>but is Ramsay suggesting here that Manning is pulling some sort of a long con to get free gender-reassignment therapy?

No. You really need to chill upon this.

As if I needed another reason to continue not reading the Times.

Mad-lib style: "Christ, what an __________."

He's an insensitive douche, and someone profoundly unprepared for modernity, and now that he finds it I front of him, he "bursts out laughing" because the alternative is to look carefully at the issue and maybe check his douchey reaction.

Which is hard for us egotistical humans to do. All of us. Have compassion for Bruce. He is encountering something he doesn't understand and is having an irrational, knee-jerk response.

An opposing irrational knee jerk response doesn't move the conversation forward, though.

The sad thing is how many of these fuckers think the governemnt pays for sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy.

If the troglodytes spending their golden years standing in the way of enlightened policies think they're already paying for enlightened polices, why can't we just have enlightened polices? If we're going to be stuck in the dark ages until all these fucks die off, can these fucks at least show a tiny bit of satisfaction or gratitude that they're succeeding in keeping us in the dark ages?

Russian squad:

http://cdn.ph.upi.com/sv/upi/UPI-9907132…

I'm not saying anything...

There are any number of reasons to disagree with Manning's actions, but for the Seattle Times to mock a trans?

Not cool. Fuck you once again, Seattle Times.

@2 and @3: Srsly.

Disgusting. Right up there with this chestnut, which of course nobody at the Slog said a word about: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…

In order of questions-

Manning is neither a whistle blower nor a patriot. He's a convicted criminal who belongs where he is, in prison.

Nobody's talking about denial of health care to prisoners. They're talking about whether Bradley Manning should have an elective procedure done at taxpayers expense while he's in prison.

Mr. Ramsey represents mainstream American thought on the mentally ill unfortunates calling themselves transgender. You're the crazy ones here, not him. Nor did race come into his comments, or napkins come to that.

Consider yourself corrected Constant, no thanks needed.

Ramsay = Mudede.

6 of 12.

Half a dozen.

fire them BOTH.

11: Seriously? Even if transgender people were "mentally ill" (which the APA unfortunately classifies them as, mostly for insurance purposes), are you saying the government shouldn't provide healthcare for the mentally ill? Your bigotry doesn't even follow your own logic.

Bruce Ramsay should be fired for this, regardless of what else he's done. It's within his rights to be hateful or willfully ignorant, but it should not be OK to pay him to publish those thoughts.

FYI saying "transgendered" is akin to calling someone "colored". "Trans" or "Transgender" will suffice.

11, Ramsey isn't a bigot, he's just an asshole. You, otoh, *are* a bigot. People who wish to cover up & keep torture a secret are on the same moral level of those who enjoy torturing people. It is nice for you to continue to post here, as an example of what a morally bankrupt person thinks. It helps to remind us of the proper direction.

BTW, here's a brief run-down of what Manning exposed:

1) Official policy of US Govt to ignore torture in Iraq.
2) Child Abuse and Human trafficking by US security contractors.
3) Guantanamo prison holds mostly innocent people.
4) The official tally of civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.
5) U.S. Military withheld info about indiscriminate killing of Journalists & Iraqi civilians.
6) US State Department backed corporate opposition to minimum wage in Haiti, in one of the poorest countries in the world.
7) The U.S. Government had long been faking its public support for Tunisian President Ben Ali.
8 ) Known Egyptian torturers received training from the FBI.
9) State Dept authorized theft of UN Secretary General’s DNA. Credit card details, passwords etc.
10) In 2008 Japanese and U.S. Governments had been warned about seismic threat at Fukushima.
11) Obama Administration allowed Yemen’s President cover up secret U.S. drone bombing campaign which was killed mainly civilians inc children.

Do federal prisoners (military or otherwise) receive treatment for clinical depression? Isn't gender dysphoriaore or less a similar psychological condition?

I'm not questioning whether gender dysphoria is a real disorder; let's assume that it is, and further lets assume that gender reassignment therapy is the best treatment for it. Why is it incumbent on the state, as a matter of human rights, to provide that treatment to a duly convicted prisoner?

I know some private insurers may cover such treatments, but are they *required* to as a matter of human rights? I mean, even under Obamacare, providing any sort of non-emergency health care is not *guaranteed* to all individuals- you're still supposed to buy health insurance and then it depends on the terms of that plan.

In terms of Mannings human rights, I'd be happy if they just didn't torture him^D^D^Dher anymore.

@14 that's some wafer-thin hair splitting you got there.. ;D

@11 -- so you don't mind the taxpayer expense of actually locking him up for 35 years?

@11: "Consider yourself corrected."

As soon as I find something about your post that is correct, I will.

The Times has had some really good coverage of transgender issues; it's a shame that Ramsay's post is in the same paper, and a further shame that he didn't have enough class just to apologize.

@16,

My understanding is that hormonal treatment is far more likely to be covered than surgery by private insurers and the government. I also think I remember trans advocates being disgruntled with Obamacare because it doesn't mandate coverage for gender reassignment surgery.

Ramsey's addition of "as such" to "I was not making fun of transgendered (sic) people" is stunningly passive-aggressive.

If you're going to call Ramsey an idiot and a dumbass, perhaps you could spell his name correctly. You screwed it up 10 times in the course of this post, even with the benefit of the embedded JMart tweet to help you find the right path.

When is the Seattle Times going to get it? They are so disconnected from the public it is supposed to serve!

If Blethen won't hold this jerk accountable, I hope his colleagues do.

Jonathan Martin should be Executive Editor NOW. Enough with the Blethen ass kissers.

"I was not making fun of transgendered people as such."

1) Making fun of transgendered persons is shitty regardless of how you do it.

2) You were doing exactly such.

@30: We take the trans community very seriously? People might take ~your~ claim seriously if you referred to the specific incident where he mocked transpersons versus simply calling Savage some sort of "trans-hater" citation-free.

@29

Making fun of the mentally ill is discourteous, certainly. But most humor revolves around a change in expectations. Who's on first is hilarious because of this confusion of expectations.

So when someone, with a serious, even self righteous, air makes a stupid, silly, inane comment like 'gender has nothing to do with genitalia' sane people can't help a belly laugh.

Again, you're the nutjobs here and it's high time the rest of us stopped apologizing for your taking umbrage at reality.

@32: Yawn. Go spend time with your fake wife and boast to her about how the fags are going to hell. I'm sure your fake wife loves hearing your rants.

@32 Who's on first is weak hacky nonsense - always was badly-written comedy and always will be. Let me guess, you love you some Jeff Dunham too.

@15,

Thanks for that list of issues Ms. Manning revealed. I hope she is pardoned and not forced to serve the full sentence.

@34: I love that the nicest thing anyone's said to Seattleblues on the Slog is that he isn't as illiterate as the other hatemongers that ooze all over this site. Racist puppet humor seems the upward limit of his "class".