I was waiting to hear what other members of the medical profession would have to say about those Wisconsin doctors--and I did not have to wait long.
A physician who blogs under the handle "Unlikely Hospitalist" has a few choice words for the professionalism of his Wisconsin colleagues. What's more, he has identified them.
(NOTE: We had mistaken "Unlikely Hospitalist for "Happy Hospitalist," who has a few choice words of his own.)
"What a week it has been in Madison Wisconsin, of all places. First we have teachers roaming the capital petitioning the government for redress of grievances. Not so bad, until they call in sick, en masse, and bring their students with them as political pawns. Then we have the duly elected State Senators abdicating their sworn obligation to represent the people of Wisconsin in the state senate and literally running away to the Tilted Kilt. Now we have "Doctors" giving out sick notes like they hand out flyers in New York's Times Square.
Being sick of the Wisconsin Governor is not billable code as far as Medicare is concerned and daring an interviewer to get in the middle of a private consultation between a patient and caregiver in the middle of thousands of people is not what is meant by bedside manner. What a joke. All this professionalism is making me sick...
This brings me to Dr. Lou Sanner. (the man in the first video in the previous post). He is a family practitioner whose ego, no doubt, precedes his intellect. I have seen his type before as I meandered through medical school and residency. He is the doc who looks down his nose at you as you struggle for the esoteric answer to some zebra diagnosis, all the while pretending to know the answer himself. Well, I am not a resident anymore and what this fellow has done is professionally obscene. He has abrogated his professional responsibility for political expediency....
Now I don't know the legality of his actions, although I am sure that the Wisconsin Medical Society may have some thoughts on the matter.
Is it really his position that he is conducting medical examinations in the midst of thousands of people while attaining a right to privacy? One of the most important things in a genuine patient/physician interaction is honesty and this dude is dishonest!"
Unlikely Hospitalist goes on to ID three of the other doctors who are doing this. (NOTE: See comment #4 below, referring to Anne Eglash. The commenter says Dr. Eglash was not in the demonstration, nor even in Madison at the time. If that is true, I apologize for relaying incorrect information, and, awaiting confirmation, have removed Dr. Eglash's name from the following quotation).
"He and his colleagues . . . Hannah Keevil, and James Shropshire should know better. Undoubtedly they do know better, but let political emotion trump professional integrity."
As we said in the previous post, you can voice your concern about this (and them) to the Medical Examing Board of the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing. The email address is:
DRLBoards@wisconsin.gov
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query wisconsin. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query wisconsin. Sort by date Show all posts
Saturday, February 19, 2011
More Wisconsin: Doctors Caught Writing Phony Excuses for Teachers
Shocking, and probably actionable.
We are seeing a wholesale disregard for the common good, the rule of law, and the right to self-government by the Left in the State of Wisconsin. It's very similar to the way those on the Left have tried to impose counterfeit marriage on other states.
1) An elected governor, and a majority in the State Senate, attempt to carry out their mandate.
2)In response the Democratic legislators flee their jobs and their state so that a vote (which they know they will lose) cannot be held.
3) Wisconsin teachers, and their supports, flood the capitol to try and intimidate the remaining Senators. The teachers walk off their jobs to do this, lying about being sick, thus forcing public schools to close.
4) Now, Wisconsin doctors, who support the public sector unions which are bankrupting the state, have been caught on film writing phony excuses for those teachers who pretended to be sick. It's an ever-growing web of corruption. Watch one of the videos:
USA Today reported: "Doctors from numerous hospitals set up a station near the Capitol to provide notes to explain public employees' absences from work. Family physician Lou Sanner, 59, of Madison, said he had given out hundreds (!) of notes. Many of the people he spoke with seemed to be suffering from stress, he said."
Ann Althouse has another video:
You can voice your concern about this to the Medical Examing Board of the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing. The email address is:
DRLBoards@wisconsin.gov
We are seeing a wholesale disregard for the common good, the rule of law, and the right to self-government by the Left in the State of Wisconsin. It's very similar to the way those on the Left have tried to impose counterfeit marriage on other states.
1) An elected governor, and a majority in the State Senate, attempt to carry out their mandate.
2)In response the Democratic legislators flee their jobs and their state so that a vote (which they know they will lose) cannot be held.
3) Wisconsin teachers, and their supports, flood the capitol to try and intimidate the remaining Senators. The teachers walk off their jobs to do this, lying about being sick, thus forcing public schools to close.
4) Now, Wisconsin doctors, who support the public sector unions which are bankrupting the state, have been caught on film writing phony excuses for those teachers who pretended to be sick. It's an ever-growing web of corruption. Watch one of the videos:
USA Today reported: "Doctors from numerous hospitals set up a station near the Capitol to provide notes to explain public employees' absences from work. Family physician Lou Sanner, 59, of Madison, said he had given out hundreds (!) of notes. Many of the people he spoke with seemed to be suffering from stress, he said."
Ann Althouse has another video:
You can voice your concern about this to the Medical Examing Board of the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing. The email address is:
DRLBoards@wisconsin.gov
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
In Wisconsin "The question to be answered is: Who works for whom?"
The unbelievably sleazy and dangerous tactics of Wisconsins's public sector unions, as they seek to keep the people of Wisconsin under their thumb. Actually, it's not unbelievable at all, but par for the course for 20th/21st century statist bureaucracies, whether communist, socialist, fascist.
From National Review:
"The Left long ago stopped pretending that court proceedings were anything other than exercises in raw-power politics, and so they’ve taken their fight against Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to the state supreme court — not in the form of a lawsuit, but in the form of a multimillion-dollar intervention into an election to a ten-year term on the court.
Wisconsin supreme court justice David Prosser went to bed one night a respected former prosecutor, and woke up the next morning the target of a $3 million union-run smear campaign, falsely accused of being an enabler of pedophiles. That is what you get when you oppose the political machine that has been fleecing taxpayers in Wisconsin and elsewhere for a generation. Or, as in the case of Justice Prosser, when they suspect you might merely stand in their way and do your job."
From National Review:
"The Left long ago stopped pretending that court proceedings were anything other than exercises in raw-power politics, and so they’ve taken their fight against Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to the state supreme court — not in the form of a lawsuit, but in the form of a multimillion-dollar intervention into an election to a ten-year term on the court.
Wisconsin supreme court justice David Prosser went to bed one night a respected former prosecutor, and woke up the next morning the target of a $3 million union-run smear campaign, falsely accused of being an enabler of pedophiles. That is what you get when you oppose the political machine that has been fleecing taxpayers in Wisconsin and elsewhere for a generation. Or, as in the case of Justice Prosser, when they suspect you might merely stand in their way and do your job."
Thursday, February 17, 2011
John Hinderaker on Wisconsin
John Hinderaker, at the Powerline blog, comments on the public sector unions' behavior in the state of Wisconsin:
"A common theme of the union demonstrators in Madison today was that Governor Walker is a 'dictator.' This showed up on sign after sign. It sheds light, I think, on how public union members in particular, and liberals in general, think. What is going on here is that the voters of Wisconsin have elected a Republican Governor and–overwhelmingly–a Republican legislature, precisely so that they can get the state’s budget under control.
What the Democrats don’t like isn’t dictatorship, it is democracy. That is why the Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate fled the state en masse–they prevented a quorum, so that a vote they were going to lose couldn’t take place. Once again, it is democracy they are trying to frustrate, not dictatorship.
One could make the point more broadly about the organized labor movement. The unions' top priority is to eliminate the secret ballot in union certification elections. Why? The secret ballot has been the cornerstone of American labor democracy for generations. In the early days, it was assumed that the secret ballot was needed to protect workers from possible retaliation by employers if they voted for the union. That is no longer the case. Employers now universally favor the secret ballot. It is unions who are trying to abolish it through card check legislation. Why? So their goons can threaten to beat up, or worse, any employee who won't sign the card. The last thing labor unions want is democracy. They want thugocracy, as was on display in Madison today."
Even the kindly and mild-mannered Jay Nordlinger is expressing outrage.
"At this critical hour, Wisconsin’s elected officials should remember whom they work for. And they should take courage in that remembering. They work for all the citizens, not just the ones who can take time off — paid — to shout and bully."
"A common theme of the union demonstrators in Madison today was that Governor Walker is a 'dictator.' This showed up on sign after sign. It sheds light, I think, on how public union members in particular, and liberals in general, think. What is going on here is that the voters of Wisconsin have elected a Republican Governor and–overwhelmingly–a Republican legislature, precisely so that they can get the state’s budget under control.
What the Democrats don’t like isn’t dictatorship, it is democracy. That is why the Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate fled the state en masse–they prevented a quorum, so that a vote they were going to lose couldn’t take place. Once again, it is democracy they are trying to frustrate, not dictatorship.
One could make the point more broadly about the organized labor movement. The unions' top priority is to eliminate the secret ballot in union certification elections. Why? The secret ballot has been the cornerstone of American labor democracy for generations. In the early days, it was assumed that the secret ballot was needed to protect workers from possible retaliation by employers if they voted for the union. That is no longer the case. Employers now universally favor the secret ballot. It is unions who are trying to abolish it through card check legislation. Why? So their goons can threaten to beat up, or worse, any employee who won't sign the card. The last thing labor unions want is democracy. They want thugocracy, as was on display in Madison today."
Even the kindly and mild-mannered Jay Nordlinger is expressing outrage.
"At this critical hour, Wisconsin’s elected officials should remember whom they work for. And they should take courage in that remembering. They work for all the citizens, not just the ones who can take time off — paid — to shout and bully."
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Good News From Wisconsin
UPDATE 7:55 PST: Wow. With 70% of the vote counted, Governor Walker leads by 57 to 42%. I believe he only won the state by six points first time around. The recall was a referendum on Walker and his policies, and it looks like the Wisconsin voters are giving him a mandate.
__________________________________________________________
With 33% of the votes counted Governor Walker, and the rule of law, are winning a big victory in Wisconsin--right now it is 59% to 41%, and the networks are calling the election for him.
We have applauded Governor Walker's good-government efforts for a long time. You can see all of our posts on the events over the past two years in Wisconsin here.
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
__________________________________________________________
With 33% of the votes counted Governor Walker, and the rule of law, are winning a big victory in Wisconsin--right now it is 59% to 41%, and the networks are calling the election for him.
We have applauded Governor Walker's good-government efforts for a long time. You can see all of our posts on the events over the past two years in Wisconsin here.
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Friday, March 11, 2011
On Wisconsin (again)
Michael Walsh in the New York Post writing about the deep meaning of the events of the past few weeks in Wisconsin:
"But this fight is no longer simply about Walker's attempt to balance Wisconsin's wobbly budget, or even about whether public-employee unions ought to have the right to collective bargaining -- they shouldn't, and in fact they shouldn't even exist, as FDR himself warned.
It's now about whether we are to have an orderly democracy or legislative and executive anarchy, whether elections can be delegitimized and even overturned by the daily plebiscites of the polls, by the flouting of sacred oaths of office and by the trampling on the laws of the state.
It must stop. As President Obama liked to remind the GOP during the first two years of his administration, elections have consequences. From the Republican point of view, there was plenty not to like about Obama's program, including the stimulus and the health-care bill, but they voted anyway and took their lumps like grownups.
What the Democrats are doing in Wisconsin is more than just a disgrace. It's a danger to our republican form of government, a formula for permanent, no-holds-barred combat long after the polls have closed and the people have spoken."
"But this fight is no longer simply about Walker's attempt to balance Wisconsin's wobbly budget, or even about whether public-employee unions ought to have the right to collective bargaining -- they shouldn't, and in fact they shouldn't even exist, as FDR himself warned.
It's now about whether we are to have an orderly democracy or legislative and executive anarchy, whether elections can be delegitimized and even overturned by the daily plebiscites of the polls, by the flouting of sacred oaths of office and by the trampling on the laws of the state.
It must stop. As President Obama liked to remind the GOP during the first two years of his administration, elections have consequences. From the Republican point of view, there was plenty not to like about Obama's program, including the stimulus and the health-care bill, but they voted anyway and took their lumps like grownups.
What the Democrats are doing in Wisconsin is more than just a disgrace. It's a danger to our republican form of government, a formula for permanent, no-holds-barred combat long after the polls have closed and the people have spoken."
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Good and Better: Obama Refuses to Defend Marriage
It's good because he never was going to anyway. It's better because hopefully now someone really will.
It was obvious from the beginning that President Obama was lying about his support for counterfeit "marriage," and that his justice department was not going to defend marriage. So it is just as well that he has come clean.
Andy McCarthy, writing today in "The Corner" agrees with this:
"On balance, I far prefer that Obama’s Justice Department openly advocates for the outcome desired by Obama’s base, as it is finally doing with DOMA. This way, the court can appoint lawyers who will truly defend the statute with the best legal arguments available.
Obama's action further shows that he, and counterfeit "marriage" supporters know that they are losing. They cannot allow the issue to have a fair hearing--and this is not only true of marriage but of other issues as well.
It is instructive to reflect on how the supporters of counterfeit "marriage" show time and again they have no concern for the right to self government nor for the common good of society.
William C. Duncan, noted this today, writing in The Corner:
"There is something about the marriage issue that provokes an “any means necessary” approach from its proponents (among whom I believe we can count the president, notwithstanding campaign rhetoric to the contrary)."
That's been the case right from the start, when Mayor Gavin Newsom unilaterally and in violation of the law decided to start issuing counterfeit "marriage" licenses.
It continued when opponents of Prop8 filed suit to have the measure removed from the ballot. Prop 8 went to the voters anyway.
It continued when then-Attorney General Jerry Brown changed the title of Proposition 8, in order to weaken support for it. Prop 8 won big despite the change.
It continued when Attorney General Brown refused to do his duty and defend Prop 8, passed by a significant majority of Californians.
It continued in Massachusetts when the state legislature refused to allow the people of the state to vote on a constitutional amendment defending marriage, despite the record number (170+000) of signatures.
This is self-interest denying the common good, and the right of the people to self-government.
I said above that this uncivil attitude of the Left is evident in other issues as well. It is all of a piece of what we are seeing in Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, Governer Walker and the Republicans ran on a platform promising to address the budget crisis and reform the state's government. They won big. What happens? Do their opponents say "This is America. We are a democracy. The people made a choice. We have to abide by it if we are to remain a democracy. We don't like it, but there are other elections, and if we make our case to the people we can win, and then offer our own solutions." Not on your life.
The Democratic legislators try to prevent government by functioning by leaving the state. Teachers Union members walk off their jobs (illegally) and occupy the capitol. Sympathetic doctors violate their professional ethics, and probably the law as well, by writing phony excuses so the teachers can say they were sick, thus defrauding the taxpayers.
President Obama, Congressman Pelosi et al. side with those in Wisconsin, just as they side with those who support counterfeit "marriage." On the other side are the American people.
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
It was obvious from the beginning that President Obama was lying about his support for counterfeit "marriage," and that his justice department was not going to defend marriage. So it is just as well that he has come clean.
Andy McCarthy, writing today in "The Corner" agrees with this:
"On balance, I far prefer that Obama’s Justice Department openly advocates for the outcome desired by Obama’s base, as it is finally doing with DOMA. This way, the court can appoint lawyers who will truly defend the statute with the best legal arguments available.
Obama's action further shows that he, and counterfeit "marriage" supporters know that they are losing. They cannot allow the issue to have a fair hearing--and this is not only true of marriage but of other issues as well.
It is instructive to reflect on how the supporters of counterfeit "marriage" show time and again they have no concern for the right to self government nor for the common good of society.
William C. Duncan, noted this today, writing in The Corner:
"There is something about the marriage issue that provokes an “any means necessary” approach from its proponents (among whom I believe we can count the president, notwithstanding campaign rhetoric to the contrary)."
That's been the case right from the start, when Mayor Gavin Newsom unilaterally and in violation of the law decided to start issuing counterfeit "marriage" licenses.
It continued when opponents of Prop8 filed suit to have the measure removed from the ballot. Prop 8 went to the voters anyway.
It continued when then-Attorney General Jerry Brown changed the title of Proposition 8, in order to weaken support for it. Prop 8 won big despite the change.
It continued when Attorney General Brown refused to do his duty and defend Prop 8, passed by a significant majority of Californians.
It continued in Massachusetts when the state legislature refused to allow the people of the state to vote on a constitutional amendment defending marriage, despite the record number (170+000) of signatures.
This is self-interest denying the common good, and the right of the people to self-government.
I said above that this uncivil attitude of the Left is evident in other issues as well. It is all of a piece of what we are seeing in Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, Governer Walker and the Republicans ran on a platform promising to address the budget crisis and reform the state's government. They won big. What happens? Do their opponents say "This is America. We are a democracy. The people made a choice. We have to abide by it if we are to remain a democracy. We don't like it, but there are other elections, and if we make our case to the people we can win, and then offer our own solutions." Not on your life.
The Democratic legislators try to prevent government by functioning by leaving the state. Teachers Union members walk off their jobs (illegally) and occupy the capitol. Sympathetic doctors violate their professional ethics, and probably the law as well, by writing phony excuses so the teachers can say they were sick, thus defrauding the taxpayers.
President Obama, Congressman Pelosi et al. side with those in Wisconsin, just as they side with those who support counterfeit "marriage." On the other side are the American people.
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Friday, February 18, 2011
Wisconsin Teachers Sick, But Promise They'll be Better on Tuesday
The ridiculousness of the Wisconsin teachers, courtesy Katrina Trinko:
"In Wisconsin, it’s illegal for teachers to strike.
That’s why teachers have been calling out “sick,” instead of declaring an outright strike.
In Madison, schools had to be closed Wednesday, Thursday, and today, due to the number of teachers out.
Must be a plague.
The desperate school district went to court, arguing that the teacher absences constituted an illegal strike.
But Dane County Circuit Court judge Maryann Sum decided today that the teachers’ absences did not count as a strike.
However, Madison Teachers Inc., the union for Madison school teachers, has promised that teachers will return to work on Tuesday."
Plague's over.
"In Wisconsin, it’s illegal for teachers to strike.
That’s why teachers have been calling out “sick,” instead of declaring an outright strike.
In Madison, schools had to be closed Wednesday, Thursday, and today, due to the number of teachers out.
Must be a plague.
The desperate school district went to court, arguing that the teacher absences constituted an illegal strike.
But Dane County Circuit Court judge Maryann Sum decided today that the teachers’ absences did not count as a strike.
However, Madison Teachers Inc., the union for Madison school teachers, has promised that teachers will return to work on Tuesday."
Plague's over.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Totalitarianism Update: Why to Keep Government the Heck Out of Health Care
Venezuela:
Venezuela Bans Religious Education
"A clause in recently-passed Venezuelan education legislation backed by President Hugo Chávez has banned religious instruction in all private and public schools. “We’ll see how we will manage to carry forward education,” said Cardinal Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino of Caracas. “We are going to ask God to help all Catholics, principally those educational institutions belonging to the Church and community parishes.”
Venezuela Bans Religious Education
"A clause in recently-passed Venezuelan education legislation backed by President Hugo Chávez has banned religious instruction in all private and public schools. “We’ll see how we will manage to carry forward education,” said Cardinal Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino of Caracas. “We are going to ask God to help all Catholics, principally those educational institutions belonging to the Church and community parishes.”
Sweden Bans Homeschooling
"The Swedish Association for Home Education (ROHUS) is asking for support from the international community to stop an attempt by the Swedish government to outlaw homeschooling. The new legislation argues that because a child's education should be "comprehensive and objective" it must be "designed so that all pupils can participate, regardless of what religious or philosophical" views of parents or children...
The government's explanation of the draft law says, "there is no need for the law to offer the possibility of homeschooling because of religious or philosophical reasons in the family."
Wisconsin compels parishes, dioceses to provide contraceptive coverage.
"The bishops of Wisconsin have reacted angrily to a new state mandate that compels health insurance providers to include contraceptive coverage in their insurance plans.
“This mandate will compel Catholic dioceses, parishes, and other agencies that buy health insurance to pay for a medical service that Catholic teaching holds to be gravely immoral,” the bishops write. “Only dioceses or agencies that are self insured, such as La Crosse and Superior, are not covered by this mandate. As Catholic teachers and pastors, we strongly object to this blatant insensitivity to our moral values and legal rights …
This mandate violates not just our religious values, but also our constitutional rights.”
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Monday, March 14, 2011
Wisconsin Unions Indoctrinate Kids
What's next, child soldiers? Maybe! Disturbing video taken in the rotunda of the Wisconsin capitol today. Taxpayer funded teachers training students to reject democratic government. Via Ann Althouse:
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH
The most ironic thing about the current situation is that pro-lifers have just been handed a weapon that has enormous power to win this battle. But that weapon will do no good unless we can get the word out about it. What is it? Knowledge.
Scientists have discovered a way of turning adult cells—specifically, adult skin cells—directly into stem cells, without creating an embryo. Robert Lanza, the chief science officer of the cloning company Advanced Cell Technologies, declared that “It’s a new era for stem cells.” He went on to state: “It’s the holy grail. It’s like turning lead into gold.” He’s referring to a new discovery made by research teams in Japan and Wisconsin.
According to Wired magazine: In an unprecedented feat of biological alchemy, researchers have turned human skin cells into stem cells that hold the same medical promise as controversial embryonic stem cells.Two teams of researchers—one led by Kyoto University’s Shinya Yamanaka, the other by the University of Wisconsin's Junying Yu—used a virus to add four new genes to skin cells. Thus transformed, the reprogrammed cells became capable of changing into nearly any cell type in the human body.
This discovery sent shock waves through the medical community. The new technique of deriving stem cells from adult skin cells was so revolutionary that even some of the biggest supporters of ESCR have changed their minds about it.
Remember Dolly? Dolly was the first cloned sheep. She was produced in 1997 by a team led by the English scientist Ian Wilmut. Professor Wilmut is a big supporter of stem cells and is perfectly willing to kill embryonic children to get them. He wanted his new cloning methods to be used to produce embryos so that their stem cells could be harvested. But in the wake of the new discovery, Professor Wilmut has abandoned cloning—not because he cares about killing embryos but because he recognizes how superior the new advance is. As he told the BBC:
The work which was described from Japan of using a technique to change cells from a patient directly into stem cells without making an embryo has got so much more potential.
But not everyone is willing to embrace the new technology. Some are still hell-bent on killing babies to get at their stem cells . . .
“The Game Isn’t Over” The Boston Globe notes that in spite of the new advance:
Harvard, with stem cell funding in excess of $60 million, intends to maintain full-throttle efforts to clone petri dish human embryos, from which to harvest stem cells. This work has so far not been successful, but Harvard scientists also will press ahead with creation of human stem cells from frozen embryos . . .The view that efforts to secure stem cells from human embryos should stay on course is one expressed well beyond Harvard.“It’s very early days, the game isn’t over,” said Christopher Scott, director of Stanford University’s Program on Stem Cells and Society. “It would be folly to shove other research in the drawer in favor of following this one new direction, however promising.”Said Ronald M. Green, professor of ethics at Dartmouth College: “Not to move forward with research” involving human embryos “would be grossly irresponsible.”
You and I both know that the forces of death will stop at nothing in their quest to destroy unborn life. Even when adult stem cells have proven their value over and over again, anti-life activists have insisted on killing embryos as part of their nightmare research program. Why? Because they don’t want to admit that the unborn are human beings worthy of respect and protection. If they admit that in the stem cell arena, they would have to admit it in others—especially abortion. That’s why they can’t let go of embryo research and why they will do anything it takes to get federal funding for it. And in the end they’ll win . . . unless people like us do something about it.
(courtesy CATHOLIC ANSWERS)
Scientists have discovered a way of turning adult cells—specifically, adult skin cells—directly into stem cells, without creating an embryo. Robert Lanza, the chief science officer of the cloning company Advanced Cell Technologies, declared that “It’s a new era for stem cells.” He went on to state: “It’s the holy grail. It’s like turning lead into gold.” He’s referring to a new discovery made by research teams in Japan and Wisconsin.
According to Wired magazine: In an unprecedented feat of biological alchemy, researchers have turned human skin cells into stem cells that hold the same medical promise as controversial embryonic stem cells.Two teams of researchers—one led by Kyoto University’s Shinya Yamanaka, the other by the University of Wisconsin's Junying Yu—used a virus to add four new genes to skin cells. Thus transformed, the reprogrammed cells became capable of changing into nearly any cell type in the human body.
This discovery sent shock waves through the medical community. The new technique of deriving stem cells from adult skin cells was so revolutionary that even some of the biggest supporters of ESCR have changed their minds about it.
Remember Dolly? Dolly was the first cloned sheep. She was produced in 1997 by a team led by the English scientist Ian Wilmut. Professor Wilmut is a big supporter of stem cells and is perfectly willing to kill embryonic children to get them. He wanted his new cloning methods to be used to produce embryos so that their stem cells could be harvested. But in the wake of the new discovery, Professor Wilmut has abandoned cloning—not because he cares about killing embryos but because he recognizes how superior the new advance is. As he told the BBC:
The work which was described from Japan of using a technique to change cells from a patient directly into stem cells without making an embryo has got so much more potential.
But not everyone is willing to embrace the new technology. Some are still hell-bent on killing babies to get at their stem cells . . .
“The Game Isn’t Over” The Boston Globe notes that in spite of the new advance:
Harvard, with stem cell funding in excess of $60 million, intends to maintain full-throttle efforts to clone petri dish human embryos, from which to harvest stem cells. This work has so far not been successful, but Harvard scientists also will press ahead with creation of human stem cells from frozen embryos . . .The view that efforts to secure stem cells from human embryos should stay on course is one expressed well beyond Harvard.“It’s very early days, the game isn’t over,” said Christopher Scott, director of Stanford University’s Program on Stem Cells and Society. “It would be folly to shove other research in the drawer in favor of following this one new direction, however promising.”Said Ronald M. Green, professor of ethics at Dartmouth College: “Not to move forward with research” involving human embryos “would be grossly irresponsible.”
You and I both know that the forces of death will stop at nothing in their quest to destroy unborn life. Even when adult stem cells have proven their value over and over again, anti-life activists have insisted on killing embryos as part of their nightmare research program. Why? Because they don’t want to admit that the unborn are human beings worthy of respect and protection. If they admit that in the stem cell arena, they would have to admit it in others—especially abortion. That’s why they can’t let go of embryo research and why they will do anything it takes to get federal funding for it. And in the end they’ll win . . . unless people like us do something about it.
(courtesy CATHOLIC ANSWERS)
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Wisconsin Senator Grothman Shows Sense & Sense of Humor
He's the state senator being harassed by the Wisconsin pro-public sector union protestors as he tried to enter the capitol to do his job (see previous post).
From today's Wiscosin State Journal:
"Grothman appears to have taken the whole incident in stride. His view of the protesters is that they're mainly university students having fun and 'sleeping on air mattresses with their girlfriends.'
'I really think five years from now most of these people will have a real job and be voting Republican,' Grothman said."
From today's Wiscosin State Journal:
"Grothman appears to have taken the whole incident in stride. His view of the protesters is that they're mainly university students having fun and 'sleeping on air mattresses with their girlfriends.'
'I really think five years from now most of these people will have a real job and be voting Republican,' Grothman said."
Sunday, February 27, 2011
FDR Was Right: Why Public Sector Unions Must Go
Last week we quoted President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on public sector unions. Here are two writers making the same point well.
Ruben Navarette in the Fresno Bee:
"One reason could be that more Americans are figuring out that there is a difference between private- and public-sector unions. In the private sector, what keeps everyone honest is that companies can only be pushed so far or they'll go bankrupt. If this happens, then everyone loses. In the public sector, cities and states don't go bankrupt all that easily and so unions can push and push, and take and take, until a system becomes insolvent."
Professor Thomas J. Lorenzo expands on this:
"When the employees of a grocery store, for example, go on strike and shut down the store, consumers can simply shop elsewhere, and the grocery-store management is perfectly free to hire replacement workers. In contrast, when a city teachers' or garbage-truck drivers' union goes on strike, there is no school and no garbage collection as long as the strike goes on. In addition, teachers' tenure (typically after two or three years in government schools) and civil-service regulations make it extremely costly if not virtually impossible to hire replacement workers.
Thus, when government bureaucrats go on strike they have the ability to completely shut down the entire 'industry' they 'work' in indefinitely. The taxpayers will complain bitterly about the absence of schools and garbage collection, forcing the mayor, governor, or city councillors to quickly cave in to the union's demands to avoid risking the loss of their own jobs due to voter dissatisfaction....
The enormous power of government-employee unions effectively transfers the power to tax from voters to the unions. Because government-employee unions can so easily force elected officials to raise taxes to meet their 'demands,' it is they, not the voters, who control the rate of taxation within a political jurisdiction....
Politicians are caught in a political bind by government-employee unions: if they cave in to their wage demands and raise taxes to finance them, then they increase the chances of being kicked out of office themselves in the next election. The 'solution' to this dilemma has been to offer government-employee unions moderate wage increases but spectacular pension promises. This allows politicians to pander to the unions but defer the costs to the future, long after the panderers are retired from politics.
As taxpayers in California, Wisconsin, Indiana, and many other states are realizing, the future has arrived."
Emphasis added.
UPDATE: Even David Brooks in the New York Times is willing to acknowledge the problem:
"Even if you acknowledge the importance of unions in representing middle-class interests, there are strong arguments on Walker’s side. In Wisconsin and elsewhere, state-union relations are structurally out of whack.
That’s because public sector unions and private sector unions are very different creatures. Private sector unions push against the interests of shareholders and management; public sector unions push against the interests of taxpayers. Private sector union members know that their employers could go out of business, so they have an incentive to mitigate their demands; public sector union members work for state monopolies and have no such interest. Private sector unions confront managers who have an incentive to push back against their demands. Public sector unions face managers who have an incentive to give into them for the sake of their own survival. Most important, public sector unions help choose those they negotiate with. Through gigantic campaign contributions and overall clout, they have enormous influence over who gets elected to bargain with them, especially in state and local races.
As a result of these imbalanced incentive structures, states with public sector unions tend to run into fiscal crises."
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Ruben Navarette in the Fresno Bee:
"One reason could be that more Americans are figuring out that there is a difference between private- and public-sector unions. In the private sector, what keeps everyone honest is that companies can only be pushed so far or they'll go bankrupt. If this happens, then everyone loses. In the public sector, cities and states don't go bankrupt all that easily and so unions can push and push, and take and take, until a system becomes insolvent."
Professor Thomas J. Lorenzo expands on this:
"When the employees of a grocery store, for example, go on strike and shut down the store, consumers can simply shop elsewhere, and the grocery-store management is perfectly free to hire replacement workers. In contrast, when a city teachers' or garbage-truck drivers' union goes on strike, there is no school and no garbage collection as long as the strike goes on. In addition, teachers' tenure (typically after two or three years in government schools) and civil-service regulations make it extremely costly if not virtually impossible to hire replacement workers.
Thus, when government bureaucrats go on strike they have the ability to completely shut down the entire 'industry' they 'work' in indefinitely. The taxpayers will complain bitterly about the absence of schools and garbage collection, forcing the mayor, governor, or city councillors to quickly cave in to the union's demands to avoid risking the loss of their own jobs due to voter dissatisfaction....
The enormous power of government-employee unions effectively transfers the power to tax from voters to the unions. Because government-employee unions can so easily force elected officials to raise taxes to meet their 'demands,' it is they, not the voters, who control the rate of taxation within a political jurisdiction....
Politicians are caught in a political bind by government-employee unions: if they cave in to their wage demands and raise taxes to finance them, then they increase the chances of being kicked out of office themselves in the next election. The 'solution' to this dilemma has been to offer government-employee unions moderate wage increases but spectacular pension promises. This allows politicians to pander to the unions but defer the costs to the future, long after the panderers are retired from politics.
As taxpayers in California, Wisconsin, Indiana, and many other states are realizing, the future has arrived."
Emphasis added.
UPDATE: Even David Brooks in the New York Times is willing to acknowledge the problem:
"Even if you acknowledge the importance of unions in representing middle-class interests, there are strong arguments on Walker’s side. In Wisconsin and elsewhere, state-union relations are structurally out of whack.
That’s because public sector unions and private sector unions are very different creatures. Private sector unions push against the interests of shareholders and management; public sector unions push against the interests of taxpayers. Private sector union members know that their employers could go out of business, so they have an incentive to mitigate their demands; public sector union members work for state monopolies and have no such interest. Private sector unions confront managers who have an incentive to push back against their demands. Public sector unions face managers who have an incentive to give into them for the sake of their own survival. Most important, public sector unions help choose those they negotiate with. Through gigantic campaign contributions and overall clout, they have enormous influence over who gets elected to bargain with them, especially in state and local races.
As a result of these imbalanced incentive structures, states with public sector unions tend to run into fiscal crises."
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Friday, February 18, 2011
More on Wisconsin: FDR on Public Sector Unions
Professor Bainbidge has a GREAT column today called "The Case Against Public Sector Unions." It includes quotations from an article by Political Science Professor Daniel DiSalvo of CCNY.
"Even President Franklin Roosevelt, a friend of private-sector unionism, drew a line when it came to government workers: "Meticulous attention," the president insisted in 1937, "should be paid to the special relations and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government....The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service." The reason? F.D.R. believed that "[a] strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to obstruct the operations of government until their demands are satisfied. Such action looking toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it is unthinkable and intolerable."
Wow. FDR is describing exactly what is happening in Wisconsin. Emphasis added. Professor DiSalvo also quotes a New York state Supreme Court judge, writing in 1943:
"To tolerate or recognize any combination of civil service employees of the government as a labor organization or union is not only incompatible with the spirit of democracy, but inconsistent with every principle upon which our government is founded. Nothing is more dangerous to public welfare than to admit that hired servants of the State can dictate to the government the hours, the wages and conditions under which they will carry on essential services vital to the welfare, safety, and security of the citizen. To admit as true that government employees have power to halt or check the functions of government unless their demands are satisfied, is to transfer to them all legislative, executive and judicial power. Nothing would be more ridiculous."
Wow again.
h/t Instapundit
"Even President Franklin Roosevelt, a friend of private-sector unionism, drew a line when it came to government workers: "Meticulous attention," the president insisted in 1937, "should be paid to the special relations and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government....The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service." The reason? F.D.R. believed that "[a] strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to obstruct the operations of government until their demands are satisfied. Such action looking toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it is unthinkable and intolerable."
Wow. FDR is describing exactly what is happening in Wisconsin. Emphasis added. Professor DiSalvo also quotes a New York state Supreme Court judge, writing in 1943:
"To tolerate or recognize any combination of civil service employees of the government as a labor organization or union is not only incompatible with the spirit of democracy, but inconsistent with every principle upon which our government is founded. Nothing is more dangerous to public welfare than to admit that hired servants of the State can dictate to the government the hours, the wages and conditions under which they will carry on essential services vital to the welfare, safety, and security of the citizen. To admit as true that government employees have power to halt or check the functions of government unless their demands are satisfied, is to transfer to them all legislative, executive and judicial power. Nothing would be more ridiculous."
Wow again.
h/t Instapundit
Yuval Levin on Washington and Wisconsin
The great Yuval Levin, writing at "The Corner" on what the events of this week in Washington and Wisconsin (and Ohio, Idaho, etc) are teaching us: This is a great moment in American poloitical history.
"Too often, there is not much of a difference between the parties, and people inclined to care about policy are driven to call a pox on both their houses. But as this remarkable week has shown, this is not one of those times. The Democrats are shaming themselves on the premise that American voters can’t handle the truth and that there is political advantage in appealing to the country’s worst instincts. Republicans, whether by choice or by default, are taking up the challenge of telling voters the truth about our problems and persuading them that effective, responsible, and gradual solutions are possible — without taking benefits from current seniors and without abandoning our obligation to fellow citizens in need. There have not been many opportunities for conservatives to be proud of being Republicans in recent years, but this week has certainly been one."
Read the whole thing.
"Too often, there is not much of a difference between the parties, and people inclined to care about policy are driven to call a pox on both their houses. But as this remarkable week has shown, this is not one of those times. The Democrats are shaming themselves on the premise that American voters can’t handle the truth and that there is political advantage in appealing to the country’s worst instincts. Republicans, whether by choice or by default, are taking up the challenge of telling voters the truth about our problems and persuading them that effective, responsible, and gradual solutions are possible — without taking benefits from current seniors and without abandoning our obligation to fellow citizens in need. There have not been many opportunities for conservatives to be proud of being Republicans in recent years, but this week has certainly been one."
Read the whole thing.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Global Warming?
"Slovenian Media have reported recommendations of the meteorological institute of Germany, which alarms over the risks of having piercings – the metal earrings on people’s body could cause dangerous freezing."
Ouch!
Other headlines from Drudge:
Life At -78 Degrees In Alaska...
What To Wear...
Wisconsin: Record snow steals spotlight from frigid temps...
Snow continues to trap thousands at Madrid airport
Ouch!
Other headlines from Drudge:
Life At -78 Degrees In Alaska...
What To Wear...
Wisconsin: Record snow steals spotlight from frigid temps...
Snow continues to trap thousands at Madrid airport
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
"Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit" On Fire!
Joseph Fromm, over at "Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit" is on fire this week, exposing anti-Catholic machinations at various Jesuit institutions around the country:
Georgetown University Pays Homosexual Protestant Bishop to Speak to Students
(The absurd Gene Robinson visits Georgetown. You know they wish he was their Bishop!)
Wisconsin Jesuit Celebrates Mass With Woman His Priestly Faculties Suspended
(Guy in Milwaukee suspended at Bishop Listecki's request after celebrating "Mass" with womanpriest. Way to go, Excellency!)
Georgetown Jesuit Community hosts Catholic Anti-Catholic
(Same-sex attracted guy objects to Catholic teaching on same-sex attractedness).
And there's more. Check it out.
Georgetown University Pays Homosexual Protestant Bishop to Speak to Students
(The absurd Gene Robinson visits Georgetown. You know they wish he was their Bishop!)
Wisconsin Jesuit Celebrates Mass With Woman His Priestly Faculties Suspended
(Guy in Milwaukee suspended at Bishop Listecki's request after celebrating "Mass" with womanpriest. Way to go, Excellency!)
Georgetown Jesuit Community hosts Catholic Anti-Catholic
(Same-sex attracted guy objects to Catholic teaching on same-sex attractedness).
And there's more. Check it out.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
More on Biden: Bishop Morlino
From Bishop Robert C. Morlino, of Madison Wisconsin today (h/t Curt Jester):
"Biology not faith, not philosophy, not any kind of theology; Biology tells us science that at the moment of conception their exists a unique individual of the human species. It's not a matter of what I might believe. What my faith might teach me. What other people might ... Science the best science says at the moment of conception there is a unique individual of the human species."
It's the same obvious point we made the day Speaker Pelosi made her appearence on "Meet the Press," two weeks ago today:
"To answer the simple question "When does life begin?" Nancy Pelosi chooses to cite the authority of a bishop who lived 1500 years ago. Madame Speaker, we don't ask the Doctors of the Church to "make that definition." One does not read St. Augustine to find out when life begins. One reads modern textbooks on biology and embryology. And when one does that, one finds out that we do know when life begins."
The Bishop continues:
"Senator Biden has an obligation to know that and he doesn't know it. Again I believe that after the Council some theologians, probably some priests, and some bishops allowed him to be confused about this matter."
Respectfully, we can't agree with His Excellency here. We say of Senator Biden the same thing we said of Speaker Pelosi in the post we mentioned above:
"The fact is that Nancy Pelosi deliberately chooses not to consult the experts as to when a human life begins. She must make this choice because she knows she can only maintain her support for legalized abortion by a deliberately cultivated ignorance."
Biden and Pelosi aren't confused, they're liars. They are engaging in what George Orwell called the "escape into stupidity." They must do that in order to maintain their support for abortion "rights." It is naive to think that if they are just shown the truth of the matter they will change their position. For them, this is not about truth, and they are not acting in good faith. They are politicians catering to an interest group. It's about power.
It's time for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to assert a little power of their own.
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
"Biology not faith, not philosophy, not any kind of theology; Biology tells us science that at the moment of conception their exists a unique individual of the human species. It's not a matter of what I might believe. What my faith might teach me. What other people might ... Science the best science says at the moment of conception there is a unique individual of the human species."
It's the same obvious point we made the day Speaker Pelosi made her appearence on "Meet the Press," two weeks ago today:
"To answer the simple question "When does life begin?" Nancy Pelosi chooses to cite the authority of a bishop who lived 1500 years ago. Madame Speaker, we don't ask the Doctors of the Church to "make that definition." One does not read St. Augustine to find out when life begins. One reads modern textbooks on biology and embryology. And when one does that, one finds out that we do know when life begins."
The Bishop continues:
"Senator Biden has an obligation to know that and he doesn't know it. Again I believe that after the Council some theologians, probably some priests, and some bishops allowed him to be confused about this matter."
Respectfully, we can't agree with His Excellency here. We say of Senator Biden the same thing we said of Speaker Pelosi in the post we mentioned above:
"The fact is that Nancy Pelosi deliberately chooses not to consult the experts as to when a human life begins. She must make this choice because she knows she can only maintain her support for legalized abortion by a deliberately cultivated ignorance."
Biden and Pelosi aren't confused, they're liars. They are engaging in what George Orwell called the "escape into stupidity." They must do that in order to maintain their support for abortion "rights." It is naive to think that if they are just shown the truth of the matter they will change their position. For them, this is not about truth, and they are not acting in good faith. They are politicians catering to an interest group. It's about power.
It's time for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to assert a little power of their own.
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Friday, April 1, 2011
"Who Works for Whom?" Part II
From Stephen Moore, writing in the Wall Street Journal:
"If you want to understand better why so many states—from New York to Wisconsin to California—are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, consider this depressing statistic: Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government. It gets worse. More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined."
What happens when government, which is supposed to serve the people, and arbitrate between competing societal interests, becomes itself an interest group--and further, an interest group that can acquire the citizens' goods by force of law? Many countries have found out, and now we are, too.
"If you want to understand better why so many states—from New York to Wisconsin to California—are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, consider this depressing statistic: Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government. It gets worse. More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined."
What happens when government, which is supposed to serve the people, and arbitrate between competing societal interests, becomes itself an interest group--and further, an interest group that can acquire the citizens' goods by force of law? Many countries have found out, and now we are, too.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
California's Poverty Rate Highest in Nation
The Party of Death holds every statewide office and has supermajorities in both the Assembly and Senate. So why are they not helping the poor?
Aaron Sankin writes in the Huffington Post:
California Poverty Rate Highest In Nation Based On New Census Department Figures
California has a poverty rate of 23.5 percent, the highest of any state in the country, according to figures released this week by the United States Census Bureau.
The only other geographic region with an equivalent poverty rate is the District of Columbia, with 23.2 percent. The second most poverty-stricken state was Florida, at 19.5 percent.
The recognition of California's shockingly high poverty rate comes as a part of a shift in the way the Census Bureau measures its data. When the government began examining poverty back in the early 1960s, the line for determining who fell underneath the threshold was determined solely by looking at food costs.
In the decades since, there's been increasing criticism this benchmark, as it doesn't take into account tax rates and assistance programs such as food stamps, child care expenses and medical costs. In examining its most recent data, the Census Bureau considered these previously ignored factors, deemed the "supplemental poverty measure."
These new metrics have yielded quite different results than in past years. Under the traditional definition of poverty, for example, California's rate is 16.3 percent.
"We're seeing a very slow recovery [nationally], with increases in poverty among workers due to more new jobs which are low-wage," University of Wisconsin-Madison economist Timothy Smeeding told the Associated Press. "As a whole, the safety net is holding many people up, while California is struggling more because it's relatively harder there to qualify for food stamps and other benefits."
The Golden State's jump between the supplemental and conventional measures was the largest swing of any state, and the Sacramento Bee attributes it to California's high cost of living...."
Read the whole thing.
Aaron Sankin writes in the Huffington Post:
California Poverty Rate Highest In Nation Based On New Census Department Figures
California has a poverty rate of 23.5 percent, the highest of any state in the country, according to figures released this week by the United States Census Bureau.
The only other geographic region with an equivalent poverty rate is the District of Columbia, with 23.2 percent. The second most poverty-stricken state was Florida, at 19.5 percent.
The recognition of California's shockingly high poverty rate comes as a part of a shift in the way the Census Bureau measures its data. When the government began examining poverty back in the early 1960s, the line for determining who fell underneath the threshold was determined solely by looking at food costs.
In the decades since, there's been increasing criticism this benchmark, as it doesn't take into account tax rates and assistance programs such as food stamps, child care expenses and medical costs. In examining its most recent data, the Census Bureau considered these previously ignored factors, deemed the "supplemental poverty measure."
These new metrics have yielded quite different results than in past years. Under the traditional definition of poverty, for example, California's rate is 16.3 percent.
"We're seeing a very slow recovery [nationally], with increases in poverty among workers due to more new jobs which are low-wage," University of Wisconsin-Madison economist Timothy Smeeding told the Associated Press. "As a whole, the safety net is holding many people up, while California is struggling more because it's relatively harder there to qualify for food stamps and other benefits."
The Golden State's jump between the supplemental and conventional measures was the largest swing of any state, and the Sacramento Bee attributes it to California's high cost of living...."
Read the whole thing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
