leh-nerd skin-erd

Ah--you nailed it! "....makes sense to me..." That's my point. On the individual level, it's all about what "makes sense to me". Your perspective on politely telling the unclean "good bye" is what it is. From my perspective, it's amazing how emotion and reasoning can swing the pendulum. Back a few years when Obamacare was the rage, one of the hot button issues was "pre-existing conditions". Politicians raged about it, citizens clamored for pre-existing conditions to be covered, and next thing you know, we've collectively saved, among others, the person capable to purchasing health insurance but who(m) had other priorities for their money and enver thought they would need it. Now, a few short years later, we have a vaccine that by definition is voluntary, a leadership group that refused to mandate for all and instead chose the death by paper-cut route, segregating the masses into subcategories by the type of work they do, and the same folks bemoaning pre-existing conditions are all for chucking the sick into the sewer--even though the sick were guaran-damn-teed coverage under the ACA. What a world.

Big picture, maybe or if you prefer, sure. On an individual level, the risk-reward analysis usually boils down to “What’s in it for me?”. If I was a younger man, I cannot say with certainty that I would not consider the relative risk of getting COVID, the significant likelihood of a mild case/complete recovery and/or being asymptomatic, the relative risk of developing a heart condition from a vaccine (or dying from the virus) and simply deciding “F it, I’ll get vaxxed because some old guy told me I should.”. Hell, I did it as an oldster. When I factor in all the noise that has gone along with the virus and the vax, the latest “Moderna may not be all we thought it was—sorry!” the complicated and often hypocritical evolution of pandemic management and the death and suffering we see now amongst the Vaxxed, I’d be even less inclined to trust without question and take my chances, which we probably both agree are heavily in my favor either way.

This topic always brings me back to the beginning. The under 30 crowd is generally at very low risk to begin with. A vaccine is developed, marketed at lightning speed, and the pitch is the vaccine(s) are safe, secure and no need to look further. Turns out for some, healthy as a horse to begin with, they roll the bones and end up at a Moderna-vax facility, take the jab, and it turns out to be a bad choice. Had they rolled the bones on a different day, or lived in a different city, they go to a Pfizer-vax facility and as of today, it appears safe(r). Of course—stay tuned. I get the very low risk angle, but why accept the risk at all? Aren’t they always out there, the deaths of those without unhealthy behavior? I think that’s already a thing.

Well, to be a bit more accurate, I commented on the subject raised by the OP, specifically commented on the actions of the Church, and asked him a question related to the subject he raised. As to widening the scope of the post, perhaps I did. I’m perpetually amazed as to how history repeats itself, and wondered specifically what Tibs thought about this latest crop of abusers and the institution(s) where the abuse takes place. I’ll discontinue that discussion. As for letting “the RC off the hook”, I made no such suggestion and in fact my posts signal quite the opposite. Your comments in this post follow your original query “Other people do it so it’s not so bad?” which also misrepresented what I said. It’s obvious that this is a hot button issue for you, up to and including a link for me to potentially uncover secrets I was previously unaware of. Of course this presumes I haven’t done this previously, or that I was unaware of the existence of this type of material, or that perhaps I fell asleep on the side of a mountain in the Catskills and have been in a blissful slumber for the last 30 years. None of that is accurate, but thanks for sharing. I’ll move on, but to be 100% crystal clear, the actions of priests guilty of sexual abuse against anyone, at any time current or past, is/was a crime that should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and the law is generally insufficient to address the damage done by these people. The actions of the Church hierarchy, actively or passively involved in the abuse, manipulating data, covering up abuse, relocating abusers to work in/around other families is/was criminal and should be/have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. At the end of the day, faith and prayer and the decent people within the Church has provided comfort to billions of people across the world since the time of Christ, and the systemic abuse scandal is a stain and blight on everything good that the Church has ever done. It’s an absolute and utter disgrace. Oops—I went off topic again. We are supposed to be discussing “Clergy = Conservatives”.

Sorry Reddog, I have to disagree with you here. The byproduct of sexual assault by a public/private school employee results in suspension and jail time today, in 2021. Historically that has not been the case, at least not in large enough numbers to compare to what we see today. The sad reality is this likely has alway been a problem and like the issue with the church, and the Boy Scouts, and USA gymnastics people (fellow faculty, administrators and quite obviously other students) knew or had suspicions that went unreported. The bigger picture seems to be that the number of cases is massive, underreported and likely systemic. I heard one time from a former Disney employee that Disneyworld is a predator playground, but the fallout is carefully controlled by the corporation, police and media because of the harm it would do to the community. Again, there are many good and dedicated educators in the country, but is there training and screening to knock out folks with the tendency to abuse? I’d think this would be a very good subject for some intrepid and ethical journalist to cover, but I’d bet it would be unpopular with lots of people to have that light shines on them. Finally, I grew up in and around the Catholic Church, was an altar boy, my first job was with our local parish. The priests I encountered were good human beings and to my knowledge never were accused of wrongdoing. It is heartbreaking to think of how badly the church bungled this issue and every bit of media scrutiny and push for accountability is warranted.

Part of the challenge for you JaCrispX is you’re asking questions about things that were said previously and that you may have believed to be accurate. That’s frowned upon, scientifically speaking.

@Sundancer says that Sweden is the new Venezuela.

I’m sending them the virtual GFY message.

Acknowledged. That side involves projections, charts, statistics, and the pure cost of the process. I'm not so interested in the bureaucracy and number crunching, but I'm a real crackerjack on the empathy side of things. It's one of the primary reasons I became an organ donor to begin with when I was 16 or 17. What I do know is that prior to the decision by the provider to cast the patient down to the sodomites, the patient was in line for life saving treatment. That involved time, effort, planning, choosing a provider, striking a home/life/work/treatment balance and what was likely a substantial emotional investment, and the providers were down for the ride and all that came with it--emotion, strategery, planning and of course---revenue. Then, suddenly, all bets are off. That's got to be pretty devastating. I saw this story today: https://www.foxnews.com/us/colorado-health-system-denies-kidney-transplant-unvaccinated August, good to go. September, go to h***, but hey, we feel really, really badly about having to tell you to ^%&^ off. It's ghoulish, but as I said earlier, business is business. As for me, I'm likely to continue to be a donor but I'm at the stage of my life where I realize if you don't push back in whatever way, shape or form you can things don't change. It bothers me to think that my contribution to the cause might well bypass a deserving father, mother, brother, sister or child simply due to their decision not to submit to a voluntary vaccination that's been politicized from the start. So, I'll keep an eye on it, at least while my eyes are still in my skull.

I have a question on this very matter, but before that I’d simply like to point out that most of the RC families I grew up with and around were Democrats. Admittedly, not today’s version of the Democrat, but dem none the less. I think that’s pretty common. Now, onto my other question. The sexual abuse is horrible and a stain on the church. It’s caused many people to reevaluate their relationship with the RC Church, and certainly many to leave it. There is, however, a disturbing trend in public education. A quick google search will lead to hundreds, if not thousands of stories of criminal sexual abuse by teachers and other care givers in our public (and private) schools. After the very well documented issues with the Catholic Church, why is this not a major, mainstream topic? The vast majority of teachers are dedicated educators and decent people, but there clearly is a problem with the vetting process based on the number of incidents we see. On top of that, there seems to be no process whatsoever to ascertain who knew what, who should have known what, and who may have seen something and said nothing. Is it that no one in the MSM or public office has noticed? In cases involving female teachers and male students, is it considered a lesser crime? Or, is it simply a matter of brand loyalty and protection of the brand? A few years back, a former teacher from WNY was involved in a murder/suicide and apparently was a well known abuser from back in the 70s and 80s. The Buffalo News did a quick story about the allegations…then nothing. Of course if it happened then, it’s likely happening now. Thoughts?

Vaccine über alles.

The business side of medicine can be cold. Some people live, some people die, and someone is always charged with figuring out who makes the cut. It’s interesting to me, however, that the donor side of the equation relies on emotion to compel individuals to participate. Personally, I’m not certain this particular approach will encourage more people to sign up, or have the opposite effect. I’m also left to wonder if changes will be coming to the harvesting side of the equation. How ironic would it be if a family member of the author of the “You didn’t make the cut” letter posted above was saved with a donation from someone who was vax hesitant? Worse yet, imagine the trauma she might face when rejecting a donor organ that might save a loved one—her child, partner or spouse—-when she realized it came from one of the unclean?

I read the post, but thank you for the CliffNotes. As for the vaccine not being controversial, welp, it seems to me we got a whole lotta something going on given the massive number of unvaccinated people we have in this country.

We’re now up to comparing a person who chooses not to get a controversial voluntary vaccination with a person with an unmanageable dependency to alcohol? Holy cow. This reads more like a letter from an old English Lord who has claimed the noble right to bed another’s wife than a compassionate caring health care professional. Then again, medicine at its core is big business and who knows what they stand to gain (or lose) from this. In fact, this letter would be an excellent prop in a movie about corruption, death and despair in a hospital in any large city. I am an organ donor and have been for decades. Frankly, if this is the path to be taken, with human beings exercising free will being judged unworthy and cast asunder, I may have to reconsider.

If only we knew where to find these people here in violation of our laws…

One of the realities we all live with is that we really can’t trust anything coming out of this entire process. Speaking from my perspective only—that of a 60ish year old male, in good physical health, who got the vaccine early on and who has been getting the flu shot for about 7 or 8 years—there is plenty of reason to doubt the “death from COVID” v “Death with COVID” v “Death maybe with COVID” count. I’ve seen estimates that true COVID counts are 30% lower than advertised, and that would not surprise me in the least. Add to that that the optics of Fauci et al and their involvement with the lab where this all started, the fact that it took months for the relationship/alliance to be revealed, the refusal to discuss lab leak v bat bite theory early or morphing into “well maybe” later on, and the apparent lack of any interest in any ongoing public review or how the $&@& this happened to begin with makes me very cautious about what to believe. Put another way, I have no faith in the vax v unvax death count, and asking folks to just the data is asking far too much of me.

Again.

I’m wondering if the Rs missed the “We want to be friends again” ♥️ shaped note from the Dems. Or maybe it’s the tax increase they aren’t crazy about. Or maybe it’s just plain old “Go &$#@ yourself” politics in play. It happens, it’s pretty much business as usual, and nothing to get all turnt up about.

Ruff way to go.

That seems sort of arbitrary to me, because with politicians you rarely know what they believe v what they say. Biden and company suggested the vax should be viewed with suspicion of developed and administered under the prior administration. Do you think they believed that? Did they have insider information on contraindications with the vaccine that they are hiding from us now? Biden just implemented a pseudo-mandate for some Americans, demanding employers require vax under threat of massive fines. Did he do that so when people have reactions to the vax the Admin didn’t trust just 11 months ago the govt had plausible deniability? Biden has indicated that black folks who didn’t support him aren’t black at all. How can he shepherd with an eye toward the greater good when he lacks a fundamental understanding that sharing skin pigmentation does not require that people walk in lockstep? He has something to do with the legislative agenda, no? Why you figure no one worried about his history of that sort of rhetoric and his history of legislation? Seems far more dangerous than some dipshyt who struggles with basic biology.

Your multi-post point boils down to “people say dumb things.”? A governor from Virginia claiming to be for the people dressed in black face as youngster, pretended maybe he didn’t, and spoke eloquently about snuffing the life of a baby born alive. People say dumb things. Some will be Republican. Some will be Democrats. Some will be independents. Yes, the people writing the laws should be heard from, and frankly, those ignoring them should be held accountable. Sometimes neither happens, mostly because people do dumb stuff and say dumb things. Expanding a bit, people of all races,color, gender and creed say and do dumb things.

Freaking high school career assessment tests in the 70s! Turns out I would have been a great journalist. Based on 9th grade alone I’d have probably won a Pulitzer.

The challenge is you’re framing the argument from your perspective only. The anti-vax or vax hesitant are no less concerned about the public, friends or family than you or anyone else, they simply don’t trust what they are being told. Some of that distrust is based on the history of our country, some based on the history of this particular virus, some based on the politicization of the virus, some based on the questionable management of the virus etc. Some, of course is because people weigh out the impact of maybe getting sick with COVID, developing natural immunity and the relative risk factor to themselves. My youngest finally got vaxxed this week, he’s young, healthy and recovered from COVID a few months back. He loves and cares about people and his community no less than anyone else. Ironically, he has felt pretty nasty post-vax, chills and a nasty headache.

Which, of course, isn't a mandate at all, rather a selective mandate, targeting some, ignoring others, all leading and contributing to hesitancy and distrust of public officials. Step up, Kathy, and have the moral courage to mandate the vax for all NYers. Fill in the gaps created by BIden and his silly 100+ employees pseudo-mandate vax shenanigans.

Ah then def spend the money. Fun fact- You can milk anything with a nipple.