and causes a sizeable public outcry

(yes, this is in Soap Box, but figure Chit Chat would like a few shots at it too)

Quote :

" Critics Slam Overweight Surgeon General Pick, Regina Benjamin http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=8129947&page=1 Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, Obama's pick for the next surgeon general, was hailed as a MacArthur Grant genius who had championed the poor at a medical clinic she set up in Katrina-ravaged Alabama. But the full-figured African-American nominee is also under fire for being overweight in a nation where 34 percent of all Americans aged 20 and over are obese. Critics and supporters across the blogsphere have commented on photos of Benjamin's round cheeks, saying she sends the wrong message as the public face of America's health initiatives. But others support the 52-year-old founder and CEO of Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic, citing new research that shows you cannot always judge a book by its cover when it comes to obesity. Even the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance -- whose slogan is "we come in all sizes" [hahaha] -- has jumped to her defense. "The job of surgeon general is to make health care and policy decisions for the country -- not to look hot in a pair of skinny jeans," said one blogger on Frisky.com. "Perhaps her size could actually be an advantage -- she's in a better position to understand obesity and contemplate out-of-the-box ways to roll back ever-expanding American waistlines." 40 Pounds Over, Size 18, Blogs Speculate Bloggers on Salon.com speculated that Benjamin is 40 pounds overweight, perhaps a size 18. The nominee didn't return calls from ABCNews.com, so there is no information about how much she weighs or her eating and exercise habits. Spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services Jenny Backus issued this statement: "Dr. Benjamin is a highly qualified physician who has dedicated her life to providing care to her patients. She is a role model for all of us, and will be an outstanding surgeon general." Even some of the most reputable names in medicine chimed in. "I think it is an issue, but then the president is said to still smoke cigarettes," said Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine who is now a senior lecturer at Harvard University Medical School. "It tends to undermine her credibility." "We don't know how much she weighs and just looking at her I would not say she is grotesquely obese or even overweight enough to affect her health," Angell told ABCNews.com. "But I do think at a time when a lot of public health concern is about the national epidemic of obesity, having a surgeon general who is noticeably overweight raises questions in people's minds," she added. "

Other than the lol-worthy irony of her being overweight, what jumped out to me is: What other credentials she does she have other than 1) being a doctor and 2) starting a medical clinic that involves the "Katrina" and "champion of the poor" buzzwords

[Edited on July 21, 2009 at 7:48 PM. Reason : b not s]

There are 2 more pages to the article

[Edited on July 21, 2009 at 7:48 PM. Reason : lkj]

7/21/2009 7:44:33 PM

she's a nigger !

7/21/2009 7:47:04 PM

i wonder if she smokes

7/21/2009 7:49:25 PM

i love niggers

7/21/2009 7:50:05 PM

Ad hominems ITT

7/21/2009 8:02:27 PM

Sad.

7/21/2009 8:04:06 PM

maybe she has really bad genes and she can't help it

7/21/2009 8:04:39 PM

I hear smoking helps you lose weight

7/21/2009 8:06:50 PM

man, faggots sure feel like their populist opinions based on what tv says actually matter nowadays

you bitches dont give a fuck about that lady's health, and if you did, you dont know the first fucking thing about why.

for a country completely devoid of personal responsibility, why all the sudden believe everyone must demonstrate more of it than anyone?

i ache for the day the lights go out on us so i can watch you motherfuckers get hoarded into me and bigman's sex-slave harems

7/21/2009 8:12:27 PM

She looks like peter griffin

7/21/2009 8:12:37 PM

Quote :

"Other than the lol-worthy irony of her being overweight, what jumped out to me is: What other credentials she does she have other than 1) being a doctor and 2) starting a medical clinic that involves the "Katrina" and "champion of the poor" buzzwords"

Being selected as a MacArthur Fellow is a highly esteemed credential.

[Edited on July 21, 2009 at 8:24 PM. Reason : ]

7/21/2009 8:24:44 PM

Ah, didn't realize it was an actual award she got. Still, that's one award, for one clinic in the Louisiana Bayou, which apparently gives her credential to be the Surgeon General of the United States of America.

[Edited on July 21, 2009 at 8:33 PM. Reason : of course, our president has but 3-4 years as a Senator]

Quote :

"The MacArthur Foundation today named 25 new MacArthur Fellows for 2008. "

Hey look, 24 more Surgeon Generals

[Edited on July 21, 2009 at 8:34 PM. Reason : lkj]

7/21/2009 8:32:31 PM

i hear she was a horse judge. so it's all good.

7/21/2009 8:36:23 PM

Quote :

"for one clinic in the Louisiana Bayou, which apparently gives her credential to be the Surgeon General of the United States of America. "

and we all know that everything that comes out of Louisiana is legit

7/21/2009 8:38:06 PM

I'm not necessarily trying to defend the pick; I was just pointing out that it's considered highly prestigious. There are only around 100 nominators for MacArthur Fellows grants across all sectors of life, and they're anonymous, so for the few nominators in the healthcare field to have noticed her out of all health care professionals and researchers nationwide, she must have really been doing something innovative and/or supereffective with her clinic.

7/21/2009 8:39:04 PM

Quote :

"Critics Slam Overweight Surgeon General Pick, Regina Benjamin"

The real question is how many critics did it take?

7/21/2009 9:30:00 PM

Quote :

"i hear she was a horse judge. so it's all good."

winnar

^second place

7/21/2009 9:43:31 PM

i wonder if she'll tell Obama to stop smoking

7/21/2009 9:48:02 PM

a fat surgeon general? that's an obamanation!

7/21/2009 9:49:01 PM

^^yeah someone needs to tell him its unhealthy

7/21/2009 10:01:59 PM

Quote :

"National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance"

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

*breathe*

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

7/21/2009 10:03:33 PM

Quote :

"The Surgeon General also has many informal duties, such as educating the American public about health issues and advocating healthy lifestyle choices. The office also periodically issues health warnings. Perhaps the best known example of this is the Surgeon General's Warning labels that can be found on all packages of American cigarettes. A health warning also appears on alcoholic beverages."

Whoever it is, the surgeon general can go fuck themself in their nanny-state loving ass.

It's a mixture of church and state for the government to push a particular medical morality. If someone wants to live unhealthily, it is their inalienable right. If someone wants to risk death, it is their inalienable right. If someone wants to hurt themself, it is their inalienable right. If someone wants to kill themself, it is their inalienable right. Right now, the government doesn't seem to recognize all of these rights. Fuck the government for pushing its moral agenda on us.

7/21/2009 10:05:45 PM

I think that this is ridiculous. She's not extremely overweight and the fact that she's overweight does not mean that she is not qualified to be the surgeon general. I cannot see any reason that she couldn't perform her duties as an advocate of public health. Just because she is not an ideal weight does not mean that she is not knowledgeable about issues of public health and it does not mean that she is "unhealthy." A person who is over their ideal weight can easily have lower blood pressure, a better lipid panel, nutritional intake, and other indicators of health than a person with less body fat.

7/21/2009 10:12:17 PM

shut up

7/21/2009 10:15:15 PM

Willy Nilly is one of the most retardedest idiots on thewolfweb

7/21/2009 10:16:07 PM

Oh my god
Becky, look at her butt
Its so big
She looks like one of those rap guys girlfriends

7/21/2009 10:19:12 PM

fox in the hen house

7/21/2009 10:19:54 PM

Quote :

"Willy Nilly is one of the most retardedest idiots on thewolfweb"

If you want to take issue with what I've said, do it.... otherwise, shut the fuck up.

The fact is, these beliefs:
- it is wrong to be unhealthy
- it is wrong to endanger yourself
- it is wrong to harm yourself
- it is wrong to kill yourself
...ARE NOT IN THE FUCKING CONSTITUTION. They are religious beliefs being forced on us by law. Law that unconstitutionally respects an establishment of religion -- A mixture of church and state. Not you, nor anyone else can defend the federal institutionalization of these particular moral orientations. Try. Fucking try -- I dare you.

My body is mine. I fucking own my body. Medical services belong to the medical service providers. They should be sole owners and operators, and not be forced by law to only practice according to a set of [religious] values. The practice of medicine has government authoritarianism (backed by a particular religious orientation,) so far up its ass, that medicine is practically a branch of government. It should be 100% private. It is simply a business. No medical provider should have exclusive control to drug access. They shouldn't get to decide what is and isn't a disease. They shouldn't be legally required to treat people with no money. If a doctor wants to assist in suicide, that's fine and the fucking government should have nothing to do with it. If a doctor wants to sell "snake oil" to people, that's fine and the fucking government should have nothing to do with it. If a pharmaceutical company wants to directly sell people drugs, that's fine and the fucking government should have nothing to do with it.

And yet, we have this federal office called "surgeon general" that, in part, is responsible for PREACHING MEDICAL MORALITY to the people. This is NONE of the fucking government's business. WHY THE GODDAMN FUCK DOES ANYONE THINK IT'S OKAY FOR THE SUPPOSEDLY IMPARTIAL AND NON-RELIGIOUS GOVERNMENT TO FORCE A PARTICULAR MORAL VIEW ONTO PEOPLE? I mean, just the name "surgeon general" screams of fascism -- A medical government authority? Hello?

The government saying, "You shouldn't smoke", or "You should eat healthy", is ONLY MARGINALLY DIFFERENT FROM IT SAYING, "You shouldn't worship Allah," or "You should let Jesus into your heart,"... I mean, they already put "god" on the money -- HOW MUCH MORE PROOF OF THE FASCIST JUDEO-CHRISTIAN MEDICAL-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX DO YOU NEED?

How the fuck can anyone support the government having an agenda?
The government is of us, by us, and for us -- not the other way around.

7/22/2009 8:13:50 AM

Quote :

"she's a nigger !"

how many critics!!! hahaha, my winnar

7/22/2009 8:19:02 AM

^^Settle down, clown.

7/22/2009 8:22:15 AM

does she actually become a general?

bc i mean i can stand a black person in power...... but a black woman?????????? general???????

does she have to be a surgeon too? is she generally a surgeon? or is this position the end of a sentence?

to his superior: "well that nigger bitch is a surgeon, general."

7/22/2009 8:25:25 AM

Quote :

"She looks like peter griffin"

I kinda see it,

7/22/2009 8:28:28 AM

maybe that fat bitch will take office and lose some weight setting an example for all the fat black women in this country.

however this lady is the first black woman i have ever seen that could be classified as overweight. its either crack skinny or fucking crazy obese, the latter of whom all have handicapped tags.

7/22/2009 8:32:34 AM

you cant have these goodies

7/22/2009 8:49:05 AM

goody goody, gumdrops

7/22/2009 8:50:34 AM

So... am I mistaken, or do some of the parts of the Hippocratic Oath apply to the doctors themselves? Such as:

Quote :

"I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure."

Wouldn't this entail not being obese since it leads to so many diseases?

(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_modern.html)

[Edited on July 22, 2009 at 9:00 AM. Reason : fixed it]

7/22/2009 9:00:29 AM

Quote :

"Hippocratic"

dont know if this is a typo but it sure did make me laught itt

7/22/2009 9:01:55 AM

hahaha it's not a typo but I guess it is fitting!!

7/22/2009 9:07:28 AM

Quote :

"So... am I mistaken, or do some of the parts of the Hippocratic Oath apply to the doctors themselves?"

You'd think so. 4 of the 5 nurse I know personally are overweight. I don't get it.
...more like the Hypocritical Oath, am I right? (lol.... wait, was that your typo?)

Quote :

"does she actually become a general?"

"The Surgeon General is a commissioned officer ... and by law holds the rank of vice admiral"
* * cough cough fascism cough * *

[Edited on July 22, 2009 at 9:08 AM. Reason : ]

7/22/2009 9:08:23 AM

^ I really think they're supposed to... My best friend is an RN and she always says how much it pisses her off to see doctors and/or nurses outside smoking or ones that are mobidly obese and not doing anything about it. She was telling me how they're supposed to set an example for their patients.

(oh and no the Hypocritical Oath wasn't my typo there wasn't one to begin with)

7/22/2009 9:10:29 AM

this country will fail, there's just no other outcome to all of these recent events


we'll all be eating our socialist soup and drinking our communist coffee

7/22/2009 9:11:09 AM

whenever we admit to being a socialist country are we gonna invade iraq again because they aren't???

7/22/2009 9:13:26 AM

no, we're going to start another civil war because the south and the north will not agree.

7/22/2009 9:14:42 AM

^ i hear you lose weight if you all you eat is soup and coffee

7/22/2009 9:14:50 AM

wait, which one wants to be socialist? south or north?

7/22/2009 9:15:54 AM

Willy Nilly isn't real, right?

Quote :

"I mean, just the name "surgeon general" screams of fascism "

I mean, c'mon.

7/22/2009 9:16:51 AM

Quote :

"wait, which one wants to be socialist? south or north?"

I couldnt tell - all the "southerners" around here want their freedoms, but if you dont agree with everything they believe - then you're not a real american

7/22/2009 9:18:22 AM

Quote :

"but if you dont agree with everything they believe - then you're not a real american"

yeah wtf is that anyway?

7/22/2009 9:21:21 AM

^^^
Why does the government have an agenda for the personal health of people? The personal health of people is 100% the domain and responsibility of those people, and only those people... (not counting legal dependents.)

[Modern] fascism can take the form of a religious-backed state power that uses an entire industry to force it's morality onto others. Key word being "forced", as is in the legal justice system. Right now, we are dangerously close to being forced by law to buy health insurance and to have our tax money go to pay for other's health care -- whether we like it or not. The justification for all this is because, "the government knows what's best for us, and it's version of morality is paramount"

That is fucked. There should not be a role of government to compel us to be healthy because that's the "correct" morality. Being unhealthy is not immoral. Tell that to the surgeon general.

[Edited on July 22, 2009 at 9:25 AM. Reason : ]

7/22/2009 9:23:55 AM

Quote :

"dangerously close to being forced by law ... to have our tax money go to pay for other's health care"

isnt this already happening?

7/22/2009 9:26:28 AM