Merry Christmas!!!

For the spirit of Christmas fulfills the greatest hunger of mankind. ~Loring A. Schuler

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year

Love,

Constance and Jay

I met a deer this morning

and this is the result:



Deer 1; Car 0.

The deer apparently just bounded away in to the Marsh near the Indianola cutoff. No blood was left behind by the deers right flank. I tried to stop ( my tires were smoking!) but alas! The deer kept coming and tried to leap over the front part of my car, however when one is going from 50 to 0 in 2 seconds...well, you see the results. The window was the only casualty and the only damage to the car!

So folks watch out for deers crossing the corridor between Arcata and Eureka!

Peace!
C

P.S. I REALLY hope that deer is okay.

Pink Glove Dance

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jay and I

My Cranberry and Apple Pie

Guest of the Rutledge's 5 White and 1 Calico.

The Rutledge Children

Jay hanging out with the guys

We hope all of you had a great day!

Peace! C & J

Christmas Wish Lists

Here is Jay's Christmas Wish List:

In order of important, starting from the top-

CD's

Nu Och Da-Det Basta Med Lili & Sussie (Susie) it has the song (Show Me Heaven)

Vatten Och Brod Veronica Maggio has the song (Mandagsbarn)

All CD's by Amy Diamond (I have the one with the song My Name is Love) I especially want her CD This Is Me Now

Finally Velvet

Titiyo (Titiyo)

Latest CD Paula Abdule with song (Dance like there's no tomorrow)

Both CD's by Jordan Sparks

CD by Kate Ryan with the song (Ella Elle L'A

OTHER-

Arctic stuff-

an igloo (large as possible) A dog sled with at least four dogs, plastic animals including penguins, plastic Inuit people, ETC.

A plastic and/or stuffed grey wolf

a Helle knife from Lapland with a curley birch handle with reindeer antler inlay

A model or at least a laminated poster of a Koenigsegg CCX (car)

Five space mice and mouse plane (from Voltron)

A model of a cool Thai temple maybe Wat Arun, but up to someone with vision for the looking the best.

Here is Constance's Wish List

Slippers (Booties) from Lands End - Size 8

Sewing Machine

Perfume:
White Linen
Safari
Moon, Stars, Sun

Music:
Nox Arcana:
Winter's Knight
Winter's Eve
Any of the individual CD's of the Women from Celtic Women
VH1 Behind the Music: The Julian Lennon Collection

My Amazon.com Wish List is a good place to start as well:
DVD's
Stargate - Season 5-7
CSI - Season 6
The Swan (a movie starring Grace Kelly).

The Engagement

Jay asked me to marry him! I said yes!



Here's the ring



Yes he asked me with his costume on!


He tried to get me down to the bus stop where we first met and it was not working, so he got on his knee, next to the couch were I was sitting and said, "Will you marry me?" I was stunned! I was not sure I heard him right and then I saw the ring and started hugging and kissing him. After a few minutes he reminded me that I had not actually said "Yes!" yet, so I said "YES!"

As for a date? Come on people! He bloody just asked me! However, I will say this it will literally be about a year from now.

Peace!
C

Halloween 2009

We went to the HSU Newman Center Halloween Party on Friday, 30 October 2009. Here are some pictures!


Jay as the Wolf and I as Autumn.


I really got to get Wolfie to stop smoking! :-)


Bumble bees, Romans, Vulcans.....


Catalina (with Uncle Carlos' help) is helping Daddy (Marco) make Mommy (Maria) a Mummy!

Catalina did a great job at the ring toss! Of course the Gypsy (Amanda) helped some.


My Wolfie is a bit wrapped up! He won for the best head.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Peace! C

Medieval Fair - Arcata

The Medieval Fair was to raise money for several local schools. Here Jay and I were watching a Jousting Match. It was very cool!

Here they were chopping a thing of lettuce off of a kids head,

Jay got to check out a suit of armor. Here you see the elbow and hand pieces.

Shoulder and head

My Knight in shining armor!

Can I be a Viking instead? This helmet is similar to what the Vikings wore.

Sword and shield try out.

My how far my Knight has fallen!

It was a fun couple hours, however, it was very cold and in came our first storm of the season.

Peace!
C

Remember to forget

Armenia and Turkey have signed a historic agreement to establish normal diplomatic relations - that completely ignores the Turkish-perpetrated Armenian genocide. Did Armenia err?

On a hill overlooking the Armenian capital Yerevan, a monument commemorates the murder of the Armenian people. Since the country gained independence in 1990, visiting foreign leaders are expected to stop at the monument and plant a tree in a small grove dedicated to the victims.

The first row of trees has plaques from Vladimir Putin, Jacques Chirac, Pope John Paul II and a few Eastern European leaders. There are none from Israeli or American leaders. In fact, so few leaders have agreed to recognize the genocide that starting in the second row, the site's patrons have had to make do with top officials from various organizations. One tree was planted by the chairman of the European dentists association, another by the president of the international weight lifting federation.

While denial of the European Jewish Holocaust produces international condemnations, many countries have a policy of not recognizing the Armenian genocide, which was perpetrated by the Turks. This is due not to a lack of documentation about the massacres, but to massive Turkish political pressure. Armenia, for its part, has waged a persistent - and in some cases successful - struggle demanding the rectification of this ongoing historic wrong.

This week saw a dramatic development in the long and bitter conflict between Turkey and Armenia. The two countries signed an agreement to open their border and establish normal diplomatic relations. The genocide is not mentioned anywhere in the historic accord.

"I am afraid that now countries will hesitate to recognize the genocide," says Prof. Yair Oron, a genocide expert from the Open University of Israel who has published several books about the Armenian genocide. "They will say: Why should we grant recognition if the Armenians yielded? Recognition of the Armenian genocide is a paramount moral and educational act. We in Israel are obliged to recognize it. I see this as a serious blow to those who are fighting for its recognition."

If the agreement is ratified by the parliaments of the two countries, it could prove highly beneficial for Armenia. The small country in the Caucasus is isolated politically and lacks access to the sea. Its economy is in a shambles, and its government is corrupt. After the departure of some one million citizens over the past two decades, the country has a population of only three million. In the absence of regional allies, Armenia is compelled to rely on neighboring Iran for support.

Economically and politically, then, the agreement with Turkey, which will give Armenia access to the sea, looks like a good deal for the tiny republic. Like the Israelis, the Armenians also want to vacation in Antalya, politics be damned. But in return for the border being opened, Armenia completely dropped its demands regarding the property of genocide victims and Armenian lands in much of present-day eastern Turkey.

Moreover, Armenia has effectively dropped its demand for recognition of the genocide itself, the cornerstone of Armenian national identity. Yerevan had to accept the demand Turkey has been making for years: for an "objective historical examination" about whether the genocide took place.

This first significant peace agreement signed under the auspices of U.S. President Barack Obama raises questions of principle: Does a country have the right to forgo its past for the sake of present needs? Can a political agreement lay down an official version of history? Is the establishment of a commission the way to come to terms with memory?

Starting at the end of the 19th century, the Armenian minority living in the Ottoman Empire was subject to persecution. Tens of thousands were killed. The event known as the "Armenian genocide" involved the systematic destruction of communities between 1915 and 1918. The massacre of the Armenians began after Ottoman forces lost several battles against czarist Russia. Armenian soldiers living under the czar had distinguished themselves in battle on the Russian side, and this became the pretext for the massacre of the Armenians living in what is now Turkey.

Following lengthy deliberations, the Ottoman government decided to resolve once and for all the "Armenian problem." First, the Turks drafted about a quarter of a million young Armenians into the army. They were then stripped of their uniforms, concentrated in labor battalions and murdered. On the night between April 23 and 24, 1915, Istanbul police arrested hundreds of Armenian leaders and intellectuals in their homes; 235 were executed. Thus the Armenian leadership was destroyed, leaving the community unable to organize.

At this stage, the Armenians living in the eastern regions of the Ottoman Empire began to be evacuated by a "special organization" of criminals and prisoners created for that purpose. People were rounded up in their villages and cities. The men were usually shot on the spot, while the women, children and elderly were sent on forced marches into the Syrian desert. On the way, they were attacked and robbed by Kurdish gangs. Hundreds of thousands marched to their death. In October 1915, the U.S. consul general in Aleppo reported to his government on one such march of 18,000 people; 70 days later, only 35 were still alive.

Governments received reports about the genocide while it was in progress, but most did nothing. Current estimates state that about a third of all Armenians, 1.2 million to 1.5 million, were annihilated. The Turks claim only 300,000 were killed, in what they call a defensive move against a fifth column that had joined the country's enemies. They say that no decision was ever made to wipe out the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

"The Turks say: There was a war, there were battles and Armenians were killed, but so were Turks," says Oron. "It's true that the Turks did not espouse a racial doctrine like that of the Nazis, who set out to annihilate every Jew everywhere. And it is also important to say that there were cases in which Turks saved Armenians. But there was a policy of annihilating the Armenians and taking their property."

"Would the Jewish people be willing to forgo the memory of the Holocaust for the sake of good relations with Germany, if Germany were to make that demand?" asks Prof. Richard Hovannisian, a historian who has devoted the past 40 years to fighting denial of the Armenian genocide. The American-born Hovannisian, who teaches at UCLA, is the son of Armenian exiles from eastern Turkey. The family came from a village that was emptied by the Turks. Hovannisian has published many books on the genocide and is considered one of the world's leading authorities on the subject.

"The present agreement is the result of the fact that all the great powers wanted only for everyone to be good happy neighbors, irrespective of the price entailed," says Hovannisian, speaking by phone from California. "They want to do away with all the problems, but are not taking into account the victims' different perspectives."

Criticism from the diaspora

About two-thirds of Armenians live outside Armenia, mainly in Russia, the United States, France and the Middle East. Over the years complex relations have developed between Armenia, the small Caucasian state that was established after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the Armenian diaspora. The Armenians living in the West send money to their homeland but can also be fiercely critical of it.

"I was disappointed. I expected the Armenian side to be more skillful in the negotiations," Hovannisian says. "It is clear that the government was under a great deal of pressure. Armenia is a small, isolated country. They are under siege, and it is only natural that they should want to be part of the world around them. But I think the government did not have the right to sign any agreement that accepts the present situation, which is the result of the genocide, as the normal state of affairs. The Armenian nation's present situation is the result of the Turkish expulsion and seizure of Armenian land. Even if we do not have the power to change this, I do not think we should recognize it. We have a moral obligation not to recognize it."

George Hintlian, former head of the Armenian community in Jerusalem, has a sharper response: "We in the Armenian diaspora are shocked. It is like an earthquake. It is the bankruptcy of international morality. They say there is reconciliation, but there is no recognition here by Turkey. It is a coerced agreement, which the world's powers forced on Armenia. Russia, which traditionally supported Armenia, is now drawing close to Turkey."

What is especially regrettable in this context, Hintlian says, is that in recent years recognition of the Armenian genocide has increased.

"Now they are placing the holocaust in doubt and saying, we will discuss it and see if it happened. It is impossible to know what the findings will be, what kind of formula they will reach. It is unlikely that the Turks will recognize the holocaust. The commission does not have a timetable, and in the meantime, after this commission is established, no country will take a stand on the Armenian genocide. Present-day Armenia is one-tenth the size of historic Armenia, and it has signed for its final borders without getting anything in return. "

Hintlian believes that the agreement's shortcomings far outweigh its advantages.

"The practical gain is the opening of the border and the lifting of the embargo," he says. "There was a physical embargo on Armenia, and now there is an embargo on the holocaust. The facts will not be buried, but the international discussion will suffer a blow."

Fern Canyon - Redwood National Park

Fern Canyon is next to Golden Bluff
It was rather cold out! Here is Amanda putting on her sweater.
Dinosaurs anyone? Did you know that part of Jurassic Park: Lost World was filmed in Fern Canyon?

Hungry anyone? Mushrooms were growing on this trunk.

One of the mini waterfalls along the wall of the canyon.

Jay climbing over a log with the assistance of Amanda. It turned out to be the end of the line. Behind this stack was more trees and impassable.

The Canyon floor had a stream flowing through it and we were trying to stay dry by climbing and walking over logs (Jay did an AWESOME job), but on the return trip we just looked for shallow places and walked through it!

Happily wet and tired!

The road leading into Gold Bluff park. It is very rough and you actually drive through some streams, so one's car looks like they have gone off roading! Oh wait..I DID go off roading!

Wild Elk! We saw them in the meadow that is at the entrance/exit of the park..this was on the way out. "Do not run up to the Elk's" That is what the warning sign said. Who would?!

This is a Little Red School House just on the south end of Orick. It is actually a museum now.

Lady Bird Grove - Redwood National Park

We only did the trail up to the loop. But it was incredible.



Jay can't seem to stay on the trail!
Sigh...see what I mean! he even tries to climb the Redwood!

Okay I put him there this time! Redwoods are AMAZING

This is what the tree above looks like when you look up.

We are sooo sappy!

Redwood Creek Trail - Redwood National Park

Redwood Creek Trail in the Redwood National Forest.








Here is what the trail basically looks like for the first 3 miles.

Jay next to a Redwood.

And they keep going up!

The drive home we went past Big Lagoon

Born in the USA

Poll Finds Most Doctors Support Public Option

Among all the players in the health care debate, doctors may be the least understood about where they stand on some of the key issues around changing the health care system. Now, a new survey finds some surprising results: A large majority of doctors say there should be a public option.

When polled, "nearly three-quarters of physicians supported some form of a public option, either alone or in combination with private insurance options," says Dr. Salomeh Keyhani. She and Dr. Alex Federman, both internists and researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, conducted a random survey, by mail and by phone, of 2,130 doctors. They surveyed them from June right up to early September.

Most doctors — 63 percent — say they favor giving patients a choice that would include both public and private insurance. That's the position of President Obama and of many congressional Democrats. In addition, another 10 percent of doctors say they favor a public option only; they'd like to see a single-payer health care system. Together, the two groups add up to 73 percent.

When the American public is polled, anywhere from 50 to 70 percent favor a public option. So that means that when compared to their patients, doctors are bigger supporters of a public option.

Doctors' Support For Public Option 'Broad And Widespread'

The researchers say they found strong support for a public option among all categories of doctors. "We even saw that support being the same whether physicians lived in rural areas or metropolitan areas," says Federman.

"Whether they lived in southern regions of the United States or traditionally liberal parts of the country," says Keyhani, "we found that physicians, regardless — whether they were salaried or they were practice owners, regardless of whether they were specialists or primary care providers, regardless of where they lived — the support for the public option was broad and widespread."

Keyhani says doctors already have experience with government-run health care, with Medicare. And she says the survey shows that, overall, they like it. "We've heard a lot about how the government is standing in between patients and their physician," Keyhani says. "And what we can see is that physicians support Medicare. So I think physicians have sort of signaled that a public option that's similar in design to Medicare would be a good way of ensuring patients get the care that they need."

The survey was published online Monday by the New England Journal of Medicine. It was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a health care research organization that favors health reform.

AMA Doctors Also Support Public Option

The survey even found widespread support for a public option among doctors who are members of the American Medical Association, a group that's opposed to it. The AMA fears a public option eventually could lead to government putting more limits on doctors' fees.

"The American Medical Association has traditionally been probably the loudest voice for physicians across the United States," says Federman. "And part of our reason for doing this research was really to get at the real voice of physicians as opposed to the voice of one physician organization."

Keyhani and Federman belong to another, smaller group, the National Physicians Alliance. It supports a public option, and Keyhani has spoken publicly about her own support for a public option.

What Would A Public Option Look Like?

It's hard to know for sure what doctors mean when they speak about a public option, says Dr. James Rohack, president of the AMA.

"Because when I say public option, or you say public option, it means different things to different people, kind of like the Rorschach ink blot test — when you look at it, to some people it means one thing, to other people it means the other thing."

Politicians in Washington turn to the AMA for support and guidance, even though fewer than a third of practicing doctors belong to the lobbying group.

The AMA's own position on a health overhaul has, at times, been hard to pinpoint. In July, it praised the bill that came out of the House of Representatives. That bill included a public option. But the AMA made it clear that what it really liked was that it eliminated cuts in doctors' fees from Medicare.

"And so I think that's why we need to be very clear about what does the AMA articulate for," says Rohack. "It's to make sure that everyone has coverage that's affordable, that's portable and that is quality — that is, it covers the things you need to cover because you've got a medical condition or developed a medical illness."

THE KISS

She is pregnant;

he had just saved her from a fire in her house, rescuing her by carrying her out of the house into her front yard, while he continued to fight the fire.

When he finally got done putting the fire out, he sat down to catch his breath and rest.

A photographer from the Charlotte , North Carolina newspaper, noticed her in the distance looking at the fireman.

He saw her walking straight toward the fireman and wondered what she was going to do.

As he raised his camera, she came up to the tired man who had saved her life and the lives of her babies and kissed him just as the photographer snapped this photograph.

Scroll down for photograph.

The Kiss

And people say animals are dumb.

Calley Apologizes For My Lai Massacre

Speaking in a soft, sometimes labored voice, the only U.S. Army officer convicted in the 1968 slayings of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai made an extraordinary public apology while speaking to a small group near the military base where he was court-martialed.

"There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what happened that day in My Lai," William L. Calley told members of a local Kiwanis Club, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported Friday. "I feel remorse for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families. I am very sorry."

Calley, 66, was a young Army lieutenant when a court-martial at nearby Fort Benning convicted him of murder in 1971 for killing 22 civilians during the infamous massacre of 500 men, women and children in Vietnam.

Though sentenced to life in prison, Calley ended up serving three years under house arrest after President Richard Nixon later reduced his sentence.

After his release, Calley stayed in Columbus and settled into a job at a jewelry store owned by his father-in-law before he moved to Atlanta a few years ago. He shied away from publicity and routinely turned down journalists' requests for interviews about My Lai.

But Calley broke his long silence Wednesday after accepting a longtime friend's invitation to speak at a meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Columbus.

Wearing thick glasses and a blue blazer, he spoke softly into a microphone answering questions for a half-hour from about 50 Kiwanis members gathered for their weekly luncheon in a church meeting room.

"You could've heard a pin drop," said Al Fleming, who befriended Calley about 25 years ago and invited him to speak. "They were just slack-jawed that they were hearing this from him for the first time in nearly 40 years."

Both Fleming and Lennie Pease, the Kiwanis president, told The Associated Press in phone interviews Friday that Calley's apology came at the beginning of his brief remarks before he began taking questions.

William George Eckhardt, the chief prosecutor in the My Lai cases, said Friday he was unaware of Calley ever apologizing before. Eckhardt said that when he first heard the news "I just sort of cringed."

"It's hard to apologize for murdering so many people," said Eckhardt, now a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. "But at least there's an acknowledgment of responsibility."

Calley didn't deny taking part in the slayings on March 16, 1968, but insisted he was following orders from his superior, Capt. Ernest Medina — a notion Eckhardt, the former prosecutor, rejects.

Medina was also tried by a court-martial in 1971, and was acquitted of all charges.

When asked if he broke the law by obeying an unlawful order, the newspaper reported, Calley replied: "I believe that is true."

"If you are asking why I did not stand up to them when I was given the orders, I will have to say that I was a second lieutenant getting orders from my commander and I followed them — foolishly, I guess," Calley said.

Pease said the Kiwanis Club tried to keep Calley's appearance quiet, not wanting to attract outside attention. He said it was obvious that Calley had difficulty speaking to a group, though he addressed every question head-on — and received a standing ovation when he finished.

"You could see that there was extreme remorse for everything that happened," Pease said. "He was very, very soft-spoken. It was a little difficult to hear him. You could see he was labored answering questions."

The last listed phone number for Calley in Atlanta has been disconnected. Fleming declined to give his number to an Associated Press reporter.

Fleming said he's spoken several times with Calley about his combat experiences in Vietnam. He describes Calley as "a compassionate guy," despite his infamous role at My Lai.

"I think he may feel like it was time to say something," Fleming said. "Over the years, I have come to know him so well that it doesn't seem like a great big thing anymore. But I guess it is."

15 Books, 15 Friends

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. List 15 books you've read that will always stick with you. They should be the first 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag 15 friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends choose.


1. The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena Thomas Borstelmann
2. Imperial Brotherhood: Gender adn the making of Cold War Foreign Policy, Robert D. Dean
3. Watership Down, Richard Adams
4. Paul: Least of the Apostles: The Story of the Most Unlikely Witness to Christ, Alain Decaux
5. Saint Paul, Carlo Cremona
6. Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
7. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen...okay ALL Jane Austen Novels!
8. Villette, Charlotte Bronte
9. The 9/11 Commission Report, The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
10. The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Caroline Kennedy
11. My Story, Sarah Duchess of York
12. Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss
13. Macbeth, William Shakespeare
14. The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
15. The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt

The World Health Organization's ranking of the world's health systems.

Rank       Country

1         France
2         Italy
3         San Marino
4         Andorra
5         Malta
6         Singapore
7         Spain
8         Oman
9         Austria
10        Japan
11        Norway
12        Portugal
13        Monaco
14        Greece
15        Iceland
16        Luxembourg
17        Netherlands
18        United  Kingdom
19        Ireland
20        Switzerland
21        Belgium
22        Colombia
23        Sweden
24        Cyprus
25        Germany
26        Saudi Arabia
27        United  Arab  Emirates
28        Israel
29        Morocco
30        Canada
31        Finland
32        Australia
33        Chile
34        Denmark
35        Dominica
36        Costa Rica
37        United States of America
38        Slovenia
39        Cuba
40        Brunei
41        New Zealand
42        Bahrain
43        Croatia
44        Qatar
45        Kuwait
46        Barbados
47        Thailand
48        Czech Republic
49        Malaysia
50        Poland
51        Dominican Republic
52        Tunisia
53        Jamaica
54        Venezuela
55        Albania
56        Seychelles
57        Paraguay
58        South     Korea
59        Senegal
60        Philippines
61        Mexico
62        Slovakia
63        Egypt
64        Kazakhstan
65        Uruguay
66        Hungary
67        Trinidad and Tobago
68        Saint     Lucia
69        Belize
70        Turkey
71        Nicaragua
72        Belarus
73        Lithuania
74        Saint Vincent  and the   Grenadines
75        Argentina
76        Sri  Lanka
77        Estonia
78        Guatemala
79        Ukraine
80        Solomon   Islands
81        Algeria
82        Palau
83        Jordan
84        Mauritius
85        Grenada
86        Antigua   and Barbuda
87        Libya
88        Bangladesh
89        Macedonia
90        Bosnia-Herzegovina
91        Lebanon
92        Indonesia
93        Iran
94        Bahamas
95        Panama
96        Fiji
97        Benin
98        Nauru
99        Romania
100       Saint Kitts and Nevis
101       Moldova
102       Bulgaria
103       Iraq
104       Armenia
105       Latvia
106       Yugoslavia
107       Cook Islands
108       Syria
109       Azerbaijan
110       Suriname
111       Ecuador
112       India
113       Cape Verde
114       Georgia
115       El   Salvador
116       Tonga
117       Uzbekistan
118       Comoros
119       Samoa
120       Yemen
121       Niue
122       Pakistan
123       Micronesia
124       Bhutan
125       Brazil
126       Bolivia
127       Vanuatu
128       Guyana
129       Peru
130       Russia
131       Honduras
132       Burkina   Faso
133       Sao Tome and Principe
134       Sudan
135       Ghana
136       Tuvalu
137       Ivory Coast
138       Haiti
139       Gabon
140       Kenya
141       Marshall Islands
142       Kiribati
143       Burundi
144       China
145       Mongolia
146       Gambia
147       Maldives
148       Papua New Guinea
149       Uganda
150       Nepal
151       Kyrgystan
152       Togo
153       Turkmenistan
154       Tajikistan
155       Zimbabwe
156       Tanzania
157       Djibouti
158       Eritrea
159       Madagascar
160       Vietnam
161       Guinea
162       Mauritania
163       Mali
164       Cameroon
165       Laos
166       Congo
167       North Korea
168       Namibia
169       Botswana
170       Niger
171       Equatorial Guinea
172       Rwanda
173       Afghanistan
174       Cambodia
175       South     Africa
176       Guinea-Bissau
177       Swaziland
178       Chad
179       Somalia
180       Ethiopia
181       Angola
182       Zambia
183       Lesotho
184       Mozambique
185       Malawi
186       Liberia
187       Nigeria
188       Democratic Republic of   the Congo
189       Central   African   Republic
190       Myanmar

Top Five Health Care Reform Lies—and How to Fight Back

Lie #1: President Obama wants to euthanize your grandma!!!

The truth: These accusations—of "death panels" and forced euthanasia—are, of course, flatly untrue. As an article from the Associated Press puts it: "No 'death panel' in health care bill."⁴ What's the real deal? Reform legislation includes a provision, supported by the AARP, to offer senior citizens access to a professional medical counselor who will provide them with information on preparing a living will and other issues facing older Americans.⁵

Lie #2: Democrats are going to outlaw private insurance and force you into a government plan!!!

The truth: With reform, choices will increase, not decrease. Obama's reform plans will create a health insurance exchange, a one-stop shopping marketplace for affordable, high-quality insurance options.⁶ Included in the exchange is the public health insurance option—a nationwide plan with a broad network of providers—that will operate alongside private insurance companies, injecting competition into the market to drive quality up and costs down.⁷

If you're happy with your coverage and doctors, you can keep them.⁸ But the new public plan will expand choices to millions of businesses or individuals who choose to opt into it, including many who simply can't afford health care now.

Lie #3: President Obama wants to implement Soviet-style rationing!!!

The truth: Health care reform will expand access to high-quality health insurance, and give individuals, families, and businesses more choices for coverage. Right now, big corporations decide whether to give you coverage, what doctors you get to see, and whether a particular procedure or medicine is covered—that is rationed care. And a big part of reform is to stop that.

Health care reform will do away with some of the most nefarious aspects of this rationing: discrimination for pre-existing conditions, insurers that cancel coverage when you get sick, gender discrimination, and lifetime and yearly limits on coverage.⁹ And outside of that, as noted above, reform will increase insurance options, not force anyone into a rationed situation.

Lie #4: Obama is secretly plotting to cut senior citizens' Medicare benefits!!!

The truth: Health care reform plans will not reduce Medicare benefits.¹⁰ Reform includes savings from Medicare that are unrelated to patient care—in fact, the savings comes from cutting billions of dollars in overpayments to insurance companies and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.¹¹

Lie #5: Obama's health care plan will bankrupt America!!!

The truth: We need health care reform now in order to prevent bankruptcy—to control spiraling costs that affect individuals, families, small businesses, and the American economy.

Right now, we spend more than $2 trillion dollars a year on health care.¹² The average family premium is projected to rise to over $22,000 in the next decade¹³—and each year, nearly a million people face bankruptcy because of medical expenses.¹⁴ Reform, with an affordable, high-quality public option that can spur competition, is necessary to bring down skyrocketing costs. Also, President Obama's reform plans would be fully paid for over 10 years and not add a penny to the deficit.¹⁵

We're closer to real health care reform than we've ever been—and the next few weeks will decide whether it happens. We need to make sure the truth about health care reform is spread far and wide to combat right wing lies.

Can you forward this email to your friends today? And remember, also post it on Facebook by clicking here: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51746. And on Twitter, by retweeting: @MoveOn Check out the Top 5 Health Care Lies—and How to Fight Back. http://bit.ly/Bncs5

Thanks for all you do.

–Nita, Kat, Ilya, Michael and the rest of the team

P.S. Want more? Check out this great new White House "Reality Check" website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/ or this excellent piece from Health Care for America Now on some of the most outrageous lies: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51729&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=1

Sources:

1. "More 'Town Halls Gone Wild': Angry Far Right Protesters Disrupt Events With 'Incomprehensible' Yelling," Think Progress, August 4, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51733&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=2

2. "Fight the smears," Health Care for America NOW, accessed August 10, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51729&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=3

3. "Palin Paints Picture of 'Obama Death Panel' Giving Thumbs Down to Trig," ABC News, August 7, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51728&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=4

4. "No 'death panel' in health care bill," The Associated Press, August 10, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51747&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=5

5. "Stop Distorting the Truth about End of Life Care," The Huffington Post, July 24, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51730&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=6

6. "Reality Check FAQs," WhiteHouse.gov, accessed August 11, 2009.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/faq#i1

7. "Why We Need a Public Health-Care Plan," The Wall Street Journal, June 24, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51737&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=7

8. "Obama: 'If You Like Your Doctor, You Can Keep Your Doctor,'" The Wall Street Journal, 15, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51736&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=8

9. "Reality Check FAQs," WhiteHouse.gov, accessed August 10, 2009.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/faq#r1

10. "Obama: No reduced Medicare benefits in health care reform," CNN, July 28, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51748&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=9

11. "Reality Check FAQs," WhiteHouse.gov, accessed August 10, 2009.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/faq#s1

12. "Reality Check FAQs," WhiteHouse.gov, accessed August 10, 2009.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/faq#c1

13. "Premiums Run Amok," Center for American Progress, July 24, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51667&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=10

14. "Medical bills prompt more than 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies," CNN, June 5, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51735&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=11

15. "Reality Check FAQs," WhiteHouse.gov, accessed August 10, 2009.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/faq#c1

Sources for the Five Lies:

#1: "A euthanasia mandate," The Washington Times, July 29, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51732&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=12

#2: "It's Not An Option," Investor's Business Daily, July 15, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51743&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=13

#3: "Rationing Health Care," The Washington Times, April 21, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51742&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=14

#4: "60 Plus Ad Is Chock Full Of Misinformation," Media Matters for America, August 8, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51734&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=15

#5: "Obama's 'Public' Health Plan Will Bankrupt the Nation," The National Review, May 13, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51744&id=16778-3569059-daZiHkx&t=16

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