Matthews: Government Support for Family Planning "Sounds Like China"
By Heather Tuesday Jan 27, 2009 5:30am
You Tube
On Hardball while discussing the aid for family planning included in the stimulus package, Chris Matthews says that government support for family planning "sounds like China" to him. Robert Wexler attempts to reason with him and explains that proper funding and education in this area actually increases people's choices and ultimately reduces medical costs. Rough transcript:
Gingrey:...I mean we're throwing away, gosh I think that there's two hundred million dollars in there for family planning and contraceptives. Now indeed that may stimulate something but I don't think it's going to stimulate the economy.
Matthews: Well Congressman Wexler why isn't it just, why isn't it just what we thought it was going to be...infrastructure, roads, bridges, stuff that everybody agrees on needs to be fixed and creates real jobs for real people that pay decent salaries. Why don't we spend all the money on that stuff that people can see rather than all these odds and ends and cats and dogs? I mean the bill has so much in it you think it's just a shopping list of the Democratic party. That's what it looks like.
Wexler: No. No.
Matthews: Everybody that wants something has something in here.
Wexler: No what the Obama administration is arguing, and I believe they're correct is that three quarters of the money spent in this stimulus package will be out into the economy in eighteen months and I realize it's easy to find one item or this item but even, let's talk about that family planning. Family planning saves if done correctly an enormous sum of money down the road in the health care system. But back to your original point. Most of the money goes to building roads, bridges, infrastructure projects like my friend Mr. Gingrey said. As the states will have designed them and local governments as well will have designated them.
Also in terms of building schools. We desperately need to upgrade our education systems. We have enormous amount of resources devoted towards construction projects and public education as we do in terms of alternative energy sources. We are going to invest enormous sums of money in creating green jobs which have the benefit of employment increases as well as leaving our dependence on foreign oil. This is exactly what the country needs combined with three hundred billion dollars plus of tax cuts which affect ninety five percent positively of the American family base.
Matthews: I don't know. It sounds a little like China. I, Congressman Gingrey I think everybody should have family planning. Everybody believes in birth control as a right. I'm for abortion as a right and all that. It's all right. But why should the federal government have a policy of reducing the number of births? I don't know why the federal government has an interest in that. They have an interest in freedom and people making choices but I just heard a case made by Congressman Wexler that it was in the national interest to have fewer kids. I don't understand that. (crosstalk) What did you mean by that? What did you mean by that? Why is it an economic stimulus...why are we talking about family planning as an economic stimulus program...(crosstalk).
[...]
Wexler: Chris you are right family planning is a personal choice and in order to make personal choices people need to have both education and resources. And when they lack an education or know how or resources in effect then they're choice is negated. And in terms from an economic analysis to give people choices that in some instances based on personal choice will reduce health care costs in the future, that of course then reduces the burden on federal tax payers. This is not a new concept. This is what we run the government on. If we can reduce Medicaid expenditures by giving people more knowledge and choice and resources I think most people regardless of their ideology would say that's a good economic decision.
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...is a dumbass.
but this time...not so much...
He reminds me of someone I worked with years ago...really smart on paper, but half the time they spoke, you just gotta shake your head, because they say powerfully dumb shit.
Just when we thought we detected signs of intelligence with Chris, we find out it was a false return.
I'm all for family planning, and it's idiotic to compare it to China, but I don't see how it's going to put Americans to work or save their mortgages.
... is at least $1000 a month in expenses. That's a good-sized chunk of a mortgage payment.
You know, thanks to the neo-liberalism that both parties have bought into for the last few decades, at least, we can't seem to make sense of a government who takes care of essential services. It's foreign to us. We've gotten to the point that if something doesn't create jobs it's "waste". So, if we fund a library we might not create jobs, is it "waste"? Is people becoming educated a waste? Population growth is something that puts a strain on our financial resources and the environment, it makes economic sense (long term economic sense, I know long term economic planning is suppossed to be so 20th century) to invest in this.
China, by the way, is a good example anyway. I teach in China, there are over 30 cities with over a million people, if the economy doesn't grow at around 10% a year there is social unrest, because the growth of population and consumption, and that is WITH the one child policy. Population and consumption growth is something that we as human beings are going to have to deal with, or we'll destroy the environment we need to survive. The problem is that conventional wisdom within DC and the media is logically absurd, so words like "China" are suppossed to be arguments by themselves. We can't have universal healthcare, even if 2/3's of Americans want it because it's "socialism", and all that.
Someone brought up that idiot Norah on MSNBC yesterday, when she had a graph showing examples of "waste" and listed increased funding to schools. This is an example of "waste" to these millionaire pundits. The reason why no one said a damn thing really about the corporate looting in recent years (decades really) is because these media is owned by giant, well off corporations and their millionaire pundits' salary is paid by these swindling corporations. You and I don't think like and have different interests and needs than the crooks in DC and the media. What is "centrist" to us, the public according to polls, is "far left" to them, and they control the flow of information, you don't.
The media is the most counter-revolutionary force in Latin America today. It is the megaphone of the rich and powerful who own the media. It is no different here, and never has been.
When you get pregnant you get fired. That's how.
The Republicans and the corporate media are clearly pro sexually transmitted disease and forced pregnancy.
Pope Ratzi's forced pregnancy rule and China's one child rule are of course the only choices the corporate media can comprehend. It makes an extreme conflict and conflict makes news.
uh...where I work, the mother and father both get six weeks off. Minimum.
Family Medical Leave Act.
...in Florida. The general populace is just plain stupid and doesn't know how to plan for children, assuming they make any plans at all. They need to be reeducated after 8 years of Bush's funding of misinformation.
...him and are sick and tired of your solutionless corporation cocksucking trickle down bullshit. And Matthews, there are people all over this nation who need and are entitled to assistance from their government regarding the choices and consequences relating to family planning. What a self-serving asshole.
Matthews is a complete and absolute ASSHAT.
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Perfectly put.
Honest question: would people start taking contraceptives if the government pays for it? I've come here over and over to defend Obama from what I believe to be a bunch of unhappy cry babies no matter what, but I'm fumbled about this. How is this supposed to help our economy?
In addition to all that 14all said, yes, some people will start taking contraceptives if they haven't had the capability to pay for them before. I mean, if you have $20 left in your pocket, are you gonna buy milk and bread or birth control pills?
In the long run, family planning makes a lot of sense. In terms of the economy... Less unplanned children on welfare and more jobs in the family planning industry. And morally... If a poor woman feels that bringing a child into a world where she won't be able to feed it is a fate she cannot deal with, abortion looks like a good option for her.
For those right to lifers, this should really be a good thing.
I agree, it should be a good thing. But I'm not holding my breath waiting for their blessing. Typically, the anti-choice crowd is against any kind of sexual education or contraception. They aren't really as interested in preserving life as they are in controlling behavior.
I agree with you on contraception, and I think many right to lifers would too, but it does not address the issues that are had with the abortion support that some family planning centers facilitate. But we need something NOW. Consider the energy issues et al at a later date. And call me crazy, but I think instead of a check, a visa card with the capped funds be issued, not checks. Use them within 2/3 months or lose the funds. And being considered "middle class" (though I don't always feel we are, but if I need to use a label according to Obama numbers), I have no problem not receiving such funds if it goes who truly need it and it will get us out of this mess. I do not object to my tax dollars buying someone a condom. But support a partial birth abortion, no way.
I just can't understand how paying for birth control pills would make someone more responsible. I'm a guy, but shouldn't those pills be prescribed by a doctor? This is not like handing out condoms, this is medication that affects the entire body of a women. Moreover, I don't understand how someone can have a child without some kind of planning. I believe that the crap from the Bush administration was garbage because abstinence does not solve the problem, but in the other hand, there has to be some individual responsability. Why does everyone has to be so extreme? There has to be a middle ground that makes more sense.
You don't need a doctor to prescribe the pill. A RN could do it-- all you need is a brief medical history. As long as you don't have a history of strokes, blood clots and are under 35, the pill is safe. It fools the body into thinking it is pregnant. Health insurance does not cover birth control pills. Viagra, yes. The Pill, no. They are trialling this in the UK. You don't understand how someone can have a child without planning? Well, I wake a 5 year old example of this every morning for school.
access to family planning helps in terms of prenatal care, which in turn helps reduce the number of premature, preventable (w/medical intervention) adverse medical outcomes for newborn infants.
elections have consequences. we need strong, sharp advocates on media circus with a big bag of facts, quick on the draw and able to hit the target--and push back on the diversionary tactics.
growing weary of these either it's this or it's that black/white arguments not being smacked down.... choice= china; stimulus for works programs = socialism...the majority voted for change; wants medical health care, affordable education, a decent lifestyle (ie, jobs and stable economy) and an end to the war
I have a 4 year old that came unexpected as far as real planning goes, but I knew the possibility and was ok with the idea because I would have avoided if I knew I couldn't raise a child. Can't other people do the same? Since when your 5 year old is the government's problem? And how is your lack of plans my problem?
What's your point, nyguy?
You asked what this has to do with the economy, and it was answered. I.E. you know what really screws up a young, working class kids plan? Getting pregnant.
Yeah, almost everyone knows how kids are made; but there is a lot of misinformation about prevention. For example, did you know that taking antibiotics will decrease the effectiveness of the pill?
It's called public health. It's a good idea.
No, using my money for birth control under the disguise of economic stimulus is not a good idea. I don't agree that birth control will reduce economical problems because it will avoid people from going into welfare. I work 14 hours a day, I've been unemployed and worked at a McDonalds to make ends meet. I did not accept that my son could be deprived of anything because I lost a job. Is it hard? It's damn hard not to have food into your stomach and work sick, but it was worth because at the end of the day I knew he was taken care of. Everybody goes through difficulties and while I believe that the government has to help people who cannot help themselves, the one thing that will get people off welfare is to make sure legibility is verified.
In my job I serviced lots of projects here in NY and there is nothing worse than knocking on people's door at 10 am and having then giving you an attitude because you woke them up that early when they don't even have a job. You go inside the apartment and all this welfare paper is sitting on a table among bottles of booze. Kids having roaches crawling on them. And it's not an isolated case, it's happening at an alarming rate.
I will never forget one time this lady who must have been 80 years old taking about 15 minutes to answer the door and once I got into the apartment it was spotless. She was just finishing sweeping the floor from her wheelchair and when I asked her, she told me that the government would not have a nurse or a home assistant to help her for at least a few hours a day. Right next door there was this unemployed douche who must have been just over 25 still sleeping and then getting pissed at me for knocking on his door and waking him up. The apartment was filthy and I was getting paid by the government to provide services. So give me a break, I believe I have the right to question this after getting home from a full and a part time job.
I was in a position to raise my kid whether I planned him or not. All children should be the government's problem or priority rather, if we are going to live in a civilized society. Other people are not as lucky. I live in a country that has socialized medicine as well, and it still has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe. I'm American by the way, and the idea of babies in dumpsters appalls me. If writing some family planning provisions goes to make a better society, so be it. You started sounding like an asshole downthread talking shit about "my tax dollars" blah blah blah. Guess what, I pay loads of tax to support things I may disagree with, but it's a part of livinh in a civilized society.
Check the growing statistics on the number of unwed mothers seeking
aid from government social services. Consider the health concerns regarding AIDS.
EDUCATION AND MEDICAL PROGRAMS WORK:
Reduce the spread of AIDS.
Reduce the number of births.
Look around. If you are an average American, you and those you know, use birth
control. Why? And if you didn't imagine what your life might be like................ 6 children
instead of one or two. Now take another look at your paycheck and think of having
to support a much larger size family with it.
ALL AMERICANS need be educated about the responsibilities of making
choices and be offered the means to make the best ones.
Sex Education and Safe Sex Methods are important for all of us.
You know what is funny about this is that the birthrate among white Americans has become so low it is below the + 2 children per family that we would need to sustain our population.
This is a bit of an Occum's razor. It does contribute to a declining birthrate which will accelerate the demographic changes we're already seeing in this country.
Don't jump on that argument as being racist. It is a sociological observation. See "Idiocracy". As silly as the rest of that movie might sound, the first ten minutes are actually a demographic essay that identifies why we became the way we did 500 years from now: through breeding rituals or the lack thereof.
This country and our planet need fewer people in it.
for one, not everything we spend is going to result in growth in GDP. If we fund, as I said above, libraries (so they aren't closing left and right across the country) we might not see a growth in GDP, but is eduacation and knowledge not a positive externality? Have we sunk so low as a country, and expect so little from the institution that is SUPPOSED to represent collective will, that the spending we justify is what increases our GDP?
It'funny, it's said that the right wing's economic and social philosophy was rejected in recent years, but it obviosly hasn't been. A basic tenent of "libertarian" or "free market" economics is that private institutions should be the ones to deliver social services and the government should do nothing more than create a good environment for commerce. The old left thought that government should take care of basic services (because in the end they're far better at it than the private institutions and the market), and that its principal role was to create a better society for as many people as possible. In other words, recources first went to necessities like healthcare, education, a clean environment. Luxuries (which are the foundation of an economic system for the rich) are taken care of after the necessities. That is obviously gone now. MSNBC yesterday said that school funding was "waste", the "libertarians" have obviously won. Let's give some more tax cuts, so the financial markets can create ficticios and un-erned wealth (which necessitates keeping wages low, you have to create a "good investment climate"), so the economy can grow again and we can all buy more junk. Cause the economy as its currently structured will not grow along with increasing wages, unless more fundamental changes occur, and the corporate media would loose their marbles if that happened.
In the environment we're in now, the only way to grow is to go into more debt to banks and large investors. If we don't offer IR higher than inflation (whic means overall we can never pay back the debt outside of inflating ourselves out of it and ruining our economy), don't keep wages down and cut social spending, we're creating a "bad investment climate" and investors will go elsewhere. God forbid that horrible set up be questioned.
Did Gingrey really say, "spade ready projects." No body ever used this phrase rather than shovel ready. This guy is being wily.
Now I know why Obama kept his organization going after he won the election. The blatant obstructionism of the Republicans will need a whole lot of pushback from the voters, and we will be able to do this via the infrastructure that was set up during the election.
And while, as a landscaper, I know the difference between a spade and a shovel, I doubt that he was referring to the shape of the digging implement here.
Tweety, grabbed a napkin to wiped away
his spittle and yelled,
"1 + 1 = 3"
...Chris Matthews is teh stupid.
The family planning education and services must be delivered by someone. It will create jobs for these someones. Many of the construction jobs created by the stimulus package will go to men; here's a group of jobs that will probably go to more women than men.
And if it results in some people making smarter economic decisions--say, waiting until they're in a better financial position to have children--then it will reduce credit card debt and similar drags on the economy. Sounds like the stimulus package is part of an overall plan to bring us into the 21st century. Of course, some idiots like Chris Matthews will have to be dragged kicking and screaming.
Massive military buildups sound Chinese
Discriminatory policies sound Nazi
Encouraging excessive births within families sound both Nazi (as long as they're "Arian," and like a Ceasescu policy
What's tweety's point?
abortion rights for women. he has repeatedly portrayed them as benefitting professional women and aren't willing to subject themselves to the 'inconvenience' of being pregnant.
tweety has severe issues with women.
Totally. He practically froths at the mouth everytime Hillary Clinton's name is mentioned.
I ♥ Robert Wexler, though.
Any confusion over this man's lock-step devotion to the party is gone now. Re-Thugs UNITE!!
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Oopsie, "Aryan."
Just when we thought tweety has finally seen the light.... ugh.
Does he fail to see that his comparison to China in this regard is just ridiculous. This is not the government FORCING people to have less children. This is an opportunity for government to help people who WANT to take advantage of family planning services... for people who want to act responsibly and not bring children into an overpopulated world.
that it's three middle-aged white men yammering...
isn't that always the way; kinda reminds me of this:
http://home.comcast.net/~atrios/bush_signs_ab...
Three middle-aged white men yammering...
Sounds like the title of a play.
Thanks thee gawds we don't have that bastard in the WH any more.
didnt this family planning program start under nixon in the 70's? and we all know repubs want to be involved in everyones life i mean focus on the family is right in the middle of every families business. anyway repubs still havent figured out preventative care.
Has tweety never heard of Thomas Malthus?
He wrote a book entitled An Essay on the Principles of Population.
He felt those who couldn't afford children shouldn't even get MARRIED.
Those who were already married, and only could afford the kids they had should STOP HAVING SEX.
Talk about government intrusion.
suffers from MYOPIC GRAND-STANDING here. Pick ONE TINY DETAIL... and scream bloody murder!
OF COURSE population control is an economic issue.
OF COURSE family planning is important for ALL LEVELS of society.
OF COURSE it would take a complete DUMBASS to equate this issue to Chinese population control... because the truth is no Republican politician in this country has ever taken on the responsibility of population control. The Chinese might not be doing it effectively, but at least they recognize it as a very important issue... and worthy of FEDERAL consideration and the creation of a national program to address it.
.
....doesn't matter what age they are, or if they can't even take care of themselves, or if they know the last name of their partner that they met, oh, HOURS before the royal conception,...
I know wars bring on baby booms, but isn't that usually because the population is decreasing from massive casualties. What is it these days? Lack of identity? Nothing to do? Identity crisis?
It's the biggest elephant in the living room.
I am glad that I am nearer to the end of my life than the beginning.
There are already too many homo "sapiens" for the world to support.
Already millions are starving and fighting over water sources.
So let's force women to be the breeding machines that GOD intended.
I remember the photo-op of smiling white men gathered together in a celebratory manner after banning late term abortions.
It's nobody's business but a woman's whether to breed or not.
I see not having bred more humans as one of my successes in life; only one adopted son.
As someone who hardly saw his hard-working, but frequently absent, father, I vowed at a young age, to not have kids until I was better-equipped to be there for my kids. At 45 and still scrambling for a steady, good-paying, stable job that keeps me close to home, I remain childless. And my family name dies with me. But I stand by my decision.
As you must realize.
Fortunately, I'm a bastard.
Tracked down the primary suspect as to my sire; was having medical problems and sought medical history.
One of his first questions he asked of me:
"Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?"
That was the first and last time I spoke to the man.
But I'm proud of my last name...and I would like to spawn at least one child.
Sorry to hear about your dad being a jebus freak...
That's my story.
I'm sticking with it. :)
Population Explosion
They're certainly having one in Iraq and Gaza.
If a sperm gets wasted, Chris gets quite irate.
Perhaps he is concerned who will create the next generation of poverty stricken youth that will help us liberate the rest of the middle east?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kJHQpvgB8
Thanks ys! The part where the newborn child drops from between the Mom's legs while she's fixing dinner, and she casually asks one of her 29 children "Would you get that for me dear?" is one of my favorite scenes in a movie.
It would have made a good intro for Chris' segment. Might have altered the discussion a little.
Too bad Thomas Malthus doesn't have a video on YouTube.
"Look, there's your other brother- 'Will Work for Food Jr'.
F'ing classic!
Bottom line, birth control does not force someone not to have a child, it just gives them a choice.
Re-Thuglic men just love to control women's reproductive choices for them. Just like we aren't able to handle this end of things ourselves.
Why is it no one ever makes this point? that they aren't called on this need to control women's bodies and choices? That's what this is really all about - their precious male appendage - the one they've got a death-grip on inside their pants.
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The stim pack can be gutted of sewage and drinking water programs, because it is better to give tax cuts to the wealthy. Now, generally, the wealthy invest their money overseas so as to avoid paying taxes, so that's money that gets pulled out of the system, but that's good.
Now, part of the money goes to family planing. That helps control unplanned population sprawl, as well as the spread of STD's. Somehow, *that's* highly suspect?
The book "The Price of Right" by Alicia Morgan, in the first chapter, actually gives a very good breakdown of why, to the right, spawning your own herd is a good thing and therefore a moral obligation. The short answer is, those are your traditional roles, therefore you keep society safe by acting your part.
People buying things they can't afford - high home, car, credit card, etc, payments they can't make. Children are no different in being a high financial responsibility, except taxpayers often pick up the expense when those personal financial obliglations are not not met. Wait a minute, I guess that is true for those other things now, too. Never mind.
..$200 million for contraception. I thought that was debunked already even after Sen. Boehner opened his yap. But seriously folks, what would be wrong with making sure people who needed condoms, or other forms of contraception, got them or it? Wouldn't have a positive affect on eliminating teen pregnancy, unwanted pregnancy, lower health care costs, help eliminate STD's, AIDS, etc.? All the money isn't for contraception but some of it going in this direction will help.
What doesn't the reichwing elistist pigs NOT get about the fact that providing birth control is FAR less expensive than the $140,000 it takes today to raise a child?
Bull-pucky! These fake Republican conservatives are moronic. Or maybe they're hoping for abstinance among the masses? Not going to happen. Up front protection (not to mention the spread of AIDS) is far less costly than paying for the feeding and clothing & healthcare of a child until he's an adult. Their twisted and idiotic logic never ceases to amaze me.
a simple example. Take a population and put it in a bottle with a non renewable resource. That population doubles every day until finally they die of starvation in their own shit. On which day was the bottle half full Chris? I'll help, the day before the last day. This is not a hypothetical, it's called making carbonated beer.
Isn't it amazing what egotistical aspirations to public office can do to an otherwise "bush voter"? Case in Point: When Tweety, the Bird, was contemplating running as a Democrat for the Senate not too long ago, he was acting like a liberal. Now's he's barely a democrat.
How the worm turns when egos aren't involved. Maybe he's not considering running as a Republiscum instead?
Get a life, Tweedy, before you lose your viewers!
Just because Tweedy's now over the hill sexually and can't relate to the need for "family planning" (and too elitist and rich) doesn't mean that there are people out there "in need". It goes without saying that if someone can't afford birth control, they sure as hell can't afford having another mouth to feed.
What doesn't simple-minded Matthews NOT get about that fact?
The thing about Tweety is that he opens his mouth before he thinks. The people at MSNBC are painfully aware of this. I just think that he was talking and listening about Government/contraception/family planning and the thing that came to mind was China and the "one kid" deal so he just blurted it out and went with it. He should have been educated by Wexler.
"Well Chris, this has nothing to do with what China is doing regarding population control. This is about giving women choices. If you give women choices there will be less, much less, unwanted pregnancies. If a women has a child that they are not prepared for it can be a huge financial burden on her, her husband/boyfriend/father of the child. If that woman knew how and had an opportunity of making a choice then a lot of unwanted pregnancies would be averted. This has nothing to do with population control Tweety. It has nothing to do with the China model. Shut up and think before your open your yap."
Well, Tweety doesn't have to worry anymore. Obama's dropping the birth control provision. Another cave-in to the minority Republicans.
Phil Gingrey was the best Tweety could do as a guest? Yeeks. The guys an idiot from Georgia (which of late is pretty redundant
http://wtc.laibach.org/en/product.cp2?guid=9D...
That's pretty clever. "If you think the price is too big, click HERE."
Or "Send one to an Enemy"
NSK and laibach are quite relevant in today's world.
Difference is the doctor prescribes his. He has a problem he controls with pills. So we must discount his inability to feel anything.
Chris: Note to you. Republican governments want families to overpopulate, which means have too many mouths for their ability to feed; so that they will fan out and go into the military.
If we control the number of children, prosperity rises in families and they become better educated. Everyone knows that a person with a future won't go into the military and get killed. Why, LOOK at yourself Chris! You're ANOTHER MEMBER of that elite, well funded group of spoiled babies that pontificate and attempt to rule the land but never served in military.
Yellowbird is exactly right.
Margaret Sanger wrote in 1920:
"What are the concrete things which the worker can gain at once through birth control? First, a small family can live much better than a large one upon the wages now received. Workers could be better fed, clothed and educated.
"Again, fewer children in the families of the workers would tend to check the rise in the prices of food, which are forced up as the demand increases.
"Within a few years it would reduce the number of workers competing for jobs. The worker could the more easily force society to give him more of the product of his labor--or all of it.
"And while these things are taking place, the slums, with their disease, their moral degradation and all their sordid accompaniments, would automatically disappear. No worker would need to live in such tenements--hence they would be modernized or torn down. At the same time, the few children that were being born to the workers would be stronger, healthier, more courageous. They would be fit human beings--not miserable victims of murderous conditions."
She also quoted Napoleon, "the archetype of the militarists of all nations, calling for "fodder for cannon":
" 'Woman is given to us that she may bear children,' said he. 'Woman is our property, we are not hers, because she produces children for us--we do not yield any to her. She is, therefore, our possession as the fruit tree is that of the gardener.' "
(From Woman and the New Race, 1920)
Gotta keep pumping out those Wal-Mart and McDonald's workers, not to mention all those expendable soldiers!
I gotta agree. Chris is a good interviewer. Sadly, nearly every time he interjects an original idea it sounds as though he were really stupid.
Chris should do us a favor and actually learn what the relevant points are about the topic he is discussing. Any damn fool can get paid the big bucks to shoot their mouth off with impunity as if they were some expert. And sometimes Matthews is just a damn fool just like his obtuse and obstructionist comrades in
Pravdathe MSM.Is it tough to understand that unintended pregnancies, STD's, contraception, post/prenatal care, women's health, etc...., are a huge part of health care costs? So the Right detests abortion and we have empirically-based way to reduce amount of abortions and not surprisingly, the Right is totally against it. "God doesn't like contraception and reproductive health care!!"
And Matthews "China" analogy is so misguided. This is what he does when he thinks he's being clever, he spouts off at the mouth without thinking through things. This is exactly the opposite. This is the government supporting education, choice (ie democracy) and health.
To me, that is infrastructure.
Gingrey: I've heard Nancy Pelosi explain it. I still don't get it.
I really appreciate Wexler continuing to talk to these idiots as if they are grown-ups. Of course spending money on contraception and family planning education saves money. Who can't understand that?
And besides, leave it to these fuckwads to talk about 200 million dollars out of an 800 BILLION dollar stimulus package.
Yeah, drop .025% out of it, then it will be fiscally responsible, you pea-brained shit-stains.
Japanese businesses are giving their workers shorter hours to procreate, and over here, it's don't you dare. I'm sorry, but I don't buy all this BS at all. What kind of an idiot needs gov't financed organizations to help them with family planning? Anybody over the age of 13 knows if you have sex, contraceptives or not, there is a risk of pregnancy. If these people are that dumb, then maybe they shouldn't be allowed to create anyway. Why not. The gov't is already butting their noses in. What is the worst thing that can happen if this part of the bill is excluded? A massive birthing spree? And that will kill the economy? Well hate to break it, but the economy is already screwed. Anybody stupid enough to start planning for a family when they have no job, is beyond help.
To ConcernedCanuck, you apparently don't get it either. After eight years of a government promoting abstinence only education, too many young people do not have the knowledge that you attribute to them. Too many young people don't practice safe sex, and don't believe they will get pregnant if they're just having sex once, or just putting it in a little bit, or of course practicing the pull and pray method. Many women don't have health insurance and go to family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood for basic gynecological services such as routine pelvic exams and the like, that they can't afford to obtain otherwise.
It's ironic that the same people who scream at the top of their lungs about the irresponsibility of people having children who can't afford to support them, are now screaming about funding a program that would educate those same people to be more responsible in their reproductive choices. And by the way, $200 million dollars in a country of over 300 million people, is a drop in the bucket. Get over yourself.
You'd be surprised how many people 13 and over don't understand how you can get pregnant. I wouldn't call these people stupid, but ignorant and stupid - ignorant are two different things. I am sceptical of the whole "population overdrive" thing because in Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Australia, no one seems to be having kids. Scotland is facing a crisis because there are not enough people having children to support the state pensions. This isn't the case in the USA, but not all women can get the Pill, an IUD or other contraception due to the cost.
This is a tricky situation all around. I worry less about pregnancy because one can have an abortion, and I worry more about STI's and AIDS. If the government's offer of family planning reduces teenage and unwanted pregnancies, I am all for it.
....why not require the drug companies that make Viagra, Cialis and Levitra to stop all of their ubiquitous advertising campaigns and donate the money saved to health education and health care for the women who currently need the help???
In addition, family planning also sounds like socialism, terrorism, atheism, Islamofascism and immigration. Further, it encourages homosexuals to threaten freedom and the American way of life.
I see Tweety is still on the RNC mailing list. There is absolutely nothing in the stimulus proposal that implies a government mandate on births a la China. I heard this morning they're dropping this from the stimulus plan anyway. I guess the Reps think abstinance is the best way to stimulate the economy.
Matthews and Gingrey have both bought into the belief that wearing a condom is a sin, so it's no wonder they can't get a grasp on family planning.
The whole discussion was simply ridiculous.
What the FUCK does China have to do with this?
Matthews really just spew whatever air was most recently blown up his dress.
Try changing Chis's statement to,
What sounds like America ? No family planning ? No Gov't ?
Um tweety...don't ask us what you smell like.
Oh Tweety, Tweety, so incredibly clueless, so prone to getting the vapors...
There's no similiarity at all between China's mandatory childbirth limits and the very prudent idea to give poor and working class women & families the tools they need (education and if needed, help with the actual prescriptions) to POSTPONE not ELIMINATE our pregnancies, ya idiot!
Lots of young women of childbirth age (like myself even) would not mind a little assistance in postponing starting our families (like myself) or adding to our families (like many of my friends and acquaintances who already have small children)in order to give our current little ones the best quality of life possible under current cirmcumstances, and until we can give our future little ones the best prenatal care and quality of life possible.
Again, what planet are these talking heads and Republicans on, 'cause I'm not convinced it's Earth.
Matthews develops tin-earitis about 50% of the time, and this is one. I saw the episode and couldn't believe what I was hearing from him (well....I could believe it because of the 50% phenomenon...). I also guess that Tweety feels he has to to come off like some neanderthal Con from time to time....
always periodically says something that makes sense to maintain the illusion with his viewers/listeners that he isn't a wingnut. The birth of a wingnut needs ignorance.
one of the primary countries benefitting from the destruction of the United States.
that perhaps, just perhaps, china is starting to sound a little bit like us instead? planning means just that; readying oneself for something by altering the set of parameters, utilities, logistics, tactics, what-have-you, to best cope with changed circumstances.
in some circles tweety, it's called "using your common sense to plan ahead for a situation". but then again, you wouldn't know about that, would you tweety? only commies plan ahead or have common sense huh?
When any of these three talkling heads, has to go through childbirth and care for a child for a lifetime, then he will be allowed to comment. The GOP wants poor people to beget more poor people. Then, there will be a working class that has no education, no rights, and is too tired to fight back. Chris, if this were China, the evil doers who have committed crimes against the state would be executed. Spiking infant formula with melamine is horrific. However, waging a war on a country that didn't attack us and suffered at the hands of a dictator that we created is terrible. I guess that Chris is longing for the past in The Grapes of Wrath when poverty took away people's dignity and extra children were needed to replace the one who starved to death.
When any of these three talking male heads, goes through a nine month pregnancy, gives birth, and is responsible for a child's health and welfare until at least 18, then he can comment. So this is China, Chris? In China, people who commit crimes against the state are executed. Spiking formula with melamine is terrible. Attacking a country populated by people who did not attack us and who lived under a dictator who we created and to whom we gave weapons of mass destruction is also horrible. I guess that poor people should beget more poor people so that there is a large pool of tired, uneducated, and hopeless workers to make money for office decorating CEO's and overeager, but well-dressed, predatory bankers. Chris, I know that you long for the days of The Grapes of Wrath. Then you had to have a few extra children to make up for the ones who starved to death and weren't entitled to any dignity because you weren't job worthy. What a nice Norman Rockwell moment! The air of bipartisanship is filling the land.
The dude is so right on. It's totally like China. That's where chicks have to have abortions because the communists said so, not because the guy who owns the place where they make all the Wallmart stuff won't hire pregnant chicks. Does Wallmart hire pregnant chicks? Who cares. Now I wish these stoopid chicks would deal with thier slut stuff off line and let us dudes deal with important stuff like rebuilding the roads so we can drive to all the new bikini espresso stands. I wonder if those places hire pregnant chicks?
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