well now.. this thread has certainly kept me amused for the last half hour, chuckling at the trading of insults and horse/pony remarks, of course I have my own thoughts on the subject but will keep them to myself.
One thing I want to ask tho is, there have been several mentions of the different levels of success in children/adults both with HA and CI. Whilst it is unrealistic to expect everyone to reach the same level, how much impact does the input of parents/family etc have on the result, some parents may expect to just plonk a HA on a child or have them implanted and hey presto...have a hearing child, this may account for a large number of the "failures".
Another query, is there any corellation between the IQ level of the child and the sound perception/processing/speech (whatever you like to call it) I may be wrong but I would think that a more intelligent child would automatically benefit more from any form of assistance, be it HA, CI, oral or sign.