Tag Archives: family

Dr. Paul May Do Harm

On 21 May 2008, “Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008” became law. Essentially, the act prohibits health insurance companies from denying coverage to someone with negative genetic makeup. This law is good legislation since it guarantees that everyone has the opportunity to enroll in or buy into health insurance to help improve or save peoples’ lives no matter what their genes may predispose them to.

If the legislation did not pass, many people with genetic issues would have to live without health insurance or live on the emergency room system (the general public). In addition, parents with children with negative genetic makeup would be forced to drop their children off their insurance. Some parents would probably even be forced to abort their children so they (the parents) could have insurance. (So much for safe and rare.)

97% of the US House voted for the Act. Ron Paul, a doctor, was part of the 3% who voted against it. Why would a doctor vote against it? Yes, with this Act the government is interfering in private industry, but with life and death issues, the government must intervene.

FD has suggested to me that the Act may be seen as another affirmative action law. I disagree in part. Yes, it says that the disadvantaged gets special treatment; in affirmative action law, minorities get to get into college. However, with the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, the disadvantaged get to live. Insurance companies should not dictate that part of society at large must die to win a heavy bottom line (with blood).

What do you think of the Act? Why do you think Dr. Paul voted against it? (I thought he was OTAAC, or pro-life.)

Poor Deprived Children

CNN laments:

“Many of the children [wept up in a raid earlier this month on the Yearning for Zion Ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] have seen little or no television. They have been essentially home-schooled all their lives [and may be ahead of public-school students their ages]. Most were raised on garden-grown vegetables and twice-daily prayers with family. They frolic in long dresses and buttoned-up shirts from another century. They are unfailingly polite….[T]hey have little knowledge of pop culture”

Oh, the humanity! Those poor, deprived children! How ever have they survived? Have they any hope of being normal American citizens?

Continue reading

Pregnancy and Minors’ Right to Privacy

Pregnancy Notification Policy Alarms Some Health Experts

“A revised regulation that directs Howard County school officials to notify parents when students reveal they are pregnant has drawn criticism from health experts who say it violates a young woman’s right to privacy and jeopardizes health care.”

My two cents? Children are guaranteed no right to privacy with regard to their parents or legal guardians. Parental rights trump the personal privacy rights of children. Here’s where things get ugly, though:

“Under Howard’s regulations, approved last month by the Board of Education, any school employee who learns that a student is or might be pregnant is to notify the school counselor or nurse. If the pregnancy is confirmed and the parents don’t know, the counselor or nurse helps the student tell them.”

Public school employees, as representatives of the federal and state governments, have no right to invade a child’s privacy like that. If they must tell anyone, they should tell the parents – directly.

Suffer the Children

This is a follow-up to an article I’m fairly certain I blogged (but can’t seem to
find). I usually attend masses performed by fathers of the Oratorian Community (of
Saint Philip Neri). This particular oratory caters mostly to college students. When
I go to a parish for mass, I’m appalled by the the misbehavior of the children there
and the lack of discipline exercised by their parents.

Follow-up:
Let the Children Run?

“I received many comments from readers about toddlers running around church (see
May 11). Some of the comments came from parents of large families who confirmed
that it is possible to teach children to be quiet in Church, especially when given
good example by mom and dad.”

Let
the Little Children Run?

And Observations on “Redemptionis Sacramentum”

“ROME, MAY 11, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of
liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University.”

“Q: Little children frequently run around during the Mass fondly watched by their
parents. Do parents have any responsibility in this regard? — R.C., Bangalore,
India”

“A: This, apparently, is a ubiquitous pastoral problem, and expresses a tension that
is part and parcel of being Catholic.”

Update 03/22/07:The demographics of Sundmay morning mass attendance at the Oratory has changed a lot. There are now several graduate students and young professionals with children attending. That young adults are drawn to the solemn liturgies offered by the Oratorians is a blessing and surely one of the fruits of eucharistic adoration. However, sometimes the children are inconsolable, unruly, and/or fidgety to the point being distruptive. Consequently, since these articles now have more relevance to Oratorians, I’ve decided to move this post up from 05/26/04 so that it gets more readers.