The health care bill got to 60 votes by bribing… er, um… providing an anti-abortion Senator with needed money for his state. But winning passage of the bill like this obscures the question of whether abortion should be part of government funded health care since the opposition is religious in nature and abortion, like fixing a broken bone, is legal.
What started as Sen. Ben Nelson’s personal stand against covering abortion with taxpayer money translated, somehow, into millions of dollars in federal aid for his home state.
The Nebraska Democrat, following weeks of negotiations with his caucus, finally agreed to back the Senate’s health care reform bill this weekend after Democratic leaders made a series of concessions. Nelson’s support gives Democrats the 60 votes they need to overcome a filibuster, barring any last-minute defections.
But critics by Sunday were heavily questioning Nelson’s motivations, given that the abortion restrictions he sought and won did not satisfy several major anti-abortion lawmakers and groups and that it took a major federal payoff to his state to seal the deal.
#19-Obamaforever
Excuse me for noticing, but it appears the cheese has slid off your cracker.
From: Obamaforever
To: Dr Dodd
per #21
Don’t choke on my cheese you rat!!!!!!!!!!!!
#22-Obamaforever
Oh come on, you call that an insult. At least make it worth my time.
Amaze me!
#17 I bet you have all your upper front teeth angled forward. I mean, with all the thumb sucking you do.
#19 I agree, you should have been extracted before term.
It galls me that Nelson gets bribed like this but I suppose we have to pay-off the bastard for the sake of average Americans who are being killed (often literally!) by the insurance companies.
But this should be the last damn penny Nebraska gets — and not a another dime for Lieberman, Mary Landrieu or any of the pissant GOP.
>> # 1 Animby said, on December 20th, 2009 at 8:17 am
>> Another reason to vote out all incumbents.
For the love of Country, don’t vote out the candidates who tried to fix this disastrous health care shakedown the conservatives have gotten America into.
Some of our elected leaders did the moral and fiscally responsible thing — vote out the bastards who serve the big money insurance companies.
This includes ALL of the GOP and a handful of conservative Democrats
From: Obamaforever
To: Dr Dodd per #23
Let’s see said the blind man to his deaf son. Dr. Dodd, the best part of you ran down your old man’s leg and your momma licked up the rest.
You wanted an amazing good insult!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If it’s covered, it should only be for cases of rape, incest or if the mother’s life is in danger if she were to carry to term. Other than that, they can come up with the money themselves.
This is a recognized medical procedure. It is very legal. A woman’s health is something between her and her health care professional. The same as Dr. Dudd’s little weenie is between and and two fingers, it is no one else business.
Dr. Dudd,
If you wish to claim abortion is murder then so be it. I guess we could also suggest that believing in an invisible man in the sky is classic delusional behavior and worthy of a mental health hold. Before you hurt yourself by thinking your invisible man will save you instead of showing some self responsibility.
#27 Obamaforever
Are you talking about insults? Did you not see my earlier thoughts about you?
Here is a reprint of me, from the “lemonade stand” thread, dominating you. No response then on your part so I thought I would let you have another opportunity to respond:
Now, as they say in politics, to my esteemed friend Obamaforever. You have obviously mastered no arguments, facts or figures. You can marshal no blistering offense and cannot mount a convincing defense.
When you see an argument that you disagree with you ought to respond to it with rhetorical strength AND poise.
What you’ve got right now is without content. There are a bunch of people here who I disagree with completely, but at least I respect their ability to explain(or have) a viewpoint.
/end snip.
I was just worried you had missed it.
From: Obamaforever
To: Chris per #31
Dr Dodd, PhD in Stupidity, wanted an amazing good insult. He got one and he has not been back.
Heart attack? If there is a god!!!!!!!!!!!
bye, Church Lady
Dr. Dodd,
I don’t think abortion is murder, but since you do it’s a pretty hard gap to bridge.
I do wonder if you think it’s still murder before the fetus could live(assisted or unassisted) outside of the mother’s body. This is why abortion is more regulated in the third trimester(by some states). Since technology has improved since then maybe we should push the restricted period back…
I think women should have the right, absolute, to remove a fetus they don’t want. If the state doesn’t pay for abortions does it have to pay for a method of extraction that keeps the fetus viable?
What it boils down to, in my view, is if/when an embryo/fetus deserves legal respect. I think not until birth.
If you think legal personhood goes further back then where is the transition? If the “morning after” pill is bad, for you, how do you argue that something microscopic should have legal rights?
Here we go again!
http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/anti-tales.html
“In 1990, in the Boston area, Operation Rescue and other groups were regularly blockading the clinics, and many of us went every Saturday morning for months to help women and staff get in. As a result, we knew many of the ‘antis’ by face. One morning, a woman who had been a regular ‘sidewalk counselor’ went into the clinic with a young woman who looked like she was 16-17, and obviously her daughter. When the mother came out about an hour later, I had to go up and ask her if her daughter’s situation had caused her to change her mind. ‘I don’t expect you to understand my daughter’s situation!’ she angrily replied. The following Saturday, she was back, pleading with women entering the clinic not to ‘murder their babies.’” (Clinic escort, Massachusetts)
This is a woman’s health matter, not birth control. I don’t expect the unintelligent to understand that yet… but maybe one day.
#29 Mr Fusion: I respectfully disagree with your contention that because abortions are (actually “may be”) legal procedures, they should be covered. If you mean ANY legal medical procedure should be covered, then I withdraw my disagreement. But, in the real world, if I want this bump removed from my nose, then that is an elective procedure and my insurance wouldn’t cover it. Likewise, if a woman wants that bump out of her belly because she’s not sure who the daddy is, then that, too, ought to be an elective procedure. Now, if someone punches me in the nose for thinking Soundwash is an idiot, then that trauma should be covered. Similarly, if a woman is raped or the pregnancy threatens her life or health (yes, even mental health), then it should be covered.
I don’t wish to bring in my own morality here. I have done a few (very few) therapeutic abortions in my life. It is the women who use abortion as a form of birth control who piss me off.
BTW, if elective abortions are covered, then I submit, elective sterilizations (women AND men) should also be covered.
Anyone willing to murder their own kids most likely needs their genes removed from the gene pool; That is it will improve the species.
I don’t want to pay for it. I don’t want to be a party to murdering babies.
Use birth control or take a morning after pill.
My exceptions to this is rape or a reasonable expectation that the child will have one or more birth defects.
For elective abortions not for one of the two listed reasons I’d prefer the uterus be removed with the fetus.
36 deowll,
You’re the neo-prototypical Ameurikan…
Outside of your the penis + vagina + sperm deposit = baby theorem, you fail to understand nuance vis-a-vis human reproduction.
Since you’re an obvious mental retard, let’s rephrase the situation: A uterus belongs to a woman. Men put sperm inside with techniques such as guile, lies and deceit, and even terror. Sometimes, they use the “marriage” term. Regardless, a woman doesn’t get pregnant without a sperm donor (read: male). If the male uses false pretenses (read: I love you baby / I’m raping you for the nation of _______) should the woman then bring the pregnancy to term unwarranted because another closet homosexual “Christian” Amurikan thinks “thats the way God loves it”?
Yeah… no.
Deowll, why don’t you have your negro neighbour bang your mom (too late!) until she gets preggers. Then come back and say “OH! I love babies!”
#29 And? It doesn’t matter if it’s a recognizable medical procedure. It’s a choice, so you pay for you life choices.
Ah, but you’re too lazy to actually work. Now I see your true nature. You want a government that pays for your every whim.
I love this lazy lefties.
#37 I would have gladly subsidized your abortion. Too bad that cannot be made now.
38 pedro,
Well, you’re obviously only a partial abortion. You win some, you lose some.
#35, Animby,
Comparing a pregnancy to a bump on the nose is disingenuous.
If anyone has a medical condition that requires medical assistance then it should be covered. Every State and Province will put some onus on the mother if she does not seek any medical care during pregnancy and there is an issue after wards.
The same as if that bump on your nose is causing any problems or is a growing tumor then yes, it should be cared for. If it is a small, <1cm lipoma then there is no medical reason to treat it.
I have yet to hear any compelling argument that an abortion should not be considered even if it is used as a birth control. All abortions are none of mine or your concern. They solely belong between the patient and her physician.