Bringing about the Apocalypse, you're doing it wrong Mr. President - Miss Famine

Okay, so I've accepted the fact the President Obama isn't really all that good at this whole apocalypse thing.  An American president who is calm, cool, collected and clever?  Sure it's fun for you, but it just makes my job harder.  How are we supposed to bring about end of days hysteria when this guy is running around explaining issues clearly and respectfully to the huddled masses?  Uncool Mr. President, uncool.

But, when I started hearing things like "state run death panels deciding how long the elderly and disabled will be allowed to live" and "rationing health care provisions so that only the healthy get new organs an expensive surgeries" I got excited.  Pictures of grandma verses grandma gladiator matches danced in my head.  Then I watched President Obama's speech to congress on everyone's favorite day, 9/9/09.

All I can say, Mr. President, is that if this is the best you can do to bring about the apocalypse, you're DOING IT WRONG.

Death panels?  No such luck.  This is the great Mistress of Apocalyptic Hysteria Sarah Palin'sattempt to make the most of the few lines in the bill that provide free advice for seniors on creating living wills so that they can chose how they wish to be treated once they have reached the end of their lives and perhaps can no longer make decisions for themselves. Nice try Sarah, but even you can't hide the fact that this provision couldn't actually be less apocalyptic. The Giver this is not.

Sky rocketing deficits to pay for government subsidized health care sending the world into a Mad Maxlike state of anarchy? Not going to be a possibility with President Sensible making a point that he won't sign anything that raises the deficit, now OR later, and that his health care plan proposal will cost less than the awesomely apocalyptic spectacle of the Iraq war or Mr. Bush's fabulously apocalyptic "save the economy by shopping" tax breaks for the rich.  How well President Obama will be able to keep his promise to control costs might be another matter, but you don't get points for being apocalyptic on accident.

Will this plan at least ration health care for tax payers, forcing them to do battle for needed medications and services? "Giving that organ transplant you need to a younger, healthier illegal immigrant" if you can't compete?  Will we be drawing lottery tickets to see who lives and dies someday in the not so distant future? Not really, in fact, if this plan does what it's supposed to do, the type of private health care rationing that goes on today (think of the words "pre-existing condition") will be illegal.  Not only will citizens not have to fight it out with illegal immigrants (who won't be covered by government health care provisions) they won't even have to engaging in paperwork battles to the death with their insurers.

The only people that seem to be getting any kind of competitive action with these reforms are the insurance companies who will have to compete in the proposed insurance exchange. Sigh.

If you're really interested in this yawner of an attempt at true apocalyptic legislating, check it out.  But really, reading about the exploits of the 4HW is so much more fun, isn't it?

In short, health care reform = boring and unproductive in creating and maintaining a state of apocalypse.  Really Mr. President, you could at least TRY to help us out here.