A positive twist on exposing one's goolies

[Rainbow Wizard]

There is a strong case for giving men the right to access a national prostate-screening programme. Since the Labour Party feminists can be expected to energetically oppose and undermine such a proposal, Act have taken the initiative by investigating the level of support for the idea in the community by starting a petition calling for the introduction of a national screening programme for prostate cancer.

If you support the idea you can sign the electronic petition at www.act.org.nz/prostate

Now please don't set your sights on any political aspect of this petition, understand this is genuinely a way for you to have your say. Granted it may go nowhere but I believe we owe it to ourselves to give this our thumbs-up. Logon, sign on OK? Dont be a

[Hitcher]

Prostate testing doesn't, in my experience, involve a "thumbs up". It involves a rubber-clad indexfinger up. And some wiggling. I have resolved from this experience that I am not ghey...

[Skyryder]

There is a strong case for giving men the right to access a national prostate-screening programme. Since the Labour Party feminists can be expected to energetically oppose and undermine such a proposal, Act have taken the initiative by investigating the level of support for the idea in the community by starting a petition calling for the introduction of a national screening programme for prostate cancer.

If you support the idea you can sign the electronic petition at www.act.org.nz/prostate

Now please don't set your sights on any political aspect of this petition, understand this is genuinely a way for you to have your say. Granted it may go nowhere but I believe we owe it to ourselves to give this our thumbs-up. Logon, sign on OK? Dont be a

It seems that you have already made your political statement by claiming that the 'Labour Party feminists can be expected to undermine such a proposal." As someone who has had their prostate removed I can assure you that I am all for a national screening programme. However given ACT's user pay philosophy I am naturally suspicious of their motives. I for one will not be sighning.


Skyryder

[Rainbow Wizard]

I am all for a national screening programme. However given ACT's user pay philosophy I am naturally suspicious of their motives. I for one will not be sighning.Skyryder

I mean, I hear what your saying but how can you be "all for" and not endorse the petition with your name?

Sorry to hear you were caught too late my friend.

[John]

Thanks for that I wish it was sooner then my dad mightent have died under such circumstances, cant say I'm keen on the bunging of the hole that shouldnt be bunged though

edit: Cant say I'm one for any political party, they havnt impressed me since I gained a policitcal mind, but if they actually do something that may help out the populous I will be alittle more attentive.

[Rainbow Wizard]

Thanks for that I wish it was sooner then my dad mightent have died under such circumstances. Cant say I'm one for any political party, they (ACT) havnt impressed me since I gained a policitcal mind, but if they actually do something that may help out the populous I will be alittle more attentive.

Thank you for your support of my petition calling for a national prostate cancer screening programme for men. While the response to the idea has been very encouraging, the idea has not been promoted widely enough. Accordingly, I would like to enlist your help in seeking out support on a wider scale.

If you are able to ask people you know to check out the issue with a view to supporting the petition that would be great. If you want hard copies of the petition, they are available through the www.pcfreenz.co.nz website. I will be writing to all Greypower organisations to promote the petition, but if you have contacts in other groups in your community that may also be interested in circulating it, that would be great.

Thanks so much for your help - if we get large numbers of people clamouring for change, then our battle will be so much easier!

Kindest regards

Muriel Newman

[James Deuce]

IMO this is long overdue. Prostate cancer and prostate cancer screening is easily as big a health issue as Breast cancer and Cervical cancer, but due to the supposed indignity of the exam (digital per rectal exam) it's all hush hush. The end result of prostate cancer can involve a great deal more indignity than that, depending on how you feel about having ALL your bits removed.

Even if Muriel Newman makes your under carriage spontaneously retract, as a male health issue it is absolutely top priority. Sign it. Rodney is obviously looking for an election issue, so why not as us blokes can only benefit from this?

[Odin]

And while there the partition for the depriciation of rental properties should be signed as well
http://www.act.org.nz/action/campaig...ion/index.html

[bear]

I'm all for not discriminating against the majority, and see the breast cancer screening programme etc. as inequality as is the Ministry of Women's Affairs (or whatever is is called these days), because there are no such designated mediums for fellas. Now, at one stage there may have been a need for it to give exposure, but this now needs some balancing in this overally PC world (NZ).

Just my thought.

[TonyB]

My understanding is that more men die per year from prostate cancer alone than women from breast cancer and cervical cancer combined. Sign it.

[Skyryder]

Since the Labour Party feminists can be expected to energetically oppose and undermine such a proposal,
Now please don't set your sights on any political aspect of this petition,

Here's the reason. You have made a political statement and then gone on to say that this petion should not be seen as politically motivated.

Sounds very much like ACT. Sure we will get a screening programme that's free but you're gonna hav'ta pay to get ya self fixed up. Now if they committed themselves to fully funded public health system I might have another attitude but when I think of what Rodger Douglas and his freebooters did to this country I very much doubt it.


Skyryder

[Pixie]

IMO this is long overdue. Prostate cancer and prostate cancer screening is easily as big a health issue as Breast cancer and Cervical cancer, but due to the supposed indignity of the exam (digital per rectal exam) it's all hush hush. The end result of prostate cancer can involve a great deal more indignity than that, depending on how you feel about having ALL your bits removed.

Even if Muriel Newman makes your under carriage spontaneously retract, as a male health issue it is absolutely top priority. Sign it. Rodney is obviously looking for an election issue, so why not as us blokes can only benefit from this?

Isn't a Pap smear an indignity?

[James Deuce]

Isn't a Pap smear an indignity?

You're not with me are you?

That's my point. Women have been both conditioned and provided with the necessary social and institutional support to cope with both having breasts squashed flat to have a mammogram, and the whole PAP smear thing.

Blokes on the other hand accept the indignity of a digital prostate exam with quiet shame a bit of sniggering down at the pub. Rather than a necessary health procedure, prostate exams have an aura of "dirty little secret" about them. Billy Connolly does an excellent job of mocking that attitude and is quite open (no pun intended) about his own experiences with "male health issues."

A screening programme provides a level of official sanction I guess, and would certainly make it easier for me to cope with the exam if every other bastard had to do it too.

[Virago]

.........Now please don't set your sights on any political aspect of this petition, understand this is genuinely a way for you to have your say.

Bollocks!!!!!

Yet another devious ACT ploy to get unsuspecting voters on board.

ACT policy means you have to pay for your own health care! And they have the cheek to use an issue like this to convince the average Joe Bloggs that they actually give a toss!

[Rainbow Wizard]

Bollocks!!!!!

Yet another devious ACT ploy to get unsuspecting voters on board.

ACT policy means you have to pay for your own health care! And they have the cheek to use an issue like this to convince the average Joe Bloggs that they actually give a toss!

Well this whole thread starts with a reference to bollocks so we who support this petition shouldn't be offended by your first word. And how can an openly publicised petition be devious? As for the average Joe Bloggs and "toss" giving, surely the ongoing blatant ripoff of the general public by politicians that are largely elected by the average Jo Bloggs (M&F) of this world is an indicator that we get the government we deserve. I don't deserve the level of taxation I am submitted to compared to the level of services I am entitled to make use of, but I have no real choice, barely even at election time. Signing a petition however IS my choice, and if I believe in the cause I will sign, regardless of who or what organisation is promoting it. Why? Because the petition is a legal document, the intention or mission statement of any petition must have that clearly stated for the signature to mean anything.

Your comment seems driven from considering that ACT will become the government, or at least a significant driving force in it. I ask you, at 2% or whatever they currently poll, is your fear and criticism justifiable?

I am prepared to stand up for issues I believe in, and unrestricted access to care in the interests of preventative ill health is one of them.

No matter how pointed any arguement or point of view is there is always a much bigger picture that will get ignored by those incapable of a broader understanding.