Good question.
In 1991, then-President Bush addressed school kids in a speech broadcast live to school classrooms nationwide. Among other things, he promoted his own administration’s education policies. But before he wrapped up his remarks, H.W. Bush told students something else:
“Let me know how you’re doing. Write me a letter — and I’m serious about this one — write me a letter about ways you can help us achieve our goals. I think you know the address.”
Why didn’t anyone have a full-throttle, hair-pulling, eye-bulging, spittle-flecked freakout when Bush 41 talked to schoolchildren about values like hard work and responsibility and asked them to (cue ominous music) write him a letter?
Or when Reagan spoke to students back in 1988?
Or for that matter, when Bush 43 read “The Pet Goat” to the kids at a Florida elementary school? Because who knows what vile political propaganda he’d intended to indoctrinate them with after that fateful reading, if he hadn’t been interrupted?
How often, over the years, has the scene below played out across the USA?
You got it: NEVER. Why?
Think about it, it’ll come to you.
UPDATE: Here’s the text of the speech, as released by the White House today. I don’t know about you, but it sounds pretty subversive to me. Like this:
Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today?
SHRIEEEEK! It gets worse…
And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
AIIIEEEEEEE!!!!
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/silver/tny_ag_en_usoz_2.gif)
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_usoz_2.gif)
unrepentant old hippie 
I really don’t understand it. The nation has been taken
over by a trail mix of fruits and nuts who wail and flail
about anything that’s not to their liking.
Sorta reminds me about being 7 and not liking peas.
But these are grown-ups(!) and they have these tempermental
fits that tax all reason and credibility. Surely most of
America sees through this yet they continue to comment on
them.
Why not ignore them for about a fortnight and maybe they’ll
die off? And, I mean the mass media too. No coverage of
their antics; it only encourages them.
I sincerely wonder how you and others like you– such as
Newshounds.us–can keep going on without going over the
edge like these crazies have already done.
The more coverage they get, the more they know the media
will pander and that’s what they want! Why play their game?
Why not move on to something more substantial?
Particularly before your brain cells fry out completely.
This is why the public school system is so important, so kids have a chance to see that their parents are ignorant morons and maybe they don’t have to be.
It is asked why there was no freakout when Bush 1 or Reagan apoke to kids. That is a short question with an easy answer: they weren’t Democrats. The opposition is political, not practical. I guarantee that if McCain had won the election and was such a speech there would be no such opposition.
I think us conservatives were anticipating a left-wing speech, but I read his speech and it was surprisingly pretty darn good.
I have no problem with it.
Although McCain probably wouldn’t have given a speech since he probably would’ve been too busy bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-ing Iran.
These people are treating child rearing like growing mushrooms. Keep’m in the dark and feed them lots of sh*t.
Torontonian – Part of the problem is that the crazy is all good theater, which is all the media’s really interested in. There was a huge pro-healthcare reform rally in Seattle a few days ago, and it got zero coverage because there’s nothing fascinating or exciting or outrageous about a bunch of happy, positive people.
I admit to being fascinated by it myself — I knew these people were dumb, but wow. They’ve turned into parodies of themselves.
I agree though, time to move on. Not just for me, but the media and the US government, who should concentrate on more important things like getting health care passed. Just ignore the jabbering gerbils in the corner!
Q
If only Obama had slipped that into his speech! 😆
Rob F
I think it goes deeper than that. I didn’t have time to really search, but I’m sure that Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter must have done the same thing — it seems to be something all presidents do, almost by rote. Go visit schools and address the kids about hard work, staying in school, saying no to drugs, blah blah blah. But for some reason, it’s different for Obama.
Bob
Well, you better tell your friends at Hot Air, because they’re parsing the speech to death with “word frequency counters”, trying to read some subversive message in the number of times he says “I”. Seriously, check it out. It’s ridiculous.
Seriously Bob, since you are a conservative (and a social conservative at that), I have to ask: what is it you guys hate so much about Obama? Have you seen where HE stands on the political compass? He’s a freaking moderate conservative, for gawd’s sake. He’s more right-wing than YOU are!! If Obama is a “leftist”, I guess that makes you the “Far Left”, eh? 😆
JAB – I actually don’t think McCain would have bombed Iran if he’d won — he’d have too much else on his mind. I’d be surprised if he didn’t do exactly what Obama has done, with the bailouts and stimulus packages etc. Righties conveniently forget that it was Georgie who engineered the first bailout.
sassy – That’s why I’m in complete agreement with them keeping their kids home from school — anyone who’s stupid enough to think a speech by the president is some kind of danger to their kids should just go right ahead and keep them home forever. God forbid they should encounter something that challenges them to think for themselves.
Head. Desk. Frickin’ unbelievable.
Well, no, not entirely unbelievable. Sadly, Mr. Greer you ratfucker, you’ve already done the damage. Bit too late now.
Mudflats to the rescue!
Too angry to scrapbook. Heh.
FF – Unbelievable, but not really. What else were they going to do? Oh yeah — run the speech through a word frequency counter or some such bullshit, and pick out how many times he says “I” — AIIIIEEEEEE!!!!
God, these people are cretins 😆
That speech is wayyyyyy too far right for me. I’m keeping my kids home!
Oh. Wait.
I don’t have kids, and I’m in Canada.
Yay!
brebis – That’s awesome, just blogged it. Thanks!
Bina –
W00T! I think I’ll celebrate by having a taxpayer-funded abortion.
“Seriously Bob, since you are a conservative (and a social conservative at that), I have to ask: what is it you guys hate so much about Obama?”
I don’t hate Obama, but what bothers us the most is his support for legalized abortion. It’s a deal breaker.
Bob – Thanks for responding.
Okay, so because Obama is pro-choice, that’s reason to oppose everything he’s trying to do, like universal healthcare? I follow some anti-choice organizations on Twitter, and they’re rabidly opposed to health care reform and lying their asses off all day long on Twitter about it. I had to keep correcting them when they’d lie about Canada 8) and finally they stopped — now they’re lying about the UK instead 👿
Assuming there’s no abortion coverage in the healthcare bill (and I haven’t seen anything to indicate otherwise) I don’t understand how anyone can oppose universal healthcare. It’s not very Christian to let 46 million people languish without healthcare, and the rest be at the whim of greedy insurance companies (aka “money changers”, to put it in biblical terms — that’s right, the insurance companies are the people Jesus would have put the boots to). Yet all across the web there are people who claim to be “good Christians” telling the most outrageous lies about universal healthcare and opposing it at every turn. Including Nurse Stanek.
This is going against your own self-interest, and that of your family. Just because the president is pro-choice? I sincerely don’t get it.
“It’s not very Christian to let 46 million people languish without healthcare”
JJ, you do understand that your statement is not true, don’t you? People without insurance in the US do get health care, they are treated at Emergency rooms and cannot be rejected.
Obama’s bill most certainly will pay for abortions. http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/53695
Conservatives do agree that everybody should have access to affordable insurance, we just don’t want the government to run it (as in medicare, where billions of dollars are lost).
And you do end with death panels, i.e which allowed this premature baby to die without care: http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2009/09/the_nationalize.html
Bob – Oh please. Going to the emerg isn’t health care! That’s where you go when you break your arm or something. You can’t go there for routine checkups and mammograms and pap tests and prostate exams. Geez, ya think??
For your second point, please find an unbiased source that makes the same claim, then we’ll talk. Lifenews and CNS are bullshit propaganda sites.
As for Nurse Stanek 😆 she lies like a rug constantly and you should take anything she writes with a huge grain of salt. Geez, she lied on her site that Jesus’ General threatened her, and Jesus’ General is a satire site, for crying out loud. After that whopper, her readers should have looked askance at everything she wrote.
I read her for the entertainment value! 😆
When confronted with simple facts they disagree with, immature people will resort to ad hominem attacks.
When my friend Canada had to wait a year to get Brain surgery for Epilepsy, he came to the Mayo clinic in the US
Your friend Canada???? You have a friend named Canada? Or thirty-three million Canadians have to get Brain surgery for Epilepsy? (Wingnut CaPitaliZATOn.)
JJ, you are way toooooooooo tolerant of ijits.
Hey Fern,
Thats right, you go ahead and dwell on a missed word (like a typical obnoxious jerk would do), and will discuss health care.
snob.
No, Bob, not ‘snob’. I am ‘elite’, as in can spell, can punctuate, can think. You know, ‘elite’.
You want to talk health care? Obama knocked one out of the park tonight. The letter from Teddy, to be read after his death — genius.
Yea, the murderer Ted Kennedy was always for spending middle class tax money so he could feel better.
Rose Kennedy filed her will in Florida even though her primary residence and where she lived 90% of the time was in Massachusetts. Why? to avoid paying high taxes, Kennedy’s are always generous with other peoples money. A family of criminals.
other grandiose speech by President Abortion, what a liar he is.
JJ, you had enough? I have.
Fuck off, Bob. Seriously. You’re a sucker and your corporate and church masters are playing you for a fool. I hope you enjoy paying $14,000 per year to your insurance company so the CEO can laugh in your face while he snorts coke off a hooker’s ass in the Dominican Republic. Or whatever those obscenely wealthy crooks do for fun these days. You want to pay for that? Fine. Nobody’s going to stop you, not even “President Abortion”, you asshole.
Try getting a hip or knee replacement in the ER. Try getting radiation or chemotherapy there. Let us know how that works out for you.
How exactly did your “Canadian friend” pay for their brain surgery, anyway? Mortgage their home?
I didn’t say emergency room care was perfect. I wasn’t the one who said the uninsured get no health care when they indeed do.
Of course it is from your side of the aisle that is against medical liability reform, my wife’s OB Gyn got out of the business because of the enormous malpractice insurance. You know who side the filthy trial laywers are on (i.e. John Edwards).
Bob
Like “libtard”? Or “baby-killer”?
So what? That just means it’s an unnecessary procedure, a fact I can certainly attest to since I have epilepsy, controlled by meds. I could get brain surgery for it, but why should I be able to get surgery for a non-threatening condition like epilepsy before someone gets it for brain cancer?
In Canada, life-threatening conditions are attended to first. When I had cancer I had surgery within days of my diagnosis.
You’re missing my point, Bob. Emerg isn’t health care, it’s emergency care. It’s inhumane and disgusting to demand that poor people wait until they cough a lung out or their dick falls off before getting any healthcare. NOT what Jesus would do.
Bob again – Also, just curious: how much did this treatment at the Mayo cost your friend? Did he have to mortgage his house? Was his epilepsy so bad that he couldn’t wait a year, or did he just decide he didn’t *want* to wait a year?
Since I have this condition, I know a little something about the treatment options open to people here in Canada, and I know that when it’s really bad (ie. having seizures every hour on the hour and uncontrollable by meds) it would be considered serious enough to be fast tracked.
Bob yet again – You’re loquacious tonight. President’s speech get you all fired up? 8)
You should really refrain from pissing on a dead man who’s barely in his grave, it’s not a very class act. Certainly not what Jesus would do.
If you think “President Abortion” is a liar, then what are his lies? Itemize, please. Because given the amount of proveable bullshit that’s been coming from the right the last few months (which as a whole has utterly beclowned itself), glass houses come to mind.
The truth is, there’s nothing that Obama could do that wouldn’t be shat upon by right wingers. Which is why I sincerely hope he drops all this ‘common ground’ and ‘bipartisan’ BS and commences completely ignoring you all. Until you bring something rational and reasonable to the discussion, instead of “Death Panels” and “Where’s the birth certificate” and “President Abortion”, that is exactly what you deserve.
Remember, Obama was democratically elected by a majority to deliver things like health care reform. You are part of a mouthy minority, but a minority nonetheless. It’s time you people realized you’re not coming from a position of power, and started playing nice.
Tort reform is total bullshit. What’s needed is insurance company reform. You do know that in most cases, even in the most blatantly frivolous lawsuits, they settle, often for million$, rather than go to trial and risk a jury awarding the plaintiff something astronomical. That’s why malpractice insurance costs so much – because for any little thing, they just write a big fat cheque to make it go away. Making it so you can’t sue for having the wrong foot amputated or for the surgeon leaving a sponge inside you which causes sepsis is NOT going to help anyone – except the insurance companies. Face it, Bob, everything Fox Entertainment and Rush the drug addicted sex tourist and Michael Savage told you is pure, unadulterated BULLSHIT and you’ve swallowed it hook, line and sinker.
As I said, if you enjoy giving those criminals upwards of $14,000 per year to “insure” your family, and take the risk that if you need health care that it will actually be covered, you go right ahead. Sucker. You can thank the rest of us when your premiums go down because the public option finally provides some much needed competition in the market. And when you don’t get booted off your policy for using it, or have a preexisting condition suddenly covered, you can get on your knees and thank President Barack Obama and the Democratic congress for reforming the murder-by-spreadsheet industry.
Dr.Prole – $14,000 a year!!???? for freaking health insurance??? That’s NUTS!!! How in the hell do people afford it?
I knew it was high, but I didn’t realize it was that high 😯
They pay lower taxes than us, but not that much lower. Not even half that much lower. (And then, to think those insurance companies might decide to turn around and DENY you coverage for a pre-existing condition or whatever they can get away with screwing you over for.)
OMFG, I’m glad I live in Canada.
Yep, and that’s not including the deductible, the co-pays, and the 80/20 split between insurance co. and insured chump. Members of my family who were self-employed (farmers) were paying $1200 per month and that was years ago. It’s fucked down there. One of the insurance co.’s in California denied almost 40% of claims! These assholes are eating caviar and living so large most of us can’t even imagine, and they get money by bleeding the rest of us dry for their junk insurance and denying payment for our care. They get bonuses for that shit! Save the company millions by either killing people or driving them to bankruptcy, get a fat bonus. It’s fucking sickening. I’ve had it. I am so fucking happy that Obama wants a public option. I was really scared in the beginning of the speech when he was talking about mandates and co-ops…without a public option, all that stuff just exacerbates the problems by requiring people to purchase their crap coverage, basically giving the private insurance vultures an instant 40 million new customers. There is no way the government could mandate that without a public option.
I love how he compared the public option to the public universities. Ivy League is still in business, but public universities provide quality education as well and provide some competition in the higher education market. It helps the middle class to get an education they may not otherwise be able to afford so they can compete in the job market.
I could go on all night.
I should definitely add, I am also glad – grateful, in fact, to live in Canada. I feel a little guilty actually, like what did I do to deserve this when so many people down there are suffering. I am trying hard as I can to keep myself well so as to not be a burden on the system. I keep working and paying my taxes and my BC Health bill every month. I eat right, exercise, and take my pills. Thank you, Canada.
I keep hearing this word “co-pay”. WTF? is that?
“So what? That just means it’s an unnecessary procedure, a fact I can certainly attest to since I have epilepsy, controlled by meds.”
Well JJ, thats great that your seizures are controlled by meds, his were not, it was not an unnecessary procedure.
“I know that when it’s really bad (ie. having seizures every hour on the hour and uncontrollable by meds) it would be considered serious enough to be fast tracked.”
It was not fastracked in his case. I’m not sure how much he paid to have the surgery at Mayo, but he paid in cash.
btw: how many illegal immigrants do you cover each year in Canada?
we have 20 million illegals, over half the POP. of C.
President Abortion voted to leave babies who survived abortion to die without treatment, this sociopath was the main opponent of the Born Alive infant protections act.
######## Obama lies ##################
Lie #1: ‘You Keep Your Doctor, You Keep Your Insurer’
This is a complete fabrication.
Under plans Obama has backed in the House and the Senate, almost any business can opt their employees into the “public option” — the government health plan.
That means you could lose your insurer. And if your doctor is worth his salt, you’ll lose him or her as well.
Why? Because great doctors probably will not want to get the very low rates the government will pay private doctors who are part of the new government system.
So, without your consent, you very easily could lose your insurer and your doctor.
Lie #2: The Elderly Will Not Face Rationing or Medicare Cuts
More baloney.
In fact, just last week, The New York Times, a very liberal and very pro-Obama newspaper, admitted that fears of rationing for elderly patients are “not irrational.”
The truth is that Obamacare would almost 50 million new patients to government care.
Who would pay for it. You would!
Seniors on Medicare will be the first hit.
Here’s what the Times reported: “Bills now in Congress would squeeze savings out of Medicare, a lifeline for the elderly, on the assumption that doctors and hospitals can be more efficient.”
This means that faceless bureaucrats will decide the type and quality of your care.
It is a very dangerous thing to give your life and well-being over to government bureaucrats!
Imagine if you or a loved one is older than 80 years and critically needs heart surgery.
Instead of getting the heart procedure, you or that loved one could be informed that you are simply too old.
Lie #3: There Will Be No “Death Panels.”
More lies.
Sure, they don’t call them “death panels” in the legislation, but that’s what their job will be.
These committee members will set guidelines with which faceless bureaucrats will make decisions about you and your healthcare.
They will decide who lives and who dies. They decide who gets critical procedures and expensive medicines.
Again, according to the New York Times, the Democratic plans call for saving money by creating new oversight committees.
The Times says that Medicare and insurers would be expected to follow “advice from a new federal panel of medical experts on ‘what treatments work best.’”
Again, this very liberal paper concluded: “The zeal for cutting health costs, combined with proposals to compare the effectiveness of various treatments and to counsel seniors on end-of-life care, may explain why some people think the legislation is about rationing, which could affect access to the most expensive services in the final months of life.”
Lie
#4: The Obama Plan Contains Costs
Absolute nonsense.
The Obama plan will cost more than $1 trillion in new federal outlays, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
This past weekend, Sen. Joe Lieberman claimed that most of this cost comes from adding 50 million people, currently uninsured, to the government health system.
But as Lieberman pointed out, we just don’t have the money to do this right now.
You can add only so many people to the government system by cutting medical care to seniors on Medicare and raising taxes.
Democrats clearly plan to do both.
Lie #5: Illegals Are Not Covered by Obamacare
President Obama has stated time and again that illegal aliens are not covered under his new plan.
Still, Democrats say they want to add almost 50 million uninsured. Yet almost one-quarter of these uninsured are illegal aliens.
None of the Democratic plans excludes illegal aliens.
In fact, when Republicans proposed an amendment to the House plan to block illegals from getting free government healthcare, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her minions soundly defeated the motion.
we don’t want your system, your socialism, your liberalism.
Proel,
I looked at your satanic website, I’m glad you like it in Canada, please stay there.
Dr. Prole: yeah, that analogy to public/private universities was great.
bob – Nice Liberty Counsel talking point cut and paste. Coming from people who think Jesus rode dinosaurs, why wouldn’t anyone believe it? 🙄
WRT to your epileptic friend, I’m sorry but I just flat-out don’t believe that story. Epilepsy so bad that it’s uncontrollable by meds would be considered life-threatening (and quality-of-life threatening, which is almost as bad in our system’s view) and would not have to wait that long for surgery, it’s that simple. I know someone who has up to 10 seizures a day, and the doctors have begged her to have surgery but she won’t do it because its risky). Pick another disease, something I haven’t had and don’t know anything about, and try again.
Look Bob, this is really sad, but I have to tell you because you really need to open your eyes. Charles Boustany (R-Moran),the guy who delivered the GOP “response” to the speech last night? Who was so vehemently against the public option?
He was one of the sponsors of the dreaded DEATH PANEL section of the bill. But don’t believe me… see for yourself.
This should tell you all you need to know. You’re being played.
Hate to tell you this Bob, but about 53% of you do. Barack Obama was democratically-elected by a majority to deliver health care reform (among other things). Funny: when Geoge W Bush got 51% of the vote in 2004, you guys considered it a HUGE mandate. What kind of math do you use, where 53 is less than 51?
Listen Bob, you guys are getting health insurance reform, but not the Canadian system, unfortunately for you. The system Obama is bringing in isn’t enough like the Canadian system, it’s more of a hybrid. IMO it doesn’t go far enough to bring your greedy insurance companies to heel, but it’s an improvement. If you want to continue to pay exorbitant sums of money to private insurers (who still might refuse to cover you when the shit hits the fan) then you can (sucker). If your place of employment opts to go with the public plan and that freaks you out so much, then you can just change jobs 😆 That’s pretty much what you guys are doing NOW to keep your health insurance.
Gee Bob, it’s like Sean Hannity says: if your job doesn’t offer you good insurance, find another job that does. Is Hannity wrong? 😯
Oh and Bob, one more thing: almost all private insurers cover abortion. They are not bound by the Hyde Amendment. Since all policyholders’ premiums are pooled (eeek, socialist!), that means when you pay for private insurance you’re paying for abortions.
YESSSSS! My website is officially Satanic, straight from the keyboard of one of Jesus’ own. Is there some kind of badge for that? We already have one that certifies us as 100% evil. I’d like one that says “Bob sez we is Satanic”.
Bob, you’re a chump who will believe anything you’re told by your corporate masters. Not only did 53% of us vote for Obama, but 74%+ want health care reform including a public option. You are clearly in the minority. Enjoy being a corporate whore while you pay Mr. Moneybags 40% of your income for junk insurance. I’m sure your premiums will go to something nice, like an ivory commode in the guest bathroom.
JJ, a co-pay is exactly what it sounds like, a co-payment. When you go to the doc, you pay a portion of the visit. Mine used to be $25, but I’m sure it’s gone up since then. I mean, premiums have almost doubled, they’re sure to up the co-pays too. It also applies to prescriptions, so I would pay anywhere from $20 – 40 per refill, depending on the drug.
Oh, and one more thing Bob – that’s DOCTER Prole to you, bub. I’m a DOCTER like your pal Chuck McVety, and will be addressed as such by the likes of you.
LOL JJ great point on the abortions being covered by private insurers. Bob actually has a much better chance of not paying for any abortions by opting for the private plan. SUCKAH!
Poor, poor Bob. He is just like a parrot repeating things without really understanding them. Oh, Bob, here is the real story about that link to Crazy Jill you put up.
http://lefarkins.blogspot.com/2009/09/baby-killing-socialists.html
Oh, OB/GYN is a profession…not a business.
hemmingforddogblog,
That article in no way way refutes what Jill Stanek wrote about.
The baby was 21 weeks and 5 days, and he was breathing for 2 hrs before he died. The ‘doctors’ refused to even see him.
You’re heartless.
‘Dr. Prole’,
Any ‘doctor’ who would perform an abortion should not be called a doctor, they are murderers.
Bob: The doctors were letting nature take its course. There was nothing they could do! He was 4 months premature!!!
Bob has just proven that for fetus fetishists like him, absolutely everything boils down to abortion. You could be talking about where to go for lunch and he’d say “Well don’t go there because I bet the owner had an abortion blah blah blah…”. It’s an obsession.
And yeah, that baby was 4 freakin’ months premature! More like a late miscarriage! A tragedy, no doubt, but sometimes you just have to let nature take its course. Really, if God wanted that baby to survive it wouldn’t have been born that early. Who’s playing God now, zygote zealots???
Oh, and what does me and Chuck McVety being fake doctors have to do with abortion? Bob certainly has a fixation on other people’s pregnancies. You might want to seek treatment for that, Bob. If your insurance covers it, that is.
“Bob has just proven that for fetus fetishists like him”
Dr. Prole, when a baby is born it is no longer called a fetus, it is a born human being, a baby. Intro to Medicine 101.
Any baby who comes out breathing should get treatment.
hemmingforddogblog: “The doctors were letting nature take its course. There was nothing they could do!”
Dr. Prole: “And yeah, that baby was 4 freakin’ months premature! More like a late miscarriage! A tragedy, no doubt, but sometimes you just have to let nature take its course.”
if one of you two had a massive heart attack (God forbid), should we just say nature is taking it’s course?
So, does that mean you think OB/GYNs who provide abortion should be killed ala George Tiller?
Bob, Bob, Bob. A 4 month premature baby is not feasible. Nothing, repeat nothing, can be done to save it. A heart attack is treatable.
If you want to compare, think of someone who has a terminal disease that is running its course. Nothing left to do. The doctors do nothing, nada, rien. Because.there.is.nothing.to.do.period.
“Bob, Bob, Bob. A 4 month premature baby is not feasible. Nothing, repeat nothing, can be done to save it.”
If he’s breathing, steps should taken to save his life. He should not be left for dead.
“So, does that mean you think OB/GYNs who provide abortion should be killed ala George Tiller?”
I would discourage any person who was thinking about killing an abortionist. Vigilantism is against the law.
Bob: Nothing can save a 4 month premature baby. Nothing. The only thing that can be done is to make it comfortable. None of it’s organs are fully functional. A sad but unfortunate fact.
Bob, you’re an idiot. Treatment or resuscitation of a premature baby born four months before term is a cruelty you inflict on the body of an organism whose cells and organs are not ready to function outside the womb. It’s also a cruelty you inflict on the mother and her other children if she has any, because if by some unusually heroic effort the fetus does survive, it will be catastrophically handicapped all of its life.
If you had any spirituality in your extremely materialistic and death-fearing mind, you’d accept that it’s better for that premature soul to return in a different body, in different circumstances.
On the other hand, if you are so concerned about the tragically handicapped and disease-compromised people of the Earth, you would agree that health care to the nth degree should be available to all, free of charge, no matter who or where they are from. I’d be willing to go with that option, but somehow I’m not convinced you are.
Bob, who exactly was supposed to pay for millions of dollars of neonatal intensive care for at least 4 months, probably more, and then the lifelong care that poor little preemie would need after mom and dad’s insurance maxed out (if they had any in the first place)?
Btw. Mayo Clinic has come out in support of President Obama’s health care plan.
many, many premies have survived and done well being born at 22 weeks, a relative of mine being one. She is not handicapped.
This hospital in the UK did absolutely nothing for this baby. Thats not the type of society I want to live in.
Thats not the type of society I want to live in.
Here, have a cookie.
Except for the inconvenient little fact that you actually already do live in a ‘pay up (in advance) or die’ society.
Not that you would let facts bother you in the first place.
A few preemies, maybe. The rate is anywhere between 10 and 50%, but that does not include the rate or degree of disability.
Nurses who work in NICUs are the ones who see all cases, not just the “miracle” exceptions, and they say that extreme preemies suffer terribly and die horribly in those majority of cases when they don’t make it.
I wouldn’t want to live in a society where those limits are continually pushed back, and where mothers and families are expected to assume the burden for lives that require daily, heroic amounts of care.
WTF Bob? Never mind all the unborn fetuses, what about those little post-born kids running around that have no health insurance? *Just a little* 🙄 hypocritical to claim you’re all about lovin’ the beebes when you’d prevent the real beebes from getting any healthcare.
So, getting back to some unaddressed points of interest, what did you think about Jill Stanek lying to you guys about Jesus’ General? I know you post at Jill’s Sweet&Sour Fetus Grill all the time, but just in case you missed that dramatic episode, here’s the whole sordid, seamy story.
She even deleted the General’s comment at her place so that her credulous readers (you) wouldn’t know she told them a filthy disgusting lie 😯 She tried to bamboozle you, Bob, but I’m here to show you the truth and the light 8)
Stanek’s pants, a 3-alarm inferno.
JJ
I am for covering all US citizens, I just don’t want the government running it.
..this Jesus General creep is a strange character, I don’t get his humor, joking about killing someone is not funny to me.
Huh, so you do admit that every sperm that does not impregnate someone’s lady parts and instead ends up encrusted in a tube sock or stuck to the sheets is a taken life. Ooooookay.
So, yeah, that private market is doing a bang-up job of covering everyone right now, aren’t they?
Earth to Bob – the “market” has failed in health care. It does not adhere to supply and demand principles. SOMEONE has to cover people. NOBODY else is doing it. The government does Medicare, do you want that abolished? How about the VA? You do know that all the waste in those programs is due to term after congressional term of Republican mismanagement, right? Why do you want my Grandpa to die without Medicaid, Bob? I mean, I know he’s not a fetus but he means a lot to me.
You mean like when Glenn Beck “joked” about poisoning Nancy Pelosi’s wine? Or is that different, somehow?
Bob –
The government wouldn’t “run” it — all they do is direct payment to the doctors from a pool of money, the same as the private insurers do. The difference is, without the profit motive they have no reason to cut corners or refuse to pay out claims.
He’s not a creep, he’s a very funny satirist. You don’t get the satire? (Why am I not surprised?) He wasn’t joking about killing anyone, he was joking about the church having a rifle blessing service in Stanek’s honour, because she was so supportive of the people who eventually shot Dr. Tiller. Get it? Rifle blessing?
I guess it’s over your head. Take my word for it, it’s pretty awesome satire.
And I’m pretty sure Stanek knew that, or she wouldn’t have deleted comments that pointed out that it was just satire. What a bullshitter she is 🙄 if her commenters had any cojones they’d take her to task for it. But then she’d just delete those comments too.
Free speechitude! 😆
JAB – Of course it’s different. Nancy Pelosi is an Evil Liberal.
JJ, I think it’s more a case of “There are none so blind as those who will not see.”
Yea, it’s over my head JJ, I still don’t get it. Stanek never supported what Roeder did.
Dr. Prole,
I don’t want your granpa to die or lose his medicare.
You know, once the public option becomes available, many employers are going to drop their heath-care coverage.
*Health-care benefits*
Bob! Question for ya!
Were you hanging around Stanek’s Laminaria Lounge a couple of years ago, when they launched a full-scale 30-day “Prayer Assault” on me? Yes 😯 It was terrifying
Sure, Bob-o-link 😉 I bet.
I think so JJ, but we were praying for you. It was nothing bad, we were praying that you would accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Bob, many employers have already dropped health coverage! And the ones that still offer continue to see their premiums skyrocket. At least this way people will have some kind of feasible option for when they do get their coverage dropped by their work, or if the lose their job, or if they HATE their job because they’re being treated abusively, or if they can no longer afford their share of the premium, or as happens in many cases, they get so sick they can’t work anymore, and thus lose their employer provided plan. Plus, why should it be the responsibility of an employer to provide coverage anyway? Wouldn’t it stimulate more job creation if small business didn’t have to pay so much out for that?
If you don’t want my grandpa to lose his Medicare, then you don’t have much of a problem with government run health care. You can’t have this both ways.
Bob
The truth is, you guys just do this “prayer assault” routine because it makes you feel self-righteous and smug, and reassures you that when the Roll is Called Up Yonder, you’ll be at the right hand of the LORD. It’s all about you, not me. The last thing you want is for someone like me to join your club. You all made that clear by how you defamed me, called me an “ill-mannered piggy” and worse 👿
But that’s okay — if I offend people like Nurse Stanek and her little army of deranged twatwaffles, then I’m doing something right 😉
In other words, what Roger Ebert called “horizontal prayer.”
Figures.
JAB – Interesting piece! I love Ebert.
And yes, I feel very excluded from Nurse Stanek’s Special Prayer Group. Thank Cthulhu.
JJ, if you haven’t yet, you should read his thorough spanking of Ben Stein’s
monkeyIDiot propaganda piece. Highly entertaining.but we were praying for you. It was nothing bad, we were praying that you would accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Yes, JJ. Resistance is futile. Accept. 😉
“The truth is, you guys just do this “prayer assault” routine because it makes you feel self-righteous and smug, and reassures you that when the Roll is Called Up Yonder, you’ll be at the right hand of the LORD. It’s all about you, not me.”
Thats not true at all JJ. Not true.
Dr Prole,
If government run health care does not cover abortions, I will support it.
Hello? The Hyde Amendment expressly prohibits federal funding of abortion, no matter what new laws get passed! Think, McFly! THINK!
Bob
Lard tunderin’ jaysus, Bob, OOOOOKAY! JC is my lord and saver, (hat tip: BOB). Happy now?
Now please tell me what your REAL reaction is to being LIED to (9th commandment, Bob) by Nurse Stanek about the supposed “death threat” aka satire by Jesus’ General.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t get his humour. That’s beside the point. The point is, Stanek deliberately tried to scam her trusting readers. Surely you must have some feelings about her treating you guys like Big Dummies?
JAB – Yeah, that Ebert piece on Stein was awesome. I blogged about it here.
FF
Nah, not today 😉 Maybe after extended monitoring of wingnut blogs has caused teh stupid to seep into my brain by osmosis, leaving it irreparably corroded.
As you can see by my latest political compass score, it’s already happening 😯 😉
D’oh! That’s what I get for not using T3h Google! 😆
JAB – My blog also has a search function, at the bottom of the sidebar.
Bob
I missed that.
You know about the Hyde Amendment, right? Why do you think that after all these years, the Hyde Amendment would suddenly be Null & Void? I’ve never understood where people get the idea that the health care reform bill includes government subsidized abortion — although I think it should, it doesn’t. (As I’ve said before, IMO Obama’s bill doesn’t go far enough, but it’s an improvement over what you’ve got.)
Trust me, health care reform is an incendiary enough issue without adding abortion into the mix.
I get the feeling that fetus humpers are just *assuming* the health care bill includes abortion coverage because people like Planned Parenthood support it. PP is about a lot more than just abortion.
If PP was the evil money grubbing abortion-monger you guys make it out to be, it would stand to gain a lot more if health insurance was kept private. Think about it.