Thursday, May 29, 2008

Give Us This Day Our Daily Fisk

I was gonna leave this one in the comment thread under which it was posted, but some things deserve a spot on the front page.

I got this gem of a comment from one "Patrick Orr", commenting on this earlier post about the two medical "professionals" in Gloucester, Massachusetts who resigned over not being able to give birth control pills to young teenagers without their parent's consent.

I am sure you are aware that it is Massachusetts state law that when a woman of any age asks a doctor to not tell the parents that they are receiving birth control it is ILLEGAL for the doctor to tell the parents. IT IS ILLEGAL FOR THE DOCTOR TO TELL PARENTS A CHILD HAS ASKED FOR BIRTH CONTROL.


Ah, yes. Massachusetts General Law: the universal Yardstick of Common Sense, with which everything in the world should be measured. I hardly have the time or the energy to compile a list all the ass-reamingly idiotic laws on the books in that state. Illegal sales of plastic slingshots and cranberry sauce come to mind.

this is not the issue you conservative hack.


Wrong. Parental rights is the issue.

it is not about whether a parent should know or not, since the government has decided that it is a child's right to be private,


And, therein lies the underlying flaw of your entire argument (and liberalism as a whole), the belief that the government knows best, and that the people are to accept, without question, whatever actions and edicts their "progressive" overlords foist upon them, for the "common good".

Other things that the government has decided to have been "rights" of the people include:

...the right to enslave people who look different
...the right to drink from separate water fountains, so as to be free from Negro cooties
...the right to vote without having your vote canceled out by that of a bunch of uppity womenfolk
...the right to go to prison for consuming alcohol

Now, tell me, where does this "child privacy" argument stop? At what point does a child no longer have the "right to be private"? Would you argue that underaged children have the right to seek breast augmentation surgery without their parents' knowledge or consent? How about a good old-fashioned genital piercing?

I won't even bother to ask where you stand on allowing underaged girls to get abortions without parental notification.

If standing up for the rights of parents to raise their children with minimal interference from the government makes me a "conservative hack", then I will wear that appellation with pride. Better that than a mindless, liberal slave to the collectivist Establishment.

...but rather the issue is what the most effective way to stop the pregnancies is, and in this case offering (not without validation and counceling) birth control is the most effective means.


Explain to me the difference between remembering to take a pill every day and remembering to put on a condom before having intercourse. If the Boston Globe survey I cited earlier is even close to being accurate, then I have to call into question your definition of "most effective".

Are you arguing that a 15-year-old girl can be trusted to take her pill every day, without fail, but that a 15-year-old boy cannot be trusted to put on a condom before sex?

I'd argue that neither group possesses the maturity or sense of responsibility need to make these decisions. If you feel differently, please let me know, because to see double standards coming from such a "progressive" as yourself would really be a first.

Not.

If availability of birth control was the key to reducing teen pregnancies, we wouldn't be having this discussion in a country where condoms are as readily available (and as affordable) as a pack of baseball cards.

Putting birth control pills in the hands of a young teenager and sending her on her way, thinking you've just prevented her from getting pregnant, is to deny reality and logic the opportunity to enter into equation.

it is disgusting that some idiot (You) who knows nothing about the issue and refuses to investigate more can go ahead running their mouth when they are so uninformed.


What's "disgusting" is how ready and willing some "idiots" (you) are to surrender their personal responsibility and individual sovereignty to the State, and expect the rest of us to be OK with it when the State comes to take ours by force.

And, hey, if you think "investigating" the issue is what we all need to be doing, start by investigating who these guys are who are raping out underaged daughters.

Last up, for 50 bonus points, try to guess how many kids our friend Patrick has. I guessing (and hoping) the answer is zero.