Yeah I was considering posting something about this on the Designated Religion Thread a while back but I decided not too. I work on breaks with this guy who is a really conservative Catholic, and we have had several conversations about the HPV vaccine. Basically his stance is that it should not be mandatory, but of course he also thinks that it's a mistake and that it will promote free love and blah blah blah.
I seriously believe that when people get offended by this, it is often because another barrier to free sexuality is in danger of being broken down. Their non-biblical reasons are in jeopardy, and they want to keep those barriers close. So what do you do when a vaccine is offered that eliminates an STD? Fight the vaccine.
People need to realize that the reason these rules were laid down in the first place is to protect people from certain things. Remove the "certain things", and shouldn't the activity in question be okay?
Now of course, one of my questions is the fact that they are trying to make the vaccine mandatory. Should this vaccine be mandatory? I'm not sure if the government should necessarily force people to take it, but at the same time, should children be exposed to the disease because their parents think it isn't right?
I asked that Catholic guy that if his daughters were raped by a carrier of HPV, wouldn't he feel bad that he denied his daughter the vaccine? He replied something like "Well, the risks of that are very low. You don't see people walking around with hard hats just in case a brick comes falling out of the sky." I didn't think of this at the time, but my response should have been, "This isn't about wearing hard hats in case of a falling brick. This is like putting a hard hat on for about five seconds and then being protected from falling bricks for the rest of your life."
I'm a rather compromised with my religion Catholic young person, and I have absolutely nothing against the HPV vaccine and think that it should be allowed, and probably mandatory. Does that make me weird?
I found a six-leaf clover two weeks ago, and a coworker of mine at the picnic where I found it called it a crime against God has he ripped off the extra leaves.
Interesting that we're all talking about the HPV. As appalling as I find the proposed denial of this vaccine, it is four hundred damned dollars. So even if/when everyone is finished arguing over it, the people at highest risk (girls who have multiple partners in their early teens) are not going to be able to afford the vaccine. Meanwhile, financially-established women in their late twenties/early thirties also can't get the vaccine. Turns out the HPV is only legally FDA approved for women under the age of 26.
It's still sad, though, because that vaccine can still take a big percentage out of the number of people infected every year. Rich girls have sex too, so this will be good for them. As the drug is on the market, ideally it will get cheaper over time and become more available to poorer families. Furthermore, assuming the drug is successful, insurance companies may pay for part of it too.
Here's my take: if the values and/or morals you are trying to instill in your children are so flimsy that withholding life saving vaccinations from them is the only way to keep them from unleashing raw sexual fury upon the world, then perhaps you need to reevaluate your own skills as a parent and not force other, better behaved children with better parents to suffer because you can't pray all the hormones away.
Here's my take: if the values and/or morals you are trying to instill in your children are so flimsy that withholding life saving vaccinations from them is the only way to keep them from unleashing raw sexual fury upon the world, then perhaps you need to reevaluate your own skills as a parent and not force other, better behaved children with better parents to suffer because you can't pray all the hormones away.
Very well written, I have to say. I'm impressed. Concise and biting.
Indeed, and another point brought up in the article that I think bears repeating: What if that God-fearing daughter did everything right, saved herself for marriage, and then married a guy who had HPV?
Well if she married a good Christian boy, then she wouldn't have anything to worry about, would she?
A very nice bit of the article that I found really insightful:
"Anything that has the slightest remote possibility of making sex outside of marriage a safer activity is what they're against."
Again, the argument would either be the above, or maybe the old "brick falling out of the sky" argument. The chances that the guy she marries would lie to her about his sexual history is so slim that blah blah blah.
I wish we had vaccines for more STDs. I would have been so pissed if I didn't have sex with anyone before I got married, and I would like those who wish to follow the same option to be able to do so without worry.
"When the constable arrived at the house," Detective Inspector Bernie Hollewand told a press conference in Auckland "he found a heated domestic dispute taking place between a husband, his wife and their teenage son. After remonstrations with the couple proved futile, he decided to use his Taser weapon to disable the man. But unfortunately these electronic stun guns are still in the testing phase amongst frontline police in Auckland and we occasionally experience problems with them.
"His first 50,000 volt shot from the Taser missed the husband and hit the cat, killing it outright. The second hit the teenage son, knocking him to the ground. A further shot also missed the target, and when the constable tried to remove the Taser's spent cartridges, he forgot to wait for the weapon's 5 second discharge cycle to complete, and inadvertently blasted himself with another 50,000 volts. When he had recovered and reloaded, he fired another two shots, both of which missed and hit the ceiling. At this point, he abandoned his Taser and took out his pepper spray in another attempt to disable to husband. Unfortunately, this too missed and its target, and instead disabled the couple's 21 year old daughter who had just entered the room. Luckily, at this point, the husband decided to give himself up and an arrest was made.
The thing I don't like about the hpv vaccine is that it's only been tested on 11,000 women between those age ranges over the last five or so years. Given that there were only about 3000 deaths from cervical cancer last year, what's the chances of any one group of 11,000 women getting cancer over five years? I just feel it hasn't been tested fully enough to make it mandatory. I don't think it should be denied or stopped, but since we don't even know the long term effects yet and it doesn't protect against about 30% of the types of cervical cancer I wouldn't want to be mandated to take it.
oops. sorry for the confusing wording, there. I'm a guy. I just read somewhere that they're thinking of giving it to guys as well to prevent them from being carriers of hpv. But since they haven't tested it on guys yet (to my knowledge) it'd take quite a while before they'd do that.
TACOMA, Washington (AP) -- A woman admitted Monday that she coached her two children to fake retardation starting when they were 4 and 8 years old so she could collect Social Security benefits on their behalf.
Rosie Costello, 46, admitted in U.S. District Court that she collected more than $280,000 in benefits, beginning in the mid-1980s. Most was from Social Security, but the state social services agency paid $53,000.
Costello pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government and Social Security fraud. Her son, Pete, 26, pleaded guilty earlier this month. Federal prosecutors in Seattle said Monday authorities had not yet located her daughter, Marie.
According to the plea agreement, Costello began coaching her daughter at age 4, and later used the same ruse with her son. He feigned retardation into his mid-20s -- picking at his face, slouching and appearing uncommunicative in meetings with Social Security officials.
Social Security workers became suspicious and uncovered a video of Pete Costello ably contesting a traffic ticket in a Vancouver courtroom.
Pete Costello is scheduled to be sentenced May 11 and faces from six months to a year in prison, as well as $59,000 in restitution.
Rosie Costello is scheduled for sentencing May 17. Her standard sentencing range was not immediately available, but in the plea agreement she agreed to repay the government.
Comments
I seriously believe that when people get offended by this, it is often because another barrier to free sexuality is in danger of being broken down. Their non-biblical reasons are in jeopardy, and they want to keep those barriers close. So what do you do when a vaccine is offered that eliminates an STD? Fight the vaccine.
People need to realize that the reason these rules were laid down in the first place is to protect people from certain things. Remove the "certain things", and shouldn't the activity in question be okay?
Now of course, one of my questions is the fact that they are trying to make the vaccine mandatory. Should this vaccine be mandatory? I'm not sure if the government should necessarily force people to take it, but at the same time, should children be exposed to the disease because their parents think it isn't right?
I asked that Catholic guy that if his daughters were raped by a carrier of HPV, wouldn't he feel bad that he denied his daughter the vaccine? He replied something like "Well, the risks of that are very low. You don't see people walking around with hard hats just in case a brick comes falling out of the sky." I didn't think of this at the time, but my response should have been, "This isn't about wearing hard hats in case of a falling brick. This is like putting a hard hat on for about five seconds and then being protected from falling bricks for the rest of your life."
Well, there's more to it than that.
Turns out: The Pharm company that manufactures the drug paid off the Governor. And got caught.
Yeah, yeah, I know.... technically this was legal. But still, you gotta love competing interests in politics!
Who do ya love more? Money, or crazy people that'll vote for anything as long as it has a Jesus tag on it?
Very well written, I have to say. I'm impressed. Concise and biting.
A very nice bit of the article that I found really insightful:
Again, the argument would either be the above, or maybe the old "brick falling out of the sky" argument. The chances that the guy she marries would lie to her about his sexual history is so slim that blah blah blah.
I wish we had vaccines for more STDs. I would have been so pissed if I didn't have sex with anyone before I got married, and I would like those who wish to follow the same option to be able to do so without worry.
Rip: Mittens
2004-2007