On Wednesday — two years to the day after George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) placed a hold on President Barack Obama’s nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, over Murthy’s view that gun violence represents a significant public health threat.
“In his efforts to curtail Second Amendment rights, Dr. Murthy has continually referred to guns as a public health issue on par with heart disease and has diminished the role of mental health in gun violence,” wrote Paul in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
“As a physician, I am deeply concerned that he has advocated that doctors use their position of trust to ask patients, including minors, details about gun ownership in the home… Dr. Murthy has disqualified himself from being Surgeon General because of his intent to use that position to launch an attack on Americans’ right to own a firearm under the guise of a public health and safety campaign.”
Yes how could ANYBODY assert that firing metal projectiles out of a gun that can tear flesh and destroy internal organs should be considered a health threat?
I mean it just defies all logic.
Later in the Think Progress article it is pointed out that Dr. Vivek Murphy's opinions about gun violence are in step with those of most physicians, and that the AMA has fought for the right of physicians to ask about the presence of guns in the home, and that the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) has issued guidelines recommending that the households of children diagnosed with depression remove all firearms altogether.
This is yet another attempt to pander to the mouth breathers and gun fetishists who believe that the most important American right in the Constitution is the right to shoot your neighbor in the face if he dumps his leaves in your yard.
By the way Rand Paul calling himself a physician is almost on par with Sarah Palin calling herself a journalist.
The whole purpose of the AMA was to create a monopoly out of professional medical care insuring that Doctors could get very very rich and hold all the power over politics of medicine, and they have been very successful at it. It has one of the biggest lobbying budgets in DC. Don't fool yourself as to its purpose.
ReplyDeleteWhat does this have to do with gun violence?
DeleteWell, it is brought up by Gryph in the blog so....
DeleteI question why anyone would want a powerful lobbying group to be further attempting to extend their influence and power where it doesn't even belong.
So 12:56, you;re saying the AMA has no business caring about the lives of their young patients? I guess next they should stop recommending vaccines, because surely those are all about the drug companies' profits and not about keeping us healthy.
DeleteDont be a fool Sally, the AMA cares only about influence and money. It is a lobbying group. Seriously are you folks that naive?
Delete@2:53
Deletelots of unnecessary vaccines for obscure diseases that most have never heard of and that affect less than .01 % of the population.
Hell, even the rabies vaccine for dogs is good forever, yet they insist dogs/cats get boosters every 3 years.
Of course it's all about profit.
Vaccines are not all about profit.
DeleteIs that you Jenny McCarthy?
"Rand Paul calling himself a physician is almost on par with Sarah Palin calling herself a journalist."
ReplyDeleteYep, the only thing missing is Palin creating her own journalist accreditation committee and anointing herself a "journalist".
But she really doesn't have to, since Faux is clearly willing to anoint her an "expert" in any field her tiny, shriveled lil' heart desires...
love the analogy of Paul and Palin.....so true. She is not a journalist. He is not a doctor.
ReplyDeleteNice try, Gryphen.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, you and your libtard blog buddies have it COMPLETELY wrong.
According to former exterminator, corrupt congressional leader and current Constitution/Bible scholar Tom "Wait For It" Delay, after Jeebus wrote the Constitution He invented the Glock 9mm semi-automatic hand gun so that all Americans would know His eternal love and have awesome firepower in their glove compartments, also, too.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/delay-god-wrote-constitution
AND he's coming back as a ripped, macho man with an AK-498 in each hand, shooting his way out of heaven before rounding up all the rill Christians to take them back to the OK Corral for their noon gunfight. Winner gets to go to hell for murder. The loser is reincarnated and gets to stay in Heaven by the Warrior Jeebus.
DeleteThe stupid seems to be contagious. And yeah, Paul is no more a physician than my cat is.
The AMA does lobby, however, they have credible people as members. I would expect a statement from them regarding this nonsense.
ReplyDeleteTexasMel
I detest Rand Paul and think the media idiots in giving him coverage....but, they love to continue spreading the hype!
ReplyDeleteLet's see now. Any applicant for the position of Surgeon General should be vetted by the NRA. Would that satisfy Rand Paul? He is absolutely looney and I hope that those few who were his patients have long since abandoned him.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
Rand Paul is a public health concern.
ReplyDeleteMy BIL is an ER doctor in a Trauma Unit. I've seen photos and autopsy photos of the damage inflicted by guns. They're not easy to look at and even harder for your mind to comprehend, break down and process. The first four words of the hypporatic oath are "First, Do no harm".
ReplyDeleteA simple, straight through injury by a small caliper gun that doesn't hit bone is bad enough, but seeing a crater the size of a grapefruit where a head used to be is beyond words.
My point is, I wonder what kind of Doctor MR Rand is and what harm he sees counselling (without graphic images) in an age appropriate way with the parents present the damage guns can cause? What the sound of bullets does to one's hearing over time? What excessive loss of blood does to a person? And other side effects like psychological trauma, physical therapy, and PAIN?
How much money does the gun lobby pay Rand Paul?
Anita, Rand Paul professes to be some sort of eye doctor--the kind that fits people with glasses, not the sort who performs optic trauma surgery.
ReplyDeleteAnd if I weren't pecking this out in the dark on an iPhone, I'd find and cut-and-paste the documentation of how "Doctor" Paul started his OWN medical society to "board-certify" him. Evidently he can't/won't attain certification under the extant opthamology boards!
Bless your BIL for what he does, and you, also too, for caring!