Three things for this day

Ok so this blog is going to jump around because its on three different subjects.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090817/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_protesters_guns

First off, this “trend” of people carrying their firearms to protest President Obama is asinine and frankly down right dangerous! When you have people comparing him to Hitler, calling him “racist”, “socialist”, etc (all of which are in themselves fucked up) at these protests the last thing you want people to have is a LOADED GUN! One guy in Phoenix, where the President was speaking to the VFW National Convention, had a AR-15 (the civilian version of the military’s M-16 Assault Rifle) slung over his shoulder! Seriously, what the hell?! I’m not saying the people with the guns are planning something, but by simply having them near the President, these (I’m sure law-abiding citizens) are creating a huge opportunity for people who AREN’T law-abiding. Do these people not understand that if their weapon was stolen and then used to attack the President, that they would be as guilty of attempted assassination, or assassination, as the person who pulled the trigger? I have no issue with the second amendment but come on people, use your god damn common sense!


http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13135039
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1916656,00.html
http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/pat-advocacy/endoflife/003.html

Secondly, Republicans, and Democrats, need to pull their heads out of their asses and stop this “death panel” nonsense! All of these Senators and Congressmen know what is and is not in the bill, and yet they refuse to flat our say it! It is NO WHERE in the health care bill being discussed, and the only thing that was remotely close was “end of life counseling” which ended up being taken out because of the “death panel” bull shit. By refusing to clearly state this, these people continue to feed this rumor mill that is hurting the debate more than it is helping! To be clear, end of life counseling has nothing to do with killing people! It is simply a plan that you and your doctor talk about, and change whenever the patient wants, that spells out the kind of care you want to receive if/when you can no longer make the decision yourself. It has NOTHING to do with the government telling you what care you can and cannot receive! A “do not resuscitate” order, is an example of what would be part of, and is considered, end of life care. You are telling your loved ones and doctors that in the event your heart stops and/or you stop breathing, to not perform CPR. End of life counseling will HELP families! If a person has laid out all of the care they want to receive before they become incapacitated, it takes A LOT of pressure off of that person’s family It takes away, or at least reduces, the guilt the family could feel for decisions they have to make. What if their loved one didn’t want to be resuscitated, but since there was no documentation the family decided to have that person resuscitated. The family may feel guilty for doing it, and the patient could be upset at them for not honoring his/her wishes. End of life counseling makes tough decisions a little easier, and reduces costs of medical care that wasn’t necessarily wanted by the patient.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=7582130

The last thing involves the unwillingness of this state it change its liquor laws. This “quota system” for liquor licenses needs to be scraped! It hurts this state’s economic growth by limiting the number of bars and restaurants that can serve alcohol. Now this may not seem like a big deal for people who don’t drink BUT I would bet that some businesses won’t even attempt to come to Utah because of all the hoops they have to jump through to serve alcohol. This system has obviously outlasted its usefulness, and in this time of economic recession this state needs to make itself as enticing as possible. If people are going to drink and drive, the number of places they can drink won’t make one damn bit of difference. The responsibility of reducing drunk drivers rests with the drivers themselves and the places that serve them. End of story! You can have a drunk driving problem, even if you just have one place that serves alcohol, if that establishment refuses to monitor how much a person drinks.

"Good night, and good luck"
-Edward R Murrow