I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
You know, they're like car thieves; always testing, testing, testing for an open door or a weakness, to see what they can get away with.
She isn't a fetus.....or a stem cell
You can fight this. I was involved in a fight to against NC Medicaid which was denying a 2 year old a bone marrow transplant. It can be done.
You cannot deny medically necessary treatment/care to a child under Medicaid regulations. She can sue.
But it is far more effective to find the political leader who controls the Medicaid purse strings. Hit that person hard, and see how fast the doctor changes her mind. Give her an out, and she'll take it.
Makes perfect sense. Those people who are willing to bomb a clinic that allows abortions aren't interested in the non-fetus life and death issues.
No, if she were a stem cell, Mel Gibson would be flying in on a private jet to make sure that her brief existence benefited no one.
You know, some trial lawyer is just going to come and attack the federal government over this, making it impossible for us to keep sending 19-year-olds to Iraq to keep Americans like Laruen safe from Al Qaeda.
Oh, wait, I'm sorry; is the campaign over?
<Republican>
Is she still in somebody's uterus? Is she white?
No?
Then fuck her.
</Republican>
Seraphiel-Republican uterus? I thought they spawned.
This is a South Park storyline, right? Make the sick children die while fighting to preserve fetuses? God, Republicans are cold, heartless, inhuman trolls. Christian values my ass.
I might go weep for awhile now.
I'm confused.
I thought all fetii (or zygotes, as one prefers,) were "sacred". Aren't the unborn "sacred"? What happens once they exit the womb? I suppose Lauren is now deemed "expendable" by the Republican party. After all, she is no longer unborn, which makes her life unimportant to the right-to-lifers, correct?
The type of cognitive dissonance (or cranial-rectal inversion,) necessary to fetishize the unborn, then completely ignore the needs of those in our society who aren't rich, white, Republican (and don't have the surname of "Bush,") is mystifying to me.
-S
Gosh, did the little whippersnapper's mom vote Republican? No? Well, boo-fucking-hoo. Tell those librul elites to go back to New York City.
All kidding aside, you do realize that this is state-sanctioned murder, right?
Time for Lauren and her family to move to Massachusetts. You know, that elitist, liberal state that takes care of its poor.
Thank you Atrios.
Look, if you want socialkism, move to Europe.
Let her die. What's the big deal. Why the hell should I pay for her fucking nurse.
Quit trying to make government into a loving mommy. Govt. is supposed to be like a strict, mean, disciplinarian alcoholic father.
This is a sad day indeed.What's worse is that who knows how many people are in the same situation. What I want to aks is
You stopped medicaid for this person I assume because you thought that they had improved. What will happen when that nurse is gone? Will they get better or worse?
You keep this in mind for the rest of your life if you should ever wonder, Is it worth fighting for? Why not give up?
Never give up. Never.
This reeks of concentration camp mentality without the bother of the necessary real estate.
"This is a South Park storyline, right? Make the sick children die while fighting to preserve fetuses? God, Republicans are cold, heartless, inhuman trolls. Christian values my ass.
puppethead"
This is the kind of distinctions our candidates need to draw. Maybe not in a South Park context. But every time a Rethug talks about the value of "life" or the horrors of "trial lawyers" they need to have this shit crammed down their throats so hard and so fast that they choke.
This is outrageous.
Simon Rosenberg and the new DNC should be the public face of this battle.
Goddamned right we'll raise a stink and she will win, too.
I'm so glad you posted this.
Fucking culture of life, my ass.
I hate these people they are monsters.
The only children they care about are ones that haven't been born yet.
These cases are like something out of Dickens.
sick, sick, truly sick.
we have a duty to win in '06. an obligation.
for some new ideas, i recommend this site:
http://amendmentnine.blogspot.com
Ah, another red state showing its "christian values."
Where are the pro-lifers? And the churches?
Oops - silly me.
With them, "life begins at conception"....once you're born, you're on your own!
dogbreath,
You are lucky I have my sarcasm detector on, cause I'm spittin mad, and looking for som sanctimonious fucking blood.
Indeed like Dickens. I expect more of this. Yesterday we saw a homeless person with a big sign standing in the middle of an intersection at 9PM.
Jesus would bitch slap the folks now in charge.
I HOPE you're kidding.
Because if you're not, I hope you get cancer and die a horrible, lingering death.
You AND Bush!
------------------------------------------
Look, if you want socialkism, move to Europe.
Let her die. What's the big deal. Why the hell should I pay for her fucking nurse.
Quit trying to make government into a loving mommy. Govt. is supposed to be like a strict, mean, disciplinarian alcoholic father.
dogbreath
Christian values - Protect the unborn!
Once they're born, fuck 'em!
Not to make hay from a tragedy, but once we do get Lauren what she is entitled to, I'd sure as hell like it to be known widely that it was REpugs who wanted to take her care away and let her die.
THIS is the right wing's method of abortion.
The people THEY deem useless, they do this kind of shit to!
And they get pissed off when you call them Nazis.
Hitler would be proud of these bastards! They're HIS kind of scumbags.
Now if Strom Thurmond were still around, we'd have taken care of this girl. Yup. We'da taken care of her for sure.
"God created man, and then man returned the compliment." Voltaire
These people have created a God for themselves who is vitally concerned about who people sleep with but not at all concerned about children like these in this story.
Absolutely. Fucking Goddamned right. Shove this down their stupid, pro-life throats until the cows come home. Until the very thought of voting for a Republican would be compared to voting for a NAMBLA candidate.
MFs- and in Alabama too... go figure,
well I know something about public benefit law myowndamnself- I will inquire accordingly- f_**&^g stonehearts
Red State Morals?
Our girl Dr. Mary McIntyre has been busy. Look what she did in 2002. Limited drug dosages for Medicare recipients in Alabama. I'm not familiar with most of the items on the list, but you can have up to 2 aspirin a day!
I hate wishing a disease on anyone . . . maybe just a really godawful migraine.
Kevin Drum proves that massive voter fraud occured and that it's time for torch and pitchfork.
Eligere, I'll save you the trouble. I hereby wish cancer upon every one of these mother-fucking satan-worshipping nutcase whacko conserva-fundies that have destroyed America.
Kevin Drum proves that massive voter fraud occured and that it's time for torch and pitchfork.
Um, no. Not at all.
Stop spamming.
THIS is the right wing's method of abortion.
The people THEY deem useless, they do this kind of shit to!
bears repeating...
Sorry, not sure why those links didn't work. Try this:
Notice to Physicians and Pharmacy Providers: http://tinyurl.com/4bxpz
Medicaid Monthly Maximum dosages:
http://tinyurl.com/6p8mt
This reeks of concentration camp mentality without the bother of the necessary real estate.
So good it had to be repeated.
Gee Jack, you're sweet. No one's ever wished cancer on people for me before. (Dabbing eye.)
Who said we don't ration care in America?
She will get her care due to the publicity she is getting. My problem is why does it have to go this far in the first place?
Abortion...post birth. Ain't that wonderful. What a country.
And they put all that energy in keeping that woman in Florida on life support, but this vibrant child can take care of her own damn problems. Sheesh.
Eligere, it's the least I could do.
They deserve it anyway.
I not only wish cancer upon them, I wish debilitating hemmoroids upon them too.
Lauren will win too. And fast.
I hate to disagree, Atrios, but I'd put money on you being wrong. 10 bucks, anyway.
Oh, she'll win, eventually, but I doubt it'll be quick. There will be appeals. The Repubs have no shame; none. And they have been packing the courts for years. Do you want to bet on what Scalia, Thomas, and Rehnquist would do with Lauren? There are lots more where those three fellas came from, unfortunately.
Lovely; Alabama has its very own Mengele.
I"m just thrilled.,
YOu know Hitler started with the disabled, too. It was kind of like a dress rehearsal. Went into the hospitals and mental facilities and killed them all.
Fucking pricks.
I've been re-reading Hofstader's "Social Darwinism in American Thought," which I think I last read back in the Reagan years (oddly enough). And sure enough, pretty much all the rhetoric on the American Right remains stuck right where it was 100 years ago, when they made a massive attempt to glorify vice as virtue, and treat compassion as a dangerous sickness.
I keep imagining these defective, cruel, emotionally dead people cutting children's health benefits this holiday season, and then sitting down with their children or grandchildren to watch the usual Christmas movies like "It's a Wonderful Life" or "A Christmas Carol"...and not noticing that anything's wrong with their lives. It's kind of terrifying.
kos and steve g are pushing this. it's certainly worthwhile:
This comes from Democratic Underground
So sad...the number ONE request at Walter Reed hospital is phone cards. Because the priority of our government is to continue tax cuts for the likes of Paris Hilton, the government doesn't pay LD phone charges and these guys, many of them amputees, are rationing their calls home.
Many will be there throughout the holidays.
Remember that most are from poor families. It is disgusting that they cannot keep in touch with family after what they have been asked to sacrifice for BushCo; especially this time of year.
Support the troops -- cuz BushCo doesn't. Send phone cards of any amount to:
Medical Family Assistance Center
Walter Reed Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20307-5001
They say they need an "endless" supply of these -- any amount even $5 is greatly appreciated.
My wife and I adopted our daughter 4 years ago, after fostering her for 4 years. She's a FAS kid who was sexually abused by the age of 6, and has quite a few issues we're all dealing with. The county from which we adopted her has bent over backwards to get this kid everything she's needed, and we are extremely grateful for it. Even after adopting her, she gets everything (so far) covered by Medicaid.
We're worried, though, about the future. We're in Indiana, and W's personal soulless accountant was elected to be our new governor. The budget in this state is far from balanced, and I expect Mitch Daniels to swing the ax at everything that isn't a tax break for businesses. It's a damned shame that this is the way it works, but those in charge forget that they're dealing with PEOPLE.
I hope things work out for the young lady in Alabama. I can imagine the hell her parents must be going through. Moral Values, my ass. We can spend money on a mission to Mars, while we let the weakest among us suffer. Shame on us.
I guess what I'm trying to say was better said by Dylan: in the halls of justice, the only justice is in the halls.
The Left has counted on justice being done by the courts for a long time, and for a long time we have been justified in doing that. This has been changing since at least Reagan. Just think of all the right-wing judges he appointed. And Bush I. And now Bush II. Oh, they're not all stone cold killers like Scalia, Rehnquist, and Thomas, but a lot more than you'd like to think about are.
No justice, except in the halls. Dylan was right.
Lenny Bruce went to his grave expecting to be upheld by the courts. And he wasn't. And that was a long time ago, in a very different atmosphere, with different, and mostly better, certainly less ideological, judges.
OK, I'm done.
Being the parent of a special needs child I'm not surprised that they're arbitrarily trying to cut off care. The way it works is this: they deny the care/services your child needs or is even legally entitled to. You fight, you get the care/services. You don't fight (because you're working three jobs or don't know that there is an appeal process or don't understand the appeal process) and you lose. And it's not just Medicare. You go through this with private insurance, Regional Centers, school districts. You have to fight for everything.
I think this little girl's family ultimately will win the appeal. They did the smart thing and went to the media.
In my state, our DEMOCRATIC Governor just pulled the plug on our state health care program, TennCare. Some 430,000 people are going to be rolled into Medicaid as a result.
Glad to see they will be adequately cared for -- NOT.
I'm tired of these fuckign DINOs (Democrats In Name Only). Kick 'em all out.
2 fucking years. I'm giving 'Murka 2 fucking years until the '06 elections to get it's ass in gear and start saving itself from the destruction being wrought by these fascist conserva-nazis. After that, it can go fuck itself as it won't be worth fighting for it it's already dead.
They say they need an "endless" supply of these -- any amount even $5 is greatly appreciated.
bkny
Thanks...I had no idea. I'll do it.
You know, I try to avoid saying things like this, but...I hope everyone in the Bush administration dies very slowly, of very unpleasant natural causes.
Failing that, they should spend the rest of their goddamn lives scrubbing out bedpans at veterans' hospitals. Or better yet, licking them clean.
resident, I appreciate your story. We need to kick your new governor in the ass to give him a clue. I am writing him a letter as I write this. Thank you for taking care of your beautiful daughter. God Bless You, you rock!
Grover Norquist is their political theoretician and he is a advocate of social Darwinism. So these children are just test cases for what is to come. Children like these are nothing more that "collateral damage" in the class war. If we can kill Arab children with impunity then it's just a small step to start implementing such monstrous practices at home.
Tena,
Lovely; Alabama has its very own Mengele.
My point exactly. This is just the beginning: next it's the elderly with their annoying dependance on Social Security. They should have been born into privilged families--damn them!
You know, I try to avoid saying things like this, but...I hope everyone in the Bush administration dies very slowly, of very unpleasant natural causes.
I think they should all be stripped of their possessions, wealth, and connections and be forced to live under the laws they created.
These people worship death. They destroy life where ever they go.
Support the troops -- cuz BushCo doesn't. Send phone cards of any amount
How many yellow-ribbon wearing rethugs do you think would be willing to do this?
The chimp doesn't want to pay for veterans' medical care, why would he pay for the "luxury" of talking to loved ones?
Monsters. They are monsters.
You know, when I read stuff like this I know that they will fail and they will fall. Because their whole movement, their whole reason for being is based on greed and inhumanity.
There is nothing generous, kind or good about them. Nothing.
When they fall the whole world will rejoice.
I was just trying to flesh out the reasoning on the other side. That's it, isn't it?
"My goal is to cut government in half in twenty five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in a bathtub".
- Grover Norquest
I think Margot has it right-this is why we fight.
There is nothing generous, kind or good about them. Nothing.
But...but...Bush HUGGED poor motherless Ashley (while he looked directly into the camera).
I enjoy it when men insert cucumbers into my anus. I always think about it.
cowardly name stealing troll is back @ 10:49
I am so angry, FLG you still got yer 2x4? I am looking for my Louisville slugger.
resident, I feel your pain, I am also in the state that elected deficit boy wonder. I will follow Vicki's example when I find myself capable of writing coherently and without invective.
F*&KING BASTARDS.
Here trolly trolly, come to poppa.
Let's suppose for a moment Phila, being a human being, had privacy and with it private habits. Would this affect in any way his logic? Hell, it helped Cavafy write poetry.
They probably found out she supports gay marriage. Well, this'll larn 'er!
Where's John Edwards when we need him? How fabulous would it be if he went down there and took this kid's case? That's what he does right ... because he's an evil trial lawyer? He stands up for kids who ... what? Get their inner organs sucked out by pool drains? Draft John Edwards! Send him in coach!
Don't worry too much about it Phila. Your republican friends have the same kind of thoughts, I'm sure. They just don't talk about it in public.
Haven't been on the blogs this evening, and I come back to this. Jeeeezus. Eligere had it right with the very first comment:
You know, they're like car thieves; always testing, testing, testing for an open door or a weakness, to see what they can get away with.
Eligere | Email | Homepage | 11.11.04 - 9:33 pm
Despicable, foul bastards.
This "Christian" right to life they assert begins at conception appears to end at birth.
What sick, sick people. I feel so sorry for them.
But I feel more sorrow for their victims.
Litz,
As much as it pains me to say this, TennCare has been a nightmare since day one. I could spend the next week listing problems without repeating a single one. That's not to say we shouldn't have fixed it. But many of our Democratic law makers (not all) are sub par, and most of our GOP law makers are concentrated evil and don't care if granny gets her pills or not.
The state needs to totally restructure its tax system but it can't--- anytime the word "tax" is used not in conjunction with the word "cut" The angry mobs assemble on Legislative Plaza. Until the tax system is fixed program after program will be cut.
I'd love to see the laissez-faire market enthusiasts explain how this bright young woman would survive in their cut-throat wealth-uber-alles utopian every-man-for-himself world. Cripes, even us wacky anarchists recognize the value of organizing health care networks where the resource load is spread among as many able people as possible, so the unable can recover (or at least survive and make their own worthy individual contribution to the world). Then again, by definition, most of us black-flag wavers are pinko socialists anyway, so my opinion doesn't matter in Bush's America, ya?
I don't see the problem here. Medicare is plainly unconstitutional: nowhere in the Constitution is the Federal government explicitly authorized to provide medical services, and anyway, Medicare has been a massive failure (http://pages.prodigy.net/krtq73aa/medi.htm). I do sympathize with the girl's plight, but it is the moral duty of private organizations to help her, not of the state. It is immoral to tax me--to force me to pay money--to steal my money--for others' benefit. I am not responsible for others' children. Furthermore, while all life is indeed sacred, perhaps it is imprudent to make such a massive effort to save this one life, given that her future potential as a productive human being is limited. If, God forbid, she were to die soon, what a waste of money that will have been! Should she live longer, though, the expenditure still seems futile. Finally, let me note that nowhere in the article does it say Republicans are proposing to cut her off from the government teat, though if they were proposing to do that to her and all the other idle hangers-on, my faith in the party would doubtless be reinvigorated.
Anonomous, do you also object when your money is stolen (through taxation) to pay for death and destruction in Iraq, or is it only taxation for others' "benefit" that you object to. You see, you people worship death. You destroy life where ever you go.
I have to add the Gov. Bredesen is a damn sight better than Sundquist and his federally indicted buddies could ever have been. Being a State of TN employee myself I'm glad to see Bredesen in office. He has done wonders for the TN state Budget.
Also TennCare is a never ending nightmare of money and providing healthcare for people not only in TN but those from the 11 states surrounding TN. I'm all for TennCare reform and I hope those 433,000 people don't lose their coverage. Here in Cookeville, TN I know quite a few people on it.
"perhaps it is imprudent to make such a massive effort to save this one life, given that her future potential as a productive human being is limited. "
Ja! Ve must only save zose who can vork for der glory of der Fatherland!
Sieg Heil!
I'm pro-life. Why aren't the Republican officials of Alabama?
This is so typical.
Screwing the disabled is a way to appear Reaganesque. Who can forget the way he closed mental hospitals with such elan in California.
Now mental health systems across the US are falling apart thanks to Bush.
On the constitutionality of Medicare I quote this from the Preamble of the Constitution:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
And from Article I, Section 8.
Clause 1 of the Constitution:
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States . . .
Atrios - if you're going to make a stink about this, somebody needs to help Nick update all the links on his pages. The stories he links to have all been taken down from the respective sites. Not exactly press-friendly...
Second, to anonymous above:
Keep pushing the "wean the weak and infirm off the government teat line" for the GOP. It's absolutey brilliant PR. I mean, come on, "unfair" to tax you to pay to keep some 13 year old kid from having her life extinguished? No Bible or any other holy book I've ever seen sanctions that. In fact,
Matthew 10:5-15 says:
5 These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.
6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.'..."
If you have been blessed to freely receive good health, then perhaps a little free giving is in order around now.
And 2 Corinthians 1:3-6 says:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.
6 Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
And surely you must be aware of 2 Corinthians 9:6-9:
6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
9 As it is written: "He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever."
I mean seriously, a little girl?
Here is the url for the Alabama medicaid regs for Private Duty Nursing Care:
http://www.medicaid.state.al.us/...de/
ad_ch_11.htm
Scroll down to Rule No. 560-X-11-.14 EPSDT Referred Service Providers--(h) Private Duty Nursing. These regs are explicit--Check: 3. Criteria-Ventilator Dependent Recipients.
Also: 11. Non-Covered private duty nursing services include the following: (i) ...if she requires at least 4 consecutive hours per day of continuous skilled nursing care, she qualifies!!!
Here is the url for the Fair Hearing Process:
http://www.medicaid.state.al.us/...de/
ad_ch_03.htm
Guess what: Tennessee's Medicaid alternative, TennCare, is being jettisoned in favor of MEDICAID. That means 434,000 Tennesseeans currently receiving services under TennCare will be without any coverage whatsoever by mid-2005. How many Laurens we have in Tennessee is anyone's guess, but their lives are now in jeopardy.
Come on over to South Knox Bubba's blog for more info and details:
http://www.southknoxbubba.net/sk...kblog/
index.xml
We've been raising hell and arguing with "compassionate conservatives" over the death of TennCare for the past 24 hours. Enjoy!
Time to ask how much in dollars Alabama Medicaid is paying out to care for illegal aliens?
And they want to let this little girl just die?
The historical term you're all searching for is, "Life unworthy of life".
That's what the NatSocialsts called the retarded, the crippled, the infirm.
Life unworthy of life.
Notice the efficient German terminology. "Life unworhty of life".
Compare and contrast to the whiny Libertarian shitbag up there at 11:25 pm who said:
"Furthermore, while all life is indeed sacred, perhaps it is imprudent to make such a massive effort to save this one life, given that her future potential as a productive human being is limited."
This little girl's case ought to raised up as an example of the effects of compassionate conservatism. I see no attempt being made by Christian Charities or Chuches, evangelical or otherwise, to provide health care services to the poor or the uninsured. It seems they have no trouble with authorizing federal expenditures for defending our lives from the threat of Islamic terrorism, but not from the threat of injury or disease?
And they put all that energy in keeping that woman in Florida on life support, but this vibrant child can take care of her own damn problems. Sheesh.
God helps only those who help themselves. Clearly, she hasn't learned to help herself, so she doesn't deserve God's help.
I love W. Bush.
I just can't believe this mcintyre woman. Hope she never gets pregnant. I personally believe in a vengeful god.
Is this the kind of small horrible battle we are going to be spending our energy on all over the country, while W talks to god every day and finds out where to drill and who to kill???
Unlike precious fetuses, little Lauren's old enough to get herself saved. She didn't, that's her lookout.
Two true stories to illustrate what we're dealing iwth.
A friend of mine told me of driving through Missouri soon after Clinton's bypass surgery. She was listening to a Christian ask the mullah show. Listener called, he was praying for Clinton to die, wanting to knew if that was the right thing. Mullah said caller should ask himself -- had Clinton accepted Jesus? If so, it wasn't right to wish him dead.
Second story.
A close friend of mine was recently visited by her mother from Oklahoma. The mother told her people had figured it out. Jeebus was conceived on Dec. 25, mom said. We celebrate that day because life begins at conception yada yada yada. Baby Jesus was born on Sept. 11, the mother said.
No I don't share the values of this irrational movement.
The war on children continues on the homefront also.
Police used Taser gun to subdue 6-year-old student wielding piece of glass
BY SUSANNAH A. NESMITH, miamiherald
snesmith@herald.com
Miami-Dade police tasered a 6-year-old boy who was wielding a piece of glass in a school office and threatening to hurt himself, officials confirmed Thursday.
Police say they followed their own guidelines and only tasered the child because they were afraid he would hurt himself. But the incident has raised calls for the department tighten its policies regarding the use of the stun guns, which shoot 50,000 volts of electric current through a subject.
The incident happened on Oct. 20 at Kelsey Pharr Elementary School. The principal, Maria Mason, called 911 after the child, who has not been identified, broke a picture frame in the assistant principal's office. Then the boy began waving the piece of glass around, holding a security guard at bay.
The principal sounds mentally-challenged.
Atrios,
It's posts like this that make me proud to be a liberal.
"this young girl will possibly be denied the care her doctors say is necessary for her to just live and breathe."
Oh no they won't.
maybe i'm an insensitive prick, but if you're that incapacitated with little chance of recovery... why pour thousands and thousands of dollars in to prolong the suffering?
I'm begining to think that being mentally challenged is a requirement for school principals today.
Having John Edwards take up this girl's case would be wonderful. But if not him, hopefully someone will step up.
"Pro-life" increasingly disgust me. I've known a few who are sincere and actually try to help others, but for most it's just an excuse to pass judgment on others.
There's always a couple of Right-to-Life tables set up in the merchandise-pitch building at the Mich. State Fair. So far I've refrained from picking a fight with them, figuring it wouldn't do any good anyway. Maybe I'll give in next year just for the pure enjoyment!
Anonymous, I know your a troll, I know that I shouldn't give you a second thought but you are an anathema to everything I love and cherish in this world. This child is precious because she has life, life given to her by God, a higher force, who the hell are you to decide whether or not her life has purpose. Who are you to decide whether or not she will make this world a better place. Each of us touches those of us around us, how do you not know that perhaps she or one of her school mates discovery the universal cure for cancer? Perhaps her story inspires the next great american novel. But obviously such thoughts don't enter your tiny little stunted mind. I hope you grow because you unfortunately effect people just as Laura does.
Well, maybe her life does have a purpose, because God did give her this life, and she has already touched lives around her for the better. My principal intention is not to attack the defenseless, but to relentlessly hack away at the vile welfare-warfare state with which Lincoln, Roosevelt, Johnson, and indeed Bush have saddled us. But the first troika are especial targets of my opprobrium, and I long for the day when sensible Constitutional government is restored to this Republic. Eliminating Medicare is just one small step in that process. And I do feel great empathy for Laura; it's just that the free market delivers the services she needs much better than a bloated, cumbersome, outdated, monstrous bureaucracy like Medicare.
it's just that the free market delivers the services she needs much better than a bloated, cumbersome, outdated, monstrous bureaucracy like Medicare.
Well, obviously it's doing a bang-up job, isn't it. If the free market would do the job better, why isn't it? Why are we even having this convorsation if what this kid needs is just out there for the buying?
And I do feel great empathy for Laura; it's just that the free market delivers the services she needs much better than a bloated, cumbersome, outdated, monstrous bureaucracy like Medicare.
Anonymous
You're a liar, and you're also wrong. ("Free market" my ass...who pays for its delivery of services, might I ask?) Nice cucumber gag, though!
God, you people are stupid. May you be ten years a-dyin', as the Irish say.
Well, obviously it's doing a bang-up job, isn't it. If the free market would do the job better, why isn't it? Why are we even having this convorsation if what this kid needs is just out there for the buying?
Backslider
Don't confuse it with logic or compassion. You'll make its widdle head hurt!
Philalethes,
Thing that gets me about the whole "free market" idoltars is the seeming assumption that the government and business are two seperate entities with opposite goals. Rather amusing to me.
And hey...be thankful it was just a cucumber. Once told a joke concerning a watermelon and a power drill and spent three years living it down.
And hey...be thankful it was just a cucumber. Once told a joke concerning a watermelon and a power drill and spent three years living it down.
Backslider
What cracks me up is the troll's idea that I'd give a shit whether people think I put cucumbers up my ass or not, even if anyone here were stupid enough to take the post at face value!
Nick Dupree is one the great political minds.
He is blogging now, check it out. He's active in the comments also. Nick don't hold back.
The post about Medicare and its bureaucracy was not me. That's not what I believe. It is not out of some stupid notion that the free market will give her what she needs that I don't belive in this. It's just that I'm a realist. The way I see it, spending countless billions to prolong the death of 85 year olds another year; to perform expensive surgery on those that will only live another year, is pointless. I know I seem heartless, and I'm sorry if I do. I'm in favor of helping the poor, of gay marriage, of the belief that we are all equal. But I cannot justify putting thousands of public dollars into a lost cause, a person who will not survive much longer. If she had a chance of recovery, I would be perfectly fine with putting in all the money that is necessary into saving her life. But in this case, it doesn't seem to be happening. Sorry to all of you who think I'm a heartless troll.
Nazi Germany, the first victims of Hitler aside from the socialists and his own buddies, were the disabled. Hitler ran a long, hard campaign telling people that keeping the disabled alive made Germany weak and they were using up resouces better used for war instead.
The first gas chambers were tested on the insane and disabled as Hitler emptied out the hospitals so he could use them for injured soldiers in the world war of conquest he was planning.
Anon,
I'm glad that you are now the arbitor of who deserves health care in the US and who doesn't.
This isn't the story of the gov't paying a welfare mother for her 10th kid, this is a seriously ill child who needs health care.
Its a sick society we're in when on one hand our government is giving away huge tax breaks for the heirs of multi-millionaires (i.e. the GOP's rejection of keeping the estate tax on the super-rich) & then claims it doesn't have the money to provide help to its most needy.
Someone said you can tell a lot about a society on how it treats its most needy.
I guess to you Anon, when people get too old or sick, they are disposable. Good luck explaining that to the Big Guy when its time to meet Him.
The state needs to totally restructure its tax system but it can't--- anytime the word "tax" is used not in conjunction with the word "cut" The angry mobs assemble on Legislative Plaza. Until the tax system is fixed program after program will be cut.
Pesky, if tax were used in the same sentence with cut in this state...
Well, you know that, it's income and tax that can't be uttered in the same breath without the Mike Flemings shooting into apoplexy.
Anonymous: There is no way I will take seriously the opinions of someone who hasn't even got the courage to post under a pseudonym or provide an email address.
May you suffer from terminal emphysema and slowly suffocate as you find your free market insurance excludes coverage, because guess what, it's the free market and terminal care makes no money.
Yes, you are a heartless inhuman troll. Fuck off, and the rest of you rethugs too.
It's worth keeping in mind two facts:
(1) over 25% of Medicare costs go to "end-of-life" care. It's a slipery slope to deny someone like this what she needs.
(2) It's the private sector that is inefficient. Medicare, while it's clearly flawed, has about 4% overhead -- an order of magnitude less than the best "private" insurance.
Anon @ 4:38am-
You seem to want to make an argument in oppostion to futile therapy. As a Critical Care nurse, I'm quite familiar with futile therapy and the resources spent implementing it.
If you had more than 2 firing synapses, you would know this is not a case of futile therapy.
Curse the absence of an edit function- firing "neurons" , not synapses.
I want to make a final comment. The McIntyre woman is not entirely to blame here. She's a beurocrat faced with a State government that probably pays as little as it can into Medicaid and still qualify for federal subsidies. Indeed, Alabama ranked 39th among states in per capita spending per resident according to statistical comparisons among states in the year 2000, or a decline in per resident spending of $179 since 1997's Medicaid statistics were compiled.
At some point Ms McIntyre's faced with an irreconcilable problem -- too many patients and not enough dollars to pay for all their care. And this is not just a problem for Medicaid funding in Alabama.
So what inevitably happens in these situations when a State is just too damn stingy to pay for the cost of Medicaid or other vital services? They force the beurocrat in charge of the program to become the decision maker on who gets their services whacked.
In essence this is the State legislature and Governor giving themselves plausible deniability about rationing of health care services for those least able to afford them. But let's not mistake the designated scapegoat here for the real villians.
Well, maybe her life does have a purpose, because God did give her this life, and she has already touched lives around her for the better. - Anonymous
I guess the Iraqis were put there for USA to have target practice?
Billions spent killing off Iraqis and we don't want to spend money for healthcare for our own citizens... Something is not right...
In the words of Randi Rhodes:
"Love the fetus; hate the child."
"But I cannot justify putting thousands of public dollars into a lost cause, a person who will not survive much longer. If she had a chance of recovery, I would be perfectly fine with putting in all the money that is necessary into saving her life. But in this case, it doesn't seem to be happening. Sorry to all of you who think I'm a heartless troll."
Hokay, let me get this straight. It's okay for Roy (of Siegfried and Roy) to get millions of dollars of palliative care to save his life and keep him alive for however long he lives for--because he's rich and can pay for it. But a little girl whose family can't pay for it herself...she can just die now, cause she's gonna die sooner or later anyway?
If it were my daughter, damn straight I'd want all the help I could get providing her with care. And y'know what--if it were your daughter, I bet you'd feel exactly the same way.
(sarcasm ON)
Hey, it's a RED STATE!
What do you expect?
The little girl obivously does not share the moral values of the majority of those who live in the state (or at least the values of those who are making the decisions concerning her case).
Leave no child behind, unless you want them to die.
(sarcasm OFF)
Where are the pro-lifers here? Why are there no wild-eyed yahoos spitting on HIM....or is THAT treatment only reserved for pregnant women headed into family planning clinics?
=============================FFather guilty of starving child
Jury in Armstrong County to decide sentence of life or death
Friday, November 12, 2004
By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
KITTANNING, Pa. -- Now his lawyers must try to save his life.
James Tatar was convicted yesterday afternoon of first-degree murder in the death of his 4-year-old daughter, Kristen, sending his case into the penalty phase today. The jurors must decide if Tatar should spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole or die by lethal injection.
The girl's mother, Janet Crawford, pleaded guilty to homicide in September. The harshest sentence she can receive, because of her plea agreement, is life in prison without parole.
Jurors returned to the Armstrong County courtroom just before 4:30, after more than seven hours of deliberation. They found Tatar guilty on every count: murder, abuse of a corpse, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal conspiracy.
As the court clerk read the verdict, Kathy Fondrk, Crawford's sister, sat in the courtroom, hissing, "Yes, yes, yes."
Hers was the only audible reaction.
Defense attorney Robert Stewart asked the court to poll each member of the jury to confirm their decision. When asked if their verdict was guilty on all counts, several of the jurors made a point to look at Tatar as they said: "Yes, it is."
The jurors returned to the courtroom four times throughout the day with questions for the judge. They asked him if he could repeat his instructions to them defining each possible homicide verdict -- first-degree or third-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter -- and they asked him to read the definition of malice four times. Malice is a required element of murder.
After the jurors, who were brought in from Somerset County, left the courtroom following the verdict, Tatar turned to his father and said disgustedly, "Nobody cares what I say. Nobody listened to what I had to say."
What Tatar said was that he was away working the majority of the summer of 2003 when Kristen was slowly starving to death. Work records show he was home just five days between mid-June and early July when Crawford found Kristen's body.
But Crawford told the jury it was Tatar who abused Kristen, and it was his idea to lock the girl in the attic of their Parks home for days at a time without food or water.
Trying to dismiss Crawford's testimony, Tatar based his entire defense on shifting blame for Kristen's death to her mother. He told the jury Crawford told him she had Kristen put in a home to get help for behavioral problems at the end of May and that the girl wasn't to have visitors. Tatar told the jury he never once tried to visit the child, or call her, and he didn't even know the name of the facility sh
Tatar told the jury he never once tried to visit the child, or call her, and he didn't even know the name of the facility she was in.
The jury didn't buy his story, and neither did Fondrk.
She was pleased with the verdict and says she'd be satisfied with either sentence.
"I don't care what happens to Jim. He's an evil monster."
Jaycee Reese, Crawford's oldest daughter, stood by Tatar throughout the trial. She testified on his behalf and constantly stuck up for him. Before the verdict was read yesterday, Tatar's attorney cautioned her and Tatar's father to not make any outburst, no matter what the decision.
"You've got to understand," Stewart told them, "it's nothing less than his life on the line."
The 16-year-old's eyes brimmed with tears as she heard the jury's words, but she didn't cry until she got out of the courtroom.
"I love my dad very, very, very much, and I don't want to lose him," she said. Tatar is not her biological father, but she says he raised her.
Reese doesn't believe Tatar was involved in her little sister's death.
"With listening to all the evidence, there's no way he could be accused of first-degree murder," she said. "I'm still behind him all the way."
On Wednesday evening, just an hour into the jury's deliberations, Reese was already worried for Tatar's fate, saying she didn't know what she'd do if he received the death penalty.
"At least if he gets life, I'll be able to see him," she said.
As for her mother, Reese says she hates her, and that Crawford's the one who should be executed.
The prosecution expects to present no evidence in the sentencing phase of Tatar's trial, instead asking the jurors to rely on everything they've already heard to make their decision.
The defense will likely call character witnesses and Tatar's family to try to persuade the jury to spare his life.
Unlike in the guilt phase of the trial, Stewart said, Tatar will definitely not take the stand. "We will try to convince them every life has value," Stewart said. "Even his."
how does this story work with our proposal for "tax fairness"? you know, ending "red state welfare" as we know it?
Alabama has its very own Mengele.
What's so surprising to me is that the Alabama Mengele is an African-American female...
And I've found my battle to fight:
The state of Mississippi is requiring women to sign a statement that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer, even though that link has been categorically disproven.
Well, you see, this child is disabled.
She has no use as a breeder or as cannon fodder in the future so she is expendable to the GOP fascists and the good christians in the red states.
What next?
"If you don't work, you don't eat."
Oops, that wouldn't work.
Bush Co. would be starving the very yokels who voted for them if they implemented THAT rule!
I know I seem heartless, and I'm sorry if I do. I'm in favor of helping the poor, of gay marriage, of the belief that we are all equal. But I cannot justify putting thousands of public dollars into a lost cause, a person who will not survive much longer. If she had a chance of recovery, I would be perfectly fine with putting in all the money that is necessary into saving her life. But in this case, it doesn't seem to be happening. Sorry to all of you who think I'm a heartless troll.
The thing is, she may live a very long and even productive life if she receives the proper care, and the longer she lives, the more likely there will be medical advances that could drastically improve the quality of her life. Some people have medical conditions from which they never "recover" but with proper medical treatment can live with a high quality of life for decades. Diabetes is one of those conditions that comes immediately to mind; a century ago it was a death sentence, today it's manageable with proper treatment.
it's started,
and not merely in rosy red state alabama.
i am also disabled -- have been officially certified so for over 3 years now -- and
the day after the election , the IRS leined 15% of the $784 a month i almost get by on.
out of the blue, too.
something about denying an "offer in compromise" from 1990 (!!!)
furthermore, it would cost me $150 to file an appeal. right. now that my income is $666.40 per month, and over the last 2 years Pacific Gas & Electric has doubled my winter utility costs to around $100 a month -- thank you very much Grey Davis and those charming fellas from Enron.
but of course it makes perfect sense to put disabled guys' balls in the vise and start spinning the lever. SOMEBODY has to pay for this stinkin' war and it sure as shit ain't the top one percent and their tax breaks.
that would be bad for the economy and no righteous conservative could conscience such lack of compassion for our great country.
observe closely now as the dollar continues its luge down the steepest deficit ever known.
it will get tougher still for people like Lauren and Nick and me.
it's started,
and not merely in rosy red state alabama.
i am also disabled -- have been officially certified so for over 3 years now -- and
the day after the election , the IRS leined 15% of the $784 a month i almost get by on.
out of the blue, too.
something about denying an "offer in compromise" from 1990 (!!!)
furthermore, it would cost me $150 to file an appeal. right. now that my income is $666.40 per month, and over the last 2 years Pacific Gas & Electric has doubled my winter utility costs to around $100 a month -- thank you very much Grey Davis and those charming fellas from Enron.
but of course it makes perfect sense to put disabled guys' balls in the vise and start spinning the lever. SOMEBODY has to pay for this stinkin' war and it sure as shit ain't the top one percent and their tax breaks.
that would be bad for the economy and no righteous conservative could conscience such lack of compassion for our great country.
observe closely now as the dollar continues its luge down the steepest deficit ever known.
it will get tougher still for people like Lauren and Nick and me.
oops! beg pardon.
i hit command-r on my mac to reload the screen and somehow safari (which gets crappier with every new "fix" from apple) managed to repost my comments. dang! i hate looking stupid.
please excuse my ineptitude.
g.
don't wait breathlessly for what the heartless freepers will do, do the right thing yourself.
take that tax refund you didn't want, all those extra taxes you feel that you *should* be paying, but don't have to, and start a fund to help this poor little girl! come on fellow lefties, WE CARE. let's dig into our own pockets and show our compassion, show the America we could have had with Kerry. somebody please start this fund and post the contact info so we can donate and make a real difference, rather than hassle the doctor and chatter about it.
A follow-up to our previous news story concerning Lauren Rainey can be found at the following web site:
http://www.wpmi.com/news/local/s...78-
A307F7ADE774
A follow-up to our previous news story concerning Lauren Rainey can be found at the following web site:
http://www.wpmi.com/news/local/s...78-
A307F7ADE774
Characters Remaining:
Commenting by HaloScan
