Regarding the Shiavo matter
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Rspaight
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Bughouse Bedlam
Posted by James Wolcott
The Terri Schiavo soap opera, with Senator Frist guest-starring in the role of Dr. Bob and unveiling the uncanny ability to make a long-distance telepathic diagnosis without using his mind, shows yet again how sentimentality and brutality are the Doublemint twins of American culture, ripe for exploitation. The crocodile tears over Terri Schiavo from veteran crocodiles in the Congress (and professional sob-sisters like Peggy Noonan) flood the airwaves while Judge Greer in Florida receives death threats, the hospice is condemned as a concentration camp, and Michael Schiavo is demonized.
I don't want to hear any cultural virtucrat ever again work up a lot of flatulent thunder about 50 Cent or The Game or gangsta rap when the biggest thug around is a middle-aged white man who swaggers through the House as majority leader, making his own rules, punishing his enemies, and using his power and position to lash out against a private citizen with a sneering bullying not seen since Roy Cohn rotted away. I speak of course of the Bugman Thugman. A man who uses an insecticide inhaler to psych himself up to trash his opponents and defile the rules that don't apply to an ubermensch with slush funds pouring out of his enema bag. A man who would wheel Terry Schiavo to home plate for the Washington Nationals home opener if he thought there was any political upside to it.
So dynamic, so forceful, of Bush to interrupt his weekend off to sign this phony bill the Congress rammed through. On Sept 11, he didn't pry himself from his schoolroom chair as thousands died in the WTC because he didn't want to perturb the kiddies, but for this he bolts into action with lightning hooves. I realize it's unpatriotic, perhaps even unmasculine, to concern oneself with what the rest of the world thinks (since we won WWII and all), but just imagine how hilarious Europe, Russia, Asia, the Mideast, and the penguins find this latest American spaz-out, and how horrified they must be at how the beacon of freedom and democracy has become a lashing loony bin.
As China quietly outmaneuvers us everywhere.
RQOTW: "I'll make sure that our future is defined not by the letters ACLU, but by the letters USA." -- Mitt Romney
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CitizenDan
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Mary Schindler said: When I close my eyes at night, all I can see is Terri's face in front of me, dying. Starving to death. Please. Someone out there. Stop this cruelty. Stop the insanity. Please let my daughter live.
Dear Mary:
Shut up. SHUT THE FUCK UP. And cut the obnoxious courthouse-steps dramatics while you're at it.
You've had your day in court--no, wait, that's not right. You've had, what, six days in court? Seven? I've honestly lost count. And each time, the scales of justice have teetered decisively against you.
The only reasons the issue of your daughter's merciful and hopefully imminent death is even in the public consciousness anymore are 1)she is, or at least was, an attractive white woman; and 2)we're living in a time when our elected leaders are eager to pander to the lunatic fringe of our society. If your religious fanatic friends didn't have such deep pockets, this would have ended at the state district court level, as it should have.
Let her go. Why are you continuing this fight? Because you feel ashamed that you might have had a hand in the bulimia that made her heart fail? Because you're a selfish, hypercompetitive psycho? It can't be because you care about her welfare. She's not going to get better, ever. Her brain is mush, and she's about as dead as someone with a heartbeat can be. Please, let her die with a shred of dignity.
Dear Mary:
Shut up. SHUT THE FUCK UP. And cut the obnoxious courthouse-steps dramatics while you're at it.
You've had your day in court--no, wait, that's not right. You've had, what, six days in court? Seven? I've honestly lost count. And each time, the scales of justice have teetered decisively against you.
The only reasons the issue of your daughter's merciful and hopefully imminent death is even in the public consciousness anymore are 1)she is, or at least was, an attractive white woman; and 2)we're living in a time when our elected leaders are eager to pander to the lunatic fringe of our society. If your religious fanatic friends didn't have such deep pockets, this would have ended at the state district court level, as it should have.
Let her go. Why are you continuing this fight? Because you feel ashamed that you might have had a hand in the bulimia that made her heart fail? Because you're a selfish, hypercompetitive psycho? It can't be because you care about her welfare. She's not going to get better, ever. Her brain is mush, and she's about as dead as someone with a heartbeat can be. Please, let her die with a shred of dignity.
We were right about Vietnam. We were right about Nixon. We were right about Reaganomics. Trust us -- we're right about Bush, too.
CNN.COM wrote:Earlier Wednesday night, Bob Schindler accused Florida Judge Greer of being "on a crusade" to kill Terri.
"I don't think that the courts are going to be helpful at all. Actually, they have banded together to uphold this one particular judge," Schindler told CNN's "NewsNight with Aaron Brown."
"We've had very little success in the courts. They're not hearing any of the evidence that we've presented them, and our only hope at this point as we see it is through the governor (of Florida) and the Department of Children and Families."
A little right-wing paranoia never hurt anyone...
Dan
The language and concepts contained herein are
guaranteed not to cause eternal torment in the
place where the guy with the horns and pointed
stick conducts his business. - FZ
The language and concepts contained herein are
guaranteed not to cause eternal torment in the
place where the guy with the horns and pointed
stick conducts his business. - FZ
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Rspaight
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Well, the SCOTUS has now told the Schindlers to shut up and go away.
We'll see how Jeb's attempt to adopt Terri goes. Maybe they can set her up in the Governor's Mansion and Jeb can change the bedpan.
Ryan
We'll see how Jeb's attempt to adopt Terri goes. Maybe they can set her up in the Governor's Mansion and Jeb can change the bedpan.
Ryan
RQOTW: "I'll make sure that our future is defined not by the letters ACLU, but by the letters USA." -- Mitt Romney
The only good news to come out of the last 48 hours is that Jeb is apparently less politically savvy than his brother. When confronted with the overwelming public opinion against re-inserting the feeding tube, Dubya had the good sense to back off. Jeb, however, remains committed to extending this woman's misery.
Dan
The language and concepts contained herein are
guaranteed not to cause eternal torment in the
place where the guy with the horns and pointed
stick conducts his business. - FZ
The language and concepts contained herein are
guaranteed not to cause eternal torment in the
place where the guy with the horns and pointed
stick conducts his business. - FZ
Rspaight wrote:Maybe they can set her up in the Governor's Mansion and Jeb can change the bedpan.
And we should send the medical bills to all the politicians who want to keep Terri alive indefinitely, but at the same time are in favor of reducing Medicare benefits.
Dob
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"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance" -- HL Mencken
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"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance" -- HL Mencken
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CitizenDan
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Rspaight wrote:Didn't the Bushies complain endlessly about Gore retrying the recount until it came out "his way"?
Ryan
My comment [formerly] encapsulated as Luke's signature seems apropos here. These are the same people calling for tort reform, since 'frivolous' lawsuits cost taxpayers too much bread.
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lukpac
- Top Dog and Sellout
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Schiavo part 2. I really, really didn't go looking for this - it was on Google News for some reason.
"Haleigh is fighting to live."
Why is it clowns like Malkin think that "right-to-die" means "let's kill them!"?
As girl hangs on to life, where are all the plug-pullers?
By MICHELLE MALKIN
I have a question for the hordes of bleeding-heart Hollywood stars who joined the "Save Tookie" brigade, who bowed their heads in prayer with ex-Crip gangster Snoop Dogg and the Rev. Jesse Jackson and pleaded to protect convicted Death Row murderer Stanley "Tookie" Williams, and who lobbied so hard for the government to err on the side of life.
Where are you now?
In Boston, an innocent girl was sentenced to death by the state. Her name is Haleigh Poutre. Last fall, she was hospitalized after her stepfather allegedly burned her and beat her unconscious with a baseball bat. Haleigh was kept alive by a feeding tube and ventilator. Doctors said she was "virtually brain dead." They said she was in a "persistent vegetative state." The medical professionals pronounced her "hopeless."
Less than three weeks after Haleigh's hospitalization, the Massachusetts Department of Social Services was raring to remove Haleigh's feeding and breathing tubes. Even her biological mother (who had been deemed unfit to care for Haleigh and whose former boyfriend was accused of sexually abusing the child) wanted her to be put to death. The only person who wanted Haleigh alive was her stepfather, who will likely be charged with murder if Haleigh dies.
Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in favor of killing Haleigh, saying it was "unthinkable" to give the power to make a life-and- death decision to the man accused of putting Haleigh in a coma. Instead, the court did something just as unthinkable: It handed that power over life and death to the same child welfare agency that had failed time and time and time again to protect Haleigh from her abusers in the first place.
According to the Boston Herald, a report by her court-appointed guardian showed that the Department of Social Services had received 17 reports of abuse or neglect involving Haleigh in the three years before her adoptive mother and stepfather were charged with pummeling her into a coma.
"State can let beaten girl die," the headlines trumpeted. But there was just one small complication for all of those who, for whatever reason, were in such a rush to "let Haleigh die":
Haleigh is fighting to live.
As state officials prepared to remove Haleigh's life support, the supposedly impossible happened. She began breathing on her own, responding to stimuli and showing signs of emerging from what the medical establishment had deemed her hopeless condition. Everyone had given up on Haleigh — except Haleigh. "There has been a change in her condition," announced a DSS spokeswoman, Denise Monteiro. "The vegetative state may not be a total vegetative state."
Unbelievably, the state had weaned Haleigh off her breathing tube before the state Supreme Court had made its ruling — but the government failed to inform the court of the development. Haleigh's medical records and the social service agency's brief remain sealed.
Politicians in Massachusetts are vowing full-scale investigations of the state's incompetent child welfare bureaucrats.
But where's the accountability for the medical experts whose faulty diagnosis led to Haleigh's court-approved death sentence? Will they step forward and reveal themselves? Will they explain how they erred? Will they apologize?
It was The Experts' unequivocal assessments that led the court to declare Haleigh in "an irreversible vegetative state" and to assert that "the child could not see, hear, feel or respond." Now, they admit they were wrong. And now, Haleigh's life depends on the whims of a hopeless government agency that didn't think the court needed to know that the child was breathing on her own.
Haleigh's story is a wake-up call to "right-to-die" ideologues who recklessly put such unlimited trust in the medical profession and Nanny State. With such uncertainty surrounding persistent vegetative state diagnoses, the presumption must be in favor of life. Yet, the "right-to-die" lobby's mantra seems to be: When in doubt, pull it out.
While Haleigh clings to life, I've pondered how we might help persuade the plug-pullers to put off the child's state-sanctioned death sentence. I propose nominating her for a Nobel Prize. It bought Tookie Williams five extra years.
Jamie Foxx and Susan Sarandon, will you join me?
Malkin is a nationally syndicated columnist based in North Bethesda, Md. (malkin@comcast.net)
"Haleigh is fighting to live."
Why is it clowns like Malkin think that "right-to-die" means "let's kill them!"?
As girl hangs on to life, where are all the plug-pullers?
By MICHELLE MALKIN
I have a question for the hordes of bleeding-heart Hollywood stars who joined the "Save Tookie" brigade, who bowed their heads in prayer with ex-Crip gangster Snoop Dogg and the Rev. Jesse Jackson and pleaded to protect convicted Death Row murderer Stanley "Tookie" Williams, and who lobbied so hard for the government to err on the side of life.
Where are you now?
In Boston, an innocent girl was sentenced to death by the state. Her name is Haleigh Poutre. Last fall, she was hospitalized after her stepfather allegedly burned her and beat her unconscious with a baseball bat. Haleigh was kept alive by a feeding tube and ventilator. Doctors said she was "virtually brain dead." They said she was in a "persistent vegetative state." The medical professionals pronounced her "hopeless."
Less than three weeks after Haleigh's hospitalization, the Massachusetts Department of Social Services was raring to remove Haleigh's feeding and breathing tubes. Even her biological mother (who had been deemed unfit to care for Haleigh and whose former boyfriend was accused of sexually abusing the child) wanted her to be put to death. The only person who wanted Haleigh alive was her stepfather, who will likely be charged with murder if Haleigh dies.
Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in favor of killing Haleigh, saying it was "unthinkable" to give the power to make a life-and- death decision to the man accused of putting Haleigh in a coma. Instead, the court did something just as unthinkable: It handed that power over life and death to the same child welfare agency that had failed time and time and time again to protect Haleigh from her abusers in the first place.
According to the Boston Herald, a report by her court-appointed guardian showed that the Department of Social Services had received 17 reports of abuse or neglect involving Haleigh in the three years before her adoptive mother and stepfather were charged with pummeling her into a coma.
"State can let beaten girl die," the headlines trumpeted. But there was just one small complication for all of those who, for whatever reason, were in such a rush to "let Haleigh die":
Haleigh is fighting to live.
As state officials prepared to remove Haleigh's life support, the supposedly impossible happened. She began breathing on her own, responding to stimuli and showing signs of emerging from what the medical establishment had deemed her hopeless condition. Everyone had given up on Haleigh — except Haleigh. "There has been a change in her condition," announced a DSS spokeswoman, Denise Monteiro. "The vegetative state may not be a total vegetative state."
Unbelievably, the state had weaned Haleigh off her breathing tube before the state Supreme Court had made its ruling — but the government failed to inform the court of the development. Haleigh's medical records and the social service agency's brief remain sealed.
Politicians in Massachusetts are vowing full-scale investigations of the state's incompetent child welfare bureaucrats.
But where's the accountability for the medical experts whose faulty diagnosis led to Haleigh's court-approved death sentence? Will they step forward and reveal themselves? Will they explain how they erred? Will they apologize?
It was The Experts' unequivocal assessments that led the court to declare Haleigh in "an irreversible vegetative state" and to assert that "the child could not see, hear, feel or respond." Now, they admit they were wrong. And now, Haleigh's life depends on the whims of a hopeless government agency that didn't think the court needed to know that the child was breathing on her own.
Haleigh's story is a wake-up call to "right-to-die" ideologues who recklessly put such unlimited trust in the medical profession and Nanny State. With such uncertainty surrounding persistent vegetative state diagnoses, the presumption must be in favor of life. Yet, the "right-to-die" lobby's mantra seems to be: When in doubt, pull it out.
While Haleigh clings to life, I've pondered how we might help persuade the plug-pullers to put off the child's state-sanctioned death sentence. I propose nominating her for a Nobel Prize. It bought Tookie Williams five extra years.
Jamie Foxx and Susan Sarandon, will you join me?
Malkin is a nationally syndicated columnist based in North Bethesda, Md. (malkin@comcast.net)
"I know because it is impossible for a tape to hold the compression levels of these treble boosted MFSL's like Something/Anything. The metal particulate on the tape would shatter and all you'd hear is distortion if even that." - VD