst a flurry of fawning press reports. In the hail of this surprise bipartisanship, Amy though, the one Goodman issue over which Democrats and Republicans always agree — war — was completely ignored. The war in Afghanistan is now the longest war in U.S. history, and 2010 has seen the highest number of U.S. and NATO soldiers killed. As of this writing, 497 of the reported 709 coalition fatalities in 2010 were U.S. soldiers. The website iCasualties.org has carefully tracked the names of these dead. There is no comprehensive list of the Afghans killed. But one thing that’s clear: Those 497 U.S. soldiers, under the command of the “Comeback
Kid,” won’t be coming back. On Dec. 3, Commander in Chief Obama made a surprise visit to his troops in Afghanistan, greeting them and speaking at Bagram Air Base. Bagram is the air base built by the Soviet Union during that country’s failed invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. Now run by U.S. forces, it is also the site of a notorious detention facility. On Dec. 10, 2002, almost eight years to the day before Obama spoke there, a young Afghan man named Dilawar was beaten to death at Bagram. The ordeal of his wrongful arrest, torture and murder was documented in the Oscar-winning documentary by Alex Gibney, “Taxi to the Dark Side.” Dilawar was not the only one tortured and killed there by the U.S. military. Obama told the troops: “We said we were going to break the Taliban’s momentum, and that’s what you’re doing. “You’re going on the offense, tired of playing defense, targeting their leaders, pushing them out of their strongholds. “Today we can be proud that
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there are fewer areas under Taliban control, and more Afghans have a chance to build a more hopeful future.” Facts on the ground contradict his rosy assessment from many different directions. Maps made by the United Nations, showing the risk-level assessments of Afghanistan, were leaked to The Wall Street Journal. The maps described the risk to U.N. operations in every district of Afghanistan, rating them as “very high risk,” “high risk,” “medium risk” and “low risk.” The Journal reported that between March and October 2010, the U.N. found that southern Afghanistan remained at “very high risk,” while 16 districts were upgraded to “high risk.” Areas deemed “low risk” shrank considerably. And then there are the comments of NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Joseph Blotz: “There is no end to the fighting season. . . . We will see more violence in 2011.” Long before WikiLeaks released the trove of U.S. diplomatic cables, two key documents were leaked to The New York Times.
The “Eikenberry cables,” as they are known, were two memos from Gen. Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urging a different approach to the Afghan War, with a focus on providing development aid instead of a troop surge. Eikenberry wrote of the risk that “we will become more deeply engaged here with no way to extricate ourselves, short of allowing the country to descend again into lawlessness and chaos.” A looming problem for the Obama administration, larger than a fraying international coalition, is the increasing opposition to the war among the public here at home. A recent Washington Post/ ABC News poll found that 60 percent believe the war has not been worth fighting, up from 41 percent in 2007. As Congress reconvenes, with knives sharpened to push for what will surely be controversial budget cuts, the close to $6 billion spent monthly on the war in Afghanistan will increasingly become the subject of debate. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz repeatedly
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points out, the cost of war extends far beyond the immediate expenditures, with decades of decreased productivity among the many traumatized veterans, the care for the thousands of disabled veterans, and the families destroyed by the death or disability of loved ones. He says the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will ultimately cost between $3 trillion and $5 trillion. One of the main reasons Obama is president today is that by openly opposing the U.S. war in Iraq, he won first the Democratic nomination and then the general election. If he took the same approach with the war in Afghanistan, by calling on U.S. troops to come back home, then he might truly become the “Comeback President” in 2012 as well.
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Amy Goodman hosts the radio and TV program “Democracy Now!” Her column appears every Thursday. E-mail her at mail@democracynow.org or in care of Democracy Now!, 207 W. 25th St., Floor 11, New York, NY 10001.
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