Maybe it's just me, but I have a hard time getting past the incorrect spelling of Sonia Sotomayor's name. It's an occupational hazard for me, spotting things like this. (wonder if it's a subtle form of disrespecting the nominee...)

lol... probably not that subtle, given the nature of her opinion.. but maybe let Anne know what you think. I found her to be genuine and interactive. She does apologize for any spelling errors she makes in her initial blog.

Chris

I was listening to Neal Boortz today, and he mentioned the 65th anniversary D-Day remembrance, and the fact that we are fast running out of D-Day veterans, and what a shame it will be when they are all gone, and how we need those people now more than ever.

This lady is of that generation, and she reflects the thinking of that bygone era, when freedom for the individual and a Constitution that curbed the power of government was the common sense of the day.

Even though their president FDR had already driven most of the nails in the coffin of the constitutional republic. They didn't see that then, or not enough of them.

We have buried that coffin and are piling the dirt back in the hole.

It's a two-edged sword. I've a cousin who went ashore in France and was later "blown apart" (he uses a string of four letter words that I can't repeat to describe this) by a German 88 in the Bocage Country. He continues to need medical treatment, particularly drugs, for his injuries. But, in the name of fighting "socialized medicine", the VA budget was cut, hospitals were closed, and copays were instituted. He "walked the walk" when it came to being an American and now he's screwed by people who "talk the talk". It's a funny world.

I see no two-edged sword. How the VA treats our veterans is nothing short of shameful. And the VA is single payer, gov't provided healthcare. This is how they treat those who have risked all for our country.

It will be much, much worse when the gov't is in charge of everyone's health care. And that is coming. In stages, but it's coming.

emc_c

Thank God if it does.

Fascinating. In one post, the VA's treatment of our veterans is decried; in the next, even worse treatment for the country as a whole is welcomed. It's not a funny world; it's a consistent world. When the people see reality and choose to ignore it and "hope for change" they get what they deserve. The sad part is that those prescient enough to grasp the coming disaster are dragged down by the ignorant masses clamoring for "free" health care.

emc_c

It probably depends on our world experiences. I've been a patient at both Walter Reed and the Pittsburgh VA Hospital. In both cases, I've found the medical care first rate. Army nurses may be the best in the world, except they tend to be meaner than hell. Civilian doctors are generally as good as in the best medical centers. Career army doctors are a mixed bag of good and not good.

The problems occur from lack of funding, especially in the areas of maintenance and allied health clinics (vocational rehab, counseling, etc). The other problem, of course, is access to the system; the promises made to us GIs were not kept.

I'm not inconsistent. If bloggers want to carry on about government run medical systems, let them get up off their butts and enlist next time we need some troops. Ms. Cleveland sounds like a charming lady, but...

Which VA were you in that was so lousy?

I was responding to your original post on the the topic - your cousin's experience. Plus you hear people all the time - all sorts of necessary care not provided. You say the problem is funding. Precisely. When you extend that system nationwide, the funding problem will be magnified by the same factor. Health care will be rationed, with the rationing done by bureaucrats. No thank you.

emc-c

Health care will be rationed, with the rationing done by bureaucrats.

You prefer rationing by corporate henchmen?

I prefer rationing by price, just like everything else in a free market.

emc_c

What used to be ain't no more...

No argument from me, but if we are making changes I prefer to go in the right direction. Moving from competing insurance companies to monopolistic single-payer is not the right direction.

And if the only direction of change is single-payer, then I prefer standing pat, regardless that the present system is less than perfect.

Imperfect is going to look heavenly, looking back in time from a single-payer future.

emc_c

Moving from competing insurance companies to monopolistic single-payer is not the right direction.

Correction; the current system comprises an illusion of competition in check by government regulation and insurance manipulation producing a quantitative lack of competition.

More on VA hospitals at

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526349,00.html

This same kind of thing happened in Russia. In the early '90s, some Americans went to Russia to work, and Russia needed to draw blood to check for AIDS. But they were reusing the needles, to save money.

Don't say you weren't warned.

emc_c

Unfortunately, "FREE" often means worthless in this world.

If you are not paying for a good or service, then someone else is paying for it. If it does not suficiently benefit the one(s) paying, the supply of "FREE" is all too soon expended.

For example, the tons of "FREE" AOL disks were soon consumed when people began to use them for craft projects rather than subscribe to the service.

It is a pitty that so few recognize this brazen fact of human nature and economic necessity.

TT3

As Lady Thatcher put it, "Socialism fails when you run out of other peoples' money." Or words to that effect.

emc_c