Page 425 just another urban legend

Another trip into the world of urban legend.

The Doc received a Facebook message from a friend asking if e-mails she was receiving about President Obama’s health plan are true.

The e-mails talk (if e-mails can talk) about page 425 of the plan that deals with end of life counseling.

It has prompted a wild flurry of blogging and message board traffic with claims that the government will counsel people with terminal diseases on ways to end their life earlier. It has been dubbed “euthanasia counseling,” by those attempting to make political hay.

Snopes.com, a Web site that deals with urban legends, offers the following example:

“One Page 425 of Obama’s health care bill, the Federal Government will require EVERYONE who is on Social Security to undergo a counseling session every five years with the objective being that they will explain to them just how to end their own life earlier. Yes, they are going to push SUICIDE to cut Medicare spending!!! And no, I am NOT kidding YOU!! Also, planned denial of medical care for seniors.

Those are the writer’s all caps and exclamation points, not the Doc’s.
Here are some examples from Twitter:

quantumphonic:  Health Care.• Page 425: Government provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death. From the bill itself! More…

westerdk: page 425 & 426 of the bill; all Medicare recipients required every five years encouraged to learn about ways to shorten their lives.
shergraham49: YOU WILL DIE- page 425 Health care will be denied based on age. 500 Billion will be cut from Seniors  http://healthcare.www.fredthompsonshow.com

Hargoosh: THROW THEM ALL OUT!! READ WHAT THEY WANT TO DO TO US! PAGE 425 OF HC BILL http://bit.ly/Ux6aj OUTRAGEOUS! #OBAMAFAIL #HC09 #TCOT

Knightairman: Read page 425 of obamas health care plan. He wants senior citizens to know how to kill themselves to be less of a burden on society.

It’s not just the average Joe or Judy on the street pushing this agenda. Former New York Lt. Governor Betsy McCaughey said on former Sen. and TV District Attorney Fred Thompson’s radio show that “Congress would make it mandatory, absolutely require, that every five years people with Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner.

McCaughey, a Republican who served under former Gov. George Pataki, works with the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank.

The right has run with her comments and Fox News, surprise, surprise, is feeding it to the masses. Fox News claims it is “hidden” in the bill.

The problem for the right is that it’s simply not true. Not that it will stop Republicans from trying to sell it as the hot, smokin’ gospel. They apparently believe it will scare the elderly and stir up the base. Scaring folks has become the substitute for a lack of message.

Snopes.com says the claim is “… erroneous, a mistaken interpretation of a complicated section of lengthy legislative bill.”

However, Snopes.com will not stop the disillusioned from a feeding frenzy. These days, nothing can.

Larry Rogers

I was out of town when Larry Rogers died in December. I received a phone call in New Hampshire from Magistrate Tim Riggs who told me that Larry had fallen and things didn’t look good for him.

My immediate reaction was to call Tom Clinton and let him know so he could assign a reporter to the story. My second was to pour myself a drink and sit back and think about Larry.

It should have been my first.

As I entered Government Center through the parking lot entrance Tuesday for a Fiscal Court meeting I noticed pictures of the magistrates had been mounted on the wall. I saw Larry’s and realized how much I miss him.

I first met Larry about five years ago and one year into the Second Four-Year War (a.k.a., the Patricia Hawkins administration). This followed the First Four-Year War (a.k.a. the Richard Frymire administration).

The Doc is not being critical of either of the former judge-executives. They both were in less than enviable positions. The infighting, mud throwing and face-to-face confrontations were difficult to control. Kevlar was the preferable choice of attire when attending those meetings.

Those of us who knew Larry for his work on the court often called him “Blacktop and Buffet.” He was famous for traveling to Frankfort looking for money for 5th District roads. He would often initially be turned down, but by the time he and the person he was meeting with finished their buffet lunch, Larry would sometimes have a promise for the money.

Maybe it was his folksy way that turned people. He invented words from time-to-time. Larry is the onlyest person I’ve ever heard use the non-word “onlyest.”

He was quick to motion to adjourn a Fiscal Court meeting when business was done. His wife, Wilma, who was appointed to complete his term, has that honor now.

He and The Doc didn’t always see eye-to-eye on things. We weren’t close friends. However, when Larry believed in something it was hard to move him off his position. He stood by his convictions

He wasn’t afraid to take a stand. That is something in itself to admire about a person.

There was a large turnout for Larry’s funeral in Dawson Springs. His friends and pastor spoke eloquently about him.

They spoke of a quick smile and a quicker willingness to jump in and help someone out when needed.

I don’t know why I didn’t write this sooner.

I miss Larry and I’m sure I’m not the onlyest one.

G-men and P’Pool

It was urban legend day Monday in The Spin Cycle.

The Doc was given an anonymous letter that two of our staffers received. Anonymous letters are sometimes fun to read because people tend to say what’s really on their minds behind the cloak of anonymity.

This one was fun.

The writer has been a reader of The Messenger for more than 25 years, the letter said, and thinks we do a good job for the most part.

However, the writer thinks our “likes or dislikes” are indicated by the way stories are played in our pages. If we like it, apparently it shows up on the front page. If we don’t, you’ll find it under a rock somewhere.

Next up was our lack of coverage of County Attorney Todd P’Pool’s civil suit. P’Pool is being sued by a former client in his private practice over a financial issue. We were in the process of putting a story together on the suit last month when the trial was postponed.

It turns out P’Pool’s attorney had surgery that forced the delay. A new trial date has not been set. We will provide a story concerning the suit in the days leading up to the trial, whenever that may be.

The writer also said that “lawyer talk” has it that Hopkins Circuit Judge Jim Brantley keeps postponing the trial while advising P’Pool to settle the case because the judge doesn’t think it will “go the way P’Pool thinks.”

Brantley is not working the suit. It is being handled by a special judge out of Hopkinsville. Brantley couldn’t preside over the trial. He was one of two other attorneys who worked with P’Pool on the case the county attorney is being sued over.

The writer wasn’t alone in the next issue that was brought up in the letter. It stated that a popular Mexican restaurant was raided by G-men who carted away a “large number” of illegal workers. (We also had a couple of phone calls with the same rumor.)

It wasn’t.

The letter says the restaurant was closed for a couple of days with a sign that read “Kitchen Broke.” The writer says that’s a bunch of bunk and challenged us to call the Health Department for the truth.

We did.

We were told the air conditioning unit wasn’t working at the restaurant and the department advised them to close down until it was fixed if it became so hot in the kitchen that employees were perspiring around the food.

(The same day The Doc was told the rumor about the Mexican restaurant being raided, another call came in claiming that two Italian restaurants in Madisonville had shut down. Both had signs at the establishments that clearly said they were closed for vacation.)

Finally, the writer, fearful that we’re not keeping up with the changing times, gave us a few tips on how to survive in the coming years.

We appreciate them.

Keep the letters coming.