Medical billing staff are the problem...

I've discovered one of the main stumbling blocks to getting the medical care or prescriptions you need isn't just the lack of health insurance or bad health insurance coverage -- it's getting past the medical billing people.

Let me share a true life adventure...Our insurance company changed the co-pay for our office visits before the date they were supposed to. So when I went to the doctor I paid what I was supposed to pay but the doctor's office claimed I owed an additional $15.00 before I was supposed to owe it. Then they started adding on late fees even though I called, explained and the insurance company said they would straighten it out.

So then I needed a prescription...since I hadn't paid my balance even though they knew why -- they wouldn't schedule an appointment or ask the doctor for a refill. This is a prescription I need to take, they didn't care. It was either pay the now up to $40.00 or not get my prescription. So, I started to have problems because all this time I'm out of my prescription. I was about ready to go to urgent care which would have been more than a regular office visit because these medical billing people were just plain rude over $40 mind you, that I wasn't even supposed to have to pay. I called the doctor's office today after hours and got to talk to one of the actual doctors. He apologized and told me that I should never have to go without my medication and that he would phone something in. When I went to pick it up? He phoned in two weeks worth...The soonest they told me they could get me in was three weeks...Which means it's either find a new doctors office or end up paying something I don't owe since even with the insurance company telling them I don't owe this they won't budge and still going a week without a prescription I'm supposed to take every day. While everyone is debating health care, there should be better rules in place when it comes to basic rights to medical care...

My last child entering high school is not starting out well...

I've had problems before with Toledo Public Schools, but this time around I'm getting so tired of the disorganization, the miscommunication and the downright stupidity. I received a phone call this morning that one of my youngest daughter's classes was not going to be taught this year. The fact that I had to actually go through hell to get her into the class before school was let out and the fact that had they not known they were going to offer it now should have been known a heck of a lot sooner is a huge frustration.

Since this is my last child to enter high school there have been times when classes were not offered but the school district my other four attended never handled it in such a late, slipshod manner.

Secondly, she's supposed to get her schedule this week, and the counselor won't have time to discuss this news that she dropped on me this morning via a phone call until Friday. Which really makes going through the whole schedule pick up this week stupid and pointless.

She received her schedule by mail just a few weeks ago - so if there were going to be changes made? It should have been done before now and there should not be any additional last minute changes like this. While I do appreciate being told before we go pick up her schedule, it demonstrates to me that customer service is not even remotely happening...

"Breastfeeding doll" creates outrage - seriously people...

I read about this story on one of our local news stations, NBC24 where people are outraged here in the US about a doll that is currently only sold in Spain that supposedly doesn't drink from a bottle but the doll comes with a "feeding vest" and the doll nurses from a flower on the vest.

First of all, almost any mother who has breastfed a child that had other young children has probably experienced the same thing I did when I breastfed my five children, your child has taken a baby doll and mimicked what you are doing...It's natural...It's not as if the "feeding vest" has fake boobs with a nipple attached to it...

Yet, considering the lack of support there is in this nation for breastfeeding mothers, I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that people would be outraged about a doll that isn't even for sale in this country...

So, I ask myself...why did I go home?

Some of you probably noticed the lack of posting, I was in California visiting my oldest daughter and while I tried to do a bit of blogging on my local blog as far as keeping up with some of the media releases/breaking news type stories, I was taking a semi-break from blogging since I was spending time with her.

Last night I left San Francisco Airport at 9:40 California time and arrived at Detroit Metro Airport at 5:00 a.m.; yes, the red-eye. Normally I'd sleep but things were a bit turbulent (perhaps a warning as to what was to come?) and I had some guy behind me who kept kicking my seat as well as one in front of me who snored almost as loud as my husband. Since it was only a little over a four hour flight I decided to just stay awake and keep reading, so I finished two books during the flight.

My friend Kate came to pick me up, you find out who really loves you when it comes to asking them to pick you up at the airport that early in the morning. We had a nice drive back to Toledo, stopped and got some McDonald's and I had visions of getting home, hugging my husband before he went to work and then going to bed.

The hug happened, then I learned the washing machine broke yesterday, no one knows why. Okay, fine I told myself, I'll deal with that later, I was going to sleep. Then I started getting text messages from daughter number four, she wasn't feeling well and wanted to come home. The next two hours were used waiting for daughter number 3 to call me back so I could have her go pick up her sister from school. Since I knew I couldn't sleep until that was resolved, I transcribed a City Council meeting for my other blog and headed downstairs to see if I could fix the washer. It was full of water and won't drain, so I headed out to the garage to get a piece of hose to siphon off some of the water.

Imagine my surprise to discover one of my cats in the garage, not looking like he was in good shape. My cats are not outdoor cats, they are indoor cats. It looked like he had been outside for some time...I called my husband who knew nothing about the cat even missing.

I then discovered when daughter number three finally called me that daughter number 4 for some strange reason in this cold weather we had here in Ohio had the screen for her window up and opened the window. The cat fell out of the window and neither one bothered to a) try to collect the cat or b) tell my husband that the cat was outside.

It should be pointed out that both daughters number 3 and 4 were previously considered bright, now of course I question that description.

Hopefully the cat will be okay, a trip to the vet is on the schedule for today. I plan to nail the screen shut so that daughters 3 & 4 can no longer demonstrate their lack of common sense. The washer is under warranty so I'll have the joy of dealing with a repair man and perhaps at some point today I'll actually get some sleep...

Or say the hell with it and go back to California where life was so much more stress free...

:-)

The US House (Especially Republicans) want you to lose your tv

The US Senate demonstrated some common sense when they voted unanimously to delay the digital switch over until June 12th. However, the US House got caught up in their never ending gamesmanship and created a scenario where a procedural situation caused the vote to fail.

Although "yes" votes outnumbered "no" votes by 258 to 168, the vote was held under a set of procedural rules that required a two-thirds majority to pass. Despite the current cuddly non-partisan nicey-nice in Washington, the vote was largely on party lines: 155 Republicans voted against (22 for) and 236 Democrats 236 voted for (13 against).

First I'm against the whole digital thing as everyone I know who has gotten one of these adapters has had problems, and it appears it is really designed to force people to have to pay for service through either a cable or a satellite company. I don't think we should have to pay to get basic television service to be able to access the news and especially to access public broadcasting channels.

Secondly the whole "coupon" program is a farce. My husband, lord only knows why, requested the alloted two coupons quite some time ago, we of course didn't need them yet and the few times he went to "collect" the coupon none of the stores had the adapter. So they expired. You'd think it would be no big deal, since there is verification that the coupons were never used, it would just be a matter of getting new coupons. It doesn't work that way, whether you use them or not, no one for your address can get new coupons. Which is really stupid because let's say for the sake of an example, I kick him out of the house and he had gotten his two adapters. I'd not be able to get my own.

This creates an almost "black market" coupon deal where people who have experienced this then ask people that they know who have cable or satellite to request coupons on their behalf. Which means those who do this, should they ever want to rid themselves of cable, will never be able to get adapters of their own.

Customer service for these adapters is horrid. A friend who has the Acess brand states it makes her tv's hum, she has to call the company then wait for someone to call her back, if you are not home at the time they call back? You have to call in and start the process all over again.

Worse yet, even if the House does get their act together and the mainly Republican problem makers agree to the longer time period, television stations can go digital anyway. Which most of them probably will with the way they've harped on the countdown without cessation.

I'm not buying a box that doesn't work to receive a television signal that tax dollars has gone to create. Which means most likely after February 17th my family will be televisionless along with possibly millions of others who even if they wanted to get the coupons, the program has run out of money for. There's no reason why we should have to replace our television sets that are still working, for something that was pretty pointless to begin with.

Sigh...Republican kids don't look "genuine" more hypocrisy

Not long ago I wrote a post about how I feared this election would create scenarios where people I used to respect, I didn't anymore or I'd hold them in less esteem. Not that it will matter in the larger scope of life, but at times I get so tired of the hypocrisy. So when I read this last night, written by the same person who recently stated that the Clintons deserved admiration and respect on their blog, then "Bill Clinton is creepy" on another blog, wrote this after having earlier posted that Obama had said he felt children should be "off limits":

damn but none of the kids of these candidates ever look genuine compare their faces to those of the Biden kids and the Obama kids - no comparison

*Gasp* I sure as hell can't vote for one of them because their kids...they aren't used to being paraded around on display! If I had to pick one word for what I've seen too much of recently it would be petty or shallow. Republicans wish for rain, so Democrats ramp up and wish for a hurricane...Bash Clinton and call her a bitch and then critique that she's not doing enough to help Obama win. Pretend to mourn how women are treated, then treat those who don't agree with you on Obama as if they are traitors.

Thankfully there are still some out there that make me feel as if there are a few of us out there who still believe basic human decency should exist, like this commenter responding to a picture of Palin from her college days:

AP Breaking News as re-reported by Huffington Post!

20 years ago, VP Candidate Sarah Palin had a t-shirt that was a pun about being broke, that had to do with her breasts! Because, you know, as a woman she has breasts, and she was a college student! OMG!

Kids, let that be a lesson to you - those humorous t-shirts that you're wearing today? Yeah, just try running for public office, like, ever. We will track down photos. We will show them on TV.

Because we can.

All of this has really made me question my decision two years ago to try to make the Democratic Party a better one. It's not just my libertarian family background and my independent nature, it's watching what people are doing to others and really not being proud of being a Democrat anymore. I know many of you will know what I'm going to write next, "if it's wrong, it's wrong" if it was wrong of "them" to do it to "us" then it's just as wrong for us...

Of course the media is going after Palin look what they did to Clinton. We aren't disagreeing with people based on their ideology...We are seeing gutter politics at the end of which? No matter who wins, Obama or McCain the part of Washington that is the primary reason things are so wrong, Congress, will be the same...If we truly want change, the only way for that to happen is to really change something. Keeping the same exact system but merely replacing Republicans with Democrats and vice versa hasn't exactly done much for us these past few years has it? Have you noticed a dramatic improvement in your life since the Democrats got a majority in Congress? Yeah, I know, it's supposedly because there aren't enough of them and those *nasty* republicans have stopped them. Pelosi doesn't want you to remember the promises that were made and as always? When their promises were broken, the focus was on what the other guys did wrong, rather than why they didn't keep their word.

I should have waited, now some of the same people I once respected made fun of a special needs baby, suggested that Cindy McCain drugged the baby and that it looked fake. They also made fun of the 7 year old.

Classy people...

Sigh...Do Democrats even care about honesty?

Yes, this will probably be a rant, I'm growing increasingly tired of members of my own party twisting the truth and using false statements in campaign ads. Before you say "Well, Republicans do it too"...SO what! Are we supposed to be better than them or merely nothing different other than the justifications used to sell it...

We are proving that the only way for candidates to win is to lie, that if they are honest and they tell us what we don't want to hear? They can't win. No matter how much you hate the war in Iraq, the reality is there will be an American presence there for years to come no matter who is elected this November. Our own Democratic Congress members voted for the war and they continue to fund the war, until that changes no matter who is president? It's not going to stop. It could cost much less as troop numbers go down, but anyone that tells you that they are going to bring all of the troops home, there will be no US presence in Iraq and that it will be done during the term of the next presidency? Is lying to you...

The most recent story is related to what Chris Cizzilla shared on his blog about the new Moveon Ad only the seriously misinformed believe that John McCain stated that he wants American troops to risk their lives in Iraq or be in war for another 100 years. The truth of what McCain really said has been repeated time and time again, even by newspapers like the New York Times and dislike McCain as much as you want, he is right about this statement:

"No American argues against our military presence in Korea or Japan or Germany or Kuwait or other places, or Turkey, because America is not receiving casualties."

It's as stupid as blaming the President for the economy or a presidential candidate claiming he can fix the economy. They can't...Though it's a huge myth.

Though both spend quite a bit of time debating who's plan is worse

Which goes back to...We don't want presidential candidates to be honest with us.

Well...some of us do, we're the ones who end up ranting about it and hoping for the day when people will actually take some responsibility in being informed at least on the basics and when political parties/political action groups will realize that for those of us who know better, who realize that campaigns are inherently exercises in propaganda and posturing. It turns us off not on when you do this...

This is supposed to make us feel better about high gas prices...

I get the point that CNN is trying to make though I'm not sure what difference it makes for those who are already struggling, who are making less in spendable dollars than last year:

Out of 155 countries surveyed, U.S. gas prices were the 45th cheapest, according to a recent study from AIRINC, a research firm that tracks cost of living data.

The difference is staggering. As of late March, U.S. gas prices averaged $3.45 a gallon. That compares to over $8 a gallon across much of Europe, $12.03 in Aruba and $18.42 in Sierra Leone.

The U.S. has always fought to keep gas prices low, and the current debate among presidential candidates on how to keep them that way has been fierce.

What's strange is supposedly the gas prices in Sierra Leone are quote as $18.42 per gallon, yet when you look at a place to place comparison of New York City and Freetown, the transportation costs in Freetown are lower than in New York City....Then of course there's this:

The United Nations estimates unemployment to be about 65 percent in Sierra Leone. Human rights groups have warned about the potential for unemployed youths in Sierra Leone, as well as in neighbouring Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea, to be drawn into conflict. All of those nations have experienced civil war or social upheaval in the past decade.

So, the moral of the story is we should be happy we don't live in Sierra Leone, where most likely we'd be too poor to even own a car so we wouldn't worry about the fact that gas is stated to cost over 18 dollars a gallon.

Thanks CNN, I feel better now.

:-)

Governmental budgeting...

When it comes to federal, state or even city budgets the more time I spend looking at the numbers the more I wished there was some type of magic budget software that could break these huge governmental budgets into information that would be understandable by the average person. The other day I was searching Toledo's budget to try to find information on a trash tax/fee they instituted last year and I did not want to have to go through line by line an over 300 page document. Yet, whatever they named it? Trash or garbage or any related word was not to be found...

Proof our country is in trouble...

I'm sick...watching mindless television and "Who wants to be a millionaire" is on tv. The question? Which one of these men is a Republican in the 2008 Presidential election:

The answers: Joe Biden, Mitt Romney, Dennis Kucinich or Bill Richardson...

She DID NOT KNOW! She had to ask the audience and only 72% of the audience knew the right answer. My 13 year old could have answered that one...

Sigh...

Seriously, drop the Andy Hagler will win my money bs...

Last April of 2007 it didn't work to tell me that Andy Hagler would win my money from Publishers Clearing House and here we go again, another email telling me:

Dear Lisa Ward:

Right now, Andy Hagler is hoping you don't read this letter.

Why? Because Andy Hagler has already been selected the alternate recipient of prize money that could rightfully be won by you, Lisa Ward in a matter of days.

You see Lisa Ward, there is a real chance the prize entry opportunity you're reading about right now could be selected as the winner of $25,OOO.OO in a very short time (Giveaway #1116).

Last time we discovered how many other people got the same exact email about Andy Hagler, and what I now want to know is, is Andy getting paid to be used like this as a scare tactic?

:-)

I'd love to believe people aren't that naive...but I know better

Obama's changed his marketing strategy, and I'd like to believe that voters won't fall for the whole "America, our moment is now" theme. Yet I know better and I know that American's want to hope, ironically it was Bill Clinton's "hope" moment that helped him. Part of the political process makes candidates almost like shady used car salesmen, they will tell us anything to get the sale. We wanting to believe we are savvy negotiators and always looking for the best deal, fall for it all too often. Then when the car drives for only a short time then falls apart...We blame the salesman when the reality is?

It's our fault...

Still little foucs on reaching out, except to ask for money...

As the rhetoric increases on the campaign trail, so has the requests for money that provide very little information on platforms or ideals or goals. I have no idea what the Obama campaign is doing, since I've signed up twice now for campaign information and am not receiving emails from them to be able to compare what his campaign is sending out versus the others that are emailing me. From yesterday and today so far here are a few tidbits from the emails I received:

I was with Governor Richardson late that night when my Blackberry started buzzing. It was the office telling me that contributions were coming in so fast that the servers were barely keeping up. By yesterday afternoon we were at $200,000 -- just $50,000 less than the $250,000 goal we set to reach by Thanksgiving!

It's clear we're going to blow by that goal in the next few days -- so with the Governor's blessing, we've decided to double it to $500,000!

And now I'm asking you to increase your support by an additional $50, $100, or even $250 so we can "double up" the goal.

You've probably noticed the shift. Our opponents are on the attack. But while they're attacking Hillary, she's attacking the problems facing America.

So let's stand up for Hillary today, just like she'll stand up for us every single day in the White House. This Thursday night, November 15, we're going to send Hillary to the next Democratic debate with a massive show of support by raising $1 million by the time she walks onto the stage.

We've seen a big surge of support in the last few days -- let's build on that momentum.

Click here to contribute and help us reach $1 million by the time Hillary starts debating at 8 p.m. EST Thursday.

Can you help with a contribution to launch a new television spot?

This week, we're going to start airing a powerful new spot in Iowa. It's a dramatic 30 seconds from John Edwards, focusing on one of the most critical issues of this campaign.

P.S. With public financing your contribution—up to $250—can be matched, so having double the impact for our campaign.

Then this email from the DFA which by not mentioning Hillary implies she isn't their choice as far as a "progressive" candidate:

The mainstream media and Beltway pundits have made up their minds. The Presidential Primary is already over.

Not so fast. The media isn't going to vote on caucus day -- but we are.

That's why Dennis Kucinich fought hard for your support in the DFA Pulse Poll.

Why John Edwards was first to respond to DFA members with his positions on Iraq and Global Warming.

Why Barack Obama is using DFA Training Academy materials to give his supporters the skills to win.

You know that primaries matter -- and this primary is the biggest of them all. Democracy for America is not going to let the pre-ordained front runner walk away without a fight.

Chip in $15 right now and support DFA's fight for a Progressive President.

And the reporters could have done something....

As I read this story on CNN, Mobile home dwellers ride out wildfire, wait for help to arrive and the fact that it appears that this particular CNN reporter was actually there on the scene taking photographs and interviewing the people who were stranded, certain thoughts came to mind.

Why didn't he offer them water? Transportation? A trip down to get them supplies? Of course that would have ruined the story of him reporting:

Firefighters passing through have given them a few bottles of water and pieces of fruit, but otherwise they're on their own until help comes to them, he said.

Officials have said roads into the area could remain closed into next week. The Harris fire was still only 20 percent contained early Friday.

"The only thing I'm worried about is her [Carter]," Flores said. "As far as me and John, we're young, we can survive it. But if it gets too hot and she doesn't have enough water or something to drink, I'm sure we'll lose her, because she's on medication as it is."

If the reporter somehow managed to get in there and then get out to report the story, surely you'd think that some type of help could have been given. Don't we as human beings have some type of moral responsibility when it comes to situations like this or is all that matters the story?

In the end, what did Mona Shaw get?

While the Washington Post article almost makes Shaw a heroine, if you take a look at what the end result of her hammer bashing Comcast spree was it really worth it?

After:

Shaw storms in the company's office. BAM! She whacks the keyboard of the customer service rep. BAM! Down goes the monitor. BAM! She totals the telephone. People scatter, scream, cops show up and what does she do? POW! A parting shot to the phone!

Did it address the poor service issues? Did it get her telephone or television on? Nope:

Shaw received a three-month suspended sentence for disorderly conduct, a $345 fine in restitution and a year-long restraining order barring her from the Comcast office.

It would have been cheaper, easier and not entailed wasted time by Police officers had she just switched to Verizon and contacted one of the local media sources that has a consumer help aspect...

Regaling this type of behavior doesn't solve any of the real issues...

This doesn't seem "calm, orderly or focused"

Today my youngest daughter was threatened at school by one black male and three black females based on how she dressed and the friends she has at school. One of these friends was beaten with a belt and a shoe by some of the same group threatening her. The victim was suspended, not those who attacked him. Today in Cleveland, another Ohio City an hour and a half from here, this happened:

Coon "came out of the bathroom and bumped Mike and he (Mike) punched him in his face. Mike started walking.

Focus on that for a second without knowing what came next. This is at a school that according to:

John Zitzner, founder and president of E City Cleveland, a nonprofit group aimed at teaching business skills to inner-city teens. "It's orderly, it's disciplined, it's calm, it's focused."

A student of the school bumps into someone and is punched in the face, which given the student who was punched was currently suspended for fighting, it seems it would be known there were some problems. Then there is this about the same student:

"He's crazy. He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody," Doneisha LeVert said. "We didn't think nothing of it."

And:

Student Frances Henderson, 14, said she often got into arguments with Coon, who once told her, "I got something for you all." He was a "gothic" who usually wore a trench coat, black boots and a dog collar, she said.

Officials said he was wearing a black Marilyn Manson concert shirt, black jeans and black-painted finger nails.

You have a student with known problems who made threats who was obviously not liked by his peers with the outcome:

A 14-year-old suspended student, dressed in black, opened fire in his downtown high school Wednesday, wounding four people as terrified schoolmates hid in closets and bathrooms and huddled under laboratory desks. He then killed himself.

My daughter's school doesn't have metal detectors, which this school had but didn't use regularly, when these school systems and parents finally learn to start being more proactive when it comes to dealing with children who send out clear warning signs will be when these school shootings stop happening.

I'll do what I can to do to protect my daughter, but I can't prevent her from being the next victim as long as school systems and parents allow children to be ostracized, bullied, abused to the point where they strike back the only way they seem to have been taught how to react - with violence. The cycle of violence needs to be broken...

Sigh...how about we worry about the now and the future?

When you read the headline, White House: Genocide resolution would hurt relations with key ally you might assume that the issue of genocide might have something to do with the many places on the planet right now where genocide is happening or recently happened.

No...what our fine elected congressional representatives and our president are focusing on is:

The nonbinding proposal, which is to be considered by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, refers to the "genocide" of Armenians in the early 20th century during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which preceded the creation of modern Turkey in 1923.

First, it's a nonbinding proposal which means, it means nothing. Secondly, we have real important issues facing this country right now, a war, the economy, health care, and while what happened in 1915 is important from a historical standpoint, we should be spending our energies on preventing suffering for those here on Earth right now.

The frustration in trying to do the right thing...

One of the most frustrating things about my other blog, Glass City Jungle is the frustration that at times comes from the way I do things differently than here on LCS and the decision on how to do the right thing. Here on LCS, it is more about me and my opinion, on Glass City Jungle it's designed more as a way to facilitate information sharing and I try my best to keep my personal biases and my personal feelings out of the mix.

Glass City Jungle is one of the top ranked personal political blogs in all of Ohio, it takes quite a bit of work and an personal investment of myself to pull that off. I know I subject those of you here who are my loyal readers to sponsored postings here, I don't do that there, and at times I have to be honest, I miss the ability to just be able to vent which is why Liberal Common Sense will always be my favorite place to blog, even if it's not as popular as Glass City Jungle.

The high level of pettiness within some of the blogs in Ohio amazed me, there are actually people who have purposely voted Glass City Jungle as "terrible" in the ranking system developed by Blognet News Ohio, you might think this comes from the "conservative" side of the Ohio blogosphere, but it doesn't, it comes from those who realistically should be happy that GCJ is out there. This leads to moments like today when I discover that there are those within the Lucas County Democratic Party taking smack about me and that particular blog because I'm trying to do what I think is right. It reminds me of a conversation I had with my almost 13 year old daughter the other day when I stressed to her that for the rest of her life she would be placed in scenarios where she had to decide between what is right and what is popular, that it was something that I still at age 47 had to struggle with at times but that in the end, doing what is right is the preferred choice no matter the frustration or those who diss rather than support transparency....

CBS sued over Kid Nation...

My very good friend C and I had an interesting exchange on the topic of the reality show Kid Nation a few weeks ago here on Liberal Common Sense. An anonymous poster who claimed to be a parent of one of the children on the show also commented during that discussion. Just a short time ago I got a phone call from my best friend Holly who followed that discussion and heard about a lawsuit being filed against CBS over what happened on Kid Nation. She was kind enough to send me the link to Participant's mom raps kids reality show

Part of our discussion concentrated on the issue of injury or liability, so reading this was interesting:

Janis Miles of Fayetteville, Ga., said in a letter that her 12-year-old daughter, Divad Miles, was spattered on her face with grease while cooking potatoes on a wood stove, and that four other children required medical attention after they accidentally drank bleach.

Her daughter also had a rash that had caused scarring, and sunburn on her face and hands, Miles wrote.

The children are to be paid $5,000 apiece when the series airs, and one child per episode was awarded a solid-gold star by the town's elected government worth $20,000, Forman said.

According to documents obtained from the New Mexico attorney general's office, parents signed a 22-page agreement in which they waived their rights to sue the network or production company if their children died or were injured. The agreement also acknowledged that the participants "will have no privacy," except while using bathrooms or changing rooms.

This last paragraph leads to one of my original points, what kind of a parent would sign a 22 page waiver that states in return for being paid $5,000 a week with a chance at winning $20,000 that states if their child was killed or injured they felt it was basically worth the risk. No wonder there didn't seem to be any concerns of liability, parents signed away their children's rights on that one.

Sally Jenkins nails it...

All of the thoughts I've had on the issue of Michael Vick and dog fighting are covered in a well seasoned piece by Sally Jenkins in today's Washington Post in an article entitled, The Gall Of It All. While I understand those who state that we should feel more outrage over people being treated inhumanely, I do feel outrage over that. I feel outrage every time I realize that we as a nation do not value the lives of others as much as we do American lives. Those of us who are carnivores do eat animals that have been killed, but we have taken steps to try to ensure that even while considered a food source animals do not suffer needlessly nor be tortured.

Dog fighting is not for food, it's not a matter of kill or be killed, it's done for sport, the death can not rationalized and while it could be said Americans don't shed the same tears over the death of a chicken or a farm animal the reality is many Americans own dogs as pets. Is there a bit of hypocrisy in this? Of course, there is a certain amount of hypocrisy in all of us. Yet, as Sally Jenkins points out, the outrage at Vick is not misplaced.