Posted on 05/01/2003 3:16:36 AM PDT by sarcasm
Lawmakers have been known to split hairs.
Splitting tongues, they're not so crazy about.
So David Miller, the state representative from Calumet City and a practicing dentist, is serious when he talks about recent legislation he's introduced.
Miller, a Democrat, is sponsoring a bill that would all but ban what has become the latest craze in "body modification"--slicing the tongue in half to create a reptilian appearance.
It's a practice akin to body piercings and tattoos. But detractors like Miller say it carries risks of infection and even death if not performed by licensed medical people and surgeons.
That's why Miller wants to ensure that only physicians perform the procedure, and for sound medical reasons.
If properly done the procedure isn't necessarily harmful, he acknowledges. Still, it's a trend he'd rather not see catch on.
"You know how fads are," he said. "You just never know what's going to happen. We just thought we'd be pro-active."
According to a Web site devoted to the practice, as well as other procedures such as body piercings and tattoos, tongue splitting is the "central bifurcation of the tongue, so as to achieve a 'forked tongue' appearance."
Some people have split their tongue by getting a large number of tongue piercings, stretching them, and then cutting between them, said Shannon Larratt, who runs www.bmezine.com, and had his own tongue split in 1997.
Others have turned to oral surgeons or tattoo parlors. An Albany, N.Y., doctor did his, Larratt said, and he encourages those who want their tongues split to seek a surgeon, too.
But many medical professionals highly discourage the practice.
Among the risks are striking an artery or the tongue becoming so swollen the patient can't breathe. Massive tongue hemorrhage, edema, abscess formation, tetanus and nerve damage are other reported complications, doctors say.
Larratt doesn't deny those risks. In fact, he said, the danger of people seeking poorly done "back alley" jobs are precisely why it should be legal.
"A lot of these laws are worded in ways that make it very difficult for a doctor to do it," he said. "What that means is that the qualified practitioners and doctors don't want to risk losing their licenses. So the only people left doing it are hacks that shouldn't be doing it in the first place."
The bill, also endorsed by state Sen. James T. Meeks and similar to legislation in Michigan, has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and now awaits consideration by the full Senate.
"There's really no reason someone should be splitting his or her tongue," Meeks said. "We are simply trying to keep people from hurting themselves."
Larratt sees it differently. "We don't question a person if they want to go in and get just about every other procedure," he said. "Why target this one in such an extreme fashion?"
Like Hillary!™...
I didn't think you'd have an answer to that...
The bill is not about tongue-splitting, it's about regulating tongue-splitters.
It's a public health issue. The government can and should regulate those in the tongue-splitting business, in the same way they can and should regulate tattoo parlors (which are great places to catch things like Hepatitis C).
I wish I COULD get them out of the medical business. This isn't the best example of excessive intrusion, but as long as my health is looked at as an expense by the government, they can and will gain an increasingly larger degree of control over my life and my behavior (and yours too, of course). Its a slippery slope upon which we should not travel.
To the extent that your name may resemble something phallic, I would think that we'd be at a point where we might call you "Billthestump". :^) j/k, of course.
It is my understanding that it is the intent to prohibit toungue spliting (unless medically necessary which it is almost never). Yet we permit so-called "sex-change" operations. There are even these cute slogans such as "a female mind in a male body" which is just pure nonsense. I suppose under this argument, those wanting tongue spliting can claim they are a repitale or snake or whatever in a human body.
And what about the plastic surgeries of Micheal Jackson (the mind of a white woman in the body of a black male?), Joan Rivers (she looks awful and scary) and Joceylene Wildenstein (who wants to look like a lion)?
Tongue-splitting ban slices its way through Legislature
Thats the attention getting headline of the day
Say that fast!
(sarcasm) I think tongue-splitting should be manditory for getting a law license. At least then you know you are dealing with a 'fork-tongue' lawyer. ;D
BEHOLD LIZARDMAN!!
It seems like one's ability to express a coherent thought is directly proportional to the amount of time they've been a member of Free Republic.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.