Originally Posted By mele It's funny how cities get a reputation/image that really has nothing to do with the city. States too...just ask New Jersey. ;-)
Originally Posted By mele This is funny: <a href="http://www.gadling.com/2011/04/11/us-map-of-stereotypes/" target="_blank">http://www.gadling.com/2011/04...eotypes/</a>
Originally Posted By TomSawyer I wouldn't be surprised if the GOP leadership says "None of the above" at their national convention and drafts someone like Jeb Bush.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "Rick Santorum" spelled differently is Rani Rock Smut. I think he's an Arab porn star. It's also Rani Stock Rum. I think he gets drunk on cheap liquor. It's also Iran Cum Stork. I think that says it all right there.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Yet another story (I've read about this issue before) regarding Santorum's connection to a shady hospital chain: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/rick-santorum-uhs-hospitals-patient-rights_n_1276403.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...403.html</a> <> Rick Santorum-Linked Hospital Chain Saw Suicide Attempts, Abuse, And Loss Of Parents' Rights 02/21/12 WASHINGTON -- Three weeks ago, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) canceled campaign events in Florida on the eve of the state's primary to be with his ailing daughter in a Philadelphia hospital. His three-year-old, Bella, has a genetic condition that can be fatal and had contracted pneumonia. On the phone from his daughter's hospital room, the presidential candidate told reporters, "It's been a very hectic 36 hours." Bella recovered, but Santorum rejoined the campaign with his daughter's health still on his mind. Stumping in Minnesota, he insisted that children like his daughter who are on the "margins of life" would not get adequate medical attention under President Barack Obama's health care reform law. He went so far as to invoke former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's infamous charge that the federal law would create bureaucratic "death panels." "In top-down, government run systems, patients become commodities, and their value is based on their usefulness to society," Santorum elaborated to The Huffington Post. "Often times, those with special needs are not viewed as 'useful' by society's standards -- and far too many like our little girl have been forced to receive inadequate care and in many instances no care at all." "We need a health care system that provides consumers the best choices for the best care available. These choices should not be left in the hands of bureaucrats to judge an individual's value. Instead we should place that choice in the hands of the consumer -- the children and the parents -- who can make the best choices for their individual circumstance." "Put simply, a patient should be the decision-maker in their care -- not a government or bureaucrat." Despite his advocacy for patients' rights and his stake in providing care for severely vulnerable children, Santorum has avoided discussing another personal experience with the health care industry. From 2007 through the first half of 2011, Santorum served on the board of directors of Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS), one of the country's largest hospital chains. According to the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, as of Feb. 28, 2011, UHS owned 25 acute care hospitals and 206 behavioral health centers located in 37 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Many of those facilities include or are classified as residential treatment centers (RTCs) -- secure facilities charged with the difficult task of treating children with severe mental-health or behavioral issues, many of whom are living very much on the margins of society. The RTCs make up a significant part of UHS' business portfolio. The UHS board on which Santorum served is partially responsible for general management of the company's operations. Santorum declined to comment on his work at UHS or the company's RTCs. RTCs are often last chances for kids who haven't adjusted to foster care or who come from the juvenile justice system and are at risk of possible mental health problems. Although the process varies from state to state, children are generally sent to residential treatment centers by child-welfare agencies or juvenile-justice authorities. Parents sometimes turn to these facilities on their own as well if there are no other options that their insurance will cover. The centers tend not to produce a lot of happy moments -- those that a presidential campaign could highlight in a stump speech or a cheery video. The Department of Justice is close to settling with UHS over allegations that it committed medicaid fraud in one of its RTCs. The DOJ settled a case with the company in 2009 for $27.5 million over allegations that it bribed doctors to get them to refer patients to hospitals in Texas. Various state authorities have penalized UHS facilities with serious sanctions, suspending their licenses and barring them from receiving Medicaid reimbursements. In several incidents, staff and patients have been implicated in criminal activity ranging from rape to homicide. The Huffington Post has documented these incidents in a series of stories on Santorum and the hospital chain. Placing children in an RTC, away from home and in the care of strangers, can be hard on parents even when things go well. In a majority of cases, the RTC is the last option offered by their insurance and only after less severe options have been tried. It doesn't mean they give up their rights as parents, however, just as with other hospitals. They get to make decisions about things like medications, and can generally remove their children at any time. But in interviews with HuffPost, two families of former UHS patients treated at the company's RTCs voiced a common complaint -- a feeling that their parental rights stopped at the facilities' front doors. They recall RTC staff limiting communication with their children, flouting parental consent, and brushing off their attempts to monitor their loved ones' care. They all say that their troubles started soon after their children were admitted. ON NEEDLES AND PINS In the fall of 2008, Candace Touchstone, 38, brought her 11-year-old daughter (who asked that her real name not be used to protect her privacy), to UHS' Timberlawn facility in Dallas, Texas. Touchstone says her ex-husband had been physically abusive to her and their child when their daughter was five. Her daughter had struggled with the memories, becoming more and more withdrawn. She began running away from home that September. Her attempts became more daring -- one time she was found at a major intersection in central Dallas a mile and a half away. She had a suitcase full of canned goods and some clothing. On the fourth and final attempt, she jumped out of her mother's car and hid in a bathroom stall in her therapist's office building. It took Touchstone nearly two hours to find her. After seeking help from private therapists, Touchstone says the doctors recommended Timberlawn, thinking it could stabilize her daughter. She says doctors told her they had never been there and admitted they did not know what it would be like. Timberlawn was just 10 miles from their home, however, whereas the only other facility that Touchstone's insurance would pay for was 60 miles away. During the intake process, Touchstone says she explained to Timberlawn's doctors and staff that her daughter had an extreme phobia of needles, and she forbade doctors and nurses from using them on her daughter. John Touchstone, who married and later divorced Candace after she left her ex-husband, says he made a similar request. "One thing we told them was don't give her needles," he explains. "She's afraid of needles." The Touchstones say the admissions nurse promised they would not inject their daughter, but then promptly did so -- restraining her and injecting her three times with tranquilizers. The next morning, their daughter tried to kill herself. In a largely barren room, she took off her pants and tied them around her neck so tightly that the staff had to cut them off. The Touchstones say their daughter had never spoken of or attempted suicide before. The Touchstones' daughter, now 14, recalls her mother repeatedly telling her that she wouldn't get shots, and the devastation she felt when the doctors injected her. "I remember thinking everyone was lying to me," she says. "I couldn't stay in a place like that. I couldn't. I just. I didn't know. I remember looking -- they put me in a room with a window. I remember thinking ... I would never be able to leave. And that was the only way to leave." Candace and John Touchstone say a doctor called and apologized and promised they would not inject her daughter again but that during the following shift a nurse did so anyway. After that, the Touchstones say, their daughter tried to kill herself by wrapping her shirt around her neck. Timberlawn did not return a request for comment. John Touchstone says he felt helpless once his step-daughter entered the RTC. "I'm a man," he says. "I fix everything, right? And this is something I can't fix. You're stonewalled. You got a child who won't talk to you. And you have a hospital that won't listen. There's not any support." He says it felt like he was putting his step-daughter into Gitmo. "You might as well waterboard her," he says. "That's what it felt like. That was kind of the overtone of everything. It seemed like that was the level of care we got at that hospital." That dynamic proved frustrating for Candace Touchstone, who says she constantly called the RTC to inquire about her daughter's care. "They felt like I was fighting against them," she says. "I was fighting for her. They didn't see that." <> There's much more to the article (a bit long) at the link above. Definitely worth reading, to see how this particular solution to caring for psychologically disturbed kids is a very bad use of taxpayer dollars. And Santorum should be highly ashamed of himself for sitting on the board of this monstrous corporation who treats their young patients like prisoners at Gitmo.
Originally Posted By mele <a href="http://jezebel.com/5887525/the-only-rick-santorum-gif-youll-ever-need" target="_blank">http://jezebel.com/5887525/the...ver-need</a> Currently re-thinking belief in God cos this...this is a gif(t).
Originally Posted By skinnerbox The guy is a seriously damaged closet queen. He hates the fact that he's gay, and like some angry gay men I've known, blames being gay on his mother. That's where the hatred of women comes into play. Rick is a holier-than-thou homophobic misogynist because he's gay. He's overcompensating with religion in an effort to tamp down the overwhelming guilt he feels for being gay. He becomes overly preoccupied with straight sex, because he's desperately trying to convince himself that this is what he truly desires, not that gay sexual stuff he deplores. Rick Santorum is swimming in self-loathing for being gay. I've seen this movie before. It totally fits.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Wow. Quite the assertion.>> Hey... with a screenname like "skinnerbox" you know she's GOT to be an expert in psychology...
Originally Posted By skinnerbox I wish I could take credit for this theory, but I can't. I've read several psychiatrists over the years who strongly believe that Santorum is gay and very ashamed of it. Many overtly 'macho' homophobic men have turned out to be big ol' queens themselves (especially Republican politicians who push legislation to limit gay rights), so the theory has merit. Besides... adopting a strict 'no contraception' philosophy gives him an easy out to not have sex with his wife, doesn't it? When the vast majority of Catholics -- 98% -- ignore the church and use contraception anyway, why wouldn't Santorum also use it? Seems to me, given his rabid homophobia and hatred of women, taking a severe stance against contraception gives him a handy dandy excuse to not have sex with his wife. In fact, it's too handy. I'm telling ya... the guy plays for Team GOP GAY. And those sweater vests are a desperate cry for help.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Seems to me, given his rabid homophobia and hatred of women, taking a severe stance against contraception gives him a handy dandy excuse to not have sex with his wife. In fact, it's too handy.>> With SEVEN kids he must be doing the nasty with her at least every once in a while.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Not necessarily. Turkey basters get the job done, too. And don't rule out the family doctor acting as a middle man.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Santorum gets more worthless, if possible. <a href="http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2012/02/22/santorum-a-symptom-of-the-gops-very-deep-ills/" target="_blank">http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookm...ep-ills/</a> From the link: Rick Santorum says: “In the Netherlands, people wear different bracelets if they are elderly. And the bracelet is: ‘Do not euthanize me.’ Because they have voluntary euthanasia in the Netherlands but half of the people who are euthanized — 10 percent of all deaths in the Netherlands — half of those people are euthanized involuntarily at hospitals because they are older and sick. And so elderly people in the Netherlands don’t go to the hospital. They go to another country, because they are afraid, because of budget purposes, they will not come out of that hospital if they go in there with sickness.” What's actually true: "Not a shred of what Santorum says is true. There are no such bracelets in the Netherlands. They exist only in the same reality in which green men from Mars exist, and in fact the Dutch press is laughing at Santorum’s claim that “we in the Netherlands delight in murder of the elderly.” Santorum supporters, along with Santorum, if they all won't go find the nearest train to rid us of the stupid, should at least get themselves to the Netherlands in Santorum's world.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/euthanasia-in-the-netherlands-rick-santorums-bogus-statistics/2012/02/21/gIQAJaRbSR_blog.html" target="_blank">http://www.washingtonpost.com/...log.html</a>
Originally Posted By Labuda It's nice to see the Washington Post point out a Republican candidate's lies.
Originally Posted By dagobert I really wonder what the Reoublican's opinion about European countries is like? It's not the first time they tell lies about us.
Originally Posted By ecdc <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/arizona-debate-conservative-chickens-come-home-to-roost-20120223" target="_blank">http://www.rollingstone.com/po...20120223</a> At that link, Matt Taibbi makes an interesting case with what's wrong with conservatives. I think he overstates it a bit and goes a little off the deep-end at times, but I think he's fundamentally correct. These are people that pine for a past America that never existed. (Remember, "I want my country back!"?) They thrive off of a sort of end of days mentality. So they get angrier and angrier, and more and more scared, and the rhetoric gets worse and worse, and the candidates that have to appeal to them must get crazier and crazier. So we've gone from a culture war on abortion to a culture war on contraception. We've gone from disagreeing about policy to questioning the President's very legitimacy as an American citizen. We've gone from respecting the President to calling him a liar in the Capitol (Joe Wilson) to wagging our finger at him and saying we feel "threatened" (Jan Brewer). And the likes of Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum (this guy's an actual plausible candidate, for hell's sake!!) have to appease them all with increasingly shocking statements about blacks, women, immigrants, and The Evil One (Obama).
Originally Posted By mele <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/26/santorum-church-and-state_n_1302246.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...246.html</a> Lovely. And yet Obama is the one who hates America. We are officially in Bizarro World.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder You know, I said to my wife this morning that Santorum was guaranteed to say something really stupid today on This Week, and he didn't disappoint. Here's the Washington Post link: <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/santorum-says-he-almost-threw-up-after-reading-jfk-speech-on-separation-of-church-and-state/2012/02/26/gIQA91hubR_blog.html" target="_blank">http://www.washingtonpost.com/...log.html</a> He said Kennedy's speech on separation of church and state makes him "want to throw up". Right back at ya, you worthless idiot. Santorum is just an unbelievable tool. Anyone who supports this guy should be ashamed of themselves. It's time for the more level headed members of the GOP, assuming any are left, to start speaking out and marginalizing this guy or he'll continue to drag the GOP into the abyss. On the other hand, Obama supporters have got to be thrilled.
