Politics: Ben for President
Considering the personal histories of George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, and John McCain, and the tenor of the last two Republican campaigns for President, I am now certain in my belief that anyone can be elected leader of the free world. Considering this 21st century reality, I have decided to throw my hat in to the ring. I, Ben Carver, have decided to run for President of the United States of America.
I made this decision on a whim, this past Sunday at Tabaq on U street, while having brunch. Considering that I intend to be the first openly gay President, I thought brunch a fitting location to begin my candidacy. I immediately quizzed my brunch partners, boyfriend Craig (future first man) and close friend Cifone (top adviser) about the contents of my platform.
Any good President needs a platform that appeals to his base—which at this point probably consists of a small yet motley crew of cowboy anarchists, socialist libertarians, immigrant circus clowns, Mormon underwear models, and frustrated artists (initial demographic constraints are unimportant, as I plan to lie, smear, and media manipulate my way into office and then and turn this country into my own personal kingdom through ruthlessness and the gay bomb.
While I think I can be just as good on the stump as Governor Avon lady and Senator Palpatine, I don’t think I can get by on my rhetorical skills, so here is where I stand on the issues. Please take a moment to read my platform. I hope you consider me when it comes time to cast your vote.
Platform for Ben Carver (H), candidate for President of America:
Separation of Church and State
A Ben Carver administration will not consider the first amendment to be a suggestion. Faith based initiatives will take place through the church, not the White House. Marriage will be recognized for what it is: an institution whose many legal rights are provided by the government, not the church.
Churches that engage in political activity of any kind will have their tax-exempt status revoked immediately for a period of at least 10 years.
An enforced separation of church and state will prohibit the Boy Scouts from discriminating against homosexuals, and a new spirit of inclusion will demand that the badge system be completely re-conceived.
The Earth is Not 10,000 Years old Act of 2009
-The theory of Creationism will no longer be taught as a viable alternative theory of existence (unless you are in a non-accredited private school, on private grounds). Anyone who disagrees will be fed to the earth’s remaining dinosaurs.
-In a Texas-style steel cage match up, I will personally wrestle any God that dares fight me. I will pin him, claim his title, and return the championship belt to the people, so that they may melt it and mold from it a pagan idol in my image, which I will destroy in a symbolic act, during my first State of the Union address. A Carver administration recognizes that men should not mistake themselves for Gods, and will undo Adam’s mistake. I will expectorate the rind of the bite taken from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and return us to the garden, where we will again no longer take more than we need. I will mandate that all industrial production be performed in a closed loop system, so that discarded products are recycled and only renewable resources are consumed to produce products. We will live in harmony with the natural rhythms of the planet.
-Any church that practices the “Prosperity Gospel” will have 90% of their pastor’s salary taken out in taxes. That money will be transferred to a college fund for their members’ children to attend NYU, UC-Berkeley, or any of a number of women’s colleges.
Advertising Act of 2009
All Billboard advertising will be illegal, because it’s ugly. All advertising will be made to include consumer warnings, just like cigarettes or prescription drugs. Said warnings will include (or link to) the market research that explains how the ads intend to manipulate consumer fears, egomania, greed, and insecurities.
Google will be given the task of training a new branch of government that will oversee all marketing practices in order to make them less invasive.
Global Initiative to Stop Dumb-Fucking (and Dumb-Producing)
Being a homosexual, I am uniquely qualified to speak on matters of limiting the expansion of human populations. My administration will recognize that increased food production results in increased population (regardless where the food production takes place), and that increased population leads to exponential natural resource depletion, global pollution, and human suffering. Understanding that population expansion will destroy the human race, my administration will limit mass production of food. Mass production of food will be regulated in tandem with a global initiative to increase access to birth control, sex education, and contraception, thus limiting overpopulation, as well as transmission of sexually contracted diseases.
Global Initiative to Stop being Fucking-Dumb
Primary education will be our top national priority, trade schools/apprenticeships similar to those in German society (we will learn from efficient societies) will be developed, and college will be made affordable, particularly after I bring the student loan companies to their knees.
All Americans will be required to read Common Sense by Thomas Paine, so that they may reclaim a revolutionary zeal for freedom and democracy (which they will need in order to overthrow my corrupt administration). All Americans will also be required to read the Constitution and all of the Federalist Papers. Resources will be made available that inspires self-criticism and historical understanding of one’s belief system. Intelligence, rational thought, and historical understanding will become a civic responsibility of the highest order. Those who do not meet this responsibility will be taxed:
Justify Your Existence Tax
Wild animals are beautiful because they are wild. Nature compels them to be lean, efficient, and sharp, because if they aren’t, they become selected for extinction. This is true for all species. Our current sloth, stupidity, and consumption marks us as weakened prey in the global system. Add to this the fact that human societies have taken on the unsustainable characteristics of a virus attacking a host, it becomes evident that if we humans are to survive without returning to the level of hunter/gatherers, we need to be smarter in order to find solutions. A lot smarter.
A stupidity tax will be levied on all Americans who cannot justify their existence amid this reality. Said justification will be determined by a national test issued as part of the government’s “Leave No Adult Behind” program. The test will cover topics such as math, grammar, the natural and physical sciences, geography, history, sociology, health, life skills, and critical thinking. The education system of a Carver administration (as led by Secretary of Education, Michelle Rhee) would not only leave no child behind, but would provide the necessary “sticks and carrots” to compel adults to stay sharp as well.
Health Care Policy
Universal HealthCare
Hillary will fina
lly get to implement her damn plan. Knock yourself out, girl.
The Sound of One-Hand Clapping Act of 2009
Yoga, Tai Chi, and Meditation will be embraced by my administration. Balance will be sought in all things.
Three-Day Weekend Act of 2009
Every citizen will be granted either a 35-hour workweek or a three-day weekend. Margaritas will be half-price on Fridays from 5-9 pm.
Edible Food and Fairness Act of 2009
All corporate farming will be stopped. Farming will be done with family farms and animal cruelty and pesticide laws will be enacted. Food quality will improve dramatically.
Get off the Couch Act of 2009
Standards of physical fitness will be enacted, in order to minimize costs in our socialized health care system.
Real Human Connection Act of 2009
In order to be better humans, all citizens will be greatly encouraged to refrain from:
-answering their cell phones during otherwise pleasant conversations with other human beings, unless they ask permission first.
-having more facebook friends than actual friends.
-having more mediated exposure to the world (tv/computer/phone) than unmediated exposure.
Economic Policy
The economic policies of Reagan, Clinton, and Bush (and capitalism as we know it) will be over. Keynesian economics that balance capitalism with socialism will be again be the American standard. Sensible regulation will be restored, increasing transparency and protecting investors.
Followers of Milton Friedman (Friedmanites) will be forced to live on the average wage of one of the third-world countries that they have imposed their policies on, and the entire Chicago School of Economics will be turned into a museum of cultures and peoples destroyed by its ideology).
Robert Reich will be installed as my chief economic advisor and Warren Buffet will take over at Treasury. Reich will be allowed to bitch slap Robert Rubin as his first act of office.
Alan Greenspan, who turned a blind eye to regulation, Former McCain head economic advisor Phil Gramm, who created the “Enron Loophole” and killed the Glass/Steagall Act (which would have protected us from the mortgage meltdown), and a host of other Wall Street/Capitol Hill enablers of avarice will be incarcerated in a maximum security hell hole for a period of one year, or long enough to get fucked as raw as the average American who now has to rethink retirement. All investment dividends made during their lifetime will be donated to the United Nego College Fund.
An unprecedented investment in infrastructure and energy independence will take place in this country. I will let T. Boone Pickens build his windmills, but if they are built with public money then a public utility company that will be run efficiently and for a profit will run them. America will mass-produce electric cars that can perform at petroleum-based performance levels. Recycling will be national imperative, and any business that does not recycle will have its Board of Directors and management moved to a residence located in the midst of one of the countless landfills found in third world countries where, on a daily basis, we ship our nations refuse. They will stay there for a period of one month, where they will be forced to survive on the contents of said landfill, just as thousands of impoverished people do every day. I will also make them take Perez Hilton and Janice Dickenson with them, just because I can’t imagine a more mean spirited fate, even after three glasses of red wine (time to open another bottle).
The primary economic generator for the country will shift from defense to aerospace and green technology. Bye, bye, military-industrial complex. My administration will provided unprecedented salaries and grants to the world’s most qualified scientists to study carbon-less propulsion for terrestrial and extra-terrestrial travel. William Shatner will be installed as the new head of NASA.
By Law, my administration will reduce the pay ratio between corporate CEOs and their lowest-paid workers, from the current 400/1 ratio to no more than 40/1.
My administration will get rid of the income tax. I will implement a health tax and sales tax that is around 25-30%, because it is the only way to have a truly fair tax system.
Destroy the Farm Bill Act of 2009
Sonoma County wine makers will be the only agricultural producers to receive food subsidies. The meat, agriculture, and dairy industries will no longer receive subsidies, so that their products reflect the true cost of producing them, which will actually make this globalization thing work.
Housing Policy
Every American who holds down a full-time job and passes the “Justify Your Existence” exam will have within reach a sturdy, well insulated home to call their own. Monthly payments will be tied to income level. Everyone will be a homeowner.
Foreign Policy
State Department Spending will be doubled and the Department of Defense Funding will be fundamentally re-evaluated.
America under a Carver administration will no longer be an aggressive militaristic force that flirts with theocracy and feigns virtue while practicing empire. This change will be a revolutionary shift in our country’s 200+ year history. The CIA will no longer be in the business of overthrowing sovereign governments in order to benefit our economic interests, and diplomacy will once again be waged in good faith with our neighbors.
The Iraqi government wants us gone? Done. They can keep the oil. At current rates of consumption, it will be gone soon anyway. Eventually, Putin, the axis of evil, and China will all need to buy our hydrogen powered hovercraft. Meet George Jetson, bitches. He works for me.
Iran will not be our enemy. They will be our homeboys who will help us keep s*** from going craaazay in the Middle East.
The “Sorry You Refused to Work it Out” Act of 2009
Israel will continue to be protected…as long as Palestine gets it’s own state (granted, Hamas needs to rescind its declaration that Israel must be destroyed). If Israel won’t sign a peace treaty that gives Palestine a state through a fair and equitable deal, a Carver administration will cease funding and remove the American shroud of protection, say “see ya,” and effectively let the Middle East destroy itself. God bless, lolz.
Drug Policy
My administration will recognize that people have the right to destroy themselves if they want to. My administration will also recognize that a drug war is dumb, because if people want illegal drugs, they can find them easily. My administration will take the tens of billions of dollars spent every year on the “war on drugs” and on incarcerating non-violent drug offenders and invest in treatment programs (it’s a disease), education, and job-training. Annual gross sales of pot alone (in the USA) is approximately 51 billion dollars, which will provide even more money, through taxation. An added bonus of my drug policy is that the level of violence as it relates to the illegal drug industry will plummet, stabilizing communities across the country.
Emergency Management
And Finally, this will never, ever happen again:
If you have additions to this platform that you want me to consider, please leave them in the comments section.
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I’m totally writing you in. Rock on.
(Hell, if nothing else, you’ll provide a nice consolidated start for my World Domination thingy…)
Hmm I think America could get by its qualms of electing a gay president. I’m just not sure it’s ready for one with any common sense. I fear that your views aren’t hypocritical enough to appeal to the “values voters,” Ben, but I’ve been wrong before. Crazier things have happened – I hear they have a Muslim running this time, or something ;-)
On that note: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwjlUMoLVvA
I saw that on Pharyingula the other day… People like that are why I have exactly zero faith in humanity. I’m glad I didn’t watch it after lunch.
Hey Ben,
Quick question on your platform. Are you going to force me to provide abortion referrals, as Sen. Obama proposes to do?
Wow, Ben! That’s awesome! You’ve got a talent for words! Well written. I’m still voting Obama, but you’ve got many good points… if life were only so sweet!
Dear lord, I just bothered to read through this entire Orewellian nightmare!
Seems that with all these Malthusian population control strategies, not only will I be forced to provide abortion referrals, I’ll be co-opted to perform them – and my paycheck will be used as your personal piggybank to implement all these highly dubious socialist programs. I never realized you were such a lefty.
Dear Aidan,
I don’t even know what an abortion referral is. My only abortion policy is “Ass babies never live. Accept it.”
As President, I will support your right to free speech, and will consider all opinions in the context of civil discourse. Feel free to present your anti-abortion views in the form of a post. If well written, I may find a spot for you in my cabinet. Perhaps Surgeon General.
I love you Ben. Please be my president.
Geez, you’re sexy even in a headshot hiding behind sunglasses.
I don’t know what I like more: you or your platform.
re: Three-Day Weekend Act of 2009
I think we should work 4 days per week, 9:00am-3:00pm.
Dear Ben,
Working on it – midterms are slamming me right now.
FYI, an abortion referral is like any other referral – where a physician provides a patient with the name of another physician who can provide medical services that he is unable or unwilling to provide.
Current rules allow physicians to refuse to provide referrals for abortions. Senator Obama supports the Freedom of Choice Act, which will strip physicians of this right to refuse to participate in any way in the procurement of abortions.
Ben, how come everyone up in here wants the government MORE involved in their lives rather than less? I would have thought that by now (especially over the last few months), the bureaucracy had proved its worth(lessness).
Marriage, for example, offers people a privileged status, and as you point out, it comes with legal rights attached to it. Much as you do, I feel it’s repugnant to tell some group of people that they get special privileges while these other people over here (in this case same-sex couples) can’t have those privileges. It’s horribly unfair to discriminate like that.
So what I don’t quite understand is why, given how repugnant we all find this discrimination to be, we insist on being a party to it! Why should ANY person get special privileges that other people don’t get. What about people who just don’t happen to want the government involved in sanctioning their private, personal relationships? What about people who want to stay single but still enjoy the privileges bestowed by government upon married couples, such as the opportunity to own property with someone they care deeply about, or to make a household of three close friends?
I am continually baffled that everyone I know seems to want to JOIN IN on the discriminatory practice of legal recognition of marriage, rather than doing away altogether with the (very vague) legal construct of marriage.
Can I be your Secretary of Libertarian Dissent?
-Z
Cheers, Z.
I oscillate back and forth over which (socialism and libertarianism) results in the smallest impact of stupid people on my life.
I’ll support your libertarian dissent (I more usually come down on that side), but I’ll also still support anyone who will make an actual stand as opposed to the wishy washy bullshit that passes for mainstream politics.
Ben, I will definitely vote for you if I can be an intern in your White House. Just don’t leave any stains on my dress.
can i get in the intern line please?
Z,
A Carver administration will seek to use the institution of marriage as a “carrot” that data suggests functions as social glue which increases lifespan, healthfulness, community stability, overall happiness, and often provides a better environment in which to raise children. However, I will be open to extending the legal rights of marriage to cover consensual partnerships irrespective of association type, race, gender, or species. In a disconnected world, my administration will encourage commitments. However, exceptions will be made for panda bears. My administration will institute a zero tolerance policy regarding panda bears.
We are a diverse people, therefore few will agree on all aspects of my platform. Therefore I have all the more need for a diverse group of advisors. Your request to be my Secretary of Libertarian Dissent is accepted.
To meet you halfway, I will demand that massage therapy be included in universal healthcare coverage (nominal co-pay), in order to help frustrated partisans deal with my policies.
Your idea that churches should have their tax exempt status revoked if they engage in “politics” not only violates the First Amendment, but is theoretically flawed.
How can the exercise of religion be “free” if you’re going to impose a tax on those whose particular form of religious exercise differs from your own? Or would you also tax the church in Atlanta where Obama gave his political speech on MLK day?
Even more importantly, since politics is concerned with the question of how we as a community should and will order our lives together, it is unlrealistic to demand that certain members of the community be “taxed” for their political participation simply because religious beliefs may influence their political views. If my Episcopal parish advocates the legalization of same-sex marriage — and it does — should we be forced to pay a tax for the privilege of doing so? After all, same-sex marriage is a “poltical question.”
Instead of taxing churches into silence, an act that is only bound to breed yet more resentment from those on the right who already think their values are being undermined, why not simply reason with them? Isn’t that what democracy is all about? And isn’t that also why we also let groups as distict as HRC and the Family Research Council enjoy tax-exempt status?
conservatives are no fun. a tongue-in-cheek post prompts two inane abortion screeds and one silly comment on freedom of religion. have a drink and enjoy your weekend, republicans. life is short.
re: aidan
Are you going to force me to provide abortion referrals, as Sen. Obama proposes to do?
If a physician cannot provide the care a patient needs it is his or her responsibility to refer that patient to another physician who can. If you would not hesitate to refer a patient to a cardiologist why would you hesitate to refer a woman to a gynecologist or abortion specialist?
This is a medical issue. You are free to do and think however you want but based on that (lack of) judgment alone I would not want you to be my doctor. How can I be sure you won’t be equally closed minded about other conditions or circumstances that I, as a patient, find important?
“How can I be sure you won’t be equally closed minded about other conditions or circumstances that I, as a patient, find important?”
The goal in medicine is not to satisfy the subjective desires of the patient. That’s why great care is taken in prescribing opiates, for instance. A patient may find themselves in a “condition or circumstance” in which they “find it important” to get a month’s supply of percoset, but that doesn’t place me under any obligation to indulge them. Quite the opposite in most circumstances, actually.
As far as abortion, personally I think it’s murder. To me, being asked to refer someone to an abortionist is like me as a bodyguard being asked to refer someone to a hitman. I recognize that not everyone views the situation the same way, but that’s how I see it and personally I don’t want any part of it. I’m not going to “get to know” the abortionists around town and try to discern which of them is “more skilled” at injecting digoxin into an unborn child’s heart or ripping them from the womb with a vacuum aspirator.
Would you so steadfastly maintain that ignorance about other practitioners when faced with a patient who’s life depends on the termination of her pregnancy? Or are you of the “No abortion ever, sorry ma’am I’m ready to watch you die because God’s calling you” school of thought?
Hi Swift,
I’m glad you brought this “life of the mother” red herring up.
It is never medically necessary to intentionally end the life of a fetus. Under extremely rare circumstances it may be necessary to induce labor at a point in the pregnancy where the child may not survive outside the womb, but in that case I would place him or her in neonatal intensive care and hope for the best.
There are no circumstances in which it’s somehow better for the mother for a dead baby to be coming out of the womb than a premature baby who may or may not survive.
Ectopic pregnancy
I appreciate the effort, but I am in fact familiar with ectopic pregnancies.
If you are really curious about the details of medical ethics I plan to adhere to should I enter obstetrics /gynecology, you can find them here.
re: aidan
”The goal in medicine is not to satisfy the subjective desires of the patient.”
A patient’s request for a referral to a specialist is not a “subjective desire”.
How can you represent yourself to unsuspecting patients as educated, properly credentialed and professional when you equate opiates with a patient’s request for a referral to a specialist? What kind of ethics do you have if you broadly equate legal requests with illegal activity?
“I’m not going to “get to know” the abortionists around town and try to discern which of them is “more skilled” at injecting digoxin into an unborn child’s heart or ripping them from the womb with a vacuum aspirator.”
Don’t be disingenuous. It is explicitly your job to provide service by referral. You are not going to “get to know” all the cardiologists, gastroenterologists, oncologists, etc. around town either. That, however, will not prevent you from making referrals. Again, this is a medical issue. The unwelcome and intrusive imposition of your personal beliefs on your patients is dereliction of duty.
Re: aidan
I have read the page for the Association of Pro-Life Physicians you sent above and have some comments.
It is easy to prove that these objections to the pro-life ethic are insincere. What if someone brought up these arguments to justify the killing of an infant: “The baby was conceived through rape” – “The infant is deformed and mentally handicapped” – “The mother’s health is suffering as a result of her baby.” Would anyone who endorses abortion in the womb openly justify the killing of an infant using these excuses? No, they would not. This proves that these objections are insincere and that the heart of the matter is whether the fetus is a living human.
1) Rape and the mother’s health are indeed valid reasons for a woman to choose an abortion.
2) It is completely disingenuous to state that women seek to abort “deformed and mentally handicapped” fetuses. If a woman’s health is at stake and the fetus also happens to be “deformed and mentally handicapped” then she it is her right to choose her health over her pregnancy.
3) Given their right-wing christian bias I wonder if the Association of Pro-Life Physicians also considers homosexual fetuses to be “deformed”.
“The unborn child’s right to life and liberty is given by his or her Creator, not by his or her parents or by the state.”
“It is never right to intentionally kill an innocent person, even if it does relieve another’s emotional or physical suffering. It’s not up to a vote, and our obligation to submit unto divine judgments does not sway with our circumstances.”
“To intentionally kill or condone the intentional killing of one innocent human being precludes one from being considered “pro-life” at all.”
1) I guess the guilty human beings can be killed? Is the APLP also anti-death penalty? Is there pro-life position ,consistent?
2) What if the mother is an agnostic or atheist? The APLP assumes every patient is either christian, theist or sympathetic to the same world view when they are not. What is the line between “pro-life” and pro-fascist?
3) If a Jehovah’s Witness mother, and/or her infant, were under your care Aidan and she refused a vital life saving blood transfusion (as is JW belief) are you going to allow this mother and/or her infant to die?
If you concede to that patient’s wish aren’t you, according to the pro-life logic of the APLP, guilty of murder as condoning intentional killing?
What if the Jehovah’s Witness were pregnant? Can you honestly say you would not, under those circumstances, contradict the stated position of the APLP and pressure the mother, her family and “the state” to force the life saving blood transfusion for this woman and/or her fetus?
If you did indeed appeal to the state in such a case wouldn’t you be in direct violation of not only your personal and religious beliefs but also the stated position of the APLP? If not, if you chose to honor the pregnant woman’s wishes to refuse a blood transfusion and she died aren’t you then hypocrites for refusing the same respect to women who request to abort their fetuses?
We are convinced that much of the pressure physicians place upon ailing women to get a therapeutic abortion is due to fear of malpractice suits. Two female patients have reported to me that physicians unduly pressured them into getting an abortion because their contraception failed and they conceived at the same time that they were taking a medication that could be very injurious to an unborn child. The motive for prescribing an abortion in such cases is not compassion, but completely selfish.
1) “We are convinced…”? That sounds subjective to me Aidan. There’s no science going on here, just personal beliefs and subjective opinion.
2) A referral to a gynecologist or specialist is not “pressure”. It is a referral. That should be self-evident.
3) A referral to a gynecologist or specialist is not “prescribing an abortion”. It is a referral. That should be self-evident.
4) There is no such thing as an “unborn child” or “pre-born child”. There is either a fetus or a child. Each is very different and not the other.
Clearly I could on forever demonstrating problems in your logic. The dramatic rhetoric of the APLP cannot hide their right-wing christian bias. Reading that Official Position Statement of the Association of Pro-Life Physicians was like watching that charlatan pretending to be the Wizard of Oz. Funny what you find when you pull back that curtain.
Quite frankly Aidan you remind me of a Jewish guy supporting Dr. Mengele. Given the statements of these “physicians” with whom you have aligned yourself one gets the impression they probably also believe in the viability of repairative “therapy” for sexual orientation (i.e. ex-gay “therapy”).
…and i agree. Ben is very, very cute.
“…when you equate opiates with a patient’s request for a referral to a specialist? What kind of ethics do you have if you broadly equate legal requests with illegal activity?”
I wasn’t equating, I was refuting an anonymous poster’s claim that the be all, end all goal of medicine is whatever the patient-as-patient happens to find important. It’s not illegal for a patient to request an abortion referral or an opiate prescription, and it’s not illegal for me to refuse either request.
“It is explicitly your job to provide service by referral. You are not going to “get to know” all the cardiologists, gastroenterologists, oncologists, etc. around town either.”
Actually this isn’t true. You do have a duty to establish some raport and by providing a referral you are saying, “this guy is quality.”
As far as your disagreements with APLP, you’re certainly entitled to think what you will, and I’m entitled to take the old school Hippocratic oath. I don’t expect we’ll come to a meeting of the minds here.
You do have a duty to establish some raport and by providing a referral you are saying, “this guy is quality.”
So you are saying that you can selectively provide service to those patients you approve of? Again, that subjective judgment is why I would not trust a physician like you with the health of anyone.
I was refuting an anonymous poster’s claim that the be all, end all goal of medicine is whatever the patient-as-patient happens to find important.
Your presumption that all or most patients are wack jobs incapable of making rational decisions lies outside the realm of this discussion and is meant to distract from the issue. Clearly I am talking only about patients capable of discerning their needs and seeking advice and help, which you would deny. If a reasonable patient makes a reasonable request for a referral and you deny that request based on personal beliefs and bias you are derelict of duty and simply a bad doctor.
You remain silent on the several questions I raise regarding patients whose religious beliefs contradict your own, such as the Jehovah’s Witness I mentioned. I infer you believe it is then acceptable to petition the state when it serves you, to enforce your own religious beliefs on the patient.
You remain silent why pro-life is not anti-death penalty, and on the self-evident oxymoron of “unborn child” and “pre-born child”.
Your silence is my answer.
Well, I’d just say that fortunately you’re not in charge of handing out medical licenses, and I’m not planning to practice in a manner which is considered unethical according to generally accepted standards of care.
I’m not going to answer you point by point because it’s my experience that arguments on this issue never get anymore. I answered Swift’s questions regarding how I would deal with certain medical situations (and my answers are consistent with ethically acceptable standards of care as promulgated by State Medical Boards in all 50 states), and I’m not interested in dealing with your overblown rhetoric.
If you don’t like the way I plan to practice medicine you’re free to go to med school and choose to practice in a different manner.
re: aidan
“The unborn child’s right to life and liberty is given by his or her Creator, not by his or her parents or by the state.”
“…our obligation to submit unto divine judgments does not sway with our circumstances.”
You could answer in one simple sentence but won’t.
In the case of the Jehovah’s Witness it is clear your pro-life stance would force you to reverse the official position of the APLP.
You would petition the state to disregard the patient’s religious beliefs and preserve the life of the patient and her fetus. Admitting this would prove the hypocrisy of the APLP’s stated position (in the link you provided) that a fetus’s right to life is not “given…by the state” …unless it agrees with you. Your obligation would most certainly “sway” with those circumstances.
You responses have exactly confirmed my expectations.
hottest. president. ever.
right behind obama, of course.
nah, Ben is hotter, way hotter, than Obama. and his platform is better.
I would have Ben’s baby.
Parker, Ben’s post does employ elements of satire, but it’s pretty easy to tell that his object is to bolster certain policies he favors, such as the so-called “separation of church and state.” And, no, I am not a conservative, just a strong advocate of the first freedom of the First Amendment, which both prohibits the establishment of a state religion and guarantees the free exercize of religion without interference by busybodies and do-gooders. Finally, I do wish I could adopt your more laidback stance toward this issue, but when I see gays around the world being ostrasized, imprisoned, tortured, and even killed because of religiously-inspired homophobia, it’s hard for me to find much here to laugh about. Sooner or later, gays in the large urban cities of America are going to have to wake up and realize that their never-ending party lifestyle is precarious indeed.
Michael J said…
hottest. president. ever.
right behind obama, of course.
I hope you mean that Ben will figuratively be behind Obama, because I am casting my vote for literally having Ben behind me. WINK WINK.
That picture makes Ben look like a younger version of Sheriff Buford T. Justice.
Dear Anonymous,
I am honored that you might mistake me for Buford T. Justice. Such a fine compliment puts you in the good graces of my administration.
For those fine Americans who see fit to compliment my physical features, know that my administration will ALWAYS be behind you.
re: Ben
Hmmm…I’d love to be “behind” Ben. In addition to voting for him as president I mean. I swoon whenever he says something smart or writes eloquently about Louisiana.
You know what would really get my vote? More pec shots of Ben.
Why aren’t you at more Solly’s parties Ben? You need to campaign more aggressively.
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