Why are all the talking heads insulting money going to study irritable bowel syndrome?

[glen123098]

Ive been watching the news channels today and it seems to be the talking point today among the republicans that a bill has 600 thousand going to study IBS. They are acting like its a big joke. Well I have IBS and I can tell you its not a joke at all. And millions of americans have it also. So that is far less than 1 dollar per american suffering with IBS and idiots like Hannity are on TV today acting like this is "pork"

[saltpoint]

1. My guess is that a lot of the fat-cat anchor folks and analyst folks

all have real big fat significant health care coverage and they don't understand the urgency of health care needs of people who are struggling with one or another affliction.

Nevermind the struggles of people who have no coverage at all for anything.

Dickens' three ghosts have many stops to make their next round out.

[Ken Burch]

2. Because they feel great personal affinity with irritable bowels

And have much in common with them.

[laughingliberal]

8. Good one! nt

[laughingliberal]

3. I have not heard that discussion but my guess is it's the same ole Beavis and Butthead style of

debate. Just as we saw with the stimulus bill and the budget. The Republicans pick some innocuous line out of a bill and then spin it down into a ridiculous sounding sound bite. One example was how the Faux crowd snickered that the budget contained (insert amount of money, I don't recall off hand) to study crickets. People's hair catches fire. They scream, "Crickets! Why are we studying crickets? Government waste! Earmarks! Fascism!" When the plain truth is the money was earmarked to study the Mormon cricket problem in Utah which is a huge invasion on just about a yearly basis and it has been decimating agriculture in the area. But it makes a great soundbite for stirring the populist rage against government.

As for money to study IBS, I did not know that was in the bill but here's some information which indicates there is a need to study solutions. The costs attributed to it are enormous.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16445300

Costs of irritable bowel syndrome in the UK and US.
Maxion-Bergemann S, Thielecke F, Abel F, Bergemann R.

Analytica International GmbH, Lörrach, Germany.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common functional gastrointestinal disorders, with an estimated prevalence rate in the general population of 10-15% in industrialised countries. Although IBS is not a life-threatening disease, it contributes significantly to a large segment of healthcare resource consumption. This review provides an overview of studies addressing the direct and indirect costs of IBS in the US and the UK. A systematic literature search was conducted in MEDLINE and the Cochrane library; additionally, all reference lists covering the years from 1960 to May 2004 were scanned. Twenty-four publications for the US and the UK, published between 1991 and 2003, were identified: 6 were excluded, 18 were included. Data for the UK, US and UK + US were reported in 5, 11 and 2 publications, respectively. Total direct cost estimates per patient per year ranged from US 348 dollars to US 8750 dollars (calculated for year 2002). The average number of days off work per year because of IBS was between 8.5 and 21.6; indirect costs ranged from US 355 dollars to US 3344 dollars. <snip>

[SemiCharmedQuark]

4. Because Republicans count on the public knowing dick about science and instead opt for lowbrow humor

It's just like when they criticized high speed rail, volcano monitoring and studies on fruit flies.

[earthboundmisfit]

5. Don't know, but I remember my grandmama used to tell me

that when you laugh at or deride someone with an affliction, you put yourself next in line to get that affliction.

[Kitty Herder]

6. These talking heads don't have to make sense.

All they have to do is be inflammatory enough that people will listen to them.

[Ken Burch]

7. Er....."INFLAMMATORY enough"?

Aptly put.

In the old days we could say they were writing "spastic columns".

[anigbrowl]

10. You should be on Leno. That's hilarious.

Just kidding, it isn't really.

[Ken Burch]

11. My wife had the condition(it probably helped kill her). The condition itself isn't funny at all.

No disrespect intended to anyone's suffering here. My comments were aimed at the insensitive pundits.

[Kitty Herder]

14. I thought about adding...

that they are little shits who are constipating the national discourse. But I decided that would be over the top. :)

[anigbrowl]

9. Yeah, my Mom has it too. As for the pundits...

basically it gives them an excuse, despite being grown men, to insinuate that there's a poopy joke involved. You know a disease name like that is the kind of thing 8-10 year olds snicker over, a la Bart Simpson. That's about the level of political discourse that these people want to communicate on, because it trivializes the subject and renders it less scary to them. They're genuinely scared of the government taking over health care, because deep down they vaguely imagine it's going to look like a civil war hospital or something and they might not be able to buy their way past the little people.

Sorry to hear you have this condition. I know it can be a real drag to live with.

[dysfunctional press]

12. you said 'bowel'....huh...huh-huh....

THAT'S why.

[laughingliberal]

15. That's it! Every Republican argument for the past year summed up right there!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[struggle4progress]

13. It's costing each American about 2/10 of a cent

[lamp_shade]

16. McCain brought it up first last week on the senate floor as one of his despised "earmarks". Asswipe.

[emulatorloo]

17. Because they've never had it. Let them experience it for 5 days they would change their tune

[pipi_k]

18. That's for sure! There were times when I was literally doubled over in pain

from the spasms and diarrhea.

Not fun at all.

[eppur_se_muova]

19. Because OTHER people's problems are ripe for ridicule.

If they were paying to study anal cysts, on the other hand ...

[Odin2005]

20. because there are a lot of idiots that think it's a fake disease invented by "Evil Big Pharma".

[guitar man]

21. they are probably afraid

they're afraid of the study because they know it might prove that they are a leading cause of IBS. :grr:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

22. Same reason people make fun of "Restless Leg Syndrome."

It sounds funny, they're scientifically illiterate, and they think it's made up or not a serious problem.