UK Doc: 'Don't Treat Greedy Fat People'

If you are considered clinically obese, perhaps you should think twice before moving to Great Britain. Or if you are already there, perhaps you should seriously consider leaving. One of the top physicians in the U.K. says that overweight people are lazy, greedy, and should not receive medical treatment.

Remember that the U.K. operates under a government-run healthcare system. Socialized medicine is a system in which medical decisions are not made between a patient and his/her doctor. The system is based upon several factors, such as need, available resources, and the approval of the government before treatment is given.

If, for example, you are 70 years old and in need of coronary by-pass, you may well be deemed too old for the system to pay for your surgery.

These types of decisions are reached by considering the patient's age, overall health, risk factors, likelihood of recovery, and 'available resources,' i.e., the amount of tax dollars allocated for such procedures.

Within such systems of healthcare, the populace is more often than not herded into compliance with government-set standards for weight, diet, exercise habits, etc., so that taxpayers will not feel that they are helping subsidize those lazy, good-for-nothing sloths who refuse to acquiesce to the accepted standards for the society.

To some degree such a mindset already exits in the U.S., though not to the extent that one finds in places like the U.K. or Canada. One emergency room physician in the U.S. was overheard complaining to nurses about a patient who sustained massive head-trauma while riding a motorcycle.

He was not wearing a helmet.

The physician in question sanctimoniously suggested that he should not have to pay for a loser like this patient, who didn't have the common sense to wear a helmet, and that taxpayers should not have to pick up the bill for it.

In other words, so much for the Hippocratic Oath. This is the age of making value judgments on human life based solely upon how much money taxpayers have to fork over to care for smokers, the obese, people who ride without helmets, and the like.

Luckily, the physician who made the remark was operating under a system not yet fully seized by government. The people in the U.K. are not so lucky.

Given that taxpayers foot the bill for everyone's medical care, who is to say that at some point healthcare will be refused to those who smoke? Or those who are overweight?

After all, the good doctor in the U.K. thinks that fat people are by definition lazy and greedy. The bastards! Let them fend for themselves! Refuse to give them treatment for diabetes, heart disease, circulatory problems, etc. After all, the dirty rotten human vermin brought it on themselves!

And this is precisely one of the core problems with socialized medicine. Everyone has a stake in everyone else's healthcare. This is not a good thing.

In fact, one of the salient features that highlights the superiority of private healthcare is that what I do is my business, and what you do is yours. I don't care whether or not you smoke or eat all the 'correct' foods. That is your business.

And, in like manner, it is simply none of your damn business what I eat, how much I weigh, how much I choose to smoke, or if I decide to ride a motorcycle without a helmet to the Philip Morris plant, light up a good smoke, drink an entire keg of beer, and eat a dozen Big Macs.

In a PRIVATE healthcare system, as long as I have a doctor who is willing to treat me, I will get medical care. And if I should need coronary by-pass surgery, I will probably get it immediately.

But in Canada or the U.K. I may well be dead by the time my name comes up on the waiting list.

As for the physician in Great Britain with his condescending attitude, sorry, Doc. I don't need you, your healthcare system, or your attitude. I wouldn't bring my dog to be treated in the U.K.

And woe be unto the poor little thing if he were overweight.

Should dog owners in the U.K. be fearful that you may begin to systematically euthanize all overweight dogs?

The Terrorists Win Again

Washington, DC (TLS). As the world breaths a sigh of relief that the 15 British hostages are being released by the Iranian government, there is without question a much darker side to this entire scenario. The terrorists have won again. The Iranian government accomplished its purpose by utterly humiliating Great Britain by taking their soldiers hostage, parading them on TV, the female in Muslim head-gear and the men apologizing for supposedly entering Iranian waters, while singing the praises of their captors.

And then Iranian President/terrorist/madman/Holocaust Denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad comes forth to 'save the day,' claiming he has given Britain an 'Easter gift,' and coming across looking like a benevolent statesmen in the Muslim propaganda machine.

But make no mistake about it, this was a calculated scheme from the very start.

Iran is under great pressure from Europe, the United States, and the United Nations concerning its rogue status and its program of building nuclear weapons. It needed a public relations boost, and unfortunately, it got one handed to them by Great Britain.

The terrorists win by appearing benevolent and open to diplomacy and negotiation, Leftists win by being enabled to claim that talking to Iran rather than waging war against them is the thing that gets positive results, and the world is once again duped into believing that such displays by a dangerous nation that has vowed to annihilate Israel and the West is some indication that they are really not that bad after all.

Prime Minister Chamberlain of Great Britain thought the same thing when he signed a treaty with a very benevolent Adolf Hitler prior to WWII.

While Britain cheered Chamberlain as a hero for keeping them from war, a lone voice, that of Winston Churchill, warned Parliament that they had been duped, that Chamberlain had just been made the fool, and that Hitler would only continue his deadly march through Europe.

In just a few short days following the supposed triumph of Chamberlain, Hitler proceeded to break the treaty. He then invaded Poland, dragging Great Britain into the middle of war with Germany because of its treaty obligations to Poland.

While it is always good news that hostages are released unharmed, the world must not lose its focus or its bearings. Iran is still one of the most dangerous nations on earth. They are clearly not benevolent. Neither is Ahmadinejad. They are murderers. They sponsor terrorism. The fact that they allowed 15 British hostages to go free in order to play to the court of public opinion in no way minimizes or negates the fact that they wish to kill innocent people because they do not embrace Islam.

Ahmadinejad hopes that his little charade will buy him some more time as Iran continues to develop nuclear weapons and as it continues to funnel terrorists into Iraq and work for the destruction of Israel.

Informed people know that the entire display is a ruse. And it is our task to keep this fact flowing along the information highway for the less informed. Iran is still a dangerous enemy that must be stopped.

The Liberty Sphere Welcomes Melanie Phillips

Washington, DC (TLS). The Liberty Sphere welcomes Melanie Phillips to our list of preferred links. You will find the link to her articles, designated as 'Melanie Phillips in the U.K.', in the left-column of The Liberty Sphere in our 'Links' section.

Writing from London, Phillips is a powerful voice for liberty in the midst of the Jihad across the Atlantic. Her poignant, crisply-written articles have become some of our favorites here at The Liberty Sphere, and we wanted our readers to have the added option of considering the perspective of someone in Great Britain who unashamedly stands for the freedoms that traditionally Americans and the Brits have held in common.

Consistently an enlightening and delightful read, Melanie Phillips provides a needed perspective in the trans-Atlantic alliance between the U.S. and the U.K.