OK, I've got it: The simple solution to the Medicare dilemma.

[Jackpine Radical]

We simply need to adopt the age-old custom of abandoning the elderly in the wilderness when they become unable to care for themselves. Here in Wisconsin, I think it would work best in winter. You just put Gramma out in the woods with a blanket & a quart of brandy. 2 quarts if she's got a personal history that includes a high alcohol tolerance.

If your winters aren't cold enough to guarantee the result within a humane time frame, think this would also work pretty well in deserts. Maybe California families could use Death Valley for the purpose, and make the place really earn its name.

[ejpoeta]

1. it would help with job creation because someone would have to go take care of them once...

you know....

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Well, I was just thinking about helping

the wolf packs make it through the hardest part of winter.

But then, most of us old farts have so many toxins in our bodies that we might not be healthy food for the carnivores.

[Bigmack]

14. One word.... coyotes. nt

[Jackpine Radical]

15. Of course. Although they seem to be doing pretty well on their own,

at least around here.

[mrcheerful]

17. Yeah funny how when we were being exposed to those toxins we had experts telling us

there were no dangers to said exposers. Then the EPA came along and said hey you know that crap you been breathing and swallowing for the last 30 years is a health hazard and can lead to serious illnesses.

[Jackpine Radical]

19. It makes you think twice about losing weight--

Who wants to release all that old DDT and crap we got stored in our body fat?

[LiberalLoner]

2. I am absolutely convinced at this point I will die alone, with no medical care, and in

so much pain that I can't even imagine it.

This sounds like hyperbole but I honestly wish I had my own secret stash of cyanide capsules so that I could take one of those instead of dying slowly of, say, cancer, and dealing with all the pain of that without medical care or pain management.

[Scuba]

3. I believe the Ryan plan calls for ovens. n/t

[dkf]

4. You need to fix the health care system so the costs aren't out of control.

It's the root of all our problems. If our health costs were in line with other countries we would have a freaking surplus

[Aerows]

21. exactly

Until we do that, we're all screwed.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. That might work, can we include Congress

in the abandonment plan?

[BillStein]

7. The Arctic is melting

just when we really need those ice floes!

[Jackpine Radical]

9. Maybe we could abandon them on rafts.

With the booze, of course.

I can just hear one orca saying to another, "Wow, I had a great time last night, but I'm really hung over. I really gotta cut down on eating humans."

[KansDem]

8. Hey! I just got a great idea!

I will buy those wildernesses and charge you to abandon your loved ones there who are too old or feeble to care for themselves!

Man, I'll be RICH!!!

And I'll get subsidies and tax breaks from the fucking REPUBLICANS!!!

I'll be raking in the dough!!!

(JR, if you need a job, I'll be happy to hire you to rake. Just remember to bring your own rake, or I can sell you a $19.95 rake for $99.95--to be deducted from your first paycheck).

:woohoo: I'll be filthy rich!!!

[raccoon]

10. Cold is more humane, I think. It would be good to include travel money

for those elders who don't live in cold states. :sarcasm: of course.

Or would that break the federal budget? more :sarcasm:

[postulater]

11. Who was the Wisconsin author who moved to Oregon to die in the woods?

It might be preferable to dying in a hospital all drugged up.

I'd just rather be frozen solid before the wolves start ripping me up.

[bobbolink]

12. .

[Jackpine Radical]

16. Yes, exactly.

I just get all teary-eyed thinking about how compassionate this nation is.

[Ozymanithrax]

13. They could expose unwanted girl babies, also...

I mean, why use a single solution for just one Republican sociatal problem. Clearly, they don't like women either.

[Jackpine Radical]

18. Ya know, I thought about that when I was writing the OP.

I suppose an alternative would just be to give them to the Mormons.

[bobbolink]

20. You're missing the big picture here. They aren't going to do anything that would be ACTIVE.

They are the quintessential Passive-Aggressive Masters.

They will NEVER take responsiblity for tossing people out.

The messsage is, and has been for 30 years where homeless people are concerned (and it worked, so it now being enlarged to include welfare mothers and elders):

KILL. YOURSELF.

Yes, the message is that loud and clear. Not that it matters to "progressives".

As another DUer keeps saying, We. Tried. To. Tell. You.