Hello Bob,   
      
    LL>> What is immoral about saving lives?   
      
    LL>> Pro-life Republicans claim to be pro-life.   
    LL>> Pro-life Democrats also claim to be pro-life.   
    LL>> Pro-life Independents even claim to be pro-life.   
      
    LL>> But everybody, regardless of party affiliation   
    LL>> or political ideology, says that selling body parts   
    LL>> is immoral, and that doing so should be illegal.   
      
    BK> Yep. I am both pro-life and opposed to selling body parts.   
      
   Yet it is okay to sell locks of hair to companies that   
   manufacture wigs.  Some folks choose to donate locks of   
   hair for cancer patients, which is also considered as   
   being an acceptable practice by society.  Certainly you   
   are not opposed to selling or giving away hair, whether   
   it is somebody else's hair or your own?   
      
    LL>> But nobody seems to be able to figure out why.   
      
    BK> Wrong, I figured it out long ago.   
      
   If folks can sell or give away hair, why not other body parts?   
      
    LL>> Now back to reality -   
      
    BK> Ok, who wrote this and signed Lee's name to it?   
      
   The otherworldlee Lee.   
      
    LL>> I read a classified ad in the newspaper   
    LL>> the other day that literally blew my mind -   
      
    LL>> "Kidney, runs good, $30,000 or best offer."   
      
    LL>> This was a woman from St. Petersburg, Florida.   
    LL>> Said her name was Ruth.  Apparently, all she   
    LL>> wanted was some money, and selling a kidney   
    LL>> seemed to her an easy way to make some quick   
    LL>> cash.   
      
    BK> Ok, one reason that one should be illegal is she is too dumb to   
    BK> give informed consent. She should have said, bidding starts at   
    BK> $30,000.   
      
    BK> Oh, and that was in 1997.   
      
   There were so many sites on the web with that same headline   
   that I have no idea which is the original or what year it came   
   from.  The idea for a search on google was from an article   
   in a supermarket tabloid I had read years ago about people   
   in Pakistan who had sold a kidney for quick cash.   
      
    LL>> Not having anything else to do, and with no LSU   
    LL>> or Saints football game being played this weekend,   
    LL>> I decided to give her a call.  It was a short   
    LL>> conversation.  She told me she got a few serious   
    LL>> calls, but then the newspaper refused to run her   
    LL>> ad again, warning her that she might be arrested.   
      
    BK> You called her in 1997?   
      
   The Wayback Machine is a most wonderful device ...   
      
    LL>> What gets me is why anybody would be willing to   
    LL>> sell a perfectly good kidney for a mere $30,000?   
    LL>> But then I remembered that people in Pakistan   
    LL>> and other parts of the world do this all the time,   
    LL>> selling a kidney for much less.   
      
    LL>> good working condition?  People are allowed to   
    LL>> donate body parts if they are dead.  Notice I   
    LL>> said donate, not sell.  As it is, people have   
    LL>> to wait until they are dead before they can   
    LL>> donate their own body parts.  Can't sell body   
      
    BK> You can donate a kidney if you are alive, and have two good ones.   
      
   You can donate somebody else's kidney and have two   
   good ones.  But if you donate one of your own kidneys,   
   you'd best hope you have one good one left.  :)   
      
    LL>> Why not sell body parts while still alive?   
      
    BK> Why not sell body parts while still alive, for delivery after death?   
      
   In general, folks can agree to donate (but not   
   sell) body parts while still alive, but still   
   have to wait until dead before actually having   
   those body parts removed for donation.   
      
   It is legal to donate certain body parts to   
   others while all parties are still alive.   
   Kidneys are one example.  But it is usually   
   in cases where all parties know each other,   
   such as family members or relatives.   
      
    LL>> those who are homeless.  Rich and poor alike   
    LL>> receive body parts, and millions have agreed to   
    LL>> become donors themselves.   
      
    BK> Not quite true. Rich and poor receive body parts, but not alike.   
      
   How is a recipient going to know if he/she is receiving   
   a good body part or a bad body part?  Are body parts given   
   ratings, such as excellent/good/fair/poor?  Did Dick Cheney   
   have a choice of which heart he could get before surgeons   
   implanted him with a new heart?  Or was he just lucky to   
   have gotten a good one rather than another clunker?   
      
    BK> All too often the rich get what the poor need.   
      
   Why should the poor receive what the rich need most?   
   Most of the poor would never appreciate such a gift,   
   continuing the same old life they had lived before -   
   smoking and drinking and getting high ...   
      
    LL>> body parts for free?  And what about waiting lists?   
    LL>> Why should there be waiting lists?  If somebody   
    LL>> has the money, and is willing to pay the price ...   
      
    BK> If somebody has the money and is willing to pay the price, the   
    BK> poor will never get a transplant again.   
      
   So what?  The poor will always be with us.  The rich can   
   at least make a difference, at least while they are still   
   here.  So might as well keep rich folks around for as long   
   as possible.   
      
    BK> And that is the basis for not allowing the sale of body parts.   
      
   By not allowing the sale of body parts, society is placing   
   a limit on the number of body parts available.  And that means   
   more people dying as a result of not enough available body   
   parts.   
      
   You see, rich folks will always be able to get body   
   parts.  Regardless of cost, or legality.  And rich folks   
   will always get the choicest of body parts, as they can   
   easily afford to buy the best for themselves.   
      
   People in third world countries are willing to sell   
   a kidney for $1000.  That might seem cheap to you, but   
   to them that is a fortune.  Denying them the right to   
   sell their own kidneys (or other body parts) would be   
   keeping them in the poorhouse forever.  Denying them   
   any hope of escaping a lifetime of poverty.   
      
    BK> Walmart is trying to get into providing health care.   
      
   There is no such thing as providing health care in   
   this country.  What we have is sick care, not health   
   care.   
      
    BK> The Walmart business modely requires cheap suppliers to provide cheap   
    BK> prices. That model is why this country has unemployment about 15% in real   
    BK> numbers.   
      
   Walmart, like many other employers, are falling back   
   to using part time employees as a means of getting around   
   Obamacare.  And until this country decides to get real   
   about health care reform, such problems will continue   
   to exist.  Obamacare is not universal health care.   
   It was never designed for that purpose.  What it does   
   is mandates each state to create its own version of   
   Romneycare.  Republicans hate that.  For a Cemocrat   
   to out-Republican Republicans.   
      
    BK> Apply that to body parts.   
      
   Walmart selling body parts?  With Mitt Romney   
   their pitch man?  Hmmm...   
      
    BK> To sell in quantity you have to have a supply of cheap parts.   
      
   That can be arranged.  Mormons have the answer, as found in   
   their very own Book of Mormon.   
      
    BK> That means a lot of donors/sellers.   
      
   Mormons have the experience in that category.   
      
    BK> With enough sellers you will be able to buy a kidney for $1000. To   
   maintain   
    BK> that we have to maintain a large number of people in poverty in this   
    BK> country.   
      
   Mormons are missionaries.  For example, Mitt Romney did   
   his missionary work in France.  Not sure how many converts   
   he made, given virtually every Frenchman and Frenchwoman   
   was already a Christian.  But he did learn how to speak   
   French.  And how to kiss no wait a minute Mitt Romney   
   is a family guy and would never French kiss anywone ...   
      
    BK> It's hard enough to get a congress owned by the rich to do   
    BK> anything to help lift people from poverty, with a need for cheap   
    BK> body parts there will be that much more incentive to keep a   
    BK> large portion of the population poor.   
      
   Not to worry.  With Obama everything gonna be free.   
      
   --Lee   
      
   --- MesNews/1.08.05.00-gb   
    * Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2)