The following oped is what alarmed me enough to look into it, the numbers in parenthesis are the actual page numbers from the Stimulus that I repeat, already passed. They directly link to the page, hope they are still up:

“Hospitals and doctors that are not “meaningful users” of the new system will face penalties. “Meaningful user” isn’t defined in the bill. That will be left to the HHS secretary, who will be empowered to impose “more stringent measures of meaningful use over time” (511, 518, 540-541)

What penalties will deter your doctor from going beyond the electronically delivered protocols when your condition is atypical or you need an experimental treatment? The vagueness is intentional. In his book, Daschle proposed an appointed body with vast powers to make the “tough” decisions elected politicians won’t make.

The stimulus bill does that, and calls it the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (190-192). The goal, Daschle’s book explained, is to slow the development and use of new medications and technologies because they are driving up costs. He praises Europeans for being more willing to accept “hopeless diagnoses” and “forgo experimental treatments,” and he chastises Americans for expecting too much from the health-care system.

Elderly Hardest Hit ”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mccaughey&sid=aLzfDxfbwhzs

More recent, Senator Mark Warner is on a similar track:

Sen. Warner calls for discussion of end-of-life treatment

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/03/sen-warner-calls-discussion-endoflife-treatment

I see I have rattled your cage……

I shudder at how sad, lonely, and pathetic your life must be.

You do realize you said this:
You are a despicable human being.

after just having said this: They have saved my damn family.

despicable? you define the word.

Here’s the next paragraph. And I wouldn’t say much if I had referred to my family the way you did yours.

Also, many factors outside the classroom can stress or emotionally affect children. Some of these factors are: not getting love, closeness, or attention from their parents; if a parent, friend, or sibling is sick or dies; if the parents are divorcing and there is anger, shouting, or conflict at home; domestic violence at home; sexual, physical, or emotional abuse by parents or siblings; inattention and neglect at home; personality clashes with parents or siblings; envy or cruelty directed at a child by classmates or by siblings at home, and many other factors.

While you’re at it, would you like to insult my children some more and insist that the epileptic seizures were just cries for attention?

You are a despicable human being.

Is ADHD a Real Disease?

The vast majority of Ritalin and Adderall is given to school children to treat an alleged disease called ADHD. Children who suffer from ADHD are said to be inattentive, impulsive, and hyperactive. They often get bored easily in class, squirm in their seats, are always on the go, or don’t get along with other students or the teacher. In other words, many children diagnosed with ADHD may simply be normal kids, full of energy and bored out of their minds sitting in public-school classrooms.
Testimony from Experts about so-called ADHD

In his testimony to the Pennsylvania House Democratic Policy Committee, Bruce Wiseman, National President of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, stated that “thousands of children put on psychiatric drugs are simply ‘smart.’” He quoted the late Sydney Walker, a psychiatrist and neurologist, as saying, “They’re hyper not because their brains don’t work right, but because they spend most of the day waiting for slower students to catch up with them. These students are bored to tears, and people who are bored fidget, wiggle, scratch, stretch, and (especially if they are boys) start looking for ways to get into trouble.”

Boredom is not the only reason children can exhibit symptoms of ADHD. Perfectly normal children who are over-active (have a lot of energy), rebellious, impulsive, day-dreamers, sensitive, undisciplined, bored easily (because they are bright), slow in learning, immature, troubled (for any number of reasons), learning disabled (dyslexia, for example), can also be inattentive, impulsive, or hyperactive.

Here’s the rest of it:
http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com/adhd/disease.asp

And Dubya wrote every single word he ever spoke in a speech himself.

Thank you, AJ. Believe it or not, that bit of empathy does mean something to me.

I didn’t say anything about speech writers. I’m talking about people that can’t talk without a prompter.

Your ‘damn family’ wow, I’d never describe my family that way.

and that ‘thank you’ was phony, that whole bit you wrote about your ‘family’ (notice I left out the ‘damn’) was solely to get sympathy.

And you know ADHD is not really an ‘illness’ it’s a created thing for active children that their parents don’t want to deal with so they drug them to dumb them down, it causes many more problems down the line.

No problem! Hope things continue well. I too have a child with some issues and understand completely.

AJStrata

Congrats on how well your child is doing – that is great news.

And here is where you and I agree 100%. When Malkin and others went after the CHIPS program it probably ended any hope of me joining the GOP.

I believe in the job based, free market medical system. But Government does have a role in investing in the hard cases as well.

It actually is no different than the space market. Commercial satellite operators make money on providing global communications (something that has changed the face of humanity). But government funds exploration and science and the technology of space (actually, applying terrestrial technology to space missions). There is no profit (right now) in space science data, so no companies will invest or build in that area, so government funds it.

But commercial space gets advancements in technology, and the government learns how to operate efficiently from business – it is a very symbiotic relationship which benefits this country greatly.

Medicine is the same way. You can have government participate (just not control). That is one reason I applauded the prescription drug benefit for Medicaid/Miedicare. It helped numerous people live better lives, is primarily self funded (those who can afford to buy in do so like any medical insurance benefit, which covers much of the cost of those who need the government safety net subsidy), and it is open market – commercial companies compete to get the customers, which drives them to offer competitive services.

The far right is too simple minded at times (again, Malkin jumps to mind). As you know I have had it with both partisan sides. It is time to listen and learn from each other, not berate each other. Even when they are wrong.

Your personal example is a great lesson for the right on why their extreme views of conservatism are wrong.

Cheers, AJStrata

MONEY doesn’t solve problems. PEOPLE do. You can’t solve these problems by budgeting money and initiating “programs”. “Programs” don’t make kids do their homework. “Programs” don’t make someone decide to quit spending all day hanging out on the corner and enroll in a class to learn to read. “Programs” don’t work, for the most part.

The best thing that ever happened to welfare in the US in my lifetime was when Clinton put a lifetime cap on benefits. As a result, welfare rolls dropped 85% and violent crime was cut in half.

You know, you never hear the Asian immigrant whining. Know why? They bust their rear ends getting a good public education. They arrive here without a penny, work their butts off, make sure the kids do their homework and stay in school and they succeed. Same is true with Indian immigrants. They work their way out of poverty in a single generation in many cases. Why do we have entire cities that have been in poverty for DECADES? I say it is because they aren’t held personally responsible for their own situation. A kid born in Detroit is likely to end up living just like their parents. Move that same kid to Montana and they might have a shot. Not because they are a different kid, and not because there are more “programs”. Poverty is CULTURAL in some areas. It is a way of life. People don’t know any different and pumping more money will just lead to more people on the dole. It doesn’t get them off. ENDING the gravy train is what causes people to get motivated to improve themselves.

Want to know where the best schools are in a district? Look for the ones that get the least government funding. Increasing government funding to a school does not improve things. In fact, it probably makes things worse by subsidizing failure. That is all we are doing … subsidizing failure and the more we subsidize it, the more we get of it.

You can’t fix these problems by throwing money at them. You have to fix it culturally. We have to stop tolerating illiteracy, for example. It should go like this … go to school and we will pay you for X months. If you do not pass the test, the money stops. If you pass, we will pay you a smaller amount for some period while you look for work and then it stops altogether.

The reason unemployment is so high is that illiteracy is so high. Who is going to hire someone who can’t read a sign or fill out a time card? And nobody can put literacy into one’s head with any amount of money. The people have to do that themselves.

They got ahold of him when he was almost 3, did some evaluations, and determined that: yes, he did qualify for this program. So, even when he was too young for a “usual” pre-K program, they put him into school, with people that were uniquely qualified to help him along.

And help they have: the difference in this kid between last year and this is INSANE. Last year, he would not care if someone else was in a room with him. Now: he talks to people, looks them in the eye, tells stories, asks for people to tickle him, etc. He comes up to me, and asks me to play”The Alphabet Game” – this is a game where we call out letters, and take turns coming up with words that start with that letter.

Do any of you get this? I am ecstatic that my child is starting to act NORMAL. And why? Becuase he has gone through a state government-run program that taught him how to do that.

None of this was even REMOTELY possible before the DAP got ahold of him. They are freaking miracle workers. They have saved my damn family.

And now.. you all are arguing against measures that would increase spending for programs like DAP?

Why do you hate families?

I have two sons. The older has epilespsy and ADHD. The younger has autism. I deal with their conditions every day, all day. I literally cannot leave either of them alone for more than a few minutes. This has been my life for 8+ years.

So shove your lectures straight up your ass, okay?