[VIDEO] Tea Party Crowd Cheers Letting Uninsured Die #WTF?

On Monday night, CNN held a Tea Party Republican Debate and one of the highlights was this big #WTF moment that came when the crowd cheered when Ron Paul was asked: if a sick person with no insurance coverage goes to the hospital should society just let him die?

Seriously, when did our society become so selfish? Would those people who cheered not want help if they couldn’t afford insurance and they were in that position? I guarantee you if they would be looking for “handouts’ and “help” if they couldn’t afford insurance. Are we not civilized? I think that a civilized society should look after its people who can’t take care of themselves in situations like that, life or death. These people want programs that help themselves like Social Security, but when it comes to helping others, they can go to hell. Why and when did we become so selfish?

Posted by:

Justin Burkhardt

Young Americans Would Suffer if Florida Judge’s Ruling Stands

Young Invincibles, a DC based group that focuses on Health Care reform from a youth perspective, is confident that the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act will ultimately be upheld

Read their release after the jump,
… Continue Reading

Posted by:

The Editor

USDA Health Guidelines: “Don’t Eat Too Much Cheese. Buy Extra Cheese Pizza!”

An article in today’s NYTimes revealed that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been working with the dairy industry to increase cheese sales. You know, the USDA. The dudes who brought us the food pyramid and all those patronizing ads telling us not to drink so much soda.

So this government department is spending money both on convincing people to eat less cheese and also to eat more of it; they recently issued a pamphlet telling readers to “Ask for whole wheat crust and half the cheese” but are also working with Dominos to increase the amount of cheese on the pizzas they serve in order to increase sales.

Surreal, right? But this sort of thing is a common result of the government’s interest in both sustaining the economy and keeping citizens healthy. Government subsidies for corn farming, for instance, have led to massive overproduction of corn that leads to the proliferation of cheap, corn-based crap. And then they put out ads telling people not to drink so much high-fructose corn syrup.

… Continue Reading

Posted by:

Rachel Bishop

The American Academy of Pediatrics Endorses Female Genital Mutilation?!

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently released a policy statement that basically endorses female genital mutilation;  suggesting the law should “enable pediatricians to reach out to families by offering a ritual nick” such as “pricking or incising the clitoral skin to satisfy cultural requirements.”

I could rant about this, but I think my friend Rebecca’s photographic response when she was sent the link via chat sums up my feelings quite nicely:

Posted by:

Rachel Bishop

Today’s Crime Stories: Theft, Murder, and. . .Midwifery?

St. Vincent’s hospital in Greenwich Village was one of the few hospitals in NYC that was willing to support midwives who do home births. But now it’s closing, and that means about half of the midwives in New York will either have to stop practicing, or practice illegally.

This is happening because of a stupid law that says midwives need to have a “Written Practice Agreement” from a doctor in order to perform a delivery at home. Then if there’s a problem with the birth, that’s the hospital they go to. This law is totally unnecessary, because midwives obviously have a backup hospital in mind when they deliver a baby at home. Just like you know what hospital you might need to go to before you go skydiving. But for some reason, the law insists on treating childbirth like it’s an illness, not a natural part of human life that most often doesn’t require any time in a hospital.

Why was St. Vincent’s one of the only hospitals with doctors who are willing to sign such an agreement? There’s a huge stigma in the medical community against supporting midwives. Why’s there stigma? No reason except misogyny and greed. The medical profession is in the pocket of the pharmaceutical companies, who are rather keen on making sure pregnant women are pumped as full of drugs as possible during childbirth, even when those drugs are dangerous and unnecessary.

We talk a lot about giving women control of their own bodies when it comes to abortion, but what about when they’re actually having a child?  It’s incredibly important to take action now so home birth in NYC doesn’t essentially become a crime. Take action here and protect women’s choice in childbirth!

Posted by:

Rachel Bishop