1.) Just because a family member is not economically productive or employed does not mean he does not deserve access to healthcare.
2.) The idea that our species is always superior to and distinct from our mammalian close relatives is arrogant and cruel. Bud would probably be the last one out of the house if there were a fire and he wouldn't leave until all of the humans were safe. Many NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) hominids would likely leap out the nearest window then worry about everyone else only after first saving their own skin (a doctrine called "personal responsibility" by the right wing spin-meisters).
3.) Thank God we threw off the shackles of religious fundamentalism that forbade dissecting the human body and developing the medical science that ended up saving Bud's life a few centuries later. If we don't let them get in the way of stem cell research today perhaps someone a few years from now will be able to keep a member of their family, canine or human, alive who otherwise would have died.
4.) Thank God Bud had access to healthcare and previously forbidden technology. Now wouldn't it be great if we lived in a country where poor children had as much right to life-saving treatment as a dog in a middle class home? And wouldn't it be great if Republicans could understand that children should have as much of a right to life following birth as fetuses and frozen embryos do prenatally?
5.) Bud is good, compassionate, and kind because he is, not because he mumbles certain words in an incense-filled temple in just the right way. We judge him for who he is, not for some metaphysical filter applied arbitrarily (although he may be a Muslim dog, or Hindu, who knows?) We don't expect Bud to find Jesus or worship Yahweh before winning our approval.
6.) Keeping science out of schools has real world consequences. Had the scientists who developed the life-saving technology that allowed Bud to survive his cancer been taught to memorize ancient texts instead of the amino acid sequence of certain key proteins, Bud would be dead.
7.) Bud is living proof that all that the federal government produces is not evil. The majority of medical treatments are developed because of scientific breakthroughs funded with federal dollars, either directly through NIH or NIMH or indirectly through federal support for research on universities and in private industry. Even in for-profit firms that enjoy charging Americans 20-25% more for the same medications others enjoy at a discount, their employees are largely government-trained in public schools or in private schools made possible through generous federally guaranteed student loans and federal grants. All of the medications go through a rigorous federal screening process before they are allowed to be marketed and can be yanked from the market by the federal government if they are found to be dangerous or ineffective. So Bud is very much alive today thanks to the federal government that Sarah Palin would like to get off [his?] back.
2.) The idea that our species is always superior to and distinct from our mammalian close relatives is arrogant and cruel. Bud would probably be the last one out of the house if there were a fire and he wouldn't leave until all of the humans were safe. Many NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) hominids would likely leap out the nearest window then worry about everyone else only after first saving their own skin (a doctrine called "personal responsibility" by the right wing spin-meisters).
3.) Thank God we threw off the shackles of religious fundamentalism that forbade dissecting the human body and developing the medical science that ended up saving Bud's life a few centuries later. If we don't let them get in the way of stem cell research today perhaps someone a few years from now will be able to keep a member of their family, canine or human, alive who otherwise would have died.
4.) Thank God Bud had access to healthcare and previously forbidden technology. Now wouldn't it be great if we lived in a country where poor children had as much right to life-saving treatment as a dog in a middle class home? And wouldn't it be great if Republicans could understand that children should have as much of a right to life following birth as fetuses and frozen embryos do prenatally?
5.) Bud is good, compassionate, and kind because he is, not because he mumbles certain words in an incense-filled temple in just the right way. We judge him for who he is, not for some metaphysical filter applied arbitrarily (although he may be a Muslim dog, or Hindu, who knows?) We don't expect Bud to find Jesus or worship Yahweh before winning our approval.
6.) Keeping science out of schools has real world consequences. Had the scientists who developed the life-saving technology that allowed Bud to survive his cancer been taught to memorize ancient texts instead of the amino acid sequence of certain key proteins, Bud would be dead.
7.) Bud is living proof that all that the federal government produces is not evil. The majority of medical treatments are developed because of scientific breakthroughs funded with federal dollars, either directly through NIH or NIMH or indirectly through federal support for research on universities and in private industry. Even in for-profit firms that enjoy charging Americans 20-25% more for the same medications others enjoy at a discount, their employees are largely government-trained in public schools or in private schools made possible through generous federally guaranteed student loans and federal grants. All of the medications go through a rigorous federal screening process before they are allowed to be marketed and can be yanked from the market by the federal government if they are found to be dangerous or ineffective. So Bud is very much alive today thanks to the federal government that Sarah Palin would like to get off [his?] back.
We can learn a lot more from a dog than from Sarah Palin's blather about personal responsibility and the evils of federal encroachment on the freedom of citizens to free ride. Bud reminds us that real lives are at stake. 45,000 Americans a year under 65 according to a recent Harvard study are not as fortunate as Bud: they died for want of health insurance. Is it really so outrageous to demand our children have the same access to healthcare as your dog?
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