Urban Legend: "Brain Surgeon" Confirms Obamacare Strategy To Use Death Panels For Seniors Who Require Advanced Neurological Treatment-Fiction!

TruthOrFiction.com
TD is an admirer of Mark Levin's stand against the tide of socialism in the nation and appreciate his stand for the Constitution. But we must publish the refutation of the claim made by one caller to his show. To his credit, Mr. Levin asked for the man's sources and his response was skeptical, yet as from one who thought he might have the best source available.  Hear the audio of this call.

Summary of the eRumor:  There is an audio file from a segment of the Mark Levin radio show that is circulating the Internet. It contains a conversation between Mark Levin and a caller who identified himself as Jeff from Chicago, Il and claimed to be a brain surgeon.  The caller said that he had just returned from Washington DC where he had read over a document that said that patients were referred to as "units" and anyone over the age of 70 who subscribed to government medical insurance and needed stroke therapy or treatment for an aneurism would be given "comfort care."  Comfort care does not cure or treat illness but works on relieving symptoms and improving patient comfort.  One model of comfort care is hospice for terminal patients.

The Truth:  The radio call aired on November 23, 2011 on the Mark Levin radio program but it is "factually inaccurate" according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), which posted a statement on its web site.  Click for statement. The AANS reviewed the transcript and said that the organization was "unaware of any federal government document directing that advanced neurosurgery for patients over 70 years of age will not be indicated and only supportive care treatment will be provided."  The statement also said that. "the caller who identified himself as a brain surgeon is not actually a neurosurgeon, nor was there any session at the recent Congress of Neurological Surgeons’ scientific meeting in Washington, DC at which a purported government document calling for the rationing of neurosurgical care was discussed."  By Meera at http://lifesacomicstrip.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html Snopes also calls the legend false.  So does FactCheck AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NEUROLOGICAL SURGEONS  published this press release denying the caller's claim.  We have looked for sources that would authoritatively corroborate this caller's claim and have found none as yet. The only sites that come close are those that merely quote the claims without analysis. TD Forbes calls it nonsense;  "Utter, complete and horrifying nonsense that is, understandably, scaring the wits out of the many senior citizens who are being told that any medical misfortune suffered at age 70 —or beyond— will not be met with the appropriate medical response." Health News Review; Health policy fear-mongering fraud on radio call-in show – how often does this occur on American airwaves?  "In more than 7 years of blogging about health care messages affecting the public dialogue, I don’t think I’ve ever written before about radio call-in programs.  But this one hit pretty close to home." All this being said, it in no way lessens my fear of what harm this government can and will likely do to a healthcare system run by people of the sort who now run the EPA and the DOJ.  After all, it was Democrat policies that brought on the housing crash and the recession that Obama blames on President Bush. Liberals whose philosophies cause damage to economic, military, academic and social systems can only blame themselves for the fertile intellectual soil in which these fears take root.  The Tunnel Dweller.

More on that Romney video

Legal Insurrection; Maybe Romney answer was “inelegant” only because Mother Jones didn’t disclose that part of tape was missing   "But there was a filter.  As reported in my prior post, Corn has admitted that 1-2 minutes of audio/video are missing.  That missing audio/video includes part of Romney’s controversial answer."....
"It also is unreasonable to expect Romney to correct an incomplete audio/video of a comment he did not remember making except for the existence of the audio/video.  That’s why Romney asked for the complete answer to be released."
Critical audio gap in “complete” Romney tape released by Mother Jones (Update – Corn responds, 1-2 minutes missing)

When 'Mother Jones' Opposed 'Selectively Edited' Video 'Reported Uncritically By the Media'    "To be frank, I don’t believe David Corn or "Mother Jones." I think the missing minutes are mitigating and might even show Romney in a good light; might even show him clarifying his remarks. There's a reason Corn and "Mother Jones" tried to get away with passing off the edited video as unedited, and this is the only reason that makes any sense."

Hope n Change

Mother Jones Did Romney a Favor  "Now, the next point that is obviously lost on the drooling media is that Romney was speaking the truth. Even better, it’s not altogether different from what he’s been saying on the campaign trail so far. Hell, Romney was possibly being kind, since thanks to Obama’s policies, almost 50% of all U.S. citizens live in a household where someone is receiving some form of governmental assistance."

Romney escalates attack on Obama’s economic vision

“Mitt Romney’s vision for America is an opportunity society, where free people and free enterprise thrive and success is admired and emulated, not attacked,” Mr. Rhoades said. “President Obama’s vision for America is a government-centered society, where government grows bigger and more active, occupying more of our everyday lives.”

Media lap dogs in hot pursuit of the wrong story

"A reporter grilled the White House — and I am not making this up — about what the president thought of the impersonation of him on the previous “Saturday Night Live” episode."

From JustOneMinute; Mitt Unplugged  "As a factual matter, this reflects gloomily poor staff work and preparation by Team Romney - roughly 3/4 of non-Federal filers are either retired or the working poor (benefiting from the Earned Income Tax Credit and personal and child breaks). Telling an elderly retiree who spent forty years paying Federal, Social Security and Medicare taxes that they are now a dependent who never took personal responsiblity for their lives is probably not a winning message. Since Romney is positioning himself as a smart guy, he ought to focus on saying smart things.

"That said, I am hoping the AllahPundit is right with the notion that if the shoe doesn't fit, people won't wear it:"

 

Heritage; Dependence on Government vs. the American Dream  "This doesn’t necessarily mean that these taxpayers are dependent on the federal government. (More on that later.) But it does raise a crucial issue for our democracy: Who should pay to fund the federal government?"

Boortz; And Just What Was Wrong With What Mitt Romney Said?  "Obama must be breathing a sign of relief today.  The news has shifted away from his the spectacular collapse of Dear Ruler’s apology and pandering based outreach to the Muslim world.  Good going boss! "

Romney needs to keep talking about our fiscally and morally disastrous Entitlement Society   “The taker mentality has thus ineluctably gravitated toward taking from a pool of citizens who can offer no resistance to such schemes: the unborn descendants of today’s entitlement-seeking population.”

"Keep talking, Mitt."  Hat tip to Neal Boortz

Naïveté on Parade

The Powers That Be

In an interview with David Letterman taped on Tuesday, Barack Obama pressed leaders in the Muslim world to help ensure the safety and security of Americans abroad, Reuters reported.

“The message we have to send to the Muslim world is we expect you to work with us to keep our people safe,” he said.

“We expect their full cooperation because that’s the only way the world works.”

 "Obama’s idea of “security” is trying to censor things that might spur certain people to violence combined with asking their leaders to see to it that everybody plays nice? Good luck with that.

"After turning the duty of securing the safety of US personnel abroad over to leaders in the Muslim world, Obama didn’t have anything better to do so he went to an “important” $4 million fundraiser hosted by Jay Z and Beyonce."

After Letterman, Obama heads to the lavish fundraiser to campaign against the super rich Ted Kennedy, er, John Kerry, er...Mitt Romney

"Obama Fundraiser With Jay-Z And Beyonce Features “Floor-To-Ceiling” Tower Of 350 Gold Champagne Bottles Costing $800 Each, White House Bans Photos Of Event…"

Meanwhile in Libya...

Thomas Lifson: As Middle East erupts in anti-American demonstrations, Obama talks with Letterman about White House homebrew
"The more fundamental problem is Obama is presenting the image on an unserious president, too busy with watching football on TV, golfing, and raising money to attend to intelligence briefings, and carry out his vast responsibilities.  The real question is: who is running the country?"

Muslim leader asks, "How can we expect non-Muslims to believe that Islam is a religion of peace, when Muslim mobs around the world make liars of us all, Muhammad included?"

Jihad Watch  The Muslim leader, David Liepert has stated,

 Those mobs of angry Muslims, even if they believed they were marching for the sake of Muhammad, are ignorant of his legacy. Because a careful and historically accurate study of Muhammad's life confirms he didn't care about his own personal honor at all.

"But actually, Islam mandates death for non-Muslim subjects of the Islamic state who mention "something impermissible about Allah, the Prophet....

So the rioters are being obedient Muslims and staying true to the commands of Islam.

"Of course, the rioters around the world are targeting innocent people, but they consider them to be representatives of the U.S., which they hold responsible for the blasphemy. If Liepert were forthright about the entire tradition of Muhammad, he would admit that the Islamic prophet would be pleased by what has been going on these days."  
Does Gawker miss what we see as obvious or do we?  The Gawker article did not mention this.

And Mitt Romney stated the truth when he said that Palestinians are not interested in peace.  

"You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem ... and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it," Romney said. He said pushing Israel to give up disputed territory for a two-state solution with the Palestinians "is the worst idea in the world."  From Jihad Watch

Muslims are calling the shots at the Obama Pentagon

The actions against LTC Dooley, an instructor involved with this elective, follow a letter to the Department of Defense dated October 19, 2011 and signed by 57 Muslim organizations, demanding that all training materials that they judge to be offensive to Islam be “purged” and instructors “are effectively disciplined.”  Emphasis in the original. 

Read much more on this from the Thomas More Law Center here. Via Bare Naked Islam

"Rather than thinking and acting bravely, PC’er’s strike at our cherished First Amendment in a vain hope of buying friendship with a force we still do not understand that neither respects us nor appreciates civility.   Despite the military’s decade long effort to come to a more sophisticated level of cultural awareness, we have missed the most critical and basic lesson of this war: weakness itself is a provocation.            

"This is a threat to our National Security. In effect, our own government is applying Islamic Sharia law to prevent any criticism of Islam." .... 

 Fear Obama and fear this Democrat Party.

Obama on the Middle East / Where is the president’s partisan snarling when we need it?

Victor Davis Hanson   "So I have a modest suggestion. Obama has a formidable arsenal of invective that he has unleashed against conservatives, Republicans, and just about anyone else on the domestic scene he doesn’t like. Why, then, not redeploy these fire-in-the-belly attacks against those who kill Americans abroad?
"All Obama has to do is imagine that the mobs in the Middle East are not misunderstood Muslims — who overreacted a bit to an offensive American video — but rather suspect conservatives and opponents of progressive thought. Then, mutatis mutandis, Obama might get fired up and level a much-needed warning.

"If he did, it might go like this:" Read on...

http://mmmsmiscellaneousmiscellanea.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html

Hang in there, Mitt!

WSJ; The Data Behind Romney’s 47% Comments   "Mr. Romney correctly noted that nearly half of Americans pay no federal income tax. Who are all these people? And how did we get here?

Here’s a quick answer. Roughly half of U.S. households that pay no federal income tax are exempted because of basic provisions such as limitations on tax for low-income earners, according to a 2011 study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. The other half benefit from targeted breaks (known to tax geeks as “tax expenditures”), such as assistance for the working poor and for children in moderate-income families. Seniors also benefit from some of these targeted breaks.

Rush Limbaugh; A Golden Opportunity for Mitt Romney  "If anybody ought to be under the microscope, it's Obama. Obama's tamping down expectations. Obama's ratcheting up fear. Obama's the guy whose foreign policy is falling apart. Obama's the guy who's watching our economy disintegrate. Obama's the guy whose policies are making it tougher and tougher and tougher for excellence to matter in one's pursuit of life."

Hot Air posted this Romney-Neal Cavuto interview today

Daily Caller; The real problem with Romney’s ‘47 percent’ gaffe  "The explosive growth of a deficit-financed welfare state, which increases the number of people who are net government beneficiaries, is the real problem.

"Policies leading to lower taxes for everyone, including the 47 percent, are part of the solution."

NRO; What Romney Said, and What He Didn’t   "In terms of shaping the outcome of this election or changing the dynamics of the horserace, I suspect that the effects of Mitt Romney’s recently publicized comments from a fundraiser in May will be negligible. But they do reveal some interesting things about the state of our politics."

Newsmax; Mitt Romney Video Demonstrates Media Hypocrisy  "When Romney tells the truth, the press will crucify him for it. When President Obama prevaricates, the press will ignore it."

Mona Charen; Romney Needs a Turnaround Artist  "Obama is failing because his policies are wrongheaded and destructive. Uncertainty has kept capital on the sidelines. Obama has frozen employers into a defensive crouch. That is the case Romney has not yet made."

Millionaire Chris Matthews mocks Romney for being wealthy. No mention of Ted Kennedy and John Kerry

Multi-Millionaire Chris Matthews Mocks Mitt Romney By Singing 'If I Were a Rich Man
"In a bizarre display, Chris Matthews began his show on Tuesday by singing "If I Were a Rich Man" as a way of mocking Mitt Romney for being wealthy. [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Chris Matthews makes an annual salary of $5 million dollars. 
"Matthews opened the program by announcing, "Let me start tonight" by singing a selection from Fiddler on the Roof. Highlighting a leaked video of Romney at a private fund-raiser, he then derided, "It's one thing to be rich and have the majority of voters convinced you're out to help the rich. Is there anything dumber to be caught pandering to your fellow rich?" Later, while talking to journalist Joe Klein, Matthews insulted potential GOP voters, comparing them to the racist TV character Archie Bunker.

Can Republicans Talk?

Sowell

Thomas Sowell   "I have not heard any Republican official or candidate even try to answer a standard claim of the Democrats, that "deregulation" is the reason the housing market went haywire and brought down the economy. Therefore, according to the Democrats, Republicans who want to restore a free market are just trying to "go back to the same policies that got us into this mess in the first place." 
"That sounds very persuasive, if you don't know the facts -- and it sounds like pure hogwash if you do.
"But facts don't speak for themselves. And if we wait for the Republicans to speak, the whole country can be in big trouble."
....
"But so long as Republicans don't seem to feel any urgency about refuting the Democrats' claim that they just want to help the rich at the expense of the poor, they are courting defeat on election day. Why lose to a lie because you didn't bother to explain the truth?"  (Emphasis added)

http://www.allrightmagazine.com/

Will this become a foreign-policy election?

Hot Air

Democrats salivated at the prospect of highlighting Obama’s foreign-policy experience — all of which he compiled over the last three-and-a-half years — as a contrast to the GOP’s nominees, and a transparent attempt to deflect the election away from the economy.

"With the explosion of violent protests in the Muslim world and the first US Ambassador killed in the line of duty since 1979, foreign policy has finally intruded in a big way in this election — and it doesn’t make Obama look good at all."

CHRISTIANS AND JEWS TO BURN QURANS IN MECCA ...NO, WAIT

Atlas Shrugs

'Arabs' Try To Burn Books of Psalms on Mount of Olives INN

Three youths were caught Saturday night desecrating Jewish holy books at a sacred Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem.By Hana Levi Julian

Three Arab youths were caught Saturday night desecrating Jewish holy books at a sacred Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem. The vandals were in the process of trying to burn several Tehillim – volumes of the Book of Psalms authored by the Biblical King David – at the ancient Mount of Olives Cemetery.

The three perpetrators, Arab teens about 16 years old, are residents of the Arab neighborood adjacent to the cemetery. All were arrested; two confessed to the crime, and the third was also found to have been involved although he continued to deny it. Police told reporters they plan to expedite prosecution of the case.

When a controversial Florida-based Christian cleric burned the Islamic holy book, the Qur'an in 2010, the incident sparked worldwide rage and violent riots by Muslims around the globe. One week ago, an obscure, amateur video clip produced by an individual in the U.S. mocking the life of the Prophet Mohammed, founder of Islam, sparked massive violent attacks against U.S. and other Western diplomatic missions around the world as well.

Shame (and the Obama voter)

Andrew Klavan  "The people who booed the God of love, now rush to the defense of a hateful Allah. The people who pissed on the Christ of redemption, now bewail the hurt feelings of a damnable Islam. The people who denounced the death of civil liberties under the Patriot Act, now make rationalizations as brown-shirted cops drag a man from his home at midnight for the crime of posting a video on YouTube.
"I’m sorrowful, but I confess I’m not surprised."

"When I see, in the United States of America, a man rousted from his home at midnight and dragged to a police station over a YouTube video, when I see brutal, primitive, violent Islamism on the march and the values of free men and women in retreat, when I see so-called journalists doing everything they can to suppress, deny, and explain away rather than spread the news, my first reaction isn’t outrage at our foolish failure of a president, nor is it hatred for the cancerous religion currently doing murder to people of every competing belief system everywhere around the world. My first reaction is genuine sadness over the many, many Democrats of good will who are going to betray every value they profess to hold dear and double down on their error this election day because they simply can’t bear to acknowledge the fact that they were wrong."

Why I Love Barack Obama

Kyle Becker;  "I love how the tides have lowered, race relations have healed, and our entire country is making “progress” while being fundamentally transformed. I love how you say that we are in a recovery when part-time jobs are taking the place of full-time ones, your administration has netted only 100,000 jobs, and the middle class bled over 40% of its wealth. I love how we are at 8% or more unemployment for 43 months and you claim that as a success. Not to mention real unemployment is something like 20%. You saved us from 50% unemployment and a 100% loss of wealth. Like you said, “you didn’t build that.” Thanks for humbling us."