Vaya a Dios, Vieho
There was a recent letter published in our daily newspaper from an MD who bemoaned the fact that 70% of health care dollars are spent on the elderly, those over 60. His recommendation was to restrict expensive medical procedures, even life-saving, from older folks. (Full disclosure: I am one of those "old folks.") He suggested the return on investment was too little to warrant spending all that money on the elderly, especially since medical costs are so high and rising.
Professor Peter Singer at Columbia University, who is the philosophical guru for the pro-abortion movement, openly advocates assisted suicide and the withholding of medical procedures from the elderly who, in his opinion, are unproductive and not worth the cost.
Obamacare incorporates medical advisory panels responsible for issuing "guidelines" concerning the cost effectiveness of medical procedures. These are not the so-called "death panels" widely discussed by some opponents. I am not in favor of Obamacare, mainly because I don't trust the government to do much of anything right, but the "death panel" accusation is unwarranted, at least for now.
Elderly parents suffering from strokes, Alzheimer's or just general infirmity, are routinely shunted off to nursing homes and often virtually forgotten. Heaven forbid that caring for the old folks should interfere with our lifestyle. I have seen the insides of two well-rated nursing homes and witnessed the neglect to which many residents are subjected. I heard the granddaughter of a 104-year-old resident curtly inform the lady, in response to a plea to go home, "No, Geneva, this is your home for the rest of your days." Geneva lived out her days in half of a semi-private room.
I saw ranks of white-haired old folks, mostly ladies, lined up in wheelchairs against the wall where they spent most of their days except for the occasional visit by an activity person and mealtimes. This was truly warehousing. Family visits were rare, usually on holidays or the occasional weekend. I've been told by someone who worked in nursing homes for years that once-a-year visits by the children are not uncommon.
Caring for the elderly and infirm at home can be daunting, as I well know. In many other cultures, respect and obligation to elderly family members is simply a given. They are permitted to live out their days in familiar surroundings with loved ones rather than in a sterile institution tended by underpaid and often indifferent staff. I have seen this first hand. Even in so-called "good" nursing homes, care is minimal. My wife was of necessity in nursing homes for a period of a few months. I visited with her for most of every single day. Even with my close presence, she ended up with a bedsore and two rather nasty heel ulcers which took months to heal when we finally got her home. Incidentally, I was the one who detected both problems, not any of the staff. (I noticed blood seeping through her socks.)
Most of the elderly are parents who raised children. They loved, nurtured, fed, clothed, housed, educated and protected them through their growing up. Sadly, too many become, in the words of the Pete Seeger folk song, "obsessed with the mania for owning things." They become wrapped up in the daily demands of their own little lives and are wroth to allow anything or anyone to interfere with their hard-won lifestyle. Mom and Dad are fine so long as they are self-sufficient. When that is no longer the case, "out of sight, out of mind" comes into play in too many instances.
To illustrate the attitude toward elderly parents in other cultures, let me relate an example from personal knowledge. A very close friend, an observant Jew (observes all holidays and festivals) with dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship, had his elderly and infirm mother living with them in Texas. Travel requirements necessitated by family issues out of state made it difficult to continue to care for Mother. Mike then travelled to Israel to other family in Tel Aviv, a sister as I recall, who were able to care for the lady. He transported her to Israel and settled her in the sister's home. She lived there until she died at the age of 100, among family who loved and cared for her. Mike was there when she passed on.
From a purely practical standpoint, the cavalier attitude toward the elderly in this country is quite understandable. After all, effort expended to care for aged parents must be taken from the precious little time available in most families today. Financially, lawyers and advisors are hired to set up finances so that the old folks' assets are transferred early enough that they quickly become indigent and the county pays for their long-term care. Private pay in nursing homes is rare. (I know. I private-payed for my wife, Joan, for one month and it totally screwed up their accounting system to the extent that it took six months to send me the bill. And then it was wrong.)
Many older folks have conditions, usually involving arthritis, that incur chronic and severe pain. By way of example, my wife, Joan, has extremely severe lumbar spinal arthritis (lower back). All five lumbar vertebrae and the one sacral are involved. There is significant stenosis which resuls in extreme pain. She has virtually no discs left. This situation is inoperable and there is no effective therapy. She has been on major pain medication for many years--the notorious oxycodone. Before her stroke, it allowed her to function. (Despite what you may have read in newspaper articles, the stuff does work.) And yes, she is addicted. So what? At her age, this is irrelevent. Her situation is not unusual, yet our daily newspaper and a number of other do-good organizations are crusading to make it difficult for non-cancer patients to obtain pain medication. No-one suggests an alternative; let the old folks suffer.
The stated goal here is to reduce prescription drug abuse by addicts. The fact is, most illicit pain medication is not prescribed, but rather obtained through a thriving black market supplied via the hijacking of bulk shipments. Some drug store chains have resorted to camouflaging their trucks to reduce the chances of being hijacked. Since law enforcement is unable to stem the hijacking epidemic, the (mostly) liberal "fixers" resort to the easier target of the law-abiding elderly under the theory that "we have to do something."
The hard truth is, old folks are a problem in this country. They threaten to bankrupt Medicare, already nearly 50% subsidized by general tax revenue, take too many medications increasing demand which justifies higher prices, and overload clinics and emergency rooms. Worse, they do not pull teir own weight or produce sufficient wealth and contribution to society to justify their expense.
Am I exaggerating? Perhaps I am a bit today, but the trend is there. Rationing of medical care, limitations on drug prescribing and cutting Medicaid payments for long term care are on the horizon. Medicare funding is being cut, somehow magically not impacting service.
Much of this would be solved if we had a culture of caring for our parents and grandparents instead of trying to find ways to duck the responsibility and dump them off on someone else, like government. Most opioid pain medication is generic and not a major contributor to the overall cost of medical care. Unnecessary tests often justified to protect against litigation needlessly increase costs.
Nevertheless, the bottom line is we have a responsibility for our elders. Personal sacrifices made to care for them can be rewarding. I speak from experience. Besides, we owe them! We neglect them at the peril of our souls.
P.S. Translation of the Headline is left to the reader.
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103 Comments
Pierre Del Norte - Oct 09, 2012 7:47 PM
The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in Earth's atmosphere has reached 395 ppm (parts per million) by volume as of June 2012[1][2] and rose by 2.0 ppm/yr during 2000–2009. [2][3] This current concentration is substantially higher than the 280 ppm concentration present in pre-industrial times, with the increase largely attributed to anthropogenic sources.[4] Carbon dioxide is used in photosynthesis (in plants and other photoautotrophs), and is also a prominent greenhouse gas. Despite its relatively small overall concentration in the atmosphere, CO2 is an important component of Earth's atmosphere because it absorbs and emits infrared radiation at wavelengths of 4.26 µm (asymmetric stretching vibrational mode) and 14.99 µm (bending vibrational mode), thereby playing a role in the greenhouse effect.[5] The present level is higher than at any time during the last 800 thousand years,[6] and likely higher than in the past 20 million years.[7]
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/
So Al - are you going to address the study I cited or not? Do you question the methodology? Do you have an issue with the conclusions?
Do you believe the earth is only 9,000 years old?
Walt Farrell was a professor of Educational Psychology at UWM. Not sure why you cited him.
Pierre Del Norte - Oct 09, 2012 7:51 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/05/arctic-ice-melt-sea-level-rise_n_1942666.html
WFB resident - Oct 09, 2012 9:29 PM
jumping to conclusion that are unsubstantiated !!! lol... Why do you not see that ? I
thought they were scientists ?
WFB resident - Oct 09, 2012 9:38 PM
proven that water living creatures in various areas in the midwest ! Nowadays when
man is here the waters have receded ! According to Pierre and his scientists that
means man caused it . I have figured out how . Man came around and drank all the
water then walked in to a cave and died ! Taking all the water with him ! lol... lol... I
like that one . Pierre you can quote me I will even except the nobel Prize . lol...
aneuhauser - Oct 10, 2012 1:13 AM
Nobody in the ACC crowd talks much about water vapor because nobody can do anything about it. They pick on CO2 so they can beat up on the evil industrialized West as opposed to the largely rural third world, and make them pay. Even so, the latter generates substantial CO2 by burning wood and coal while we spend billions on scrubbers.
I watched Prof. Farrell on Mark Belling's short-lived TV Sunday morning talk show. I liked him. Could have sworn he was from Marquette, at least at that time. Maybe he moved.
As a rule I don't look up links in comments. I'd rather read what the commenter thinks, not someone else.
Pierre Del Norte - Oct 10, 2012 9:52 AM
I don't believe Walt Farrell was ever at Marquette, just UWM. I think he has sinced jumped to U of NC.
That Wiki paste job captured the essence of the ACC position simply and directly. Much of the charts and data come from NOAA - a government funded enterprise that you probably suspect is one of the leaders in what you and your fellow ACC deniers consider to be a grand conspiracy to commit scientific fraud on the human race.
So if you are unwilling to review the link to the study I referenced (only 3 pages), I guess you are perfectly willing to adhere to your concertized belief system.
One last question - How old do you believe the earth is?
aneuhauser - Oct 10, 2012 4:54 PM
I am further disappointed in your repeated attempts to get me to make a religion-based assertion to discredit me, as if religious belief is something to be ashamed of. I am not. To answer your last trap question, I have no idea and neither does anyone else. I question the billions of years concept as it is unproven and implausible. There was some research years ago by someone I believe named Libby that the basis of carbon dating, that the ratio of C12 to C14 is stable, a necessity for carbon dating to be valid, is not so, much to his surprise. It is still changing. He noted that theoretically, it would take 50,000 years to achieve equilibrium. But I really don't know the answer to your question. Scripture says that to God a thousand years is as a day and a day is as a thousand years. Good enough for me.
WFB resident - Oct 10, 2012 10:29 PM
gospel. But he refuses to answer questions put forth to him !! lol... Apparently
because his kool aid maker has not given him those answers to be able to spew
opinion as fact !!
Pierre Del Norte - Oct 11, 2012 9:08 AM
I suspected you had some grounding in the sciences. And, certainly Case-Western is not some fly-by-night school. But then, neither is Stanford University nor their Woods Institute for the Environment.
That is why I was a little taken aback when you wrote yesterday that you didn’t even read the 3 page study for which I provided the link. Having been peer reviewed and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, I would think it would pass as a serious study.
The conclusion of study was that there is absolutely no “statistically significant” scientific controversy on the subject of ACC. Were there “Outliers”? – Yes, about 2%.
The study speaks for itself. Perhaps that is why you would not read it. Perhaps it was that demonstrated lack of intellectual curiosity that disappointed me.
Al, as long as you are comfortable living in your 2% world - that is what is important. And if a similar study were done on evolution, I think you know where you would fall in that distribution.
Pierre Del Norte - Oct 11, 2012 9:15 AM
I understand that part about God taking 6 days to create the heavens and the earth, and on the 7th day he rested. It requires a little faith, but I can accept that.
The real question I have Al, and I am hoping you can help me with is this -
"What did God do the week before he created the heavens and earth? You know, how did he spend his time?"
I have a hunch, but was wondering what your answer might be.
WFB resident - Oct 11, 2012 11:54 AM
condecending and ignorant enough to believe they can control the weather ! By the
way I do not want it to rain on saturday but I want it to snow 24 inches ! So That is
the order I pit in I am sure you PDLS's will be able to deliver !! lol...
WFB resident - Oct 12, 2012 1:46 PM
Pierre Del Norte - Oct 12, 2012 2:29 PM
I asked a serious question.
Do you EVER take anything seriously?
WFB resident - Oct 12, 2012 8:21 PM
my comments are serious with a little wit added in just to help prove a point !! So
how did man cause the waters to recede ? In the first place .
WFB resident - Oct 12, 2012 8:22 PM
aneuhauser - Oct 15, 2012 4:41 PM
To answer your question about what God did before Creation. I don't know about a week, but there was that war in Heaven with Lucifer and his cohorts, which resulted in his expulsion. That probably took some doing. Since Creation, I suppose He's been quite busy with those recalcitrant Israelites and more recently in keeping mankind from blowing himself up. (Oh, you thought it was Jimmy Carter?) And then there's all those prayers that need answering.
Boy, I'm glad all you folks are doing all that thinking about God. Maybe I'm doing some good after all.
P.S. Sorry about the tardy response. Things pile up.
Alte Man - Oct 15, 2012 8:43 PM
done ?
Pierre Del Norte - Oct 16, 2012 9:58 AM
As long as you are comfortable Al - That is the important thing.
Your hunch on how he spent his time the week before he created the heavens and earth was in the ballpark Al.
I have it on good authority that he use that time to first create hell, and then he created a special place in hell for people like me who ask those kinds of questions!
Peace be with you mi amigo. Now I have a few piles of my own to take care of.
WFB resident - Oct 16, 2012 1:46 PM