stuff below the fold

One of the most worrisome thing about the Health bill was the "death panels"...now they are back, and to make things worse, they will now be done yearly as part of your "wellness visit" (aka yearly physical).

More HERE and HERE.

I'm not big on high tech care for the dying myself, but I don't trust the "one size fits all" living will.

Pick a loved one, preferably one who has some background in medicine or nursing, talk to him or her, and get a health care proxy document. They can judge your wishes a lot better than an ER doc or (worse) the local EMT who misreads the document.
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The UK rationing board, which has the Orwellian name N.I.C.E., will no longer bully people on their lifestyle choices.

but they still can deny you medicine that costs too much, at least until 2014...

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The phrase "death panels" was coined by Sarah Palin, and it's not the only phrase or word she has contributed to the English language:

"...in November the New Oxford American Dictionary editors announced "refudiate" as the word of the year. The definition of refudiate now reads in the dictionary: "refudiate verb used loosely to mean "reject": she called on them to refudiate the proposal to build a mosque. [origin -- blend of refute and repudiate]"...."


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Capehart at the WAPO tells Obama he needs to be seen going to church more often to convince folks he is a "christian".

Right. Just like the philanderers Kennedy and Clinton.

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Stem cells might work to help a man walk again...stem cells from his own bone marrow.

and artificial corneas might help many people.

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not just oil but water might be behind the politics of the Southern Sudan vote: the fight over using the Nile's irrigation waters could start fights in central Africa.

North Africa has been drying up over the last 10 thousand years, so things could get nasty.

Strategypage has a discussion on what could happen when the south seceeds and northern Sudan tries to stop it.
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Hangover cures from the real experts.
... the editors suggest try a bacon sandwich instead.

Bacon, it makes life worth living.