death panels just won't go away. and let me say this: of course the government of the united states has the power of life and death over you, as it does over every person on the planet. what do you think petraeus and his staff are? a death panel, not only for americans, but for all kinds of people. right now, obama is meeting with gates, petraeus (via video link), h clinton, jim jones, etc, deciding who in this world shall be permitted to live. indeed, we might consider euthanizing grandma with predator drones, if all else fails. dude our governments might shoot you in the back on a train platform, might convict you of murder and execute you. the government of the united states can kill anyone at any time, and often does.

keep in mind that the government is all of us, acting together collectively: our consciousness, our conscience. as hobbes or rousseau might say, the government killing you is you, killing yourself. any other conclusion is rank...individualism. so i say get over it. death panels are cool and fun and cost effective! i want you to take care of me, which is me taking care of myself, and when the whim strikes you i want you to kill me. kill me hard. kill me repeatedly. kill me with love. kill me bureaucratically, for i myself am the very bureaucracy of death. or actually, as long as the bureacracy exists, i too exist: no government can kill anyoone.