-t,

okay. that makes me feel better. I saw it reported in my rss feeds and I just couldn't believe it.

We are in a recession, Congress has a 10% approval rating, most people when asked think that a random person chosen from the phone book would do better than Congress and THIS is what you fucking propose?

No shit. If we're going to rename the Gulf, at least make some money by selling the naming rights. "Gulf of BP" has a nice ring or maybe "Gulf of Shell" which is very nautical. Maybe "iGulf" or "Old Navy Gulf".

Some asshole in Louisiana wants to rename "Gulf of Mexico", "Gulf of America."

I would support this if it were to be renamed "Bottomless Gulf of America". I think you should have a bottomless gulf somewhere nearby. It would bring America one step closer to replicating the Death Star.

I mean, it wouldn't actually be a bottomless gulf, but I'd be happy just getting the Tea Party to believe it.

Mississippi, and he says it's satirical

It can be hard to spot satire these days.

Did he post it on the Onion? That's how you know.

Ugh, Dana. I'm so sorry you're sick. That kind of virus is hugely no fun.

It can be hard to spot satire these days

Poe's law, right? It doesn't work as satire if you can't tell the difference between it and something someone might actually do. [link]

Oooh, I like that phrasing: any sufficiently advanced parody is indistinguishable from a genuine kook.

Mississippi, and he says it's satirical

So still political theater, just branching out into new genres?

Have folks seen this?

The New Panic Over Prescription Painkillers

The article starts off listing reports of rising pain killer overdoses, then:

But at the same time, studies also consistently show that chronic pain is tragically undertreated in the U.S. (and around the world). Last June, an Institute of Medicine report called undertreated pain a "public health crisis" that affects 116 million Americans, and costs the economy around a half-trillion dollars per year in medical bills and lost productivity. The same month, three pain-related articles in the Lancet focusing on post-operative, cancer related, and non-cancer related pain, respectively, found mass undertreatment in all three areas. The journal ran an an accompanying editorial pointing to another study from Human Rights Watch showing that the problem is global, and more because of bad policy than because of a supply. In one recent study of 40 countries, 27 didn't consume enough opioid drugs to treat even 1 percent of patients with terminal cancer or HIV/AIDS. " Furthermore," the editorial added, "in 33 of 40 countries, governments had imposed strict restrictions on prescribing morphine, beyond the requirements of UN drug conventions to prevent misuse."

...

But the reason so few painkillers are prescribed by pain specialists is likely that after a decade of policies targeting doctors with costly investigations and criminal charges, there simply aren't many conscientious pain specialists left. In his paper for Cato, Ron Libby includes multiple warnings from palliative care specialists that this was exactly what was happening. In 2003, for example, David Brushwood, who is both an attorney and a professor at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, told the Decatur News that physicians once had a cordial relationship with drug cops--that if a doctor suspected a patient was diverting, he would cooperate with the police to turn in the patient. But for the DEA, doctors became high-profile targets, and thanks to asset forfeiture, lucrative targets as well. Since the DEA campaign, Brushwood said, the cops "watch as a small problem becomes a much larger problem . . . [then] they bring the SWAT team in with bulletproof vests and M16s . . . with charges [of] murder and manslaughter."

After a series of high-profile prosecutions of doctors, one pain specialist told the Wall Street Journal in 2004, "I will never treat pain patients again." Another told Time, "I tend to underprescribe instead of using stronger drugs that could really help my patients. I can't afford to lose my ability to support my family. The Village Voice reported in 2003 that medical schools had begun advising students, "not to choose pain management as a career because the field is too fraught with legal dangers."

Article is longish and I haven't read the whole thing.